Ethics | Federalist Press | Defending Liberty

Mormon Bishop Protects Woman with a Samurai Sword

April 24, 2013 By Editor 1 Comment

A Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop helped a neighbor woman escape a Tuesday morning attack by a man who had been stalking her.

Kent Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged in front of their house. The 47-year-old father of six rushed out the door and grabbed the weapon closest to him — a 29-inch high carbon steel Samurai sword.

Hendrix, a bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it was the first time in 30 years of practicing martial arts that he’s used the sword. He didn’t swing it at the man, only showing him he had it.

He came upon what he describes as a melee between a woman and a man. His son stayed inside to call 911 while he approached the man along with other neighbors who came to help. The martial arts instructor didn’t hesitate in drawing the sword and yelling at him to get on the ground.

‘He was staring down 29 inches of razor’ – Kent Hendrix

“His eyes got as big as saucers and he kind of gasped and jumped back,” Hendrix said by phone Tuesday afternoon. “As he was coming through the fence, this is where I drew down on him and told him to get down on the ground,” Hendrix told Fox13Now.com. He continued, “he was staring down 29 inches of razor.”

The man ran down the street with the barefoot Hendrix and others in pursuit. Hendrix said he couldn’t catch the man before he fled in his car, but he picked up ChapStick that the man dropped and memorized his license plate.

“I yelled at him, `I’ve got your DNA and I’ve got your license plate: You are so done,”‘ Hendrix said.

The suspect, 37-year-old Grant Eggersten, turned himself in to police an hour later, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal. He was booked on charges of robbery, attempted burglary, trespassing and violation of a stalking injunction.

Hendrix, a pharmaceutical statistician, was one of several neighbors who came to the woman’s aid after she began yelling for help, Hoyal said.

The incident began just after 7 a.m. when the 35-year-old woman came out of her front door, Hoyal said. Eggersten was hiding behind her carport and attacked her, knocking her to the ground, Hoyal said.

He took her keys and tried to open the door into her house, Hoyal said. That’s when the woman ran down the street calling for help.

The woman did the right thing by fighting back and calling for help, Hoyal said. She suffered minor injuries.

He said he’s proud of his 14-year-old son for alerting him and quickly calling 911. He said the family is still abuzz about the events.

“That kind of thing doesn’t happen every day,” Hendrix said. “Our neighborhood is a pretty quiet place.”

A fourth-degree black belt in the Kishindo form of martial arts, Hendrix owns a collection of swords and weapons that he trains with, said his wife, Suzanne Hendrix. He has trained with the sword he used Tuesday for 20 years and keeps it by his bed.

“Some people have bats they go to,” said Hendrix. “I have my sword.”

Published April 23, 2013 / FoxNews.com /The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Liberal Bob Beckel: Hold off on Muslim Students Coming to US

April 23, 2013 By Editor 1 Comment

Liberal member of Fox’s The Five opines that Muslims are actively recruited by terrorists, so until we can get a handle on the worldwide problem.

Beckel said, “I think we really have to consider, given the fact so many people hate us, that we’re going to have to cut off Muslim students coming to this country for some period of time so that we can absorb what we’ve got and look at what we’ve got and decide whether some of the people here should be going — be sent home or sent to prison.”

Beckel wondered how many who are currently here harbor resentment toward the United States.

“They come from countries where they are, frankly, brainwashed about the United States from the beginning. Their leaders don’t like the United States.”

Liberal media are back-stepping Beckel’s comments trying to convince audiences that his is a minority view in liberal circles.

PUBLIUS

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Online Tax is Washington Money Grab That Will Hurt Small Business

April 23, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

One of the most controversial pieces of legislation currently making its way through the Senate is the Marketplace Fairness Act. In essence, it would allow states to collect taxes from online purchases even if the online store doesn’t have a physical presence in the state. Brick-and-mortar stores claim the bill levels the playing field with online retailers while opponents say it would put undue regulations on online businesses while making the tax code even more cumbersome. Guess which side the White House agrees with.

The Hill reports that the White House has formally announced its support for the Marketplace Fairness Act. The newfound endorsement was a key factor in the Senate voting in favor of the bill during a procedural vote on Monday evening.

The idea of an online sales tax is nothing new. Retail stores, represented by the National Retail Federation, have been pushing for an online sales tax bill for years after the Supreme Court ruled in Quill Corp v. North Dakota that a state could not levy sales tax against a company if it had no physical presence in the state. Numerous online retailers use this to get around sales tax, and retail stores say this gives them an unfair advantage.

The White House completely agrees. In a statement to the press on Monday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the bill would level the playing field for brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers:

“This administration has carefully considered the legislation, and our team has met with a broad array of people on the issue. And we have heard overwhelmingly from governors, mayors and the business community on the need for federal legislation to level the playing field for our businesses and address sales tax fairness.”

The Nation Retail Federation isn’t the only group pushing for the Senate to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act. Governors around the country, including Chris Christie of New Jersey and Rick Snyder of Michigan, have voiced their support for the bill. States are hurting for revenue, and they feel that a national mandate on sales tax will bring billions of revenue back to the states. Carney echoed the governors by saying that the potential tax revenue would help states fund “K-12 education, police and fire protection, access to affordable health care, and funding for roads and bridges.”

Even if the bill is able to pass the Senate during a final vote later this week, it faces plenty of opposition. The Republican-controlled House is just one of the many challenges the Marketplace Fairness Act faces as it progresses through the legislature. Obviously online businesses are coming out against it. Ebay has been especially hostile towards the legislation, and has even started recruiting its sellers to protest the bill.

The common complaint from Ebay and other businesses opposed is that the bill would put undue burdens on online retailers. The current tax system has created a symbiotic relationship between online companies and the states. The states attract online companies to set up a physical presence in a state through a number of perks while the company brings tax revenue and jobs to the state in question. A universal online sales tax destroys that relationship by making online companies collect sales taxes for states that they receive no benefit from.

The current legislation offers sales exemptions to online businesses that make less than $1 million annually. Ebay is currently lobbying Senators to add an amendment that would up this exemption to $10 million.

One company that’s already benefiting from that symbiotic relationship has come out strongly in favor of the bill though. Amazon, which has a number of distribution centers across the country, says that it favors the bill because it creates a unified national framework for tax collection.

Despite the Senate’s overwhelming support of the bill, TechDirt points out that Sen. Ron Wyden has come out strongly against it saying that it negatively impacts innovation.

Another group standing in the bill’s way is Wall Street as it argues that the legislation, as it stands, could negatively affect financial transactions. One group in particular, the Financial Services Roundtable, says that a sales tax on financial transactions would hurt just about everyone:

“A transaction tax on financial services products will hurt retail investors, retired Americans, and small businesses, effectively making it more expensive for them to invest and plan for the long-term. Without hearings, these implications and others will not be properly addressed.”

It should be noted that the Marketplace Fairness Act isn’t a done deal in the Senate. Monday’s vote was only procedural. Now the Senate will get to work on adding amendments to the bill with a final vote scheduled for Thursday or Friday.

Unless something disastrous happens, the bill will probably pass the Senate without much of a fight. A glowing endorsement from the White House has made sure of that.

