theblaze--2020-01-09--Nancy Pelosi says she'll stop holding out on sending impeachment articles when she's 'ready': 'That

Nancy Pelosi says she'll stop holding out on sending impeachment articles when she's 'ready': 'That will probably be soon'

Nancy Pelosi says she 'll stop holding out on sending impeachment articles when she 's 'ready ' : 'That will @ @ @ @ @ getting tired of it

Despite criticisms from both sides of the aisle, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) still won't say specifically when she plans to send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump over to the Senate for a trial.
Pelosi said during a press briefing with reporters Thursday that she doesn't plan to hold onto the articles of impeachment indefinitely, but that she'll send them to the Senate "when I'm ready," which "will probably be soon."
The speaker followed up her answer with a reiteration of her desire to see what a potential Senate process would look like before sending the articles over.
"We want to see what they're willing to do and the manner in which they will do it," Pelosi said.
Pelosi's statement is the latest development — or lack thereof — in the ongoing stalemate between congressional leaders of the House and Senate over when a Senate impeachment trial will begin and how it will be conducted. For weeks, Pelosi has refused to transmit the articles of impeachment and the House impeachment managers — who act as prosecutors — to the Senate, citing concerns over how the terms of the trial will be structured.
On the other side of things, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has declared that the Senate cannot begin working on a trial until the House sends the matter over and has called the idea of Pelosi dictating terms a "fantasy" and a "non-starter."
Earlier this week, McConnell announced that Senate Republicans had sufficient votes to agree to "phase one" of a trial without having to accept Democrats' demands on the process.
Pelosi later responded with a statement saying that the process under consideration "designed to deprive Senators and the American people of crucial documents and testimony" that Democrats want brought in during the course trial, and called on McConnell to put his proposal in writing so "we can see the arena in which we will be participating."
And while it still has no clear end in sight, Pelosi's ongoing impeachment holdout tactic has drawn criticism from members of both parties. Earlier this week, the delay prompted some of the upper chamber's Republicans to sign on to an effort to amend the Senate's impeachment rules to allow members of the chamber to dismiss the matter "for failure by the House of Representatives to prosecute such articles" if they aren't sent to the Senate within 25 calendar days after being voted on.
On the other side of the aisle, multiple Senate Democrats have started to say that it's time for Pelosi to let the Senate take over on the issue.
"The longer it goes on the less urgent it becomes," Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said. "So if it's serious and urgent, send them over. If it isn't, don't send it over."
One congressional Democrat, however, has changed his tune since coming out against Pelosi's impeachment stall, and did so fairly quickly. Within a few hours of saying that it was time to send the matter to the Senate, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (Wash.) backtracked and tweeted that he "misspoke."
"If the Speaker believes that holding on to the articles for a longer time will help force a fair trial in the Senate, then I wholeheartedly support that decision," he tweeted.


theblaze--2020-01-09--MSNBC's Katy Tur gets testy over President Trump being 'flanked by stern white military men' while a

MSNBC's Katy Tur gets testy over President Trump being 'flanked by stern white military men' while addressing nation about Iran

MSNBC 's Katy Tur gets testy over President Trump being 'flanked by stern white military men ' while addressing nation @ @

MSNBC anchor Katy Tur opened her Wednesday afternoon show with a noticeably testy tone concerning President Donald Trump's White House address to the nation on hostilities between the United States and Iran.
"We are asking once again, 'Where is the evidence?'" Tur queried in a clipped tone, a reference to Trump's assertion that bloodthirsty Iranian Gen. Qaseem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. military airstrike because he was an imminent threat to the U.S.
'Stern white military men'
Tur then saw fit to call attention to the race and gender and even the apparent mood of the Joint Chiefs of Staff standing behind Trump — and with a still snippier tone, particularly when she described their skin color.
"Flanked by stern white military men, the president addressed the world this morning, following Iran's attack on military bases housing American soldiers last night," she said.
Oh, the rudeness of it all
If Tur's previous observations weren't irrelevant enough, she also seemed put off that the president didn't, er, offer his audience a proper greeting: "He began not by saying, 'Good morning,' but by demanding that Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. He once again asserted, without evidence, that Qaseem Soleimani was planning an attack on American lives — an imminent attack."
NewsBusters noted her continued point-by-point takedown of Trump: "And he also called on NATO to intervene in the Middle East. He called for the international community to abandon the Iran nuclear deal. He blamed the Obama administration for the recent attacks. But he also appeared to back away from any further military conflict."
Tur also said, according to the outlet: "And considering the President walked us right up to the precipice of yet another war in the Middle East, the American people deserve to see that evidence as well, if it exists."


theblaze--2020-01-09--No anthem kneeling at the Olympics: IOC announces political protest rules

Trying to keep the peace in a divided world Gold medalist Race Imboden of United States takes a knee during @ @ @ @ @ podium of Fencing Men 's Foil Team Gold Medal Match on Day 14 of Lima @ @ @ @ @ Aug. 9 , 2019 in Lima , Peru .
( Photo by Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images @

The International Olympic Committee announced its rules for political protest for the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and some popular forms of athlete protest have been banned, according to The Hill.
While athletes will be allowed to say what they want during interview and news conferences outside the Olympic Village, and on social media, they won't be able to protest in the village, on the field of play, or during medal ceremonies.
The IOC defined political protest as "displaying any political messaging, including signs or armbands and gestures of a political nature, like a hand gesture or kneeling."
That prohibits some popular forms of public political protest by athletes, such as kneeling during the national anthem or making some sort of gesture during the medal ceremony.
The IOC ban on demonstrations also includes "religious or racial propaganda."
Two American athletes were disciplined by the IOC in August after protesting during medal ceremonies at the Pan American Games in Peru.
Fencing athlete Race Imboden kneeled, while hammer thrower Gwen Berry protested with a raised fist. Imoden was protesting racism, immigration policy, and President Donald Trump's rhetoric. Berry was protesting social injustice. They both received 12 months of probation.
After those protests, the IOC decided to release more specific guidelines for protests and demonstrations.
"We believe that the example we set by competing with the world's best while living in harmony in the Olympic Village is a uniquely positive message to send to an increasingly divided world," the IOC guidelines read. "This is why it is important, on both a personal and a global level, that we keep the venues, the Olympic Village and the podium neutral and free from any form of political, religious or ethnic demonstrations."
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo begin July 24 and end Aug. 9. The Olympic athletes will sleep in beds with frames made out of cardboard, which will be recycled along with the mattresses. The bed frames will be recycled into paper, and the mattresses into plastic.


Ryan: War

Why we fight : Prelude to ( possible ) war

Virgil begins "The Aeneid" in darkness. "I sing of warfare and a man at war," followed by an invocation of the Muse and a ton of badass one-liners. Such as:
"The descent into Hell is easy" and "If I cannot move heaven, I will raise hell" and "Let me rage before I die."
War is what happens when we lose our minds collectively, sometimes on a global scale. It is both uniquely human and bleakly inhuman. Brutalism by design, rococo on accident. An animalistic loss of composure that we perfect through elaborate, brilliantly organized maneuvers, only to devolve to our worst selves, overtaken by an ugliness that bursts up from Hell.
Murder is the worst thing a person can do, worse than rape. And war is industrialized murder, assembly-line killing, the violent death of millions of people, scattering our bones into the earth by the pile. Betraying ourselves in every possible way. And often accompanied by all sorts of heinous crimes, including rape. Which makes war, by far, the most odious behavior that humans can commit.
When a war begins, the world gets quieter. Collectively, subconsciously, we are frightened, like a child hiding from a monster. In 2020, this pronouncement — of war — is just as bone-rattling as it has ever been, same as it was in Virgil's Rome, only now, it's infinitely more tangled, complicated by invisible networks that we don't fully understand, like everything else we encounter these days. Because our human era will go down as "The Bluff Age," when everyone was constantly pretending to be relaxed, and competent, but, secretly, no one had the slightest clue what was happening, or why, and especially not how.
Right as I was gliding into the peaceful, dreamy territory of an evening nap, my phone began firing off under a stack of books on the bed. Emails, DMs, phone calls. A text from my father that said, "War."
"Jesus, not again," I said, with the same annoyance you get when the doctor is late and you're stuck in the waiting room.
In 2019, I had to cut five stories because the news moves too fast for all of us. And, here I was, two stories into part 2 of this election series, a new year, and I'd just spent an entire month preparing stories, had literally just completed the final edits on the six-part installment about Trump rallies in Louisiana, and now our attention as a country shifted to war.
Why We Fight: Prelude to War (Frank Capra) www.youtube.com
Times have changed since Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series used cinema to explain World War II to the American public. In "Prelude to War," the first installment, a vaudevillian narrator asks, "Why are we Americans on the march?"
The media change but the questions, at their core, stay the same.
In 2020, you strap on your goggles and dive into Twitter if you want to know about our culture's most recent dumpster fire. Best of all, The Donald himself treated the platform like it was his personal blog.
But Trump hadn't tweeted in hours. An ominous sign.
And Twitter, to nobody's surprise, was a s**tshow. A portion of the activity was news-related, mention of rockets hitting a U.S. airbase in Iraq, likely as retaliation for Trump's recent killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. An assassination that was itself a retaliation, in a history of retaliations too intermingled for anyone to remember who threw the first punch.
For the most part, however, Twitter was just as pathologically sarcastic and delusional as always, only now #WAR was trending.
Meanwhile, the front page of Reddit was even more frantic than normal. At the top, an "Iran War" megathread, flawlessly assembled, with everything I needed all in the one place.
All of it was so serious. I needed a good laugh. A dose of comedy. So I put Fox News on the TV.
Some cardboard pundit kept saying that the amendments to the Constitution are like people — they were born, they grow perfect, but some turn degenerate and come undone, until we're full of senseless death.
Then, like a robotic wax figure, he lifted his chin and faced the camera and said, "War is inevitable."
Then the Fox News logo spun like clipart into an ad for adult diapers. Next was a commercial for those Oakleys-style sunglasses that Navy Seal snipers wear. Isn't it great, the way they pop their heads out of the river with their sunglasses on?
Don't get me wrong, the other networks weren't any better. Just smug in a different way. And now add tension, uncertainty, fear. Would we live through another 9/11? Good God, no, no, no.
Outside, the air belted larger and farther and quicker than usual, slanting with cinema shade that hung behind a divided Moon. Half of it was bright, its usual morose, like an acne-faced teenager. And darkness gloved the other side, low and cracked like a parking lot.
The night seemed so painfully quiet, all at once.
"War and peace," I shouted, in the direction of my two dogs. "Darkness and light."
They expected treats, given the tone of voice I'd chosen. They got treats.
Humans have had cognitive awareness for about 100,000 years now. War has baffled us since we were able to be baffled. Why do we fight?
Poets, philosophers, artists, theologians have all plundered their minds for an answer and the best we can come up with is contradictory, at the very least. It seems that war and peace need one another, like a sexually charged divorce. Existence itself needs that struggle, life and death working together.
Leo Tolstoy captured the existential absurdity of this dilemma in his novel "War and Peace," which chronicles Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. In it, he writes, "If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war."
Fighting for your own convictions turns out to be far trickier than we assume. Because we're not as independent as we'd thought. There is no silence in the world we have created through language and art and religion and history. No single hero, no lone villain. It's never my world. It's only ever ours, with me in it.
Despite our postmodern concept of selfhood as a unique experience that each of us controls, we matter more to the collective than as an individual. Each of our lives achieves meaning as a part of the greater whole. The rest of it is trophies.
Tolstoy writes, "Man lives consciously for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for the achievement of historical, universally human goals."
War is inevitable. But how it affects each of us is a matter of fate. Maybe you're born into the cozy rung of a country that nobody cares about or one that everybody loses to. War still happens, just elsewhere.
War is as fortuitous as life itself. Who knows why we were born now, here, as the person each of us is. But, if you're lucky, war is something you can discover at your leisure.
New installments of this series come out Mondays and Thursdays. Check my Twitter for live updates on my reporting. Email me at kryan@blazemedia.com


