Thursday, January 17, 2013

Hostages in Algeria ‘made to wear explosives’

FRANCE 24 has spoken to a French national who says he is one of the 150 hostages at the gas facility in southeast Algeria. The hostage said that they have been forced to wear explosive belts and that this militants are "heavily armed".

By FRANCE 24 (text)
FRANCE 24 spoke to one of the hostages at the BP-Statoil-Sonatrach gas plant in eastern Algeria on Wednesday, the site of a deadly pre-dawn raid in which over 150 Algerians and around 40 Western foreigners were taken by Islamist militants.
French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Thursday that Paris could not yet confirm the presence of French nationals among those taken captive, but Socialist MP Bruno Le Roux told French radio there were “surely” some French among the group.
The man, who declined to be identified by name, told FRANCE 24 that there were British, Japanese, Philippine and Malaysian nationals among the hostages.
He said the militants simultaneously stormed the gas plant as well as the workers’ living quarters. “They came in and once there was daylight, grouped us all together.”
He said the attackers were heavily armed and forced several hostages to wear explosives belts. They threatened to blow up the gas field if Algerian forces attempted to enter the site.
FRANCE 24 could not verify if the testimony was made under duress.

Crime Thieves Steal Guns After Breaking Into Another Home Listed on NY Newspaper’s ‘Gun Map’

Thieves Steal Guns After Breaking Into Home on Journal News Gun Map
Credit: Getty Images 
Critics who have continuously alleged that the Journal News’ interactive map that includes gun owners’ personal information will lead to crime may begin uttering some “I told you sos” (albiet, a bit prematurely). Two pistols and related permits were stolen from a home in New City, N.Y. The owner of the firearms was listed on the newspaper’s controversial map — leading some to wonder if the criminal act and the publication are connected.
Newsday reports that thieves entered the home on Wednesday evening. Once inside, they “ransacked the house” and broke into two safes, stealing a third. The guns were apparently in this latter unit that was taken out of the home by the criminals.
Following the incident, associated family members refused to comment about what unfolded. And for those looking for definite ties to the Journal News’ gun map, police are saying that there is no direct evidence, thus far, that the burglary was related to the publication. In fact, at the moment, authorities believe that the home was not targeted — something police will continue to investigate.
“The burglary is still under investigation and there are no facts to support this correlation at this time,” said Clarkstown Sgt. Joanne Fratianni. “If the investigation develops further information, it will be released accordingly.”
The Clarkstown case may or may not have a connection to the map, however this is the second incident involving a gun owner on the map who has had his or her home terrorized by burglars. Previously, a White Plains, N.Y., home was targeted, with thieves ultimately failing to open a gun safe and retrieve weapons. That investigation is ongoing as well.
Authorities in the White Plains case have said that it is premature to definitively connect the gun map to the crime, but that questions surrounding its involvement are a part of the case.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

LET'S PLAY TAKE THE GUNS

Obama unveils $500 million gun violence package

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Jan 16, 1:03 PM (ET)By JULIE PACE and ERICA WERNER

(AP) From left to right: Hinna Zeejah, 8, Taejah Goode, 10, Julia Stokes, 11, and Grant Fritz, 8, who...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Braced for a fight, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled the most sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in two decades, pressing a reluctant Congress to pass universal background checks and bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
A month after that horrific massacre, Obama also used his presidential powers to enact 23 measures that don't require the backing of lawmakers. The president's executive actions include ordering federal agencies to make more data available for background checks, appointing a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and directing the Centers for Disease Control to research gun violence.
But the president, speaking at White House ceremony, focused his attention on the divided Congress, saying only lawmakers could enact the most effective measures for preventing more mass shootings.
"To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act," Obama said. "And Congress must act soon."

(AP) President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about proposals to reduce...
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The president vowed to use "whatever weight this office holds" to press lawmakers into action on his $500 million plan. He is also calling for improvements in school safety, including putting 1,000 police officers in schools and bolstering mental health care by training more health professionals to deal with young people who may be at risk. Even supportive lawmakers say the president's gun control proposals - most of which are opposed by the powerful National Rifle Association - face long odds on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker John Boehner's office was non-committal to the president's package of proposed legislation, but signaled no urgency to act. "House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. "And if the Senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said ahead of Obama's presentation that he didn't know whether an assault weapons ban could pass the Senate, but said there are some measures that can, such as improved background checks.
"There are some who say nothing will pass. I disagree with that," Leahy, D-Vt., told students at Georgetown University Law Center. "What I'm interested in is what we can get."
(AP) President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, left, hugs eight-year-old letter...
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Acknowledging the tough fight ahead, Obama said there will be pundits, politicians and special interest groups that will seek to "gin up fear" that the White House wants to take away the right to own a gun. "Behind the scenes, they'll do everything they can to block any commonsense reform and make sure nothing changes whatsoever," he said. "The only way we will be able to change is if their audience, their constituents, their membership says this time must be different, that this time we must do something to protect our communities and our kids."
The president was flanked by children who wrote him letters about gun violence in the weeks following the Newtown shooting. Families of those killed in the massacre, as well as survivors of the shooting, were also in the audience, along with law enforcement officers and congressional lawmakers.
"This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe," Obama said. "This is how we will be judged."
Seeking to expand the impetus for addressing gun violence beyond the Newtown shooting, the president said more than 900 Americans have been killed by guns in the month since the elementary school massacre.
"Every day we wait, the number will keep growing," he said.
The White House has signaled that Obama could launch a campaign to boost public support for his proposals. Nearly six in 10 Americans want stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the Newtown shooting, with majorities favoring a nationwide ban on military-style, rapid-fire weapons and limits on gun violence depicted in video games, movies and TV shows, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.
A lopsided 84 percent of adults would like to see the establishment of a federal standard for background checks for people buying guns at gun shows, the poll showed.
The president based his proposals on recommendations from an administration-wide task force led by Vice President Joe Biden. His plan marks the most comprehensive effort to address gun violence since Congress passed the 1994 ban on high-grade, military-style assault weapons. The ban expired in 2004, and Obama wants lawmakers to renew and expand it.
Other measures Obama wants Congress to take up include limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines and requiring background checks for all gun buyers in an attempt to close the so-called "gun-show loophole" that allows people to buy guns at trade shows and over the Internet without submitting to background checks.
Obama also intends to seek confirmation for B. Todd Jones, who has served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives since 2011.
The president's plan does little to address violent images in video games, movies and entertainment, beyond asking the CDC to study their impact on gun crimes. Some pro-gun lawmakers who are open to addressing stricter arms legislation have insisted they would do so only in tandem with recommendations for addressing violence in entertainment.
The president's long list of executive orders also include:
- Ordering tougher penalties for people who lie on background checks and requiring federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
- Ending limits that make it more difficult for the government to research gun violence, such as gathering data on guns that fall into criminal hands.
- Requiring federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
- Giving schools flexibility to use federal grant money to improve school safety, such as by hiring school resource officers.
- Giving communities grants to institute programs to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them.
_
Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
 