During the debate in the Senate and the House, you’re likely to see the following argument – Do we even need an online sales tax bill? Is there any real reason to throw a bone to the retail businesses that implement stupid strategies like a $5 window shopping fee.

One compelling argument is that retail stores should find ways to better compete with online businesses. The retail store still has a few advantages over online businesses, but are they really capitalizing on those advantages?

At this point, it’s too early to tell exactly what kind of damage, if any, the Marketplace Fairness Act would cause. It could possibly do nothing, but some are right to fear that it would legitimately hurt the operations of online retailers.

Do you think that retail stores need a level playing field? Will the Marketplace Fairness Act negatively affect small online businesses?

Zach Walton is a Writer for WebProNews. He specializes in gaming and technology. Follow him on Twitter, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and Google+ +Zach Walton

Ricin Letter Suspect Released, Says He Was Framed

April 23, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

The Mississippi man charged with sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama was released on bond Tuesday, as the FBI searched the Mississippi home of a possible second suspect amid an apparent probe into whether the first suspect might have been framed.

Jeff Woodfin, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Oxford, Miss., confirmed the release of Paul Kevin Curtis to the Associated Press but said he didn’t know if there were any conditions on the release.

Shortly afterward, FBI searched the home of a possible second suspect. The FBI zeroed in on this individual earlier in the day, a source told Fox News.

Two sources had earlier confirmed to Fox News that the FBI was looking into the possibility that Curtis might have been framed as part of a grudge against him from someone in his neighborhood. A detention hearing for Curtis that was scheduled for Tuesday has also been postponed.

As the release was announced, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said there was another ricin “incident” at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. Federal attorneys had earlier warned that there could be another ricin letter floating around. Fox News is told the incident at Bolling involves a letter, but there is not yet confirmation that the substance is in fact ricin.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., reacting to the developments, said it’s important that law enforcement get the right suspect “off the street” if it turns out not to be Curtis.

Investigators earlier said they hadn’t found any ricin in Curtis’ house. Agent Brandon Grant said that a search of Curtis’ vehicle and house in Corinth, Miss., on Friday did not turn up ricin or ingredients for the poison. A search of Curtis’ computers has found no evidence so far that he researched making ricin.

Through his lawyer, Curtis has denied involvement in letters sent to Obama, Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, and a Lee County, Miss., judge. The letters, bearing a Memphis, Tenn., postmark, were detected beginning April 15.

Curtis’ lawyer said in court that someone may have framed Curtis, suggesting that a former co-worker with whom Curtis had an extended exchange of angry emails may have set him up.

The FBI agent filling out charging documents, though, said there was “probable cause to believe” that Curtis broke federal law by sending the ricin-laced letters — those letters, intercepted in the wake of the Boston bombing attack, caused alarm in Washington last week as law enforcement scrambled to respond.

Curtis, a sometime-Elvis impersonator who appeared in a Mississippi federal court Thursday and denied wrongdoing, has penned numerous rants accusing the government of hounding him.

According to the charging documents, he posted a photo on his Facebook page April 12 with the quote: “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”

The ricin-laced letters contained the same quote.

The documents also said the FBI were told he has been investigated on several occasions since 2007.

“In 2007, Curtis’ ex-wife reported to the Booneville Police Department that CURTIS was extremely delusional, anti-government, and felt the government was spying on him with drones,” the documents said.

He was charged last Thursday. The charged carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Fox News’ Mike Levine and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Obama Phones Cost $2.2 billion

April 23, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

What started out as an effort by President Reagan to help poor people in rural areas have a phone in cases of emergency has mushroomed into what critics suspect is a new welfare program.

“The cost has gone from $143 million a few years ago to $2.2 billion today,” Republican Louisiana Sen. David Vitter said, noting that today’s cost is 15 times what it was.

The cost of the program increased dramatically after cellphones were added in 2008. Only low-income people on welfare and food stamps legally qualify, but some lawmakers say the program is out of control.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, was incensed when she got an offer of a free phone.

“I got solicitation for a free phone at my apartment, which is certainly not a building where you’re going to have people who are qualified for free phones. … There is clearly money being wasted here.”

And Vitter adds, “The FCC, itself, said in a recent year there were 270,000 beneficiaries that had more than one of these subsidized cellphones. That’s completely against the law right there.”

Funded by a small tax on all phone bills, the program has exploded — with companies advertising free phones and offering 250 minutes.

Harold Feld of a group called Public Knowledge notes, “you have a lot of these prepaid-phone, no-contract options that are obviously very popular.”

The FCC told lawmakers the top five companies can’t verify the eligibility of 41 percent of those who get phones.

“I hear from law enforcement that these phones are often found at crime scenes and are used in drug deals,” Republican Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas said. “Why? It’s because you can’t trace them.”

“Just handing out phones willy nilly and allowing them to be sold on the black market,” Sen. McCaskill said. “This isn’t the way to do it, and we need to stop.”

Some recipients famously called them “Obama phones,” with one boasting to the media during the election that minorities should support the president precisely because he gave them free cellphones.

That is not true, and many are appalled by the abuse in the program. One supporter, however, argues cellphones are helpful because they’re not just for emergencies:

“It’s how we find jobs, it’s how we now participate in all the activities in the economy,” Feld said.

But McCaskill says those looking for work could simply check out a phone from the unemployment office or a shelter.

With so much abuse in the current program, she is now concerned about some new proposals: “What’s really worrisome to me is now the FCC wants to expand to this program into broadband. That’s a very bad idea, I think.”

She says such a waste of money makes taxpayers think government just isn’t paying attention. And she says the current program is so far out of control, we should simply scrap it and start over, not expand it.

By Jim Angle / Published April 22, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Dems Trying to Tax Online Shoppers

April 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

States could force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes under a bill that overwhelmingly passed a test vote in the Senate Monday.

Under current law, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state. As a result, many online sales are essentially tax-free, giving Internet retailers a big advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.

The bill would allow states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where shoppers live.

The Senate voted 74 to 20 to begin debating the bill. If that level of support continues, the Senate could pass the bill as early as this week.

Supporters say the bill is about fairness for businesses and lost revenue for states. Opponents say it would impose complicated regulations on retailers and doesn’t have enough protections for small businesses. Businesses with less than $1 million a year in online sales would be exempt.

“I believe it is important to level the playing field for all retailers,” said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the bill’s main sponsor. “We should not be subsidizing some taxpayers at the expense of others.”

In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales tax when they file their state income tax returns. However, states complain that few people comply.

“I do know about three people that comply with that,” Enzi said.

President Barack Obama supports the bill, but its fate is uncertain in the House, where some Republicans regard it as a tax increase. Heritage Action for America, the activist arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, opposes the bill and will count the vote in its legislative scorecard.

Many of the nation’s governors — Republicans and Democrats — have been lobbying the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales, said Dan Crippen, executive director of the National Governors Association. Those efforts intensified when state tax revenues took hit from the recession and the slow economic recovery.

“It’s a matter of equity for businesses,” Crippen said. “It’s a matter of revenue for states.”

The bill pits brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart against online services such as eBay. The National Retail federation supports it. And Amazon.com, which initially fought efforts in some states to make it collect sales taxes, supports it, too.

