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Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was killed in a shootout Tuesday while traveling from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to John Day for a public meeting, sources have told The Oregonian/OregonLive. It was one day before his 56th birthday, which his wife had traveled from Arizona to celebrate. Finicum, 55, gave reporters the first tours of the occupied grounds at the refuge. He frequently represented Ammon Bundy, the occupation's most public face, at news conferences. Finicum gained the nickname "Tarp Man" from some media outlets early in the occupation after he did a series of interviews one frigid evening with a blue...

Mormon rancher LaVoy Finicum was killed during the Oregon militia standoff on January 26. He's survived by his Jeanette. Finicum was 54 years old when he died. Together he and his wife maintained a ranch in northern Arizona. The ranch was staffed and managed by the couple's 11 foster children. They were kids the couple took in, troubled kids with criminal histories. During the standoff, Finicum complained that the state had taken away the children because of his high profile role with the militia. Meanwhile on his wife, Jeanette's LinkedIn page, she lists foster care provider as her full time...

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Rising tension between Russia and the U.S., North Korea's recent nuclear test and a lack of aggressive steps to address climate change are putting the world under grave threat, scientists behind a "Doomsday Clock" that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm said Tuesday. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the minute hand on the metaphorical clock remained at three minutes-to-midnight. The clock reflects how vulnerable the world is to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies, with midnight symbolizing apocalypse. "Unless we change the way we think, humanity remains in serious...

Very simple reasons why people are drawn to Trump. Despite the media labeling him a populist, nationalist (as if nationalist is wrong), Trump is what most American Citizens want to be. Self-Actuated... to realize one's full potential. Expressing one's creativity, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, and the desire to give to society But there's a precursor to this. As explained: theory as the final level of psychological development that can be achieved when all basic and mental needs are essentially fulfilled and the "actualization" of the full personal potential takes place, Mental needs is the actuall full concept...

It's good to be in great conservative company. Steve King, Steve Deace, and Rick Perry, Dana Rohrabacher, Tom McClintock: what do they all have in common? They understand the threats--immanent and existential--posed by illegal immigration. They vote against Big Government spending sprees, but support a common defense and promote the general welfare. Indeed, they regard the United States Constitution as a charter of clear and convincing mandates, not a bunch of ephemeral suggestions which the President can push aside with a phone and pen. What else do they all have in common? They choose Ted Cruz to be the Republican...

Explanation: Why would the sky look like a giant fan? Airglow. The featured intermittent green glow appeared to rise from a lake through the arch of our Milky Way Galaxy, as captured last summer next to Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA. The unusual pattern was created by atmospheric gravity waves, ripples of alternating air pressure that can grow with height as the air thins, in this case about 90 kilometers up. Unlike auroras powered by collisions with energetic charged particles and seen at high latitudes, airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light in a chemical reaction. More typically...

Explanation: It is a candidate for the brightest and most powerful explosion ever seen -- what is it? The flaring spot of light was found by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASASSN) in June of last year and labelled ASASSN-15lh. Located about three billion light years distant, the source appears tremendously bright for anything so far away: roughly 200 times brighter than an average supernova, and temporarily 20 times brighter than all of the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy combined. Were light emitted by ASASSN-15lh at this rate in all directions at once, it would be the...

Explanation: The hydrogen in your body, present in every molecule of water, came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts. Elements like phosphorus and copper are present in our bodies in...

BURNS- OREGON STANDOFF SPOKESMAN ROBERT 'LAVOY' FINICUM WAS KILLED AND OTHER LEADERS OF THE MALHEUR NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE OCCUPATION WERE ARRESTED TUESDAY AFTER THE FBI AND STATE POLICE STOPPED VEHICLES ABOUT 20 MILES NORTH OF BURNS. AUTHORITIES DID NOT RELEASE THE NAME OF THE PERSON WHO DIED AT THE HIGHWAY STOP, BUT FINCICUM'S DAUGHTER CONFIRMED IT WAS FINICUM, 55, OF CANE BEDS, ARIZONA ONE OF THE COWBOY-HAT WEARING FACES OF THE TAKEOVER. 'DAD WAS SUCH A GOOD MAN THROUGH AND THROUGH,' SAID ARIANA FINCICUM BROWN, 26, ONE OF FINCIUM'S 11 CHILDREN. 'HE WOULD NEVER WANT TO HURT SOMEBODY, BUT HE...

WASHINGTON — National Public Radio’s (NPR) ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen released an explanation and apology Monday for a map published on the news organization’s website that erased Israel from the Middle East. On January 24, NPR’s blog Goats and Soda, which covers health and culture issues around the world, ran a piece titled, “What Are You Afraid Of In 2016? Globetrotters Share Their Fears.” The post focused on travelers’ anxieties for the coming year, and included an illustration of the Middle East and North Africa, the region of the world that travelers most perceive as being at risk. “The map portion...

