(Via Chicao Tribune) Five years before he was shot to death in the failed terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, Nadir Soofi walked into a suburban Phoenix gun shop to buy a 9-millimeter pistol..

At the time, Lone Wolf Trading Co. was known among gun smugglers for selling illegal firearms. And with Soofi’s history of misdemeanor drug and assault charges, there was a chance his purchase might raise red flags in the federal screening process.

Inside the store, he fudged some facts on the form required of would-be gun buyers.

What Soofi could not have known was that Lone Wolf was at the center of a federal sting operation known as Fast and Furious, targeting Mexican drug lords and traffickers. The idea of the secret program was to allow Lone Wolf to sell illegal weapons to criminals and straw purchasers, and track the guns back to large smuggling networks and drug cartels. (read more)

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Orlando Florida holds the largest single geographic population of Puerto Rican ex-pats.

(Via Business Insider) Puerto Rico will miss a payment on debt due Aug. 1, the governor’s chief of staff said on Friday, an event that will be considered a default by investors as the commonwealth lurches towards what could be one of the largest U.S. municipal debt restructurings in history.

The missed payment will mark the first default by the commonwealth and shows the depth of the island’s economic and cashflow problems. Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla shocked investors in June when he said the island’s debt, totaling $72 billion, was unpayable and required restructuring.

According to a 2014 bond offering statement, Puerto Rico has never defaulted on the payment of principal or interest of debt. (more…)

Those were the words from Dr. Benjamin Franklin as he exited the Constitutional Convention in in 1787 while replying to Philadelphian Mrs. Powell’s question: “what form of government have you given us”?

Today I had a goal.  We have a Treeper family in need of prayer; a baby born – and a family in need of comfort.  So I settled affairs and drove to a quiet Catholic church where it is always comforting to light a candle and sit in prayer; good, strong deliberate prayer – chicken-soup-for-the-soul type prayer.

Upon exit of the chapel, a few feet past the entrance to the parking lot, I stumbled upon Sam Adams with a flat tire and a spare of little usefulness.

His name wasn’t really Sam Adams, but he held a seemingly gruff and independent disposition when I offered my assistance.

After curtly nodding no, something told me park and try again.

Alas, Sam was essentially correct; after quick review, there was nothing short of a trip to a tire shop that was going to solve the immediate crisis faced.  Obviously the viable solution rendered almost all aid offerings moot.  In the busyness of what we call life, most are not able to deliver 2 hours of solution at the drop of a hat.

Key word “most”.

Sam’s lucky day.

So off we go, useless wheel now in my trunk and Sam on his cell identifying the closest shop. (more…)

  Via Federalist – A federal judge late Friday granted a temporary restraining order against the release of recordings made at an annual meeting of abortion providers. The injunction is against the Center for Medical Progress, the group that has unveiled Planned Parenthood’s participation in the sale of organs harvested from aborted children.

Judge William H. Orrick, III, granted the injunction just hours after the order was requested by the National Abortion Federation.

Orrick was nominated to his position by hardline abortion supporter President Barack Obama. He was also a major donor to and bundler for President Obama’s presidential campaign. He raised at least $200,000 for Obama and donated $30,800 to committees supporting him, according to Public Citizen. (more…)

Cetera is an avid reader and friend of the Tree House, and an occasional commenter.  He currently resides in Wyoming, having given up on Colorado after 10 years and deciding to move his family to a more politically friendly state.  What follows is his effort at communicating Truths inspired by his Christian faith and the Spirit. 

The End?

All of these things will become clear to each of us in time, if they are not already.  Combine what we know with recent events throughout our country and the world, and you see a set of circumstances that may cause you to be fearful.  From the pro-abortion demonstrators chanting “Hail Satan!” in opposition to the pro-life demonstrators singing “Amazing Grace” to the lack of accountability and lawlessness in our own government and chaos throughout the world, things sure seem dark.  (more…)

In what they call a “Reuters Exclusive” the news agency tries to undermine Donald Trump’s candidacy because Trump businesses have used H-2B Visa applications to hire workers.  This is an absolute joke, we’ll explain why.

Reuters Screenshot

Why this is a nothingburger –  Those unfamiliar with the South Florida general labor market are most likely unfamiliar with the extreme swings in “seasonal need” workers.

Does the word “Snowbird” ring a bell?  Florida has a “tourist season” which runs from (generally speaking) just after Thanksgiving to Easter annually.  January, February and March are the peak.  The first Monday in February is the absolute peak as almost every time-share and hotel unit flips that week.

The volume of work within the service and hospitality industry doubles during the tourist season, and those businesses who hire within the general labor market struggle to increase their labor in relationship to the increase in business.  In addition, local workers looking for employment are reluctant to take temporary or “seasonal” jobs, and prefer longer term -more stable- employment.

Many businesses need to double, or in some cases triple, their workforce in order to meet the business demand.  [In 2014 97,300,000 tourists visited Florida].  (more…)

Pass the popcorn, stuff is finally getting serious…

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the U.S. State Department to request that Hillary Clinton and her top aides confirm, under penalty of perjury, that they have produced all government records in their possession, return any other government records immediately, and describe their use of Hillary Clinton’s email server to conduct government business.

[…]  The text of Judge Sullivan’s minute order, which was issued at 5:46 pm:

♦ As agreed by the parties at the July 31, 2015 status hearing, the Government shall produce a copy of the letters sent by the State Department to Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Ms. Huma Abedin and Ms. Cheryl Mills regarding the collection of government records in their possession.  These communications shall be posted on the docket forthwith.

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SAN FRANCISCO – […] The source said the boy lured Madyson to his third-floor apartment at the Tannery Arts Center at 1050 River St. on Sunday afternoon with promises of ice cream, then subdued her from behind, sexually assaulted her and strangled her before dumping her body in a recycling bin in a first-floor garage of the complex.

[…] Madyson was sexually assaulted, strangled and also suffered trauma to the head, the source said.

As for a motive, the boy told police that he had been considering suicide and that he had wanted to see how people would react by killing the girl, the source said.

FULL ARTICLE – SANTA CRUZ — The 15-year-old boy accused of sexually assaulting and strangling 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton in his family’s Santa Cruz apartment — after allegedly luring her there with promises of ice cream — was charged Wednesday as an adult with special-circumstances murder. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †