A woman prepares to choose her numbers on a lottery ticket Saturday, May 18, 2013, in the Chinatown district in Oakland, Calif. A record Powerball jackpot has climbed to nearly $600 million, and lottery officials speculated the jackpot would continue to soar in the run-up to Saturday s drawing. (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — It’s all about the odds, and one lone ticket in Florida has beaten them all by matching each of the numbers drawn for the highest Powerball jackpot in history at an estimated $590.5 million, lottery officials said Sunday.

The single winner was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., according to Florida Lottery executive Cindy O’Connell. She told The Associated Press by telephone that more details would be released later.

“This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it’s the sole winner of the largest ever Powerball jackpot,” O’Connell told AP. “We’re delighted right now that we have the sole winner.”

She said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state.

The winner was not immediately identified publicly and O’Connell did not give any indication just hours after Saturday’s drawing whether anyone had already stepped forward with that winning ticket.

Brianwa Flores, left, and Katie Cosentino from Illinois State Lottery greet hockey fans before Game 2 of an NHL hockey playoff Western Conference semifinal between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP)

With four out of every five possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, lottery executives said earlier that someone was almost certain to win the game’s highest jackpot, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars – and that’s after taxes.

Saturday night’s winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11.

Estimates had earlier put the jackpot at around $600 million. But Powerball’s online site said Sunday that the jackpot had reached an estimated $590.5 million.

Terry Rich, CEO of the Iowa Lottery, initially confirmed that one Florida winning ticket had been sold. He told AP that following the Florida winner, the Powerball grand prize was being reset at an estimated jackpot of $40 million, or about $25.1 million cash value.

The chances of winning the prize were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That’s how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimated that about 80 percent of those possible combinations had been purchased recently.

While the odds are low for any one individual or individuals, O’Connell said, the chance that one hits paydirt is what makes Powerball an “exciting game to play.”

“There is just the chance that you will have the opportunity and Florida is a huge Powerball state. We have had more winners than any other state that participates in Powerball.”

Joe Fajardo poses holding his Powerball lottery ticket after buying it at a store Saturday, May 18, 2013, in the Barrio Logan neighborhood of San Diego. (AP)

Such longshot odds didn’t deter people across Powerball-playing states – 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands – from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday for their chance at striking it filthy rich.

Calls by AP to the Publix supermarket outlet in Florida where the winning ticket was sold were not answered Sunday.

Elsewhere, Rich said, lottery officials reported 33 winning tickets for a $1,000,000 prize each were sold around 17 states, led by six tickets in New York. He said lotteries reported 2 winning tickets each for the $2,000,000 PowerPlay, one in New York and the other in South Carolina.

Before the drawing, there was a rush for tickets around the country.

At a mini market in the heart of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, employees broke the steady stream of customers into two lines: One for Powerball ticket buyers and one for everybody else. Some people appeared to be looking for a little karma.

“We’ve had two winners over $10 million here over the years, so people in the neighborhood think this is the lucky store,” employee Gordon Chan said as he replenished a stack of lottery tickets on a counter.

The world’s largest jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. If $600 million, the jackpot would currently include a $376.9 million cash option.

Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot – people are interested in the easy investment.

“Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small,” he said. “Two dollars gets you a chance.”

That may be why Ed McCuen has a Powerball habit that’s as regular as clockwork. The 57-year-old electrical contractor from Savannah, Ga., buys one ticket a week, regardless of the possible loot. It’s a habit he didn’t alter Saturday.

“You’ve got one shot in a gazillion or whatever,” McCuen said, tucking his ticket in his pocket as he left a local convenience store. “You can’t win unless you buy a ticket. But whether you buy one or 10 or 20, it’s insignificant.”

Seema Sharma doesn’t seem to think so. The newsstand employee in Manhattan’s Penn Station purchased $80 worth of tickets for herself. She also was selling tickets all morning at a steady pace, instructing buyers where to stand if they wanted machine-picked tickets or to choose their own numbers.

“I work very hard – too hard – and I want to get the money so I can finally relax,” she said. “You never know.”

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Emergency personnel respond to one of the people hit by a car, at right, during the beginning of the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival in Damascus, Va., Saturday, May 18, 2013. Witnesses said the car drove into a crowd at the parade and hurt several people. (AP Photo/Bristol Herald Courier, Earl Neikirk)

Washington County director of emergency management Pokey Harris said Saturday that no fatalities have been reported.

The injuries ranged from critical to superficial. Three of the victims were flown by helicopter to regional hospitals. Another 12 to 15 were taken by ambulance. The rest were treated at the scene in Damascus, about a half-hour east of Bristol.

A boy describes the scene he witnessed in the below video from Hot News Port:

The status of the driver wasn’t released. Multiple witnesses described him as an elderly man.

Authorities are still investigating, but Harris says they believe the man might have suffered a medical emergency before the accident.

The incident happened around 2:30 p.m. during the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival, an annual celebration of the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, near the Tennessee state line about a half-hour drive east of Bristol.

Witnesses said the car had a handicapped parking sticker and it went more than 100 feet before coming to a stop.

“He was hitting hikers,” said Vickie Harmon, a witness from Damascus. “I saw hikers just go everywhere.”

Damascus resident Amanda Puckett, who was watching the parade with her children, ran to the car, where she and others lifted the car off those pinned underneath.

“Everybody just threw our hands up on the car and we just lifted the car up,” she said.

There were ambulances in the parade ahead of the hikers and paramedics on board immediately responded to the crash.

This is a breaking news story. Updates will be added.

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HBO

TheBlaze’s S.E. Cupp battled liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on the gun issue Friday, arguing against gun restrictions and schooling him on basic statistics on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Cupp, contending with boos from the “Real Time” audience, said the problem with a gun registry is that “it treats law-abiding citizens as if they are guilty until proven innocent.”

She went on, “The problem with background checks, five-day waiting periods, they assume that I have criminal intent to use my gun to pursue my Second Amendment rights…I go to get a background check, ‘Prove to me you’re not a criminal.’ I go to get a gun, ‘Prove to me you don’t want to use it in the heat of passion right now, wait five days, you need to cool off.’ That’s not fair — the government is not in the business of intimidating me away from my Second Amendment rights. It’s an abuse of power, and it seeps into the culture — it’s why newspapers think they can publish gun owners’ addresses, as if they are pariahs. It’s not appropriate.”

Moore countered, “You have a dangerous device that can kill 20 schoolchildren, I want to know where that device is. You can have it — ”

“You do not have that right,” Cupp said.

Moore then said he wanted the Second Amendment altered to spell out the Founding Fathers’ intention: that it covers muskets.

Maher pointed out that he is a gun owner himself and would never give his guns up. He said he goes to the shooting range a few times a year, which Moore said wasn’t enough — he wouldn’t be effective against an intruder if he were just coming out of a deep sleep.

“As opposed to what, just getting mowed down?” Maher asked.

The conversation shifted to crime statistics, with Maher raising the question: Why have gun homicides gone down in an age of less gun control?

Moore made the point that all crime has gone down, and Cupp said mass shootings are also down — causing Moore to throw up his hands in laughter.

“Less school shootings since Columbine, let me ponder that for a second,” he said sarcastically.

“There have been fewer mass shootings over the past 30 years, that’s just a fact,” Cupp said. “It’s an inconvenient truth I know, but it’s a fact.”

Moore referenced “the bubble” that gun owners live in.

“There’s no bubble. I am a gun owner, I have lived and breathed this issue personally for a decade,” Cupp shot back. “It’s not a bubble, I just happen to be informed on gun issues, unlike those people who talk about them.”

​Watch the discussi​on:

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Police outside the home Tuesday after a homeowner defended himself against intruders with a firearm. (Image: KTRK video screenshot)

Three suspected burglars on Tuesday broke into Texas man’s home, beat him, and then forced him into an upstairs closet.

Luckily for the homeowner, his assailants made a ​huge ​mistake: they put him into same closet where he keeps his guns.

Houston Police Department Sgt. Jerry Brandon told an ABC affiliate the homeowner thought the three men had left his home after a few minutes and headed downstairs, firearm in hand.

This is where he confronted one of the burglars and exchanged fire, wounding the intruder. The two other men escaped, according to authorities, while their compatriot has been hospitalized.

Here’s the KTRK’s report:

“Guess what? The owner had a gun,” neighbor Craig Gaddis told KTRK. “He did exactly what he was supposed to do — with the gun, that’s what they’re made for — protect his home.”

(Image: KTRK video screenshot)

The Houston Chronicle reported Gaddis saying a similar robbery occurred a couple weeks ago in the same area and neighbors believe they are connected.

Charges are expected to be brought against the wounded intruder, but not the homeowner, according to the report.

–

(H/T: Gawker)

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Associated Press.

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (TheBlaze/AP) — Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday’s evening rush hour, injuring about 50 people, authorities said.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says a total of 60 people have been taken to hospitals with injuries from a collision between two New York-area commuter trains.

The governor said from the scene of the accident Friday night that most people were not seriously hurt but five were critically injured, including one very critically injured.

The trains on the Metro-North Railroad commuter line, which serves New York City, collided shortly after 6 p.m. when one train derailed and smashed into the other.

The governor said there was extensive damage to the train cars and the track, and that the accident will have a “big impact” on the Northeast Corridor. He said it could take until Monday for normal service to be restored. He said the area where the accident happened was down to two tracks because of repair work.

Bill Kaempffer, a spokesman for Bridgeport public safety, told The Associated Press approximately 49 people were injured, including four with serious injuries. About 250 people were on board the two trains, he said.

Photos taken at the scene showed a train car askew on the rails, with its end smashed up and brushing against another train. Amtrak suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.

“At this stage, we don’t know if this is a mechanical failure, an accident or something deliberate,” Fairfield police spokesman Lt. James Perez told the Connecticut Post.

The railroad said a train that departed New York City’s Grand Central station en route to New Haven derailed. A westbound train on an adjacent track then struck the derailed train. Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision.

Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said everybody who needed treatment had been attended to, and authorities were beginning to turn their attention to investigating the cause.

Associated Press.

“Everybody seemed pretty calm,” he said. “Everybody was thankful they didn’t get seriously hurt. They were anxious to get home to their families.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the Metro-North Railroad, the second-largest commuter railroad in the nation.

The Metro-North main lines – the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven – run northward from New York City’s Grand Central Terminal into suburban New York and Connecticut.

 –

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Featured image AP photo.

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Copeland, 24, who has been getting used to her new life since the zip-lining accident last summer, is getting a little help from a new pair of prosthetic hands, becoming the first woman in the world with both upper limbs amputated to use iLimb technology, according to WXIA-TV.

Aimee Copeland is fitted with iLimb, a new bionic hand. (Image: WXIA-TV)

The iLimb hands by Touch Bionics based in Ohio are now allowing Copeland, who lives in Georgia, to perform everyday tasks like wiping tables, hanging cloths and straightening her hair, the report adds.

(Image: WXIA-TV)

Watch Copeland test out the hands in this report from WXIA-TV:

Copeland said she is eager to use the new hands for cooking or perhaps even a little knitting.

Georgia Tech’s Robert Kistenberg is working with Copeland and her new prosthetics and said they cost $100,000 per hand. Touch Bionic though gave Copeland the hands free of charge when health insurance wouldn’t cover the cost.

