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The incident occurred in Victoria, Texas, a suburb of Houston. A dash camera captured officer Nathaniel Robinson tasering 76-year-old Pete Vasquez. Vasquez was driving a vehicle owned by the car dealership where he works. Officer Robinson pulled him over when he noticed the vehicle’s inspection sticker had expired. When Vasquez exited the car and attempted to show Robinson the dealer plates—which would’ve exempted the necessity for up to date inspection tags—that’s when the altercation happened. “I don’t know what his deal is,” Vasquez told an officer that arrived on the scene later. Vasquez went on, “he came over here and...

One young woman, a college student at Texas Christian University, tells the following story: “Several years ago, a 19-year-old mother found herself pregnant in Houston, Texas from a one night stand. She had a thriving acting and modeling career and was planning to move to LA to persue more in the performing arts as soon as she had enough money. Her parents were ex-pats in Indonesia, and she was living alone in the big city with no one to turn to. She had enough money to get an abortion, and she had the legal right to get an abortion since...

Fox News finds new way to scare its viewers, warns of Dish blackout December 15, 2014 | By Daniel Frankel Already adept at scaring its rapt audience, Fox News has begun warning Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) subscribers that the channel, along with Fox Business News, could disappear from their program guides "any day now." The campaign features the usual TV spots, directing viewers to visit the "protest the operator" website, in this case KeepFoxNews.com. Fox News versus Dish Fox's post urged Dish subscribers to call the satellite operator. (Source: KeepFoxNews.com) A Fox News blog post notes, "Despite the undeniable demand...

DECEMBER 17, 2014 No One’s Minding the Store The president’s immigration-amnesty program could result in a flood of fraud. By Ryan Lovelace U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials tasked with preventing fraud from taking place are instead being forced to do administrative work, according to the federal official who created and directed the division of the government responsible for preventing immigration fraud. Opponents and supporters of President Obama’s executive action on immigration say the Department of Homeland Security is not prepared to handle the fraud that will come from the implementation of amnesty. The sheer volume of applications the department...

Sitting on a salvaged sofa in the centre of her small tin shack, Nomfusi Panyaza looks increasingly worried, as heavy clouds gather in the sky outside. “When it rains, the public toilets overflow into my living room,” she says. “Water comes in through the ceiling and the electricity stops working.” Outside her makeshift home in the sprawling township of Khayelitsha, on the eastern edge of Cape Town, barefoot children play on the banks of an open sewer, while cows roam next to an overflowing rubbish heap. Panyaza shares this tiny cabin with her two daughters and four grandchildren, a family...

This is how a woman became an abortion clinic escort. First, she attended a pro-choice march. “My participation in the pro-choice march was motivated by boredom and restlessness as much as by a desire to be of service. I had thought about getting involved in some kind of cause, but I didn’t know which one. Having been too young in the 60s to participate in the peace movement, I look forward to attending a real political march. I didn’t attend the antichoice march held the same day because the newspaper letters to the editor with “pro-life” views seem too cold,...

This discussion was necessary after the grand jury decisions on Michael Brown and Eric Garner that had nothing to do with racism. People reported: The protective bubble that comes with the presidency – the armored limo, the Secret Service detail, the White House – shields Barack and Michelle Obama from a lot of unpleasantness. But their encounters with racial prejudice aren’t as far in the past as one might expect. And they obviously still sting. “I think people forget that we’ve lived in the White House for six years,” the first lady told PEOPLE, laughing wryly, along with her husband,...

Sometimes, you just need Texas. As the rest of the entertainment industry was being brought to its knees by the threat of more hacking and terrorism, a theater in Texas decided to both capitalize on this story and stand up for freedom of speech. The only bummer is they’re holding a free screening, as I’d hoped they’d rake in a bunch of cash for filling a gap in the market, which would be as appropriately American as the statement they’re making about our values. They should be rewarded, and they will be, at least with brand recognition and good will:...

December 18, 2014Thursday of the Third Week of Advent    Reading 1 Jer 23:5-8 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;As king he shall reign and govern wisely,he shall do what is just and right in the land.In his days Judah shall be saved,Israel shall dwell in security.This is the name they give him:“The LORD our justice.” Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD,when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives,who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”;but rather, "As the LORD...

The U.S. Air Force has a complicated relationship with its low- and slow-flying A-10 Warthog attack jet. And that's putting it mildly. The flying branch has tried more than once to retire the ungainly A-10 in favor of speedier planes, only for ...