Militants Grab U.S. Hostages About 40 Foreigners Taken in Algeria; Islamists Claim Responsibility, Blame French

Militants with possible links to al Qaeda seized about 40 foreign hostages, including several Americans, at a natural-gas field in Algeria, posing a new level of threat to nations trying to blunt the growing influence of Islamist extremists in Africa.
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WSJ Pentagon correspondent Julian Barnes joins The News Hub from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta 's press corps in Rome, where hours ago he declared the Algeria attack an act of terrorism. WSJ's Drew Hinshaw has the latest on the ground from Bamako, Mali. Photo: AP.
As security officials in the U.S. and Europe assessed options to reach the captives from distant bases, Algerian security forces failed in an attempt late Wednesday to storm the facility.
A French effort to drive Islamist militants from neighboring Mali that began with airstrikes last week expanded on Wednesday with the first sustained fighting on the ground. France's top target, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, claimed responsibility for the Algeria kidnappings, calling it retaliation. The claim couldn't be verified, although AQIM has its origins in Algeria and operates across a swath of Africa.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. would take "necessary and proper steps" in the hostage situation, and didn't rule out military action. He said the Algeria attack could represent a spillover from Mali.
Reuters
About 40 foreigners were abducted in a raid on the In Amenas gas facility, above. An Islamist group fighting the French in neighboring Mali claimed responsibility for the attack.
U.S. and European officials said Wednesday that they received reports that three Americans had been kidnapped, out of a total of nine U.S. staff working at the site, a gas field in east-central Algeria, along the Libyan border operated by BP BP.LN -0.24% PLC, Norway's Statoil ASA STL.OS +0.77% and Algerian energy company Sonatrach.
U.S. officials have struggled for a year or more to devise a response to the many Islamist militant groups, some with ties to al Qaeda, across northern and western Africa.
"We have been concerned about Mali, because they would use it as a base of operations to do exactly what happened in Algeria," Mr. Panetta said.
With intelligence reports "streaming in" on the Algeria siege, according to a senior intelligence official, some U.S. officials said confirming early suspicions that AQIM was involved was complicated by the group's loose structure.
The militants at the complex are believed to be headed by Mohktar Belmokhtar, a member of AQIM who has been a top target of the Algerian military for years, said Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who is now a counterterrorism fellow at the Brookings Institution.
In late 2012, Mr. Belmokhtar set up a group apart from AQIM, calling it al Mouthalimin, or Those Who Sign with Blood. If he is behind Wednesday's raid, it would suggest the commander continues to share the broader objective of the al Qaeda franchise.
Al Qaeda has rarely taken American hostages, however. If AQIM is involved, the operation represents a "big step up" for a group that has long been considered by the U.S. as a lesser terrorist threat than other al Qaeda branches, said Bruce Hoffman, an al Qaeda specialist and professor at Georgetown University.
"This obviously was planned for some time," he said. "The fact that they can flex their muscles like this and choose the timing shows they had the ability to take advantage of this opportunity."
There are a number of options for freeing the hostages, said Seth Jones, an al Qaeda specialist at Rand Corp., including ransom negotiations by BP, U.S. government negotiations and a U.S. military operation after significant intelligence collection on the site.
The U.S. has used special-operations forces in recent years in Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere when launching rescue operations to free hostages taken by militant groups. But none of the rescues has involved large numbers of hostages.
While Algeria may not be an easy destination for American forces, the U.S. military has been bulking up its presence in Africa. There are an estimated 2,000 U.S. personnel at Camp Lemonier, a joint U.S.-French base in Djibouti, that also serves as a base of operations for U.S. special-operations forces as well as Air Force drones that conduct lethal missions in Yemen.
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The Algerian government is likely to resist an American-led military rescue, though they would probably accept U.S. intelligence support, said Mr. Riedel.
Algerians said the hostage crisis revived their deepest fear of seeing AQIM, a group whose main roots are in Algeria, spread from their strongholds in Mali to sow havoc in bordering nations.
"The minute the French military started pushing AQIM groups from the south of Mali, it was quite evident they would move north and into Algeria," said Adbelhamid Si Afif, a senior member of Algeria's pro-government party Front de Libération Nationale. "They have the power to shake up the entire region."
The militants, after raiding the energy complex, took positions inside living quarters there with a number of Algerian and foreign workers, the Algerian government said.
Algeria reported two deaths in Wednesday's raid, a Briton and an Algerian, but reports of the number of casualties and hostages varied widely.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said 13 Norwegians were involved in the hostage situation. "This is one of the most serious hostage situations to affect Norwegian citizens" and companies, he said.
The U.K. confirmed that British citizens were being held. The French government said it couldn't confirm the presence of French nationals in the base.
BP said that contact with the site, named In Amenas, was extremely difficult. In Amenas harbors nearly 50 oil and natural-gas fields, linked to the northern coast through several pipelines.
Sonatrach didn't have any comment on the situation.
French military forces joined Malian troops on Friday in battling Islamist rebels in the West African nation, amid Western fears that insurgent groups with links to al Qaeda could destabilize the region and gain the ability to strike overseas.
French officials have said they feared the campaign could lead jihadist movements to target French and Western interests in retaliation. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said France's internal and external security services are "particularly vigilant" amid a "very strong and permanent," terrorist threat in France.
Algeria, which has traditionally championed a noninterventionist policy and had voiced reservations about any foreign military role in Mali, allowed French combat jets to fly through its airspace and said on Monday that it would close its southern border with Mali.
Analysts said they were skeptical that Algeria, although the strongest military force in the region, would succeed in sealing the border.
"It's possible to reinforce control on that border, but closing it is virtually impossible," said analyst Mohamed Chafik Mesbah, a retired officer of the Algerian army.
On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers cited the attacks in Algeria as well as last year's attack on a U.S. Consulate in Libya to press the Obama administration to step up its efforts against al Qaeda.
"The Obama Administration needs to have a clear and focused policy on eliminating the threats that diverse al Qaeda affiliated groups pose to the United States and to Americans working abroad off of the usual battlefields," said House intelligence committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.)

