WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU THINK YOU’RE DONE WITH YOUR RUN AND REALIZE YOU’RE ONLY HALFWAY THERE

Daily Skimm: Pre-Friday is here:
"REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU THINK YOU’RE DONE WITH YOUR RUN AND REALIZE YOU’RE ONLY HALFWAY THERE…
Well, that’s super annoying.
Hey, Cuba.
Last month, the US and Cuba announced they were ready to have relations again after more than 50 years of freezing each other out.
And President Obama was REALLY excited about it.
The two governments held talks in Havana last week to hammer out the details.
But then yesterday, Cuban President Raul Castro said he had a few demands that he forgot to mention. 
Small things like, the US fully lifting the trade embargo on Cuba, and compensating the country for millions of damages the embargo has caused. 
And, he wants the US to return its military base at Guantanamo Bay. 
All of which are highly unlikely to happen anytime soon. No word yet on what this could mean for future talks.
Meanwhile, Raul’s big bro Fidel appeared to get into the mix.
Yesterday, he apparently wrote a letter saying that he approved plans to end the longstanding US-Cuba feud, but that he still doesn’t trust Americans.
Great."

History for January 30

History for January 30 - On-This-Day.com:
Anton Checkhov 1860, Franklin D. Roosevelt (U.S.) 1882, Gene Hackman 1931 


Dick Cheney 1941, Joe Terranova (Danny and the Juniors) 1941, Marty Balin (Jefferson Airplane) 1942 


1847 - The town of Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco. 


1862 - The U.S. Navy's first ironclad warship, the "Monitor", was launched. 


1894 - C.B. King received a patent for the pneumatic hammer. 


1933 - Adolf Hitler was named the German Chancellor. 


1948 - Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist. 


1962 - Two members of the "Flying Wallendas" high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit, MI. 


1979 - The civilian government of Iran announced it had decided to allow Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to return. He had been living in exile in France. 

Who’s the Person Mentioned in the Potentially Embarrassing Note Dropped in a Senate Hallway? | TheBlaze.com

Who’s the Person Mentioned in the Potentially Embarrassing Note Dropped in a Senate Hallway? | TheBlaze.com:

"A Senate staffer dropped a damning note in the Senate Thursday that has Washington, D.C., buzzing about who wrote it, and who that staffer works for.

“So she’s just going to make a short statement about what BS this hearing is,” the note reads. It was found by Matt Laslo, a Capitol Hill reporter."

Al Jazeera English: Don’t Say ‘Terrorist’ — ‘One Person’s Terrorist Is Another’s Freedom Fighter’ | TheBlaze.com

Al Jazeera English: Don’t Say ‘Terrorist’ — ‘One Person’s Terrorist Is Another’s Freedom Fighter’ | TheBlaze.com:

“We try to avoid describing anyone as a terrorist or an act as being terrorist. What we try to do is to say that ‘two men killed 12 people in an attack on the office of a satirical magazine.’ That’s enough, we know what that means and what it is,” Kafala said. “Terrorism is such a loaded word. The U.N. has been struggling for more than a decade to define the word and they can’t. It is very difficult to. We know what political violence is, we know what murder, bombings and shootings are and we describe them. That’s much more revealing, we believe, than using a word like terrorist which people will see as value-laden.”

Though he received criticism for his words, they do fall in line with BBC editorial guidelines, which say: “The word ‘terrorist’ itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should try to avoid the term, without attribution.”

Watch: Loretta Lynch can’t say if she’d trust Richard Nixon’s AG to investigate Watergate | TheBlaze.com

Watch: Loretta Lynch can’t say if she’d trust Richard Nixon’s AG to investigate Watergate | TheBlaze.com:

"Cruz had in mind the idea that a special prosector might be needed to investigate the IRS, after it was found that the IRS was targeting tax-exempt groups. Republicans have called for an independent prosector to follow up on these claims, but so far, Attorney General Eric Holder has refused.

