Marijuana legalization unlikely to blame for Denver crime increase - The Denver Post
"...When making his case against the measure, Sen. William Sharer, a Republican from Farmington, pointed to Denver, where he said crime has increased since retail marijuana stores opened in the city in 2014. Marijuana policy experts and Colorado officials urge caution when trying to grade legalization's impacts — which are the subject of debate all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where this week justices are scheduled to discuss a lawsuit over pot filed against Colorado by two neighboring states. But there is one thing that legalization supporters, opponents and neutrals within Colorado agree on: It's unlikely marijuana has much to do with Denver's recent uptick in crime, as Sharer suggested it did.
"Crime is up," said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson, " but I don't know if you can relate it to marijuana."
Since 2012, the year when Colorado voters passed recreational marijuana legalization, the number of crimes in Denver has grown by about 44 percent, according to annual figures the city reported to the National Incident Based Reporting System..."
In 1962, the percentage of people who did not pay federal income taxes themselves and who were not claimed as dependents by someone who paid federal income taxes stood at 24.0 percent; it fell to 12.6 percent by 1969 before beginning a ragged and ultimately steady increase.
By 2000, the percentage was 34.1 percent; by 2009, it was 49.6 percent. The number dropped to 44.7 percent in 2011, and it has hovered around 44 percent ever since.
An astounding 33.67 percent of tax returns are filed only to claim benefits while not paying any income tax.
"Stunned" Former Homicide Det. Drops "Injection" Bombshell About Scalia's Death:
"William O. Ritchie, formerly the head of criminal investigations for the D.C. police, wrote Sunday that he found it inconceivable no autopsy was ordered on Scalia’s body, especially given the possibility the justice might have been injected with a drug that would induce heart failure.
“As a former homicide commander, I am stunned that no autopsy was ordered for Justice Scalia,” Ritchie wrote."
History for February 19 - On-This-Day.com: Nicolas Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernick) 1473 - Polish astronomer, known for the Copernican theory: the sun is the center of our universe , Carson McCullers 1917 - Author ("The Member of the Wedding", "Reflections in a Golden Eye"), Lee Marvin 1924 - Actor ("The Caine Mutiny", "The Dirty Dozen", "Delta Force") Smokey Robinson 1940 - Singer (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles), Jeff Daniels 1955 - Actor ("The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Terms of Endearment"), Benicio Del Toro 1967 - Actor 1856 - The tintype camera was patented by Professor Hamilton L. Smith. 1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph). 1942 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans. 1942 - Approximately 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin. 1945 - During World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima. 1985 - Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company. 1987 - A controversial, anti-smoking publice service announcement aired for the first time on television. Yul Brynner filmed the ad shortly before dying of lung cancer. Brynner made it clear in the ad that he would have died from cigarette smoking before ad aired. 2005 - The USS Jimmy Carter was commissioned at Groton, CT. It was the last of the Seawolf class of attack submarines.
"Odd facts like these have some Americans — even those not prone to conspiracy theories — extremely on edge, wondering if maybe something sinister did indeed occur."
"In the wake of Beyonce’s controversial Super Bowl halftime performance of her new song “Formation” — which critics say contains an anti-cop message — police and politicians around the country have been speaking out against it."
Stabenow tells Michigan students 'debt-free college' is the goal | MLive.com
ANN ARBOR, MI — U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow told a group of University of Michigan students on Wednesday college students should be able to graduate without student loan debt, and she's introducing legislation to move toward that goal.
"It is incredibly important that we finally fix what's happening here in terms of the cost of college," she said.
Stabenow brought the national discussion around college affordability to Ann Arbor as she met with about two dozen U-M students inside the Michigan League.
Earlier in the day, she met with students at Wayne State University. The senator is trying to drum up support for her #InTheRed campaign to reduce the burden of student loan debt for college graduates.
Stabenow is an author of the Reducing Educational Debt Act, also known as the RED Act, which is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate soon.