Wrestling midgets killed by fake hookers

Magic Bullet Hi-Speed Blender / Mixer System (Google Affiliate Ad)The world of Mexican midget wrestling is in mourning after two of its most famous stars were apparently poisoned by fake prostitutes.
Brothers in armlocks Alberto and Alejandro Pérez Jiménez were found dead in a hotel room after being drugged and robbed.
Masks of respect: Relatives say a final goodbye at the twins home in Mexico City
Masks of respect: Relatives say a final goodbye at the twins home in Mexico City
The women who spiked the twins’ drinks are thought to be members of an organised crime gang who pose as prostitutes to attract victims.
They normally just knock out their victims but the dose proved too much for Alberto – aka ‘La Parkita’ (Little Death) and Alejandro – aka ‘Espectrito II’.
The 36-year-olds were veteran stars of the ‘Lucha Mini’ world of midget wrestling.
They began their fighting careers 17 years ago in a tag team called the Small Devils and sometimes crossed over into American WWF/WWE wrestling.
Skeleton-masked La Parkita fought at the WWF Royal Rumble showpiece events in 1997 and 1998 in a tag team alongside Lucha Mini legend and Hollywood actor Mascarita Sagrada.
At the 1997 Royal Rumble, he faced – and beat – a tag team featuring his brother, who was fighting under the name Mini Mankind.
Alejandro also fought at WWE events using the alias ‘Tarantula’. But it seems their wrestling careers were the last thing on their minds on Sunday night.
The luchadors picked up the two women after filming a TV fight show and took them to a hotel, according to police in Mexico City.
But while preparing for their ’bouts’ they appear to have had their alcoholic drinks spiked before being robbed.
The pair were found by cleaners at the hotel on Monday. Tests suggested they had not had sex with the women.
It is thought their size made them more vulnerable to the drugs the women put in their drinks.
Police suspect a gang known as The Leak or The Drops was involved in the incident and said 20 people were arrested for similar crimes last year.
Yesterday, there were conflicting reports as to whether the ‘prostitutes’ had been ­arrested.

Obama Calls On Each And Every American To Stand Up To The NRA

OBAMA CAN KISS MY A@#
President Obama unveiled a comprehensive list of proposals to help reduce gun violence during a press conference on Wednesday, but said that gun safety will not be enhanced without support from the public. Obama called on Americans to stand up to uncompromising gun advocates such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) and challenge lawmakers to support common-sense reforms like universal background checks.
“I believe most [gun owners] agree that If america worked harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one that occurred in Newtown,” Obama said, but warned that “there will be pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists, publicly warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty” to “gin up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves.” Obama said that Americans have a responsibility to fight back against such smear campaigns:
OBAMA: The only way we will be able to change is if their audience, their constituents, their membership says, this time must be different, that this time we must do something to protect our communities and our kids. I will put everything I’ve got into this, and so will Joe. But I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it. And by the way, that doesn’t just mean from certain parts of the country. We’re going to need voices in those areas, in those Congressional districts where the tradition of gun ownership is strong to speak up and to say this is important….If parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible gun owners, if Americans of every background stand up and say, enough, we’ve suffered too much pain and cared too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will come. That’s what it’s going to take.
Obama urged the public to ask lawmakers “what’s more important? Doing whatever it takes to get an ‘A’ grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first grade?”
Meanwhile, the NRA has released an attacking Obama’s daughters and has cast its opposition to Obama’s proposal as “the fight of the century.” The Washington Post reports that “in a letter circulated at the 35th annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference,” Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre warned that Obama’s effort is “about banning your guns … PERIOD!”
“The NRA sat in on a White House meeting that was sold to the public as an ‘open discussion’ about how to improve school safety.” LaPierre wrote. “But that was a dirty lie. They didn’t listen to gun owners’ concerns…they didn’t consider any real solutions on how we can keep our kids safe. Instead Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their gun ban allies in Congress only want to BLAME you, VILIFY you, BULLY you, and STRIP you of your Second Amendment freedoms.”
Following Obama’s address, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced that the committee’s first gun violence hearing will be on January 30.


