New News & Updates on News~ Open Thread


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Massive explosion rocks Texas town

WEST, Texas (AP) — A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco on Wednesday injured dozens of people and killed an unknown number of others, leaving the factory a smoldering ruin and leveling buildings for blocks in every direction.

The explosion at West Fertilizer in downtown West, a community about 20 miles north of Waco, happened around 7 p.m. and could be heard as far away as Waxahachie, 45 miles to the north. It sent flames shooting high into the night sky and rained burning embers, shrapnel and debris down on shocked and frightened residents.

A member of the city council, Al Vanek, said a four-block area around the explosion was “totally decimated.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/18/massive-explosion-rocks-texas-town/#ixzz2QoG09slW

***(Please note on the comments section of the youtube site-does anyone know of a good translator site for these comments?) I am curious as to what they say given the language and name of the blogger commentor.

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Feds arrest suspect in ricin-positive letters sent to Obama, senator

The ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker were both postmarked April 8 and sent from Memphis, Tenn., signed “I am KC and I approve this message.” A third letter went to Michigan Sen. Carl Levin. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports.~By Pete Williams, Kristen Welker and Erin McClam, NBC News

Federal agents on Wednesday arrested a suspect in the mailing of letters to President Barack Obama and a U.S. senator that initially tested positive for the poison ricin. The suspect was identified as Paul Kevin Curtis of Tupelo, Miss., federal officials told NBC News. They said he may appear in court as early as Wednesday night. Both letters carried an identical closing statement, according to an FBI bulletin obtained by NBC News on Wednesday. According to the FBI bulletin, both letters, postmarked April 8, 2013 out of Memphis, Tenn., included an identical phrase, “to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”

Continued at-source:http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/17/17794663-feds-arrest-suspect-in-ricin-positive-letters-sent-to-obama-senator?lite

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FBI has images of two persons of interest in Boston bombings, source says

Published April 17, 2013-FoxNews.com- A federal law enforcement source told Fox News that investigators are looking for two men that are persons of interest in Monday’s Boston Marathon terror attack and have distributed photos for “law enforcement eyes only.” The FBI is not sharing the photos with the public.A Fox News reporter has seen the photos and called them “clear.”  According to the reporter, one of the men has a backpack that appears to match the bag believed to have been used in the attack. The other man also appears to have a bag of some kind.The source asked that the images not be made public for fear of jeopardizing the investigation. News of the images came as investigators spent Wednesday poring over photos and video footage and piecing together shredded remnants of bombs in an effort to zero in on suspects behind the attack.Even as amateur sleuths analyzed photos of the finish-line crowd and shared their own conclusions, FBI investigators were believed to be doing the same, and there were reports that they were interested in specific images of a person or persons with heavy backpacks. Investigators believe the bombs, at least one of which was likely a pressure cooker bomb laden with explosives and shrapnel, may have been concealed in such a bag. Monday’s attack killed three and injured 176, many critically.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/17/fbi-boston-police-say-range-suspects-motives-remains-wide-open/#ixzz2QoJEtX7Y

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Video: Obama’s Hissy Fit Over Gun Control Bill Fail

April 17, 2013

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Obama Draws Criticism for Thatcher Funeral Snub

President Barack Obama’s failure to send any top officials of his administration to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s funeral Wednesday sparked some heated criticism.  A New York Post editorial was unimpressed with the U.S. delegation, headed by former secretaries of state George Schultz and James Baker. “As the world bids farewell to Lady Margaret Thatcher today, it’s hard not to notice that America’s official presence at the state funeral for England’s most significant prime minister since Winston Churchill will be underwhelming,” the Post editorial read. “Instead of sending a high-ranking member of his own administration to lead the official delegation, President Obama has dispatched two former Republican secretaries of state, George Shultz and Jim Baker. Nothing against these men, but we can forgive the British for regarding Obama’s choice as yet another snub.”

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com

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Mia, Artur, Rick, Nikki, Ann, Christy and Juan the A-Hole & Open Thread


I watched the RNC convention last night, and I must say I enjoyed a night of some decent speeches, that clearly were well thought out, and more often than not appeared to me to be coming from the heart. I heard passion, and conviction, not platitudes. At the end of this post I will have a link to the speeches, which I recommend the time is well worth the listen if you didn’t have a chance last night.

As a blogger something possessed me to go searching to see the reaction to the speeches, and naturally for the most part they were well understood and received; but then there are the trolls; which I think at this time is too kind of a word used to describe, racist, sexist pukes who inhabit the internet like an infestation of filth ridden, disease-spreading cockroaches.Without a doubt I hate these people, I don’t care if the excuse that this is how politics are played, I hate them. They spread their disease of hopelessness by means of carrying the filth of slander, cruelty and misogyny. It is sport on the internet to see how low one can go in their abuse particularly of conservative women or any women who is not in the cool kids groups at Camp Obama.I know you all here, understand what I am talking about. I also know how to avoid the cockroaches, normally not frequenting sites where they are allowed to roam free. I just didn’t expect a total Cockroach, talking points, racist, shitty, set up smear right off the top as the initial response to Ann Romney’s speech, on FOX. Enter Juan Williams a number one A-hole.

Some of you probably saw it as well; it was after both Ann and Christy had their speeches and it was time for the panel on Fox; Hume, Kelly, Baier, Krauthammer and Williams:

Fox  News contributor Juan Williams was not impressed by Ann Romney’s speech Tuesday night, saying she “looked to me like a corporate wife” — a term that  drew an awkward silence among Williams’ Fox colleagues.

“Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann Romney, on the other hand, looked to me like  a corporate wife,” Williams said, after complimenting keynote speaker Chris Christie’s speech. “And, you know, the  stories she told about struggle, it’s hard for me to believe. She’s a very rich  woman. I know that, and America knows that.”

