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Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement of significant changes in the Justice Department’s pursuit of mandatory minimum sentences highlights a new willingness on the part of the Obama administration to engage on issue of race. It’s the second public policy area touching on race where Holder — the nation’s first African American attorney general — has flexed his muscles in recent weeks. Just last month, he said Justice would challenge voter ID laws adopted in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to gut a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Holder’s actions come in conjunction with President Obama's recent...

At least one rocket was fired towards the Israeli resort city of Eilat on Monday night. Sirens were heard throughout the city shortly before 1:00 a.m. Local residents reported hearing explosions following the sirens. The Iron Dome anti-missile system, which was just recently deployed near Eilat, reportedly intercepted the rocket before it could explode in a populated area. There were no reports of damages, but three people suffered shock. Two of them were treated by paramedics and the third was taken to the Yoseftal Hospital in the city. The IDF and the police are searching the area to determine whether...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn’t the only high-profile Democrat who has suggested the United States will eventually transition to a single payer health care system. The Nevada lawmaker generated headlines Friday for predicting that President Obama’s health care law is the first step to phasing out insurance-based health care. In 2007, while governor of Kansas, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stated flatly in a speech at Harvard: “I’m all for a single payer system eventually.”

According the San Jose Mercury News, the bills being heard in the state senate on August 12 would create a database of all ammo purchases in the state, "make it crime to have a gun that's not locked up when it's not being carried, and extend the time for which someone is banned from owning a firearm after making a violent threat." On August 13, another slate of bills will come before the State Assembly. These would ban all semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazines, would "make it a crime to leave a gun unlocked when you're out of the...

On February 19, 1777, aboard the warship Warren, which was anchored outside of Providence, R.I., ten American sailors and marines serving in the war met in secret. They determined it was their patriotic duty to blow the whistle on wrongdoing that they witnessed by their commanding officer who was Commodore Esek Hopkins (1718–1802) of the Continental Navy. Hopkins was from a very powerful family and his brother, Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785), was a former governor of Rhode Island and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Hopkins Esek (1718–1802)Hopkins had participated in the torture of captured British sailors. The allegations were...

Hillary Clinton, speaking at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in San Francisco Monday night, botched the name of civil rights icon Medgar Evers. The former secretary of state and first lady was recounting the story of one of her mentors, lawyer John Doar. "In 1963, in Jackson, Mississippi, John stepped between angry protesters and armed police to prevent a potential massacre after the murder of Medgar Evans," said Clinton, who was referring to Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist who was murdered while walking into his home on June 12, 1963. Watch the video below:

This summer, thousands of fast food workers around the nation walked off the job, demanding to be paid $15 per hour for work that traditionally pays about half that. As Wendy's striker Kaye Smith told NY1 recently, "I have to live with my mom ... because I wouldn't be able to support myself on $7.25, you know?" We can debate whether her living arrangements are Wendy's responsibility any more than they are that of New York's landlords or grocers. Either way, Smith's is a novel concept of unskilled jobs in America. Fast food wages have never been expected to support...

Listen to the Quinn & Rose Morning Show from 6:00 to 9:00 Eastern on: www.wpgb.com (104.7 Pittsburgh, Pa) http://wysl1040.com/ (Rochester, NY) http://www.talkradio560.com/ (Frostburg, MD) http://www.wncoam.com/main.html (Ashland, OH) http://wicofm.com/ (Salisbury/Ocean City, MD) http://www.wobx.net/ WOBX - Outer banks NC WVTT 96.7 - Olean, NY And now on 244 XM (until 8/31/13) http://tunein.com/radio/The-War-Room-p34761/

As with most things his administration does, I’m sure Obama will be shocked when he reads in the newspapers about the State Dept. declaring a $10 million bounty on the head of what it calls an “enemy of Islam.” From a State Department Press release: The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly attacks today in Baghdad. These attacks were aimed at families celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The terrorists who committed these acts are enemies of Islam and a shared enemy of the United States,...

