History for June 22

History for June 22 - On-This-Day.com
George Vancouver 1757, Erich Maria Remarque 1898, John Dillinger 1902 - Gangster 

Kris Kristofferson 1936 - Singer, Brit Hume 1943 - Broadcast journalist, Todd Rungren 1948 - Musician 


Meryl Streep 1949 - Actress, Cyndi Lauper 1953 - Singer, Bruce Campbell 1958 


1611 - English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several other people were set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers. 


1832 - J.I. Howe patented the pin machine. 


1874 - Dr. Andrew Taylor Still began the first known practice of osteopathy. 


1933 - Germany became a one political party country when Hitler banned parties other than the Nazis. 


1939 - The first U.S. water-ski tournament was held at Jones Beach, on Long Island, New York. 


1942 - In France, Pierre Laval declared "I wish for a German victory". 


1944 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the "GI Bill of Rights" to provide broad benefits for veterans of the war. 


1970 - U.S. President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It required that the voting age in the United States to be 18. 


1992 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that hate-crime laws that ban cross-burning and similar expressions of racial bias violated free-speech rights. 


1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that evidence illegally obtained by authorities could be used at revocation hearings for a convicted criminal's parole. 


1999 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that persons with remediable handicaps cannot claim discrimination in employment under the Americans with Disability Act. 

10 Undersea Creatures With Terrifying Teeth

10 Undersea Creatures With Terrifying Teeth - Listverse

Black Dragonfish
Idiacanthus Atlanticus

Photo via Discovery Channel Asia

A member of the Stomiidae family, the black dragonfish is a deep-sea species occurring throughout the southern hemisphere at depths of around 2,000 meters (7,000 ft). Like many deep-sea species, black dragonfish undertake vertical migrations, swimming toward the surface at night to feed before descending back into the depths during daylight hours.

Monica Conyers Suing McDonald’s Over Injured Finger

Monica Conyers Suing McDonald’s Over Injured Finger « CBS Detroit:
"DETROIT (WWJ) – New Year’s Day 2015 began on a down note for Monica Conyers according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
According to the Detroit News Conyers has filed a suit for $25,000 against the golden arches.
While visiting a McDonald’s on January 1, the former Detroit city councilwoman alleges she cut her finger on a chair inside a location at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
According to the suit, while sitting at a table, she grabbed a chair to adjust it then felt a sharp pair in the ring finger of her right hand. 
She was helped by police and paramedic.
The suit alleges Conyers suffered “extreme pain and anguish” and has lost the full use of her hand.
The ex-councilwoman entered prison in 2010 after pleading guilty in 2009 to taking bribes while on the Detroit council. 
She was released in December 2012, after serving 27 months at Alderson Federal Prison Camp, often referred to as “Camp Cupcake.”
Many remember Conyers, before her conviction on bribery, making her mark in Detroit politics lobbing a “Shrek” comment at then-City Council President Ken Cockrel."

Uber Driver Is An Employee, Not Contractor, Rules California Labor Commission

Uber Driver Is An Employee, Not Contractor, Rules California Labor Commission:
Could the world wake up one morning and find ride-hailing service Uber struck dead, shackled to hundreds of thousands of drivers that have suddenly been deemed expensive employees?
In the wake of a ruling from a California Labor Commissioner Wednesday that said Uber driver Barbara Berwick was an employee, it sounded like it was possible.
The ruling was called Uber’s “worst nightmare,” a bad omen that “should frighten” and “ blasts a big hole in” all contractor-based businesses.
One reporter wondered on Twitter if Uber’s $50 billion valuation priced in the fact that it could be “instantly vaporized” and said he’d been told the lawsuits were “an existential threat” to the company and others like it...

SICK: While America Grieves, Obama Goes to Hollywood to Do THIS... Media Silent

SICK: While America Grieves, Obama Goes to Hollywood to Do THIS... Media Silent:

"On Thursday, as the entire nation grieved over the horrific massacre that occurred in Charleston the previous night, President Barack Hussein Obama flew to California on Air Force One to attend a bunch of lavish fundraisers among Hollywood’s elite.

Obama reportedly first attended a fundraiser at the home of television producer Chuck Lorre, after which he attended another one at the home of actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry. Both fundraisers commanded attendance fees in the tens of thousands, money that was to benefit the Democratic National Committee."