UPDATE:

Marco Rubio came out against Obama’s proposal minutes after he unveiled it:
Guns are not the problem; criminals with evil in their hearts and mentally ill people prone to violence are. Rather than sweeping measures that make it harder for responsible, law-abiding citizens to purchase firearms, we should focus on the root causes of gun violence and keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.
“As a strong defender of the 2nd Amendment, I will oppose the President’s attempts to undermine Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms.”

UPDATE:


Rick Perry is disgusted by the plan:
“In fact, the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president.”

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State suspends gun carry permit for TN man who made viral video




Hello; To those with a carry permit.  Guess can get revoked at any time, please guys watch what you put out there on the web.  Besides the the point that infringes on his freedom of speech so here you go.  You can  go on you tube right now and see thugs that have felons shooting calling out the cops, shooting out car windows. www.liveleak.com you can see all the freaks you can count with weapons.  What it comes down to is they want to show there athority of gun garbing, they are considering the Constitutional people now a days the tersest so watch out.

CAMDEN, TN (WSMV) -
A Middle Tennessee firearms trainer who made an ominous comment about killing people in a YouTube video that gained national attention this week has had his handgun carry permit suspended Friday by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
James Yeager, 42, had his permit suspended based on a "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public," the department said in a statement.
Col. Tracy Trott of the Tennessee Department of Safety said it didn't take him long to reach a decision after viewing the comments on the Internet.
"I watched it twice to make sure I was hearing what I thought I heard," Trott said.
"It sounded like it was a veiled threat against the whole public. I believed him. He had a conviction in his voice, and the way he looked into the camera, I believe he's capable of a violent act," Trott said.
Yeager told Channel 4 News he is aware of the suspension, and his attorney will handle his statements going forward.
The department said Yeager has the right to seek a review of the decision.
Yeager posted a new video Friday night in which he appears with his attorney and apologizes for his prior comments.
"In another video I said some pretty volatile stuff, which I apologize for. I do not - in any way - advocate overthrowing the United States government. Nor do I condone violent actions toward any elected officials," Yeager said.
Man's YouTube video gains national attention
James Yeager is a man with an impressive resume, including time as a small-town police chief and serving in security in Baghdad, but he said he spoke in anger when he made the video.
"I'm telling you, if that happens, it's going to spark a civil war, and I'll be glad to fire the first shot," Yeager said in a video on his YouTube page.
He was reacting to a recent comment from Vice President Joe Biden that the Obama administration may take executive action to pass control measures.
"I'm not going to let anyone take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm going to start killing people," he said in the YouTube video.
Yeager pulled the comments from YouTube after receiving backlash, and he said Thursday he didn't mean what he said.
"I was angry when I made the video and probably should have metered my words better. I am not plotting to kill any officials or anything like that," Yeager told Channel 4 News.
Yeager runs Tactical Response, a training center in Camden, TN, that specializes in weapons and tactical skills. The door of the business notes the staff is trained to kill.
The well-armed clientele was already making neighbors at the strip mall nervous, and then they heard the video.
"The guy needs to chill it. You know, you make those threats, and you've said that and now you come around the wrong person, you get hurt like that," said John Eaker, who owns a nearby pawn shop.
"He may get more than he asks if he keeps running that yak on the Internet, you know," another neighbor said.
Yeager said he knows he's considered a radical in his views, but he's is not backing off comments that he will defend his right to bear arms in spite of getting death threats by email.
"It will be time to shoot people when the Constitution is set on fire," he told Channel 4 News. "If somebody comes to take my guns, I will shoot them."
According the Tennessee Department of Safety, Yeager is not a certified instructor. When asked about that, he said he allowed his license to expire.
The state also said Tactical Response is not a department-certified school.
Yeager served as police chief of the town of Big Sandy, TN, about a decade ago. The former mayor said Yeager is intelligent and a crack shot, but he thought Yeager's plan to start a SWAT team wasn't what the quiet town of 500 people really needed, so the mayor fired him.
Despite the threatening emails and phone calls, Yeager said he has received far more messages of support.
Copyright 2013 WSMV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Student Shoots Advisor At St. Louis School; Turns Gun On Himself

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A student reportedly shot himself after shooting a financial advisor at the Stevens Institute of Business and Arts in downtown St. Louis, MO Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities said the student walked in the building, took the elevator to the 4th floor, then shot one of the school’s financial advisers in the chest with a handgun. The shooting happened in the financial adviser’s office.
The student then turned the gun on himself. He was found between the third and fourth floor in a stairwell of the five story building.
Police say that this was not a random shooting. The financial adviser was targeted. The victim is believed to be 40-50 years old.
St. Louis City Police Chief Sam Dotson said, “What we found was, a white male, late 40s had been the victim of gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital. We began a floor by floor search looking for the gunman.  In a stairwell between the 3rd and 4th floor we found what we believed to be the shooter suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  We recovered the weapon and took the suspect into custody. He was transported to the hospital. Both the victim are at the hospital in surgery right now.”
The gunman and the financial adviser are the only people who were shot. The victim and the gunman were both rushed to St. Louis University Hospital.  The gunman is reportedly in grave condition.
The gunman was well known by the faculty.  He was a long time part-time student at the school.
Students and faculty locked themselves into offices in the building after the shooter was discovered in the stairwell. It was a tense situation after the shooter was discovered and before authorities arrived on the scene.  Students and faculty left the building after they were dismissed by police.  Witnesses described the ordeal as passing quickly and in an orderly manner.
There is still a tremendous police presence at the scene.  Authorities have cleared the building floor by floor.  Students and faculty have been evacuated from the building. The scene looks calm and police appear to be in evidence gathering mode.
Faculty and staff were taken to a safe location and are being debriefed by police.
Washington Street has been shut down because of the shooting.  It may be open for rush hour later this afternoon.
This is a developing story.  More details will be posted as they come in.