After an extensive investigation lasting well over a year, NPR's ombudsman has concluded the network's series on South Dakota's efforts to put Native American in foster care was fundamentally flawed. The network and the ombudsman, Edward Schumacher-Matos, who is paid to critique NPR's news coverage, have split sharply over his findings. The series, which appeared in October 2011 on All Things Considered, alleged that the state of South Dakota took Native American children and separated them from their families and tribes at an alarming rate. The series won national awards and helped inspire federal and state reviews of such policies....

Work to refinish part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial where a disputed inscription was recently removed may not be done until after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. A disagreement arose over the past 10 days over how to sandblast and refinish the stone where an inscription was recently chiseled away.

Mystery solved. The “angel priest” who appeared at the scene of a Missouri car crash, anointed and prayed with the teenage victim, then vanished has been identified as Rev. Patrick Dowling of the Jefferson City Diocese. A press release provided to FoxNews.com by the diocese said Father Dowling had been travelling Highway 19 between Mass assignments in northern and central Missouri when he arrived near the crash scene Aug. 4.

Paul and Chriss will be discussing the mysterious death (killing?) of Rolling Stones reporter Michael Hastings with San Diego reporter Kim Dvorak who has uncovered new information on the "incident".

With streaming television becoming more and more popular, and providers like Aereo making an end-run around cable and satellite providers, a lot of attention is being paid to the future of bundled cable. In a world of growing choices and a weak, jobless economy, how long can something last that charges customers a ton of money for dozens of channels they never watch? Bundled cable is, in my opinion, one of the greatest hustles ever perpetuated against the American people. The worst part is how it works as a kind of affirmative-action program for left-wing programming that likely wouldn’t survive...

Video at source. A proposed federal rule that would require black boxes or event data recorders (EDRs) in every U.S. automobile may mean “Big Brother” could be in your passenger seat for every drive. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule requires all light passenger vehicles be equipped with an EDR by Sep.1, 2014. Ninety-six percent of new cars already have them - measuring such inputs as speed, lateral acceleration, pedal effort, seat belt use, wheel spin, steering wheel turn and direction. Black box data retrieved from U.S. car accidents in a single day would provide more information than a...

At the direction of the President, I am establishing the Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies to examine our global signals-intelligence collection and surveillance capability. The Review Group will assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust. James R. Clapper

Savage! stream here: http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/citadel/?sid=5864 find a station here: http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-show.php?showid=9262 Savage's website http://www.michaelsavage.wnd.com/ *if you want on or off the list please message me

A 60-foot-wide sinkhole formed under a resort in central Florida late Sunday, forcing guests out of their rooms as one three-story building collapsed and another slowly sank. Guests at the Summer Bay Resort in Clermont, about 10 minutes from Walt Disney World, called for help before the collapse, saying they heard loud noises and windows cracking. All guests inside the buildings -- an estimated 35 people, authorities said -- were evacuated before the first structure crumbled. A roughly 15-foot-deep crater swallowed much of one building, Lake County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Tony Cuellar said. Aerial video from CNN affiliate WFTV...

Great Britain on Monday sent warships to the Mediterranean and weighed legal action against Spain in a territorial dispute over the Gibraltar peninsula, as Madrid threatened to join with Argentina in a U.N. effort to strip Britain of the last remnants of its empire. In London, Ministry of Defense officials told the BBC that the Royal Navy deployments are part of a long-planned military exercise and not connected to the three-centuries old dispute over the Gibraltar enclave. The feud between the European allies has erupted anew in recent weeks amid Spanish protests over an effort to create an artificial reef...

On Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the American Bar Association annual meeting in San Francisco that she would be launching a series of speeches about American foreign policy in the “next few months.” According to Philip Rucker, White House correspondent for The Washington Post, Hillary planned to emphasize restoring faith in government – an ironic theme, considering that she was a member of the current administration presiding over the rapid decline in faith in government.

For supporters of the repeal of North Carolina’s estate tax, the passage serves as a big neon "come on home" message to ultra-wealthy individuals who have kept a primary residence in another state to avoid the tax. "A tax that affects somewhere between a dozen and 100 families each year in a state with 9 million-plus people is fundamentally unfair," said Dallas Woodhouse, the director of the N.C. chapter of the conservative advocacy group Americans For Prosperity. For opponents, the repeal – retroactive to Jan. 1 – serves as a prime example of conservative legislators favoring the wealthy few over...