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A few subtle changes made this Monday to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled “Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies” again has some criticizing the government for a growing trend to militarize local law enforcement.

The update gives federal military commanders the authority to engage in “activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected, civil disturbances” temporarily during “extraordinary emergency circumstances.”

Civil liberties attorney and law professor Bruce Afran calls the rule, “a wanton power grab by the military,” and says, “It’s quite shocking actually because it violates the long-standing presumption that the military is under civilian control.”

On “Real News” Friday the panel discussed the possible dangers in expanding the role and power of the military over domestic law enforcement. Watch a clip below below with guest Col. Morris Davis:

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Ashley Warden, a former Chili’s restaurant waitress, posted a picture and comment disparaging of local police officers to her Facebook wall, causing a viral uproar that resulted in her losing her job, KOTV-TV reports.

The post read: “Stupid Cops better hope I’m not their server FDP” (“FDP” is shorthand for “f**k da police”). Unsurprisingly, her post sparked outrage, leading many to contact the restaurant, the report adds.

(Image: KOTV)

The picture Warden posted were of three Oklahoma County Sheriff department deputies who had just finished volunteering as escorts for a funeral held for a Catholic priest.

“This is what she posts and what she chooses to post during Law Enforcement Week when we are honoring those who have died in service to our citizens, I think that’s pathetic,” Sheriff John Whetsel told KOTV-TV.

“I was extremely disappointed that here are these dedicated public servants got called names and then get threatened by a lady that doesn’t have a clue about who they are or what they do or the service they provide.”

Watch KOTV-TV’s report:

Piedmont Police Officer Scott Gibbons saw the post, according to KOCO-TV, and re-posted it, saying he ”felt the need to let other members of the community know that they might reconsider where they eat.”

Chili’s issued a statement that confirming Warden had been fired, citing its Social Media Guidelines, which ask team members to “always be respectful of our guests and to use proper judgment when discussing actions in the work place.” 

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(H/T: AOL). Featured image via Annette Shaff/Shutterstock.com. This post has been updated.

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“It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Bill Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office of the explosion that took place March 17, according to NASA’s website.

The explosion was so large, in fact, that it could have been seen from Earth with the naked eye.

NASA scientists speculate the meteoroid weighed 40 kg (about 88 pounds) and was less than 0.5 meters (about 1.6 feet) wide. But moving at 56,000 miles per hour, they compare its resulting explosion to the detonation of five tons of TNT.

(Image: NASA/YouTube screenshot)

Here’s a look at video showing just the explosion:

“We’ll be keeping an eye out for signs of a repeat performance next year when the Earth-Moon system passes through the same region of space,” Cooke said. “Meanwhile, our analysis of the March 17event continues.”

Here’s NASA’s full ScienceCast on the event:

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(H/T: Business Insider). Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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“As a first step in the process, Dr. Robertson stated that she should stop dwelling on the cheating. Next, he recommended that she remind herself of all the reasons she fell in love with him in the first place so that she might try to fall back in love with him all over again.”

“Lastly, his point was that everyone is human and there is much temptation outside of the home, so she should do whatever she can to strengthen their home and relationship. His intent was not to condone infidelity or to cast blame. We regret any misunderstanding,” the statement added.

The controversy began Wednesday when Robertson on his “700 Club” program was presented with this viewer question:

Credit: CBN.

“Here’s the secret,” Robertson responded, “Stop talking about the cheating. He cheated on you. Well, he’s a man, okay.”

He continued, offering the following suggestions [via TheBlaze’s Dave Urbanski]:

• “Recognize, also, like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit, and what you want to do is make a home so wonderful that he doesn’t want to wander.”
• Focus on why you married him in the first place.
• Does he provide food, shelter, clothing? Is he nice to the children and does he do things with them?
• “Is he handsome?”
• Fall in love with him all over again.
• Touch his face, hold his hand, look into his eyes.
• Don’t focus on what makes you mad, just the good stuff.
• Give him honor.
• Keep in mind that there’s a lot of pornography out there, to which men are enticed every day.

You can watch Robertson’s comments here [relevant comments at the 49:20 marker]

–

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Featured image Getty Images.

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(Image: WLUK-TV/YouTube screenshot)

Marie Ninnemann couldn’t load the shells into the shotgun in order to fire at the animal, which was chasing the couple’s dog and turned on her husband at their cabin in Marinette County. Even if she could load the firearm, WLUK-TV reported that she wouldn’t have known how to shoot it.

So how did she use the weapon against the juvenile animal to save her husband, Gerre Ninnemann?

“Marie had a good angle from the top of the steps and clubbed the bear over the head,” Gerre told WLUK-TV.

Stunning the bear gave Gerre and his wife enough time to scramble inside the cabin where they called the authorities.

With the bear at their front door and windows, Gerre said it took the deputy with county sheriff’s office about 45 mintues to arrive. But the bear was still waiting.

(Image: WLUK-TV/YouTube screenshot)

“The bear walked up to the front of the squad car and the deputy was about 10 feet away and dropped him with one shot,” Gerre said, according to WLUK-TV.

Gerre was treated for wounds on his head and neck, but otherwise he and the dog involved in the bear attack are doing well. As for Marie, “I owe her my life,” Gerre said, noting how he fully intends to teach her how to properly load and fire the gun.

Watch the report:

(H/T: Fox News)

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In all the photos, taken by New York City artist Arne Svenson from his second-floor apartment, the faces are obscured or not shown. The people are unidentifiable.

A modern luxury glass apartment building, left, sits across the street from an older red brick apartment, the home of photograher Arne Svenson, Thursday, May 16, 2013 in New York. Residents of a New York luxury apartment building are livid over an exhibition of photos secretly snapped through their apartment windows. Credit: AP

But the residents of a glass-walled luxury residential building across the street had no idea they were being photographed and they never consented to being subjects for the works of art that are now on display — and for sale — in a Manhattan gallery.

“I don’t feel it’s a violation in a legal sense but in a New York, personal sense there was a line crossed,” said Michelle Sylvester, who lives in the residential building called the Zinc Building, which stands out with its floor-to-ceiling windows in a neighborhood of cobblestone streets and old, brick warehouse buildings.

Svenson’s apartment is directly across the street, just to the south, giving him a clear view of his neighbors by simply looking out his window.

“I think there’s an understanding that when you live here with glass windows, there will be straying eyes but it feels different with someone who has a camera,” Sylvester said.

Svenson’s show, “The Neighbors,” opened last Saturday at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea, where about a dozen large prints are on sale for up to $7,500. His exhibit is drawing a lot of attention, not for the quality of the work, but for the manner in which it was made.

A detail section from the Photography of Arne Svenson as it hangs inside the Julie Saul Gallery on Thursday, May 16, 2013 in New York. Residents of a New York luxury apartment building are livid over an exhibition of photos secretly snapped through their apartment windows. Credit: AP

Svenson did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, but says in material accompanying the exhibit that the idea for it came when he inherited a telephoto lens from a friend, a birdwatcher who recently died.

“For my subjects there is no question of privacy; they are performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high,” Svenson says in the gallery notes. “The Neighbors don’t know they are being photographed; I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs.”

That explanation has done little to satisfy some residents of the Zinc Building, where a penthouse was once listed at nearly $6 million. In an email circulating among the building’s owners and renters this week, a resident whose apartment was depicted in Svenson’s photographs suggested legal recourse against the artist.

“I am not an expert in this area of the law, but I do think we may have some rights and the ability to stop this,” the email reads. “I love art, but find this to be an outrageous invasion of privacy.”

Civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel said that according to New York civil rights law, there may be a way for Svenson’s subjects to challenge him in court but the case will depend entirely on context.

A visitor views the photography of Arne Svenson on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at the Julie Saul Gallery in New York. Residents of a New York luxury apartment building are upset over the exhibition by Svenson who secretly made their pictures from his window across the street. Credit: AP

“The question for the person who’s suing is, if you’re not identifiable, then where’s the loss of privacy?” he said. “These issues are a sign of the times. How do you balance the right of privacy vis-à-vis the right of artistic expression?”

Linda Darcia, an exchange student from Colombia living with a family on the sixth floor facing Svenson’s studio, said she had no idea whether or not she was depicted in any of the pieces but she was anxious to go to the gallery and find out.

“I’m not really upset about it because that’s his job,” she said. “But maybe he should have asked before the gallery opens. Everybody’s talking about it.”

–

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In early February, TheBlaze featured a story about this unlikely hero named ‘Kai.”

Image: KMPH/Fox26

Kai was a homeless man who became a hero in the eyes of many after he used a hatchet to stop a crazy man from attacking two women. The video of Kai telling his story became something of a viral sensation. And as with most viral video stars, Kai seemed to have drifted back into obscurity. Until today…today he’s a murder suspect. Police in New Jersey have just arrested Caleb Lawrence McGillvary (Kai’s real name). He is the prime suspect in the bludgeoning death of 71-year-old North Jersey attorney, Joseph Galfy.

According to Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow, “Kai” was identified from video captured on a Times Square surveillance camera. The local police also say that Mr. McGillvary  had cut his hair in an attempt to alter his appearance.

At a press conference on Wednesday, law enforcement officials shared details about the murder of Mr. Galfy and said Kai had actually posted on his Facebook page a possible explanation for the violent attack on the elderly lawyer. The suspect claimed that he was raped. According to ABC 7 in NYC, the Facebook post stated;

what would you do if you woke up with a groggy head, metallic taste in your mouth, in a strangers house… walked to the mirror and seen … dripping from the side of your face from your mouth, and started wretching, realizing that someone had drugged, raped…? what would you do?

Late Thursday night, police in Philadelphia captured the suspect at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Philadelphia. He has been charged with murder and bail was set at $3 million.

New York’s ABC 7 has the story.

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Huh. Maybe it’s just us.

Anyway, the following video comes courtesy of biologist Brad Josephs who “recently planted a GoPro camera out in the Alaskan wilderness,” Deadspin explains, “hoping to capture some up-close footage of bears for a BBC nature show.”

But rather than catching bears (i.e. “nature’s Shermans”) acting all cute and nature-y, Josephs’ GoPro camera answers our opening question, that is, this is what it’d look like to have your face taken off by a bear:

“Amazingly there was no damage to the camera!” Josephs writes on the video’s YouTube page, apparently undisturbed by images of the bear’s cavernous, gaping jaws of death.

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A look inside David Barton Gym’s Miami locker room. (Photo: David Barton Gym)

Men who had just finished working out at a Miami gym and were showering were stunned when six to eight armed bounty hunters wearing bullet-proof vests burst into the locker room.

WFOR-TV reported Scott Linnen saying he feels that his privacy rights were violated by the bondsmen seeking fugitives in the shower room.

“I was standing in a shower relaxed after having a good workout and the next thing I know I’m seeing a gun in my face,” Linnen said of the incident that occurred Tuesday night. “My first thought was I’m going to be shot.”

Although the bondsmen eventually told the shocked, naked patrons of Miami Beach’s David Barton Gym what they were searching for, Linnen says he is surprised “pulling a curtain aside and revealing me naked is apparently not breaking any kind of law.”

And according to Florida law, the bondsmen, believing a suspect was inside the gym, were within their rights to enter it. WFOR-TV reported Sgt. Bobby Hernandez with the Miami Beach Police Department saying “they work under whole different set of rules than police.”