She said it would allow student loan borrowers to refinance high-interest loans and lock in rates offered to new borrowers in 2013-14, which means 3.86 percent for undergraduates, 5.4 percent for graduate students and 6.4 percent for parents.
...The RED Act also would create new federal and state partnerships to make community college and other technical college programs free for eligible students, waiving tuition fees for two years.
She said that would be accomplished by having the federal government put in $3 for every $1 a state invests.
If every state participated, Stabenow estimates some 9 million students would enjoy free community college or technical training programs.
The RED Act also aims to increase Pell grant awards, tying future Pell grant increases to inflation.
"We want those Pell grants to go up every year," Stabenow said.
Stabenow described the RED Act as step one in eventually getting to the goal of debt-free college, an idea that resonated with students on Wednesday.
...Stabenow said she doesn't yet have a price tag for her plan.
She intends to introduce the legislation in a couple of weeks.
"We have to look at the total numbers," she said.
"But it will be completely paid for because we are going to be using what's called the Buffett Rule, Warren Buffett, recommending that high-income individuals pay at least a 30 percent tax rate, and by closing loopholes and companies taking their earnings offshore."...
Here is the news from the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday (just as the Pope was doing his publicity stunt on the Texas border).
A picture worth a thousand words. (Readers this is one more way for you to get your message out and educate the public!) Photo: Jason Wachter at MN Star Tribune.
The local Catholic Charities in St. Cloud complained that the sign was inaccurate because their particular branch of CC didn’t actually place Somali Muslims in St. Cloud (that is the job ofLutheran Social Services). The sign company agreed to remove the sign.
However….
It is accuratethat Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis do resettle Somali Muslims (a shocking number of their ‘youths’ have gone on to become international jihadists), so for the whole state of Minnesota the sign’s message is accurate.We told you as early as 2011 that Catholic Charities was one of three phony non-profits (federal contractors) that first brought Somali Muslims to Minnesota beginning in the 1980s.
Go here to see one of dozens and dozens of posts about the ‘Somali youths’ who received the benefits of US citizenship, welfare as they grew up, and some even obtained college educations and still went on to become (or attempted to become) Islamic terrorists..."
"Obama said as much at a press conference Tuesday on the issue: ”I am amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of provisions that are not there.”
But a reporter asked Obama to comment on similar actions he took as a U.S. senator: ”How do you respond to Republican criticism that your position is undercut by the fact that you and other members of your administration who were in the Senate at the time tried to filibuster Judge [Samuel] Alito in 2006?”
Obama seemed momentarily taken aback by the question — "
Exclusive: Radioactive material stolen in Iraq raises security fears | Reuters
Iraq is searching for "highly dangerous" radioactive material stolen last year, according to an environment ministry document and seven security, environmental and provincial officials who fear it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State.
The material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, went missing in November from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra... The U.S. State Department said it was aware of the reports but has seen no sign that Islamic State or other militant groups have acquired it.
A U.S. official said separately that Iraq had reported a missing specialized camera containing highly radioactive Iridium-192 to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog, in November.
"They've been looking for it ever since.
Whether it was just misplaced, or actually stolen, isn't clear," said the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter... DIRTY BOMB FEAR
Large quantities of Ir-192 have gone missing before in the United States, Britain and other countries, stoking fears among security officials that it could be used to make a dirty bomb.
A dirty bomb combines nuclear material with conventional explosives to contaminate an area with radiation, in contrast to a nuclear weapon, which uses nuclear fission to trigger a vastly more powerful blast. "We are afraid the radioactive element will fall into the hands of Daesh," said a senior security official with knowledge of the theft, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
"They could simply attach it to explosives to make a dirty bomb," said the official, who works at the interior ministry and spoke on condition of anonymity as he is also not authorised to speak publicly..."
DHS Whistleblower FIRED After Rejecting Obama’s Money To Stay Quiet…She Exposes Everything | The Proud Conservative:
The Department of Homeland Security is scrambling to figure out how to do damage control after a DHS whistleblower refused to take a $100,000 “severance package” and sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Anytime someone offers you money then asks you to sign an agreement saying you will not talk, it’s a bribe.