theblaze--2020-01-09--NBA star Trae Young helps eliminate $1M in overdue medical debt for Atlanta residents

' I hope these families can find a bit of relief '

NBA star Trae Young, a point guard for the Atlanta Hawks, helped eliminate about $1 million in past due medical debt for residents of Atlanta with the help of a nonprofit organization, according to CNN.
Young partnered with a group called RIP Medical Debt, which was created in 2014 and seeks to buy and forgive medical debt across the country. The organization uses donations such as Young's to purchase portfolios of bundled medical debt for a small fraction of the amount.
The NBA star donated more than $10,000 through his charitable foundation to RIP Medical Debt, which allowed the nonprofit to erase a total of $1,058,186.39 for 570 people — an average relief of $1,858 per person.
"The city of Atlanta has welcomed me with open arms," Young said. "Giving back to this community is extremely important to me. I hope these families can find a bit of relief knowing that their bills have been taken care of as we enter the new year."
Those who have their debt canceled will get an RIP Medical Debt envelope with a letter from Young informing them of the benefit.
RIP Medical Debt seeks to help those who are most in need, according to CNN, targeting individuals who are "two times or below the federal poverty level, insolvent and/or with debts that are five percent or more of gross annual income."
"RIP Medical Debt empowers donors to forgive billions in oppressive medical debt," the nonprofit's mission statement reads. "We are dedicated to removing the burden of medical debt for individuals and families and veterans across America."
Young, who is in his second year in the NBA after playing one season at the University of Oklahoma, is already one of the top players in the league. This season, he is averaging 29.2 points (fourth-best in the NBA) and 8.5 assists (fifth-best in the NBA) per game.


theblaze--2020-01-09--Iran sent 'multiple messages' to let the US know its missile attacks had ended: report

Iran sent 'multiple messages ' to let the US know its missile attacks had ended : report The messages went @ @ @ @ @ channels '

Iranian officials really wanted the United States to know when Tuesday night's missile attack was over, according to a report from CNN.
The CNN story cited "a person familiar with the matter" who said that Iran tried to reach out through "at least three back channels," including Switzerland and other countries, in order to let U.S. officials know that the regime's retaliatory strikes had ended. The person claimed that there were "multiple messages and they were all the same."
The communications, CNN added, happened while American officials were trying to figure out the extent of the attack and come up with a proper response to it.
"Iran wanted to convey their retaliatory action had ended," the story said Wednesday, "and was waiting to see how the US would respond."
In addition to the reported back-channel communications Tuesday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also tweeted out a statement that that the country had concluded the action and was not looking for "escalation or war" but were acting in response to last week's U.S. airstrike that took out Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The information follows on multiplereports that the U.S. had prior knowledge of the attacks thanks to our defense and intelligence systems.
In his Wednesday morning address regarding the strike, President Trump attributed to the lack of U.S. or Iraqi troop deaths to "the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well." During the same address, he also stated that the regime in Tehran "appears to be standing down" and announced harsher economic sanctions against the country until it "changes its behavior."


theblaze--2020-01-09--VIDEO: Police searching for suspect who brutally assaulted a veteran on a bus, causing the vet to lo

VIDEO: Police searching for suspect who brutally assaulted a veteran on a bus, causing the vet to lose an eye

VIDEO : Police searching for suspect who brutally assaulted a veteran on a bus , causing the vet to lose @ @

Las Vegas police have released video of a brutal assault on a veteran that took place on a bus in December, hoping that someone can identify the attacker, according to The Associated Press.
The video shows a group of passengers riding a bus on Dec. 13. The veteran, a white male in what looks to be a blue vest and a white shirt, is sitting next to a black male in a blue hooded sweatshirt.
The black male puts his feet in the lap of the veteran. The veteran removes the man's feet from his lap. Then the attacker stands up and punches the veteran in the face.
The veteran stands up and attempts to defend himself, but the attacker punches him in the face again, sending him to the ground with his hands over his eyes. The attacker then grabs his bag and walks out of view of the camera, presumably off the bus. No other passenger stepped in during the altercation.
Violent Attack on Bus Passenger -- Suspect Search! youtu.be
The veteran has not been publicly identified. He is in his mid-60s and is a former U.S. Marine. The suspect is identified as a black male in his mid-30s.
According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, the veteran had to have his right eye removed as a result of injuries sustained during the assault.
Surveillance video has played a key role in helping Las Vegas police catch suspects of violent crime. Just after midnight on New Year's Day, a woman was seen on a doorbell camera being dragged by a man into a car against her will. Police said public release of the doorbell camera footage online aided them in making an arrest.
Bus security video helped secure the arrest of a Las Vegas woman who pushed a 74-year-old man face-first off a bus and killed him in March. She will face trial in May.
(H/T: Washington Examiner)


theblaze--2020-01-09--MSNBC's Chris Matthews compares Soleimani to Princess Diana, Elvis. Iranians say he's dead wrong and

MSNBC's Chris Matthews compares Soleimani to Princess Diana, Elvis. Iranians say he's dead wrong and pushing 'propaganda.'

MSNBC 's Chris Matthews compares Soleimani to Princess Diana , Elvis .
Iranians say he 's dead wrong and pushing @ @ @ @ @ not quite understand what he 's actually saying here

MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews on Wednesday compared Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani's death to the deaths of American rock legend Elvis Presley and the United Kingdom's Princess Diana. Presley died in 1977 following a fatal heart attack. Princess Diana was killed in 1997 following a fatal car accident in Paris.
The U.S. conducted an airstrike on Soleimani's convoy last week, killing the Iranian general who was responsible for carrying out acts of terror on both local and global levels. Soleimani led the nation's Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
What did Matthews say?
During a discussion with Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Matthews said, "When some people die, you don't know what the impact is going to be."
"When Princess Diana died, for example, there was a huge emotional outpouring," he reasoned. "Elvis Presley in our culture. It turns out that this general we killed was a beloved hero of the Iranian people to the point where — look at the people, we got pictures up now — these enormous crowds coming out."
"There's no American emotion in this case," Matthews continued, "but there's a hell of a lot of emotion on the other side."
Matthews later asked Castro whether he believed U.S. leaders should be aware of what they're doing when they take out such public figures.
Castro responded by saying that the U.S. could have anticipated such a reaction from Iranians.
"They very much could have anticipated that Iranians would react in this way, both the Iranian public but also that the government would strike back," Castro reasoned. "This speaks to a much larger issue, Chris, which is the president has had a very chaotic and erratic foreign policy, especially with respect to Iran."
Is the Iranian mourning authentic?
The Washington Post and NBC News have both reported that the Iranian mourning of Soleimani was not necessarily authentic, and that Soleimani himself was not nearly as popular or beloved as Matthews apparently made him out to be.
According to a Post opinion article by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, "Don't take what you're seeing at face value" when it comes to the mass mourning.
Warning against Iranian propaganda, Alinejad wrote, "[W]hat to make of the crowds of flag-waving mourners streaming across TV screens?"
"Without doubt, Soleimani had support among hard-liners and regime loyalists," Alinejad added. "The regime is not taking any chances, though. In the city of Ahvaz, where large numbers of people turned out to mourn Soleimani, the government has forced students and officials to attend. It provided free transport and ordered shops to shut down."
It only got worse, according to Alinejad.
"According to videos sent to me by people inside the country, the authorities are making little kids write essays praising the fallen commander," she said. "First-graders who didn't know how to write were encouraged to cry for Soleimani."
"The media in the Islamic Republic is heavily controlled," she insisted. "Public gatherings are allowed only if they are pro-regime. Critics are jailed or shot. ... So it's not hard to use all the tools and resources of the state to stage a funeral procession."
Is the U.S. media falling for Iran's 'propaganda'?
Iranian author Parnaz Foroutan wrote that Iran's "propaganda" implies that the nation is mourning Soleimani's death — which couldn't be further from the truth.
Foroutan warned that the U.S. media is falling for the ruse and running with the resulting stories.
"The Western media fail to discern between public displays of ideology sanctioned by the regime and quickly silenced opinions of those who dissent," she wrote.
"I listened to The New York Times say that 'Iran is in mourning' after [Soleimani's] death," she said. "Headlines repeated the word mourning and showed crowds in the streets of Iran weeping and holding signs that promised revenge for the death of a beloved hero. The news has repeatedly referred to Soleimani as revered by the Iranian people."
Foroutan said that the U.S. media has widely ignored how "students are forced to participate" and that "public transportation in Iran has been at a standstill."
"[F]amily members in Iran tell me, since all available buses are being used to round up scattered supporters throughout the country to fill the frame of the lens," she added.
Fouroutan noted that the media — both locally and internationally — has made a big deal of tearful Iranians publicly mourning Soleimani's death — but have ignored what the Iranian motivation may be.
"The international press has reported on those who have made public statements in Iran, their tear-filled condolences for the death of this revered hero, but virtually no one in the press has mentioned that some might be forced to do so in order to protect their livelihood," she warned. "Because the state controls everything in Iran."
Chris Matthews Compares Soleimani to Elvis Presley and Princess Diana - YouTube www.youtube.com
(H/T: The Washington Free Beacon)