Police would have needed a warrant to enter a third-party establishment, such as the gym.

The gym said in a statement it had “no control” over the situation, but it believes the bondmen “ignored our normal security measures.”

Watch WFOR-TV’s report:

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Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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Today, the Boston Athletic Association (the organization behind the race) has reached out and offered the group of 5,633 runners the opportunity to finish what they started just over a month ago. Race officials have offered to pre-register anyone who was past the halfway mark of the race when the explosions occurred.

Image: baa.org

The news was emailed to all of those who were cut off from completing the race and then announced to the world in a press release from the B.A.A.

In the announcement, B.A.A.’s Executive Director Tom Grilk said;

The opportunity to run down Boylston Street and to cross the finish line amid thousands of spectators is a significant part of the entire Boston Marathon experience. With the opportunity to return and participate in 2014, we look forward to inviting back these athletes and we expect that most will renew their marathon training commitment.

Boston spectators are known for their impassioned support and unbridled enthusiasm, and they will give these returning athletes some of the loudest cheers at next year’s race.

The group of 5633 potential runners is a diverse one, representing all 50 states, four U.S. territories and 726 runners from outside of the country. Their ages range from 18-82. Mr. Grilk has said that he expects many of those who missed out on the chance to finish the 26.2 mile race will be back in Boston next April.

ESPN reports that the news has been favorably received in the social media communities. The B.A.A. Facebook page was instantly hit with many “likes” from runners who have vowed to return next year.

In case you were wondering, the invitation to participate in next years’ Boston Marathon is non-transferrable.

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Braxton Bielski caught the 14′ 3″, 800-lb monster at a wildlife management area.

(Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

“He’s wanted to hunt alligators for years,” Braxton’s dad Troy, a Houston police officer, told KHOU-TV. “We got selected one year to go on a youth hunt at the J.D. Murphree WMA, but I didn’t get the permit in on time. I remember Brax was very disappointed. This is the first year we’ve had to enter him as an adult and we got drawn.”

In Texas, residents have to apply for a permit to hunt alligators and are selected at random.

The father and son duo described how they caught the beast, which includes using a line and hook to initially capture the animal before using a gun:

“We went through a two-hour orientation and it was very thorough,” Braxton recalled. “My dad did a lot of research online about alligator hunting and we asked a lot of questions.”

Troy said he knew some about the area they would be hunting, having done some bass fishing on Choke Canyon years ago, but with current low water levels, the landscape was completely different from what he remembered.

“We spent a lot of time scouting some of the pastures in the compartment we were assigned, looking for likely spots to set our lines,” said Troy.

At one point, the pair observed what they believed to be a large gator in a cove and decided to place their baited lines nearby.

“We didn’t pressure it, but while we were putting up our cane poles we could see it watching us 30 yards away,” said Braxton.

[...]

Braxton chose one of the lines as his set; the other would be his dad’s. When the two hunters returned the next morning, they realized they had their work cut out as both lines were down indicating they had two alligators hooked. A hook and line set baited with raw meat is used to catch the alligator; only after it has been hooked can a gator be dispatched at close range with a firearm.

(Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

Troy also bagged a beast: a 10′ 5″ female.

“If we had just caught the one, I would have been happy for Brax,” Troy told KHOU. “He’s the reason I was there.”

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The Tribune-Democrat reports that the bizarre incident unfolded on Tuesday evening around 6:30 p.m on a CamTran bus. At the time, the vehicle was mostly empty, aside from one female customer (you can see her calmly sitting at the back of the bus as the deer runs about in the below clip).

Photo Credit: YouTube

“The driver immediately stopped the bus,” said Josh Yoder, a spokesperson for CamTran. “He opened the door and the deer just walked off the bus.”

But this didn’t happen until the deer had a little fun, jumping around the vehicle, clearly disoriented from the experience. Luckily, no one was injured and the bus is currently being repaired.

Watch the stunning video, below. While you won’t see the deer’s exit, you’ll be able to watch it crash onto the bus, roam about — and you’ll get a few glimpses of the driver seemingly attempting to move as far away from the animal as possible:

(H/T: The Tribune-Democrat)

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• Whites-Only Fellowship Sparks Major Conundrum for Columbia University — Here’s How Officials Want to Fix It
• Which Prominent Faith Leader Is Now Claiming to Have Been Targeted by the IRS?

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In Granbury, the worst-hit city, a tornado tore through two neighborhoods around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Resident Elizabeth Tovar described the fist-sized hail that heralded the tornado’s arrival and prompted her and her family to hide in their bathroom.

Johnny Ortiz, left, and James South, right, carry Miguel Morales, center, who was injured in a tornado, to an ambulance in Granbury, Texas, on Wednesday May 15, 2013. Officials report the tornado caused “multiple fatalities” as it tore through two neighborhoods of a North Texas town. Hood County sheriff’s Lt. Kathy Jiveden reported the multiple fatalities, but she had no estimate of dead or injured. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

“We were all, like, hugging in the bathtub and that’s when it started happening. I heard glass shattering and I knew my house was going,” Tovar said, shaking her head. “We looked up and … the whole ceiling was gone.”

Behind one house in the storm’s path, a detached garage was stripped of much of its aluminum siding, the door caved in and the roof torn off. A tree behind the house was stripped of most of its branches and a vacant doublewide mobile home on an adjoining lot was torn apart.

Daniel and Amanda Layne initially thought they were safe sheltering under their carport. But then “it started getting worse and worse,” and the couple took shelter in their bathroom, Daniel Layne said.

“The windows and the cars are gone. Both our cars are messed up. I had a big shop. Ain’t a piece of it left now,” Layne said with a shrug.

Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds described the devastating aftermath and the hunt for bodies.

“Some were found in houses. Some were found around houses,” Deeds said. “There was a report that two of these people that they found were not even near their homes. So we’re going to have to search the area out there.”

He said officials were trying to account for 14 people.

About 50 people were taken to a Granbury hospital, where 14 were admitted for treatment of injuries and two were transferred to a hospital in Fort Worth, about 35 miles to the northeast, Deeds said. Yet more gathered at a local elementary school where paramedics provided on-site treatment. Matt Zavadsky, a spokesman for MedStar Mobile Healthcare, estimated that as many as 100 people were injured.

Another tornado that storm spotters told the National Weather Service was a mile wide tore through Cleburne, a courthouse city of about 30,000 about 25 miles southeast of Granbury.

An unidentified injured person is carried to an ambulance in Granbury, Texas, on Wednesday May 15, 2013. Officials report the tornado caused “multiple fatalities” as it tore through two neighborhoods of a North Texas town. Hood County sheriff’s Lt. Kathy Jiveden reported the multiple fatalities, but she had no estimate of dead or injured. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

There were no reports of deaths in that storm, Cleburne Mayor Scott Cain said, “but we do have the potential for some injuries.” In one neighborhood, a trucking company trailer that had been parked on the street was picked up and dropped onto a nearby car and garage.

Cain estimated that dozens of homes were damaged.

Another tornado hit the small town of Millsap, about 40 miles west of Fort Worth. Parker County Judge Mark Kelley said roof damage was reported to several houses and a barn was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.

Hail as large as grapefruit also pelted the area around Mineral Wells on Wednesday evening. A police dispatcher reported only minor damage.

​This story has been updated.

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Evan Mathis. (NFL via Getty Images)

We didn’t think it could happen, but it looks like the Internal Revenue Service has manged to make itself even ​more ​unpopular with Americans that it already was  — if that’s even possible.

For instance, Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Evan Mathis on Wednesday decided to express his disgust for the fed agency by posting the following photo to his Instagram account:

Yes, that’s a picture of him “urinating” (we’re not sure if he’s really doing it) on the IRS building. And, yes, the picture is captioned, “audit this.”

Now, although we have a strong feeling he’ll be forced to offer a public apology (and may even face a fine), it doesn’t sound like he regrets a thing:

How high are we counting?RT @DCFanaticsBlog: Evan Mathis will be apologizing later today. Count on that.

May 15, 2013 1:47pm via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite

@EvanMathis69

Evan Mathis

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(H/T: Mashable). Featured image screen grab.

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A group of individuals from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore were caught early Wednesday morning trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts, one of the largest man-made public water supplies in the county, CBS Boston reports.

The trespassers, five men and two women, were caught in one of the no-trespassing zones of reservoir, according to Massachusetts state police.

Police also said that the trespassers “cited their education and career interests” for being in the area and claimed they are “chemical engineers” and “recent college graduates,” CBS Boston reports.

The Quabbin, located about 65 miles from Boston, supplies several Massachusetts communities, including the state’s largest city, with clean drinking water.

“State Police say there were no warrants or advisories on any of the individuals and ‘there was no evidence that the seven were committing any crime beyond the trespassing,” the CBS Boston report notes.

“All seven were allowed to leave and will be summonsed to court for trespassing. The FBI is investigating and routine checks of public water supplies have been increased following the incident.”

The seven individuals reside in Amherst, Cambridge, Sunderland, Northampton, and New York City.

“Police have not released their names because a court date has not been set,” the report adds.

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Attorney General Eric Holder, the nation’s top law enforcement official, is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, prior to testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Justice Department oversight hearing. (Photo: AP)

Attorney General Eric Holder appeared for the sixth time before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, asked to speak about the IRS’ admission that it has been targeting conservative organizations and the Department of Justice secretly seizing two months of phone records from the Associated Press.

Unfortunately, though, Holder divulged almost nothing.

The attorney general’s opening statement consisted of an overview of the Department of Justice’s “achievements” and “priorities,” before saying they could be “threatened” by budget cuts related to sequestration.

But in response to repeated questions by Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) about the DOJ seizing phone records from the Associated Press, Holder said: “I was not the person involved in that decision…I am not familiar why the subpoena was constructed in the way it was because I was not involved in the case…” etc.

He also often noted that there is an ongoing investigation that prevents him from commenting.

Lawmakers then attempted to determine ​who authorized ​the subpoena if not Holder, and the attorney general said he would “assume” that the deputy attorney general did after he recused himself from the case, and received confirmation during the hearing that Deputy Attorney General James Cole indeed did authorize the subpoenas.

Watch video of the scene via Mediaite:

Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL) was one of the lawmakers to glean some new information from the attorney general.

While we know Holder has recused himself from the case, Bachus’ questions reveal that apparently Holder doesn’t know when exactly he did so.

“On what date did you recuse yourself?” Bachus asked.

“I’m not sure, I think it was towards the beginning of the matter,” Holder responded.

“Isn’t that sort of an unacceptable procedure?  The statue says that the attorney general shall approve the subpoena.  There was no memorandum, no email — when you recused yourself, was it in writing, was it orally?  Did you tell someone, did you alert the White House?” Bachus probed.

“I would’ve told the deputy attorney general,” Holder replied, though he said there would be no record of it in writing.

Holder said the FBI’s criminal investigation of the IRS could feasibly include civil rights violations, false statements, and potential violations of the Hatch Act, though he couldn’t say by or for whom.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) was particularly disturbed by Holder’s actions, saying “the actions of the department have, in fact, impaired the First Amendment.”

To this, as with the rest, Holder provided a limited explanation.

