WALKERTON, Ind. (AP) – A northern Indiana pizzeria that closed after its owner supported Indiana’s religious objections law has reopened.

Memories Pizza owner Kevin O’Connor says he reopened about 4 p.m. Thursday. He says that within an hour, all eight tables were filled and six people were waiting for carryout orders. There were no protests as of 7 p.m.

O’Connor faced criticism after he and his daughter, Crystal, said they would never deny service to a gay customer but would decline to cater a same-sex wedding because it would conflict with their Christian beliefs. Protests led them to close the Walkerton pizzeria about 20 miles southwest of South Bend.

O’Connor says he’ll use some of his share of more than $842,000 raised online to make improvements. He also plans to donate to charity.  (link)

Powerline Blog makes the point we find ourselves drawing repeated attention to.

By now everyone is familiar with the media narrative claiming the Republican party is shrinking. According to the talking points – conservative beliefs are now only held by a narrow party of old white people and no longer relevant.

However, just because our side sucks at pointing out the obvious, *cough* SEE MAP *cough*, doesn’t mean the obvious is not evident or correct; we just don’t have good candidates and pundits that can highlight the obvious and talk about it.

However, we do have great grassroots advocates who know how to assemble the truth and make splodey heads.  Good people like John Hinderaker can highlight it – READ HERE

Within 24 hours of announcing his presidential bid the cable media machine (MSNBC, CNN, NBC et al) is labeling Rand Paul as “sexist”, “thin skinned”, “quick tempered”, and “unstable”…..

https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/585969415629377537

…. here’s a few examples.

(more…)

Otis Byrd was the guy found in Mississippi hanging from a tree. The media machine was initially thrilled at the thought of a black victim hanged in Mississippi…. Oh the stories they were ready to sell. Alas, the initial DOJ investigation showed he committed suicide – rats!

(Via Clarion Ledger) The Byrd family’s attorney has enlisted Dr. Michael Baden, who conducted an autopsy on Michael Brown, to do an independent investigation into Otis Byrd’s hanging death.

The family of a man found hanging from a tree in March does not believe he committed suicide, they announced through their legal counsel Wednesday afternoon.

Otis Byrd, 54, was found March 19 hanging by a bed sheet from a tree not far from his residence in Claiborne County after having been missing for over two weeks. Local authorities called in the FBI after finding his body.

Authorities have said evidence doesn’t suggest foul play, but the results of an autopsy have not been made public. The FBI says it has discussed the autopsy results with the family but the family’s attorneys, Sweet and Associates, disagrees. (more…)

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and Police Chief Eddie Driggers gave a press conference today in the shooting of Walter Scott. The local audience was very angry, and protesters interrupted the questioning frequently.

• The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has now taken over the investigation. • Police Chief Driggers stated that no other police officer other than the shooting officer Michael Slager witnessed the immediate event. • Officer Slager has been fired and arrested on a murder charge.  • Officer Slager’s wife is 8 months pregnant.

• Mayor Keith Summey stated that immediately body cameras would be ordered and initiated for use on all police officers.   • Both Summey and Driggers, together with a Chaplain met with the family of the victim Walter Scott this morning. • Mayor Summey states there is more video than has been made public.  • Coroner reports Walter Scott received multiple gunshot wounds to his back – cause of death ‘homicide’.

All of the usual media suspects -those who advocate for a specific narrative- are working the story diligently as they begin the process of fueling anger in the local community and push a larger victim narrative into the national coverage.  The arrival of outside agitators should be anticipated within the next 12 to 24 hours.  (more…)

Two judicial rulings yesterday, one in Obama’s favor and one against. However, the ruling released late last night shows a crafty piece of judicial chess.

The first ruling yesterday was a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Mississippi VS DHS (more here). The 5th circuit ruled against the State of Mississippi, and in favor of the Obama DOJ, by essentially ruling the State failed to prove a burden of harm.

The second aspect inherent within the same 5th CCA ruling disregarded concerns of ICE/DHS retaliation -against border patrol enforcement- by asserting DHS rules forbid the retaliation; ergo the concerns were unfounded.

In the second issue, the ICE agents’ argument that they would receive retribution if they detained an illegal immigrant eligible for DACA, the court sided with ICE and DHS referencing handbooks and rules which forbid the administration from retribution.  (link)

However, in the second case, the ruling late last night, Texas vs DHS, under the authority of Judge Andrew Hanen, the expanded Obama Executive Action was blocked from implementation in February.

Judge Hanen issued an emergency injunction stopping the expanded deferment authorization as  outlined in President Obama’s November 2014 executive action.

Since the initial ruling the DOJ was now arguing for a lifting of that injunction, and Judge Hanen was having none of it.

A significant statement from Judge Hanen toward the DOJ attorneys was his admonishment for their prior misrepresentations to the court regarding implementation taking place.  The DOJ had previously stated in court that DHS was not implementing the new “expanded executive action” yet, and any injunction would stop any adverse action.

It was later discovered –by an admission to the court– that DHS had, in actuality, already begun to implement the November “executive action”. Judge Hanen was understandably angered by the misrepresentation. (more…)

In an irony befitting only a rabid President Obama supporter, the USPS is releasing a stamp to honor Maya Angelou. The only problem is the quote accompanying the image of Mrs. Angelou is not actually hers – it’s a fraud.

The stamp features the quote: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Apparently the USPS was trying to highlight a 1969 book authored by Angelou titled “I know why the caged bird sings“.

But the actual quote does not belong to Angelou. The quotation on the stamp is from “A Cup of Sun”, a 1967 poetry collection by children’s author Joan Walsh Anglund. When Anglund was contacted by the Washington Post she admitted the quotation was actually from her own writing, and not from Maya Angelou. (more…)

A very interesting exchange during the White House prayer breakfast. [Video @:30] President Obama veers off prepared remarks and begins to malign Christians. Someone in the audience notices and quickly says something catching the President’s attention and interrupting his delivery.

(Transcript via Mediaite) “On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love,” Obama said. “And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned.” As the crowd began to murmur, the president backed off, saying, “But that’s a topic for another day.”

“I was about to veer off,” he explained. “I’m pulling it back.”

The Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against an Obama administration DACA program – delaying deportations of illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as children. This is a different case than the challenge as to whether President Obama’s expanded immigration executive actions can proceed.

In today’s decision the court ruled plaintiffs’, the state of Mississippi and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), did not provide enough evidence to prove they were harmed by the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that allows qualifying illegal immigrants to apply for work permits. (more…)

Dear Citizens of Kalifornia, Comrade Governor Jerry Brown has signed emergency power authority to control water use due to an excessive drought in the state.  Part of that alarming reality was an admission by Governor Brown that citizens would be fined heavily for taking too long a shower.

Many non-California readers responded to the news with questions about how California was going to be able to enforce the length of a shower, or the use of water within the construct of personal activity taking place in the privacy of a citizen’s home.

Today some clarity begins to emerge.

REPORTING YOUR NEIGHBOR! State implementing ways to report ur neighbor when water is wasted. #CBS13 @CBSSacramento pic.twitter.com/LjxVJmWToI

— ronjonesreports (@ronjonesreports) April 7, 2015

California is currently creating a program for neighbors to turn-in other neighbors who are deemed to be in violation of the State Water use emergency laws.  (more…)