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The standoff between supporters of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires on federal land they leased to graze cattle and government officials amounts to a clash of cultures, according to a legal observer. "Those sipping lattes, they have no clue how the ranching economy, the Western economy works. They believe ranching destroys the environment, that ranching is a vestige of a bygone era," said attorney James S. Burling, the litigation director of the Pacific Legal Foundation. Two years after the standoff at Cliven Bundy's ranch in Nevada, two of Bundy's sons helped initiate the occupation of the headquarters of...

I received a Sony DSC-W830 camera as a gift. Nice. Unfortunately it will not connect nor download pix to my PC running XP. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is seeking to take control of his struggling presidential campaign, saying in an interview that his drop in the polls is the fault of his advisers and that he plans to shake up his staff in the coming days. Carson, sitting alone Wednesday in the basement of his Maryland house, said that no one's job is safe. He complained about budgetary management in a campaign that has spent millions and called some of his top staffers overpaid and ineffective in broadcasting his message. "I'm looking at every aspect of the campaign right now. Everything is...

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." ~ Benjamin Franklin ::Separating the Wheat from the Chaff:: By: Larry Walker, II ::Each 2016 GOP presidential candidate has proposed to reform the tax code. While seven have offered legitimate proposals, five have advanced theories, which are basically maniacal. Those proposing to abolish, or end, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may be classified as crackpots, because, let's face it, that's never ever going to happen. With taxes of such fundamental concern, it's difficult to take anything else these kooks say seriously. Unless such candidates are willing...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – His campaign in difficult straits after disappointing showings on the stump and the debate stage, former Florida governor Jeb Bush insisted Thursday that he has the skills and the staying power to withstand a downturn. “It’s not on life support,” he said of the once-formidable campaign operation he has been forced to trim back as a cost-saving measure. “We have the most money, we have the greatest organization,” Bush told reporters following a brief campaign stop here. “We’re doing fine.”

“Polarizing” is a descriptive term used by a pontificating media to disparage various elements they find antithetical to their own worldview. Generally, when the term is used it is wrongly assigned. However, in the case of Ted Cruz it’s unfortunately accurate. When Jason Johnson sits down to discuss his pathway to the nomination with George Will, it says more about Jason Johnson than it does about those who read Will’s opinion of the aforementioned pathway. What it essentially says is there’s a need to affirm something that isn’t factually supported by any measure of quantifiable empirical evidence. Ted Cruz Value...

Ok. Keep you friends clues, your enemies closer. That said, who's this babe that filled in for Megyn Kelly tonight? She's absolutely unhinged about McCarthy's withdrawal. She had Frank Luntz on who was equally unhinged. Evidently we all just want Washington to get along according to Luntz' all-knowing focus groups. Big smack-down to conservative obstructionists. I understand the Fox difference between hard news and opinion, but this one was off the charts. Especially for a fill-in.

Microsoft has been pushing Windows 10 for over a year now, and it seems to be "successful."

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nearly two weeks after canceling a campaign event scheduled the morning after the deadly attack on a South Carolina church, Jeb Bush on Monday called the Confederate battle flag a “racist” symbol, reflecting the new Republican normal in a Southern primary state vastly altered by the racially motivated killings. The flag was one of “the symbols that have divided the South in many ways, the symbols that were used in most recent modern history, perhaps not at the beginning of the time, but the symbols were racist,” Mr. Bush told an interracial crowd of about 200...

Clueless article. Not worth summarizing or excerpting. Click the link if you want a grim chuckle. Most obnoxious line: "Protests following Gray’s death, which at first experienced little police pushback, have led to elevated levels of violence around the city by criminals who some experts say appear emboldened."

A visit to the Ferguson Police revealed an interesting detail about the shootings/riots earlier this week that will never make the news.

Jeb Bush, a rumored 2016 Republican presidential candidate, just decided to publish hundreds of thousands of emails sent to him during his time as governor of Florida. On its face it seems like a great idea in the name of transparency, but there's one huge problem: neither Bush nor those who facilitated the publication of the records, including the state government, decided to redact potentially sensitive personal information from them. "In the spirit of transparency, I am posting the emails of my governorship here," a note on Bush's website says. "Some are funny; some are serious; some I wrote in...

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest described reports that millions of Americans would be getting tax bill because of Obamacare as "inaccurate" just days after the Treasury Department estimated that 6 million Americans will pay about $2 billion in individual mandate taxes this year."I don't think it is accurate to suggest that millions of people are going to get a tax bill as a result of this," Earnest said in response to a question Tuesday about the millions of Americans who will pay a tax penalty for not having health insurance in 2014. "The vast majority of Americans, more than three-quarters of Americans,...

[full title] “Look at the Tea Party: Some of the angriest, most hateful people on earth, and they’re backed by what they think is Scripture” Forgiveness has become a pursuit more important to me than almost anything. Because as I said in an old book, it’s not my strong suit. I always joke that I wasn’t one of those Christians who was heavily into forgiveness – that I was the other kind; that I was reform. But it’s so awful to be a person who doesn’t forgive; in my experience the willingness to change down deep always comes from the...

So, President Obama took a break from golfing and cup saluting to hit the United Nations. And these photos happened:

More optics he doesn’t get? From the official White House Instagram feed:

"I feel a moral obligation to speak out at this key moment in human history — it is a moment for action," says the actor in addressing climate change Leonardo DiCaprio has been tapped by the United Nations to be honored with the title of Messenger of Peace, and the actor has been asked to speak on Sept. 23 at the U.N. Climate Summit to address the topic of climate change, the international organization announced on Tuesday

“I am confident that as commander in chief, I have the authority to engage in the acts that we are conducting currently. As our strategy develops, we will continue to consult with Congress, and I do think it will be important for Congress to weigh in, and that our consultations with Congress continue to develop so that the American people are part of the debate. But, I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet. What I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead...

<p>President Obama said Thursday he doesn’t have a strategy yet for defeating Islamist militants in Syria.</p> <p>“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” Mr. Obama said in a news conference at the White House. “We don’t have a strategy yet. As our strategy develops, we will consult with Congress.”</p>

The State Department downplayed comments from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) leaders that they are at war with America, arguing that their violence is not directed at any particular country or race. At a briefing Thursday, a reporter brought up anti-American comments from ISIL leaders: “I mean, even they are announcing, ISIL people in their message, whatever, the recorded message, other messages, that now we are in a war with America.” “This is not about ISIL versus the United States,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf objected. “They are killing anyone who gets in their way:...