You Think The Deficit Is Bad? Federal Unfunded Liabilities Exceed $127 Trillion

You Think The Deficit Is Bad? Federal Unfunded Liabilities Exceed $127 Trillion - Forbes:

...The federal unfunded liabilities are catastrophic for future taxpayers and economic growth.
At usdebtclock.org, federal unfunded liabilities are estimated at near $127 trillion, which is roughly $1.1 million per taxpayer and nearly double 2012’s total world output.
...The authors’ state, “today there are about 4 payees for every 1 beneficiary, but by the year 2030 there will only be 2 payees for every 1 beneficiary.
Simple arithmetic will note that this is not sustainable over the long run.”
To understand the magnitude of this problem, the authors note one solution that includes all the following: 
“raise income taxes by 17 percent, 
raise payroll taxes by 24 percent, 
cut federal purchases by 26 percent, and 
cut Social Security and Medicare benefits by 11 percent...”

Every growing!-----U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Government paves way for multi-employer pension plan cuts

My Way News - Government paves way for multi-employer pension plan cuts:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is preparing to cut benefits over the next few years for hundreds of thousands of retirees covered by underfunded multi-employer private pension plans.
The Obama administration announced on Wednesday that well-known mediator Kenneth Feinberg review applications from pension plans under a law passed last year.
The law would cut benefits as a last ditch means to stave off insolvency of troubled plans such as the huge Teamsters Central State Fund.
The new law earned mixed reviews from the unions whose members are covered by such defined benefit plans, including construction workers, Teamster truckers and food service workers.
The Teamsters and AARP opposed the law when it passed last year as part of a governmentwide spending bill.
But other unions saw it as a solution that was preferable to plans becoming insolvent and getting a federal bailout.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew named Feinberg, an attorney, to review applications for fairness...
More than 10 million people are covered by 1,400 or so multi-employer plans, but about 1 million of those are covered by plans expected to run out of money in coming years. 
They would be eligible under the new system that would cut benefits to people already in retirement.
People 80 years old and over are protected from any upcoming cuts, while those over 75 are partially protected."

Listen to Dana Loesch’s Fiery Rebuttal After Guest Claims ‘Very Serious Data’ Show Gun Control Prevents Murders | Video | TheBlaze.com

Listen to Dana Loesch’s Fiery Rebuttal After Guest Claims ‘Very Serious Data’ Show Gun Control Prevents Murders | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Discussing the prospect of a push for greater gun control in the aftermath of the tragic Charleston church shooting, Blaze TV host Dana Loesch clashed with anti-gun advocate Nomiki Konst on Thursday night over whether stronger gun laws would prevent future mass shootings."

Not all black lives matter?-----11 people shot in Detroit on Saturday, 1 fatally

11 people shot in Detroit on Saturday, 1 fatally:
"In two separate incidents, 11 people were shot in Detroit in a matter of hours Saturday, one fatally.
Ten people were shot at a block party on a basketball court at Webb and Dexter on the city's west side Saturday night. One of those victims died.
Police do not know the reason for the shooting, and are still investigating.
...In another unrelated incident, one man is in stable condition at a local hospital after being shot during a holdup on a gas station in the 20200 block of Van Dyke on the city's east side.
... police do not know the reason for the shooting and thus far people at the party were not being cooperative with police seeking information."

Wait Lists Grow as Many More Veterans Seek Care and Funding Falls Far Short

Wait Lists Grow as Many More Veterans Seek Care and Funding Falls Far Short - The New York Times:
"One year after outrage about long waiting lists for health care shook the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency is facing a new crisis:
The number of veterans on waiting lists of one month or more is now 50 percent higher than it was during the height of last year’s problems, department officials say.
The department is also facing a nearly $3 billion budget shortfall, which could affect care for many veterans."

EPA's Unattainable Ozone Regulations will Kill American Jobs and GDP

EPA's Unattainable Ozone Regulations will Kill American Jobs and GDP | Americans for Tax Reform:
Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally released guidelines for regulations that were put in place back in 2008 to reduce ozone levels to 75 parts per billion (ppb). Yet before states even had an opportunity to make efforts to achieve these levels, the EPA has already begun planning to implement even more onerous regulations.
Even though 40 percent of the U.S. population lives in areas already unable to meet the 2008 air quality standards that the EPA previously put in place, the agency now wants to cut levels even further, potentially as low as 65 ppb. 
These new regulations would likely have disastrous results for the economy.
The National Association of Manufacturers estimates that the new ozone regulation could reduce U.S. GDP by $270 billion per year and $3.4 trillion from 2017 to 2040 and result in 2.9 million fewer jobs or job equivalents per year on average through 2040. 
Such a massive increase in ozone regulations is not even certain to have a positive impact on the environment or public health. 
Louis Anthony Cox Jr., Chief Sciences Officer of NextHealth Technologies explains: 
"If we look at actual data instead of at EPA’s model-based predictions, it is clear that, in many places in the United States, much larger reductions in ozone levels have already occurred in recent decades than those that are now being proposed.
Yet, these relatively large reductions in ozone levels have caused no detectable public health benefits..."

