Tag Archives: National

Lawsuit filed to force recount in Allen West’s congressional race

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ST. PETERSBURG — Calling attention to one of the closest November congressional races nationwide, the Houston-based voter integrity group True the Vote announced on Monday that it will be filing a lawsuit to force an independent review of the election which cost Republican Allen West his seat.

The complaint, filed in the Southern District Court of Florida on Sunday, aims to completely review all records and recounts in the race for the 18th Congressional district between Democrat Patrick Murphy and West.

“This dramatic recount was an extraordinary example of how our elections can suffer systematic failure,” said True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht. “We run the risk seeing episodes like this becoming ordinary if citizens do not demand answers and hold election officials accountable. The American people own the voting system – we have the right to ask tough questions when we witness the failure of one of America’s core functions.”

Read more at Watchdog

Man caught on border has rare strain of TB

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Express-News
By Jason Buch
Wednesday, January 16, 2013

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding a young immigrant from Asia who officials say is infected with a rare drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.

The man was detained by the Border Patrol trying to sneak into South Texas on Nov. 27.

Several days later, while undergoing a medical screening at the Port Isabel Service Detention Center, he was diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, the least treatable form of the disease.

Officials declined to identify the infected man other than to say he is young and from an Asian country.

It’s only the third time since 2008 the strain has been detected in Texas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“This is a very rare situation, and XDR is considered to be a very dangerous disease,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the department. “But it’s not easily transmitted and we have no reason to believe community exposures have occurred.”

Read more at the Williams TEA Party

Senate plan would give Napolitano the final say on border security

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Under a bipartisan Senate framework, Democrats say, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano would have final say over whether the border is secure enough to put 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.

If Napolitano does not provide the green light for putting illegal immigrants on a pathway to citizenship, the responsibility for judging whether the metrics for border security have been met will be given to her successor.

The early debate over immigration reform has yielded two thorny questions: What metrics will be used to determine whether the goals for border security and other safeguards against illegal immigration have been met? Who will decide whether the metrics have been achieved?

Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the lead Democratic sponsor of the bipartisan immigration reform framework unveiled this past week, said Napolitano should decide.

Read more at The Hill

Famed Navy SEAL Chris Kyle slain at gun range in N. Texas

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by KHOU.com staff & Jason Whitely / WFAA

GLEN ROSE, Texas — A former U.S. Navy SEAL who gained recognition during the Iraq War was one of two people fatally shot southwest of Fort Worth on Saturday, KHOU 11 News has learned.

Sources close to the investigation identified the former SEAL as Chris Kyle, 39, author of the New York Times bestselling book, “American Sniper.”

Kyle was shot point-blank while helping another soldier who was recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome, officials said. The murders happened at a shooting range near the town of Glen Rose, about 53 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

The Erath County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert for the arrest of the suspect, who was later identified as Eddie Routh, 25. Officials warned that Routh was traveling in a Ford F-150 pickup with large tires and rims. They said he was believed to be highly trained with military experience.

Read more at KHOU

Navy to scrap $277 million ship to avoid scraping reef

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BY: Adam Kredo
January 30, 2013 12:30 pm

A United States minesweeper ship that crashed into a coral reef due to inaccurate Navy maps will have to be cut into small pieces and removed in order to prevent harming the ocean’s ecosystem, according to the Navy and other reports.

The $277 million USS Guardian, a Naval warship that clears waterways of mines, crashed into a coral reef near the Philippines earlier this month.

The Navy will disassemble it piece by piece in order to avoid damaging the reef rather than tow the multi-million dollar ship off of the reef and perform necessary repairs.

“Our only supportable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections,” Capt. Darryn James, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was quoted as saying Tuesday by the Military Times.

Read more at The Washington Free Beacon.

Lawmakers call for probe into ‘botched’ ATF sting in Milwaukee

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WASHINGTON ––  Several members of Congress are calling for an investigation into an embarrassing series of blunders made by the Milwaukee arm of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after a newspaper reported this week that the agency conducted a months-long undercover operation that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars and netted very few results.

“I am intent on getting to the bottom of the botched ATF sting in Milwaukee,” Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told FoxNews.com Thursday night.

Sensenbrenner along with Sen. Charles Grassley, and Reps. Darrell Issa and Robert Goodlatte, have sent a letter to Acting ATF Director Todd Jones asking the agency to look into allegations reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The newspaper claims that the agency conducted a deeply flawed sting operation that resulted in a still-missing machine gun being taken from an agent’s car, thousands of taxpayer dollars being lost in merchandise and angry residents saying that ATF officials reintroduced crime into their neighborhood. The operation comes on the heels of the botched Operation Fast and Furious anti-gun trafficking program.

Read more at Fox News

Seattle gun buyback turns into a gun show.

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seattle-gun-buyback Police officers in Seattle, Washington held their first gun buyback program in 20 years this weekend, underneath interstate 5, and soon found that private gun collectors were working the large crowd as little makeshift gun shows began dotting the parking lot and sidewalks. Some even had “cash for guns” signs prominently displayed.Gun Buyback Goes Bad

Police stood in awe as gun enthusiasts and collectors waved wads of cash for the guns being held by those standing in line for the buyback program.

People that had arrived to trade in their weapons for $100 or $200 BuyBack gift cards($100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 for assault weapons) soon realized that gun collectors were there and paying top dollar for collectible firearms. So, as the line for the chump cards got longer and longer people began to jump ship and head over to the dealers.”

Source: The Real Revo
See Also: Tuscon gun buy-back a limited success to those looking for deals.

Unlocking cell phones is now illegal in the U.S., making it harder to switch carriers

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Law took effect Jan. 26

The law’s been around for 15 years. Last year, the Library of Congress ruled unlocking a phone without the carriers permission violates copyright law.The ruling took effect Saturday.—FOX News Charlotte

Unlocked cell phones offer consumers more options, especially when it comes to mobile devices and service providers, but a new federal law criminalizes the fairly-common cell phone trick.

In October, The Library of Congress reached a ruling that made unlocking cell phones illegal. The new law kicked in on Jan. 26.

According to CNN, the new law applies only to phones purchased after January 26.

Read more and see video at RTV6

Russia: Reject Homophobic Bill, Says HRW

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Russian_Federation_(orthographic_projection).svgEurasia Review
January 28, 2013

Vicious attacks on gay rights protesters in Russia in recent days underscores the need for the Russian Duma to reject a draft law on “propaganda for homosexuality.” Russian authorities should thoroughly investigate the violence and new threats and hold accountable those responsible.

On January 25, 2013, the Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, voted in the first reading in favor of draft provisions that would impose fines on individuals, government officials, and organizations that engage in “promoting” homosexuality to anyone under 18.

“The draft law contributes to an atmosphere that makes violence against LGBT protesters seem acceptable,” said Anna Kirey, a researcher with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) program at Human Rights Watch. “If adopted, the bill would violate the free expression rights of all Russians and discriminate against and further stigmatize Russia’s LGBT community.”

Read more at Eurasia Review