Everything on the "up abd up" RIGHT ?

Bergdahl Teammates Asked to Stay Quiet About Desertion With Non-Disclosure Agreements    Katie Pavlich | May 29, 2015

According to a new report from Fox News' Catherine Herridge, teammates of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements years ago after discussing his desertion with the Joint Chiefs Chairman in Afghanistan. 
According to Herridge's reporting and General Bob Scales, asking soldiers to sign non-disclosure agreements is unprecedented.
"I can't remember, ever, have an enlisted soldier sign a non-disclosure agreement for anything. This is completely unprecedented," Scales said. "These non-disclosure agreements have got nothing to do with military justice."
Further, new information shows Bergdahl not only deserted, but started planning for his departure by sleeping on the floor and prepared himself for life outside of the military.
Earlier this week, General Stanley McChrystal admitted he knew Bergdahl had deserted immediately after leaving his post in June 2009. The White House maintains officials weren't and still aren't sure about the circumstances surrounding his capture by the Taliban.
Bergdahl will stand trial at Ft. Sam Houston later this year.

How can she even be allowed to run ? she should be in jail, not on the ballot

 

Friday Fun: Jon Stewart Mocks Hillary’s Fake Southern Accent Cortney O'Brien | May 29, 2015

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She attended school in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She then served as a US Senator from New York. Considering she earned her education in New England and served on the East Coast, Hillary's southern accent during a recent campaign stop in South Carolina was heard by some very confused ears.
Mrs. Clinton seems to have a knack for borrowing the regional dialect of wherever her tour bus parks. Her pit stop South Carolina is just the latest example. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart couldn't help mocking her clearly fabricated southern tone.

"I'll do the Lindsey Graham impressions around here thank you very much."

Stewart also took the opportunity to contrast Clinton with a candidate who has a much bleaker chance of earning the Democratic nomination, yet a seemingly more authentic campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Although Sanders has championed progressive ideals such as reining in Big Banks and expanding Social Security, he has often characterized him as a bit too eccentric for the White House. 

“The problem here isn’t that Bernie Sanders is a crazy-pants cuckoo bird,” Stewart said. “It’s that we’ve all become so accustomed to stage-managed, focus-group-driven candidates that authenticity comes across as lunacy.”Clinton has already been criticized for her staged campaigning after reports claimed that her staff had bussed in supporters to a campaign stop in Iowa. As for her insistence that she and husband Bill were "dead broke" after leaving the White House in 2001, one look at their speaking fees proves she and the American people have a much different interpretation of the word "broke."

Staged events and fake accents are doing Hillary no favors. If she is the best candidate the Democrats have to offer, their party may be in for a rude awakening next year.
Y'all come back now, y'hear?

REPOSTING SO MORE CAN SEE

ARIZONA: Bikers plan armed anti-Islam protest outside mosque that hatched the two Garland, Texas would-be Muslim jihadist assassins

 On Friday, May 29, 2015, a group of bikers in Arizona plan to host an anti-Islam demonstration outside of the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. Dubbed as “Freedom of Speech Rally Round 2,” a reference to American blogger Pamela Geller’s ‘Draw Muhammad’ cartoon contest in Garland, Texas earlier this month, the event, organized on Facebook, is described as a “response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terroristswith ties to ISIS, attempted to kill a bunch of people.”

The FBI is currently investigating threatening letters that were sent to the mosque, and an entourage of armed people gathered outside of it on Friday evening will only make matters worse. (Ewwwww, maybe muslims should stay home from the mosque that day) 

Full article @ Bare Naked Islam     THANX TO "FREE NORTH CAROLINA

Thugs Tried To Ruin A Marine’s Funeral, Watch These Bikers Set Em’ Straight     28May, 2015by John Brodgian
Pay attention liberals, because the thugs in this case are the Westboro Baptists. See, it’s not a racial thing.





Why or how you could claim to be a “Christian” while shouting, confronting, and screaming throughout a grieving family’s memorial service for their fallen patriot, we will never know. How in the world is this Biblical– or even logical?

But thank God, a group of unlikely heroes has risen from the dust. The Patriot Guard has made it their personal mission to protect the families of our fallen men and women of service. Bikers by the hundreds (many of them veterans themselves) go to the funerals to form a shield between the hateful protestors and grieving families. Their actions display their loyal devotion to the brave men and women of America.

Watch below. Thank God for the Patriot Guard!

All eyes are on Senator PatToomey running for President......