theblaze--2020-01-09--Appeals court lifts block on federal funds for border wall; President Trump says construction 'ready

Appeals court lifts block on federal funds for border wall; President Trump says construction 'ready to start'

Appeals court lifts block on federal funds for border wall ; President Trump says construction 'ready to start' Trump says @ @ @ @ @ the largest sections ' of the wall

A federal appeals court has lifted a lower court's decision to block federal defense funds the Trump administration plans to use to construct a section of wall along the southern United States border.
In a fairly brief court order issued Wednesday, a split three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court's injunction on the funds from last month, Politico reported, with the two-judge majority ruling that there was a "substantial likelihood" that the plaintiffs in the matter lacked the proper legal standing to bring the case in the first place. The order also notes that the Supreme Court stayed a similar injunction from a different federal court in a suit brought by the Sierra Club.
The judicial hold on the roughly $3.6 billion was put in place by U.S. District Court judge David Briones of the Western District Texas last month in response to a lawsuit brought by the Border Network for Human Rights and El Paso County. The plaintiffs claim that the president is overstepping his constitutional authority by using a national emergency declaration to redirect defense funding for his border security efforts.
"Although I agree with my colleagues that this matter presents "a substantial case on the merits" and involves a "serious legal question," the dissent says, "I am unable to agree, without focused panel deliberation and discussion — possibly aided by dialogue with counsel — that the government presently has shown either a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm in the absence of a stay."
President Donald Trump resorted to the declaration of a national emergency to build the border wall last February in the wake the 35-day partial government shutdown over border security funding. Since then, the declaration has not only been the subject of lawsuits, but also failed attempts to terminate it in Congress.
Trump responded to Wednesday's 5th Circuit order with a Thursday morning tweet saying that it had given administration "the go ahead to build one of the largest sections of the desperately needed Southern Border Wall" and that "Entire Wall is under construction or getting ready to start".
In September the Trump administration laid down a goal of constructing 450 miles of border wall by the end of 2020. However, acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Mark Morgan said last month, "It's hard right now to be able to say whether we're still going to be able to meet that goal, but I'm confident that we're going to be close."


theblaze--2020-01-09--Burglar armed with gun enters house. But homeowner has gun, too — and intruder doesn't make it out a

Burglar armed with gun enters house. But homeowner has gun, too — and intruder doesn't make it out alive.

Burglar armed with gun enters house .
But homeowner has gun , too — and intruder does n't make it @ @ @ @ @ or not , homeowner is county coroner employee

A Mississippi man arrived home just before noon Tuesday to find a burglar armed with a gun in a bedroom, the Biloxi Sun Herald reported.
But the homeowner — who happens to work for the Jackson County coroner's office — also had a gun and pulled the trigger, police told the paper.
With that, the burglar "fell behind the bed," Pascagoula Police Chief Matt Chapman told the Sun Herald.
What happened to the burglar?
Harrison County Deputy Coroner Brian Switzer — called to the scene by the Jackson County coroner's office to avoid conflict of interest — said Walter Williams, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, the paper said.
Walter Williams Images source: Pascagoula (Miss.) Police
Authorities were familiar with Williams, also of Pascagoula, because he had a criminal history and was a suspect in several other burglaries in the city, the Sun Herald reported.
What about the homeowner?
Chapman told the paper the homeowner isn't expected to face criminal charges and was "defending himself in his home."
However, the results of the investigation will be turned over to the district attorney's office so a grand jury can determine if any criminal wrongdoing occurred, Chapman added to the Sun Herald.


theblaze--2020-01-09--VIDEO: Rep. Ilhan Omar laughs while colleagues talk about US casualties in Iraq War, then turns arou

VIDEO: Rep. Ilhan Omar laughs while colleagues talk about US casualties in Iraq War, then turns around and condemns sanctions on Iran

VIDEO : Rep. Ilhan Omar laughs while colleagues talk about US casualties in Iraq War , then turns around and @ @ @ @

During a news conference Wednesday, liberal Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) distractingly laughed and joked around while her colleague Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) discussed Americans who lost their lives during the Iraq War.
"We never solved any problems with AUMF, we left 4,000-plus, maybe even 4,400, dead, and over 60,000 who came back injured in some form, and the war never ended," Lee said as Omar continued to laugh and chat with colleagues in the background.
"I recall the language in AUMF, it deals with hostilities in Iraq," Lee continued. "It doesn't deal with an incident or a dislike or someone in a car coming in from the airport. That is the danger of not acting and I do think with our leadership, meaning the leadership CPC, that will come together around specific answers."
Ilhan Omar laughs and jokes around as her colleague discusses U.S. casualties in Iraqhttps://t.co/LfpLyXLPQGpic.twitter.com/R28SVlIqq5
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 8, 2020
When it was Omar's turn to speak, however, she became far more serious. She somberly noted how conversations of war often cause her to experience post traumatic stress disorder, a result of her childhood experience in war-torn Somalia.
"I feel ill a little bit because of everything that is taking place and I think every time I hear of conversations around war I find myself being stricken with PTSD," Omar said.
Omar also used her time at the podium to condemn President Trump's installment of "crippling" sanctions that are "starv[ing] the innocent people of Iran" and argued that since Trump took office he has been "goading Iran into war."
Omar condemns “crippling" Iranian sanctions, despite being an avid supporter of BDS against Israelhttps://t.co/xavicAolVOpic.twitter.com/R18d6ZC1Mu
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 8, 2020
Earlier in the day, Omar tweeted in response to Trump's address to the nation following Tuesday's Iranian missile strikes, saying the president's newly announced sanctions on the Iranian regime made "no sense."
"Sanctions are economic warfare," she said. "You cannot claim to want deescalation and then announce new sanctions with no clear goal. This is not a measured response!"
This makes no sense. Sanctions are economic warfare.
They have already caused medical shortages and countless deaths in Iran.
You cannot claim to want deescalation and then announce new sanctions with no clear goal. This is not a measured response! https://t.co/sGWtwXuNDT
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 8, 2020
Omar, despite apparently opposing sanctions on Iran, ardently supports sanctions on Israel, the United States' strongest ally in the region.
This serves as one example of why she was recently voted 2019's "Antisemite of the Year" by stopantisemitism.org.
She is a staunch supporter of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, which intends to cripple Israel and de-legitimize Israel's right to exist.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Watch: GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz  explains why he voted for War Powers Resolution

Watch : GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz explains why he voted for War Powers Resolution 'If our servicemembers have the courage @ @ @ @ @ these wars , Congress ought to have the courage to vote for or against them @ @

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — a steadfast supporter of President Donald Trump — was one of only three Republicans to vote for the War Powers Resolution that passed Thursday in the House of Representatives, despite the president's opposition to the measure.
Gaetz argued in support of the resolution on the House floor before the vote, and later expanded on his reasoning in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
House Democrats introduced the War Powers Resolution as way to limit President Trump's authority to wage war against Iran after he ordered an airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. and known terrorist Qassem Soleimani.
What are the details?
In his floor speech, Gaetz reminded his colleagues of his consistent record of defending President Trump before explaining, "This resolution offers no criticism of the president — no critique. It doesn't criticize the president's attack on Soleimani. Matter of fact, this resolution doesn't even say Soleimani's name it."
"I represent more troops than any other member of this body," Gaetz told the lower chamber. "I buried one of them earlier today at Arlington.
"If our servicemembers have the courage to fight and die in these wars, Congress ought to have the courage to vote for or against them."
President Trump called for all House Republicans to vote against the measure, leading Carlson to ask Gaetz why he — as such a strong ally of the president — decided to vote in favor of the resolution.
Gaetz told Carlson the resolution did not target President Trump specifically.
"But it did say that if any president wants to drag our nation into another forever Middle East war, that they require the approval of the United States Congress," Gaetz said. "That's something that I deeply believe, and I think it's something the president deeply believes."
Anything else?
The other two Republicans to vote for the War Powers Resolution were Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Francis Rooney (Fla.).


theblaze--2020-01-10--Rep. Kinzinger condemns 'sick' Democrat blaming Trump for Iran shooting down passenger plane

`` We are broken as a country if this is the level of our debate ... ''