School Link;
http://www.siba.edu/

Actual Location; Google Maps
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1521+wASHINGTON+sT.+lOUIS+mo&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hnear=1521+Washington+Ave,+St+Louis,+Missouri+63103&gl=us&t=m&z=14

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Tuesday, 15 January 2013 13:15 As Obama’s Anti-gun Agenda Emerges, Republican Threatens Impeachment!

Hello;


The White House task force led by Vice President Joe Biden (shown) unveiled some of its proposals to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms Tuesday, a plot that critics say would lay the framework for gun registration and eventual confiscation. Among other schemes, the Obama administration is plotting to adopt almost 20 “executive orders” on gun control while pushing for more draconian legislation, drawing a prompt and fierce rebuke from advocates of the Second Amendment. One Republican in Congress is even threatening to file articles of impeachment. 

According to news reports citing Democrat lawmakers, Obama plans to impose a wide range of controversial measures by executive fiat. In other words, because Congress is unlikely to help assault gun rights at this point — even some Democrats have called his proposals “very extreme” — the president plans to pursue his anti-Second Amendment agenda by issuing unconstitutional decrees. Critics in Congress and in state governments nationwide, however, contend that such lawlessness would be unacceptable.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), for example, warned that if Obama tried to adopt gun control by executive order, Congress could be forced to consider impeachment. “The very purpose of the Second Amendment is to stop the government from disallowing people the means to defend themselves against tyranny,” he explained. “Any proposal to abuse executive power and infringe upon gun rights must be repelled with the stiffest legislative force possible."

Obama's threats are literally an assault on the foundation of America, Stockman continued. “If the president is allowed to suspend constitutional rights on his own personal whims, our free republic has effectively ceased to exist,” he said Monday. "I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment.”

Lawmakers in Wyoming, meanwhile, are considering a bill that would nullify any unconstitutional gun control efforts within the state — registration schemes as well as restrictions on types of guns or magazines would all be covered. Any federal official attempting to enforce such measures would be committing a felony and could be imprisoned for up to five years. The legislation is expected to pass.

Texas and other states are set to consider similar legislation, and support for nullification is spreading across the country like wildfire. At the same time, local law enforcement officials — sheriffs, police chiefs, state attorney generals — are also promising to protect gun rights in their jurisdictions. Citizens, meanwhile, are openly advocating mass civil disobedience to resist any further infringements.  

Still, Obama is not backing down. Everything from ordering state governments and federal agencies to provide more information for federal databases to unlawfully trying to track firearm sales is on the president’s “executive” agenda, according to new reports. “How we are gathering data, for example, on guns that fall into the hands of criminals, and how we track that more effectively — there may be some steps that we can take administratively as opposed to through legislation,” Obama said on Monday.

Federal law and the Second Amendment, of course, prohibit any effort to register or track weapons. However, experts and gun rights activists say the administration has increasingly been trying to get around the legal prohibition by forcing gun dealers to hand over their records, for example, and that all such lawless efforts must be fiercely opposed. 

“This is a game the anti-gun zealots have played before: They threaten to kill the Second Amendment, and then negotiate their way back to ‘merely’ eviscerating it. Or put another way, they threaten to shoot us in the head to get us to agree to cutting off our fingers,” Gun Owners of America said in an e-mail to supporters asking them to contact their elected officials about the administration’s controversial plan. “The only way that America’s gun owners are going to have peace over the next decade is to stop all gun control — as we did after Columbine — and then defeat compromising legislators running for reelection in 2014.”

Also on the “executive action” agenda is appointing a director to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, which has been without a permanent boss for some six years now. However, lawmakers are already under intense pressure to abolish the anti-gun ATF, or at least slash its budget — especially after the Justice Department agency was caught trafficking heavy weapons to certain Mexican drug cartels under operation Fast and Furious. Disgraced Attorney General Eric Holder has already been held in criminal contempt by Congress for his ham-handed coverup and outright lies about the scandal

"The House of Representatives should slash the budget of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or simply eliminate the agency," gun rights expert and former National Rifle Association editor John Snyder told the Law Enforcement Examiner. "This would be a good first step as sensible U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators work to curtail expenditure of the irresponsible federal establishment."

Judging from news reports, numerous other unconstitutional measures are also being planned by the Obama administration. Much of Obama’s rule-by-decree plot on guns remains a mystery, however, with the president saying he would review Biden’s proposals and make concrete proposals later in the week. Still, some Democrat lawmakers who have worked with the administration’s anti-gun “task force” have offered clues as to what sort of measures will be pursued.  

"We met with the vice president yesterday, and the vice president said we need a comprehensive package to put an end or help put an end to the gun violence," Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who chaired the Democrat “gun task force” that met with Biden, told CNN in an interview. "Congress is going to be important. It's going to be a cooperative effort with the two branches of government." Separately, Rep. Thompson said a ban on semi-automatic weapons and standard-capacity magazines would be a centerpiece of the president’s efforts. 

Beyond the “executive order” assault on the Second Amendment, Obama is also planning to lobby lawmakers to support highly controversial legislation. One of the highest priorities, for example, is to reinstate an even more draconian version of the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban,” which expired in 2004. The latest bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would purport to ban 120 types of guns and standard-capacity magazines while creating a federal database of firearm owners complete with fingerprints. Critics, however, have vowed to resist, pointing out that historically, registration general precedes confiscation.

Another high priority for anti-gun rights forces in Washington, D.C., is the implementation of “universal background checks.” Such a measure would purport to ban all private firearm sales that did not keep the federal government in the loop, and would represent a direct assault on the long American tradition of gun shows. Gun rights activists also worry that it would be used to compile a federal database of all firearm owners for potential future confiscation.  

