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Baltimore-area police have arrested two – and more will likely follow – in the case of a mob of black high school youths rushing a 61-year-old white man outside his home and beating him so badly he was placed in a medically induced coma. One police spokesman for the Dundalk, Maryland, force called the attack vicious. “This is not a simple fist fight,” he said, to WBAL-TV “This is a brutal assault.” The incident began when the man, Richard Fletcher, noticed two girls fighting near his truck and went outside to intervene. That’s when a mass of youths, mostly from...

Over the course of April 28–29 a gigantic filament, briefly suspended above the surface* of the Sun, broke off and created an enormous snakelike eruption of plasma that extended millions of miles out into space. The event was both powerful and beautiful, another demonstration of the incredible energy and activity of our home star…and it was all captured on camera by two of our finest Sun-watching spacecraft.

Imagine—just imagine, for the sake of the argument—that scientists in a future generation discover that the global-warming trend of recent years was not caused by human activity. If that happens, what will be the consequences for the Catholic Church, in light of the Vatican’s apparent embrace of the climate-change hypothesis? This is not-- repeat, not another column about the scientific evidence for or against the reality human-induced climate change. If you are inclined to respond by denouncing either the proponents or the foes of that theory, please stop. My own personal opinion on that theory is of little or no...

WARNING: Profanity/Strong Racial Language This Week on the New Black Panther Party’s “Black Power Radio,” national chairman Hashim Nzinga said since America has “declared war on us,” evidenced by “military police in the black neighborhood” protecting the rich, the New Black Panthers should be looked upon as Founding Fathers who declare war and are “willing to die or kill to save our babies and to save a black nation that is dying before our eyes.” Nzinga said, “America is about protecting the rich and the powerful.” He added, “We pay taxes. They have declared war on us and it’s nothing

9-year old boy expelled from school because he said he "didn't like Obama" April 29, 2015 Freedom of speech breached? 9 year old boy expelled from his school for anti-Obama remark. 9 year old Jacob Wheeler attending Rosa Parks elemenary school in Los Angeles, California, was asked to leave the school and "never come back" after he made some comments that the teacher did not approve of during a history lesson. The lesson, which centered around US presidents since the 18th century along with the current political landscape, was derailed when young Jacob raised his hand and said he "didn't...

Many of the largest U.S. sellers of organic eggs boast that their hens are vegetarian, and for an increasingly food-curious public, this may be great advertising. A carton of Eggland’s Best advertises that the company uses “vegetarian fed hens.” Horizon promises that their eggs “come from hens that are fed a 100% organic, vegetarian diet.” Land O Lakes hens have a diet with no animal fat or by-products. Yet for the chickens, who are natural omnivores that readily devour bugs and small animals when they’re available, the forced vegetarianism can be a disaster.

I'm sure this will go over like a fart in church, but what the heck, video at link: No to Fast Track, No to Trade Treachery,

For the first time in 90 years, U.S. health officials say they have diagnosed a case of the plague that may have spread in the air from one person to another. Don't be alarmed — the plague these days is treatable with antibiotics and is exceptionally rare (just 10 cases were reported nationwide in 2014). And if the plague has become mostly a curiosity in the United States, this case is more curious than most. It starts with a two-year-old pit bull. The dog fell ill in late June 2014, so his owner took him to the vet. Four days...

The use of police force — against minorities and whites alike — is so poorly monitored that there is no precise accounting of how many citizens are killed by officers, much less their ethnicity or other crucial details. What official data exists suggests that the number of killings by police officers has crept upward only slowly, if at all, in recent years. Since 2009, one regular if incomplete measure, the F.B.I.’s account of justifiable homicides by police officers, ranged between 397 and 426 deaths annually before jumping to 461 in 2013, the latest reporting year. Federal experts have long acknowledged...

For months now, former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has been working on what many inside the sport say is a massive change to his game. After winning the Heisman Trophy while piloting Oregon’s famous no-huddle, quick-strike offense that left college defenses gasping for air, Mariota is learning to huddle. “That seems like a little detail but that is kind of a big thing,” Mariota said during the NFL draft process. He has been given a mock play-call sheet and is calling plays in training in an effort to placate NFL teams who want to see him operate a more traditional...