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) strongly condemned Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) for suggesting that President Donald Trump was responsible for Iran reportedly shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane with a missile on Tuesday.
"This is.... sick. Once again Iran is the victim," Kinzinger tweeted.
He was reacting to a comment from Speier to Wolf Blitzer on CNN.
"This is yet another example of collateral damage from the actions that have been taken in a provocative way by the president of the United States," Speier said.
Kinzinger later appeared himself on CNN to explain his condemnation of her comments.
"Blaming the President for the Iranian airliner shoot down, we are broken as a country if this is the level of our debate moving forward," he said. "And we have to move on from it, and be adults again."
Kinzinger went on to condemn the overheated rhetoric on both sides, including claims from some Republicans that Democrats were commiserating with terrorists when they criticized the timing of the US airstrike on Soleimani.
All 176 passengers traveling in the Ukrainian plane perished when it went down after it took off from Tehran in Iran.
Early reports from Iran attempted to blame the crash on instrument error, but U.S. officials on Thursday said that there was growing evidence that the plane was hit by a Russian-manufactured anti-aircraft missile fired by Iran.
Here are the full comments from Kinzinger:


theblaze--2020-01-10--PETA angered over AOC...and her little dog, too

PETA angered over AOC ... and her little dog , too 'We really could n't believe our eyes , because @ @ @ @ @ for how to live '

Animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has an established reputation for publicly shaming and smearing any business or individual who does not live up to their extreme standards, but the group was apparently put in a difficult situation this week when they had to address Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) sin of adopting a purebred puppy.
What are the details?
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez introduced her new puppy — which appeared to be a French bulldog — on social media this week, and while PETA could not resist the chance to confront their fellow attention-lover, the activist group gave the congresswoman an out, saying that "as a person who fights for justice, we doubt she could've realized the implications."
PETA also sent Ocasio-Cortez a letter, telling the congresswoman, "We really couldn't believe our eyes, because you are a role model for how to live, so we understand that you just didn't realize what you were doing in this case — you couldn't have. With the millions of homeless dogs out there, you apparently chose to buy a purebred puppy instead of adopting one from an animal shelter."
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement, "AOC had a chance to set a compassionate, responsible example in the face of the homeless-animal crisis, but instead, she apparently inadvertently contributed to the problem."
Although PETA stuck with its signature condescending tone with Ocasio-Cortez, the group has not shown the same forgiving grace toward other targets of their ire. PETA has paid for billboards in an attempt to ruin restaurants that serve meat and last year even took the time to shame the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin on his birthday.
The Daily Mail noted that Ocasio-Cortez has not responded to confirm her puppy's breed or origins, and "PETA also didn't respond to DailyMail.com's inquiry on whether the group knew for certain the congresswoman's dog came from a breeder and not a rescue group."
Anything else?
In PETA's statement on Ocasio-Cortez's puppy, the group reiterated that it "opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview."


theblaze--2020-01-10--College professor jokes on Facebook about Iran attacking the US to dunk on Trump — and loses his job

College professor jokes on Facebook about Iran attacking the US to dunk on Trump — and loses his job over it

College professor jokes on Facebook about Iran attacking the US to dunk on Trump — and loses his job over @ @ @ @ @ a `` sloppy joke ''

A professor is looking for a new job after being fired from a Massachusetts college over a Facebook post advocating that Iran attack U.S. cultural sites, which he claimed was a joke.
Adjunct professor Asheen Phansey made a reference to a comment from President Donald Trump in the post that got him fired from Babson College.
"In retaliation, Ayatollah Khomenei should tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb," he said in the Facebook post. "Um... Mall of America? ...Kardashian residence?"
President Trump had threatened to attack 52 sites in Iran, including some cultural centers, if they retaliated over his order to kill Iranian military leader Qassam Soleimani. Democrats excoriated him for the suggestion, and the Pentagon walked the comments back.
Phansey apologized for the post he said was a joke.
"I am sorry that my sloppy humor was read as a threat," he said. "I am completely opposed to violence and would never advocate it by anyone."
The college released a statement announcing and explaining the firing on Thursday.
"Babson College conducted a prompt and thorough investigation related to a post shared on a staff member's personal Facebook page that does not represent the values and culture of the College," the school said. "Based on the results of the investigation, the staff member is no longer a Babson College employee."
Phansey had been placed on administrative leave on Wednesday while the college investigated the post.
Here's more about the misguided joke:


theblaze--2020-01-10--GOP congressman mocks Nancy Pelosi with video tour showing how to find the Senate

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has withheld articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump from the Senate for weeks, leading GOP Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) to speculate that the speaker "can't seem to find" the upper chamber.
So, in a tongue-in-cheek effort to help her out, Roy provided a guided video tour showing the short walk from the House of Representatives to the Senate.
What are the details?
On Thursday afternoon, the congressman tweeted out, "@SpeakerPelosi can't seem to find the Senate, so I took the time to show her the path from the House floor to the Senate floor. Guess what? It only took 1 minute and 37 seconds. Madam speaker, what's the holdup?"
During a press conference the same day, Pelosi told reporters she would send the two articles of impeachment along to the Senate "when I'm ready," adding that "will probably be soon."
Republicans and even a few Democrats have expressed frustration over the speaker's prolonged delay, while Pelosi has insisted on holding the articles citing concerns over how the upper chamber will conduct its trial.
Anything else?
Also on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signed on to a resolution that would change the Senate rules and allow impeachment articles to be dismissed if they are held by the House longer than 25 days. Yet, McConnell reportedly told GOP senators to prepare for an impeachment trial as early as next week, saying he expects Pelosi to pass along the articles in the coming days.
H/T: Washington Examiner


theblaze--2020-01-10--WATCH: Seattle police stand by while BlazeTV reporter assaulted by Antifa mob

WATCH : Seattle police stand by while BlazeTV reporter assaulted by Antifa mob

Police stood by and watched while masked Antifa protesters physically and verbally assaulted BlazeTV contributor Elijah Schaffer during a protest Sunday in Seattle, Washington.
Schaffer, host of "Slightly Offens*ve," was forcefully struck in the head when he attempted to stop a group of Antifa counterprotesters from grabbing a camera held by one of his producers. The protesters then surrounded Schaffer and his producer and barraged them with curses and threatening verbal abuse.
Watch the video Schaffer posted on Twitter below:
(Content warning: Strong language and violent content.)
Watch Slightly Offens*ve's full length videos below. (Content warning: Strong language and violent content.)
Part 1: The Fall of Antifa
Part 2: Antifa Strikes Back
Want more from Elijah Schaffer?
Subscribe to Elijah's "Slightly Offens*ve" channel on YouTube for FREE access to his man-on-the-street interviews, protest coverage and more craziness that happens everyday in the USA.


theblaze--2020-01-10--House approves resolution to limit President Trump's authority to take military action against Iran

House approves resolution to limit President Trump 's authority to take military action against Iran Republicans say the resolution does @ @ @ @ @ law

A congressional resolution to limit President Donald Trump's authority to take military against Iran without Congress passed the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The measure passed with a vote of 224 to 194.
Three Republicans voted for the measure, while eight Democrats voted against it. Independent Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) also voted in favor.
The measure says that the president should end military action in Iran after 30 days if he does not receive congressional approval.
Trump tweeted Thursday morning that he wanted all Republicans to vote against the measure.
"Hope that all House Republicans will vote against Crazy Nancy Pelosi's War Powers Resolution," he tweeted.
He followed up with a tweet approving a statement from John Bolton, his former national security advisor, opining that the 1973 War Powers Resolution was unconstitutional and should be repealed.
"Smart analysis, I fully agree!" he added.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) derided the vote and said the resolution had "as much force of law as a New Year's resolution."
He elaborated to reporters during a weekly press briefing.
"This is a meaningless vote that only sends the wrong message that the House Democrats would rather stand with the socialist base than stand against Iran," McCarthy said.
Iran retaliated with a missile attack in Iraq on Tuesday after the US killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike.
Here's the latest on the war powers resolution:


theblaze--2020-01-10--California beach town's residents say officials moved the homeless into their neighborhoods to make

California beach town's residents say officials moved the homeless into their neighborhoods to make way for Bernie Sanders rally

California beach town 's residents say officials moved the homeless into their neighborhoods to make way for Bernie Sanders rally @ @ @ @ @ also at the rally

Residents of a California beach city are furious at their local officials after homeless people were reportedly moved into their neighborhoods to make way for a Bernie Sanders rally.
NBC-4 in Los Angeles covered the story in their "streets of shame" series about the homeless epidemic in Los Angeles.
Residents say that the city moved homeless encampments away from the beach and into their neighborhoods when Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held a campaign rally in Venice Beach.
Sanders had a rally in Venice on December 21, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) showing her support.
Advocates for the homeless even noted the displacement at the time:
Residents told NBC-4 that the homeless encampments have changed the character of their neighborhood and they no longer feel safe.
"Our homeless have exponentially increased, and in the case of my block, have more than quadrupled in less than a month," said Daniel Wojack.
"We've gone from being a beautiful neighborhood to a somewhat dangerous one," lamented resident Lois Whitman.
Venice police lead officer Adrian Acosta rebuffed suggestions that a housing shortage was the sole reason for homelessness, and added that addiction and mental illness are what is driving the crisis.
Here's the video of the report:


theblaze--2020-01-10--This dad lost 40 pounds so he could donate his liver to save his 1-year-old son

This dad lost 40 pounds so he could donate his liver to save his 1-year-old son He says it was @ @ @

