Tag Archives: National

Homeland agents failed to stop ATF, Fast & Furious guns from crossing border

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Fifteen months before the Fast & Furious gun scandal was unmasked in public, Homeland Security agents along the Arizona border recognized that their colleagues at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were allowing illegal guns to flow across the border to Mexican drug gangs in violation of federal policy.

The agents working for Homeland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raised objections internally to their bosses and to their ATF colleagues in late 2009 without success, but did not escalate their concerns to superiors in Washington, according to a new Homeland Security inspector general report that uncovered yet another missed opportunity inside government to stop the bungled gun trafficking investigation.

“Most Homeland Security Investigations personnel in Arizona who received information about the investigation recognized that the task force was using a flawed methodology, which was contrary to ICE policy and practices for weapons smuggling investigations,” the inspector general concluded in a little-noticed report issued late last month.

And the special agent in charge in the case for Homeland failed to appreciate that the flawed tactics in the investigation – allowing weapons to “walk” across the border – violated ICE policies, the report added.

Read more at The Washington Times

Ft. Hood soldier claims police violated his gun rights

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kcentv.com – KCEN HD – Waco, Temple, and Killeen
A Fort Hood soldier is fighting charges after he says police violated his gun rights, and he says they’re still being violated weeks later.

Army Master Sergeant and well known blogger CJ Grisham says he never should have been arrested and his guns never should have been taken away.

On March 16, Grisham was on a Boy Scout hike with his son on a country road in west Temple.

He had a loaded assault style rifle strapped across his chest.

It was legal for him to carry, but a concerned citizen called police.

His Lawyer Kurt Glass says, “This was not a populated area. SGT Grisham was not threatening anyone.”

Police say when their officer arrived, he tried to take Grisham’s gun for the course of the investigation, but that Grisham refused.

More at KCENTV.com

Exxon pipline breaks in Arkansas

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ARKANSAS—Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has asked Exxon to preserve all documents relating to the oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas last Friday the 31st. The rupture of the pipeline caused evacuation of families from the affected neighborhood. This accident comes on the heels of the accident at the Arkansas One nuclear power plant. That accident release no harmful material into the atmosphere.

The spill covered lawns and streets and may have an affect Lake Conway. The 6700-acre lake is the largest man-made fishing reservoir in the U.S.

One resident documented the event in the following video.

The spill occurred from a burst in the 65-year old, 848-mile Pegasus line which routes crude oil from Canada to Texas. This calls into question the safety of a proposed Keystone XL pipeline project which would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

More at Reuters

City makes gun ownership mandatory

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NELSON, Ga. — The Nelson City Council voted 5-0 Monday night to require every household to have a gun and ammunition, unless the residents of the household opt out.

City council members in Nelson voted on the Family Protection Ordinance at their meeting Monday evening.

The city of about 1,300 located about 50 miles north of Atlanta has gotten a lot of attention in the media since the ordinance was proposed.

Read more at 11 Alive

Arkansas nuclear power accident kills one

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No nuclear material released

A 25-year-old man was killed on Sunday after part of a generator fell while being moved at the Arkansas Nuclear One plant. Eight others were injured during the industrial accident, but operators claim no nuclear material was released.

“We are deeply saddened by what has happened today,” executive vice president and chief nuclear officer Jeff Forbes said in a public statement, without providing details about the cause of the young man’s death or the severity of the other victims’ injuries.

Wade Walters, a 25-year-old employee at the Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO) plant and a resident of Russellville, died from unknown injuries sustained during the accident. Eight other employees at the facility sustained non-fatal injuries and were rushed to the hospital.

The accident, which occurred at 7:45 a.m. on Easter Sunday, has caused nearby residents to express deep concern over the potential hazards of living near the plant. The plant is located in Russellville, which is about 70 miles northwest of Little Rock.

Read more at Russian Today

SEE ALSO: Highly radioactive: 1,000 gallons of nuclear waste leak in Washington every year

ND Gears up for Legal Dispute on New Abortion Laws

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North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said his decision to sign strict new abortion laws, including the nation’s toughest restriction on the procedure, was not based on “any religious belief or personal experience” and that he believes legislators have a right to ask such questions about abortion restrictions.

The Republican governor signed three anti-abortion measures on Tuesday — including one banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, or when a heartbeat can be detected. By doing so, Dalrymple positioned his oil-rich state as a primary battleground in the decades-old fight over abortion rights.

Within minutes of signing the laws, unsolicited donations began pouring into the state’s lone abortion clinic to help opponents prove the new laws are unconstitutional. The governor urged lawmakers to set aside cash for an inevitable legal challenge.

Read more at ABC News

How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing

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by Liz Day
ProPublica, March 26, 2013, 5 a.m.

This story was co-produced with NPR.

Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes — and for free. You’d open up a pre-filled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone.

It’s already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain. The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate.

The idea, known as “return-free filing,” would be a voluntary alternative to hiring a tax preparer or using commercial tax software. The concept has been around for decades and has been endorsed by both President Ronald Reagan and a campaigning President Obama.

Read more at ProPublica

Virus vial missing from Galveston lab

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GALVESTON, Texas (AP) – Officials say a vial containing a virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever has gone missing from a research facility in Galveston, but say there’s no reason to believe there’s a threat to the public.

The University of Texas Medical Branch said Saturday that there was no breach in the security its Galveston National Laboratory and no indication of wrongdoing. Officials suspect the missing vial containing the Guanarito virus was destroyed during the lab’s cleaning process but the investigation continues.

Read more at FOX Houston

Korean propaganda video depicts attacks on U.S. with nucs

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Recently a comical version of North Korean propaganda was posted on the Internet going viral. The propaganda film was real, depicting the life of the citizens of the United States, but the Internet video contained a British voice-over.

Less comical is the recent video published on a “semi-official” site in Korea. The video shows weapons on parade, being fired and Washington in the crosshairs with a slick Hollywood-style soundtrack.

Western analysts suspect that nations like North Korea and Iran do not have the capability to strike the United States, yet. It is unclear if and when either nation will ever acquire the capability.

Propaganda films such as this, however, may spark debate over the wisdom of drawing down our own nuclear arsenal while other nations are not.

Marine kills two at Quantico base, takes own life

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WASHINGTON | Fri Mar 22, 2013 1:04pm EDT

(Reuters) – A Marine shot dead two fellow service members at a base in Quantico, Virginia, then killed himself, the Marines said on Friday.

The shootings took place late on Thursday near the officer candidate school at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, and all three people who died were active-duty Marines, base commander Colonel David Maxwell said.

“The shooter, an active-duty Marine, was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by law enforcement at the scene,” he told a news conference carried by local media.

Maxwell gave no motive for the shooting and an investigation is under way. The two slain Marines, a man and a woman, were permanent personnel assigned to the officers school, as was the shooter, he said.

Read more at Reuters News