Video via Mediaite:

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) was one of several lawmakers to suggest Holder and other administration officials travel to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and reflect on the phrase “the buck stops here.”

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Photo Source: www.HatemBazian.com

While it is perhaps not shocking that a UC Berkeley professor would harbor leftist views, equating the Boston terrorist attacks with “Islamophobia” may be taking leftism one step beyond the realm of what many consider reasonable.

Take Professor Hatem Bazian, who has called for an “intifada” in the U.S. and participates in divestment campaigns against “Israeli apartheid.”

Now, rather than acknowledge that the Tsarnaev brothers were Muslims acting on behalf of Islam, and rather than call on Muslims around the U.S. to condemn the attacks and prevent further radicalization of Muslim youth, Bazian penned an article entitled, “Boston Bombing, Islamophobia and Sudden Ignorance Syndrome.”

In the piece, Dr. Bazian, Director of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender, wrote:

Let me be absolutely clear. Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev committed horrific crimes, ones that took the lives of three individuals, shattered dozens, and left the City of Boston in fear. But the Islamophobic machine committed crimes against our collective consciousness by exploiting the suffering and pain of our fellow citizens. Their words became a powerful incendiary to inflame the minds of an already panicked people.

Admitting that a horrific terrorist attack which claimed the lives of three people and permanently disfigured dozens of others on one hand, and then following up that acknowledgement with a qualifying statement about ignorant Westerners’ “crimes” against a “collective consciousness” will not, for many, ring as a genuine display of bereavement on the professor’s part.

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(h/t: JihadWatch)

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Being auctioned on the site 24Fundraiser, the pocket knife designed by Ernest Emerson was given to “Mark Owen,” a pseudonym used by a member of SEAL Team 6 who wrote “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden.”

A knife up for auction owned by “Mark Owen,” a member of SEAL Team 6 on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. (Photo: 24Fundraiser)

“That is the real deal — Owen is the real guy and this is the real knife,” Emerson, who owns Emerson Knives, said according to the item description.

The description claims that the knife was carried by Owen for more than eight years, including his mission to kill bin Laden.

“I’m donating the knife because the owner of Combat Flip flops is a friend and when he told me about this auction and all the good that the money raised was going to go towards, I wanted to help in anyway that I could,” Owen said in the knife’s description. “Giving back to our community is very important to me and if donating this knife to charity helps with that process then I’m more than happy to do it!”

The auction for the knife ends Wednesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. Check out the full posting here.

(H/T: Daily Caller)

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Dr. Anne Hendershot (Photo Credit: Franciscan University)

In the midst of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, exclusively told TheBlaze that she believes she may have been one of the IRS’s targets.

According to Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her. While they did not ask directly it seemed as though the agent wanted to know about the leanings of these particular organizations.

It all started with a phone call she received at her home in May of that year — a call during which Hendershott was told she would be audited. A letter that followed on May 19, 2010 solidified the IRS’s request to meet her in person two months later in July. While IRS investigations are certainly not uncommon occurrences, the professor believes that the situation surrounding hers was more-than-curious.

“The IRS calls my house and says … ‘I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to be auditing your business’ and I said ‘My businesses?’ and he said, ‘You know the expenses you take off for writing,” the academic recalls.

Hendershott was surprised she was being audited on business grounds considering she does not operate an entrepreneurial endeavor in the traditional sense. In addition to her academic work, she told TheBlaze that she occasionally freelances for Catholic outlets and for the Wall Street Journal. But can this really be considered “business” activity?

“I don’t make a lot of money from writing. In fact most years I don’t show a profit,” she told TheBlaze.

Hendershott said some of the outlets and organizations she has written for haven’t paid her a cent.

But the circumstances surrounding the irregular nature of the experience don’t end there. Hendershott noted it was particularly surprising that she, alone, was audited. Her husband, who brings in the vast majority of the family’s income, was not included in the IRS’s inquiry — even though the Hendershotts always files jointly.

So when the agent explained that she would need to come alone and in person to discuss her “business” activity in July of 2010, the professor was perplexed.

“[The IRS agent] didn’t even let me decide when it would be good for me … He didn’t want my husband to come,” she said of the meeting, which was held at an IRS office in New Haven, Connecticut.

The process was a grueling one, including many questions that Hendershott felt were political in nature. Numerous records were requested before the in-person meeting, as well as during and after.

“Every question had to do with bank deposits we made. Every single question,” she said. “What is this money? And I didn’t know a lot of it. We had to go to our bank and get deposits back. We had to get records showing where the money came from.”

While asking about the deposits, the agent wanted to know if the monies came from groups and, if so, more about who the organizations were.

The mention of groups, Hendershott notes, is particularly interesting, as she had been writing for numerous Catholic outlets and organizations at the time. In addition to Catholic World Report and the Catholic Advocate, she also penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal. Many of these writings were critical of President Barack Obama and his policies.

And the plot thickens. Among the organizations she targeted in her writings were progressive groups highly supportive of Democratic causes, including: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics United, and Catholic Democrats.

Credit: AP

At the time, one of the founders of Catholics United, Chris Korzen, had become a target of her work, as she exposed, in her view, his true leftist agenda and some of the complicated theological stances the left-of-center organizations he associated with were taking. Plus, there were alleged financial ties with billionaire liberal George Soros. Here’s just two paragraphs from an article she wrote in March 2010, just months before her meeting with IRS officials:

On its website, Catholics United describes itself as a 501(c) (4) non-profit organization—eligible to accept donations. But, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good emerged in 2005 as a kind of sister organization to Catholics United. A 501(c) (3) organization, donors can claim a deduction against personal income tax when they donate money to Catholics in Alliance. Reviewing the 2007 IRS 990 forms for both Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United raises some questions, because Chris Korzen is listed as having received $84,821 in compensation for 40 hours per week from Catholics in Alliance on the group’s 990 Form—even though the Catholics United website claimed he was the director there during the same time period. [...]

Despite their inability to engage in extensive lobbying, Catholics in Alliance has been extremely successful in attracting large donors. Never a friend to the Catholic Church, George Soros, one of the earliest donors, contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2005 and another $100,000 in 2006 through his Open Society Institute. Likewise, Smith Bagley, a major Democratic donor and fundraiser, whose wife, Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, is Chairman of the Board of Catholics in Alliance, came close to matching Soros with grants from his family’s Arca Foundation. With a long history of supporting progressive organizations like ACORN, the Gamaliel Foundation, People for the American Way, and Planned Parenthood, Arca contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2007 and another $75,000 in 2008.

Hendershott can’t help but wonder if her writings against progressive groups played a role in her audit. It’s obvious that before she was notified by the IRS she was commenting regularly about matters of faith and politics and, in particular, Obamacare. While she doesn’t have proof that the IRS investigation was political in nature, she has strong suspicions that it was.

“I started writing articles like crazy saying these are fake Catholic groups,” she said of the aforementioned organizations, noting that Korzen would often target her work and rail against her assertions.

Hendershott noted that the progressive leader once called into a radio show she appeared on to challenge her contention that he had accepted Soros money.

“I had the tax return in front of me and read off the amounts that Chris Korzen was getting paid from Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good — a Soros supported fake Catholic group,” she told TheBlaze, noting that, through Catholics in Alliance, he had received $85,000.

While Korzen denied this on the air, Hendershott read from the 990 form in an effort to prove he wasn’t telling the truth. This, she believes, may have sparked — or played a role — in spawning the IRS audit.

“He was getting paid by one organization and working for another,” the professor said of Korzen. ”The IRS should have gone after them.”

Her writings for the Catholic Advocate soon ceased because, Hendershott admits, the IRS audit silenced her. If her suspicions are true, this may have been its chilling intention.

“I haven’t written for them since the audit, because I was so scared,” she said (records show her last article for the organization was on July 10, 2010 — the same month the IRS audit unfolded).

So far, she has only shared her story with friends and those close to her, but in light of the recent IRS scandal, she has decided to speak out.

“It was clear they didn’t like me criticizing the people who helped pass Obamacare,” she said of the audit,” later adding, ”The IRS is very frightening.”

In addition to creating stress and fear, Hendershott said that the experience came at a great emotional and financial expense for the family, noting that even after the audit the government sought more information from her.

“It was like they just couldn’t find what they wanted because they wanted more and more and more,” she said.

Read more about the overarching IRS scandal here.

Editor’s Note: A correction was made to note that the IRS did not directly ask “what their politics were” in regards to the organizations Hendershott wrote for. Hendershott clarified the agent seemed to want more information about the groups’ backgrounds.

————–

Related:
 Is the IRS acting as an agent of Planned Parenthood?

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Screen grab.

Ariel Castro has been accused of holding three women captive in his Ohio home for nearly a decade.

The 52-year-old Cleveland resident actually held the women as his personal sex slaves, according to law enforcement officials, even fathering a child with one of the three (Amanda Berry).

Castro has been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.

And although the police have worked around the clock to get to the bottom of Castro’s story, very little information regarding the accused rapists’ “house of horrors” has been made available to the public.

But we do have a little:

Screen grab.

“[P]hotos have emerged showing barbed wire, chains, and a bizarre assortment of discarded items,” Business Insider explains.  “A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, took photographs of Castro’s yard and gave them to CNN.”

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Donald Dickerson (Photo via WAFB-TV)

A white family getting gas in Baton Rouge, La., was attacked by three people who said the family was in the “wrong neighborhood,” police say.

The altercation occurred Sunday night at a Chevron gas station.

WAFB-TV provides the shocking details:

[Cpl. Tommy Stubbs, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department] said a man wearing a pink shirt was in line trying to pay for gas when Donald Dickerson, 41, started making fun of him, leading to an argument.

“The defendant (Dickerson) approached the white male victim,” the police report stated.

It went on to read, “the defendant told him he was in the wrong neighborhood and he was not going to make it out.” The victim said that’s when he “was punched and knocked to the ground.”

At this time, his wife got out of the car and ran to help her husband. The victim said, “he continued to struggle with the defendant and was eventually knocked unconscious, which later he awoke in the hospital.”

His wife told police, “after running to help her husband, she remembers falling to the ground and (being) knocked unconscious.“

According to a close family friend, that’s when the couple’s teenage daughter got out of the car to check on her parents and, “observed a female punch her mother in the face, when her mother then fell to the concrete, hitting her head on the surface.”

The daughter was also punched in the face.

“There were only three suspects but there were multiple people in the parking lot,” said Stubbs.  [Emphasis added]

The couple’s teenaged daughter is only 14-years-old, according to WBRZ News.

WAFB-TV reports that while the father suffered “a broken eye socket, broken nose, and several lacerations to the face,” only Dickerson was arrested and charged with second-degree battery.

The two other alleged attackers — 24-year-old Devin Bessye and 22-year-old Ashley Simmons — received a summons for simple battery, but were never even taken to the police station.

All three have had prior run-ins with the law.

Reports indicate the attack has not yet been categorized as a hate crime, but it remains under investigation.

Watch WAFB-TV’s complete report, below:

WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports
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(H/T: RightScoop)

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A video taken by Norman Dreger and posted on YouTube shows his point of view as he appears to be wading in a river and captures audio of his stunned reaction when the bird manages to snag his fish and fly with the line.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Check it out the scene in the video that has more than 1 million views since being posted three days ago:

In a second video that has seen less traffic, Dreger wrote that the bird tried to steal his prey again, but failed this time around. This version shows a clearer view of the bird and Dreger too seems a bit more mentally prepared for it.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Here’s the footage:

You might think there’s something about the footage — or perhaps the reaction — that just seems, well, fishy. But few commenters, like those talking about it on a Reddit thread, are labeling it as a fake.