Parents will do anything to protect their children, and for Sean Kelley, "anything" was dropping 40 pounds so that he could donate part of his liver to save his 1-year-old son's life.
"You want to see them thrive. You want to see them happy. You want to give them every chance to succeed in life that you can. And this was an opportunity to do that," he said, in a story by ABC News.
The family suffers from a condition called Alagille syndrome
Sean Kelley lives in Western New York with his wife, Josie, and their seven kids — the two youngest are 1-year-old twins named Silas and Sawyer.
One of the twins, Sawyer, with a genetic condition called Alagille syndrome, which effects the several organs in the body but primarily the liver and the heart.
Two of the Kelleys' other children were also born with Alagille syndrome. According to ABC News, their son Tristan had open-heart surgery at just 3 months old. Their daughter Meara, whose heart and liver function properly, is able to live in relative comfort only suffering one of the condition's more minor symptoms, itchy skin.
For Sawyer, immediate attention was needed. Doctors said without a liver transplant, he would die.
"He needed a liver transplant because his liver had to compensate," said Dr. George Mazariegos, chief of pediatric transplantation at UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. "Even at this early age, just over a year old, he really could not survive more than a month without a liver transplant."
This dad lost 40 pounds to save his son's life: 'It was pretty overwhelming' | GMA Digital youtu.be
The dad said his decision to help was a 'no-brainer'
The family immediately began working through the hospital to look for a donor, but before long, Kelley realized that he may be able to help, as well.
"There's no reason that I can't get down to the weight that I need to see if could I could be a match," Kelley said. "I didn't know if I would be a match for Sawyer or not, but to even go through the evaluation process I had to get my weight down to a certain point."
Doctors told Kelley that in order to determine if he was a match for Sawyer, he would have to shed 40 pounds. Kelley then began his weight loss endeavor in August 2019, and credits his wife for helping him achieve his goals.
"She kept telling me that if I kept eating right and exercising I would get to my ultimate goal, and it didn't matter if I lost 2 pounds this week or 3 the next, I just needed to keep working hard," he said. "I would drive her crazy because I would want to weigh myself every day and she would just say wait till the end of the week."
Finally, just a few months later, Kelley received the confirmation he had been working toward: He was a match.
"It was pretty overwhelming ... I had to literally sit down and just kind of take a few minutes," he said.
On Dec. 19, doctors successfully performed the transplant surgery and baby Sawyer is now on his way to a full recovery.
"He will be much healthier, we believe, with this liver, and be able to withstand infections and withstand things that right now were really big setbacks for him," Mazariegos said.
Kelley told "Good Morning America" after the surgery that the decision to lose the weight and help his son was a "no-brainer."


theblaze--2020-01-10--Toronto police reportedly threaten reporter with arrest. Reporter's 'crime'? Referring to Qassem Sol

Toronto police reportedly threaten reporter with arrest. Reporter's 'crime'? Referring to Qassem Soleimani as a 'terrorist.'

Toronto police reportedly threaten reporter with arrest .
Reporter 's 'crime ' ?
Referring to Qassem Soleimani as a 'terrorist @ @

Toronto police reportedly threatened a Canadian reporter with arrest after the reporter referred to Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani as a "terrorist."
The U.S. conducted an airstrike that killed Soleimani last week near the Baghdad airport in Iraq.
What are the details?
A reporter was caught in the crossfire during a candlelight vigil for Iranian terrorist Soleimani.
The vigil, which was held outside a Toronto courthouse, saw a crowd of people and protesters congregating over the killing of Soleimani. An estimated 200 people attended the event.
Rebel News reporter David Menzies was one of those in attendance.
Menzies can be seen and heard in a video talking with the various people who had turned out for the demonstration, using the word "terrorist" when referring to Soleimani. Law enforcement can be seen approaching Menzies and advising him to stop using the word "terrorist" when referring to the Iranian general for fear of inciting the crowd.
One officer threatened that he would arrest Menzies if the reporter did not comply with the officer's demands.
During the exchange, Menzies insisted, "I can't call a terrorist, a 'terrorist?'"
The officer responded, "Not in this sort of environment, no. You can't. That's going to incite a breach of the peace and that is Canadian law. Am I clear? It's a breach of the peace. You will be placed under arrest."
"So I can't call Osama Bin Laden a terrorist?" Menzies can be heard saying to the officer.
The officer later responds, "If I hear another word like that, you're coming with me. You are not to use that word again here in this environment. Do you understand me? It incites a breach of the peace and you will be put under arrest."
During the exchange, Menzies insisted that his free speech was protected by the Canadian constitution.
Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that all Canadian citizens have the right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression.
Toronto police threaten Rebel journalist for calling Qasem Soleimani a “terrorist" | David Menzies www.youtube.com
(H/T: Redstate)


theblaze--2020-01-10--Transgender activist with male genitalia — brutally mocked by Ricky Gervais over gynecology rejectio

Transgender activist with male genitalia — brutally mocked by Ricky Gervais over gynecology rejection — vows to block comedian's live show

Transgender activist with male genitalia — brutally mocked by Ricky Gervais over gynecology rejection — vows to block comedian 's @ @ @ @ @ I 'm not allowing this '

It. Is. On.
After transgender activist with male genitalia Jessica Yaniv complained of being turned away by a gynecologist a month ago, comedian Ricky Gervais brutally mocked Yaniv on Twitter about it.
"It's disgusting that a qualified gynaecologist can refuse to check a lady's c**k for ovarian cancer. What if her bollocks are pregnant? She could lose the baby. I'm outraged," Gervais tweeted.
Yaniv seemed mum about the slight — but now it appears the trans activist is fighting back.
Now what?
Upon hearing the news that Gervais is performing in Vancouver, British Columbia, this summer, Yaniv said no way:
Image source: Twitter
Of course, Gervais is fresh off burning leftist Hollywood to the ground in a no-holds-barred Golden Globes monologue Sunday, and demand for his comedic services is higher than ever — which makes Yaniv's declaration a bit silly.
But don't expect the trans activist to do nothing, as Yaniv has created a kind of cottage industry of personal outrage.
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
Last year, Yaniv filed numerous human rights complaints against salons that refused to wax Yaniv's male genitalia. And while British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal determined Yaniv's complaints were "divorced from reality" — and the trans activist was ordered to pay $2,000 to each of three respondents in the case — Yaniv is at it again.
Yes, the activist recently launched a new complaint against a salon run by immigrant women of the Sikh faith, the National Post said. Seems the salon turned down Yaniv's waxing request, saying it only serves females — and further rejected the request because of "religious, cultural and safety reasons," the paper added.
As of Friday afternoon, Gervais hasn't tweeted a response to Yaniv's threat to shut down his show — but it will no doubt be entertaining if he does.
Here's a SkyNews commentary about Yaniv's complaints against the salons last summer:


theblaze--2020-01-10--Nancy Pelosi's idea to stall impeachment came from a former Nixon lawyer on CNN

Nancy Pelosi 's idea to stall impeachment came from a former Nixon lawyer on CNN It 's not working out @

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is gradually moving toward giving up her stall tactic of holding articles of impeachment in the House to prevent a Senate trial, and she reportedly got the failed idea by watching CNN, according to Time.
The House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Dec.18, which most people assumed at the time represented the handoff of impeachment from the House to the Senate.
Pelosi, however, quickly announced that she was going to exploit a loophole of sorts — she would not name impeachment managers, a required action before impeachment goes to the Senate for trial. She hoped that this delay would serve as leverage to convince Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to set rules for the trial Democrats felt were fair.
As it turns out, Republicans don't really care if they never have to hold an impeachment trial for a Republican president, and McConnell has patiently waited for Pelosi to realize the futility of her tactic.
Pelosi, according to Time, thought that President Trump and Republicans would be tortured by the thought that Trump would be perpetually impeached, with no chance to acquit or dismiss. She has since learned that is not the case.
The idea apparently came from a man who served as former President Richard Nixon's lawyer, who brought it up during an interview on CNN. From Time:
Pelosi, according to an aide, had been mulling the tactic since she heard former Nixon White House counsel John Dean float the idea on CNN on Dec. 5. In the committee meeting, she added that she believed McConnell would be motivated to move. "Somebody said to me today that he may not even take up what we send. [But] then [Trump] will never be vindicated," she said, according to the aide in the room. "He will be impeached forever. Forever. No matter what the Senate does."
The extremely political move to withhold impeachment articles as leverage to establish trial terms contradicts the messaging Pelosi has put forward about impeachment this entire time, which is that it's about constitutional duty and not politics.
Pelosi, after losing support within her own party for the delay, has announced that she will appoint impeachment managers and transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week, clearing the way for a trial.


theblaze--2020-01-10--WATCH: Rand Paul takes a swipe at Lindsey Graham over Trump's 'war powers' in interview with Eric Bo

WATCH: Rand Paul takes a swipe at Lindsey Graham over Trump's 'war powers' in interview with Eric Bolling

WATCH : Rand Paul takes a swipe at Lindsey Graham over Trump 's 'war powers ' in interview with Eric @

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took a swipe at fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) on Thursday's episode of "America with Eric Bolling," saying the South Carolina congressman doesn't know his history or the Constitution, and believes that the president of the United States has 'unlimited power' to declare war without congressional approval.
"There are people in this country — let's say Lindsey Graham — who believe that the commander in chief has unlimited power, that the Constitution just gave him that power to do whatever he wants," Paul told Eric Bolling.
Paul was responding to Graham's criticism on Wednesday regarding how war powers are allocated to the commander in chief and legislative branch. Read more on this here.
In this video clip, Rand said he thinks President Donald Trump is the "best president of his lifetime," ranking up there with Ronald Reagan, but stood by his defense of "the checks and balances" between Congress and the president.
He went on to explain his support of the "War Powers Act" — a resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) to restrict the president's power to take additional military action without congressional approval.
"If you look at what the Constitution and our Founding Fathers said, they were very explicit when they took the war-making power and gave it to Congress. They took it away from the president," Paul said. "So, when I go to the floor to discuss this War Powers Act, it won't be, for me, a session of bashing Trump. I will begin with Truman, LBJ, Obama, and all the host of presidents who have said that Congress doesn't matter. Congress needs to matter. For me, it's more of an intellectual debate over war-making power.""
Watch the video below to catch more of the conversation:
Rand Paul EXCLUSIVE FULL INTV: Does Trump Need Permission to Start a War? | AMericA w/ Eric Bolling youtu.be
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theblaze--2020-01-10--Parents speak out about how they're raising 7-year-old intersex child who has male-appearing genital