Thousands of jobs would “disappear pretty quickly” if the Export-Import Bank were to expire abruptly when its charter runs out at the end of June, House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday. The Ohio Republican has asked Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, to come up with a plan to overhaul or wind down the operations of the bank, which helps finance exports of U.S. products such as jetliners and wind turbines. […] Many conservative Republicans want to kill the bank outright, saying it finances too many questionable projects and favors some businesses over others. But the bank enjoys sweeping...

Weird things happen in Florida. But this bizarre incident at Amalie Arena can't be blamed on local residents. As the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night for a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Game 7 crowd passed a massive Lightning flag around the arena. That's when a Detroit-area woman – no doubt a Wings fan – allegedly held up a lighter in an attempt to set fire to the big banner as it passed over close to 200 people. She caused a small burn on the flag, but didn't manage to set...

Some people protest police brutality in ways that only remind us of why we need police. That’s how I feel about the Baltimore rioters who some news reports described as “protestors [SIC].” The label falsely flatters the thugs and hooligans who set fires and attacked police, merchants and journalists after the otherwise respectful funeral on Monday for Freddie Gray, 25, who died under mysterious circumstances in police custody.

Gray was arrested after he made eye contact with an officer and ran. Officers chased him down and handcuffed him behind his back. Bystander videos recorded police loading him, dragging his legs, into one of two metal compartments in the back of the van. Police earlier said the van stopped once so that officers could put Gray in "leg irons" because he had become "irate;" stopped again because the driver asked for an additional unit to check on Gray's condition, and then again to put an additional prisoner in the van's other compartment before arriving at the station. Now police...

Is there any strategy behind this apart from generating a nice pro-Israel credential for Rubio’s resume that he can show off to GOP primary voters this summer? What I mean is, is there any chance that this somehow improves — or kills — the final deal between the U.S. and Iran or at least puts Obama and the Democrats in a verrrry tough spot in defending it? Marco Rubio is refusing to back down from his fight to force Iran to recognize Israel, a stance that threatens to disrupt a delicately negotiated bipartisan bill that would allow Congress to...

“You support President Obama’s proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy?” That was the question put to George Soros on CNN some three years ago. Here was his answer: “Yes, very much… the super bubble really resulted in creating a great increase in inequality, and now we have the after effect where you have slow growth, but if you could have better distribution of income, then the average American would actually be better off.” There’s no question that “everyday Americans” (as a reminder, those are the people Hillary Clinton wants to help by running for president… well, those people...

Today's Ted Cruz news: In his speech Wednesday to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Cruz took aim at 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his infamous "47 percent" quote. Romney, who of course went on to lose the general election, equated President Barack Obama's supporters with 47 percent of the country who "believe that they are victims" and "entitled" to government assistance."Where he got clobbered was 47 percent," Cruz said Wednesday. "I think Romney is a good man who had a hard campaign, but I cannot think of a statement in all of politics that I disagree with...

The Atlanta Fed nailed US Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter. On Wednesday, we learned that the US economy grew by just 0.2%, far below the consensus forecast for 1% growth among economists. Of the 86 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, only four estimated that GDP growth would be 0.2% or lower. The Atlanta Fed had long forecast 0.2% growth before revising it down to 0.1% after last Friday's durable goods report. And just a day after the disappointing Q1 GDP release, the Atlanta Fed has news about Q2: the economy will grow by just 0.9%, according to their latest...

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is widely regarded as the best fighter of his generation and one of the best defensive fighters of all time. He enters his May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao with an undefeated record of 48-0. There's a case to be made that Pacquiao, who has knocked out more opponents, can pull an upset, but most expect Floyd to win this fight the same way he has won fights for years — making his opponent miss early, timing his counters to perfection, and eventually winning on points. There's a radical juxtaposition between Mayweather's persona out of the ring...

Weekend at Bernie's will be one hell of a party, with a Republican President in 2017. Not a golden oldie, but a cult classic in its own right, “Weekend at Bernie’s” is making a comeback. A strange modern-day slapstick escapade with little critical success, this a box office smash from the late 1980s that not only enjoyed three rereleases, but its latest uploads on YouTube. The unlikely story featured two young insurance associates, Larry Wilson and Richard Parker, who discover a massive accounting error ($2 million) and report the mistake to their boss, Bernie Lomax. In reality, the mistake was...