Young Black Man Takes President Obama to Task for Pushing His Anti-Gun Agenda in Wake of Charleston Tragedy | Video | TheBlaze.com

Young Black Man Takes President Obama to Task for Pushing His Anti-Gun Agenda in Wake of Charleston Tragedy | Video | TheBlaze.com:

“Why is some lunatic who clearly lacks a stable mental state representative of every gun-toting American?” Pearson asked Obama, whom he called “egotistical” and “self-righteous” for using the tragedy for political gain.

In less than 24 hours, the preteen’s latest clip has been viewed almost 300,000 times. Check it out:"

In her sixth state pageant, Emily Kieliszewski finally gets her Miss Michigan crown

In her sixth state pageant, Emily Kieliszewski finally gets her Miss Michigan crown | MLive.com:
"MUSKEGON, MI – If at first you don't succeed, you've got to try, try again.
It's an old adage, but for new Miss Michigan Emily Kieliszewski, no statement could be truer.
The 23-year-old from Alpena was crowned inside the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts in Muskegon on Saturday, June 20.
It was her sixth time competing in the state pageant."

History for June 21

History for June 21 - On-This-Day.com
Martha Washington 1731, Jean-Paul Sartre 1905, Jane Russell 1921 


O.C. Smith 1932, Mariette Hartley 1940, Juliette Lewis 1973 


1834 - Cyrus McCormick patented the first practical mechanical reaper for farming. His invention allowed farmers to more than double their crop size. 


1893 - The Ferris Wheel was introduced at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL. 


1913 - Georgia Broadwick became the first woman to jump from an airplane. 


1940 - Richard M. Nixon and Thelma Catherine ‘Pat’ Ryan were married. 


1963 - In St. Louis, Bob Hayes set a record when he ran the 100-yard dash in 0:09.1. 


1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.
 

1974 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided that pregnant teachers could no longer be forced to take long leaves of absence. 


1985 - Scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. 


1989 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment. 

A national disgrace!!!-----Why Carlos Montero Has Been in Rikers for Seven Years Without Trial

Why Carlos Montero Has Been in Rikers for Seven Years Without Trial | The Marshall Project:
"For those unfamiliar with the pace of justice in New York City, the New York Post story earlier this week headlined “Man arrested as teen has waited 7 years in Rikers for trial” likely came as a shock.
The story of Carlos Montero, who so far has spent 2,431 days in jail without a trial (much less a conviction) immediately raises a series of obvious questions about due process and speedy trial rights under the Constitution.
But Montero is one of hundreds of current jail inmates who are incarcerated indefinitely, despite the fact that no judge or jury ever has convicted them.
At Rikers, approximately 400 inmates have been waiting for at least two years for their cases to get to trial. As of April,
The New York Times reported, there were at least five others who, like Montero, have been awaiting trial for more than six years. 
This week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the city’s municipal courts had “cleared” 591 of the 1,427 cases that, “as of mid-April, involved inmates who have been at Rikers more than a year, data from the state judiciary showed...”"

Signs Of Financial Turmoil In Europe, China And The United States

Signs Of Financial Turmoil In Europe, China And The United States
As we move toward the second half of 2015, signs of financial turmoil are appearing all over the globe.
In Greece, a full blown bank run is happening right now.
Approximately 2 billion euros were pulled out of Greek banks in just the past three days, Barclays says that capital controls are “imminent” unless a debt deal is struck, and there are reports that preparations are being made for a “bank holiday” in Greece.
Meanwhile, Chinese stocks are absolutely crashing.  
The Shanghai Composite Index was down more than 13 percent this week alone.
That was the largest one week decline since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.  
In the U.S., stocks aren’t crashing yet, but we just witnessed one of the largest one week outflows of capital from the bond markets that we have ever witnessed.
Slowly but surely, we are starting to see the smart money head for the exits.
As one Swedish fund manager put it recently, everyone wants “to avoid being caught on the wrong side of markets once the herd realizes stocks are over-valued“.
I don’t think that most people understand how serious things have gotten already.
In Greece, so much money has been pulled out of the banks that the European Central Bank admits that Greek banks may not be able to open on Monday…