Parents speak out about how they're raising 7-year-old intersex child who has male-appearing genitalia, two X chromosomes, and refers to herself with female pronouns

Parents speak out about how they 're raising 7-year-old intersex child who has male-appearing genitalia , two X chromosomes , @ @ @ @ @ female pronouns

Eric and Stephani Lohman's 7-year-old daughter is intersex, and they are allowing her to grow up with medical surgical intervention.
Merriam-Webster defines "intersexuality" as "the condition ... of either having both male and female gonadal tissue in one individual or of having the gonads of one sex and external genitalia that is of the other sex or is ambiguous."
What are the details?
The Lohmans' child, Rosie, was born intersex.
Doctors determined that though her external anatomy "appeared more traditionally male," she had two X chromosomes, making her biologically female.
Eric said he was the first to notice the difference, according to CNN.
"The nurse picked her up and showed her to us, and I saw her body right away and noticed that she had what looked like a small penis," he recalled. "I knew that surgeries were common for intersex kids, but I didn't really understand how it would work. And so, my fear at the time was that they were going to take Rosie out of the room, and they were going to suggest doing the surgery [immediately]."
Stephani said that surgeons pressured her to agree to surgery for Rosie.
"When I met with the surgeon the first day, it was an intimidating day and it was overwhelming," she recalled, revealing that doctors brought "photos of a fresh surgical vagina of an infant."
"As if my concern was 'do I think that the surgeon could do a good enough job cutting up my child,'" Stephani added.
Eric and Stephani said after seeing the photo and weighing the risks with the benefits, they decided to let their daughter grow up without any type of surgical interventions.
Rosie said that while she prefers to use female pronouns, she sometimes feels like a boy, but other times, feels nonbinary.
"Because I am both!" she said, the outlet said.
What else?
According to CNN, the Lohmans have become activists against such surgeries as a result of their experience.
Pending legislation in states like New York and California would ban surgeries and require informed consent from the patient before conducting a genital surgery.
According to the outlet, the California bill faces a committee vote in a hearing Monday, and the New York bill will be introduced in an upcoming legislative session.


theblaze--2020-01-10--CNN's Erin Burnett: Iranians who chant 'Death to America' don't seem to mean it — after all, I was t

CNN's Erin Burnett: Iranians who chant 'Death to America' don't seem to mean it — after all, I was there and heard them 'once'

CNN 's Erin Burnett : Iranians who chant 'Death to America ' do n't seem to mean it — after @ @ @ @ @ and heard them 'once' 'The people could n't have been more friendly to me personally @ @ @ @

CNN host Erin Burnett said Iranians who chant "Death to America" don't seem to really mean such declarations, as she "once" heard the chanting herself in Tehran.
Burnett issued her advisory Thursday during an interview with Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, MRC-TV reported.
What are the details?
The pair were discussing President Donald Trump's assertion that Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani — killed last week by a U.S. airstrike on Trump's orders — had been planning attacks on U.S. embassies, MRC said.
Burnett asked Turner if he's concerned that Trump might divulge classified information with such a statement, and Turner mentioned the "Death to America" chants in his answer, the outlet noted.
"Even on your network, we've seen the video of the ... flames and the smoke that was boiling out of the embassy in Baghdad as a result of the attack that occurred there," Turner told Burnett. "So I don't think reporting or even speculating on what Iran has been threatening ... Iran itself continues to have its entire parliament to chant 'Death to America.' It's not as if it's a surprise that Iran has been coordinating and targeting America interests throughout the Middle East."
Demonstrators in the streets of Tehran chanting "Death to America, death to George Bush." Photo by ESLAMI RAD/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
But Burnett quickly pushed back against Turner, defended Iranian people, and downplayed the chant — making reference to her time there hearing the chant "once."
The voice of 'experience' speaks
"I will say I was in Tehran when they were chanting 'Death to America' once," she noted. "I was at a rally. The people couldn't have been more friendly to me personally as an American. It sort of felt ... like a 'thing' and a trope as opposed to anything that actually was seriously meant and considered. I understand your point, but having been there, my experience was quite different."
Iranians shouted "Death to America" during a 2015 demonstration marking the anniversary of Iranian students taking Americans hostage in 1979. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
Turner wasn't convinced.
"Erin, your entire life, Iran … has chanted 'Death to America.' And they have taken actions against Americans, American interests, in ways ... that are lethal, killing Americans, giving weaponry to people who have intentions ... to kill Americans," he responded. "So it's not just a slogan; this obviously is something Iran has systematically continued to do. It's part of their seeking weapons of mass destruction and their claim to want to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. These are real threats from the leadership of Iran even though — and I'm glad you had a safe and a warm response — the people on the street may be different than those who are controlling their military."
Burnett replied, "And that is true."
(H/T: Twitchy)


theblaze--2020-01-10--Marianne Williamson's bizarre presidential campaign comes to an end

Marianne Williamson 's bizarre presidential campaign comes to an end Yes , she had still been 'running ' all this @

Author Marianne Williamson ended her pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination Friday, concluding a bizarre campaign that will be remembered (to the extent it is remembered at all) for the odd soundbites Williamson provided in debates and interviews.
Many people may have been unaware before this announcement that Williamson was still running for president, as she had not qualified for a debate since July and was struggling to get to even 1% in many polls. Williamson decided she had maximized her ability to spread her message, so it was time to get out of the way of other candidates.
"I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible effort to share our message," Williamson wrote in her statement. "With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now. The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I don't want to get in the way of a progressive candidate winning any of them."
Williamson laid off her entire campaign staff earlier in January, saying she would move forward with volunteers.
Her campaign was heavily based on her New Age views of spirituality and love, and she rejected most serious and detailed discussion of policy. Her belief was that President Donald Trump won because he exploited fear, not because of policy; therefore, she would run on a platform that love would overcome fear.
One of her most noteworthy debate moments came when she spoke against the "dark psychic force of collectivized hatred" perpetuated by Trump in America.
She was credited for some of her stances on racial justice and environmental issues in July, but the increased interest in her campaign after that also led to an increased scrutiny of her past comments, such as her stance against vaccinations and her description of clinical depression as a "scam."
Despite her peculiar ways and beliefs, her presence in the early debates provided some relief from the deep dives into Medicare for All and immigration policy, making her something of a fan favorite among some viewers online.
Williamson said she will support whoever wins the Democratic nomination.
And now, some parting wisdom from Marianne Williamson:


theblaze--2020-01-10--Texas becomes first state to opt out of refugee resettlement under new Trump order

Texas becomes first state to opt out of refugee resettlement under new Trump order 'Texas has been left by Congress @ @ @ @ @ issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system '

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has told the Trump administration that he doesn't want his state to participate in the federal government's refugee resettlement program, making his state the first to opt out.
In a letter obtained by Blaze Media on Friday, Abbott told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that "Texas cannot consent to initial refugee resettlement" for fiscal year 2020, saying that the state already has enough on its plate to deal with.
"In addition to accepting refugees all these years, Texas has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system," Abbot's letter explains.
Additionally, he wrote that "the state and nonprofit organizations have a responsibility to dedicate available resources to those who are already here, including refugees, migrants and the homeless — indeed, all Texans."
Abbot also said that his decision does not stop any refugees from coming to the United States or stop refugees from later moving to Texas after being first settled in another state.
Under an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last year, states have to affirm in writing that they wish to opt in to the federal refugee resettlement program.
The order, which the White House announced in September says that, "with limited exceptions, the Federal Government, as an exercise of its broad discretion concerning refugee placement accorded to it by the Constitution and the Immigration and Nationality Act, should resettle refugees only in those jurisdictions in which both the State and local governments have consented to receive refugees under the Department of State's Reception and Placement Program."
At a rally in Minnesota in October, Trump touted the executive order, telling voters "You should be able to decide what is best for your own cities and for your own neighborhoods, and that's what you have the right to do right now."
Abbot's decision Friday contrasts with several of his fellow Republican governors who have called for more refugees to be resettlement in their states over the past few weeks. As of last week, the State Department had received letters from 18 Republican governors throughout the United States requesting refugee resettlement. There have also been questions about whether or not Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will opt in to the program, as he has faced pressure from both sides of the debate.
This all comes ahead of the Jan. 21 deadline the State Department gave to governors to give notification about participation. As of Thursday, Voice of American reported that 40 states across the country had opted in.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Actors Joaquin Phoenix and Martin Sheen detained by police at Capitol Hill climate protest

Actors Joaquin Phoenix and Martin Sheen detained by police at Capitol Hill climate protest The protest was organized by actress @ @