“Amazon.com has long supported a simplified nationwide approach that is evenhandedly applied and applicable to all but the smallest volume sellers,” Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global public policy said in a recent letter to senators.

On the other side, eBay has been rallying customers to oppose the bill.

“I hope you agree that imposing unnecessary tax burdens on small online businesses is a bad idea,” eBay president and CEO John Donahoe said in a letter to customers. “Join us in letting your Members of Congress know they should protect small online businesses, not potentially put them out of business.”

The bill is also opposed by senators from states that have no sales tax, including Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.

“Supporters of this online sales tax bill are trying to muscle it through before senators find out how disastrous it would be for businesses in their states,” Ayotte said. “I will fight this power grab every step of the way to protect small online businesses in New Hampshire and across the nation.”

Baucus said the bill would require relatively small Internet retailers to comply with sales tax laws in thousands of jurisdictions.

“This legislation doesn’t help businesses expand and grow and hire more employees,” Baucus said. “Instead, it forces small businesses to hire expensive lawyers and accountants to deal with the burdensome paperwork and added complexity of tax rules and filings across multiple states.”

But Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the bill requires participating states to make it relatively easy for Internet retailers to comply. States must provide free computer software to help retailers calculate sales taxes, based on where shoppers live. States must also establish a single entity to receive Internet sales tax revenue, so retailers don’t have to send them to individual counties or cities.

“We’re way beyond the quilt pen and leger days,” Durbin said. “Thanks to computers and thanks to software it is not that complex.”

Published April 22, 2013 / Associated Press

Trial Begins for Dem Officials in Obama-Clinton Ballot Petition Fraud

April 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

The trial is underway for a former Democratic official and a Board of Elections worker who are accused of being part of a plot that has raised questions over whether President Obama’s campaign — when he was a candidate in 2008 — submitted enough legitimate signatures to have legally qualified for the presidential primary ballot.

The two face charges of orchestrating an illegal scheme to fake the petitions that enabled then-candidates Obama, and Hillary Clinton, to qualify for the race in Indiana.

Former longtime St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chairman Butch Morgan Jr. faces multiple felony conspiracy counts to commit petition fraud, and former county Board of Elections worker Dustin Blythe is charged with nine felony forgery counts and one felony count of falsely making a petition of nomination. The proceedings began Monday in South Bend.

Morgan is accused of being the mastermind behind the plot, by allegedly ordering Democratic officials and workers to fake the names and signatures that Obama and Clinton needed to qualify for the presidential race. Blythe, then a Board of Elections employee and Democratic Party volunteer, has been accused of carrying out those orders by forging signatures on Obama’s petitions.

Two former Board of Elections officials have already pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme and could testify against Morgan and Blythe.

Former board worker Beverly Shelton, who allegedly was assigned the task of forging the petitions for Hillary Clinton, pleaded guilty in March to charges of forgery and falsely making a petition. The board’s former Democratic head of voter registration, Pam Brunette, pleaded guilty in April to felony forgery, official misconduct, and falsifying a petition.

The alleged scheme was hatched in January of 2008, according to affidavits from investigators who cite former Board of Registration worker Lucas Burkett, who told them he was in on the plan at first, but then became uneasy and quit. He waited three years before telling authorities about it, but if revelations about any forgeries were raised during the election, the petitions could have been challenged during the contest. Any candidate who did not qualify with enough legitimate signatures at the time could have been bounced from the ballot.

The Indiana trial has raised questions about whether in 2008, candidate Obama actually submitted enough legitimate signatures to have legally qualified.

Under state law, presidential candidates need to qualify for the primary ballots with 500 signatures from each of the state’s nine congressional districts. Indiana election officials say that in St. Joseph County, which is the 2nd Congressional District, the Obama campaign qualified with 534 signatures; Clinton’s camp had 704.

Prosecutors say that in Obama’s case, nine of the petition pages were apparently forged. Each petition contains up to 10 names, making a possible total of 90 names, which, if faked, could have brought the Obama total below the legal limit required to qualify. Prosecutors say 13 Clinton petitions were apparently forged, meaning up to 130 possibly fake signatures. Even if 130 signatures had been challenged, it would have still left Clinton with enough signatures to meet the 500-person threshold.

An Indiana State Police investigator said in court papers that the agency examined the suspect Obama petitions and “selected names at random from each of the petition pages and contacted those people directly. We found at least one person (and often multiple people) from each page who confirmed that they had not signed” petitions “or given consent for their name and/or signature to appear.” The case was charged citing 20 forgeries — not the total number of possible fake entries — because that was considered a sufficient amount to prosecute.

Numerous voters told Fox News that they never signed the petitions.

“That’s not my signature,” Charity Rorie, a mother of four, told Fox News when showed the Obama petition with her name and signature. She said it “absolutely” was a fake.

Charity told Fox News that her husband’s entry was also a forgery, and that they have not been contacted by investigators or any authorities looking into the scandal.

“It’s scary, it’s shocking. It definitely is illegal. A lot of people have already lost faith in politics and the whole realm of politics, so that just solidifies our worries and concerns.”

Robert Hunter, Jr. said his name was faked, too.

“I did not sign for Barack Obama,” he told us. As he examined the Obama petition in his hands, Hunter pointed out that “I always put ‘Junior’ after my name, every time … there’s no ‘Junior’ there.”

Even a former Democratic Governor of Indiana, Joe Kernan, told Fox News that his name was forged.

The allegations were first uncovered by Indiana native and Yale University senior Ryan Nees, who wrote about the revelations for the political newsletter, Howey Politics Indiana.

“What’s worrisome about this scheme is that it wasn’t a single bad actor going rogue. Rather, four people were charged as co-conspirators, and two of the four have already pleaded guilty,” Nees told Fox News.

Nees believes that had the petitions been challenged during the presidential election, “it’s unlikely either candidate would have qualified for the ballot.”

He said the fraud was clearly evident, “because page after page of signatures are all in the same handwriting.” He noted that no one raised any red flags “because election workers in charge of verifying their validity were the same people faking the signatures.”

Both Morgan and Blythe have pleaded not guilty, and when approached by Fox News in 2011, Blythe refused to talk about the case.

Morgan’s attorney declined our request for an interview, and Blythe’s attorney has not responded to our efforts for comment.

The petition process is vital to candidates’ campaigns.

In the 2012 presidential race, Republican candidate Newt Gingrich was tripped up by that process in Virginia. He failed to qualify for the GOP primary ballot in that state, because authorities said hundreds of signatures on his campaign’s petitions were faked. A Gingrich campaign worker has pleaded guilty, and another still faces charges.

Petition fraud also cost Michigan Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter his public office. McCotter, who also ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, has accused former campaign workers of intentionally faking his congressional primary race petition signatures. The result was that McCotter did not submit the legal number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, and that failure forced him to resign his congressional seat last July. While McCotter was not implicated in any wrongdoing, two former campaign aides pleaded no contest to criminal charges, and one pleaded guilty.

By Eric Shawn / Published April 22, 2013 / Meredith Amor contributed to this report.

