Update 2:  Two More arrests.   In addition to original 52-year-old suspect Ariel Castro – (suspect photo below) Police are now reporting that his two brothers have also been arrested.

•Amanda Berry went missing in 2003 when she was 16-years-old
•Gina DeJesus disappeared when she was 14-years-old in 2004
•Michelle Knight disappeared in 2002 when she was 20-years-old

•All three women kidnapped on the same busy Cleveland block (link)
•All three of the women were found alive in a Cleveland home and are now being treated at a local hospital
•The 52-year-old man who owns the house has been arrested and is in police custody – Neighbors STUNNED !!
•The women had a girl with them, thought to be about 3-years-old

Amanda Berry is pictured center being reunited with her sister.  (link)

Backstory – Three girls who went missing a decade ago have been found alive after they were kept in the dungeon of a Cleveland, Ohio home. Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were found alive on Monday inside a house alongside a third woman identified as Michelle Knight. A 52-year-old man named Ariel Castro and his two brothers have been arrested and are in police custody in connection to the case.

Amazing video with man, Charles Ramsey, who aided their rescue below. (more…)

[…] The lights in the arena went dark as the  marquee flashed an introduction for the guest.

‘By now you know his inspirational story,’  it said.

‘His perseverance in the face of great  adversity represents all that is Boston Strong.’ (more…)

A fitting tribute today to memorialize the lost lives from the West Texas fertilizer plan explosion last week.   Thankfully President Obama attended the service and represented our nation in sending a nation’s prayers.

I’ll bust his chops when President Obama selfishly manuevers his activity based on ideological advancement;  But he should also be praised on this one for a fitting tribute to an American community in painful grief.   Well done Mr. President – and Thank You.

TEXAS –  President Barack Obama told mourners at an  emotional memorial service for victims of a Texas plant explosion that their  community is not alone at this time of great tragedy.

With a dozen flag-draped coffins of before  him, Obama said: ‘We’re neighbors too. We’re American too, we stand with you and  we do not forget.’ (more…)

Hat Tip WeaselZippers:   DUBAI –  An off-duty U.S. navy sailor wrestled a Dubai bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he tried to rape her at knifepoint on Jan. 19, a courtroom heard Wednesday.

The woman, 28, was on 24-hour shore leave in Dubai when she was attacked by a bus driver after he picked her up from the Mall of the Emirates shopping center.

“I noticed he did not take the main road and when I asked him he told me not to worry,” she said, according to the Daily Mail. (more…)

– Today seems a fitting day to review this again –

One of the frustrating realities of our polarized time is the media creating a skewed and left leaning view of all things political. However, even with this headwind, each day many more people choose to engage in and honest discovery and understanding of what’s going on. Whether because they stumble upon a concern, or whether they happen across some information that makes them rethink their prior position and views, it can lead to an engagement with us from a perspective of their only reality view having been determined by the lens of the media.

Indeed that can be, and often is, an incredibly frustrating conversation because they bring an embedded and sometimes flawed bias into their narrative. One of the more common misunderstandings stems from the media hatred of George W Bush and his actions, aptly called Bush Derangement Syndrome (BSD).

What I want to do here is not change anyone’s mind, but rather to remind people what led to some of Dubya’s decisions in his own words.

I must first emphasize at the time of Dubya’s tenure in the White House I was not a supporter of many “Bush policies”, however, I did understand his reasoning.

Sometimes research into “why” was needed to understand this reasoning, but there were valid reasons nonetheless. It is unfair for the liberal media, or for any Johnny-come-lately to re-write his motivation as illicit, it was not. In hindsight some of his policies and approaches may have been wrong, but it generally is unfair to look in the rear view mirror to judge. Again, at times it is important to stop the conversation, pause, and remind ourselves what was going on at the time. (more…)

Someone find this man, this police officer, and give him a huge hug from me.   Any time a servants heart is identified they should be warmly cherished – and – when you exit their company, they should know how appreciative you are.   That matters.

BPD Officer delivers milk to a family with young children in Watertown during the lockdown.. pic.twitter.com/qEpjpf80U0

— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) April 21, 2013

By Oleg Atbashian [Peoples Cube]  – It wasn’t just Margaret Thatcher’s steadfast economic and foreign policies that helped to defeat the Evil Empire and to bring down the Iron Curtain. She also changed hearts and minds — and this author, who grew up on the other side of the Iron Curtain, has a personal story to tell.

As many Soviet kids did in the 1970s and 1980s, I occasionally tuned my shortwave radio to Voice of America or the BBC Russian Service, hoping to hear their alternative take on world events and, if I was lucky, get the latest rock-music updates. One of the functions of the Iron Curtain was to keep us, the “builders of communism,” blissfully unaware of the outside world. All our news had to be processed by the state-run media filter and approved by the formidable censorship apparatus.
~
In contrast, foreign Russian-language radio broadcasts, courtesy of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, gave us unfiltered news and commentary. These programs were to the Soviets then what Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are for many Americans today — a gasp of fresh air for some, enemy propaganda for others, and an object of demonization for the official state-run media. (more…)

You can report on the crap….. or you can get up and do something about the crap while you are reporting about it….  And simultaneously beat the snot out of the enemy you fight – in this case “The Media”.

This picture is a prime example of how “our side” needs to get outside of the box and start doing things differently.    Here is the picture which has been shared on multiple sites reflecting the “silence of the shams”;  Media Shams:

Instead of reporting on the absence of reporting.   If they want to really ‘out media’ the media and simutaneously actually “push back” against that which they rail against;  Then why not use judo instead of karate?

What would be more effective?   Showcasing the absence – OR – filling the void?   What do you think would be the outcome if one one day a bunch of people walked in to fill these benches?   People like:  Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Jim Hoft, Matt Drudge, TEAM Breitbart,  Dana Loesch, Greta Van Sustern, Mike Huckabee, etc… etc….

….All of them, one-by-one- just walk in, and filled those benches. (more…)

They called her the Iron Lady, a woman of incredible strength, courage and steadfast determination.    Around the world she, along with President Ronald Reagan, held the beacon of freedom with incredible poise and brilliance.    RIP Baroness you will long be remembered and always admired.

(Via Daily Mail)  Thatcher died in the luxury suite at the Ritz  where she had spent months recuperating after an operation.

Britain’s first and only female prime  minister, who passed away peacefully at the age of 87 after suffering a massive  stroke, had checked into the five star hotel at the start of the year following  minor surgery on her bladder over Christmas.

While a close-knit circle of friends took it  in turns to visit the increasingly frail 87-year-old at the Belgravia hotel – a  long-time favorite of the former leader’s – it was a solitary start to what  would prove to be her final few months. (more…)

[Rec’d e-mail] The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment:

Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it.

The next day, the kids came back and, one by one, began to tell their stories. As you would expect there were all the regular types of moral stuff: Crying over spilled milk, pennies saved as pennies earned etc.

But then the teacher realized, much to her dismay, that she had missed Janie.

“Janie, do you have a story from your parents to share?” (more…)