Corona resident Cecilia Reyes, whose 22-year-old son Noel Polanco was fatally shot by an NYPD detective during a traffic stop last year, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against New York City and the officer who gunned down the National Guardsman, according to court documents. A member of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit Apprehension Team, Hassan Hamdy was one of several officers in two unmarked vans driving in the center lane eastbound on the Grand Central Parkway Oct. 4 at 5:15 a.m. when Polanco was seen in his black 2012 Honda Fit Hybrid near Exit 7 in East Elmhurst, the NYPD...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Fair on Monday imposed a lifetime ban on a rodeo clown whose depiction of President Barack Obama getting charged by a bull was widely criticized by Democratic and Republican officials alike. The rodeo clown won't be allowed to participate or perform at the fair again. Fair officials say they're also reviewing whether to take any action against the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the contractor responsible for Saturday's event. The entertainment during the bull riding contest featured a clown wearing a mask of Obama with an upside down broomstick attached to his backside....

A double shooting that killed one man Saturday night took place along a CPS Safe Passage route on the South Side. Ralph McNeal, 54, and a 26-year-old man were shot in the 2900 block of South State Street around 6:15 p.m. They were taken to the hospital and McNeal was pronounced dead around 7 p.m. Parents of children who will attend Chicago’s Drake Elementary School are on edge because of its location on a designated CPS Safe Passage route. The routes were set up to make the transition to new schools go more smoothly for the students affected by school...

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a controversial bill into law Monday afternoon allowing the state’s transgender public school students to choose which bathrooms they use and whether they participate in boy or girl sports. The law would cover the state’s 6.2 million elementary and high school kids in public schools. Supporters say the law will help cut down on bullying against transgender students, The families of transgender students have been waging local battles with school districts around the country over what restrooms and locker rooms their children can use

"I knew it was you all along, Richard Nixon!" — Officer Barbrady, South Park As might be inferred by the title, a Nixon Mask is a rubber mask with the cariactured features of Richard Nixon, specifically a large nose, and creepy wide grin. Its status as the best-selling political mask of all time (and in many ways the inspiration for all political masks), as a symbol of famous counterculturists like Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Dylan, and as a hilarious remnant of the seventies have made it a classic go-to prop when a strange/hilarious mask is needed.

WASHINGTON—If former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is ordered to spend time behind bars, he would like to go to either the federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., or the low-security portion of the federal correctional institution in Butner, N.C., one of his lawyers said today. **SNIP** In the request, defense lawyer William Drake said the facility in Alabama is the closest federal prison camp to Washington, D.C., and would “allow Mr. Jackson to maintain contact with his wife and children during incarceration.” The prison in North Carolina is within 500 miles of the nation’s capital and would serve the same...

TALLAHASSEE — Trayvon Martin’s father has been named honorary captain of the FAMU football team after delivering an inspirational speech to the team Sunday. Florida A&M coach Earl Holmes said Tracy Martin, whose son’s shooting death in Sanford drew national attention, called him recently and the coach recently invited the grieving father to address his players. “[We] talked and I told him I’d love him to talk to the team. He came out and he was very, very encouraging,” Holmes said of Tracy Martin. “ . . . [He] got a standing ovation from our guys. He talked about just...

Ahmed Moussa, a prominent Egyptian television personality on the Tahrir TV channel as well as a former officer in Egyptian State Security Intelligence (SSI), went public on July 30 with a remarkable piece of information. Moussa said, addressing U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson (in absentia) on his show: Ambassador Stevens was killed in Benghazi, and you know who killed him, the U.S. administration knows who killed him, and you know how he was killed and it was a major strike against the U.S. administration, and all of you. The assassin is now present at Rabia Al-Adawiya [mosque protest] His name is,...

**SNIP** Dear Leader Reid and Leader Pelosi: When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class. **SNIP** Since the ACA was enacted, we have been bringing our deep concerns to the Administration,...

