WASHINGTON — An Oklahoma congressman said Monday that he will host Charles Woods, father of former Navy SEAL and Benghazi terrorist attack victim Ty Woods, at Tuesday’s State of the Union.

“As a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand the importance of knowing that America leaves no one behind. I am honored to host the father of a true hero,” Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Oklahoma Republican, said in a statement.

His office characterized the invite as a way to make sure the September 2012 attack in Libya “will not be forgotten” in the House chamber, where President Obama will deliver his speech.

Woods was one of four Americans killed that day, in what authorities have concluded was a terrorist assault on the U.S. diplomatic outpost and a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya. (read more)

COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — The gunman who killed two people at a Maryland mall was a teenage skateboarding enthusiast who had no criminal record before he showed up at the shopping center armed with a shotgun, plenty of ammunition and a backpack filled with crude homemade explosives, authorities said Sunday.  (link)

Huh?   “a teenage skateboarding enthusiast who had no criminal record“… boy, the media sure seems to be softening this…. gee, I wonder why?…. Hmmm, lemme think…

I wonder if now that he’s been identified you’ll see another story dropped like a hot potato?

Remember the Pennsylvania College shooting from 5 days ago?…  that story vaporized too once the shooter was ID’d.   I’m still trying to figure out what is it specifically about these shootings the media seems to downplay.   Maybe it’s just the media beginning to like guns; or NOT.

Following dramatic failures of the last two singles, “Share The Wealth” and “Income Inequality”, President Lip-Sync announces the catchy new single which has been typed into the teleprompter:

“Ladders of Opportunity”

Whether anyone buys it is yet to be determined – however, the media critics who have heard early snippets say: ‘it’s general sound is a remix heavy on the drum-beat’.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Income inequality is out, “ladders of opportunity” is in.

Eager to dispel claims that President Barack Obama is engaging in “class warfare” as he heads into his State of the Union address next week, the White House is de-emphasizing phrases focusing on economic disparity and turning instead to messages about creating paths of opportunity for the poor and middle class. (more…)

I keep wondering why we are not seeing this story in our U.S. broadcast media – the potential cinematography is prime for interest ?  ….In a scene that veered from primeval to apocalyptic, demonstrators used sticks to hit barrels and sheets of metal, creating a savage drumbeat as a backdrop, while billows of smoke rose from piles of burning car tires….

KIEV, Ukraine — With President Viktor F. Yanukovych and antigovernment demonstrators at an impasse here, a cease-fire disintegrated on Friday night as the Ukrainian capital convulsed in renewed violence and fire bombs lit up the night sky.

Civil unrest spread across the country earlier on Friday as protesters laid siege to government buildings in at least nine other cities — occupying some and thronging outside others. (more…)

Nothing for nothing, but at a certain point you just gotta say George Zimmerman is stuck on an escalator built like an Escher Staircase.    Current Destination – Hateville.    

Get a flipping grip world – it’s a painting.   Get that?  

A Painting !

(Via Daily Mail)  George Zimmerman’s recent foray into the art  world hasn’t exactly earned him much critical praise. But it’s definitely  garnered him some attention – so much so that it could potentially get him sued  by one of the largest news-wire services on earth.

For his latest painting, the man acquitted of  murder in the shooting death of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin has painted  a portrait of Florida State Attorney General Angela Corey, who is the woman who  decided to charge Zimmerman with murder in Martin’s death. (more…)

NEW JERSEY – According to a new study by Dr. Sarah Arnett of the Government Accountability Office that measures the fiscal health of the fifty states in four categories, New Jersey ranks dead last in both annual budget and long-term solvency. The state’s poor performance in all four categories earned it the worst ranking of all fifty states in overall fiscal health.

Arnett’s report examines the health of each state according to four solvency categories: cash solvency, budget solvency, long-run solvency, and service-level solvency. (See definitions below.) (more…)

…“Another way of putting it, I guess, is that the issue has been the inability of my message to penetrate the Republican base so that they feel persuaded that I’m not the caricature that you see on Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, but I’m somebody who is interested in solving problems and is pretty practical, and that, actually, a lot of the things that we’ve put in place worked better than people might think”…   – President Barack Obama (New Yorker Interview)

It just couldn’t be possible the message itself is what people are opposed to…. Nah, the message is too wonderful.   The problem must be, it just has to be, that it’s just not reaching them.   After all, to accept any other consideration would be to accept that other people’s ideas actually have merit for debate….

We simply just can’t have any of that.

Ugh.

Color me not shocked.  After the fiasco in New York last year I’m actually surprised it took this long for a bunch of pontificating progs to go in this direction….

(Via Fox News)  A national newspaper chain with nearly 100 publications and 1.6 million readers is considering building “state-by-state databases” on concealed weapons permit holders, according to an internal e-mail.

The plan, laid out in an email from a top editor at North Carolina-based Civitas Media, could be similar to a controversial project a New York state newspaper carried out in 2012 which included an online map that identified gun owners in two counties by name and address. Civitas’ database project was detailed the plan in a Jan. 19 e-mail to newsrooms in 11 states, including Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

“The second project examines the explosion of ‘conceal and carry’ gun permits across the U.S.,” wrote Jim Lawitz, Civitas’ director of content, in an e-mail first obtained by the Buckeye Firearms Association. “Through public records act requests, we will attempt to build state-by-state databases that list those who have the right to carry a concealed weapon.”  (read more)

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviewing Congresswoman Jane Harmon about a recent NSA review board determination. The report concluded the NSA collection raises “constitutional concerns” with regard to U.S. citizens’ rights of speech, association and privacy.

Congresswoman Harmon along with numerous representatives from both sides of the political spectrum are highly concerned. The NSA surveillance program is at the top of current concerns for 70%+ of Americans….   Now watch:

#1   –  Federal prosecutors are now in New Jersey conducting a preliminary inquiry into accusations that aides to Gov. Chris Christie shut down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution.  And have issued grand jury subpoenas to Mr. Christie’s re-election campaign and to the state Republican Party, the lawyer for the campaign and the party said Thursday.   (link)

#2  –   Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative commentator, best-selling author and the director of the anti-Obama film “2016: Obama’s America” was indicted by a federal court today. The movie, the second highest domestic grossing political documentary in the United States since 1982, was a huge success before the 2012 elections.  Indicted by a federal grand jury for arranging excessive campaign contributions to a candidate for the U.S. Senate.   According to an indictment made public on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, D’Souza around August 2012 reimbursed people who he had directed to contribute $20,000 to the candidate’s campaign. The candidate was not named in the indictment.  (link)

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