DHS can call it what they want, but the reality is they were trying to pay an agent hush money.
The Daily Caller reported, “Special Agent Taylor Johnson — who had a storied career until she irked Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid by objecting to a visa program for foreign investors tied to the senator’s son — says she declined to take a $100,000 severance package because it included a non-disclosure agreement.”
“DHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Todd Breasseale did not respond to multiple inquiries about the reason for Johnson’s dismissal and why they tried to buy her silence.” In June of 2015, Johnson gave a testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs stating her gun and badge were taken after she discovered fraud and abuse.
“Some of the violations investigated surrounding the project included bank and wire fraud, and I discovered ties to organized crime and high-ranking politicians and they received promotions that appeared to facilitate the program,” Johnson said in the testimony.
From Daily Caller: DHS has never given any public explanation for the disciplinary action it took against Johnson. After the hearing a DHS spokeswoman said they do not talk about personnel matters. But this past December, ICE press secretary Gillian Christensen, citing confidential information from Johnson’s file, tried to convince this reporter off the record that she was a dishonest and a problem employee. That argument is going to be even harder to peddle now that the Department would have allowed Johnson to leave with a clean work record and $100,000 in spending money if she promised to keep her mouth shut. Johnson is soliciting donations on gofundme.com to cover legal fees for a possible federal lawsuit.
Barack Obama’s 9 Biggest Failures, According to National Polling | TheBlaze.com: "We’ve organized the list into nine overall categories: foreign affairs, terrorism, Iran, ISIS, climate change, the economy, health care, gun policy, and overall job performance. While Americans disapprove of Obama’s performance, on average, across all nine categories, the polling results were much more negative in some categories than others. We’ll start with the least negative category (climate change), then count down to the most negative of all. For some categories, we’ll also explore a series of more specific polls to draw out the details of the issue."
Chicago students stage walkout to protest teacher pensions | EAGnews.org:
CHICAGO – Union efforts last month to train teachers on creating student activists to fight for its cause seems to be paying off, as hundreds of Chicago Public Schools walked out of class Friday in protest.
Between 200 and 300 Lincoln Park High School students walked out of before their third period classes toting protest signs and chanting for more money for education as part of their “Fed-Up Friday” rally, CBS Chicago reports. Their qualms echoed battle cries often heard from the Chicago Teachers Union, which held teacher training sessions late last month on how to “empower” students to “express purposeful dissent” and “engage in civic action to bring about desired social change,” according to CTU flier titled “Teachers Empowering Students for Social Change.”
...Lincoln Park High School faced about $375,000 in budget cuts last week, a sliver of the $120 million district officials slashed to address a massive budget shortfall for the current school year, Progress Illinois reports.
CPS leaders opted for the budget cuts after officials with the Chicago Teachers Union rejected a contract offer that would have ensured teachers received raises, prevented layoffs, and capped the expansion of charter schools – the union’s direct competition.
The deal would also have required CTU members to pay their own portion of their pension costs, instead of the district paying both the employer and employee contributions, but union’s negotiation team shot down the offer, the Chicago Sun-Times reports...”
University tells students to report 'incidents of discomfort' to campus police - The College Fix:
The University of Portland has launched a “Speak Up” webpage that encourages students to report “incidents of discomfort” to its Public Safety department.
“We ask members of our community to SPEAK UP and report alleged incidents of discrimination and incidents of discomfort regarding observed or experienced interactions of intolerance,” the university states on the webpage. The top resource listed under “Reporting Options” is the university’s Public Safety department, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and includes a director, two sergeants and nine public safety officers, the department reports.
Below that, the Title IX, student conduct and human resources departments are listed as additional reporting options.
“The University of Portland takes seriously its responsibility to provide an inclusive environment for all UniversityPortlandSpeakUpmembers of our community,” said Rachel Barry-Arquit in an email to The College Fix. Barry-Arquit is the university’s director of marketing and communication.
