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Swissvale police are increasing patrols near a school bus stop where two major brawls happened the past few days. Cell phone videos captured by students show a crowd of as many as 60 students and parents fighting in the streets of Swissvale, on both Monday and Tuesday. “They were riots”, says Swissvale Police Chief Greg Geppert. Even worse, the fights were made up of both kids, and adults. Police say they have already arrested five adults and minors, and are looking for close to a dozen more. The students, and parents were reportedly from the Woodland Hills School district. “It...

Now that Obama has decided he has unlimited powers and can ignore Congress and the U.S. Constitution, how far will he go with his "executive orders" and "recess appoitments?" Now it's gun control, next it'll be what? As this power-hungry, law-ignoring, dictator keeps flexing his muscles is the media in his sights? How about an executive order that all news stories or articles concerning the government have to be reviewed by a government panel prior to publishing or airing? Sound far-fetched? Perhaps. But, as Obama keeps stealing powers that he doesn't legally have the sky is the limit. Be careful...

The group behind last year’s controversial anti-Jihadist advertisements that appeared throughout the New York subway system is planning what is expected to be its largest campaign to date. The American Freedom Defense Initiative purchased space next to 228 clocks in 39 New York subway stations for ads with an image of the burning World Trade Center and a quote attributed to the Quran saying: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.” The clocks are suspended from ceilings above subway platforms in stations across the city. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said the ads went up Monday...

Kristina Lucarelli @KristinaLuca AJ's out at Gawker, Cook's in, the world keeps turning for folks not in NYC media, because they don't know/care who either one is. 10 Jan 13 Reply Retweet Favorite Sigh. We hadn’t really heard of Gawker writer John Cook until just this week, when he made a splash by publishing a two-year-old list of legal, registered gun owners in New York City. Sure, the list was out of date, and the morally questionable stunt had already been pulled by the folks at the Journal News in suburban New York. Cook gave the piece his own special...

A gruesome holiday season exercise: Think of some firearms and accessories that might have added to the body counts of Aurora and Newtown. More starkly, imagine the means by which coming Auroras and Newtowns will be made more deadly. The exercise starts with a militarized baseline, as both shooters unloaded designed-for-damage rounds from high-capacity magazines loaded into assault rifles. Improving their killing efficiency would require one of two things: the ability to shoot more bullets faster, or more time. A fully automatic machine gun would provide the first. More minutes to hunt, meanwhile, might be gained by employing a noise...

First they want gun registration and now precious metal registration? I’m sure the government would only use such information in our best interests, because as we all know: Your Government Loves You. Sounds reasonable, after all, only 'terrorists' buy guns and gold anyway."

In 1994 there was a book prepared by the Committee on the liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and approved for use in the Dioceses of the USA by the NCCB. It is entitled, "Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest." It is a liturgical book that gives options for parishes when no priest is available on a Sunday. The expectation in the norms of the "General Instruction or Introduction" of this liturgical book is that the bishop be very much involved in the decision making process of the necessity of such a celebration in particular...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The families of four of the six victims who were killed in a plane crash along with singer Jenni Rivera have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that owned the plane, which crashed at more than 600 miles per hour. Starwood Management, which owned and operated the Learjet 25, has been named in the suit. The families are blaming the company for negligence in allowing the plane to take flight. Records show the jet, built in 1969, was heavily damaged during a 2005 landing and then later cleared to fly by officials. According to...

CHICAGO (CBS) – “jihad against the white devil,”

The Holy City of Jerusalem has been covered in a brilliant white blanket after the worst snowstorm in 20 years.Schools and highways have been closed as up to eight inches of snow piled up in the city centre by this afternoon.Israel and much of the surrounding region has been hit by five days of rain, wind and snow as temperatures have dipped below freezing.Scroll down for video

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill granting lifetime Secret Service protection to former presidents and their wives. The measure Obama signed Thursday applies to presidents elected after Jan. 1, 1997, specifically Obama and former President George W. Bush. It reverses a 1994 law that ended Secret Service protection 10 years after a president leaves office. Under that law, the Homeland Security secretary could extend such protection on a temporary basis.

[No quote due to Reuters source. Title is accurate representation of article. Please see link.]

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — Gov. Nikki Haley and her family have bid a tearful farewell to her husband Michael as he leaves with a South Carolina National Guard unit for a month of training and then deployment to Afghanistan. Capt. Michael Haley wrapped his arms around his wife and two children, ages 10 and 14, as his unit was given a send-off Thursday by several hundred family members, friends and Guard officials at a National Guard site outside Columbia. The Republican governor issued a statement saying "we are a proud military family who understands the sacrifices any family goes...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), built by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and run by “Robo Cop” Richard Cordray (the former Attorney General of Ohio), has issued its new list of mortgage feature bans for the “qualified mortgage.” Kerri Ann Panchuk from Housing Wire has a nice summary in her article. 201301_cfpb_ability-to-repay-factsheet Here are the features of Qualified Mortgages and what is banned: • No excess upfront points and fees • No toxic loan features o No interest-only loans, o No loans where the principal amount increases, such as a negative-amortization loan; and o No loans where the term is...

My apologies to the late Sir Winston Churchill, minter of the the original words “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” speaking of the now defunct Soviet Union. This is the only way I can describe what I feel the upcoming Sandy Relief bill has become. One would think, after the disaster left in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, that elected officials from both parties would show some respect for citizens who have suffered the hurricanes destruction. That would be far beyond a reasonable expectation it now appears. Neil Cavuto, of Fox News, recently interviewed New...

New York has the highest cigarette tax rate of any state, and nearly two-thirds of the state's cigarette market is illegal, announced the think tank Tax Foundation on Thursday. The Tax Foundation said that 60.9% of cigarettes sold in New York State are smuggled in from other states. This makes New York the biggest importer of black market cigarettes, along with the state's highest tax rate of $4.35 per pack. That's compared to Missouri, the state with the lowest rate, of 17 cents per pack. In New York City the tax rate is even higher, adding another $1.50 per pack...

NEW: Edison bailed out CA Cap & Trade auction The facts slowing coming out about the state’s first Cap and Trade auction seriously question whether the system is already being gamed by government, together with electric utilities. Edison International made an announcement on Dec. 20, 2012: At California’s first Cap and Trade auction held back on Nov. 14, 2012, it offered to buy 21 times more pollution permits than allowed. Edison’s overbidding error ended up amounting to 72 percent of all the bid offers and bailed out the Cap and Trade auction from failure. About a month later, Edison’s unregulated...

Statement From the National Rifle Association of America Regarding Today's White House Task Force MeetingFairfax, Va. – The National Rifle Association of America is made up of over 4 million moms and dads, daughters and sons, who are involved in the national conversation about how to prevent a tragedy like Newtown from ever happening again. We attended today's White House meeting to discuss how to keep our children safe and were prepared to have a meaningful conversation about school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence to our kids and the collapse of federal prosecutions of violent criminals. We...

No one forced me, but I finally decided it was time to discover what all the business was about Honey Boo Boo. Even though I’ve made reference to the show featuring a former beauty tot, now 7, and her family, I’d never actually watched a full episode. I still haven’t, but I watched enough to need a jaw adjustment.

There are 11 million aspiring citizens who love this country and call it home. Like immigrants before them, they came to this country for freedom and the opportunity to provide a better life for their children. These immigrant families work hard, pay their taxes and contribute to their communities. But because of a broken and punitive immigration process that tears families from each other, there really is no "line" these aspiring citizens can get into to adjust their status and start down the pathway to citizenship. The AFL-CIO and America’s union movement, along with a broad coalition of other groups,...