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey faced a serious test when it comes to the anti-gun provisions of the "Patriot Act". Over the weekend he had a chance to cast two key votes.
Unfortunately, Sen. Toomey's votes suggest he'd support continuing these anti-gun provisions of law. You see, Senator Toomey voted FOR a plan to allow Senate Leaders two more months to plot how to RAM a full extension or expansion of the "Patriot Act" into law.
In doing so, he also voted against pro-gun Senator Rand Paul's filibuster. Fortunately, that vote was not successful -- but they'll be voting again this Sunday.
Please take a moment to call Senator Toomey at 814-453-3010.

Happened Mothers day but just published

Victim of Violent Road Rage Incident Baffled by Police Response After He Called 911 

    Donald Akers had a really bad day on Mother’s Day. He and his wife, Janet, were driving to place flowers on his mother-in-law’s grave when they became the victims of an apparent road rage incident.
A driver of a Dodge Ram pickup, who apparently was unhappy with Janet for honking her horn at him when he wandered in to her lane of traffic, followed the Akers in to a parking lot where the driver proceeded to assault Donald with the butt of a gun, breaking teeth and his nose.
The Akers called 911, police arrived… and then proceeded to act like they were best friends with the man who hit Donald with the gun.

Why?
Because the man who assaulted Donald was an off-duty U.S. Marshall. Janet Akers said,

“So the police came, and went over directly to them. And were talking to them, laughing, joking around.”

No charges were immediately pressed.
And the government wonders why people don’t trust the police? The good old boys network is still securely in place, and this is one of the biggest reasons why police brutality is a growing concern among the U.S. population. It is because these thugs are relatively untouchable.

Army Captain Saves Couple Trapped in Car While Wearing the Most Appropriate T-Shirt Imaginable  20May, 2015by John Brodgian Army Captain Steve Voglezon wasn’t in uniform when he saved a couple from a fiery car. He was still dressed appropriately though…

Off-duty Army Captain Steve Voglezon doesn’t believe he is a hero. Cellphone footage which captured his actions at the scene of a fiery car accident would indicate otherwise.
ABC News reports that Capt. Voglezon broke out a window and rescued William Thompson from the fiery vehicle. He then went back to help pull out another victim.
Crediting his military training, Voglezon says he didn’t really think about it, he just acted.

All while wearing a Captain America t-shirt. It makes sense.

Thugs Tried To Ruin A Marine’s Funeral, Watch These Bikers Set Em’ Straight    28May, 2015  by John Brodgian

Pay attention liberals, because the thugs in this case are the Westboro Baptists. See, it’s not a racial thing

Why or how you could claim to be a “Christian” while shouting, confronting, and screaming throughout a grieving family’s memorial service for their fallen patriot, we will never know. How in the world is this Biblical– or even logical?
But thank God, a group of unlikely heroes has risen from the dust. The Patriot Guard has made it their personal mission to protect the families of our fallen men and women of service. Bikers by the hundreds (many of them veterans themselves) go to the funerals to form a shield between the hateful protestors and grieving families. Their actions display their loyal devotion to the brave men and women of America.

Watch below. Thank God for the Patriot Guard!

Baltimore’s Mayor Wants to Charge American Taxpayers for $20 Million in Riot Damages  By Top Right News on May 27, 2015

by Brooke Bosca | Top Right News

The City of Baltimore has done a preliminary cost analysis of the recent riots and calculated that the damage amounts to at least $20 million.
As TRN reported during the mayhem, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake admitted in a press conference that she gave instructions for police to give “those who wished to destroy” the “space” to do so…
And destroy they did.
Dozens of storefronts were smashed, hundreds of cars vandalized and countless businesses looted. In addition, 159 fires were set, destroying dozens of buildings, including a home for senior citizens.
She reaped what she sewed. So now guess who she wants to pay for it.
YOU!
That’s right. The city wants to send the bill to FEMA and have all the rest of us pay their bill.
The city has come up with its estimate and is planning on using discretionary funds for some of the costs. But tucked into the Baltimore Sun story is this…
       
     Henry J. Raymond, Baltimore’s finance director, said the city can temporarily cover the costs from its rainy day fund while seeking reimbursement for up to 75 percent from Federal Emergency Management Agency.
     “The city remains on strong financial footing,” Raymond said. “Hopefully, with the FEMA reimbursement, it will reduce the financial stress that we’re under. In terms of the city’s overall revenue structure, we’re on firm footing and we’ll move forward.”
     Both Gov. Larry Hogan and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have requested federal aid.

