Connecticut Removes Death Penalty

Connecticut's Democrat Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed a law Wednseday that removes the death penalty as a possible penalty for crimes.

Governor Malloy pushed the law through without media present, behind closed doors.

Polls taken by Quinnpac University after the signing show that 62% of the state supports the death penalty.

47% of the state disapprove of Malloy.

Hamas Executing Israeli Collaborators

Hamas has announced that it will begin executing anyone found to be collaborating with Israel.

The head of security in the Gaza Strip, Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad, made the announcement and also stated that they had arrested ten known collaborators.

Earlier in April, a Palestinian man was hanged by Hamas after being charged with being an informant for Israel. His identity was not released by Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the execution, stating that they had not authorized it. Executions are not supposed to take place without PA President Mahmoud Abbas' permission.

In the past Hamas, had granted pardons to collaborators who turned themselves in, confessed, and repented.

Unknown Symbols and Structures in China

A series of lines, symbols, roads, and structures in Northern China, near the Mongolian border, have been spotted through the use of Google Maps. They are near where China performs it's space operations, nuclear program, and some of it's most top secret military maneuvers.

The Telegraph was nice enough to link to the Google Maps location of some of them, and they are there. However the others weren't clearly marked, so not so easily found.

It is completely unknown what purpose they serve. The location would definitely suggest that it has some sort of military application. But as they are unrecognizable, everything is just guesses at this point.

Some were clearly built up, in some form or another, by the shadows the pictures show. Others you can't tell if area's were painted or just bulldozed flat.

Remembering: The Easter Rebellion

April 24, 1916 the Irish Republican Brotherhood is joined by militant socialists in an uprising against British rule. They launched attacks against British government buildings in Dublin and seized the General Post Office.

Their success prompted them to declare Irish independence. By the morning of the 25th, they controlled most of the city.

British response came that evening, and by the 29th the rebellion was no more. It's leaders, who survived, were executed for being traitorous rebels, but to the Irish they became martyrs.

Armed riots continued and in 1921, twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland won independence. In 1949, they became a totally separate republic. The other six counties, would remain under British rule though.

The Irish Republican Army was formed in the north, and in the 60's civil unrest began. A three way conflict began, as the IRA fought the British army, and Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants fought each other.

Peace talks began in the 90's, but it took til 2005 for a cease fire to happen. Twas then that the IRA pledged to lay down arms, and seek their goals purely through peaceful means.

Til this day, the Easter Rebellion is credited as being the birth of Irish independence.

TSA Takes Stuffed Animal From Little Girl

 So, I'm standing in line, exhausted, and waiting to get through airport security in Charlotte, on my way home from #BLOGCONCLT. For whatever reason, the line seems particularly slow and long. Finally, I got my bin and proceeded to go through the drill: shoes, laptop, watch, jacket--but midway through the TSA strip tease, I glanced over at the next line. A woman was carefully trying to explain to her daughter what was going on.

The girl couldn't have been more than 6, with the kind of perfectly blonde hair that brunettes like me can hardly fathom. She was nodding, listening to her mother but seemed obviously perplexed, on the edge of being frightened. First time flying I suspected.

 She was a trooper. She allowed her shoes to be removed, all the while tightly hugging some kind of comforting stuffed toy. She loosened her grip only enough to take her mother's hand and walk through the metal detector. But of course, it is never that simple.

 TSA Agent: I'm sorry, she can't bring that through.
 Mother: Its just a toy.
 TSA Agent: Ma'am, it needs to go on the conveyor.
 Mother: All right fine. To her daughter. Honey, we need to put your bunny through the machine.
 Little Girl: But its my bunny!
 Mother: I know, it will only take a moment.
 Little Girl: But, but---

 Apparently the injustice was too great for words. To her credit, she did not throw a tantrum or even cry. She just solemnly gave up her bunny to another TSA agent who had stepped up to make sure the stuffed animal was appropriately handed over and searched. The agent then walked back around and ran a quick swipe over the bunny before even putting it on the machine.

