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Donta Allen, a Baltimore man who was in police custody with Freddie Gray, denied police claims that Gray intentionally slammed his head in a police van, a local television reporter told MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Thursday. Police reportedly claimed that Allen told authorities he heard Gray "banging against the walls" of the van and believed he "was intentionally trying to injure himself." Allen, who is currently in prison and was listed as a source in a police document, refuted a police account of the night when Gray was taken into custody. He reportedly also denied giving police any information,...

This day our hearts approve with gladness what our reason can never fully comprehend, even Thine eternity, O Ancient of Days. Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? We worship Thee, the Father Everlasting, whose years shall have no end; and Thee, the love-begotten Son whose goings forth have been ever of old; we also acknowledge and adore Thee, Eternal Spirit, who before the foundation of the world didst live and love in coequal glory with the Father and the Son. Enlarge and purify the mansions of our souls that they may be fit habitations...

If a person happens to point out that Baltimore’s criminally inept government has been run exclusively by Democrats since 1967 (with one Republican mayor since 1947), and features not a single council member who isn’t a liberal, they may be called a “lazy apparatchik.” Because not everything, you see, is reducible to mere party politics. Now, if an economic renaissance sparked by the progressive policies of Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had lifted Baltimore from poverty, I imagine Democrats would be eager to claim credit for the accomplishment. Entire political debates are predicated on the effectiveness of partisan ideas. We blame presidents for...

An anonymous Baltimore police officer wants the world to know that Freddie Gray was no stranger to police and cooperated as a witness in a number of cases. The officer, calling himself simply “Mike,” told Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Friday that, as he had done before, Gray “put on a show” while being arrested in his fateful apprehension on April 12, calling the tactic an effort to keep up a front that he was not cooperating with police.

Was The Papacy Established By Christ? (Part 2) Because neither the apostolic nor the earliest post-apostolic Christians refer to a jurisdictional primacy of the bishop of Rome, Catholics often cite references to any type of primacy of the Roman church. But a non-jurisdictional primacy of the Roman church doesn't prove a jurisdictional primacy of the Roman bishop. Even Peter himself isn't referred to as having papal authority among the early post-apostolic sources. Terence Smith explains: "there is an astonishing lack of reference to Peter among ecclesiastical authors of the first half of the second century. He is barely mentioned in...

CERT Training Session 4 This session was a practical test in which the CERT Volunteers were called to the location of a simulated disaster. In contrast to previous sessions, the practical test was held outdoors in the downtown parking lot of a metropolitan convention facility. Groups from a number of different cities participated in the event as well as teams sponsored by the national FEMA organization. The event was organized by professional staff of the participating cities. The organizers had decades-long experience with Fire and Rescue operations. There were approximately 50 CERT volunteers plus 50 role-player “disaster victim” volunteers attending...

Our scientific method and traditions of free speech and open debate are under assault as never before, by intolerant inquisitors in our media, universities, government agencies, and even Congress and the Vatican. They threaten our most basic rights and freedoms, our political and scientific processes – and ultimately our continued innovation and invention, energy reliability and affordability, job creation and economic growth, and modern living standards, health and welfare. Congressman Grijalva and Senators Markey, Boxer and Whitehouse sent letters to universities, think tanks and companies, demanding detailed information on skeptics’ funding and activities – in an attempt to destroy their...

There's a new hazard in the Heartland.  The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently released a map highlighting the future risk for man-made earthquakes, and up to eight states have an increased chance to see ground shaking.  Azle, Texas, which had no recorded quakes for 150 years, felt 27 tremors from November 2013 to January 2014. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex continues to feel regular earthquakes. As Science Magazine reports, earthquakes hit areas of Kansas bordering Oklahoma 192 times in the last two years; the same counties were only hit twice in the preceding 35 years.  For the most part, the scientific...

CERT Training Session 3 As before, this session was held in a city facility and lasted for most of the day. This session went over “Unit 3” and “Unit 4” of the training materials – “Disaster Medical Operations”. The instructors reviewed information from the previous session on Triage procedures and basic First Aid. “Triage is not treatment. It is sorting”. This point was emphasized by the instructors. In a mass-casualty event the first thing the responders want to do is identify victims who are uninjured, or do not need immediate medical attention, and get them away from the incident site...