FEMA? Huh? This wasn’t a flood, hurricane or tornado. It was a self-immolating race riot.
Get that, America? Baltimore wants YOU to pay for its riots.

General McChrystal: Yep, We Knew Bergdahl Was a Deserter Immediately Katie Pavlich | May 27, 2015

When Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was traded for five high risk Taliban commanders last summer, his platoon mates quickly hit the airwaves to expose him as a deserter. They said it was known he was a deserter for years. The Obama administration, however, gave the appearance to the American people that officials were unaware of the circumstances surrounding his capture. In fact, last year State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf said allegations Bergdahl deserted were simply "rumors." Not only did President Obama hold a Rose Garden ceremony to honor Bergdahl, but administration officials Jay Carney and Susan Rice said he "served with honor and distinction."
and did everything possible to kiss bergdahls parents muslim asses     
Keep Reading

This is very interesting.

N’Da Alphonse is a cocoa farmer in the Ivory Coast, and yet he has never seen or tasted chocolate before in his life.

newslinq.com

“To be honest I do not know what they make of my beans,” says farmer N’Da Alphonse. “I’ve heard they’re used as flavoring in cooking, but I’ve never seen it. I do not even know if it’s true.”
Watch he and his fellow workers’ reactions when they taste the sweet bar of chocolate given to them for the first time.
Their reactions were truly enjoyable and heartwarming to see. But scenes like this also remind us of just how privileged we are in the developed world. Things that we take for granted here, are but a once in a lifetime experience for those that are less financially fortunate in other parts of the world.

Theater Gunman's Writings Alternate Between Ramblings, Plans

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — May 27, 2015  By SADIE GURMAN and DAN ELLIOTT Associated Press

FILE - In this June 4, 2013, file photo Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes appears in court in Centennial, Colo. Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shooting trial say they are moving closer toward the heart of their case: whether Holmes... View Full Caption The Associated Press

Colorado theater shooting gunman James Holmes' notebook full of scrawled writings and stick-figure drawings was made public Wednesday, a day after it was introduced as evidence in his trial.

The writings on about 30 pages in the brown, spiral school notebook alternate between sometimes incoherent ramblings and Holmes' methodical plans to attack the movie theater and maximize the number of people killed.

It provides the most comprehensive look yet into what Holmes described as his "broken" mind.

Prosecutors, however, are attempting to use its planning entries to undermine Holmes' claim that he was legally insane at the time of the July 2012 attack, which killed 12 and injured 70 others.

 READ MORE

'Chilling notebook' first reported by FoxNews.com revealed at James Holmes trial   Published May 27, 2015      

Why Jana Winter's stand is so important to the free pressEvidence submitted at the trial of Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes affirmed a bombshell 2012 scoop by FoxNews.com - an exclusive report that prompted a two-year First Amendment battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, put so-called "shield laws" in the public spotlight and threatened to land a journalist in jail just for doing her job.

The brown, spiral-bound notebook, titled "Of Life" and first reported by FoxNews.com nearly three years ago, is a key piece of evidence in the trial of Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 166 charges, including 12 counts of murder, in the rampage at a midnight showing in Aurora of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises." On Tuesday, Aurora Police Sgt. Matthew Fyles read in court excerpts from the notebook, in which Holmes' frightening words revealed the thoughts of a budding mass killer.  

REST OF STORY

What a shame that a Bride and Groom can't share a private moment before their wedding without it going "viral". Is it such a RARITY that a couple should want to pray together that it becomes national news ? If so SHAME ON AMERICA !

   

Photo of a U.S. Marine and His Bride Moments Before Their Wedding That Went Viral

READ MORE

Prepare For WAR: ISIS Drops Terrifying Warning To The U.S.
ISIS is making a statement that should capture the attention of every freedom-loving American.

woundedamericanwarrior.com|By FreedomDaily
STORY

ISIS Magazine Estimates Michelle Obama’s Worth as Sex Slave at $40

By Joseph Tippins on May 26, 2015

Breitbart reports:
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has published an article in the latest issue of its magazine, Dabiq, by jihadi bride Umm Summayyah, estimating that First Lady Michelle Obama is only worth $40 on the terrorist group’s slave market. Summayyah also defends the rape of thousands of Yazidi females.
The article, titled “Slave Girls or Prostitutes,” justifies the horrific actions inflicted upon the females ISIS kidnaps as they spread their caliphate through Iraq and Syria. She also promised to bring this lavish slave market to the West.
“I swear by Allah, O you who feign to be knowledgeable and shout with falsehood in every gathering, surely the slave markets will be established against the will of the politically ‘correct’!” she wrote. “And who knows, maybe Michelle Obama’s price won’t even exceed a third of a dīnār, and a third of a dīnār is too much for her!”
One dinar is $139
.READ MORE

Eagle Rising

I can't understand why Police target "young black men"

63 year-Old Man Knocked Out, Robbed of $1 in Southeast D.C. By Derrick Ward and Matthew Stabley 

WARNING: Some may find the surveillance video below disturbing.