 This incident probably sounds tame compared to some of the horror stories about children being searched, the infirm humiliated and general injustice. However, to me, it was a poignant example of how much our "security" has lost touch with reality. The simple image of a girl having her stuffed animal, a symbol which should resonate with so many of us as an item of eternal love and safety, taken from her to be checked for explosives embodies everything wrong with this system.

 I doubt anyone reading this doesn't already feel violated, directly or indirectly, by these procedures. Therein lies the problem, no matter your political persuasion, TSA is universally regarding as having serious problems. STILL.

 In September, a petition was created at We The People, an arm of the White House's online outreach. The petition went live in September 2011 and requested to abolish the TSA. By December it had more than 30,000 signatures, gaining viral support. The rapidly growing number of signatures forced the White House to respond. Their answer? "Thanks for playing along but we aren't actually going to do anything." Only months earlier the White House promised to use these petitions to deal with the issues most important to Americans. But when Americans called them on it, the response was gutless redirection; merely an explanation on why the TSA exists.

 Even Congress tried to take the TSA to task this past March. CSPAN showed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee admonishing the TSA about their budget. The hearing resolved nothing but the tone of the joint committees was anything but pleasant. Interestingly, right after this brutal review, the TSA rolled out their "PreCheck" program as something "coming soon, we promise!" But based on previous government promises, not only will it not fix anything, the definition of "soon" will transform into a date indeterminate.

 And finally, let's not forget Jonathan Corbett's video showing the straight-up ineffectiveness of the TSA with his blog about the body scanners. (Note: he is going to court involving the TSA now, so consider donating to this guy.) The TSA blog laughed him off, pretty much running him down as just "some blogger". It is the single most commented on post for their blog, with over 400 responses. Not a single one agrees with "Bob" the TSA writer. (It is also worth noting that the TSA blog only let's you see about 10 posts and does not allow you to view previous posts without a direct link. However, the amount SEO connected to that piece will force it to come up in a google search.) Every response to this blog was angry. In fact, I assume this post led to the newly instated TSA policy about deleting "off-topic" comments from their blog.

 This leaves us with only one question left: Why, with this reaction from the public, does the TSA still exist--and what will finally force it to disappear?

Originally Posted at SingleVoice

Blockbuster HQ Moving to Denver

Blockbuster has announced that it will be moving it's corporate headquarters from McKinney, Texas to the Meridian International Office Park in Douglas County, near Denver, Colorado.

The company is offering it's 150 corporate employees, the opportunity to move with them. The average salary is nearly $100,000.

Colorado's Economic Development Commission offered the company $2.5 million in tax credit, over the next five years, if they would make the move.

Last year, when Blockbuster went bankrupt, they were bought by Colorado based Dish Network. Dish is the second largest satellite-TV company, and is planning to expand into mobile broadband as well.

TSA Threatens 4 Year Old For Hugging Grandma

The TSA always seems to find itself in trouble these days. Whether it's feeling up grandma, sharing body scans of people they deem attractive, or threatening small children.

A family was on it's way home from a wedding in Wichita, Kansas, when grandma set off the alarms. Their four year old girl, was scared and ran to grandma, giving her a quick hug. TSA's response was to start yelling at the little girl.

The terrified little girl, did what children do, she tried running away from the scary monster that was now threatening to give her a full body pat down. After the family was dragged into a side room, the little girl still could not stop crying, and would not allow TSA to touch her. TSA officers continued to yell at the girl, demanding she stop crying, so that they could search her.

Having no luck, the TSA officer's called for back up, saying they had an uncooperative suspect. A supervisor came and calmed the situation down, eventually allowing the family back through security. To add to it, TSA sent word ahead that there was a difficult passenger coming through, and so at the their connecting airport they were approached by airport staff. However the employees at Denver, backed right off when they were shown that it was a little girl.

When approached by various media outlets, TSA commented that everything was done correctly by their personnel. They state that the four year old had acted suspiciously so the officers were completely in the right for their treatment of her.