Cruz didn’t get very far with Lynch on Wednesday, and in the end, he tried to see if there was any case in which she might agree to a special prosecutor. He asked if Lynch would trust former Attorney General John Mitchell to investigate his then-president, Richard Nixon."

The corruption continues....

North Korea may be restarting nuke plant: US institute

My Way News - North Korea may be restarting nuke plant: US institute:
"SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea may be attempting to restart its main nuclear bomb fuel reactor after a five-month shutdown, a U.S. research institute said Thursday.
If true, the finding, which is based on recent commercial satellite imagery, will be an added worry for the United States and the North's neighbors at a time of increasing animosity over recent U.S. sanctions against the North and Pyongyang's fury about a U.N. push to punish its alleged human rights abuses.
Activity at the 5-megawatt Nyongbyon reactor is closely watched because North Korea is thought to have a handful of crude nuclear bombs, part of its efforts to build an arsenal of nuclear tipped missiles that could one day hit America's mainland. 
Nyongbyon, which has produced plutonium used for past nuclear test explosions, restarted in 2013 after being shuttered under a 2007 disarmament agreement.
It has been offline since August."

Trey Gowdy threatens to subpoena State Dept. officials over Benghazi | TheBlaze.com

Trey Gowdy threatens to subpoena State Dept. officials over Benghazi | TheBlaze.com:

“I am unwilling to let the minority party veto subpoenas when it is clear they have prejudged the outcome of the investigation,” said Gowdy. “The minority has repeatedly indicated it is unwilling to issue any subpoenas. If subpoenas are necessary for the committee to talk to relevant witnesses or access relevant documents, they will be issued.”

Democrats immediately responded by asking Gowdy to convene a special meeting to vote on whether those subpoenas should go out the door. In a letter to Gowdy, they said Gowdy had informed Democrats that he would soon issue the subpoenas, and warned that doing so without any input from Democrats would create a partisan investigation."

Teens Shoveling Snow? Without Licenses?? Quick, Call the Cops

Teens Shoveling Snow? Without Licenses?? Quick, Call the Cops - Hit & Run : Reason.com
What could be more suspicious than two thugs skulking around a suburban neighborhood at night under cloak of snow?

That's apparently what some red-alert citizen of Bound Brook, New Jersey, thought when he or she called the police to investigate this danger... that turned out to be two high school seniors handing out fliers for their snow-shoveling enterprise.

You'd think that would be the end of that, but no. As MyCentralJersey.com reports, the two kids were then pulled over by a cop and told to stop:

The story was shared on a popular Bound Brook Facebook group by a resident who saw [teenager Eric] Schnepf being questioned by police after coming to his door.

"Are you kidding me? Our generation does nothing but complain about his generation being lazy and not working for their money," he wrote on Bound Brook NJ Events' page. "Here's a couple kids who take the time to print up flyers, walk door to door in the snow, and then shovel snow for some spending money. And someone calls the cops and they're told to stop?"

The officer claimed he wasn't bothering the teens for running an unlicensed business, but rather, because of the hazardous weather conditions. Philly.com reports:

Police Chief Michael Jannone... says the officer told the teens it wasn't safe to be out after a state of emergency was declared. The chief says the officer's concern was about their safety and not that they weren't licensed to solicit business.

That actually makes some sense, except that if the weather got too terrible, my guess is the young men in their own neighborhood would simply pack it in and go home. Still, writes MCJ reporter Sergio Bichao:

The teens took the incident in stride and said that police told them that they only needed permission to go door to door, but were still allowed to shovel walkways if residents called them.

"The cops were nice about it. They weren't jerks. They were trying to make sure everything is OK," [Matt] Molinari said Tuesday.

And it was: Despite government interference, the teens lined up five jobs.