"Islamic! Islamic!": Muslim Persecutions of Christians, April, 2015

"Islamic! Islamic!": Muslim Persecutions of Christians, April, 2015

• He could hear from inside his room where he was hiding the gunmen opening doors and inquiring if the people inside were Muslims or Christians.
• 

  "The motorbike riders got down from their bike and started beating [Christian journalist] Shamim Masih and... warned him that if he did not stop reporting on Christian issues, they knew his family and home and would teach him and his family a lesson." — Nazir S. Batti, Pakistan Christian Congress Party.
• "The city of Mosul alone had 45 churches. Now there is not a single one. The buildings have been destroyed. Four hundred churches have been destroyed in Syria. ... The same is happening in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Northern Africa." — Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
• "What happened to Christians in Iraq and Syria... does not receive Arabic media coverage that befits human beings, whatever their religion." — Hani Naqshabandi, Saudi writer.

Is Environmentalism Making Americans Poorer?

Is Environmentalism Making Americans Poorer? | Somewhat Reasonable
A few days ago, EPA Chief Gina McCarthy penned a post on Mic.com, claiming to make the “economic case” for clean energy, asserting that carbon pollution, like that produced by coal-fired power plants, is cutting into economic stability and growth.
McCarthy called for support for the Clean Power Plan, a reconfiguration of carbon emission standards that would put weight on coal-fired power plants to clean up their acts or face the consequences.
...There are also other economic consequences to McCarthy’s plan that she hasn’t considered: whether Americans can afford clean energy on an individual basis.
As the EPA and the Obama Administration has increased their pressure on so-called “dirty” energies, like coal, they’ve driven up energy costs for individuals, and according to a study released this week by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, that’s having a disparate effect on lower-income Americans.
Yesterday the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity released a report that documents how the Obama administration’s war on coal (and on cheap energy generally) has hurt poor and middle-class Americans. 
...This simple chart tells the story: while energy costs account for only 7% of expenditures by those who earn over $50,000 per year, those making less than $30,000 pay an astonishing 23% of their after-tax income for energy.
...According to the ACCCE study, many Americans sacrificed in other areas in order to meet rising energy costs, some even forgoing prescriptions, medical care and food in order to simply heat their homes.
But while they struggle, ultimately because of the EPA’s heavy regulatory hand, the companies the EPA favors – and their millionaire investors – are profiting at suffering Americans’ expense. Alternative energy bigwigs like Al Gore and billionaire environmentalists hedge fund operators like Tom Steyer, are using the Obama Administration’s push for alternative energy to get rich off of grants and loans the EPA and DOE dole out to alternative energy projects, and off of climate-altering investments.
The poor get poorer (and colder) while the rich get richer.

This is cool!!-----See how that vertical 787 takeoff looked from the cockpit

See how that vertical 787 takeoff looked from the cockpit - CNET:
"Boeing's new 787-9 Dreamliner passenger jet is a big-boy plane, and last week we saw that it's capable of some big-time maneuvers.
Boeing released a video of the jet making what looks like a near-vertical takeoff from a runway in Washington state in preparation for the Paris Air Show happening this week.
The video has since amassed nearly 10 million views on YouTube, and now Boeing has released some additional footage to take advantage of a new feature Google's video site has been testing called "Choose Your View."
The multiple-view experience, which works best in a desktop or laptop browser, can be found on Boeing's YouTube channel and allows you to experience that crazy takeoff and the brief flight that follows from three different angles -- looking at the 787 from outside, the pilot's view from the cockpit and a view inside the cockpit itself where you can see the pilots doing their thing."

Very good read!-----Pope Francis Embraces Green Theology to Demonize the Modern World