Wife of Dead Islamic Terrorist ‘Brainwashed’

April 22, 2013 By Editor 1 Comment

Federal investigators want to speak with the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a Muslim convert and mother of their 3-year-old daughter, according to the Rhode Island woman’s attorney.Investigators went to the suburban Rhode Island home of Tsarnaev’s in-laws Sunday evening, where Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, 24, has been staying. Lawyer Amato DeLuca told The Associated Press that she did not speak with them and they are discussing how to proceed.

“I spoke to them, and that’s all I can say right now,” DeLuca said. “We’re deciding what we want to do and how we want to approach this.”

DeLuca also provided new details on Tsarnaev’s movements in the days following the bombings, saying the last day he was alive that “he was home” when Russell left for work. When asked whether anything seemed amiss to his wife following the bombings, DeLuca replied: “Not as far as I know.” He said she learned her husband was a suspect in the bombings by seeing it on television and did not elaborate.

“I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed. She was not the same person at all.”- Former classmate of Katherine Russell

DeLuca said Russell did not suspect her husband of anything, and that there was no reason for her to have suspected him. He said she had been working 70 to 80 hours, seven days a week as a home health care aide. While she was at work, Tsarneav, 26, cared for their toddler daughter, DeLuca said.

“When this allegedly was going on, she was working, and had been working all week to support her family,” DeLuca told The Associated Press, adding that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was off at college and she saw him “not at all” at the apartment they shared with her mother-in-law.

All-American girl drops out and converts to Islam for terrorist husband

On Friday, the woman’s mother handed reporters a statement referring to the “horrible tragedy” that occurred at the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people and injuring 176 others.

“Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child,” the statement read. “We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriots’ Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlane [sic] Tsarnaev. Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted. Please respect our family’s privacy in this difficult time.”

Russell, according to reports, was “totally transformed” by Tsarnaev after meeting him. By age 21, she had married him and borne his daughter, Zahara, who is now 3 years old, the Daily Mail reports. She also converted to Islam and underwent a change so profound that few friends truly understood the sizable shift.

“I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed,” one former classmate told the newspaper. “She was not the same person at all.”

Another former classmate said the “All-American” girl had been “brainwashed” by her super-religious husband.

“Nobody understands what happened to her,” she told the newspaper of Russell. “None of us would have dreamed that she would marry so young or drop out of college and have a baby or convert or be part of any of what’s happened … She’s just not the same person at all.”

In 2004, Katherine Russell began studying at North Kingstown High School, where she was a member of the dance team and was recognized for a drawing of a cat in 11th grade. She also competed with fellow classmates during the school’s class color day.

“The thing that’s so shocking is that there was nothing at all that made Katherine different,” another classmate told the Daily Mail. “Her parents are nice people, her sisters are great girls. But she met this guy, I guess, and everything changed.”

Russell later met Tsarnaev while she was a student at Boston’s Suffolk University. Soon thereafter, she converted and her priorities seemingly changed, as she left the school in 2010 without graduating. Months earlier, in July 2009, Tsarnaev was arrested for allegedly assaulting Russell, who described Tsarnaev to authorities as a “very nice man,” the newspaper reports.

Russell, in her high school yearbook, provided a quotation that would seemingly coincide with the extremist views of her late husband.

“Don’t take anything for granted,” Russell wrote, before quoting a line from David Bowie’s Quicksand. “Don’t believe in yourself, don’t deceive with belief … Knowledge comes from death’s release.”

Published April 22, 2013 / FoxNews.com /The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Wants Administration’s Intelligence on Tamerlan Tsarnaev

April 21, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

A Republican-led House committee is asking the Obama administration for all information on the Boston bombing suspect once suspected of engaging in terrorist activities, saying the tragedy marks another intelligence failure and raises “serious questions about the efficacy of the federal counter-terrorism efforts.”

The letter was sent Saturday by the House Committee on Homeland Security to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

In the letter, Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul says bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev appears to be the fifth person since 9/11 to participate in a terror attack, despite being under FBI investigation.

McCaul, R-Texas, said the incidents “raise the most serious questions about the efficacy of the federal counter terrorism efforts.”

Tsarnaev, 26, was killed early Friday morning in a police shootout. His 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured by police that night and remains in the hospital.

The older Tsarnaev was interviewed by the FBI in 2011 before a six-month overseas trip, including time in Russia. In addition, he posted jihadist material on his social media site.

On Saturday, two U.S. law enforcement officials said the FBI was acting on information from the Russian intelligence security service that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a follower of radical Islam.

“Yet Tsarnaev remained at liberty in this country to conduct the Boston attack, and it took days to publicly identify him as a suspect,” wrote McCaul, who wants the information by Friday.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a committee member who also signed the letter, asked on “Fox News Sunday”: “Why didn’t the FBI go back and look at this?”

Still, the agency got some bipartisan support Sunday for its intelligence work and finding the bombing suspects.

“The FBI did its due diligence” Rep. Mike Rogers said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Rogers, R-Mich., a former FBI agent, also suggested Tsarnaev could have made overseas trips under an alias.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin told NBC the FBI and related agencies need more resources.

“We need to invest in the resources necessary for law enforcement,” said Durbin, who acknowledges the Boston attacks might be a call for a review of U.S. intelligence efforts.

Two bombs place Monday near the Boston Marathon finish line killed three people and injured more than 180 others.

McCaul identified the others in the terrorist category as Anwar al Awlaki, David Headley, Carlos Bledsoe and Nidal Hasan.

He said Faruq Abdulmutallab also attempted a terror attack despite being identified to the Central Intelligence Agency as a potential terrorist. The so-called “underwear bomber” attempted to blow up a U.S. airliner on Dec. 25, 2009.

Al Awlaki was an American-born Al Qaeda member killed in a 2011 U.S. drone attack in Yemen. Headley is a Pakistani-American who pleaded guilty in 2010 to participating in terror attacks including the 2008 Mumbai, India, attacks that killed 164 people.

Bledsoe was born in Tennessee and converted to radical Islam before a 2009 attack on a military recruiting station in which he fatally shot an Army private.

Hasan, born in Virginia, is the Army officer accused of fatally shooting 13 people in 2009 at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas.

Published April 21, 2013 / FoxNews.com /The Associated Press contributed to this report.

8th Grader Arrested, Suspended for Wearing NRA T-Shirt

April 21, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

An eighth-grade student in West Virginia was reportedly arrested and suspended last week after getting into an argument with his teacher about a National Rifle Association T-shirt he wore to school.

WOWK-TV reports that Jared Marcum faces charges of obstruction and disturbing the education process for refusing to change the shirt, which shows a rifle and the slogan, “protect your right.”

Jared told the station the he was punished by officials at Logan Middle School after arguing about the shirt with his teacher, who reportedly objected to the image of the gun on the shirt.

“What they’re doing is trying to take away my rights, my freedom of speech and my Second Amendment,” Jared told the station.

Jared’s father, Allen Lardieri, told WOWK-TV he is upset his son was briefly jailed for something he believes was blown out of proportion.

“I don’t see how anybody would have an issue with a hunting rifle and NRA put on a T-shirt, especially when policy doesn’t forbid it,” Lardieri told the station.

A Logan County School District official refused a request for comment from WOWK-TV, but police in Logan confirmed Jared’s arrest last Thursday.

On the first day of Jared’s suspension, some of his friends reportedly wore shirts displaying images of firearms and at least one was told by an educator to change their attire, according to the report.

Benjamin White, an attorney handling Jared’s case, told the station he is working on getting the charges dropped and plans to file a federal or civil lawsuit.

Published April 21, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Abortion Clinic Atrocities Trial

April 20, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

The trial of the abortion doctor that the media are trying to keep away from the public

Five weeks into the murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a woman who was trained only as a medical assistant testified that she administered anesthesia to patients when she worked with Gosnell at his Women’s Medical Society clinic in West Philadelphia.

The assistant, Latosha Lewis, also testified Wednesday that she would sometimes cut the dosages of anesthesia and painkillers after seeing patients she feared would not wake up from sedation.

Lewis, 31, said that she stopped assisting with abortions in 2008, but continued to give out medications in her role as clerk.

Gosnell is accused of the 2009 overdose death of a female patient and the deaths of seven babies, who were allegedly born alive. His lawyer, Jack McMahon, says there were no live births at the clinic and argues the woman died of unforeseen complications.

Gosnell could face the death penalty, if he is convicted, on seven counts of first-degree murder.

The prosecutors may rest their case Thursday.

The charges against Gosnell, 72, include the death of Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old Virginia woman who died in 2009 after seeking an abortion at Gosnell’s clinic. On Tuesday, Mongar’s daughter, Yashoda Gurung, testified about the painkiller and labor-inducing drugs her mother was administered while awaiting Gosnell to arrive and perform a second-trimester abortion.

Gurung, 24, said through a Nepalese interpreter that she had tried to see her mother before she was moved into the procedure room on Nov. 19, 2009.

“My mom was sleeping,” Gurung told jurors. “That’s what I thought. I tried to wake her up and the lady said, ‘Leave her alone.’”

Prosecutors allege Gosnell’s untrained, unlicensed staff gave Mongar a fatal combination of oral and intravenous drugs and failed to properly monitor her vital signs. She went into cardiac arrest and a coma and died the following day. McMahon has countered that Mongar, who was 19 weeks pregnant at the time, had unreported respiratory damage and died of complications.

Damber Ghalley, Mongar’s brother, testified Tuesday he was told Mongar’s situation was “bad” when she arrived for the procedure. Ghalley said she spoke to Gosnell as she was being led to an ambulance.

Abortion doctor on trial for murdering live birth babies during partial birth abortions

“He said, ‘The procedure was done,’” he told jurors. “Your sister’s heart stopped.”

Gosnell faces a third-degree murder charge in Mongar’s death.

Gosnell’s co-defendant is also calling witnesses Thursday.

Eileen O’Neill, an unlicensed doctor, of Phoenixville, is charged with racketeering and theft for allegedly billing as a doctor.

On Thursday, a prosecution witness testified that she waited hours for “the doctor” to show at the clinic, then received two pills from O’Neill for a non-surgical abortion.

The woman said on cross-examination that she did not know if O’Neill consulted with a doctor that day.

Published April 18, 2013 / FoxNews.com /The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Boston Marathon Suspects Islamic Terrorists, Not Chechen Separatists

April 20, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: Terror expert Steve Emerson spoke with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly Friday about suspects’ possible motives in the Boston Marathon terror attacks. The following is a summary of the information he shared with her:

Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism reviewed videos posted on the YouTube channels of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev.

Both brothers had YouTube channels in the United States and in Russia. Emerson’s group reviewed about half of the 22 videos posted on the U.S. channel. The videos were viewed by a small number of people. One video received 5,000 views, another just 1,000 views.

Based on the content of the videos, which feature Bin Laden, calls to kill Americans, Jews, Christians and exhortations to establish a world-wide caliphate, it is clear that these message are not directed just at Chechens. “They are directed primarily against all non-Muslims and are very similar to the Al Qaeda videos we’ve seen in years past.”

The two brothers clearly want “to express a message that they totally sympathize with the jihadist cause. These were jihadists, they were not just Chechen separatists.”

Steven Emerson is executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism and the executive producer of a new documentary about the Muslim Brotherhood in America “Jihad in America: the Grand Deception.”

By Steven Emerson / Published April 19, 2013

Grisly Details At Abortion Doctor Murder Trial

April 20, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

The Philadelphia abortion doctor accused of killing a patient and several babies failed to take basic precautions, according to an industry colleague who testified Monday as the trial of Kermit Gosnell entered its fifth week.

Dr. Charles Benjamin said he never performs abortions on women pregnant for more than 21 weeks, three weeks under the limit imposed by law in Pennsylvania. But Gosnell, who is charged with murder, is accused of terminating pregnancies much later, even causing the deaths of seven babies who were born alive. National interest in the trial, which threatens to expose the horror of the illegal abortion mills, continued to build Monday, with President Obama’s spokesman saying the commander in chief is aware of the stomach-turning allegations in the trial.

Gosnell, 72, was arrested two years ago, and faces the death penalty. Witnesses have told the court of infants being decapitated and baby feet being stored in jars at the clinic. Eight former workers at the clinic have been charged, and three have pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Defense lawyer Jack McMahon has maintained that no babies were born alive.

Several patients and former employees have testified about conditions at Gosnell’s clinic, some describing doing ultrasounds, giving intravenous drugs and helping with abortions despite having no training.

Prosecutors said Gosnell made millions over three decades by performing illegal, late-term abortions. They allegedly found about $250,000 in cash at his home in a low-income section of Philadelphia after a 2010 raid of his clinic.

by FoxNews.com

Multiple Explosions Heard as Boston Police Surround Home In Bombing Manhunt

April 19, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Multiple explosions echoed from inside a house as police in Boston massed inside a perimeter set up to contain the remaining suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing.

The situation was fluid, and the latest development came in the city’s Watertown section after a chaotic night of mayhem that included the murder of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer and a shootout with police, authorities said early Friday.

Police believe the two suspects from Monday’s terror attack are brothers, possibly from Chechnya, according to sources who spoke to Fox News. The man on the loose was identified as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass. They are believed to have been here for ‘several years,’ sources said.

Schools are closed, train and bus service is suspended and police were telling residents of neighborhoods including Cambridge, Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Arlington and Belmont to stay indoors. Police have formed a wide perimeter and believe the suspect is on foot, armed and dangerous, inside.

“Suspect No. One is dead, Suspect Two is on the run,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said at a Friday morning press conference. “There is a massive manhunt underway.”

The dead suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was shot multiple times in a gunfight with police Thursday night and pronounced dead at a hospital.

The suspects apparently surfaced just hours after the FBI released their imaged late Thursday afternoon, shooting the police officer, robbing a convenience store, carjacking a man who later escaped and engaging in a wild shootout with Boston police, in which they hurled explosives from their stolen car.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said on Twitter that one of the two suspects was killed and that the at-large suspect, labeled by the FBI as “suspect two” in the marathon bombing, was “armed and dangerous.”

Authorities urged residents in Watertown, Newton, Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge and the Allston-Brighton neighborhoods of Boston to stay indoors. All mass transit was shut down.

“We believe this to be a terrorist,” Davis said in a press conference. “We believe this to be a man who’s come here to kill people. We need to get him in custody.”

The Middlesex district attorney said the two men are suspected of killing the MIT police officer on campus late Thursday, then stealing a car at gunpoint and later releasing its driver unharmed. Hours earlier, police had released photos of the marathon bombing suspects and asked for the public’s help finding them.

The suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown, according to the district attorney’s news release. The suspects and police exchanged gunfire, and one of the suspects was critically injured and later died while the other escaped.

During the pursuit, a MBTA transit police officer was seriously injured and transported to the hospital, the news release states. He was identified as Richard H. Donahue Jr., 33, and was being treated at Mt. Auburn Hospital..

Hours earlier, police had released photos of the marathon bombing suspects and asked for the public’s help finding them. A new photo of the suspect on the loose was released later showing him in a grey hoodie sweatshirt. It was taken at a 7-Eleven in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston.

A federal law enforcement official told Fox News they are looking into whether the bombing suspects may have been from overseas and had overseas military training.

Dozens of officers and National Guard members descended on Watertown shortly after the shooting outside a building on MIT’s campus in Cambridge, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities were calling for somebody to get on the ground and put their hands up and a loud thud was heard after someone shouted “fire in the hole,” the news agency reported.

Witnesses told The Associated Press they heard multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1 a.m. Friday. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighborhood and a helicopter circled overhead.

State police spokesman David Procopio told news agency, “The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers.”

Doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston where a suspect in the marathon bombings was taken and later died said they treated a man with a possible blast injury and multiple gunshot wounds. They wouldn’t say if the patient they treated, who came in with police, was the suspect in the black hat from marathon surveillance footage.

Earlier Friday, Cambridge police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said the MIT officer was responding to a report of a disturbance when he was shot multiple times late Thursday. He later died at a hospital. His name was not immediately released.

Procopio said the shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. outside an MIT building. The area was cordoned off and surrounded by responding law enforcement agencies, according to a posting on the university’s website.

The shooting came little more than three days after the twin bombings on the Boston Marathon that killed three people, wounded more than 180 others and led to an increase in security across the city.

Click here for more from MyFoxBoston.com.

Click here for more from WCVB.com.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, Jana Winter, Mike Tobin, Mike Levine, Griff Jenkins and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Top Dem Sen. Baucus Warns of ‘Train Wreck’ for Obamacare

April 18, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Obama’s health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it’s headed for a “train wreck.”

“I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told Obama’s health care chief during a routine budget hearing that suddenly turned tense.

Baucus is the first top Democrat to publicly voice fears about the rollout of the new health care law, designed to bring coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans through a mix of government programs and tax credits for private insurance that start next year.

The six-term Democrat is also expected to face a tough re-election in 2014. Baucus is still trying to recover from approval ratings that nosedived amid displeasure with the health care law in his home state.

Normally low-key and supportive, Baucus challenged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at Wednesday’s hearing.

He said he’s “very concerned” that new health insurance marketplaces for consumers and small businesses will not open on time in every state, and that if they do, they might just flop because residents don’t have the information they need to make choices.

“The administration’s public information campaign on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act deserves a failing grade,” he told Sebelius. “You need to fix this.”

Responding to Baucus, Sebelius pointedly noted that Republicans in Congress last year blocked funding for carrying out the health care law, and she had to resort to raiding other departmental funds that were legally available to her.

The administration is asking for $1.5 billion in next year’s budget, and Republicans don’t seem willing to grant that either.

“I don’t know what he’s looking at,” Sebelius told reporters following her out of the room after Baucus adjourned the hearing. “But we are on track to fully implement marketplaces in Jan. 2014, and to be open for open enrollment.”

That open-enrollment launch is only months away, Oct. 1. It’s when millions of middle-class consumers who don’t get coverage through their jobs will be able to start shopping for a private plan in the new marketplaces, or exchanges. They’ll also be able to find out if they qualify for tax credits that will lower their premiums. At the same time, low-income people will be steered to government programs, mainly an expanded version of Medicaid.

But half the states, most of them Republican-led, have refused to cooperate in setting up the infrastructure of Obama’s law. Others, like Montana, are politically divided. The overhaul law provided that the federal government would step in and run the new markets if a state failed to do so. Envisioned as a fallback, federal control now looks like it will be the norm in about half the country, straining the resources of the department Sebelius leads.

Published April 18, 2013 / Associated Press

IRS Agents Caught Stealing – From You

April 18, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Twenty-four current and former Internal Revenue Service employees have been charged with stealing government benefits, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The IRS employees were indicted on charges that they illegally received more than $250,000 in benefits including unemployment insurance payments, food stamps, welfare, and housing vouchers, the U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis said in a news release.

Prosecutors say 13 of the IRS employees face federal charges of lying about being unemployed while applying for or recertifying their government benefits. They each face up to five years in prison if convicted of making false statements to receive the benefits.

Eleven others face state charges of theft of property over $1,000, a felony that can carry a sentence of probation up to 12 years in prison if they are convicted.

“While these IRS employees were supposed to be serving the public, they were instead brazenly stealing from law-abiding American taxpayers,” U.S. Attorney Edward Stanton said in a statement

Those charged range in ages from 28 to 64. They include residents of Memphis, Jackson, Tenn., and Southaven, Miss.

“The taxes that we pay are supposed to support our nation and assist individuals in need, not free-loaders who are gaming the system,” said Amy Weirich, the district attorney for Shelby County.

Prosecutors scheduled, then canceled, a news conference to announce the indictments. U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Rodney King said the cancellation was due to “unforeseen events,” without elaborating.

King would not say whether the cancellation was related to the investigation into two letters sent to President Barack Obama and a Mississippi senator that indicated they contained poisonous ricin.

The FBI says the letters were postmarked Memphis.

Published April 18, 2013 / Associated Press

Background Check Plan Fails in Senate, Obama Rips Gun Owners

April 18, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

The Senate on Wednesday defeated a vital background check amendment seen as the linchpin to Democrats’ gun control bill, dealing a major setback to President Obama — who lashed out at opponents in unusually blunt terms during remarks from the Rose Garden.

“All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” Obama said, accusing the gun lobby of lying about the bill.

The vote was 54-46, with supporters falling six votes short of the required 60-vote threshold.

The failure of the background check proposal authored by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., now imperils the entire legislation. The proposal would have expanded background checks to gun shows and Internet sales while exempting personal transactions. The amendment was aimed at winning over reluctant conservatives, who were opposed to the more stringent background check plan in the existing bill.

It’s unclear where supporters will go from here. They could try to vote again, or craft an alternative piece of legislation.

Obama vowed to press on, saying the vote was “just round one,” while decrying those he claimed “caved” to political pressure.

“The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill,” Obama said. He said the claims “upset” some gun owners who in turn “intimidated” senators.

“There were no coherent arguments as to why we couldn’t do this. It came down to politics,” he said.

In a statement, Manchin said that while he is disappointed in the outcome of today’s vote, that “this is not the end of the debate.”

Opponents, which included a few Democrats, voiced concern that the proposal would infringe on Second Amendment rights by imposing a burden on those buying and selling guns. They claimed the proposed system would not have prevented Newtown, and would not stop criminals. They also voiced concern about the possibility that the expanded system could lead to a gun registry, though the amendment language prohibits this.

The NRA said in a statement that the amendment “would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution.”

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats hammered Republicans for not voting in support and vowed to press forward.

“I want everyone to understand this is just the beginning, not the end,” said Reid. “Today, the brand of the Republican Party has become more out of step, more extreme. And that’s saying something.”

Four Republicans voted for the amendment, but five Democrats voted against it. One of those Democrats was Reid — who only switched his vote to oppose it because doing so allows Democrats to call up the measure again. Other Democrats who voted against the measure for non-procedural reasons were Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.

The Obama administration has made the package, written in the wake of the Newtown school mass shooting, a top priority and along with its allies had applied heavy pressure to wavering lawmakers. Vice President Biden presided over the vote Wednesday.

Lawmakers proceeded to vote on a string of other amendments Wednesday, including a proposed ban on assault weapons and a ban on high-capacity magazines, which were defeated as well.

In the run-up to Wednesday’s vote, Democratic leaders gave ever-changing assessments of where support stood.

Biden said Tuesday that Democrats would get the 60 votes, but then said later in the day that it could come down to one or two senators.

Manchin acknowledged early Wednesday that the bill was having trouble, but then released a statement saying he remained “optimistic and hopeful.”

Opponents needed just 41 of the Senate’s 100 votes to derail the Manchin-Toomey background check plan.

Thirty-one senators voted last week to completely block debate on overall gun legislation. Since last week, enough lawmakers who voted to allow debate switched to oppose Manchin-Toomey, in turn defeating the amendment.

“I believe very strongly that our current background check system needs strengthening and improving, particularly in areas that could keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill. At the same time, I cannot support legislation that infringes upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., one of those opposed, said in a statement.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, echoed Heller in a statement released following the vote saying “Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook, we all wanted to find answers that would reduce crime and prevent the next senseless act of violence. Unfortunately, the Senate did not consider any proposals that would achieve these objectives.”

Lee also said he agreed with the president that the debate was not over and hoped that they could “discuss the problems that lead to these violent acts” and work on solutions that actually address them.

Only four Republican senators committed to voting for the amendment ahead of time. The last was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who announced his support Wednesday afternoon. The other three were Toomey, Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

The Senate gun bill would extend background checks to nearly all gun purchases, toughen penalties against illegal gun trafficking and add small sums to school safety programs.

Perhaps helping explain Democrats’ problems, an AP-GfK poll this month showed that 49 percent of Americans support stricter gun laws. That was down from 58 percent who said so in January — a month after the December killings of 20 children and six aides at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school propelled gun violence into a national issue. Family members of Newtown victims, some tearing up after the vote, also criticized the Senate for the amendment’s failure Wednesday.

The Senate held eight other votes Wednesday besides the one on background checks, all of them amendments to the broad gun control measure.

They included Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, which are expected to lose; a Republican proposal requiring states to honor other states’ permits allowing concealed weapons, which faces a close vote; and a GOP substitute for the overall gun measure. The concealed weapons amendment, seen by advocates as protecting gun rights, was vehemently opposed by gun control groups, who say it would allow more guns into states with stricter firearms laws.

The other amendments were defeated.

The votes were coming a day after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, badly injured in a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., and her husband, Mark Kelly, tried galvanizing gun control support by visiting Capitol Hill and attending a private lunch with Democratic senators. Reid, D-Nev., called the lunch — senators said it included emotional speeches from lawmakers — “as moving as any” he has attended.

Published April 17, 2013 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Terrorism at Boston Marathon

April 16, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

The deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed at least three and injured at least 144 is believed to be an act of terrorism, senior White House officials told Fox News.Two explosions tore through the finish line of the world-famous race just before 3 p.m., going off simultaneously as throngs of onlookers watched runners complete the 26.2-mile trek. The timing of the blasts immediately sparked suspicions of a deliberate act.

“When multiple devices go off, that’s an act of terrorism,” a senior administration official told Fox News, just moments after President Obama delivered a statement to the nation and did not use the word ‘terror.’

Authorities searched an apartment in the nearby Boston suburb of Revere as part of the investigation into the explosions. FoxNews.com saw federal, state and local law enforcement entering the building late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

Sources confirmed to FoxNews.com that the apartment being searched in connection to the bombings is on the fifth floor of the building.

A source close to the investigation confirms to FoxNews.com the man whose apartment was searched is considered a person of interest in the case, and is the same person of interest Fox News confirmed earlier authorities are guarding at a local hospital.

The source stressed that the person of interest is not a suspect, and said he suffered serious injuries in the explosion.

The FBI has a lot of leads and “a lot of work to do” in the investigation, a law enforcement source said. The source said the investigation is “very fluid” and the FBI is looking at many, many people.

Investigators were seen leaving the Revere house early Tuesday carrying brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag, according to the Associated Press.

The Pakistani Taliban, which has threatened attacks in the United States because of its support for the Pakistani government, denied any role in the marathon bombings Tuesday.

The group’s spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, denied involvement in a telephone call with The Associated Press. He spoke from an undisclosed location.

Federal investigators said Monday no one had claimed responsibility for the devastating attack on one of the city’s most famous civic holidays, Patriots’ Day.

“There is no suspect,” Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said Monday amid reports of the person of interest. “There are people we’re talking to.”

A first responder source confirms to Fox News that five total explosive devices were found in the Boston area, including the two that exploded. Authorities spent the next several hours sweeping the area for additional devices.

Davis said at an evening press conference the bombing killed “at least three,” and multiple reports said one of the dead was an 8-year-old boy. A source tells the Associated Press the boy’s mother and sister were also injured as they waited for his father to finish the race.

A first responder source tells Fox News all of the victims were either bystanders or marathon runners, and that two of the deceased were adults.

In addition to the deaths, more than 144 people were injured – including up to 10 with amputated limbs and 17 critically.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency services, said: “This is something I’ve never seen in my 25 years here … this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we expect from war.”

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said during a press conference that no suspect is in custody.

The first two explosions occurred at 2:50 p.m. – nearly five hours after the marathon began – about 50 to 100 yards apart, according to Davis. A third explosion occurred near the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in the Columbia Point section of Dorchester, several miles southeast of the marathon’s finish line, at around 4:15 p.m. Police could not say if it was related to the earlier explosions.

The horror unfolded as the city marked the 238th annual Patriots’ Day, commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Competitors and race organizers were crying as they fled the bloody chaos, while some witnesses reported seeing victims with lost limbs.

“Somebody’s leg flew by my head,” a spectator, who gave his name as John Ross, told the Boston Herald. “I gave my belt to stop the blood.”

Twenty-six people were transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including a 3-year-old, who was then taken to a children’s hospital. A doctor at the hospital said at least two of the patients there are in critical condition and that some have burns and injuries that will likely require amputations.

“They just started bringing people in with no limbs,” said runner Tim Davey of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to shield their children’s eyes from the gruesome scene inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners, but “they saw a lot.”

“They just kept filling up with more and more casualties,” Lisa Davey said. “Most everybody was conscious. They were very dazed.”

Witnesses heard booms that sounded like two claps of thunder near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel, according to multiple local reports. Video of the scene showed a number of emergency crews in the area tending to victims and blood on the ground near the finish line.

“I saw two explosions. The first one was beyond the finish line. I heard a loud bang and I saw smoke rising,” Boston Herald reporter Chris Cassidy, who was running in the marathon, told the newspaper. “I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something…There are people who have been hit with debris, people with bloody foreheads.”

“There are a lot of people down,” said one man, whose bib No. 17528 identified him as Frank Deruyter of North Carolina. He was not injured, but marathon workers were carrying one woman, who did not appear to be a runner, to the medical area as blood gushed from her leg. A Boston police officer was wheeled from the course with a leg injury that was bleeding.

About three hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another thunderous explosion could be heard a few seconds later.

Runner Laura McLean of Toronto said she heard two explosions outside the medical tent.

“There are people who are really, really bloody,” McLean said. “They were pulling them into the medical tent.”

Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race. “I was expecting my husband any minute,” she said. “I don’t know what this building is … it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don’t know what it was. I just ducked.”

While the White House does in fact believe terrorism was at play, lawmakers were increasingly reaching the same conclusion.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, reportedly said her understanding it “that it’s a terrorist incident.”

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., top Republican on that committee, also said that “as the evidence mounts that this was a terrorist attack, our intelligence and law enforcement agencies must do whatever is necessary to find and interrogate those responsible so we can prevent similar attacks.”

Authorities in New York, meanwhile, are deploying counter-terrorism vehicles around landmark sites in Manhattan, including prominent hotels, according to the New York City Police Department.
Nearly 25,000 people, including runners from around the world, competed in Boston’s celebrated 26.2-mile race, attracting huge throngs of onlookers, especially near the finish line.

“This is a horrific day in Boston,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured. I have been in touch with the President, Mayor [Thomas] Menino and our public safety leaders. Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs.”

Anyone with information on the bombings is being urged to call Boston authorities at 1-800-494-TIPS.

By Jana Winter / Published April 16, 2013 / FoxNews.com /Fox News’ Ed Henry, Catherine Herridge, Mike Levine, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

2 Dead, Dozens Injured After 2 Bombs Explode at Boston Marathon

April 15, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

At least two people are dead and dozens injured – including up to 10 with amputated limbs – after at least two bombs tore through the finish line of the Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Police Department.

The simultaneous explosions, and reports of two other unexploded devices found near the scene raised suspicions that the blasts, just before 3 p.m., could be part of a terrorist attack. Intelligence officials told The Associated Press two unexploded devices were being dismantled, and reports of a third “controlled” explosion near the JFK Library in the Columbia Point section of Dorchester, may have been an intentional detonation supervised by authorities. Competitors and race organizers were crying as they fled the bloody chaos, while some witnesses reported seeing victims with lost limbs.

“Somebody’s leg flew by my head,” a spectator, who gave his name as John Ross, told the Boston Herald. “I gave my belt to stop the blood.”

Witnesses heard booms that sounded like two claps of thunder near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel, according to multiple local reports. The horror unfolded as the city marked the 238th annual Patriot’s Day, commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

Video of the scene showed a number of emergency crews in the area tending to victims and blood on the ground near the finish line.

Runner Laura McLean of Toronto said she heard two explosions outside the medical tent.

“There are people who are really, really bloody,” McLean said. “They were pulling them into the medical tent.”

Authorities in New York, meanwhile, are deploying counter-terrorism vehicles around landmark sites in Manhattan, including prominent hotels, according to the New York City Police Department.

Nearly 25,000 people, including runners from around the world, competed in Boston’s celebrated 26.2-mile race, attracting huge throngs of onlookers, especially near the finish line.

Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com

Published April 15, 2013

FoxNews.com /The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Dems Run from Progress Kentucky

April 14, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Progress Kentucky is a super PAC that is acting more like a rogue operation in its efforts to unseat Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell — sending out racially sensitive tweets and allegedly making a secret recording of the Senate minority leader’s re-election strategy talks.

The group has been around only since December, raising about $1,000 and spending $18, compared to the McConnell campaign that has raised $10 million toward 2014 re-election efforts, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings.

Kentucky Democrats have over the past week made numerous, overt efforts to separate their party from Kentucky Progress and its questionable activities.

A former state party official described group members as “just a couple of activists” intent on making a mockery of super PACs, compared to those active in the 2012 elections that were run by savvy political operatives raising millions from well heeled contributors.

“This has nothing to do with the party or even a group,” said Chris Tobe, the former state party board member.

Earlier this week, Jacob Conway, a member of Kentucky’s Jefferson County Democratic Party, told Fox News that two group members secretly recorded the McConnell strategy sessions.

Conway alleges Executive Director Shawn Reilly and volunteer Curtis Morrison recorded the February office meeting from a hallway, perhaps with an iPhone, and later told him about it.

Conway said he came forward because he didn’t want the situation tarnishing the Democratic Party.

In the meeting held by McConnell, aides disparaged actress Ashley Judd, then a potential Democratic challenger, laughing about her bouts with depression and discussing possibly using that against her. They also talked about Judd’s political positions and religious beliefs, according to the tape posted Tuesday by the left-leaning Mother Jones magazine.

Judd has since said she will not run.

McConnell called the taping “Watergate-style tactics,” and the FBI is now investigating the allegation, following his request.

Ted Shouse, Reilly’s attorney, said his client and Morrison were in a “public hallway” outside the office where McConnell’s meeting took place but Reilly never recorded anything.

Morrison didn’t return phone calls or answer the door Friday of his Louisville residence, where the blinds and curtains were closed and mail overflowed in the mailbox.

Kentucky has more registered Democrats than Republicans but tends to vote for Republican candidates for Congress and president.

Progress Kentucky first attracted national attention in February with a tweet from a volunteer that referred to the Asian heritage of Elaine Chao, McConnell’s wife and a former U.S. Labor secretary.

The tweet was about the United States losing jobs to China, and McConnell promptly called the message a “racial slur” and “the ultimate outrage.”

His campaign then ran a statewide television spot in which the Taiwan-born Chao said “far-left special interests are also attacking my ethnicity.”

Another tweet from Progress’ account suggested Chao’s “Chinese” money is buying state elections, referring to members of her family last year giving $80,000 to the state Republican Party.

According to an FEC filing, Progress Kentucky’s treasurer was Douglas L. Davis until he resigned on Tuesday — the day the secret recording was made public. He declined to comment Friday.

“With my resignation I will no longer be liable for any reporting, donations or expenditures made to, from or on behalf of the committee,” Davis wrote in the filing. Earlier this year, the group failed to turn in its year-end report on time, according to the FEC.

Morrison ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2012 and was one of the organizers of the Occupy Louisville movement.

He wrote for a community journalism website, InsiderLouisville.com. Executive Editor Terry Boyd wrote in a blog post on Friday that Morrison is no longer a contributor.

“Curtis has the makings of a solid reporter, under adult supervision,” Boyd stated in his blog post. “Unfortunately, Curtis is also an overt and dedicated political activist, and you can’t be both at the same time at Insider Louisville.”

Published April 13, 2013 / FoxNews.com /The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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