VIDEO: Obama’s Holder Replacement Just Invented a New ‘Right’ for Illegal Aliens

VIDEO: Obama’s Holder Replacement Just Invented a New ‘Right’ for Illegal Aliens:

"Senator Sessions asked nominee Loretta Lynch, the current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, who should have a right to a job in America, a citizen, an illegal alien, or a legal immigrant.

“Who has more right to a job in this country, a lawful immigrant who’s here — a green card holder or a citizen, or a person who entered the country unlawfully?” Sessions asked."

Montana school district: No elementary math books, but superintendent gets $45k raise

Montana school district: No elementary math books, but superintendent gets $45k raise - EAGnews.org:

MISSOULA, Mont. – In 2012, Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Alex Apostle dismissed a massive student protest over a raise he received from the school board, saying, “My contract is an adult issue, not a student issue, quite frankly.”
So last year an adult in the community, Brian O’Leary, decided to address the issue with Apostle.

O’Leary was concerned because his children did not have math textbooks for their elementary classes.

“The only place (the students) can find a copy of their textbook to understand how the materials are being taught is online,” O’Leary said. “MCPS is proceeding as if every student has a computer and internet access.”

O’Leary was told the lack of textbooks was a funding issue.

The math curriculum budget was $500,000, while the “school district only had $200,000 to work with for all curriculum needs across the board,” said a report from NBC Montana.

But O’Leary wasn’t buying that excuse. He thought the district was focused on the wrong priorities, like “overspending” on administrative salaries....

We asked an expert: ‘What exactly is an EMP, and how much damage could it do?’ His response was terrifying. | TheBlaze.com

We asked an expert: ‘What exactly is an EMP, and how much damage could it do?’ His response was terrifying. | TheBlaze.com:

"What would the doomsday scenario of an EMP attack against an America whose infrastructure is not currently protected look like?

In a worst case scenario the detonation would be over Dorothy’s Kansas, in the center of the country. And at 300 miles altitude, you would have a circle, 360 degrees, with a radius of 1,470 miles…that covers the continental United States lower 48 states.

And in a worst case, you could see"

Lt. Clint Lorance could be any one of us

Lt. Clint Lorance could be any one of us - Opinion - Stripes
"...The hardest lesson I learned was that in a combat situation, sheer uncertainty stalks you constantly.
Amid that uncertainty, you’re forced to make instantaneous decisions with incomplete information, surrounded by chaos and under unimaginable stress.
A wrong call can result in tragedy.

To grasp the price of that uncertainty, consider the case of Clint Lorance — a 29-year-old U.S. Army lieutenant sentenced to military prison for ordering his men to fire upon Afghan nationals he believed were a threat.
The facts suggest the punishment rendered to Lorance is a stark injustice — and is a chilling example to all who have had to make tough decisions in complex combat situations.

Here’s what we know:
In July 2012, Lorance was a new platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division on patrol in Kandahar province with his platoon.
Three Afghan men approached the platoon on a motorcycle.
Believing the men to be a threat, Lorance ordered his troops to open fire, killing two of the men (the third escaped).
In a war zone, such stories are common.

What’s unusual is what happened next....."

How Student Debt Harms the Economy

Mitchell E. Daniels: How Student Debt Harms the Economy - WSJ:
"To the growing catalog of damage caused by the decades-long run-up in the cost of higher education, we may have to add another casualty.
On top of the harm high tuition and other charges are inflicting on young people, and the way their struggles are holding back today’s economy, we must add the worry that tomorrow’s economy will suffer, too.
Ever-escalating tuitions, especially in the past dozen years, have produced an explosion of associated debt, as students and their families resorted to borrowing to cover college prices that are the only major expense item in the economy that is growing faster than health care. 
According to the Federal Reserve, educational debt has shot past every other category—credit cards, auto loans, refinancings—except home mortgages, reaching some $1.3 trillion this year.
Analyses in The Wall Street Journal and by Experian in 2014 show that 40 million people, roughly 70% of recent graduates, are now borrowers.
In the class of 2014, the average borrower left with an average load of $33,000."