Volunteers worry about 2-tier system as some newcomers face isolation in Canada. Some government-sponsored Syrian refugees staying at a budget hotel in Toronto say they feel like they're "trapped in a prison" without hope due to a lack of communication, supplies and assistance. Virginia Johnson, one of two volunteers working at the hotel, joined CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Monday to speak to host Matt Galloway....

Barack Obama is going to meet Bernie Sanders in a private meeting in the oval office. Questions are flying around about what this meeting could be about. Some think Barack Obama is letting Senator Sanders know that he will be endorsing Hillary Clinton for President, and the president will be putting pressure on Sanders to step aside. Some concessions will be offered Sanders for his efforts. Others believe that the President will be giving Sanders the heads up on up coming Hillary indictments. An there is the belief that the President will be telling Mr. Sanders that the DNC will...

Fox News publicly mocked Republican frontrunner Donald Trump Tuesday for arguing that Megyn Kelly shouldn't be allowed to moderate the next GOP debate. Trump released a video on social media early Tuesday morning in which he asked his supporters if he should bother showing up for the debate given that Kelly is scheduled to moderate. [Trump Tweet here: Should I do the #GOPdebate? https://www.instagram.com/p/BBAvs0rmheW/ 1:05 PM - 26 Jan 2016 Yes No] "Megyn Kelly is really biased against me," Trump said in the video. "She knows that. I know that. Everybody knows that. Do you really think she can be...

This story is based on true events, substantiated by court and official documents, investigative reports, and first-person accounts, some by the Clintons themselves. Throughout her political life, Hillary Clinton has skirted, usurped, obstructed and otherwise existed above the law, both literally and figuratively...until now. With your generous contribution we will bring to the screen; into the court of public opinion, Hillary Clinton: Above the Law; a film which will serve to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for her actions. From the producers of HILLARY! UNCENSORED and the authors of The Fraudulent Senator comes a film that finally calls Hillary Clinton to...

Ammon Bundy has been arrested and his brother Ryan was wounded in a shoot-out with FBI officers that left one of their militiamen dead, reports claim. It is the climax of a tense stand-off between federal agents and the activists more than three weeks after they took over a government building in Burns, Oregon, to protest two ranchers being jailed. They were driving to a community meeting with eight other activists on Tuesday afternoon when they were stopped by traffic cops, according KATU. Within minutes, shots were fired, wounding Ryan Bundy and killing an unidentified militiaman. It is not clear

PRINCETON, Ore. (INTELLIHUB) — As it turns out there’s a lot more to the story behind the Malheur Wildlife Refuge–a whole lot more–and this article is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As you may or may not know, Intellihub reported on Jan. 4, that the Hammond’s ranch and other ranch-lands surrounding the refuge sit atop a vast swath of precious metals, minerals, and uranium that’s heavily desired by not only the federal government, but foreign entities as well. However, at the time of the article’s publication the federal government’s full motive to seize the land was not yet...

Fox News has issued a statement responding to Donald Trump‘s conduct on social media, calling The Donald out for his timidity with what can only be described as trolling of the highest order. Trump has said that he might not attend Fox News’s GOP debate this Thursday because, he says, co-moderator Megyn Kelly isn’t “fair” to him. He took his grievances to Twitter and Instagram Tuesday afternoon, asking fans, “Should I do the GOP debate?” Fox News responded in a statement given to Mediaite, saying: We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to...

Two weeks ago, the US military was humiliated by the Iranians before a worldwide audience. The surrender of two US Navy vessels of war and their crews to the Iranians without firing so much as a shot and the subsequent and sickening apology by the commanding officer, speaks volumes about the current fighting spirit, training and state of readiness of the US military in 2016. The conduct of the US Navy officer in charge, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was nothing less than a complete and utter disgrace. No doubt the order to surrender...

Jeb Bush and John Kasich hired them for key campaign staff positions. John Boehner and others campaigned for them. Speaker Paul Ryan said he would vote to grant them special rights. And Nikki Haley pledged that a future Republican president “… would respect differences in modern families” while respecting religious freedom, which many see as irreconcilable objectives. Why is the GOP establishment “going gay”? There are only a few possibilities. At first glance, it seems money, prestige or protection from the loss of either must be the principal motives. It can’t possibly be the case that this many people suddenly...

DO NOT VOTE ON THIS THREAD. This is the nightly DISCUSSION thread for the ongoing 2016 Free Republic Caucus. Per caucus rules, no comments are allowed on the caucus thread itself - hence this open chat thread. If you'd like to vote in the caucus, please look in the sidebar for the link, or check downthread here. Thanks, and let 'er rip! Windy