Pope Francis Embraces Green Theology to Demonize the Modern World - Reason.com
Pope Francis's eco-encyclical, issued to great fanfare this week, might be hyperbolic, anti-progress, and seemingly keen to bring the hotness of hell up to Earth.
(How else do we explain its mad aside against air-conditioning, which the pontiff brands as one of humanity's "harmful habits"? 
Clearly he wants to heat us up in preparation for our eternal frying for all the eco-sins we've committed.)
But we should nonetheless be grateful that, for all its dottiness, this humanity-lecturing letter has been published.
For it shows in black and white—and green—what a colossal amount in common there is between environmentalism and Catholicism.
That Francis can so readily adopt eco-lingo, can read as fluently from the gospel according to Greenpeace as he does from those other gospels, confirms that God-botherers and eco-worriers share a serious agitation with the human urge to explore and develop—what they call our "hubris"—and long to make us live simpler, less stuff-filled lives.
Francis takes to eco-moaning like a duck to water.
(Probably polluted water— yes, yes, we know.)
He slams humanity's view of itself as "lords and masters" of nature, our belief that we can "plunder her at will."
Such arrogance and greed will have "dire consequences," he finger-wags.
...He slams our "excessive anthropocentrism."
We must "restore men and women to their rightful place"—that is, as humble janitors of the planet, whose only job is to keep Earth nice for future generations, not to dig at it, extract its innards, remake it in our own image.
If all this downbeatness about humanity and scaremongering about the future sounds familiar, that's because it echoes the eco-hysteria that has become so prominent in Western political life.
The Vatican is now a fully-fledged green institution.
Which isn't surprising.
The demonisation of human hubris and promotion of eco-meekness that is at the heart of the green ideology chimes perfectly with the asceticism of Catholicism.

The similarities between the pieties of environmentalism and the diktats of Catholicism are striking. Environmentalism rehabilitates in secular drag the stinging rebukes of humanity once delivered by pointy-hatted men of God...

This State Has The Most Deaths From Drug Overdose

This State Has The Most Deaths From Drug Overdose:
"Almost 13 times more people die from drug overdoses in West Virginia than they do in North Dakota, as drugs have become a bigger killer than car crashes in the United States.
An average of 120 Americans die from a drug overdose everyday, but West Virginia tops the list of U.S. states, with 34 per 100,000 people dying from substance abuse between 2011 and 2013, a 35 percent increase on data between 2007 and 2009.
...The report said drug overdose deaths have more than doubled in the past 14 years nationally and have resulted in 44,000 deaths per year, half of which are prescription-drug related.
Prescription drugs are the biggest killer in the U.S., causing 44 deaths every day, followed by alcohol, cocaine and heroine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of injury in 36 states, including West Virginia.

LISTEN: Ghost From Clintons' Past Surfaces In Explosive, Newly-Discovered Audio Sure To Haunt Hillary

LISTEN: Ghost From Clintons' Past Surfaces In Explosive, Newly-Discovered Audio Sure To Haunt Hillary:

"In 1998, Mrs. Clinton told NBC’s Today that special prosecutor Kenneth Starr was part of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” to target her husband in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

“I think as this matter unfolds, the entire country will have more information, but we’re right in the middle of a feeding frenzy right now, and people are putting out rumor and innuendo,” Mrs. Clinton told Matt Lauer, advising Americans at the time “just to be patient, take a deep breath, and the truth will come out.”

Pension Armageddon

Pension Armageddon | The Weekly Standard:
The problem is as much legal and political as it is fiscal.
Fifty-five percent of government workers in California are union members, the sixth-highest share among the 50 states.
Pensions have become a cornerstone of the “new Tammany Hall” arrangement, whereby elected officials boost workers’ pay and benefits in exchange for union assistance at the ballot box. 
No other special interest comes close to matching the resources possessed and deployed by labor in California, especially at the local level. 

Even on the rare occasions when political support develops to challenge the unions on pensions, legal barriers thwart reform. The so-called California Rule is a state constitutional doctrine that prevents modifying current public employees’ pension benefits:
Whereas private corporations routinely “freeze” their defined-benefit pension plans—workers keep everything they’ve earned so far, but future accruals come in the form of 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans—this is effectively prohibited for state and local workers in California.
The pension reform game is rigged. As DeMaio explains, “I’ve always likened this to a baseball game.
Reformers are one team and the government-union bosses are another team.
And the reformers are out there on the field, doing practices, building support amongst the public. The unions aren’t doing any of this, .  .  . they’re sitting behind the dugout writing the rule book with the umpires....”