It’s not the first time a bald eagle has tried to steal someone’s catch. A family in Alabama had a similar experience, but the eagle didn’t get away with it. The bird became trapped in the line instead.

Let us know if you think the footage is real or fake by taking our poll:

 –

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Kevin Fowler live at Rockin Rodeo in Denton, Texas (Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

If you are a harsh critic of the National Rifle Association and/or guns, you probably won’t enjoy listening to the music of Texas country music star Kevin Fowler.

And he doesn’t really care.

“If guns piss you off, if beer pisses you off, if any of the things that I sing about piss you off, you’re probably not coming to my show anyway. If hunting pisses you off, you’re not coming to my show — so I don’t give a damn whether it pisses you off,” Fowler told TheBlaze on his tour bus parked outside Rockin Rodeo in Denton, Texas, last week.

“If the NRA pisses you off, I’m sorry…tough s**t,” he added.

That’s why he didn’t think twice about playing at the NRA Country Jam during the organization’s annual conference in Houston earlier this month.

Fowler, known for his brutal honesty both on and off the stage, gladly weighed in on the never-ending gun control debate during an exclusive sit-down with TheBlaze on Thursday, less than an hour before he was set to play before a packed house in Denton.

The U.S. already has plenty of gun laws on the books, he said. Those laws just are not properly enforced.

“If you want to kill people, you can do it with a fork, you can do it with something you can buy at the hardware store, you can do it with a gun, you can do it with a knife, you can do it with a car, you can do it with a truck, you can do it however you want to,” he explained, stressing the importance of addressing the nation’s mental health problem.

“We have to figure out why all these nut jobs want to kill people, that’s the problem,” he added.

TheBlaze’s Jason Howerton talks to Texas country music star Kevin Fowler on his tour bus in Denton, Texas (Credit: Robert Hanston/TheBlaze)

Fowler’s take on guns appears to line up with the theme of Glenn Beck’s keynote speech at the NRA convention: “It is the man, not the gun.”

The proud Texas native, born and raised around firearms, noted that he has plenty of guns — but they don’t sprout legs and go off and kill people.

However, despite his strong views on the Second Amendment, the country music star said he tries not to push his politics on his fans.

“I think our music is just beer-drinking, hell-raising, fun music, you know, it’s not serious,” he said. “I’m not out trying to save the whales…I don’t have any political agenda with the music, I try not to. It’s just about having fun.”

Kevin Fowler performs live at Rockin Rodeo in Denton, Texas (Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

(Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

(Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

(Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

(Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

Kevin Fowler t-shirt (Credit: Robert Hantson/TheBlaze)

There are a lot of musicians who feel it is their job to “preach at” an audience, Fowler explained. But a live concert should be one place where people can go to let loose and just “forget about it all,” he added.

“I think music should be an escape. There’s enough stress in the world,” he said. “There’s enough bad stuff going on, I don’t need to remind you of that. Just come to the show and let’s rock out.”

We asked Fowler which song he would recommend to Blaze readers unfamiliar with his work. He suggested his classic tune “Beer, Bait and Ammo,” a song that country music legend George Jones liked so much he actually recorded his own version.

Take a listen below:

Fowler’s music is available in stores, on iTunes, and pretty much anywhere else you can purchase good tunes. He’s also currently on tour and may be coming to a city near you.

And regardless of what you may think of Fowler’s music or personal views, no one can argue that he doesn’t put on a good show.

TheBlaze stuck around for his entire set and witnessed the electric atmosphere of a true Texas country music show. Seemingly every patron in the smokey club could sing the lines to all the songs and several couples danced the night away on a modest dance floor sprinkled with cornmeal (for boot scootin’).

Women were also perched on men’s shoulders so they could get a better view of Fowler serenading the crowd. TheBlaze gives you a front row seat to Fowler’s live show in Denton with some exclusive footage.

“100% Texan”:

“The Lord Loves the Drinkin’ Man”:

And just to give you an idea of what the crowd looked like — the place was packed:

You can visit the official Kevin Fowler Facebook page here and let him know you read the story on TheBlaze. Follow him on Twitter here.

This story has been updated.

–

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Christian Felix still had several miles to go when Phoenix Sgt. Natalie Simonick spotted him around 11 p.m. last month. When she pulled over thinking he was breaking curfew, she learned he was 18 years old and thus not in violation, but she also learned a few other things about the young adult, ABC News reported.

Sgt. Natalie Simonick and Christian Felix. (Image: ABC News screenshot)

At a press conference last week she said she saw a strong work ethic in Felix, the local ABC affiliate KNXV reported. She also found Felix had never learned to ride a bike nor had he ever driven a car.

“He never had a father in his life, so he had no one to teach him,” Simonick said.

That’s when Simonick took it upon herself, asking her husband if they could give the teen their extra bike so he would have a more reliable form of transportation. Last month, she and other officers even gave him a lesson.

(Image: ABC News screenshot)

“Two of my officers stood on either side of him and pushed him,” Simonick said, according to ABC News. “He was a little wobbly and rode into one of the poles, but my guys were right there to catch him.”

Felix told KNXV the action was surprising because “these days you don’t see anything like that.”

“It’s really something when someone comes up on the street and offers to do a kindness for you,” he said.

(Image: ABC News screenshot)

To Simonick though, it’s simple actions like these she believes could change the world.

“If everybody could help just one person in the world like this, I think it would definitely be a better place to [live.]”

Watch ABC’s report:

This story is reminiscent of the Indianapolis teen who was spotted by a local restaurant owner walking 10 miles in the snow to a job interview earlier this year. The owner not only gave him a lift to the interview but also offered him a job. The story got national attention and sparked conversation about work ethic in this country.

(H/T: Yahoo! News)

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Photo Credit: ShutterStock.com

A call came in that a man attempting to get a cat out of a tree had gotten stuck. Fire department personnel used a bucket ladder to get the man and the cat down. According to the fire department, the man is a police officer. Daily Mail has more about the incident, which purportedly unfolded at Public School 213:

The officer was trying to rescue a stray that had become stranded in a tree in Oakland Park, Queens.

After climbing one branch too many, he ended up having to make his own 911 call, this time to the fire department.

Children at the school made their wishes known to the officer, ‘You gotta get the cat! You gotta get the cat!’ they begged.

‘The cop went up after the cat. The cat went a little further out. So, the cop went further out and he got stuck.’ said a source at the NYPD.

The fire department apparently arrived with a ladder and saved both the police officer and the cat. An embarrassing moment for the cop, children and onlookers (school had recently let out) watched the scene from below.

The New York Police Department has no comment.

Photo Credit: ShutterStock.com

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(Image: 1320video/YouTube screenshot)

“It’s been a little while since I’ve driven a stick but maybe. We’ll see,” she admits, laughing in the YouTube video by 1320video. “I’ll just, like, slow.”

(Image: 1320video/YouTube screenshot)

She later says she’s going to “see how this old lady can do” as she puts the keys into the ignition.

Slow? Once the woman with salt pepper hair gets on the road she is working the stick like a pro and hedges up toward 140 miles per hour. Judging by the look on her face, she was enjoying every minute of it.

(Image: 1320video/YouTube screenshot)

(Image: 1320video/YouTube screenshot)

(Image: 1320video/YouTube screenshot)

After she was done, she says she liked driving a stick and said she even taught her son, the friend of the videographers, how to drive manual vehicles.

“It was only too bad that there was too much traffic to get into fifth gear,” she laughed.

When asked how the power felt, the screenshot below best exemplifies her reaction.

“Oh it was great!” she said with a thumbs up. (Image: 1320video/YouTube screenshot)

The fellows in the video say the mom made their day.

“I did not expect this this morning when I woke up,” one man says.

Watch the clip, which has more than 2 million views after being posted last week (Content warning: some strong language):

Prior to taking the car for a spin herself, the mom was a passenger. This is her reaction video:

–

Featured image screen shot.

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KCTV5 out of Kansas City reported the local airport’s spokesman Joe McBride confirming that the disruptive passenger was removed at the stop for “interfering with the flight crew.” He also said a federal air marshal on the plane subdued, handcuffed and escorted her from the aircraft.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

While in Kansas City, the budding singer of the classic song, originally written by Dolly Parton, was interviewed by authorities and did not receive any charges. However, KCTV5 reported that the crew would not continue to fly with her, so she had to make other arrangements on to her final destination.

Whitney Houston waves to the crowd at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards in New York 01 March 1994 after she was honored for Record of the Year, “I’ll Always Love You,” and Album of the Year, the soundtrack from the film “The Bodyguard.” At rear is her producer David Foster, who shared the honors with her. Houston died February 11, 2012. (Photo: POOL/AFP/Getty Images)

Here’s a video of the woman leaving the plane while still singing the song Houston made famous in the 1992 film “The Bodyguard”:

Interestingly, commenters are pointing out how the flight attendant can be heard reprimanding passengers taking photos or video of the woman she was making her exit. TheBlaze reported about a travel blogger being kicked off a United Airlines flight for snapping a photo earlier this year.

Airlines’ policies determine whether or not they will allow photos or video to be taken on the plane.

American Airline’s policy states that photos and video may be taken for the purpose of recording personal events only.

“Photography or video recording of airline personnel, equipment, or procedures is strictly prohibited.”

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Obama did anything but dismiss conservative outrage over the IRS revelations, noting that citizens are right in being concerned. Additionally he said that, regardless of which party is in office, the American people should be able to trust government institutions like the IRS.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the East Room of the White House May 13, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images

“The IRS as an independent agency requires absolute integrity and people have to have confidence that they’re … applying the laws in a non-partisan way. You should feel that way regardless of party,” Obama said. “If you’ve got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and non-partisan way then that is outrageous, it is contrary to our traditions and people have to be accountable and it’s got to be fixed.”

Watch Obama address his views on the IRS scandal, below:

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The owner of the Al-Barzakh Islamic Cemetery in Doswelll, Va. did not want to confirm which grave holds the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. (Getty Images)

DOSWELL, Va. (AP) — The Virginia woman whose actions led to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev being buried about 30 miles north of her Richmond home said the angry backlash from local officials, some cemetery neighbors and online critics has been unpleasant, but she has no regrets.

“I can’t pretend it’s not difficult to be reviled and maligned,” Martha Mullen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “But any time you can reach across the divide and work with people that are not like you, that’s what God calls us to do.”

Tsarnaev, 26, was quietly buried Thursday at a small Islamic cemetery in rural Caroline County. His body had remained at a Worcester, Mass., funeral parlor since he was killed April 19 in a gunfight with police, days after the bombings that killed three and injured more than 260 in downtown Boston. Cemeteries in Massachusetts and several other states refused to accept the remains. With costs to protect the funeral home mounting, Worcester police appealed for help finding a place to bury Tsarnaev.

Mullen said she was at a Starbucks when she heard a radio news report about the difficulty finding a burial spot for Tsarnaev.

“My first thought was Jesus said love your enemies,” she said.

Then she had an epiphany.