D.C. police are looking for a man who knocked another man out in an apparent robbery May 17 in Southeast. (Published Tuesday, May 26, 2015)

Updated 29 minutes ago

D.C. police are looking for a man who knocked a 63-year-old man out with one punch in an apparent robbery May 17 in Southeast.

About 5:45 p.m. that Sunday, a man in a red shirt exchanged words with the victim in the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE.

Surveillance video from nearby Petey Greene Community Center shows the man in a red shirt punch the 63-year-old victim, dropping him to the ground. He stepped away from the motionless victim before returning, bending over him, and apparently going through his pockets and taking a dollar.

Several other people seen in the video did nothing to intervene or assist the victim.

   DEMAND ? DEMAND ? CONGRESS HAS IT'S OWN AGENDA, WHICH IS WHATEVER BENEFITS CONGRESS, WHICH CAN CHANGE AT A MOMENTS NOTICE. YOU THINK CONGRESS IS GOING TO LISTEN TO THE CITIZENS OF THE U.S.A.?  WHAT WITH ALL THE CHANCES THEY HAD TO STOP OBAMA IN HIS TRACKS, AND THEY VOTED WITH HIM. THEY HAVE ALL BECOME STUCK IN OBAMAS BACK POCKET........

 

GOD BLESS HELP AMERICA

DEA Agents Busted For Running a Strip Club On The Side  Katie Pavlich | May 26, 2015 

                   

In April, we found out a number of Drug Enforcement Administration agents participated in sex parties hosted and paid for by Columbian drug cartels, the very same criminal enterprise they were supposed to be dismantling. Now, a new report shows DEA agents in New Jersey ran a strip club as a side job while still being employed with the agency. To make matters worse, they attended the club while on the clock for the DEA, meaning while they were being paid by taxpayers.

A now-retired DEA Assistant Special Agent-in-charge -- and an IT specialist -- are charged with falsifying national security forms -- and lying during background-checks.

They are accused of failing to disclose outside employment -- that could put them -- in proximity to crime -- and at risk for blackmail.

The FBI also claims that the agents tended to strip club affairs -- while on the clock for the DEA.

he FBI is investigating the case. Over the past few years a number of federal law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service and the DEA, have been under heavy scrutiny by Congress for bad behavior.

Isn't this the same trade bill that the traitorous REPUBLICANS let pass even though no one was allowed to see it [another obamacare] copy it or tell anyone what was in it ? Another republican sellout...

Obama hails Senate passage of trade package  

CONGRESS - President Obama on Friday hailed the Senate's passage of a trade package that is at the top of his second-term agenda.

• Obama said in a statement the bipartisan vote is an "important step toward ensuring the United States can negotiate and enforce strong, high-standards trade agreements" and he called on the House to pass the package "as soon as possible."
• The Senate voted 62-37 to pass the trade bill, which includes a key trade promotion authority (TPA) measure that would help complete a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal.
• The Senate vote is a big victory for Obama, bringing him a step closer to adding a bipartisan legislative accomplishment to his legacy.
• But the trade package faces an uphill path in the House, where Democrats and a cadre of conservative Republicans are opposed to new trade agreements.
  READ MORE

Does this Woman Have Any Shame?

hillarydaily.com

 

Now that 350 pages of Hillary Clinton’s carefully curated emails have been gifted to the public, Americans can see just how badly their former secretary of state botched the job in Libya and elsewhere. And remember, her foreign policy experience is a...

READ....... Does this Woman Have Any Shame?

Think "filet mignon" would be good enough ? they're lucky it's not ROAD KILL..........

"We want cheese!" Officials dispute claims by Pa. prisoners that the inmates were served shabby sandwiches. NBC10 Philadelphia

Inmates at a Pennsylvania prison who were heard shouting "We're hungry!" through windows were apparently upset because they were served sandwiches without cheese.