Prepare Your Armor

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the enemy. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Ephesians 6:10-18

Most of you, whether Christian or not, will have heard those words at some point. Few of us, even as Christians, realize the true importance of them. With the armor on every day, you will be better protected not just from spiritual attacks, but human ones as well.

If every day, you are nothing but truth, righteousness, faith, and yet ready to fight with purity then who could ever truly attack you. You would have nothing for their attacks to latch onto. The full armor, is perfect, and has no chinks or holes in it. Spiritually that is incredibly important. The Word of God is listed twice in the armor, showing how important it is in a Christian's spiritual walk.

But there's another way to look at it. As Conservative Americans, we find ourselves in a battle against evil forces that wish to destroy our nation's soul. Christian or not, we need to protect ourselves from the attacks of socialism and the left wing agenda. We can do that by daily being nothing but truthful, righteous, faithful, and ensuring we live in ways that can not be used against us.

Just taking truth alone, look at how much that hurts our enemy. They literally can not handle the truth. Every time the light of truth is shone upon the left, they lose that fight. Truth is their arch enemy, even more so than we are. It is also a key part of your defense. If you're not based in truth, they can use whatever you've been untruthful about, against you.

Righteousness is knowing you are fighting the good fight, you are doing what is right and are fully embracing it. If you're embracing nothing but truth, then you can know you are do the right thing. They just simply go hand in hand. Without righteousness, you're character will be weak against their attacks. If you're strong in righteousness, you won't fall prey to the temptations that trip so many.

We should never want to fight, we should be ready with a gospel of peace. War is an ugly thing. But sometimes it is necessary. And right now we are in one of those times. If we don't fight against the powers of darkness, then they will win. There's a reason a sword is mentioned later. The foundation of a desire of peace is what plants you in the knowledge you're doing what is right. It allows you to stand strong against the enemy's assaults.

The shield of faith is extremely necessary. If you don't believe in the cause, or that we can win, then you've no protection. Without faith in yourself and the Republic, then you'll find yourself cowering in a corner without hope. Faith is what allows you to stand up and take the attacks from the enemy. Because with faith, as long as you've truth and righteousness on your side, you're in the right.

A helmet of salvation on this political battlefield for the US, is your mind free of doubt, lies, or anything unrighteous. It's that clarity that balances with faith to bring peace to your soul.

And now we are to the sword. The sword where you combine all into one, and move from using them to protect yourself, to launching the offensive against those who seek your destruction. If you're a blogger, your blog is your sword. If you're a politician, your speeches and votes are your swords. If you don't have the rest of the armor in place and in use, then your sword won't be worth anything, it'll bend against the enemy. However if you do have all in place, in use, and properly; your sword will cut through any of the enemy's defenses, leaving them unable to attempt the destruction and evils that they seek.

The OooShiny! Blog Con CLT Experience

As we mostly do news and opeds, this is going to be a little different. It's been awhile since we just had a blog on the site, but I felt it necessary to describe this past weekend at Blog Con CLT.

For those of you who didn't go, or didn't know about it, Blog Con CLT was a blogger's convention that took place at the Hilton in Charlotte, North Carolina this weekend. Freedom Works and The Franklin Center were extremely kind enough to put it on for us. The amazing Tabitha Hale, did such a great job with running things.

I started off leaving Thursday morning, taking my first plane trips in six years. No, I don't hate or fear flying, I just really love driving. Honestly, hoping that when I get to go on one again, I'll be able to make a road trip out of it, picking people up on the way. Talk about oooShiny!

I was very excited for the trip, and found that I had a really hard time concentrating on the book I was reading. Last year when Blog Con was in Denver, I couldn't get it off work, and so only made it there the last night. I felt like I had missed out on a lot, and very much wanted to take advantage of all that this one would have to offer.

Especially exciting to me was meeting people I hadn't yet, and seeing people I'd met before, that I really enjoy being around. Another primary goal was promoting this site. We're still little, and I knew this would be a great chance to network and find more writers.