The Trans Fat Ban Is Worse Than You Think

The Trans Fat Ban Is Worse Than You Think - Reason.com:
"...the American Heart Association has suggested that Americans consume "less than 2 grams of trans fats a day." 
So, he argues, "if the FDA and AHA are correct, then current consumption levels—prior to and without any ban —are well within safe levels."
Even with the decline, the FDA banned trans fats. Left-wing intrusions—small and large—follow a similar trajectory.
...we should not forget the favorite weapon of do-gooders: lawsuits.
Government unleashes the lawyers to do their work, punishing companies that fail to comply, even ahead of the deadline.
The usual collection of class action attorneys and professional bullies sue food companies that continue to use trans fats for various financial reasons—for example, taste and increased shelf life.
In today's world, the idea that government could dictate, say, what sort of sexual relationships a person can indulge in—whether they are bad for one's health or even a public risk—would seem preposterous. 
Even banning pot is beginning to be regarded as useless intrusion by millions.
Yet allowing government to decide what we eat (or what our kids eat) is now considered a moral imperative.
After years of pressure from trial attorneys and junk-science public interest groups, the Obama administration has followed through with its pledge to ban what is—in the amounts most Americans ingest—a benign ingredient.
But even if it's not, we have labels for a reason.
It's unlikely the ban will do anything but create precedents that allow further intrusions into how and what we eat. 
Which is precisely the point."

How THEY will silence us! Most chilling post of the year-----How Government Stifled Reason's Free Speech

How Government Stifled Reason's Free Speech - Hit & Run : Reason.com
...For the past two weeks, Reason, a magazine dedicated to "Free Minds and Free Markets," has been barred by an order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from speaking publicly about a grand jury subpoena that court sent to Reason.com.
The subpoena demanded the records of six people who left hyperbolic comments at the website about the federal judge who oversaw the controversial conviction of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
...On May 31, Nick Gillespie published a post at Reason.com's Hit & Run blog discussing Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht's "haunting sentencing letter" to District Court Judge Katherine Forrest, and the judge's harsh response.
Gillespie noted that Forrest "more than threw the book" at Ulbricht by giving him a life sentence, which was a punishment "beyond even what prosecutors...asked for."
...In the comments section of the post, six readers published reactions that drew the investigative ire of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
In a federal grand jury subpoena dated June 2, the U.S. District Court commanded Reason.com to turn over "any and all identifying information" we had about the individuals posting those comments.
This is the first time Reason.com has received such a subpoena from any arm of government.
...U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara subpoenaed all of the identifying information we had about the authors of such comments as, "Its (sic) judges like these that should be taken out back and shot."
And, "Why waste ammunition? Wood chippers get the message across clearly. Especially if you feed them in feet first."
This last comment is a well-known Internet reference to the Coen brothers' movie Fargo.
The subpoena also covered such obviously harmless comments as: "I hope there is a special place in hell reserved for that horrible woman," and "I'd prefer a hellish place on Earth be reserved for her as well."
The comments are hyperbolic, in questionable taste–and fully within the norms of Internet commentary.
...To live in a world where every stray, overheated Internet comment—however trollish and stupid it may be—can be interpreted as an actionable threat to be investigated by a federal grand jury is to live in a world where the government is telling the public and media to just shut up already. 
As we gather and publish more information on just how often this sort of thing happens, we pledge to always be on the side of more speech rather than less.

Cruz Moves to Fine State Department for Illegally Withholding Key Iran Report | Washington Free Beacon

Cruz Moves to Fine State Department for Illegally Withholding Key Iran Report | Washington Free Beacon:

"Iran has long been a leading violator of human rights, carrying out hundreds of state-sanctioned executions and abusing the human rights of its citizens. Iran also continues to imprison several American citizens who human rights advocates report are being abused.

Cruz said the report is likely being delayed in order to avoid upsetting the Iranians and potentially harming ongoing nuclear discussion.

“It appears that both President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry are trying to sweep under the rug Iran’s horrific human rights record because, presumably, acknowledging that fact would be inconvenient” for the ongoing diplomacy with Iran, Cruz said.

The policy, he added, appears to be “surrender everything to the Iranian mullahs in a hope they will accede to a [nuclear deal that only accelerates their acquiring nuclear weapons.”

You Can Now Be Fired in Colorado for Using Medical Marijuana on Your Time Off

You Can Now Be Fired in Colorado for Using Medical Marijuana on Your Time Off | The Daily Sheeple:
Thanks to a landmark ruling in Colorado’s Supreme Court, there is new clarification to the state’s medical marijuana law—though employees may not like the news.
If a workplace has a policy prohibiting drug use, workers who test positive for marijuana are not protected from termination—even if they are registered for medical use.
In other words, you can be fired in Colorado for using marijuana during your time off.
...“The Supreme Court holds that under […] Colorado’s ‘lawful activities statute,’ the term ‘lawful’ refers only to those activities that are lawful under both state and federal law. 
Therefore, employees who engage in an activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute,” states the ruling..."