Governing Ourselves
A bill that would effectively nullify in practice certain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that prevent terminally ill patients from accessing treatments was signed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott today.…
Does the Army expect that there will soon be “disaster stricken” areas all over the country? As you will see in this article, a job advertisement has been posted on a federal website seeking workers that “will provide emergency support to disaster stricken areas throughout the US“.…
This is the last post on this blog. I am leaving Sweden for good shortly, and will no longer be following its descent from what was once the third most prosperous country in the world. Frankly, it’s just too damn depressing. … When I was a child, Sweden was a dull yet very safe place to live. … Today, it’s as if the inmates are running the asylum.…
Najeeb Michael is a Dominican monk who used to live in the Iraqi city of Mosul. His days at the monastery were spent digitising rare historical manuscripts. Less than a year ago, as the Islamic State group was about to take over Mosul, Najeeb knew that these artefacts would be destroyed if they fell into the jihadists’ hands. He tells us how he managed to smuggle thousands of the precious documents out of the city before fleeing himself. Some of them are now on display in Paris.…
A former Luther [Oklahoma] city councilman has been arrested for ordering inmates to steal copper from Oklahoma County tornado sirens. …received nearly $160 …paid the inmates $120 …“Preliminary estimates to repair the sirens is $30,000…”
…Palmyra is one of a handful of places on the planet — along with Machu Picchu, Petra and the Taj Mahal — whose presence can't easily be conveyed through a camera lens. You don't get a proper sense of it from the Discovery Channel. You have to see the rosy pillars rising from the trackless desert for yourself.
The thought of those ancient remains under the sledgehammers of the jihadi iconoclasts is almost unbearable.…
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of a Tulsa woman who was denied a job at clothing chain Abercrombie Kids because she wore a Muslim headscarf to the job interview.
In an 8-1 decision, the court said civil rights law prohibited the retailer from using Samantha Elauf’s religion as a motivating factor in not hiring her.
A bill taking a step towards gold and silver as commonly-used legal tender in Texas passed in the state Senate today by an overwhelming 29-2 vote.
A group of Senate Democrats is urging the Obama administration to allow at least 65,000 Syrian refugees to settle inside the United States. … [Um… how about, No."
…inside the family’s 12th floor condo… sitting at her kitchen table breastfeeding her 15-month old daughter on Tuesday when she had a strange feeling… "of someone staring at me and I looked up and there was a robot staring at me…” hovered just a few feet from her window for about 15 seconds, flew away and then returned… she could see the lens on the drone. “It was staring straight at me…”
Google Inc should not have to remove an anti-Islamic film from its YouTube website because a woman complained that she was duped into performing in the film that depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a pedophile, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.…
…"Every one of our enemies, Russia, China, Cuba, Iran, everybody. They've hacked in to that unsecured server. She's totally compromised…. Russians… knew about Monica long before you did… needed 26 billion dollars… everybody was set against it… Clinton… transferred… 4.6 billion dollars in hard cash that disappeared. … The Muslim Brotherhood started penetrating our government starting in the 1960s. Today, they have been able to penetrate every national security and intelligence agency in our government. …
…2012 federal transportation bill designated Broadway and 7th Avenue [Times Square NYC] as federal highways… subject to the billboard limits… Federal officials say they are working with the city to try to find some way to keep they signs from having to be removed.
…After a four-month trial… prosecution and defence closed their cases on Wednesday.
The US government argued that the 21-year-old deserves to die because of the “heinous, cruel and depraved” way he brought carnage to the marathon finish line in the name of jihad. … Tsarnaev’s defence team countered that he was a naive teenager who followed his domineering older brother into terrorism but is now “genuinely sorry” and has “great potential for redemption”. …All twelve members of the jury must agree unanimously to impose a death sentence, meaning that any one juror can vote to save his life.hellip;
With the state facing a $611 million budget hole, more than 90 Oklahoma businesses, foundations and nonprofit agencies are asking the governor and Republican legislative leaders to halt a scheduled income tax cut. … from 5.25 percent to 5 percent, beginning Jan. 1 … The governor and legislative leaders have consistently said they have no plans to stop the tax cut from taking effect. …
[The budget should be balanced, but what would be best is to cut the income tax altogether and let the resultant influx of business boost the economy.
[They're only dri
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration… has formed an "alliance" with a "national social justice advocacy organization for transgender people" primarily to promote gender-appropriate restroom access. …part of a larger OSHA program to partner with groups "committed to worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses." …
…Egypt is formally charging both Obama and Hillary for conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood in the overthrow of their government.…
On Thursday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill to prohibit the state from implementing or enforcing federal gun “laws,” rules, regulations and orders that are contrary to the Tennessee state constitution.
…“We in the United States actually have freedom of religion, not freedom of worship,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Johnson yesterday during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing.
Lankford was referring to the department’s decision to include “freedom of worship” instead of “freedom of religion” as a basic American right listed in the civics test that all immigrants must take to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. …
The early bluebird of bitterness catches the cats at play.
Secretary of State John Kerry told his Iranian counterpart that he wished the United States had a leader more like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, according to comments made by a senior Iranian cleric and repeated in the country’s state-run media. …
U.S. Apartment Construction Soars While Home Ownership Tanks to 20-Yr Low
Covert scheme to cram us all into socialist cities and 'compact' America along Euro lines moving along briskly… [What ever happened to getting back to the land??]
…The U.S. Congress no longer passes most federal laws, rules, and regulations. Instead, about 99 percent of the rules we must live by issue from an army of unelected federal bureaucrats. Using a classic duck-and-dodge strategy, Congress routinely enacts legislation that purports to solve a genuine problem, but then delegates to these executive-branch bureaucrats the power to make the legally binding rules that determine the law’s real-world impact. It’s a brilliant plan; Congress gets all the credit for the popular goal and none of the blame for a regulation’s controversial—and expensive—particulars. …
A bill that would nullify in practice certain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that prevent terminally ill patients from accessing treatments was signed into law by Gov. Fallin today. Oklahoma is now the 15th state to pass such a bill into law.…
The bluebird of bitterness collects some cartoons for IRS pay day.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has signed a bill into law that creates significant roadblocks for implementation of the Affordable Care Act, leaving the federal program without an enforcement mechanism in the state.
…“Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you’re a victim. Just because you’re white doesn’t mean you’re a racist. Just because you’re a cop doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. This world really needs to stop putting labels on people and things and see them as who they are. People. Doing Jobs. Doing things. Ignorance has no color. God doesn’t see color. Why should we?”…
[This is great, a total non-news story. "Nothing happened." Life as it ought to be, unremarkably. Video, 2:10, Caleb Rechten, YouTube]
When identity politics intersect with liberal judicial activism, expect bizarre results.… Punishing criminals is a basic state function, and deciding how (and at what expense) to run prisons is a quintessential legislative judgment. As long as prisoners are adequately fed and housed and are not arbitrarily abused, it should be of no concern to a judge—and especially a federal judge—whether prisoners have access to color TV, air-conditioning, recreational facilities, or elective medical procedures. Serving a prison sentence is a punishment; it is not supposed to be enjoyable.
It is nonsensical to grant imprisoned convicted felons health-care “entitlements” that many law-abiding, hardworking taxpayers don’t enjoy. One hopes that the state appeals Judge Tigar’s unprecedented ruling. Unless resisted, jurismania will destroy popular sovereignty. …
Today, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill into law that not only restricts the state from seizing property without due process, but throws a wrench into federal efforts to do the same.…
The White House has denied the state’s request for assistance to aid individuals and businesses in the tornado stricken areas in Oklahoma, according to Governor Mary Fallin.…