The flight to Dallas, and the second to Charlotte, were fairly uneventful. When I got to Charlotte, I had a first. See I'd never been in a taxi before. I don't even think I'd had the opportunity to use one before. Definitely not the need. O twasn't anything exciting or anything, but definitely a first. Check it off the list.

I got to the hotel, checked in, dropped my bag off, and off I went to join everyone at Ri Ra Irish Pub. Got lost on the way, thanks to the directions the hotel gave me, but thankfully ran into an awesome security guard who didn't know the Pub, but did know the street. Luckily I was only one block away. Had I kept going the way the hotel sent me, I would've really gotten lost and been past the place.

As soon as I was at Ri Ra's I ran into one of the first people I'd ever met off of Twitter, Michelle, and got my first big hug, which was quickly followed by another from Ree, whom I hadn't met til then, and an introduction to Greg. Blog Con was off to a great start.

Checking into foursquare and the Blog Con CLT hashtag on Twitter, I saw several people I needed to meet were there. Went about doing my rounds meeting people, and seeing those from before as well. Food was becoming a priority though, so I grabbed a bacon cheeseburger from the place, they wouldn't do a double :(, and had drinks and some conversations with new meets like Andrew Lawton, Karen, and Holly; old friends like Jimmie Bise (who had been so helpful to met last year), David, Amelia, Irina, Andrew, Kemberlee, and April; and met some that I hadn't known even on Twitter yet.

With Sarah

Once I was done eating, got back to making rounds, and ran into two of my favorite people ever, Sarah and Kira! For a bit there was some salsa dancing, which I had fun with even though I was rusty by ten years. I kept mingling and finally got to meet both Katie and Jamie! Both of whom are so completely oooShiny and I had been looking forward to meeting, and am very glad I got to.

After a bit, some of us (20-30) decided food was again wanted, and Ri Ra's kitchen was closed. So off we went, and ended up at Carolina Ale House. They knew what a 'double' bacon cheese burger is. Though they didn't have pepper jack cheese either. I believe I found out that North Carolina only carries cheddar for burgers. Whilst there, we all sang happy birthday to Katie, who'd just turned 25 the day before.

Somewhere during the time at Ri Ra and Ale House, Stephen Kruiser saw me, and not only remembered me from last year, but knew stuff about me. That was an awesome moment for me, as he's someone I very much look up to.

With Katie

Ale House eventually had last call, somehow no one got cut off before then, including the one who totally dropped his (name withheld to protect those who couldn't hold their liquor ;) ) glass when going for a toast. We went back to the hotel, where some of us (Katie, Jamie, Kruiser, Fingers, Thomas, and I) went up to Fingers' room. That time there, was one of the funniest times in my life. I literally ended up rolling on the floor laughing. Thomas, is seriously one of the funniest drunks ever!

Around 2 tiredness was starting to kick in, so we all went our separate ways. The first night of Blog Con was over. Friday was the beginning of the actual conference.

I was so proud of myself Friday morning. Despite everything I woke up at 7, so as to be sure to be there for all of the conference. Stupid me though, laid back down after showering, and next thing I knew it was almost 10. I'd missed the first two hours of everything. Total fail.

Rushing down stairs, I found the remain of a continental breakfast. At which time I tweeted my lament: "No mimosas or rum & juice? What kind of continental breakfast is this?" But seriously the breakfast was great, and just what was needed. Good news was my roomie, Sam, had finally made it in, after his flights had been delayed. During the first day I ended up sitting next to Scott, great sarcastic comments and jokes were made all day long. I got to meet such people as Lori, Mary, Sister Toldjah, Jen, and Eye on Politics. 

Not long after I made it into the conference room, Matthias Shapiro and Alex Lundry began a talk on data visualization. If you know me, you know I'm not a graphics guy or that artistic. But I definitely appreciate it, and that was a great lecture. I learned some things from them, that hopefully I'll get to use. Matthias' debt road trip video is awesome, and you need to watch it, if nothing else for the knowledge you'll gain.