ELMA — A partisan dispute briefly eclipsed the fun at the Grays Harbor County Fair on Friday when the director of the fair had to ask Republicans to stop shooting Nerf guns at a poster poking fun at Democrats. Since Wednesday, the Grays Harbor Republicans have had a poster of a donkey up in their booth in the fairgrounds pavilion. The donkey states, “Help me try out Obamacare! I don’t know what’s covered because I haven’t read it yet.” And there’s a bull’s eye with points like a dart board on the donkey’s forehead and the donkey’s rear end. Former...

A federal judge has tossed the race discrimination accusations that are part of a lawsuit filed against former Food Network star, Paula Deen, and her brother, Earl "Bubba" Hiers, the Associated Press reports. Lisa T. Jackson, a former manager of Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House in Georgia, accused the pair of racism in a lawsuit filed last year. Jackson's claims caught national attention in June when Deen's court deposition was released. Deen admitted to having used the N-word in the past and made other comments that made her seem racist. A judge threw out the racism claims on Monday,...

Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner has earned himself a rather undesirable distinction. According to the latest poll from Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., the disgraced former congressman-turned-New York City mayoral candidate has the highest unfavorable rating ever on record for the pollster. Eighty percent of New York state voters have an unfavorable opinion of Weiner, while only 11% saw him in a positive light. That tops the 79% unfavorable rating held by former New York governor-turned-New York City comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer after he resigned from the governorship in 2008 over his prostitution scandal. Three-quarters of Democrats and New York City...

A U.S. human rights group on Monday delivered a petition with more than 100,000 signatures urging that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize go to Pfc. Bradley Manning, who was convicted on espionage charges last month for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. Norman Solomon, the co-founder of RootsAction, delivered the petition in Oslo, Norway, on Monday to the research director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Nobel Prizes. Solomon said that Manning should receive the prize for exposing government secrecy and wrongdoing in the Iraq War. He argued that the Nobel committee’s selection of Manning...

Update 4:15 p.m.: The rodeo clown has been banned from participating in the state fair again. SNIP Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), meanwhile, said: “I am amazed that in 2013, such hatred, intolerance and disrespect towards the President of the United States could take place at the Missouri State Fair. Our fair is supposed to showcase the best of Missouri, instead, it showed an ugly face of intolerance and ignorance to the world.”

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition… it’s America’s Clean-Up Hitter! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican, told constituents at a townhall over the weekend that the House of Representatives would “probably” have enough votes to impeach President Obama. Farenthold was in Luling, Texas on Saturday, and after stepping past a question about the president’s birth certificate, suggested that the House would have the votes to impeach the president, but the Democratic Senate would kill the effort. “A question I get a lot — ‘If everybody’s so unhappy with what the president’s doing, why don’t you impeach him?’” Farenthold said. “I’ll give you a real frank answer about that. If we...

President Barack Obama is taking his economic message on the road next week with a bus tour in New York and Pennsylvania. The announcement of the bus tour was made as Obama and the first family takes an eight-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard, a resort island off the coast of Massachusetts. Specific stops for the bus tour in New York and Pennsylvania were not announced.

The United States ran a budget deficit in July, although government revenues increased from a year earlier due to tax hikes and a strengthening economy, a report from the Treasury showed on Monday. The U.S. government spent $98 billion more than it took in last month, with the deficit driven by spending on healthcare programs, pensions for the elderly and the military. One major reason is that Washington ratcheted austerity efforts by raising tax rates, which has helped tax receipts. It has also slashed the federal budget, although in July total spending rose to $298 billion from $254 billion in...

On Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida there was a shooting that would, for whatever reason, transfix this country and pressure how we as a nation understand our natural right to self-defense. I am of course referring to the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. It’s not my intention here to pour over the details of this case — I’m sure we have all heard those, time and time again. I personally have no desire to hear them again. Rather, I want to look at what we can learn, as a community of gun owners and concealed carry holders,...

