Drudge Retort

Home Robber Locks Owner in Gun Closet

zack991 — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:05:01 -0400

The victim of an armed home invasion in Houston turned the tables on the intruders after they stuffed him in a closet where he stores his gun. Three men broke into a home Tuesday and assaulted the resident. After a brief scuffle, the perpetrators shoved the man into a closet. When the homeowner thought the burglars had left, he went downstairs and exchanged gunfire with one of the intruders, hitting him in the shoulder and leg. The wounded man, believed to be in his 20s, fled but did not get far before he collapsed. He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment.

Wife Dies Handing Husband AK-47

rcade — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:39:34 -0400

A 22-year-old Colorado woman was killed Tuesday when the new assault rifle she was showing to friends accidentally fired, police said. Anastasia Adair of Federal Heights, a new gun enthusiast, was walking downstairs into her garage when she reached out to hand the rifle to her husband, Shane Adair. The gun fired, striking her in the head, two witnesses and the husband told police. It fired a second time as she fell down the stairs but didn't hit anyone.

Arends: College Tuition is a Scam

paneocon — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:33:50 -0400

Brett Arends, MarketWatch: You sit here today, $30,000 or $40,000 in debt, as the latest victims of what may well be the biggest conspiracy in U.S. history. It is a conspiracy so big and powerful that Dan Brown won't even touch it. It's a conspiracy so insidious that you will rarely hear its name. The biggest conspiracy of all? The College-Industrial Complex. Consider this: You have just paid about three times as much for your degree as did someone graduating 30 years ago. That's in constant dollars -- in other words, after accounting for inflation. There is no evidence that you have received a degree three times as good. Some would wonder if you have received a degree even one times as good.

538: No Statistical Basis for Audit Claims

rcade — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:46:50 -0400

Nate Silver: [B]ased on some simple math that I'll present in a moment, it's likely that hundreds of thousands of Mitt Romney voters were selected for an audit in 2012. However, it's also likely that hundreds of thousands of [President] Obama's supporters were audited. ... The fact that [Peggy] Noonan has identified four conservatives from that group of thousands provides no evidence at all toward her hypothesis. Nor would it tell us very much if dozens or even hundreds of conservative activists disclosed that they had been audited. This is exactly what you would expect in a country where there are 1.5 million audits every year.

U.S. Seizes Bitcoin Exchange Accounts

zeropointnrg — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:31:07 -0400

U.S. authorities have seized the accounts of a Bitcoin digital currency exchange operator, claiming it was functioning as an "unlicensed money service business," court documents showed Friday. A warrant revealed by the Department of Homeland Security showed a judge signed the seizure order Tuesday for the accounts of Mutum Sigillum LCC, a subsidiary of Japan-based Mt. Gox, the world's biggest Bitcoin exchange. The warrant said the account based on the electronic payments platform Dwolla and held at Veridian Credit Union "was used to move money" as "part of an unlicensed money service" in violation of U.S. law.

House Group Reaches Immigration Deal

rcade — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:50:46 -0400

Prospects for passage of a major immigration bill improved on Thursday when a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives declared they had reached a tentative deal. A goal of such legislation is to provide a path to citizenship for 11 million people now in the United States illegally, which will draw fierce opposition from some Republicans. "The deal is "the first step of a difficult process. But it's a very important step," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida).

Farrow: The Real Benghazi Scandal

corky — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:32:19 -0400

Ronan Farrow: As a former State Department official who worked with Ambassador Chris Stevens in the months before his murder in Benghazi, I feel that inquiry's urgency. But the congressional hearings that have dominated the last week of headlines -- with more promised by House Republicans -- are not that inquiry.

Congress could have focused on three time periods during their investigation: before, during, and after the attack. In all but exclusively focusing on what Administration officials said after Stevens's death, Congress isn't just wasting America's time -- it's squandering a chance to save lives in the future.

Shotgun Senior Admits He Lied

ness_gadol — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:33:20 -0400

A Johnston County, N.C., teen who was arrested and suspended after bringing two unloaded shotguns to school said Thursday that he lied to the principal about forgetting the guns were in his vehicle. "I was not truthful ... I did in fact know that the two shotguns were in my truck on school property," said Cole Withrow, 18. "I did not mean to hurt anyone by my actions."

Stevens: Bush v. Gore Reasoning 'Unacceptable'

rcade — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:18:05 -0400

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday that the rationale behind the Bush v. Gore decision that decided the 2000 presidential election "was really quite unacceptable" because it differentiated between hanging chads and dimpled chads. That distinction "violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution," he said a gala event for the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen. All votes should have been considered the same way, he said.

Consumer Sentiment Near 6-Year High

rcade — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:26:26 -0400

Consumer sentiment rebounded in early May to the highest level in nearly six years as Americans felt better about their financial and economic prospects, particularly among upper-income households, a survey released on Friday showed. "We're still definitely on the recovery path," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James. "Most economists are looking for stronger growth in the second half of the year and into next year."

Noonan: This Is About Trust

AndreaMackris — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:33:55 -0400

Peggy Noonan: What happened at the IRS is the government's essential business. The IRS case deserves and calls out for an independent counsel, fully armed with all that position's powers. Only then will stables that badly need to be cleaned, be cleaned. Everyone involved in this abuse of power should pay a price, because if they don't, the politicization of the IRS will continue -- forever. ... And it would be shameful and shallow for any Republican operative or operator to make this scandal into a commercial and turn it into a mere partisan arguing point and part of the game. It's not part of the game. This is not about the usual partisan slugfest. This is about the integrity of our system of government and our ability to trust, which is to say our ability to function.

It's Not Cool to Poop in the Pool

mysterytoy — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:33:08 -0400

A refreshing dip in your local public pool might not be so appealing now that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that more than half of public pools contain a detectable amount of human fecal matter. The CDC reports that nearly 60 percent of public pools tested positive for bacteria found in human feces that can cause rashes and infections. One of the CDC's tips for swimming safety: "Do not swallow the water you swim in."

Illinois Senate Approves Medical Marijuana

rcade — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:17:03 -0400

The Illinois Senate voted Friday to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes, paving the way for the state to join more than a dozen others. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) has indicated he is sympathetic to the bill, especially as it would benefit injured veterans. "It is a substance which is much more benign than powerful prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and the rest," said state Sen. Bill Haine (D). "The scourge of these drugs is well-known. This is not true of the medical use of marijuana."

Report: Toronto Mayor Smoked Crack

rcade — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:51:23 -0400

A cellphone video that appears to show Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around by a group of men involved in the drug trade. Two Toronto Star reporters have viewed the video three times. It appears to show Ford in a room sitting in a chair and inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. Ford is incoherent, trading jibes with an off-camera speaker who goads the clearly impaired mayor by raising topics including Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and the Don Bosco high school football team Ford coaches.