 

WGAL-TV reported that residents heard the inmates yelling through open windows at the Lancaster County Prison on Sunday.

On Monday, LNP reporters contacted the prison — where officials declined comment — though County Commissioner Scott Martin later told the news service that the inmates' concerns were "gravely exaggerated." Martin also serves as chairman of the county's prison board.

Martin said the inmates were apparently upset because their sandwiches only had one slice of meat — which was 3 ounces — instead of two slices, which are 1.5 ounces each, and no cheese.

    Martin said the inmates were trying to "stir the pot."

A prisoners' rights group plans to look into the incident.

STORY

 

Clinton’s State Dept Approved Arms Deals To Govts Who Gave Millions To The Foundation Matt Vespa | May 26, 2015

                   

The ethical questions surrounding foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation have entered a new arena: arms sales. According to the International Business Times, governments with appalling human rights records who donated to the Clinton Foundation received billions in arms deals approved by the Clinton State Department that far surpassed anything doled out by the Bush administration. A review of the 2009-2012 fiscal records by the IBT discovered the transactions:

Under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation, according to an IBTimes analysis of State Department and foundation data. That figure -- derived from the three full fiscal years of Clinton’s term as Secretary of State (from October 2010 to September 2012) -- represented nearly double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State Department during the same period of President George W. Bush’s second term.

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And if you think Baltimore was bad, check out ChIcago

Another violent weekend in Chicago: 12 dead, 44 wounded

 E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune

 

The man was in critical condition.anielle Moore-Willis didn't hesitate when she heard gunfire and shouts outside her Englewood home late Monday night. She quickly dressed and ran out to help.

There, under the yellow light of a street lamp, lay a man bleeding.
“It’s as if time stood still. It was only a couple people and they were talking to him, trying to keep him alert,” she said. “I knew he was bleeding from somewhere, I didn’t know where and I couldn’t figure it out. And he was breathing. . . I remember somebody talking to me and it’s just like a blur, it’s like it’s surreal. It’s surreal."

      PICTURES

At least 56 people were shot over Memorial Day weekend between Friday afternoon and early Tuesday, authorities said. Twelve people, including three shot Monday afternoon, died of their wounds. Twelve others shot between late Monday morning and early Tuesday morning survived, bringing to 44 the total of nonfatal gunshot victims for the weekend.

REST OF STORY

26 Injured, 9 Killed In Baltimore Shootings During Memorial Day Weekend   The Huffington Post  |  By Sebastian Murdock  Posted: 05/26/2015  

 CBS Baltimore

Baltimore has faced its deadliest month since 1999 after 32 shootings left nine people dead this Memorial Day weekend.

Among the wounded was a 17-year-old boy shot in the arm and a 9-year-old boy shot in the leg, according to CBS Baltimore.
The violence began during the weekend and spilled into Monday, with two more people killed shortly after Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) met with the Baltimore Police Department to discuss the violence, The Baltimore Sun reports.
The Sun reports there have been 35 homicides so far this month and 108 this year. By comparison, New York City -- with a significantly higher population -- has seen 115 murders this year.

A map created by The Baltimore Sun shows the locations of shootings in the city this month.

No arrests have been made in the shootings, which left 26 injured. Police have not released the names of victims. One man, shot in the head, is listed in critical condition. Nine others are dead, with one man found covered in gunshot wounds on his chest and leg early Monday morning.
Yvonne Gunn, 67, told the Sun she heard shots during an incident this weekend in her Poppleton neighborhood of West Baltimore and was scared to look outside.
"I started praying," Gunn said. "I didn't move ... The drugs have escalated in this block in the last six months. With this new drug element in the block -- oh, Lord."
“It’s scary because I’ve got kids," someone in the Govans neighborhood, where a triple shooting occurred, told CBS Baltimore. "I don’t want anything to happen to my kids, especially around here. It’s a peaceful neighborhood."
Howard Libit, a spokesman for the mayor, said Rawlings-Blake is frustrated with the ongoing violence. In a statement, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said his department is "moving aggressively" and hopes to "modernize and better equip ourselves for the future."

Be Prepared: Defense Against Terror, Hoodlums, & Disasters  Posted by BearingArms.com Staff 

Earthquakes in Nepal, the bombing in Boston, and shots fired in Texas– Bill Whittle addresses the need for preparedness. Do it! Be Prepared!