Actors Joaquin Phoenix and Martin Sheen were among several people detained during a climate change protest organized by Jane Fonda on Capitol Hill on Friday.
The demonstrations were all part of Fonda's "Fire Drill Fridays" protest series that the actress has been putting on in D.C. for the last few months. The weekly events have been on the subject of climate change with a heavy focus on supporting the Green New Deal introduced in Congress last year.
Following a staged rally on the lawn of the Capitol Building, protesters climbed the building's steps. Shortly after, protesters were told by United States Capitol Police officers that those who didn't get off the steps and move outside a security perimeter established on the scene would be arrested. Those who remained were taken one-by-one into police custody as other demonstrators and reporters looked on from several yards away.
TMZ has close up footage of the two actors being taken into custody.
At the rally before the arrests took place, Phoenix encouraged those in attendance to help the environment by changing what they eat, saying that "the meat and dairy industry is the third leading cause of climate change."
"There are things I can't avoid," the "Joker" star said. "I flew a plane here today, or last night rather, but one thing I can do is change my eating habits."
Sheen gave a passionate speech in which he told the crowd: "We are called to find something in our lives worth fighting for, something that unites the will of the spirit with the work of the flesh, something that can help us lift up this nation and all its people to that place where the heart is without fear."
This was not Sheen's first time being detained by police over a political demonstration. He was famously arrested back in the 1987 at a protest against nuclear testing. While discussing activism in a 2009 speech, Sheen that he had been arrested 66 times, including for trespass at a nuclear facility in 2007.
Friday's protest was the last such event in Washington, D.C. —at least for the time being — as Fonda will have to go back to California to shoot the final season of her Netflix show, "Grace and Frankie," an event organizer explained on stage. While Fonda has been arrested at previous events, she did not join the others in being arrested on Friday.
In the crowd at the event there were several demonstrators holding protest signs, and some people even showed up in costume.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Rapper Cardi B blasts President Trump for killing Iranian terrorist

On Wednesday 's episode of `` Pat Gray Unleashed , '' Pat discussed rapper Cardi B and her tweet blasting @ @ @ @ @ the airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani .
`` Its sad this man @ @ @ @ @ danger .
Dumbest move Trump did till date ...
I 'm filing for my Nigerian @ @ @ @ @ tweeted Friday .
Watch the video below for details .
Use code Pat to save @ @ @ @ @ of BlazeTV .
Want more from Pat Gray ?
To enjoy more of Pat 's @ @ @ @ @ as he restores common sense to a senseless world , subscribe to BlazeTV — the @ @ @ @ @ who love America , defend the Constitution and live the American dream .

On Wednesday's episode of "Pat Gray Unleashed," Pat discussed rapper Cardi B and her tweet blasting President Donald Trump for ordering the airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
"Its sad this man is putting Americans live in danger. Dumbest move Trump did till date ... I'm filing for my Nigerian citizenship," Cardi B tweeted Friday.
Watch the video below for details.
Use code Pat to save $10 on one year of BlazeTV.
Want more from Pat Gray?
To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.


theblaze--2020-01-10--'Deadbeat Cortez should pay her bills' — House Dems not happy with AOC for refusing to pay dues and

'Deadbeat Cortez should pay her bills' — House Dems not happy with AOC for refusing to pay dues and funding progressive challengers

'Deadbeat Cortez should pay her bills ' — House Dems not happy with AOC for refusing to pay dues and @ @ @

Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is infuriating other House Democrats by not paying her party dues and funding progressive primary challengers, a Fox News report says.
According to fundraising records, Ocasio-Cortez out-raised all other House Democrats in the third quarter — including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — amassing $1.42 million between July and Sept. 30.
Yet, none of those funds have found their way back into Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee coffers, a reality that has rankled some of her Democratic colleagues in the House, according to Fox News:
"Sometimes the question comes: 'Do you want to be in a majority or do you want to be in the minority?'" Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told Fox News when asked about Ocasio-Cortez's stance. "And do you want to be part of a team?"
Another Democrat was less diplomatic: "Deadbeat Cortez should pay her bills," complained the anonymous Democratic source. "She's always whining about people paying their fair share and here she is leaving her friends with the bill."
Records obtained by Fox News show that Ocasio-Cortez has yet to pay $250,000 in dues owed to the DCCC, which is the party organization charged with helping elect Democrats to the House.
But Ocasio-Cortez's failure to pony up for party dues is no accident; it's by design. She is deliberately bypassing the Democratic Party infrastructure en route to building her own funding operation for progressive candidates.
"For me personally, I'm not paying D-trip dues," Ocasio-Cortez said.
"I don't agree with the policy around blacklisting groups that help progressive candidates," she added as a reason, referring to a DCCC effort to stifle primary challengers to incumbent representatives. "I think we need to evolve as a party and make room for that."
"I want to help frontline members by putting that money straight into their pocket," Ocasio-Cortez added.
As such, Ocasio-Cortez has led online fundraisers for at least two progressive candidates seeking to unseat incumbent Democrats.
According to Fox News:
She solicited nearly $18,000 in donations for Marie Newman, who is taking on current Illinois Rep. Dan Lipinski, a conservative Democrat who opposes abortion. She also gave Newman an additional $5,000 directly from her campaign account. Ocasio-Cortez also raised nearly $35,000 in online donations for progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros, who is trying to defeat Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Drudge pushing junk ‘opinion’ about Mike Lee and his impeachment vote

Drudge pushing junk ‘ opinion ’ about Mike Lee and his impeachment vote Not even close to the reality

WTF MSM!? is a newsletter that puts a dose of sunlight on the mainstream media and exposes how the media twist facts, selectively report, and outright lie to advance their left-wing agenda. You can sign up for the WTF MSM!? newsletter here.
It's no big secret that conservatives have been tuning out the Drudge Report, as the once massively popular conservative aggregator has taken an anti-Trump tone. A fantastical opinion piece claiming Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) might vote to remove Trump, shared by the Drudge Report on Thursday, is a textbook example of why this is happening.
As you can see in this archived version of the Drudge Report from Thursday night, in the first column, seven stories down, is the headline, "Utah's Lee Would Vote to Remove?" The link takes you to an opinion piece by Bloomberg's Jonathan Bernstein, hosted by Yahoo, that argues that he's "even more convinced" that Lee will be "one of the three or four most likely Republicans to vote to convict and remove Trump" from office.
Contrast that fantasy with what Lee told BlazeTV's Glenn Beck on his radio program Thursday. Lee said, "I commend the president. I support the president. This president has actually been the most respectful and the most restrained in his use of military power as commander in chief. More so than any other president in my lifetime. And I respect him for that."
Then there's what Lee told Beck in the beginning of December, "This is absurd. … They [the House] shouldn't pass articles of impeachment because he hasn't done anything impeachable. He hasn't done anything that violates the law. He hasn't even done anything that's wrong. He's just had a conversation that involved a foreign leader, and there was nothing wrong with that. So no, they shouldn't pass articles of impeachment."
There is no chance Mike Lee would vote to convict Trump on charges he's already said are junk. Bernstein is living in a fantasy world, and the Drudge Report has used him to help push its newfound anti-Trump agenda.
The Drudge Report made a name for itself fighting the leftist media narrative, but all too often lately, it seems to be pushing it.
Links …
You can sign up to receive the WTF MSM!? newsletter here.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Woman sues Mormon church after it reported her husband's confession of sexually abusing their daught

Woman sues Mormon church after it reported her husband's confession of sexually abusing their daughter to police

Woman sues Mormon church after it reported her husband 's confession of sexually abusing their daughter to police She says @ @ @ @ @ of confidentiality

A woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it reported her husband to authorities after he confessed to sexually abusing their minor daughter, according to the Salem Statesmen Journal.
The woman, Kristine Johnson, is suing the church for $9.54 million, accusing it of violating confidentiality and breaching "priest-penitent privilege." The Mormon church has faced backlash in the past for not being forthcoming about such matters with authorities.
Kristine learned of her husband's abuse of their daughter in 2016. Instead of going to authorities, they followed church protocol by having the husband, Timothy Johnson, confess the sin to church clergy and repent. Kristine claims the church officials failed to tell Timothy that if he confessed that crime to the church, they would report him to police.
Timothy Johnson was arrested and charged in 2017, and pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree sexual abuse and received a 15-year prison sentence.
The context of the confession is what has opened the situation up to some legal dispute. From the Statesmen Journal:
Oregon is one of the 28 states that specifically includes clergy on its list of mandatory reporters required to report known or suspected incidents of child abuse or neglect. But what is sometimes referred to as a confessional-style "clergy-penitent privilege" is an exemption to mandatory reporting laws.
The church stands behind its decision to put the victim first and report the situation to authorities.
"Protecting victims and ensuring proper reporting is a top priority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," church spokesman Eric Hawkins said. "The Church teaches that leaders and members should fulfill all legal obligations to report abuse to civil authorities. ... We are grateful for the efforts of law enforcement and prosecutors to investigate and pursue justice for those who were abused."
The $9.54 million sought in the lawsuit includes $5.5 million for Kristine for the loss of Timothy's income, $1 million for each of their children, and $40,000 for the criminal defense attorney used in the case.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Late Des Moines Register reporter Ken Fuson writes his own obituary for the paper — and it's going v

Late Des Moines Register reporter Ken Fuson writes his own obituary for the paper — and it's going viral for all the right reasons

Late Des Moines Register reporter Ken Fuson writes his own obituary for the paper — and it 's going viral @ @ @ @ @