The Beacon campus newspaper reports Speak Up was created at a time when “students of color feel isolated on campus” through the widespread use of microaggressions on campus..."
Tax Oil to Subsidize Wind? | Somewhat Reasonable:
"...So how does Obama intend to repay the industry, now that it has fallen on hard times? Amid a sluggish global economy and record oil and gas production, oil prices have plunged below $30 a barrel – forcing the oil patch to lay people off, many companies to retrench or ponder bankruptcy, and many communities to confront reduced employment, consumer spending, real estate values, and revenues.
But as part of his last-gasp, $4.1-trillion, $503-billion-deficit 2017 federal budget, the president wants Congress to slap a $10.25 tax on every barrel of domestically produced or imported oil.
He says this will raise some $400 billion over the next ten years.
This will allow him to increase EPA’s budget to $8.3 billion, pour $1.7 billion a year into the “climate fund,” and channel hundreds of billions into high speed rail, wind, solar, biofuel, “eco-friendly” cars and other “green” energy schemes.
It thus means more opportunities for unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats to pick winners and losers, expand their fiefdoms, and pad their bonuses and pensions..."
"These most recent accusations purport to show that officials charged with overseeing all U.S. intelligence activities were aware of potential issues with the integrity of information on the Islamic State, some of which made it’s way to President Barack Obama’s desk.
As for why these reports may have been manipulated, the analysts say it was all in the name of politics.
According to the whistleblowers, their reports were altered for political purposes, to adhere to public statements made by the Obama administration that the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State was making progress and had handicapped the group’s finances and operations — a claim White House officials have staunchly denied"
Cop Calls Out Violent Gang Members in Epic Video: A Louisiana law enforcement officer released a video to social media on Wednesday calling out a number of violent gang members on the run in his state.
Captain Clay Higgins of the Abbeville Police, sporting a rifle while surrounded by dozens of other officers and community leaders, addressed the Gremlins Gang in the video.
He told the gang members that police are not intimidated by them.
He warned that any force used against police or civilians would be met with overwhelming force in return.
“The Gremlins street gang is responsible for hundreds of violent crimes,” Captain Higgins said in the video released to KATC.
“Murders, armed robberies, witness intimidation, burglaries, drug trafficking, extortion, and brutal beatings.
We’ve arrested ten of these thugs and have warrants on seven more.
Every one of these animals is most definitely armed and dangerous.”
After naming the gang members who have outstanding felony warrants, Higgins said, “you will be hunted, you will be trapped, and if you raise your weapon to a man like me we will return fire with superior fire. Darren Carter, you think men like these are afraid of an uneducated 125-pound punk like you that’s never won a fair fight in your life and holds your gun sideways?” “Young man, I’ll meet you on solid ground anytime, anywhere, light or heavy. Makes no difference to me. You won’t walk away. Look at you. Men like us, son, we do dumbbell presses with weights bigger than you.”
After telling the fugitives that prisoners have no respect for them and would toss them around “like a rag doll,” Higgins asked community members to come forward with information on the criminals. “I encourage any citizen watching this to look into your own heart and find the American courage that conquers all evil,” he said. “I implore you to listen to this message and stand up. Take back your streets. Take back your country. Come forward with information about these heathens who’ve terrorized your community.”
He then pointed out that standing next to each of his officers was a leader of the local black community and that his message had nothing to do with race. Instead, he said, “it’s about right versus wrong.” He then issued a challenge to the gang members.
“One last message to the Gremlins:
You don’t like the things I’ve told you tonight?
I’ve got one thing to say:
I’m easy to find.”
The video closed with a message from the captain to all Americans. “I’m Capt. Clay Higgins asking every patriot to stand up, share this video, and send a message to the world: We’re Americans. We’d rather die on our feet than live on our knees.”