Martha Mullen said she offered to help in the burial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a rural cemetery in Virginia, after seeing news reports about the refusals. She said she is not the only person who helped with arrangements. (AP)

“I thought someone ought to do something about this – and I am someone,” Mullen said.

So Mullen, a mental health counselor in private practice and a graduate of United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, sent emails to various faith organizations to see what could be done. She heard back from Islamic Funeral Services of Virginia, which arranged for a funeral plot at the Al-Barzakh cemetery. “It was an interfaith effort,” she said.

Mullen, a member of the United Methodist Church, said she was motivated by her own faith and that she had the full support of her pastor.

“Nobody is without sin,” she said. “Certainly this was a horrific act, but he’s dead and what happened is between him and God. We just need to bury his body and move forward. People were making an issue and detracting from the healing that needed to take place.”

There was little talk of healing among Caroline County officials and the cemetery’s neighbors, however.

Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa said late Saturday that officials had examined paperwork necessary to move Tsarnaev’s corpse from Massachusetts for its Virginia burial, and the interment appears legal. But he said his small department lacks the money and personnel to provide round-the-clock stakeouts at the cemetery as deputies did Friday night, which passed without incident.

“The Sheriff’s Office will offer the same amount of protection – no more and no less – to this site as any other cemetery in Caroline County,” Lippa said in a press release, noting that the owners can hire private security to guard Tsarnaev’s grave from vandals if they wish.

Lippa was unhappy that he was blind-sided Friday by the covert burial, and he wasn’t alone. Even some people within the area’s Islamic community were incensed that they were not consulted about the burial in advance.

Getty Images

Imam Ammar Amonette, of the Islamic Center of Virginia, said that his group was never consulted and that Mullen had reached out to a separate group, the Islamic Society of Greater Richmond.

“The whole Muslim community here is furious. Frankly, we are furious that we were never given any information. It was all done secretly behind our backs,” Amonette said, adding that it “makes no sense whatsoever” that Tsarnaev’s body was buried in Virginia.

“Now everybody who’s buried in that cemetery, their loved ones are going to have to go to that place,” he said.

The Islamic Society of Greater Richmond didn’t respond to an email seeking confirmation that it was involved in the burial.

Some readers responding to online reports about the burial and Mullen’s role were supportive, others sharply critical.

Jaquese Goodall, who lives less than a quarter-mile from the cemetery, was unhappy that Tsarnaev was buried there.

“If they didn’t want him in Boston, why did they bring him all the way down here against our wishes?” said Goodall, 21. “I am worried because his people may come down here to visit and there will be a whole lot of problems from him being here.”

Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa was concerned, too, that the grave site could become a target for vandals and a shrine for those who sympathize with Tsarnaev.

“I know of no Virginia law enforcement agency that was notified,” Lippa said. “No one in county or state government was aware of this.”

The owner of the private Al-Barzakh Islamic Cemetery stands with police on May 10, 2013 in Doswell, Virginia. (Getty Images)

Floyd Thomas, the chairman of Caroline County’s board of supervisors, considered Tsarnaev’s possible burial a black mark against the county where President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was cornered and killed 148 years ago.

“We feel as far as this particular burial is concerned, we feel the same way that most of the people in the county feel – most of the way America feels. We’re very angry over the bombing … that’s not something that’s supposed to happen,” he said.

“We don’t want the county to be remembered as the resting place of the remains for someone who committed a terrible crime.”

Peter Stefan, director of the Worcester funeral home where Tsarnaev’s body was held, had some sympathy for the Caroline officials.

“What I really didn’t care much for was the fact that the city or town wasn’t notified,” he said. “Once the family takes over, it’s their responsibility. But there’s a moral issue here.”

Local officials asked Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to look into whether any laws were broken in carrying out the hushed burial. If not, there’s likely nothing they can do.

“If there were, I think we’d try to undo what’s been done,” Thomas said.

Lane Kneedler, an attorney who represented the Virginia Cemetery Association when the law was drafted to regulate for-profit cemeteries in the late 1990s, said private and church burial grounds are not regulated by the state and only have to meet local zoning requirements. He said that once a cemetery is approved and operating, only its owner controls who is buried there.

The cemetery where Tsarnaev is buried contains 47 graves, all covered Friday with reddish-brown mulch except for two that appeared newly dug and were unmarked. On one of the new graves lay a vase full of roses at one end and a single red rose at the other end. The other new grave was bare.

State police cruisers, county sheriff’s cars and black unmarked sedans with their emergency lights concealed cruised back and forth past the cemetery, officers inside them eyeing everything for any sign of trouble as reporters on the ground and those in helicopters high overhead broadcast the gravesite’s location to the world.

Meanwhile, Tsarnaev’s death certificate was released Friday. It shows he was shot by police in the firefight the night of April 18, run over and dragged by a vehicle, and died a few hours later on April 19. Authorities have said his younger brother, Dzhokhar, ran over him in his getaway attempt.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured later and remains in custody. The brothers are accused of setting off two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs April 15 near the marathon finish line, an attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. The brothers are also suspected in the shooting death days later of an MIT police officer.

Their uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., took responsibility for the body after Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell, said she wanted it released to her in-laws. He said his nephew was buried in the Doswell cemetery with the help of a faith coalition.

“The body’s buried,” he said. “That’s it.”

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Image source: Peter Alexander, NBC News/@PeterAlexander

Part of the White House was evacuated Saturday morning because of smoke from an equipment malfunction.

Secret Service spokesman Max Milien told the Associated Press that smoke was seen coming out of a mechanical room closet on the first floor around 7 a.m.

The West Wing, including the press area, were evacuated out of an “abundance of caution,” CNN reported. Five firetrucks responded to the scene, but departed before long. People were allowed back inside the building after about an hour.

A White House official later confirmed that an electrical transformer had malfunctioned and set off a smoke alarm. The transformer issue was quickly resolved, and the situation returned to normal. The president’s family was not affected.

NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander had tweeted that there were firetrucks and that one guard said, “You gotta leave, there’s smoke.”

This post has been updated.

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NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A task force of elected officials in Newtown on Friday recommended tearing down Sandy Hook Elementary School, the school where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in December, and rebuilding on the same site.

The group of 28 town elected officials voted unanimously in favor of a plan that would construct a new building in the same location.

The proposal now goes to the local school board, which has final authority.

The panel had narrowed a list of choices to renovating or rebuilding on the school site or building a new school on property down the street. Each would cost between about $48 million and $60 million.

The 430 surviving students are attending a renovated school renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School in the neighboring town of Monroe.

Officials had said that whatever choice is made, a new or renovated school wouldn’t be ready by Aug. 27, the start of the next school year.

A study found building a new school on the existing site would cost $57 million.

Sandy Hook Elementary School hasn’t housed students since the killings. Some town residents said the school should be torn down because they couldn’t imagine sending children back there. Others favored renovating the school, with some saying that tearing it down would be a victory for evil.

Residents of towns where other mass school shootings occurred have grappled with the same dilemma. Some have renovated, some have demolished.

Columbine High School in Colorado, where two student gunmen killed 12 schoolmates and a teacher in 1999, reopened several months afterward. Crews removed the library, where most of the victims died, and replaced it with an atrium.

Virginia Tech converted a classroom building where a student gunman killed 30 people in 2007 into a peace studies and violence prevention center. And an Amish community in Pennsylvania tore down the West Nickel Mines Amish School and built a new school a few hundred yards away after a gunman killed five girls there in 2006.

On the morning of Dec. 14, gunman Adam Lanza, who had killed his mother at their Newtown home, went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing the 20 children and the six adults. He killed himself as police arrived at the school.

The school shooting, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, has spurred national debate about gun control and Second Amendment rights.

Police have not disclosed possible motives for the Newtown killings. Law enforcement officials have said Lanza showed an interest in other mass killings and played violent video games.

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“Gallon smashing” is a seemingly pointless act where a person pretends to fall, spilling gallons of milk they are carrying in the process. Someone then has to clean up the mess while those responsible for the spilled milk go home and upload the footage to YouTube.

The latest attempt, uploaded to YouTube on Monday, features a one boy’s gigantic “gallon smashing” failure.

Rather than pretending like he fell, the guy in the video really does fall, smashing his face on the grocery store’s hard tile floor.

“I think I broke [my] jaw,” the boy says as his friends just laugh.

If jail time won’t stop kids from “gallon smashing,” maybe a potentially broken jaw will.

It’s Friday — watch the video below:

(H/T: Gawker)

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ARLINGTON, VA – MAY 10: Prince Harry of Great Britain, wearing his British Army ceremonial uniform of the Blues And Royals in his role as Captain Harry Wales, lays a wreath at Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, on May 10, 2013 in Arlington Virginia. During his visit to the US, Prince Harry will be undertaking engagements on behalf of charities with which he is closely associated, on behalf also of HM Government, with a central theme of supporting injured service personnel from the UK and US forces. Credit: Getty images

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — Britain’s Prince Harry saluted America’s war dead in somber remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, pausing, too, to place flowers on the tombstone of President John F. Kennedy and visit the grave of a British World War II hero buried far from home.

There were none of the shrieking throngs that greeted his arrival Thursday on Capitol Hill at the opening of his weeklong U.S. visit, only solemn reflection at gravesites and time-honored ceremony attended by hundreds at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Harry, a British Army captain who has served twice in Afghanistan, capped the Washington portion of his trip with a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, seeing the latest prosthetic technology and chatting with wounded warriors. From there it was on to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the 2013 Warrior Games. He’s to spend Saturday at the games, where more than 200 American and British veterans wounded in service are competing.

His two-day official visit in Washington was in no way like his decidedly unofficial romp in Las Vegas last summer when embarrassing photos leaked of a prince partying naked in a game of strip billiards. Harry’s itinerary is focused on his military ties and charitable works, and it got off to a crisply professional start.

Amid the rows of headstones at Arlington, the prince laid a wreath at the grave of soldier Michael L. Stansbery Jr., 21, of Mount Juliet, Tenn. He left a note reading: “To my comrades-in-arms of the United States of America, who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Captain Harry Wales.”

Stansbery, a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, was killed July 30, 2010, by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol in Afghanistan. His grave was chosen randomly for the prince’s honor, among thousands marking the resting places of the fallen from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Elizabeth Jennings of Arlington was in Section 60 tending to the grave of her brother-in-law and unaware that Prince Harry was just a few feet away until she was told. “I think it’s really great that he’s paying his respects,” said Jennings, whose brother-in-law Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jonas Kelsall was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. “They’re all brothers-in-arms.”

Credit: Getty Images

ARLINGTON, VA – MAY 10: HRH Prince Harry lays a wreath at the JFK memorial during the second day of his visit to the United States at Arlington National Cemetery on May 10, 2013 in Arlington, Virginia. HRH will be undertaking engagements on behalf of charities with which the Prince is closely associated on behalf also of HM Government, with a central theme of supporting injured service personnel from the UK and US forces. Credit: Getty Images

ARLINGTON, VA – MAY 10: HRH Prince Harry lays a wreath at the JFK memorial during the second day of his visit to the United States at Arlington National Cemetery on May 10, 2013 in Arlington, Virginia. HRH will be undertaking engagements on behalf of charities with which the Prince is closely associated on behalf also of HM Government, with a central theme of supporting injured service personnel from the UK and US forces. Credit: Getty Images

After placing the wreath, Harry, in ceremonial Army uniform with a light-blue beret, saluted for several seconds, then walked through the rest of the section, pausing at the stones occasionally to read them.