They wouldn't be the last to teach me things. Lee Doren's talk on how to use youtube effectively was brilliant. He was followed by Steven Crowder who gave an inspiring short speech, that rallied the troops. Following that was Katie Pavlich, who's book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Coverup, you should really check out.

For lunch there was sandwiches provided for us, though many people left for other places. Around then I ran into Matt, who if you didn't you missed out as he's got a bright future ahead of him. Those of us who grabbed food and then came back for Jimmie and Finger's discussion on how to podcast, made a great choice, as that was an extremely informative talk, that hopefully I'll be putting to use by the end of summer.

After their talk was probably the one time that everyone was actually in the same place. The debut of part of Occupy Unmasked by Citizens United left us all wanting to see the whole thing. For some it was a difficult time, due to Andrew Breitbart's predominant role in the film.

The movie was a great start to the tribute for him. The unveiling of the poster brought many of those who hadn't yet, to tears. It was a completely emotional time, and further united us.

Slaying the legacy media, was the next workshop. Pamela Gellar, John Nolte, and the others on it gave us some great information on how to fight against the evil empires of main stream media. During that time the hotel put out a great spread of dried fruit and nuts, powering us through the afternoon Lachlan Markay and Trent Seibert followed with information and resources on how to dig deep to find what you need for a story.

From there we moved on to a candidates reception. Sadly there was no free bacon with the free alcohol. Sean Bielat, who is running in Massachusetts was the highlight there. America really needs him in office. At the reception I got to meet many more people, including Kat (who I had many great convos with throughout Blog Con), Gay Patriot, John, Melody, and Duane. Tony Katz was awesome enough to talk to me some more, and go over some basic radio production things.

Kruiser Kabana

Eventually, a group of us made our way over to Jackalope Jack's for karaoke. Much great times were had, and lots of hoarse voices were the result. From there I ended up going back to the hotel, going up to the Kruiser Kabana!

There I continued meeting a few people, including Sean (apparently the first blogger there ever was), Kevin, and Laura, but mostly got to chat more with people I'd already met.

Unfortunately, we (well some of us) were too loud, and ended up pissing off the hotel's night manager. A little drama ensued, but everything got worked out, after the agreement that there'd be no more Kruiser Kabana that night or the next in the rooms.

Saturday's conference began a little bit later, so we all got just a bit more sleep. I was luckily enough to sit with Katie and Jennie throughout the day, as well as Ree for a bit, and we had some great laughs.

Again great speeches. Matt Kibbe began, reminding us that the government had n"ever seen a million people show up on the mall, demanding less". Dean Clancy gave us great hope, with his prediction of a 60% chance of Obamacare being overturned in it's entirety. He was followed by Liz Mair, Dana Loesch, Guy Benson, and Tony Katz. They explained ways to promote yourself, and your writing, without being annoying.

During lunch Ben Howe and Duane Lester showed us how to edit a video to make it get more hits. 11 Reasons to Vote For Democrats was a huge hit at the conference. And later, in the afternoon, the real trouble started. Twas then that the hotel put out a table full of candy, popcorn, and crackerjacks for our snack. Great idea for bloggers, most of whom were just finally getting past hang overs, and had been pounding caffeine. But seriously it was amazing!

Kurt Schlichter and James Skyles gave us some very important information on some legal issues. Especially making it clear that you need to have someone who is on the bar, in your own state. Schlichter apparently won't work unless there's the possibility of river front property. In the midst of that the excited screams from Kristina Ribali began. Senator Orrin Hatch was going to face a primary in Utah! Mandy Nagy and Brandon Darby explained how to dig up dirt on the opposition. And then to close it all came Kruiser. His speech totally fired me up, and just thinking back on it is pumping my blood faster.

Saturday night, a private room with our own four bowling lanes, a bar, pool tables, and pizza had been setup for us at Strike City. I personally took great enjoyment from lots of bowling, til my shoulder started getting sore (funny how nearly 75 frames will do that). After that I mingled and met some more great people including Cameron, Emilia, and Amy. Some of my favorite conversations of the weekend took place whilst there.