NEVER ENDING......WHAT....... NO MEMORIAL DAY LOOTING OR BURNING?

#StopKillingBlackPeople: Memorial Day ‘action’ honors those lost in police’s war against people of color

Posted  May 25, 2015 by Twitchy Staff 

Memorial Day — a day so solemn that President Obama himself passed up a terrific opportunity to hit the golf course so that he could lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and deliver remarks on this, the first Memorial Day since the end of the war in Afghanistan.
Speaking of honoring the nation’s fallen, members of the Peoples Power Assemblies and NYC Shut It Down “disrupted” the holiday to construct their own Arlington on Coney Island “to draw attention to the countless lives lost at home to the war police wage on communities of color every day.” To represent graves, activists laid 20 towels marked with chalk outlines on the beach to represent those who could not be there today.
Countless lives lost? Things are much worse than we’ve be led to believe. 

Charles M. Phipps @cmpokc

If the #StopKillingBlackPeople were serious, they'd be protesting at abortion clinics in black neighborhoods. So why aren't they?

5:32 PM - 25 May 2015

• 29 29 Retweets
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TWEETS AND PHOTOS

"A GUN" OH MY GOD, HOW HORRIBLE, A WATER GUN or worse WATER BALLOONS otherwise known as "WATER GRENADES" ??

The kids are all right: Boy Scouts, banned from ‘unkind’ squirt gun fights, honor war dead [photos]Posted May 25, 2015 by Twitchy Staff

Dana Loesch ✔ @DLoesch
Adults officially trying to ruin childhood. Stop it. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/05/19/boy-scouts-ban-water-guns-because-theyre-not-kind/ …
2:21 PM - 19 May 2015 CBS Detroit @CBSDetroit



Boy Scouts Ban Water Guns Because They're Not 'Kind'“For water balloons, use small, biodegradable balloons, and fill them no larger than a ping pong ball,” page 100 adThe Boy Scouts of America were a fixture in the news last week for the usual reason, as well as a new twist. The usual reason, of course, is the Scouts’ ongoing ban on gay Scout leaders, which has driven some to accuse the Scouts of teaching hate, caused entertainers like Carly Rae Jepsen (remember her?) and Train to pull out of Scout events, and cost the organization the support of sponsors like Chipotle and the Merck FoundatIt was two years ago this week that the group’s National Council voted to lift its ban on gay scouts, although gay adults are still barred from leadership positions. Last week, though, the president of the Boy Scouts of America, Robert Gates, himself called for an end to the ban on gay adult leaderThe lifting of the ban on gay Scout leaders has been debated for years now; the true curve ball came a few days earlier, when the 2015 Boy Scout handbook announced a ban on water gun fights and fights with water balloons that are non-biodegradable and larger than “ping-pong ball size.”Why the ban on squirt guns? Michigan Crossroads Council of Boy Scouts of America marketing and communications director Kerrie Mitchell explained that the Scouts’ mission is “to prepare young people for life and part of that duty is to ensure our youth become civically-minded adults. Pointing a simulated firearm at another individual is not aligned with our Scout Oath nor Scout Law.”Why are we bringing this up today, Memorial Day? Because while the adults fuss and fret over the effect of squirt guns on childhood development, Scouts themselves were out and about this weekend, showing that they’re well on their way to becoming civically minded adults, if they haven’t surpassed many “adults” already.
 STORY/PICTURES

Gay Asheville

ONLY IN DIVERSE ASHEVILLE CAN YOU FIND A BLACK MAN CARRYING A CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG ON MEMORIAL DAY…While H. K. Edgerton is not gay, he is a part of what makes this city so unique. His quest over the years is to help bridge the gap between the races and bring attention to the many black men that fought and died on the Confederate side of the war and should be remembered on Memorial Day.

Police: Pressure Cooker in Suspicious DC Vehicle Destroyed

Posted: May 25, 2015 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - A U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman says a bomb squad safely destroyed a pressure cooker found in an unattended vehicle parked on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol and the vehicle's owner was found and arrested.
Police Lt. Kimberly A. Schneider says Capitol Police officers on routine patrol spotted the parked, unoccupied vehicle on a street on the mall west of the Capitol around 5 p.m. Sunday.
Schneider said the bomb squad destroyed "items of concern in the vehicle including the pressure cooker" around 7:45 p.m. after temporarily closing off the area on the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Schneider says the vehicle's owner was found and identified as Israel Shimeles of the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. Shimeles was arrested and charged with "operating after revocation." It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.