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Local reports stated police believe he may have used the bat to attack girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp before shooting her dead on St Valentine's Day morning. Detectives are working on two other theories concerning the bat: that it was either used to break down the door of the bathroom where she hid, or that she used it to defend herself against Mr Pistorius, South Africa's City Press reported.

Drawing a crowd at least four or five times its normal size, a throng estimated at well over 100,000 people swarmed St Peter's Square today for the Pope's noontime Angelus – the next-to-last Sunday greeting from B16 before his resignation takes effect in 11 days. Unlike the Wednesday Audience, no tickets are required for the pontiff's weekly appearance at his study window. It was reported yesterday that the lone remaining mid-week gathering – on the 27th – has already seen 35,000 requests for tickets, and will be moved into the Square from its usual winter venue inside the 7,000-seat...

The media, including some in the Christian media, throw around the word evangelical with little understanding of its proper definition. Most recently, the media has done this in referring to Pope Benedict XVI as the “Evangelical Pope.” In an attempt to say he’s a missionary-minded Pope, or a proselytizing Pope, they impart a title that would probably make him most uncomfortable. I have a deep respect for Pope Benedict. Respect for his impressive intellect. Respect for his strong stand on moral issues. Respect for his belief in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ for salvation. Respect for his levelheadedness in understanding...

North America has become the fastest growing oil and gas region in the world. Production of shale oil and gas and oil sands resources are increasing year after year as new infrastructures are developed, new extraction technologies are used and more resources are found. The surging supply growth could change North America into the new Middle East by 2020 according to a GPS report produced by Citigroup (NYSE: C). If accurate, the energy industry would generate benefits from exploitation of oil and ensure endless economic wealth for the country. As a matter of fact, crude oil is off its all-time...

Leaked draft legislation reportedly authored by the White House would be used as a backup proposal should negotiations fail in Congress over comprehensive immigration reform, administration officials said today. White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough was asked about the USA Todaystory on political talk shows this morning. On ABC’s “This Week,” McDonough told Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl lawmakers would have to “make sure that it doesn’t have to be proposed.” “Let’s make sure that that group up there, the ‘Gang of Eight,’ makes the good progress on these efforts as much as they say they want to,”...

Chubby Checker, the musician best known for his 1960 hit recording of "The Twist," is suing HP over a novelty app for Palm OS of the same name that claims to check the size of your "chubby." The sum sought is a mind-boggling half a billion dollars. The rock-and-roll star, whose real name is Ernest Evans, filed the suit this week in a Florida federal court, simultaneously releasing a statement describing the reasoning behind the suit. Willie Gary, an attorney who has already chalked up a number of large-sum legal wins, says that the app has caused "irreparable damage" to...

Danica Patrick backed up her fast practice speeds during NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 500 qualifying on Sunday, taking the pole position for the race. Patrick was the eighth to go out in the session — and knocked teammate and Stewart-Haas Racing team co-owner Tony Stewart out of the pole position. Patrick's qualifying lap of 196.434 mph eclipsed the 195.925 mph lap of Stewart.

From time to time, I will sit down to write a series of analyses on a particular topic, such as the fundamentals of terrorism series last February. Other times, unrelated events in different parts of the world are tied together by analytical threads, naturally becoming a series. This is what has happened with the last three weekly security analyses -- a common analytical narrative has risen to connect them.  First, we discussed how the Jan. 16 attack against the Tigantourine natural gas facility near Ain Amenas, Algeria, would result in increased security at energy facilities in the region. Second, we discussed foreign interventions in Libya and Syria and how...

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Ours is a society increasingly characterized by the use of extra-institutional means of waging and resolving conflicts. As the state becomes increasingly unable or unwilling to intervene in public conflicts, more and more individuals join social movements as a means to protect and expand their rights and interests. As a consequence, the use of civil disobedience, one method of nonviolent action, has become more common. Civil disobedience refers to "the deliberate and peaceful violation of particular laws, decrees, regulations, ordinances, military or police orders, and the like," either because such laws, etc. are considered unjust or because...

Following in the tradition of "McClintock" a couple of weeks ago, today's feature is another Shakespearean Western. Leonard Maltin calls it "Othello On The Range" and it's an apt description. Ernest Borgnine plays the Othello character, Rod Steiger's Iago, Valerie French is Desdemona and Glenn Ford is the Cassio character. Also starring Charles Bronson and Felicia Farr(Mrs. Jack Lemmon). Sidenote: I believe both Ford and Borgnine were Republicans.