Before announcing the wide-ranging assault on the right to keep and bear arms, Biden held a series of high-profile meetings with anti-gun zealots of various varieties to discuss different proposals — supposedly to address what the administration’s public relations team dubbed “gun violence.” Unsurprisingly, the NRA was invited to meet with the “task force” as a sort of “token” gesture for gun rights activists. The powerful organization, however, refused to play along. 

“We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment,” the NRA said in a statement after the meeting. “While claiming that no policy proposals would be ‘prejudged,’ this Task Force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners — honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans.”

“It is unfortunate that this Administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation's most pressing problems,” said the group, which has more than four million members and deep pockets. “We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen. Instead, we will now take our commitment and meaningful contributions to members of congress of both parties who are interested in having an honest conversation about what works — and what does not.”

Of course, Obama knows he will have a tough time pushing his unconstitutional agenda through Congress — even RINOs and some Democrats have promised to stand up for gun rights. "Will all of them get through this Congress? I don't know," the president admitted on Monday, referring to his proposals. "But what's uppermost in my mind is making sure that I'm honest with the American people and members of Congress about what I think will work, what I think is something that will make a difference."

None of the measures currently being discussed would have had any effect in the Newtown massacre. However, critics of the administration’s anti-gun agenda say the proposals have little to do with preventing violence anyway — instead, they are aimed at ultimately disarming law-abiding Americans. With outrage continuing to mount and mass resistance already building, though, it appears, for now at least, that Obama’s assault on the Second Amendment will be a tough sell.

New York approves tough gun control law

New York approves tough gun control law
Published: 15 January, 2013, 21:05
AFP Photo / Karen Bleier
AFP Photo / Karen Bleier
New York is expected to pass gun control legislation Tuesday that bans military-style rifles and imposes tighter restrictions on ammunition. The bill also brings forth new requirements that will keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
The bipartisan measure was passed 43-18 by the New York Senate and is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Assembly early Tuesday afternoon. The measure would be the first gun control bill to pass since the gun massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., which left 26 people dead, 20 of which were first grade children.
“This is a scourge on society,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday night about the shooting. “At what point do you say, ‘No more innocent loss of life.’”
In an attempt to reduce gun violence – especially mass shootings – New York legislators have been working together to impose greater restrictions on the sale of deadly weapons. The new bill further restricts assault weapons by defining them based on a single feature, rather than two features. Under current state law, assault weapons are defined based on having two “military rifle” features, such as a muzzle flash suppressor, a bayonet mount, a pistol grip, or a folding stock. By reducing the qualifications to only one feature, more guns would be considered “assault weapons” and would therefore subject potential buyers to tighter background checks.
New Yorkers would no longer be able to buy assault weapons over the Internet, would be subjected to a background check in order to make a purchase from a private dealer, and would be charged with a misdemeanor for failure to store their weapon safely.
“This is not about taking anyone’s rights away,” said Bronx Sen. Jeffrey Klein. “It’s about a safe society … today we are setting the mark for the rest of the country to do what’s right.”
The new provision also mandates a police registry of all assault weapons. Current owners will be required by law to register such weapons. New York would enter all information into a statewide gun registry, altering the current system in which each county or municipality sets its own standard.
New Yorkers will also be limited to purchasing magazines that carry seven bullets, which is a reduction from the current limit of 10.
To reduce the chance of the mentally ill acquiring weapons, therapists who believe their patients might have intentions to use a gun illegally will be required by law to report this to their mental health director, who will then report it to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services.
Additionally, penalties for gun crimes will be more severe than in the past. Taking a gun to a school, for example, would result in higher sentencing than previously.
Some opponents of tighter gun control regulations believe these measures are unnecessary and in some cases, unconstitutional.
“We have taken an entire category of firearms that are currently legal in the homes of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. … We are now turning those law-abiding citizens into criminals,” said New York Sen. Greg Ball.
But Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island believes the bill’s restrictions will only make the country safer without violating any rights.
“It is well-balanced, it protects the Second Amendment,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has created a gun control proposal that is also expected to soon pass the state legislature.
“There is a sickness in our country. That sickness is gun violence,” O’Malley said Monday at a gun violence summit at Johns Hopkins University. “Perhaps there is no way to completely prevent the next Newtown tragedy. But then again, perhaps there is. None of us can predict the future… And, yet, we know every life is valuable.”
Like Cuomo, O’Malley plans to ban military-style “assault weapons” and limit the size of permitted gun magazines. He would also require tighter background checks and take steps to prevent guns from landing in the hands of the mentally ill.
The two governors have been leading figures in the post-Newtown gun control debate. While New York will most likely become the first in the nation to adopt tighter regulations after last month’s deadly massacre, other states may soon follow in Cuomo’s footsteps

Monday, January 14, 2013

TYPES OFGOVERNMENTS

                                                 TYPES OF GOVERNMENT


Governments can be classified into several types. Some of the more common types of governments are:
1. Democracy
The word "democracy" literally means "rule by the people." In a democracy, the people govern.
2. Republic  
A literal democracy is impossible in a political system containing more than a few people. All "democracies" are really republics. In a republic, the people elect representatives to make and enforce laws.
3. Monarchy
A monarchy consists of rule by a king or queen. Sometimes a king is called an "emperor," especially if there is a large empire, such as China before 1911. There are no large monarchies today. The United Kingdom, which has a queen, is really a republic because the queen has virtually no political power.
4. Aristocracy
An aristocracy is rule by the aristocrats. Aristocrats are typically wealthy, educated people. Many monarchies have really been ruled by aristocrats. Today, typically, the term "aristocracy" is used negatively to accuse a republic of being dominated by rich people, such as saying, "The United States has become an aristocracy."
5. Dictatorship
A dictatorship consists of rule by one person or a group of people. Very few dictators admit they are dictators; they almost always claim to be leaders of democracies. The dictator may be one person, such as Castro in Cuba or Hitler in Germany, or a group of people, such as the Communist Party in China.
6. Democratic Republic
 
Usually, a "democratic republic" is not democratic and is not a republic. A government that officially calls itself a "democratic republic" is usually a dictatorship. Communist dictatorships have been especially prone to use this term. For example, the official name of North Vietnam was "The Democratic Republic of Vietnam." China uses a variant, "The People's Republic of China."