'Islamic Rape Of Europe': Polish Magazine Splashes 'White Europa' Girl Groped By Migrant Hands - Breitbart:
"One of Poland’s most popular weekly magazines has splashed a graphic depiction of the rape of Europe’s women by migrants on its front cover.
The image may be one of the most politically incorrect illustrations of the migrant crisis to date.
While Poland is generally much more relaxed about expressing itself than the self censoring tendencies of western and northern Europe, the cover of the latest wSieci (The Network) conservative magazine has already prompted reaction just 24 hours after release, being beamed around the continent by social media.
Featuring a personification of Europa being pawed at by dark hands — what the German media would perhaps euphemistically term “southern” or “Mediterranean” — the headline decries the “Islamic Rape of Europe”."
History for February 18 - On-This-Day.com: Enzo Ferrari 1898, Jack Palance 1919, Gahan Wilson 1930 Cybil Sheppard 1950 - Actress, John Travolta 1954 - Actor ("Pulp Fiction"), Molly Ringwald 1968 - Actress ("Sixteen Candles) 1841 - The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It lasted until March 11th. 1861 - In Montgomery, AL, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States. 1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time. 1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane. 1932 - Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada. 1970 - The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention. 1987 - The executives of the Girl Scout movement decided to change the color of the scout uniform from the traditional Girl Scout green to the newer Girl Scout blue. 2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.
When those in the future look back and judge the events
which are currently taking place, what will they determine?
One man, one administration, one party could not have become
this powerful without the loyalty of those who blindly follow. How did an intelligent people, a people who
fought against such evil, allow evil to creep up and capture them? How could the people, in a nation of freedom,
willingly give up their rights and descend into darkness?
Thirty pieces of silver comes in many forms and this
administration offers a variety. Promises
equal votes and they are used as a distraction from reality. Irresponsible actions have a way of catching
up with everyone. Irresponsibility will
cost us our freedom.
This administration has used the Cloward and Piven strategy
in hopes of financially collapsing the United States. The number of welfare recipients has
increased for a reason. It’s all part of
the strategy. The reasons were formulated
in the past and the past has been intentionally hidden.
We elected a president without checking into his
background. We began to cower and feared
false accusations if we dared to ask questions or if we didn’t accept the
manufactured explanation. What has been
uncovered is mind blowing. Seriously,
red flags....
White students undergo weekly 'deconstructing whiteness' program at Northwestern University - The College Fix: White college students are undergoing a weekly “deconstructing whiteness” program at Northwestern University.
The “6-part workshop series for undergraduate students who self-identify as white” launched in January and runs through March, according to the university’s website.
Students enrolled chose to do so – it is voluntary.
A spokesman for the prestigious private university located outside Chicago declined to give The College Fix details on the program, such as how many students enrolled and how it’s been received so far.
“It’s part of Northwestern’s Social Justice Education effort to create learning opportunities for our students,” Bob Rowley, a spokesman for the campus, told The College Fix in an email, providing a link to the social justice webpage and adding: “Beyond that, we don’t have anything more for you on it.”
According to a report in the campus newspaper, the workshops focus on “terminology used in conversations of race, the history and meaning of whiteness, white guilt and the difference between intellectualizing and feeling racism...”
“Do you believe black lives matter?” they asked him repeatedly. When Marquez ignored them, they began shouting that he was a racist.
After finishing his food, Marquez left the restaurant. As he was walking out to the parking lot, he allegedly sustained a blow to the back of his head, which knocked him unconscious.
The vet awoke to find his pants ripped and his wallet, which contained $400, three credit cards, his VA medical card, school identification, metro card and driver’s license, missing.
“I remember this group of teens harassing me while I was eating, they surrounded my table "
Marijuana policy experts and Colorado officials urge caution when trying to grade legalization's impacts — which are the subject of debate all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where this week justices are scheduled to discuss a lawsuit over pot filed against Colorado by two neighboring states. But there is one thing that legalization supporters, opponents and neutrals within Colorado agree on: It's unlikely marijuana has much to do with Denver's recent uptick in crime, as Sharer suggested it did.