CERT Training Session 2 As before, this session was held in a city facility and lasted for most of the day. Almost all of the previous attendees from session 1 returned for session 2. There were a small number of new students as well. The morning portion went over Government responses to terrorist incidents; “Unit 8” of the training documents. This material comes straight from FEMA, and is mainly concerned with Chemical, Radiological, Biological, and Nuclear attacks. The FEMA managers seem to be obsessed with such possibilities. This is rather curious, since even the training materials mention that 80% of...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday urged Congress to stop President Obama’s nuclear arms negotiations with Iran at any cost. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/240867-palin-obama-flirting-with-the-devil-on-iran

CERT Training, Session 1 A posting on another blog suggested that “preppers” should learn about the Incident Command System used by FEMA and that this might best be done by taking some of the courses offered by that agency. See your tax dollars at work, so to speak. A CERT course was available and scheduled nearby. I decided to attend. “CERT” stands for “Community Emergency Response Teams”. This program is sponsored on a national level by FEMA and is based on volunteer organizations first created about thirty years ago by the Los Angles Fire Department. CERT makes explicit use of...

After having presented a budget to Congress that would phase out a school-choice program that allows a limited number of children to escape Washington, D.C.’s public schools, President Barack Obama delivered a weekly address today that said all Americans have a responsibility to make sure all children—not just their own—get a great education. Obama’s two daughters go to Sidwell Friends, one of the most expensive private schools in Washington, D.C. […] Obama’s address was titled: “Ensuring Every Child Gets a Great Education.” In 2003, Congress enacted a program for “opportunity scholarships” in Washington, D.C. These allowed some students in public...

statement from the Yazidi Progress Party said 300 captives were killed on Friday in the Tal Afar district near the city. Iraqi Vice-President Osama al-Nujaifi described the reported deaths as "horrific and barbaric". Thousands of members of the religious minority group were captured last year. It is not clear how they were killed, or why this has happened now, says the BBC's Middle East editor Alan Johnston. Many are reported to have been held in Mosul, the main stronghold of IS after the militants swept through large areas of northern and western Iraq, and eastern Syria in 2014.

The Finnish Defence Forces are to send letters to all 900,000 of the country's reservists at the beginning of this month, informing them what their role would be in a "crisis situation", causing a row over whether such a move is necessary. Finland, with its population of 5.2 million, has a small professional army of 16,000. Yet in the event of mobilisation, Finland could call on its former conscripts to fight. Finland's wartime military strength is 230,000. According to local media reports, the decision was announced via a television advert, telling the nation's reservists "We want to have a word...

When last we left our good friends of the New Black Panther Party, they were in Ferguson, MO attempting to kill the prosecutor in the Michael Brown case and trying to blow up the Gateway Arch. The FBI stopped those plots in their tracks, and the NBPP disappeared from the media for a few months. You just knew they couldn't keep their mouths shut about the Freddie Gray matter. And in typical Black Panther fashion, they are threatening to kill people in the "war" against blacks. UPI: The leader of the New Black Panther Party says the United States has...

The emergency calls became increasingly desperate. “When are you coming? It’s already burning and there are people inside,” a woman told the fire brigade dispatcher. Minutes later, callers started describing how people were jumping from the upper floors. “Have you lost your minds?” one man asked, his voice breaking. “There are women and children in the building!” another man yelled. In one of the most deadly episodes in Ukraine’s turbulent 2014 power transition, 48 people were killed and hundreds injured on 2 May last year in the Black Sea port of Odessa. Street battles culminated in a fatal fire at...

Aghast at the sight of the Baltimore riot, I struggled for days to find meaning in what appeared senseless. I searched history for answers, discovering that what's happening through the protests and riots of African Americans throughout the country is similar to the "Arab Spring" that occurred in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Are we on the cusp of an "African American Spring" akin the Arab Spring? Perhaps. The Arab Spring was an "awakening" of long-held yearnings for equality led mainly by young, disenfranchised citizens. It began as popular uprisings in the form of local protests, riots, social...

Three Democratic lawmakers are calling on Speaker John Boehner to denounce invitations to a far-right Dutch legislator who is set to address some Republican members of Congress this week. Reps. Keith Ellison, André Carson and Joe Crowley wrote a letter Tuesday asking the the Ohio Republican to criticize invitations from two members of the Republican conference to Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders — a controversial figure in Europe who has called Islam the “ideology of a retarded culture.” Wilders is invited to speak at a reception hosted by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and a second breakfast meeting hosted by Rep. Steve...

A swelling crowd protested the death of Freddie Gray on Wednesday with a march called "NYC Rise Up & Shut It Down for Baltimore" that began in Union Square and continued to Times Square, with many holding signs in support of the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died in the custody of police in that city. Others carried signs that called attention to racism against African-Americans and police brutality, and others still sang, "New York is Baltimore, and Baltimore's New York.