168 Killed In Drone Strike

Hello:
Do not get me wrong what happened at sandy hook was an terrible tragedy.  As our commander and chef shedding a fake tear over the kids that lost there lives, because of probably something that was planed from the get go.  There are things that people never here from main stream news because there is an attack on our 2nd amendment.  Fast and Furious for one,  but lets get on to the main subject I am here to bring you news not many people here about, There are drones every day flying over our country right now violating our privacy, I think that is in the Constitution as well, but if we ban our guns the thugs will always have them, and the honest people of this world will be at the mercy of the GOV and the thugs, "one in the same."  So I say lets out law the drones that kill hundreds, and or thousands of kids every day.  If you have a comment add it up.. 

 168 children killed in drone strikes in Pakistan since start of campaign

As many as 168 children have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan during the past seven years as the CIA has intensified its secret programme against militants along the Afghan border.

A boy stands at the site of suspected U.S. drone attacks in the Janikhel tribal area in Bannu district of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, November 19, 2008
A boy stands at the site of suspected U.S. drone attacks in the Janikhel tribal area in Bannu district of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, November 19, 2008 Photo: REUTERS
In an extensive analysis of open-source documents, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that 2,292 people had been killed by US missiles, including as many as 775 civilians.
The strikes, which began under President George W Bush but have since accelerated during the presidency of Barack Obama, are hated in Pakistan, where families live in fear of the bright specks that appear to hover in the sky overhead.
In just a single attack on a madrassah in 2006 up to 69 children lost their lives.
Chris Woods, who led the research, said the detailed database of deaths would send shockwaves through Pakistan, where political and military leaders repeatedly denounce the strikes in public, while privately allowing the US to continue.
"This is a military campaign run by a secret service which raised problems of accountability, transparency and you have a situation where neither the Pakistanis nor Americans are clear about any agreements in place and where the reporting is difficult," he said.
"All of this means that when things go wrong there is simply no redress for the families of those who have been mistakenly killed."
The research, culled from more than 2,000 news reports, leaked documents and witness statements, show how the drones gradually moved from a rarely used tool, beginning with a single strike in 2004, to a frontline weapon of war.
Notable successes include the death of Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistan Taliban, in 2009. Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior al-Qaeda figure viewed as a possible successor to Osama bin Laden, is believed to have died in a drone strike in June.
However, under President Obama the strikes have been used to target low-level foot soldiers as well as senior commanders.
Today the attacks are running at a rate of one every four days, mostly centred on North Waziristan from where members of the Haqqani network launch cross-border attacks on international forces in eastern Afghanistan.
With Pakistan so far unwilling to bow to US pressure to launch a military offensive against the bases and with Islamabad ruling out any suggestion that American troops be deployed, that leaves the CIA's drones, said Imtiaz Gul, an analyst who has written extensively on the region.
At the same time, he added, they mean a president elected on a manifesto promising to close Guantanamo Bay does not have hundreds more detainees to process.
"As long as these peoples sit in jails they remain a problem, a living liability, so there seems to be a drive to kill them," said Mr Gul.
Human rights campaigners have long argued that drones represent extra-judicial killings.
Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director of Amnesty International, said: "The Obama administration must explain the legal basis for drone strikes in Pakistan to avoid the perception that it acts with impunity.
"The Pakistan government must also ensure accountability for indiscriminate killing, in violation of international law, that occurs inside Pakistan." The US refuses to acknowledge the existence of its drones programme.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment.

Thanks;
White Rabbit 




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8695679/168-children-killed-in-drone-strikes-in-Pakistan-since-start-of-campaign.html

What government fears most: blacks and whites united with guns



http://gan.doubleclick.net/gan_click?lid=41000613802464057&pubid=21000000000613445
Jan,14,2013

In 1969, William Kunstler, the famous radical-left lawyer, gave a speech in Oakland, California, to the black community. In his concluding remarks, he reminded the audience that the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was the full name of the Panthers.

Kunstler, speaking "both as a lawyer and a human being," affirmed the legality of armed self-defense against brutal actions by the white police.

"It is most important to secure your community...If you have the power to defend yourself by weapons that are legal...what I'm advising here is perfectly legal...you must stand ready...to protect yourself...your lives...your property..."

Why is that need for self-defense any different from, say, white ranchers living in border states where Mexican drug gangs are setting up powerful outposts on American soil?

The government wants no one to make the connection, to see the common cause.

No one must believe that, when citizens, black or white or Latino or Asian, are under threat from criminals of ANY skin color, they have the right to armed self-defense.

If all Americans perceived this common need, regardless of circumstances or the skin-tone of the particular criminals who constitute a threat, then all people would stand together.

Here are the words of conservative author, Ann Coulter, who is reviled by the progressive Left. She is writing about Robert Williams, a black man who understood the value and role of guns.

"A World War II Marine veteran, Williams returned home to Monroe, N.C., to find the [Ku Klux] Klan riding high -- beating, lynching and murdering blacks at will. No one would join the NAACP for fear of Klan reprisals. Williams became president of the local chapter and increased membership from six to more than 200.