HIPAA is why there's a new plan to share your data. A 28-page federal document proposes to share your medical records with 37 federal agencies. (See graphic of the week below). The deadline for public comments on this sweeping intrusion is Friday, February 6, 2015. Go here to tell them what you think. Without privacy, you have no control. He who holds the data makes the rules. The Obama administration is gathering your data to seize control of your doctor. The 2009 mandate for every doctor to have electronic health records (EHRs) was considered foundational to imposing Obamacare. Even though...

Pro-choice writer Molly Coddle: “Abortion is killing, but not murder. Americans would like to think that death is avoidable, and for that reason liberals have tried to sugarcoat a women’s right to choose with an “it’s-not-about-the-fetus” argument that disregards the emotional intensity that everyone I know has experienced when choosing to abort. When we recognize that something is dying—if only a possibility of life—then it’s possible to grieve and move forward.” Molly Coddle Herbal Abortion is not D.I.Y Slingshot

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There's no doubt that many Republican senators, and plenty of conservative commentators, were angry at GOP Sen. Ted Cruz for raising a time-consuming objection to passage of the "Cromnibus" spending bill in an effort to oppose President Obama's unilateral executive action on immigration. It's not that fellow Republicans don't oppose the president's move; they do. It's just that 1) Cruz's gambit had no hope of succeeding, and 2) the maneuver set off a series of parliamentary events that allowed Majority Leader Harry Reid to get a head start on his other remaining business, which was the confirmation of a number...

Three Parent Babies Given Green Light By Government Parliament will now vote on whether to allow a change in legistlation which would see the first three parent babies born by 2016 By Sarah Knapton 17 Dec 2014 Controversial laws to allow three parents babies will be voted on by Parliament and could come into force next year. The government has laid down draft legislation which will change the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 to allow mitochondrial DNA transfer. The procedure, which was developed British scientists, is currently banned, but ministers want to change the law to prevent children suffering...

"The exciting thing for me is there are 30,000 itty-bitty, perfect octahedrons, and not one big diamond," said Larry Taylor, a geologist at the University of Tennessee, who presented the findings at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting. "It's like they formed instantaneously. This rock is a strange one indeed."

From a woman who had 3 abortions “A lot of people would argue that, that’s a life, but I say, what about my life?… Do I think abortion is pro-life? It’s pro-my life, and I am the most important person in the world and I want to make myself happy.… A good friend of mine has 2 kids, she’s a perfect mother, roast on Sundays. Good for you, if that’s what you want, more power to you. Let me have what I want.” Patricia Launneborg Abortion: a Positive Decision (New York: Bergin & Garvey, 1992) 134 Result of an abortion...

New population projections released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that whites will become a “minority” by 2044, replaced by a “majority” of minority groups, mostly blacks and Hispanics.The new projections, analyzed in a Brookings Institution report, show the huge rise of Hispanics, projected to make up 25.1 percent of the U.S. population in 2044, double African-Americans.According to the analysis, the white will make up 49.7 percent of the country in 2044, minorities the rest. What’s more, by 2060, whites will account for just 44 percent of the country.Brookings attributed the shift to a “majority minority nation” this way:— The...

The outcries throughout our country -- protests, demonstrations, disruptions of traffic, and riots -- that have dotted our collective landscape since white Ferguson police office Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown isn't just about Ferguson, the city. It's about the hundreds and thousands of "Fergusons" throughout our country where black youth are by-definition disadvantaged in their relationship with police simply because they're black. It's about the fact that police throughout our country have systematically violated our shared American values, which instruct us to have respect, provide equality, live together as community, and do the right thing....

Church bells rang out Wednesday afternoon in Havana, marking a major moment in history -- Cuba and the United States are renewing diplomatic relations after decades of ice-cold tension. Word of the massive change was met with passionate opinions and some protests in the United States. And tearful celebrations erupted in the streets of the island after President Raul Castro announced the news in a televised address. SNIP In Miami, where the vast majority of the large population of Cuban exiles once fiercely opposed any change in the U.S. stance toward the island, reactions were split, largely along generational lines....

They cited the example of the asthma drug albuterol sulfate. The average cost for a bottle of 100 pills was $11 last October, the pair said. The average charge by this April was up to $434. The antibiotic doxycycline hyclate cost $20 last October for a bottle of 500 tablets, the congressmen observed. By April, the price was $1,849. Experts say generics are growing more expensive because of reduced competition among manufacturers and shortages of raw materials. However, that might not explain triple-digit price hikes for some drugs. "Most generics are increasing in price by an average 10% a year,"...