A group of us, then left in search of a new bar to go to. We first tried Howl at The Moon. None of us will ever go there again. They had a cover, as did many of the places around there. But they also had a 4square offer that if you checked in, you got in free. We all checked in, and they refused to honor it. Howl at The Moon, officially became boycotted by Blog Con after that. And remember this if you're ever there, go anywhere else.

Eventually we ended up at Fitzgerald's Irish Pub. That was a great decision. Chill place, where we all found drinks we liked and had fun. Though we did see people line dancing to rap there. After a while there, we heard that Kruiser had managed to get the hotel to have a private party for us at their bar, so we headed back.

With Kat

After many more great conversations, my energy started crashing though. So went around to all who were still there, and made my goodbyes. On the way out, I realized I hadn't gotten any pics with anyone the whole time. Luckily I did manage to get three over the next couple minutes. Those pics are the ones you've seen in this blog.

The next morning I got up, had a few more goodbyes, and went my way to the airport. There I was lucky enough to spend some time before my flight, chatting with Jamie. Actually almost missed my flight. Good thing they paged for "Passenger Sangster".

Ironically, most of us went home on Earth Day. So Blog Con CLT celebrated by either flying thousands of miles, or driving hundreds of miles. When I got home, I was met by my dad in his 8in lifted off roading monster of a Jeep.

All in all, Blog Con CLT was an oooShiny time. Tabitha, her team, Freedom Works, and the Franklin Center did an amazing job with everything. Without their working so hard for us, it would've been a lesser time. I honestly can't think of a way they could've improved it. O wait, there's one, bacon.

We all got to see that not only is conservatism big on Twitter, but for many of us it is big in our lives. This country matters to us, and we not only will do, but are doing our best to see it saved and improved.

The Hilton City Center, was great. Spectacular jobs by the staff. Even keeping the bar open late for us, and treating us all extremely well. If we were to have another conference in Charlotte, that'd be the place to do so.

This blog, which has become an epic length, doesn't even cover all of what went on, nor in any detail. Whoever you are, if you're reading this, and you're interested in saving the United States, blogging, conservative politics, and having fun; you really should get to the next Blog Con.

If I don't mention you above, sorry! Y'all meant a lot meant to me, and I really didn't mean to leave anyone out. Some of you, I can't remember your twitter handle, others your real name, some of you neither (I know total fail on my part); but I do remember your faces and the great memories you gave me. Who knows, I may have a sudden mental click and you'll find yourself added later.

Thanks to Kira for letting me add the compilation video she made of Blog Con CLT Pics:

North Korea Pledges Imminent Jihad on South

North Korean troops on parade

 North Korean military cut into national TV to make a special announcement. (Original translation by BNONews edited by TORARADICAL.com)

In view of the situation getting graver as the days go by, the NPRK Supreme Command special operation action group issues the following notice upon authorization:

The special actions of our revolutionary armed forces will soon meet the reckless challenge of the group of traitors.

Those actions are an eruption of public anger and resentment, and a sacred war of all service personnel and people to protect the dignity of our supreme leadership.

Their targets are the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors, the arch criminals, and the group of rat like elements, including conservative media destroying the mainstay of the fair public opinion.

Once the above said special operations kick off, they will reduce all the rat like groups and the bases for provocation to ashes in three of four minutes, in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.

Our revolutionary forces do not make empty threats.

 
This is an extremely unusual bold threat from the North. One which in some form they will have to back with action, due to the extremely public nature of the statement.

Things are already tense after the earlier attempted launch of a rocket by North Korea.

Japan and South Korea have called emergency meetings. Their troops, and those of the US in the area have gone on alert.

Update: Korean Central News Agency (North Korean state run media) has now released their own article about it. They have been nice enough to include an English version.

Theories about the promised destruction are leaning towards it being a cyber attack.