"But it was not until he got a charter from the NRA in 1957 and founded the Black Armed Guard that the Klan got their comeuppance in Monroe.

"Williams' repeated thwarting of violent Klan attacks is described in his stirring book, 'Negroes With Guns.' In one crucial battle, the Klan sieged the home of a black physician and his wife, but Williams and his Black Armed Guard stood sentry and repelled the larger, cowardly force. And that was the end of it.

"As the Klan found out, it's not so much fun when the rabbit's got the gun.

"...In the preface to 'Negroes With Guns,' Williams writes: 'I have asserted the right of Negroes to meet the violence of the Ku Klux Klan by armed self-defense -- and have acted on it. It has always been an accepted right of Americans, as the history of our Western states proves, that where the law is unable, or unwilling, to enforce order, the citizens can, and must act in self-defense against lawless violence.'"

AS THE HISTORY OF OUR WESTERN STATES PROVES.

Williams had no problem linking the rights of honorable armed white people and honorable armed black people.

All this sets the stage for understanding the true agenda of the federal government:

use any and all means to convince black, white, and Latino communities that their needs for self-defense are separate and even opposed;

use any and all means to set white, black, and Latino communities against each other;

use any and all means to create and sustain and expand a black, white, and Latino underclass, whose vast dependence on government precludes the awareness that self-sufficient armed defense against criminals is good and right. Instead, all public safety must hinge on government law-enforcement personnel.

With these agenda items in place, the government then proceeds to capitalize on (or covertly launch) horrific gun murders that arouse the sentiment of the controlled press and public against gun ownership.

The government is banking on the effectiveness of its program. No matter who defends himself against criminals, when different skin colors are involved, the incident will be played up as race against race, and never as an armed citizen stopping a criminal.

As part of of this agenda, white people must always perceive a black person with a gun as a threat, and vice versa.

White people must never believe there is a black person with a gun who wants to defend himself against a black criminal.

Black people must never believe there is a white person with a gun who wants to defend himself against a white criminal.

Blacks, whites, and Latinos must never stand together, armed.

Of course, if you wanted to dig below the surface of ANY community in America, you would find people who want to stop crime and make their streets safe. And, crucially, these people do not care what race the criminals are. If these good people ever met each other and spoke, they would immediately discover common ground.

Meanwhile, heinous race hustlers, on all sides, promote their own careers, which are always and forever about race and nothing else. These people are covert agents. They try to destroy the possibility of common cause among people of different skin colors who want guns for righteous self-defense.

The government, through its policy of fostering complete dependence among the poor, attempts to give the impression to the rest of the country that the idea of arming these people would open the door to unlimited crime.

This presupposes that no new fearless leaders arise from within any poor community. No new Robert Williams comes to take the reins of the future and speak the truth.

If Robert William lived today, do you think we would let black gangs off the hook? If you do, you're utterly brainwashed.

Instead, the media give us Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and other such voices, wall to wall. We get Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama and Joe Biden and a smooth-talking idiot child of King George on CNN. We get Bloomberg and Schumer.

For the last 30 years, working as a reporter, I have encountered many venal scumbags on both the political left and right, who do everything in their power to freeze the body politic into a trance in the "middle," so that people who venture far enough to the right and left do not meet, behind the barn.

Because you see, under natural and unimpeded conditions, that's exactly where they would meet. Black people, white people, brown people, yellow people, all shades.

People on the left discover that the big and warm and giving government they love for its charity is actually an android juggernaut of control. People on the right, who want limited government, discover they want those limits to be so severe the whole stinking mess of federal power should be dismantled down to its shoelaces.

And around the back of the barn, these people blink and look at each other. And, after the shock wears off, they wake up. They realize they are in a most fortunate place.

They begin to talk. The programmatic Marxist bullshit goes down the drain. The programmatic conservative bullshit-of-privilege goes down the drain.

The common ground they find is: decentralization of power.

Nullification, through all available means, of overweening illegitimate coercion.

Freedom.

And among those freedoms? The right to bear arms.

For all the right reasons.

Why do you think the American thug culture has been promoted ceaselessly? I'm talking about a culture that lives on Wall Street as well as in the streets of Detroit. Because by licensing that culture, the government ushers in a self-fulfilling prophecy: give any of these people more power, whether it comes in the form of a legal channel to trade trash and call it investment, or in the form of greater access to guns, and the results will be catastrophic.

THEREFORE, to complete the government argument, federal force must be the single ultimate arbiter, decider, and enforcer of public safety and protection.

No one else can be trusted to do the job..

This is, under any name, fascism. Rigged, promoted, staged, asserted, levied, stolen, and killed for, when necessary.

In 1969, the same year that William Kunstler was addressing the black community in Oakland, Karl Hess, a former-speechwriter-turned-libertarian, who had drifted around behind the barn, away from the Republican Party, wrote this:

"It must be recognized that there now exists in this land of liberty virtually every institution of state power necessary to totalitarianism with the possible exception of a national police force."

Hess died eight years before the federal government created the Department of Homeland Security.

If good men and women of every skin color come to the aid of their country, by standing together against criminals of every stripe, by declaring their own right to bear arms, this will be a different and better place.

It won't be what the federal government wants, and it won't be what great numbers of pussified and brainwashed citizens want. That's called a clue. It's a clue about where you should stand.

Here is what centralized power in Washington is counting on (and is working to make true):

things have gone too far already;

the enmities between the races have been fueled to the point where available guns mean open conflict;

the voices of good citizens who want to make their own streets safe have been drowned out;

media mind-control agents will succeed, under the false banner of "saving innocent lives," in convincing the American people that they should let trained professionals do all the heavy lifting;

the public will buy the idea that no private citizen knows how to act responsibly with a gun;

black is for black and white is for white, and there are no sane people left who can find common cause.

All this is called democracy.