Former Des Moines Register reporter Ken Fuson wrote his own obituary, and apparently true to his style, the feature is both touching and funny.
Fuson, a 63-year-old journalism veteran, passed away last week following a battle with liver disease.
"Ken was an extraordinarily gifted storyteller," said Randy Evans, a retired Register opinion editor. "He found a way that allowed the reader to savor the experience of reading."
What are the details?
The Des Moines Register published its late reporter's obituary on Wednesday, and the obituary has since gone viral.
In the feature's opener, Fuson — who also worked for the Baltimore Sun during his tenure as a reporter — jokingly referred to himself as "stunned to know that the world is somehow able to go on without him."
Ken Fuson, born June 23, 1956, died Jan. 3, 2020 in at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, of liver cirrhosis, and is stunned to learn that the world is somehow able to go on without him.
Ken grew up in Granger, and decided when he was a sophomore at Woodward-Granger High School that he wanted to be a newspaper reporter. He covered sports for the Woodward Enterprise before leaving for the University of Missouri-Columbia. He attended the university's famous School of Journalism, which is a clever way of saying, "almost graduated but didn't." Facing a choice between covering a story for the Columbia Daily Tribune or taking his final exams, Ken went for the story. He never claimed to be smart, just committed.
In 1981, Ken landed his dream job, working as a reporter for The Des Moines Register, where he was probably best known for writing a one-paragraph, one-sentence weather story that has been reprinted in four books.
In 1996, Ken took the principled stand of leaving the Register because The Sun in Baltimore offered him more money. Three years later, having blown most of that money at Pimlico Race Track, he returned to the Register, where he remained until 2008.
In his newspaper work, Ken won several national feature-writing awards, including the Ernie Pyle Award, ASNE Distinguished Writing Award, National Headliner Award, Missouri Award (twice) and Distinguished Writing Award in the Best of Gannett contest (five times, but who's counting?). No, he didn't win a Pulitzer Prize, but he's dead now, so get off his back.
There are those who would suggest that becoming a free-lance writer in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression was not a wise choice, but Ken was never one to be guided by wisdom.
He wrote the book, "Heading for Home" with Kent Stock, about the 1991 Norway baseball team that won the state championship in its final season. Good copies still available.
In 2011, Ken accepted a job in the marketing department at Simpson College, where he remained until 2018. He enjoyed it very much, but once again forgot an important lesson: Always have a Plan B.
He was diagnosed with liver disease at the beginning of 2019, which is pretty ironic given how little he drank. Eat your fruits and vegetables, kids.
He is survived by his sons, Jesse and Max, and his stepson, Jared Reese, who all brought Ken unsurpassed joy. He hopes they will forgive him for not making the point more often. He loved his boys and was (and is) extraordinarily proud to be their father.
For most of his life, Ken suffered from a compulsive gambling addiction that nearly destroyed him. But his church friends, and the loving people at Gamblers Anonymous, never gave up on him.
Ken last placed a bet on Sept. 5, 2009. He died clean. He hopes that anyone who needs help will seek it, which is hard, and accept it, which is even harder.
Miracles abound. Ken's pastor says God can work miracles for you and through you. Skepticism may be cool, and for too many years Ken embraced it, but it was faith in Jesus Christ that transformed his life. That was the one thing he never regretted. It changed everything.
For many years Ken was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Indianola and sang in the choir, which was a neat trick considering he couldn't read a note of music. The choir members will never know how much they helped him. He then joined Lutheran Church of Hope.
If you want to know what God's love feels like, just walk in those doors. Seriously, right now. We'll wait. Ken's not going anywhere.
Ken had many character flaws — if he still owes you money, he's sorry, sincerely — but he liked to think that he had a good sense of humor and a deep compassion for others. He prided himself on letting other drivers cut in line. He would give you the shirt off his back, even with the ever-present food stain. Thank goodness nobody asked. It wouldn't have been pretty. He also was a master Jumbles solver.
Other survivors: his father, Don Fuson. Brother: Joe. A niece and two nephews. In lieu of flowers, Ken asked that everyone wear black armbands and wail in public during a one-year grieving period. If that doesn't work, how about donating a book to the public libraries in Granger or Indianola?
Yes, this obituary is probably too long. Ken always wrote too long.
God is good. Embrace every moment, even the bad ones. See you in heaven. Ken promises to let you cut in line.
Memorial services for Fuson will be held Saturday at West Des Moines' Lutheran Church of Hope.
The Des Moines Register set up a GoFundMe page to help offset medical and burial costs.
At the time of this writing, the page has received more than $9,300 in donations.
You can read more about Fuson's personal and professional background here.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Man breaks into RV; owner investigates after hearing alarm. Intruder unwisely charges at owner — who

Man breaks into RV; owner investigates after hearing alarm. Intruder unwisely charges at owner — who wisely brings gun with him.

Man breaks into RV ; owner investigates after hearing alarm .
Intruder unwisely charges at owner — who wisely brings @ @ @ @ @ did everything that he could within his rights to defend himself and his wife '

A man previously arrested for shoplifting and who was wanted in a larceny case allegedly broke into an RV in Modesto, California, early Thursday morning, KTXL-TV reported.
Image source: KTXL-TV video screenshot
Upon hearing the RV's alarm, the owner went to investigate, police told the station.
Then what?
After the owner found Samuel White Jr. inside his RV, the owner's wife called 911, Modesto Police spokeswoman Sharon Bear added to KTXL.
Samuel White Jr. Image source: Ripon (Calif.) Police
And at some point during the incident, the RV's owner said White charged at him, the station reported.
"There was an encounter that caused the homeowner to get scared and shoot the subject in the motorhome," Bear told KTXL, adding that White was shot in the leg in an act of self-defense.
The RV's owner didn't want to comment, the station said.
What did neighbors have to say?
“I think that the guy's lucky that my neighbor didn't use deadly force," neighbor Mark Speake told KTXL, adding that he believed the RV owner "handled it well."
Neighbor Mark Speake Image source: KTXL-TV video screenshot
Another neighbor Joe Cataline told the station of the RV owner that "he did everything that he could within his rights to defend himself and his wife."
Neighbor Joe Cataline Image source: KTXL-TV video screenshot
Bear noted to KTXL that the homeowner was not facing any charges as of Thursday night.
"We'll complete a thorough investigation to make sure that we look at all aspects of the case and that it's done fairly," she added to the station.
What happened to the suspect?
Bear told KTXL that White was hospitalized and will face charges for burglary and violating his parole after he's treated.
The station said White previously was arrested for shoplifting in nearby Ripon and is wanted in Ripon in a larceny case.


theblaze--2020-01-10--Iraqi prime minister asks US for plans to pull troops out of Iraq. State Department says no.

Iraqi prime minister asks US for plans to pull troops out of Iraq .
State Department says no .
'America @ @ @ @ @ in the Middle East '

Iraq's prime minister on Friday asked the U.S. to begin the process of withdrawing troops from the country, less than a week after the Iraqi Parliament voted to end the American military's yearslong presence there. But it appears the U.S. does not intend to comply.
What are the details?
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced the news in a statement Friday, NBC News reports. Mahdi said he asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "to send a delegation to Iraq to put a mechanism [in place] for implementing the Iraqi parliament decision to safely withdraw troops from Iraq."
The request came because "Iraq is keen to keep the best relations with its neighbors and friends within the international community, and to protect foreign representations and interests and all those present on Iraqi soil," he said.
Reportedly, the prime minister also argued that the U.S. has been moving troops into the country and operating aircraft in its airspace without Iraqi consent.
But in response, the State Department's chief spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus, said that U.S. officials would not discuss a military withdrawal from Iraq and that the U.S. presence in Iraq is a "force for good."
"At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership — not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East," Ortagus said, according to USA Today.
"America is a force for good in the Middle East," she continued. "Our military presence in Iraq is to continue the fight against ISIS and as the Secretary has said, we are committed to protecting Americans, Iraqis, and our coalition partners."
What's the background?
The back-and-forth comes as part of the fallout of the U.S. strike that killed Iranian terrorist military leader Qassem Soleimani last week. The rocket strike that killed Soleimani, along with Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, took place near Baghdad airport in Iraq. On Tuesday, in retaliation, Iran fired missiles at military facilities in Iraq, which were housing U.S. troops.
After the U.S. attack on Soleimani and al-Muhandis, the Iraqi Parliament held a vote to expel American troops from the country. However, it should be noted that the vote was not unanimous.
"The resolution was backed by most Shiite members of Parliament, who hold a majority of seats. Many Sunni and Kurdish legislators did not show up for the session, apparently because they oppose abolishing the deal," the Associated Press reported.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the resolution itself, which needed the approval of the prime minister, had no legal force at the time. But it was only a matter of time before Mahdi backed the vote.
"It's time for American troops to leave," Mahdi reportedly said Sunday. At another time, he referred to the attack on Soleimani as a "political assassination."
It remains to be seen what the U.S. will do in the coming weeks and months, as Iraq remains a strategic location for U.S. military presence in the Middle East.
Earlier this month, the U.S. sent an additional 750 troops — with 3,000 on standby — to the Middle East following the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. And overall, an additional 14,000 troops have been deployed to the Middle East since May 2019, many operating in Iraq, to respond to Iranian aggression in the region.


theblaze--2020-01-10--College students express their devastation over Gen. Qassem Soleimani's death: 'Really requires an a

College students express their devastation over Gen. Qassem Soleimani's death: 'Really requires an apology'

College students express their devastation over Gen. Qassem Soleimani 's death : 'Really requires an apology '

A number of college students at Georgetown University were apparently both "disgusted" and "devastated" by the killing of Iranian terrorist Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
What are the details?
Campus Reform's Eduardo Neret visited the Washington, D.C., university to gauge students' reactions on last week's U.S. airstrike that killed Soleimani.
An overwhelming majority told Neret that they disagreed with President Donald Trump's decision to take out Soleimani.
Some of those students even said they felt sorry for Iranians in the wake of the terrorist's sudden death.
Here are some of the more interesting responses to Soleimani's death:
"I was shocked and kind of immediately disgusted ... that Trump had done that."
"It was very devastating for me ... my family was very devastated."
"The United States has a history of violence against non-white people ... [the U.S. acted] in the interest of white supremacy."
"There's a lot of ... sentimental feelings going on and I want to be able to, like, empathize with that. ... I want to be there for the people who I guess loved this general, but also, like, I really don't know how bad he is."
"I think that most decisions that the U.S. government makes are based on their allegiance to white supremacy and white supremacist issues."
"I certainly feel for the Iranian people."
"The American people are not innocent. ... [This] really requires an apology."
"I don't think the U.S. should have a 'hitman' type presence."