Earlier this week in his State of the Union address President Obama made some observations on climate change so brimming with falsehoods I'm surprised his nose didn't fall off. It really doesn't matter where he himself was deliberately lying or whether he was merely lending the gravitas of his office to the deliberate lies of others. The point is that the President of the USA has access to any number of fact checkers and advisers and if he stands up and addresses the nation with a farrago of complete untruths then the buck stops with him. This dissembling and mendacity...

On opposite sides of the world, the brother and sister sat transfixed before their computers, reading a stranger's account of long-ago secrets and deeply buried sins. The memo was just four pages long, about an incident in 1963 at a Boy Scout camp in New Jersey. A Scout executive had gotten drunk during an overnight outing, then was discovered gambling with a group of boys. But there was more.

PSU Students curing pediatric cancer. They've been on their feet since Friday at 4pm and are into their last hour - and then it starts all over again for 2014. Go Go Gadjet playing now. Reveal to come at 4PM. Hoping for $12million. You can watch live at thon.org also trend #thon on twitter

As Colorado lawmakers get closer to passing a bill that would stringently restrict and regulate the sale and production of high capacity magazines in Colorado, Magpul, with their back against the wall, announced that they’ll just move to another state if the bill passes. The Magpul van parked outside the Colorado statehouse when a spokesman spoke to lawmakers. “Our company [Magpul] could not, in good conscience, continue to manufacture our products in a state where law-abiding citizens are prohibited from purchasing and owning them. ” Founder, President and CEO of Magpul Industries Richard Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “The passage...

I’m also issuing a new goal for America,” declared President Obama at his State of the Union on Tuesday. We’ll come to the particular “goal” he “issued” momentarily, but before we do, consider that formulation: Did you know the president of the United States is now in the business of “issuing goals” for his subjects to live up to? Strange how the monarchical urge persists even in a republic two-and-a-third centuries old. Many commentators have pointed out that the modern State of the Union is in fairly obvious mimicry of the Speech from the Throne that precedes a new legislative...

Guns Don’t Kill People, Obama Voters Kill People February 17, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield Try and control these guns Gun control works. That’s why Chicago, which came out for Obama, and has strict gun control laws, is trying to set some kind of gun violence record, while Salt Lake City and Fargo, where guns are legal, isn’t. It seems as if guns don’t kill people. Obama voters kill people. According to police data reported by the Sun Times, Chicago experienced a shooting every 3.57 hours in 2012.The Sun Times reports that the number of murders in the city of Chicago...

Why on earth did John McCain just rescue Chuck Hagel’s nomination? Why did he go on Meet the Press this morning to say that Chuck Hagel was going to get confirmed as Secretary of Defense? McCain argued that Hagel had the votes to be confirmed and that he didn’t want the process to be delayed further. But if that is the case then why did Bob Woodward go on Fox News yesterday to say that Democratic Senators were calling the White House to ask when Hagel was withdrawing? Now I doubt Woodward would have dropped that tidbit if there wasn’t...

Ah...the Obama economy. Smells like, well, crap: Today, there are now 2.6 million more people living below poverty.Food stamp rolls under President Barack Obama have risen to more than 47 million people in America.Over 8,803,335 Americans are on disability up from 7,469,240 in February 2009.The median household income has dropped $4,520, or about one month’s average wages, since President Obama took office.US incomes fell more during the so-called recovery than the recession.Gas prices have doubled.Taxes have ballooned.This year alone working Americans making between $30,000 and $200,000 will see their paychecks shrink by as much as 1.7 percent – or up to $1,784.Obamacare will punish working Americans with more taxes. Given all that you...

Sen. Rand Paul says he'll wait until 2014 to decide whether to run for president, but he believes voters are ready for a Libertarian-minded Republican candidate. "I would absolutely not run unless it were to win," the Kentucky Republican said on "Fox News Sunday." "Points have been made, and we we will continue to make points. But I think the country is really ready for the narrative coming — the Libertarian Republican narrative." Voters want a "different face," he said. In order to expand the party's reach, Paul believes the GOP should embrace candidates who are willing to push a...

Investing In A Low Economic Growth World Stock-Markets / Investing 2013February 17, 2013 - 10:42 AM GMT By: John Mauldin The jury – unless you are the Fed and Ben Bernanke or the Congressional Budget Office, which cannot make lower growth assumptions without really blowing their deficit projections out of the water – is pretty well in on GDP growth: it’s going lower. Ed Easterling and I wrote a recent Thoughts from the Frontline on multiple pieces of research suggesting slower future growth. We asked the question, “So what about stock prices; will they follow suit?” Our thought was that,...