Wow, OK…” Fox host Bret Baier said.

“What does that mean — a ‘corporate wife?’” host Megyn  Kelly added.

“What does it mean?” Williams retorted. “It looks like a woman whose  husband takes care of her, and she’s been very lucky and blessed in this  life. She’s not speaking, I think, for the tremendous number of single  women in this country, or married women, or separated. She did not convince me  that, ‘You know what, I understand the struggles of American women in  general.’”

Fox News anchor Brit Hume had a different take when Baier asked his  opinion.

“I think that was the single most effective political speech I’ve  ever heard given by a political wife,” Hume said.

Watch the full clip below:

atest video at video.foxnews.com

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http://www.businessinsider.com/juan-williams-ann-romney-corporate-wife-speech-mitt-2012-8

The remark Juan made was I believe a prepared planned remark; I think so he can label Ann on behalf of his master. He gets to be the cool kid for saying it first. Do I seem over the top in my reaction, probably not given this is the usual game with new players in the shooting sexist, and not so veiled racist and class warfare remarks at any republican or woman. Notice how Juan starts speaking on behalf of wmen…Hey Juan you are no woman, so save it, you don’t have a clue and came across as a petty, stereotype of your age/and race, sorry to say but you did. Please pass on to any other man who thinks they can speak for women, including your master, that you don’t and you can’t. See, Ann Romney was able to speak about women and mothers and wives, because she is those things. The Republicans don’t need a Fluck, they have Ann Romney, and if that doesn’t work for you, they have Mia Love, or Nikki Haley; but I am sure you, Juan would have found them to be some label you save in your cockroach collection of cool kid zingers. You discredited yourself by what you probably think were just simple commentary remarks; revealing some serious issues about women, You made the fatal politically cute assumption that a woman who has a successful life and marriage with the added fortune of wealth couldn’t possibly have substance. Your remark showed just how shallow you are, and judging by the backlash within minutes of your remark last night, you might want to take a long look deep inside and see what it is that bothers you the most. is it because Ann Romney is wealthy, now? Is it because you believe a stereotype of white women? Is it because you are so desperate to make a name for yourself that you couldn’t resist hopping on the misogyny bandwagon? Yeah, all of those things and then some.

After the break Juan was gone and replaced by Peggy Noonan: which wasn’t any better. She wanted more from Ann, you know what kind of more I am talking about. She wanted more details about her struggles with cancer, and M.S., more of a deeper look inside the marriage, etc. While saying this she was speaking like some kind of pundit, ill practiced to be in front of network camera, flashing facial expression that she was quite pleased with herself while avoiding eye contact with the “audience”. What a ghoul.

This is the sad state of affairs when you have people who are supposed to be educated professionals, just slopping out the first tiny thought that pops in their pea brains. Personally I think it is disgusting that anyone needs more details on tragedies in someone’s life. Go to Hollywood if that’s what you need. Just because our country has had to tolerate that sort of low salacious over sharing of the democrats does not mean any of us wanted to hear it nor care for the details. I think we can figure it out for ourselves; it is unseemly and unnecessary in the context of where Ann Romney was speaking. If you watch the speech you will see how Ann touched the audience, deeply by coming from a genuine place and acknowledging what she knows as a married woman, with children in a marriage of 40+ years. I didn’t see her wealth, I didn’t see anything corporate about Ann Romney, I saw a positive woman, who deeply loves her husband, family and country. Not all of us come from a place of purposely making a life of out-of-wedlock children, incarcerated family, divorced backgrounds, or government dependency. few I am sure are as financially wealthy; but that doesn’t matter when we are speak woman to woman, with respect.

She also was able to speak Conservative to Conservative, she understood values to values. We are not all generation X, Y, Z; and we believe in the values that have served humankind in our country for over 200 years, tradition.There is not one thing wrong with being married, to a successful person, having a successful marriage, raising children who have become decent people, and have the courage and inner strength to be grateful for a loving family to help you through your own trial of illness. That is my American Dream, my version of a successful life is a loving family; any perks after that are gravy. I do not aspire to a life of single parenthood and government dependency to the point of replacing one’s own family. I do not want Juan’s version of how women think or feel even in my head, it is depressing this view he has of women, that we are so stepped on that we can’t stand up for ourselves, or that our struggles keep us down. Women do tire of struggles, but not the kind that life throws at everybody. The struggles that have exhausted women are the manufactured ones that create a false identity to pin to us, in the attempt to make us appear to choose to live in victimhood of some sort or another, as evidenced by Juan’s labeling of a successful woman of a different brand as a “Corporate Wife”, relegating this accomplished woman as to only being a candidate’s spouse, giving no credit to her as a human being on her own. That’s the Camp Obama way..

Ann Romney’s full speech:

http://www.businessinsider.com/ann-romney-republican-national-convention-speech-2012-8

Mia Love’s Speech~follows the intro-She speaks similarly to Ann Romney it is stunning. Love her!

http://www.therightscoop.com/rnc-speech-watch-mia-loves-rousing-speech/

Nikki Haley’s Speech~Wow what fire she has, love her too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccpZ3jtX1z4

Chris Christy’s Speech~He was fantastic-One does not have to be bombastic, when laying out the hard truth, Ryan will go there tonight. The intro is how each speech’s were done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGVue7KoFog

Artur Davis’s Speech~The most courageous speech of the evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcsVnkwmDok

Rick Santorum’s Speech~Rick stayed true to his vlaues, and there is a wonderful sequence where he uses the imgary of “hands” in relating values, beautifully done, imo. I found it very, very touching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BHTArVk_hE