On one knee, Harry placed flowers on Kennedy’s tombstone near the eternal flame, then stood at attention and bowed his head. Kennedy was assassinated 50 years ago this November.

The prince also paid his respects at the grave of the British officer, Major Gen. Orde Wingate, who created the Chindits, troops who fought behind enemy lines against the Japanese in World War II, developing guerrilla tactics familiar in today’s special forces. He died in the crash of a U.S. bomber in 1944. His remains and those of other crash victims, most American, were later moved to Arlington.

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New Jersey state Sen. Loretta Weinberg speaks in Trenton last year. (Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger)

Audio captured after a New Jersey Senate session on Thursday possibly features several Democrats mocking gun owners and talking about gun “confiscation,” Frank Jack Fiamingo, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, told TheBlaze on Friday.

The hot-mic recording opens with what seems to be a female senator or staff member saying, “We need a bill that is going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate.” Because of the low-quality of the audio, there is a possibility that she is saying something slightly different, however, the words “confiscate” are very clear.

“They want to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys but they don’t have any regulations…to do it,” another woman says, identified possibly as Democrat state Sen. Loretta Weinberg by the Star-Ledger.

“They don’t care about the bad guys,” yet another female voice chimes in. “All they want to do is to have their little guns and do whatever they want with them.” The Star-Ledger reports that those comments sound like they came from another Democrat, Sandra Cunningham.

“That’s the line they’ve developed,” a woman who sounds like Democrat state Sen. Linda Greenstein says, according to the Star-Ledger.

Fiamingo said he is nearly positive that one of the voices heard in the audio is that of Greenstein.

“She has a very discernible accent,” he told TheBlaze. However, he did admit that without video it’s still difficult to prove it beyond any doubt.

“It is disturbing audio regardless,” Fiamingo added.

Listen below (Editor’s note: The audio below has been enhanced for clarity but has not been altered):

The New Jersey Second Amendment Society pulled the audio directly from the New Jersey Legislature’s website, which archives past Senate sessions for the public to review. You can review the audio yourself here. The relevant comments come at the very end of the audio from the May 9 Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting.

TheBlaze has reviewed the audio from the New Jersey Legislature’s website and can verify that the transcript appears to be accurate. However, we can not independently verify the identities of the women in the audio.

During TheBlaze’s investigation, we discovered that Weinberg (D-Bergen) told the Star-Ledger that she doesn’t know who used the word “confiscate” during the exchange, seemingly admitting that one of the voices in the audio is hers.

“Cunningham (D-Hudson) and Greenstein (D-Middlesex) could not be reached for comment today,” the report adds.

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The documentary on ‘Real News’ ends on an intriguing question – how much is enough?  We have news now that Japan is seeking nuclear “energy” likely because of the recent sabre rattling from North Korea, South Korea isn’t very comfortable with their neighbor’s to the north having nuclear weapons, Pakistan is an unstable place with nuclear capability and, of course, there is Iran. How do we combat nuclear proliferation? How will our actions on this issue change the geopolitical power structure?

Watch the segment below:

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WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 10: Seen in the reflection of a mirror, U.S. President Barack Obama pauses as he makes a statement on the Affordable Care Act during an East Room event May 10, 2013 at the White House in Washington, DC. President Obama spoke on impacts of the act on health, lives and pocketbooks of women and their families. Credit: Getty Images

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) — Have no fear, you’re already benefiting from “Obamacare,” you just may not know it yet, President Barack Obama said Friday as he stepped up the sales pitch on his health care overhaul before the final elements of the law go into effect.

With his desired legacy and the law’s success at stake, Obama said: “The law is here to stay.”

Behind the scenes, the White House readied a campaign-style effort to get healthy young people to sign up for the insurance “exchanges” in order to keep premium costs from skyrocketing. On Capitol Hill, House Republicans are planning yet another vote to try to try to repeal the law.

The insurance exchanges are the centerpiece of the landmark overhaul of the nation’s health insurance system and the White House mobilization is crucial to the success of the health care law and, by extension, to Obama’s place in history as the first president in decades to expand health care coverage.

“There’s a lot that this law is already doing for Americans with insurance,” Obama said during a Mother’s Day-themed event at the White House. “There’s a lot more that’s going to happen for folks who don’t have insurance.”

But he cautioned: “We still have a lot of work to do in the coming months to make sure more Americans can buy affordable health coverage.”

And he urged the public not to be swayed by what he said were scare tactics from critics of the law who might blame it for rising premiums.

“Don’t be bamboozled,” he said.

Watch the clip via Mediaite/MSNBC below:

Underscoring the policy and political consequences, the White House plans to employ both the resources of government as well as those of his reconfigured political operation as it aimed to enroll 7 million people in health insurance exchanges between Oct. 1 and the end of March. The goal is to get 30 million people to sign up within five years.

Moreover, the composition of those signing up for the new exchanges matters just as much as the overall totals. In order to keep premium costs down, officials say they must register 2.7 million healthy people between the ages of 18 and 35 in order to counteract the costs of ensuring seniors and people with health problems.

The White House’s hopes that Obama’s East Room event would draw broad attention crumpled, however, when the president’s event had to compete for attention with revelations about administration deliberations over the September attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, and an acknowledgement by the Internal Revenue Service that its workers had singled out conservative groups for additional review.

Credit: Getty Images

The effort comes as the public remains divided over the health care law. As a result, the White House is planning an election-like campaign to target those uninsured or individually insured young people, an effort reminiscent of the sophisticated voter outreach that helped Obama twice win the White House. The administration has identified where many of the healthy and uninsured young live and will be working with health clinics, hospitals, churches and other groups to sign them up for the exchanges.

Organizing for Action, an outside political group supporting Obama, will also be involved in the effort to promote the exchanges.

Administration officials say one-third of the young people they need to sign up for the exchanges live in California, Texas and Florida. Just over 50 percent are minorities and 57 percent are men.

The administration’s challenge is to overcome both confusion and lack of awareness about the law. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed more than 4 in 10 Americans didn’t know the Affordable Health Care Act was still law or was being implemented, and about half feel they don’t have enough information about the law to know how it will affect them.

However, the officials said they expect some of those views to shift after the exchanges are fully operational, in part because many Americans will realize their health didn’t change and those that are uninsured will see the benefits of the law.

Besides enrolling needed participants, the White House effort is designed to rally the public around the health care law to stave off yet another challenge from Republicans. Three years after it became law, the health care overhaul remains a target of GOP lawmakers determined to overturn it.

“Women and families don’t need Obamacare’s higher costs, 20,000 pages of red tape and regulations, or to be forced off plans they currently have and like, in order to get cancer screenings or other preventive care,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement ahead of Obama’s remarks. “As implementation draws closer, the president owes it to these women and all Americans to be straight about those consequences. Rather than another campaign-style event, the President has an obligation to warn all Americans about the train wreck that’s headed our way.”

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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Friday, May, 10, 2013. Carney responded on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, calling on top-to-bottom review of the Obama administration after the IRS admitted that it had targeted conservative groups during the 2012 election. Credit: AP

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Friday fielded tough questions from reporters relating to new controversial reports on the Benghazi terrorist attack.

When asked about reports that indicate the Benghazi talking points used by the administration were altered 12 times and “dramatically edited” to scrub terror references, Carney deflected any blame from the White House. He said the editing process was led by the CIA but involved other agencies. The White House did ask that the U.S. compound be referred to as a “diplomatic post” instead of a consulate in the second set of talking points, he noted.

Several reporters from various agencies relentlessly pressed Carney and reminded him that the edits made to the talking points were not at all “stylistic” as the White House previously suggested, but rather significant changes. One reporter noted that references to terrorism and threats of terrorist attacks in Benghazi were included in the CIA’s original draft of the talking points only to be taken out later.

“Then the CIA wrote another draft,” Carney replied, adding that there was an interagency process that led to the final version of the points.

There is always a “process” that occurs after an attack like the one that occurred in Benghazi last year, Carney explained. He said the talking points were crafted to provide information to members of Congress and others who might speak publicly about Benghazi. Officials didn’t want to provide any information they couldn’t prove with 100 percent certainty, he added.

Carney said there were no efforts made to downplay the role of terror groups. He went on to accuse Republicans of politicizing the Benghazi attacks and reiterated that the intelligence relating to the attack was fluid and constantly changing.

“The president himself in the Rose Garden said, ‘this is an act of terror,’” Carney said, later adding the administration didn’t want to “jump to conclusions.”

During a hearing before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission for the U.S. in Libya during the attack, testified that he was “stunned” and “embarrassed” that the talking points blamed the act of terror on a YouTube video. He suggested that officials knew almost immediately that a terror group was behind the attack.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) also read an email from a top State Department official in which the official fingered the radical terror group Ansar al-Sharia as the perpetrator behind the assault. The email was sent on Sept. 12, 2012.

Carney later accused Republicans of searching for some “hidden mystery” when there isn’t one. “All of this is a distraction from the issues,” he said.

“This is an effort to accuse the administration of hiding something that we did not hide, in fact, we spoke publicly about it,” Carney added. The White House official also said the Republican effort to politicize Benghazi began when former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney issued a press release slamming the U.S. Embassy’s response to the attack.

Watch Carney battle reporters over the talking points controversy below:

One reporter called Carney out for saying the administration didn’t want to speculate on motive, when it did, in fact, speculate that the deadly Benghazi attack was caused by a YouTube video. Carney further defended the talking points, saying the only thing that turned out to be inaccurate is the fact that there were no demonstrations outside the U.S. compound on Sept. 11, 2012.

Reporters did not question Carney on a report that Benghazi involved running missiles to Syrian rebels.

Earlier on Friday, the White House reportedly held an off-the-record meeting with certain reporters on Friday to discuss the recent developments about Benghazi.

“According to Politico, the off-the-record meeting was announced after ABC News reported that the Obama administration’s State Department gave ‘extensive input’ in editing the CIA’s now-discredited talking points about the attack,” TheBlaze reports.

An Associated Press reporter also asked about the IRS reportedly targeting Tea Party and patriot groups unfairly during the 2012 election.

Carney said the matter is under investigation. He also stressed the fact that the IRS is an “independent enforcement agency” with only two political appointees, attempting to discredit claims that there was a political motivation behind the “inappropriate” action.

“If this activity took place, it is inappropriate and action needs to be taken,” he added.

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Capital 8 Theaters in Jefferson City, Missouri, is catching the ire of movie-goers and the police, alike, after promotional efforts apparently crossed a line for some.

Here’s how Gawker described the incident: “The promote its premiere of the new Iron Man movie, a theater in Jefferson City, Missouri, hired several people to dress in full tactical gear and storm the screening with fake weapons drawn.” While Gawker said that “men” (plural) went into the theater with fake weapons, other outlets reported that it was only one actor. Regardless, select members of the public were terrified.

Despite public frustration in the wake of the experience, the theater, according to KMLZ-TV, is defending its decision as one that was rooted in an effort to entertain the masses. Manager Bob Wilkins told the outlet that this promotion was planned for months and that only a few people were upset with its outcome.

“No, my job is to entertain people,” Wilkins said when asked if he had any regrets.

This film publicity image released by Disney-Marvel Studios shows Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in a scene from “Iron Man 3.” Credit: AP

But people like John Molock, a retired Army veteran, told the outlet that the antics triggered memories from the battlefield that he preferred not to recall.

“We had just finished watching Iron Man 3,” he said. “We’re just getting into the car when I spotted a man in full assault gear, carrying what appeared to be a modified M-4 and 9 mm on his side.”

The police received several calls about the armed individuals, which is no surprise, considering the deadly attack that took place at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, last year. Capt. Doug Shoemaker said that the calls reported that a man dressed in black with body armor and a rifle was walking into a movie theater.

This film publicity image released by Disney-Marvel Studios shows Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts with in a scene from “Iron Man 3.” Credit: AP

Officers thought they were responding to an active shooter investigation — until they realized that it was merely a promotion.

“Everything was in place, it’s the opening night of a superhero movie, it’s somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen,” Shoemaker said of the scenario.

The police officer also noted that it’s a good thing no off-duty officers were in the theater, as engagement with the faux shooter could have ended badly. Luckily, no dangerous or unpalatable incidents unfolded.

(H/T: Gawker)

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Photo credit: CBS 

A group of Hispanic custodians at Denver’s Auraria Campus are suing their employer, claiming they are victims of discrimination. One of those custodians, Bertha Ribota, claims she was injured on the job as a result of not being able read a warning sign in English, CBS reports.

“Too many things have happened to me there that I don’t even know how to explain it,” said  Ribota.

“If I could speak English I wouldn’t have the problems that exist.”

CBS explains further:

The complaint accuses the campus of purposely keeping vital information from Hispanic employees pertaining to the terms and conditions of their employment, changes in work status, and, more pointedly, safety. They claim they are being excluded because the information is not being delivered in Spanish.

Last week 12 custodians from the Auraria Campus filed an EEOC complaint against the Auraria Higher Education Center, which is the organization that maintains the campus for Metro State University of Denver, the Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver.

“What is sort of a neutral business practice, that they speak English on campus and it’s an English-only campus has a discriminatory impact on this group of workers,” said attorney Tim Markham.

Campus spokesman Blaine Nickeson said in response: “I don’t know if that’s a problem. I think it’s one of the concerns. I will go on to say there’s not a statute to translate.”

Watch the interview below:

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Investigators move and look through the debris of the destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2013. Investigators face a slew of challenges in figuring out what caused the explosion at the fertilizer plant that killed 14 people and destroyed part of the small Texas town. (AP)

WACO, Texas (AP) — Texas law enforcement officials on Friday launched a criminal investigation into the massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month, after weeks of largely treating the blast as an industrial accident.

The announcement came the same day a paramedic who helped to evacuate residents the night of the explosion was arrested on a charge of possessing a destructive device, though it is not clear whether the charge is related to the April 17 blast at West Fertilizer Co.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a Friday statement that the agency had instructed the Texas Rangers and the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department to conduct a criminal probe.

“This disaster has severely impacted the community of West, and we want to ensure that no stone goes unturned and that all the facts related to this incident are uncovered,” DPS Director Steven McCraw said.

McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said residents “must have confidence that this incident has been looked at from every angle and professionally handled – they deserve nothing less.”

The statement did not detail any further reasons for the criminal investigation and said no additional information would be released at this time.

AP

Paramedic Bryce Reed, meanwhile, was in federal custody following his arrest on the charge of possessing a destructive device. Reed was booked into the McLennan County Jail at 2:40 a.m. and released before 8 a.m. to agents from the Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to McLennan County Jail booking clerk Brandy Gann.

Reed made an initial court appearance in federal court in Waco on Friday, but did not enter a plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Frazier would not release further details.

Officials have largely treated the explosion as an industrial accident, though investigators still searching for the cause of a fire that preceded the blast have said they would treat the area as a crime scene until all possibilities were considered. Authorities have focused on ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used as a fertilizer, but that also can be explosive in the right conditions, as the cause of the blast.

Reed was one of several paramedics who helped evacuate residents from nearby apartments after the fire erupted and shortly before the explosion. He has spoken to The Associated Press extensively, and said he was devastated by the explosion, which killed one of his closest friends, Cyrus Reed. The two are not related.

Bryce Reed’s wife, Brittany Reed, declined to comment early Friday.

“I can’t. No comment, no comment no comment right now,” she said before hanging up the phone.

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MSN out of New Zealand reported that the jumpmaster was crouched down on what is thought to be a C-130 Hercules, looking for a drop zone. This is when his rip cord for his reserve parachute deployed sucking the U.S. soldier from the plane.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

A representative from the 5th Special Forces Group told MSN the paratrooper landed 50 km away from the preferred landing site and was not injured.

Th representative also said the video was recent but couldn’t confirm from exactly when.

Watch the footage and see if you don’t get a bit anxious knowing he’s about to be sucked from the plane:

(H/T: Gizmodo)

–

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US ambassador for United nations Susan Rice and Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota (out of frame) during a Press conference at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, on April 17, 2013. Rice is on a three-day visit to Brazil. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

The talking points used by Amb. Susan Rice on the Sunday shows on the weekend after the 9/11/12 terror attack in Benghazi underwent at least 12 edits –  including revisions by the Obama administration’s State Department — new emails obtained by ABC News show. Those revisions included scrubbing all references to an Al Qaeda-affiliated group and all references to previous CIA warnings about a terror threat.

From ABC:

When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story.

ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack.

White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made with extensive input from the State Department.  The edits included requests from the State Department that references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well references to CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding the attack.

ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl said on Friday morning that the talking points were “dramatically edited by the administration” and that State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland played a major role in them.

From the report:

State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland raised specific objections to this paragraph drafted by the CIA in its earlier versions of the talking points:

“The Agency has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al-Qa’ida in Benghazi and eastern Libya.  These noted that, since April, there have been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy. We cannot rule out the individuals has previously surveilled the U.S. facilities, also contributing to the efficacy of the attacks.”

In an email to officials at the White House and the intelligence agencies, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland took issue with including that information because it “could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either?  Concerned …”

Karl explained the new information:

In a addition, a new report by the Weekly Standard says then-CIA director David Petraeus “was surprised when he read the freshly rewritten talking points an aide had emailed him in the early afternoon of Saturday, September 15″:

Before circulating the talking points to administration policymakers in the early evening of Friday, September 14, CIA officials changed “Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda” to simply “Islamic extremists.” But elsewhere, they added new contextual references to radical Islamists. They noted that initial press reports pointed to Ansar al Sharia involvement and added a bullet point highlighting the fact that the agency had warned about another potential attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in the region. “On 10 September we warned of social media reports calling for a demonstration in front of the [Cairo] Embassy and that jihadists were threatening to break into the Embassy.” All told, the draft of the CIA talking points that was sent to top Obama administration officials that Friday evening included more than a half-dozen references to the enemy​—​al Qaeda, Ansar al Sharia, jihadists, Islamic extremists, and so on.

The version Petraeus received in his inbox Saturday, however, had none. The only remaining allusion to the bad guys noted that “extremists” might have participated in “violent demonstrations.”

In an email at 2:44 p.m. to Chip Walter, head of the CIA’s legislative affairs office, Petraeus expressed frustration at the new, scrubbed talking points, noting that they had been stripped of much of the content his agency had provided. Petraeus noted with evident disappointment that the policymakers had even taken out the line about the CIA’s warning on Cairo. The CIA director, long regarded as a team player, declined to pick a fight with the White House and seemed resigned to the propagation of the administration’s preferred narrative. The final decisions about what to tell the American people rest with the national security staff, he reminded Walter, and not with the CIA. [Emphasis added]

All of the information doesn’t seem to bode well for Press Secretary Jay Carney, who said back in November that only a “single adjustment” had been made.

“Those talking points originated from the intelligence community.  They reflect the IC’s best assessments of what they thought had happened,” Carney said on November 28, 2012.  “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland listens to US Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida speak to the press prior to a meeting at the State Department in Washington on February 22, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images 

Still, Carney is standing by the remarks, and now seems to be carefully clarifying the difference between the White House and the “administration” and noting the CIA still signed off on them.

“The CIA drafted these talking points and redrafted these talking points,” Carney told ABC. “The fact that there are inputs is always the case in a process like this, but the only edits made by anyone here at the White House were stylistic and nonsubstantive. They corrected the description of the building or the facility in Benghazi from consulate to diplomatic facility and the like. And ultimately, this all has been discussed and reviewed and provided in enormous levels of detail by the administration to Congressional investigators, and the attempt to politicize the talking points, again, is part of an effort to, you know, chase after what isn’t the substance here.”

​This is a breaking story. Updates will be added.

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Immigration reform is a contentious issue in today’s political arena. To discuss Christians’ role and views on comprehensive reform, a panel of Evangelical experts weighed in on the subject during Thursday evening’s episode of the Glenn Beck Program.

For his part, Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission, said he is all in favor for comprehensive immigration reform but does not support amnesty. Learning to speak English, passing a background check, waiting at least 13 to 17 years.

“That may be many things, but amnesty it is not,” Land said of the 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. While some tell Land that it is “wrong to break the law” his response is that it is equally wrong to “not enforce the law” for all of these years.

Yuri Mantilla of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference said, as human beings “created in God’s image,” the issue of immigration should transcend borders. However, due to the sinful nature of people, Mantilla maintains that it is important to secure the border and build fences while at the same time giving opportunities to those 11 million here in the U.S.

Providing a counterbalance was Rick Scarborough, president of Vision American. His view is that America must be a country of laws and believes that amnesty (his view of immigration reform), the “essence of what America is a bit is eroded to a degree.”

The country, Scarborough maintained, was founded by Christians who struggled about how to build the best government possible — which in turn meant “less government.”

“I find it disappointing that we are turning to government for a solution to this.”

Jim Robb, vice president of operations for NumbersUSA, believes immigration reform is an “ill-considered” idea.

“Unfortunately, all the 11 millions who are not felons will be legalized in six months. It’s irrevocable unless they are felons…it’s not called a green card yet but its a provisional legalization that, according to the law…cannot be revoked.”

Beck said his position is informed by his faith, which states that people deserve a chance, and even help from the faith community, but must go through proper legal channels.

The panel then went on to debate the ins and outs of comprehensive immigration reform, from work permits to self-deportation:

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From left, Lisa Taurasi, Lucy Rodriguez and Luis Barbosa, all of Worcester, Mass. , hold protest signs as they stand across the street from Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, Mass. on Sunday evening, May 5, 2013. They are upset about the possibility that Boston marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev may be buried in the United States, and that the body is being held at Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors while a search for a cemetery willing to bury him continues. (AP)

The body of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried in an undisclosed location, police said Thursday morning, after a public furor erupted over what to do with his remains.

“As a result of our public appeal for help a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased,” Worcester, Mass. police said in a statement, according to the Boston Globe. “His body is no longer in the city of Worcester and is now entombed.”

Police did not say where the body was taken.

Tsarnaev’s body had been at the Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors for a week, with nearby cemeteries refusing to accept it for burial. Funeral director Peter Stefan had vowed to find a plot to bury his remains.

​This post has been updated.

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