America's "unbiased" media-----CNN Host Kisses De Blasio Before Interview

CNN Host Kisses De Blasio Before Interview | The Weekly Standard:
On CNN this morning, the host kissed Mayor Bill de Blasio before she interviewed him, and handed him a cup of hot chocolate:

The other host, Chris Cuomo, complained that he'd been waiting for an hour and a half for his hot cocoa to arrive.

"The mayor comes and the hot cocoa comes," Cuomo complained as his co-host arrived on set in the middle of his interview with de Blasio. "The hot cocoa comes. I've been asking for it for an hour and a half."

De Blasio admitted the storm wasn't nearly as had been predicted. But, he argued, if it had been worse, New York City would've been prepared.

‘You Don’t Think the Taliban Is a Terrorist Group?’ Listen Closely to White House Spokesman’s Answer | Video | TheBlaze.com

‘You Don’t Think the Taliban Is a Terrorist Group?’ Listen Closely to White House Spokesman’s Answer | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"A White House spokesman had a difficult time answering whether the Taliban was a terrorist organization. The answer, it turned out, is no."

Conservative Political Cartoons Daily shared

(16) Conservative Political Cartoons Daily shared... - Conservative Political Cartoons Daily

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET

History for January 29

History for January 29 - On-This-Day.com
Thomas Paine 1737, William McKinley (U.S.) 1843, W.C. Fields 1880 


Katherine Ross 1942, Tom Selleck 1945, Oprah Winfrey 1954 


1820 - Britain's King George III died insane at Windsor Castle. 


1845 - Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was published for the first time in the "New York Evening Mirror." 


1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state. 


1856 - Britain's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, was founded by Queen Victoria. 


1886 - The first successful petrol-driven motorcar, built by Karl Benz, was patented. 


1924 - R. Taylor patented the ice cream cone rolling machine. 


1987 - "Physician’s Weekly" announced that the smile on the face of Leonardo DeVinci's Mona Lisa was caused by a "...facial paralysis resulting from a swollen nerve behind the ear." 


1990 - Joseph Hazelwood, the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, went on trial in Anchorage, AK, on charges that stemmed from America's worst oil spill. Hazelwood was later acquitted of all the major charges and was convicted of a misdemeanor. 


1999 - The U.S. Senate delivered subpoenas for Monica Lewinsky and two presidential advisers for private, videotaped testimony in the impeachment trial. 

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:

http://www.libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2015/01/godcountry-and-family-bytammy-derouin.html

God, Country and Family

By Tammy Derouin

I walked into the theatre anticipating a mental struggle.  I was aware of the Chris Kyle story so watching American Sniper would be difficult.   Scenes of brutality and the reality of the real war being waged on America was about to be plastered on the big screen. 

Getting through movies with difficult scenes is easier to shake when you know the story is fictional.  Hollywood works its magic but in the end, it was all make believe.  I watched several previews as I waited.  Special effects are amazing but when they overshadow and become larger than the original storyline and replace human reality, the substance and integrity of the message are lost.

The true special effects in American Sniper weren’t the results of actions; the human reality was the special effect.  War is hell.  People suffer and die violent deaths.  What each of our soldiers must endure on the battlefield, what he witnesses and is sometimes helpless to prevent, will have a deep and lasting effect on him.

Wait Until You See How Obama is Trying to Undermine Bibi Netanyahu’s Re-election

Wait Until You See How Obama is Trying to Undermine Bibi Netanyahu’s Re-election:

"In fact, Obama has said he will not meet with the Israeli Prime Minister while he is in D.C.

The excuse given has been because Obama did not want to be seen as interfering with Israeli elections. Well, what would he call this?

Obama has often been accused of siding against Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East, in favor of Muslim organizations and countries.  It has also been asserted in the past that Obama does not like Netanyahu. Sending his campaign team to assist anti-Netanyahu forces in their quest to defeat him will add even more fuel to that fire."