As a precondition for "peace" talks with the Palestinians that will produce nothing, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry demanded that Israel's government release over 100 long-term convicted terrorists and murderers, many imprisoned for vicious crimes committed long before either intifada. The "Elder of Ziyon" blog has compiled a list of those to be released--and their victims. Here is a sample: Atiyeh Salem Musa: killed Isaac (Aizek) Rotenberg, 67, Holocaust survivor, 1994 Isaac Rotenberg was born to Natan and Miriam Rotenberg in Poland on 15 March 1927. A selektzia was held in his city following the outbreak...

On August 12, Joe DiGenova, attorney for one of the Benghazi whistleblowers, told Washington D.C.'s WMAL that one of the reasons people have remained tight-lipped about Benghazi is because 400 U.S. missiles were "diverted to Libya" and ended up being stolen and falling into "the hands of some very ugly people." DiGenova represents Benghazi whistleblower Mark Thompson. He told WMAL that he "does not know whether [the missiles] were at the annex, but it is clear the annex was somehow involved in the distribution of those missiles." He claimed his information "comes from a former intelligence official who stayed in...

<p>Former Florida Rep. Allen West had some harsh words for nationally known civil rights activists like the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who have remained silent on a video showing black teens beating a white boy on a school bus.</p>

We encounter an incredible diversity of cultures, lifestyles, and faiths. Unfortunately our conflicting identities and beliefs often exclude others. Is there truth to real acceptance and inclusion? Join in discussion with renowned international speaker and Christian philosopher Ravi Zacharias. Extended Q&A following the dialogue with Dr. Zacharias and Michael Ramsden, speaker and Director at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University.

<p>"New York to Beijing, China, in about 2 hours," said Daryl Oster, founder of ET3. "That's 8,000 miles, or 4,000 miles per hour. L.A. to New York would be in 45 minutes, with a likely speed of 2,000 mph."</p> <p>But because Musk has an established track record of developing and turning ideas that sound extreme into thriving real-world products and companies, his Hyperloop idea is not being dismissed.</p>

The mystery priest who recently showed up at a crash site, anointed a victim and then vanished has been identified. A press release provided to TheBlaze from the Diocese of Jefferson County reads:

The dispute over the Falkland Islands may get a boost at the UN, thanks to Spain’s designs on Gibraltar. According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais and reported in the Telegraph, Spain’s foreign minister has traveled to Argentina to discuss the possibility of both countries supporting each other’s territorial ambitions at the expense of the UK — and self-determination: Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo will use a trip to Buenos Aires next month to raise the possibility of forging a joint diplomatic offensive with the South American country over the disputed territories, sources told Spain’s El Pais newspaper.Spain’s foreign...

From the Monday edition of the Morning Jolt: Why the Cuccinelli vs. McAuliffe Race Matters to You, Even If You Don’t Live in Virginia First, does anyone want to argue that Ken Cuccinelli — Virginia’s attorney general, and current GOP candidate for governor — is not a conservative? Led the legal challenge to Obamacare.Defended Arizona’s immigration enforcement statute.Filed legal challenges to the EPA’s findings on greenhouse gases’ being a threat to human health and thus an emission they have the authority to regulate.Supports right to life from conception until death, supported and pushed several pro-life bills while in the state...

The Virginia Tea Party Patriots have invited me to speak before them along with the Executive Director of the Black American Leadership Alliance(BALA) and Congressmen Peter King on the dangers of amnesty. As a member of the BALA, I have committed myself to fighting against amnesty as we were lied to in 1986, when we were told it was a one time deal! The Pro-Amnesty Forces have been using all types of misleading tactics and bald-face lies to achieve their goal of open border and amnesty for all. The Pro-Amnesty are using every underhanded tactic to get the Senate Bill...

An Army officer writing in a prestigious journal says the services should not overemphasize physical strength when deciding whether a woman qualifies for direct ground combat. Col. Ellen Haring, on the staff of the U.S. Army War College, says commanders need to downplay obstacle courses and judge a service member’s ability to stay calm and think quickly. The Pentagon has lifted its ban on women serving in the infantry, tanks and special operations, and the branches are examining all their physical standards in preparation for introducing women into these units in 2015. Some military analysts fear the Pentagon will discard...