Taylor Swift Announces New Album

Taylor Swift held a live web chat today, with a full Q & A session.

She accepted questions from her live audience, as well as people connected via webcam through Google +, the hashtag #August13 on Twitter, and her Facebook fan page.

The big news from the chat was her announcement of her latest album which will be simply titled "Red".

In a switch up for the pop country artist she didn't write everything herself, but worked with other artists on some of the songs.


Swift ended the web chat by introducing the first single from the album, it is called "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and will be available for purchase tonight online.

Red will come out October 22, and will contain sixteen tracks.

Three Dead in Texas A & M Shooting (Expect Anti-Gun Spin to Resume)

Constable Brain Bachman, Killed in firefight in near the Texas A&M Football Stadium

The afternoon of Monday, August 13, 2012 (shortly after noon, central time) met with another in what seems to be a national outbreak in bizarre shootings.

At the Texas A & M University in College Station, Texas, a gunman engaged in a battle with local police. The shootout resulted in one dead civilian, one dead police officer (Constable Brian Bachman, pictured above), and the shooter himself. At least two other police officers were injured, and one female bystander was last reported entering emergency surgery. Other injuries and casualties were also reported.

As of the writing of this article, not much more is known. The local police caution that the gunman may not have been operating alone and may have accomplices still at large. The nature of the incident and its cause are still not known. The motivation for the shooting is still obscure. Some of the injured have been treated and had non-life-threatening injuries. Others are in surgery. Three are currently confirmed dead, including the shooter.

What we do know is the firefight broke out when a local constable attempted to serve eviction paperwork.

What can be surmised from analyzing the pattern of the publicized, mass, public shootings over the past few years is that mainstream media pundits are itching to blame this, a shooting in Texas, as a result of relaxed infringements upon the Second Amendment. Texas is known as a rather conservative state. Along with Georgia, citizens of Texas are stereotyped as gun-toting hicks who shoot empty whiskey bottles in their back yards during weekend barbecues.

If one watches the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", one of the more startling caricatures occurs when, during a dinner party, several Savannah southerners, including one southern belle of some esteem, proudly display their firearms. Most who concealed carry are not so flagrant in displaying their firearms. The scene is truly not an honest depiction of your average Georgian gun owner.

I recently moved to Texas from Arizona. Texas is not that supportive of Second Amendment Rights. For one thing, you need a permit to carry concealed. You do not in Arizona. In Texas, open carry is still not allowed (from what I have seen in the laws -- if this is not correct, somebody please send me a link to the law stating so). In Arizona, open carry has been allowed for decades.

But non-Texans still see Texas as a state filled with gun-toting hicks. Texas Governor Rick Perry ran for the Republican nomination for President. Texas has taken steps to increase voter integrity and fight voter fraud. Texas is a "right to work" state. Texas has taken its own steps to close the border despite US Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Presidential Executive Policies that refuse to do so. That and Operation Fast and Furious issues put Texas "on the radar".

The above will most likely be spun all over the Lamestream media and NPR over the next few days to be some other right-wing crazy. they did the same with the last two major shootings.

Recall the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado a few weeks ago. That gunman was quickly labeled as a "Tea Party Nutcase". After investigation, it was found that the shooter was not a member of the TEA Party. He also was a left-winger.

The last shooting, at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was done by a former US Soldier. That soldier was ejected from the military with a general (less than an honorable) discharge. He was not a "normal" soldier. He was booted out for having a few screws loose as well as being a bit of a discipline case. The Army, it turns out, made the right decision in kicking him many years ago. The shooter turned out to be a white supremacist and a neo-Nazi. For those who failed their basic civics classes on the political spectrum, Nazis are very much left wingers. They believe in collectivism and socialism over individual merits. Yet, the lamestream media tried to spin that kooky left-wing racist as another "right-wing gun nut". Again, they got the story wrong.

Now, in College Station, we have a dead policeman. He was shot by a criminal. The criminal was also shot and killed. So was an innocent bystander (shot by the criminal). This was not an act done by a law abiding citizen. The arguments for stricter gun control are moot. Criminals who want weapons will pay no attention to any laws in their efforts to acquire them. If there were tougher laws, such as the UN-Proposed ATT Small Arms Treaty that is part of the Agenda-21 treaties, were in place, this criminal would have, more than likely, still had some form of weapon. It probably would have still been a firearm. He may have had to pay more for it on the black market. However, the laws and the treaty would not have stopped him.

Of course, this begs the question of how far this would have gone if law abiding citizens were allowed to concealed carry on college campuses. Perhaps one or two fewer people would be dead. Since that is not the case, we cannot know.

Original Article at Mental Aikido

Three Dead in Shooting in College Station, Texas

On Monday afternoon a shooting took place near the Texas A & M University campus, in College Station, Texas.

Law enforcement officers responded to a shots fired call, only to be fired upon by the home owner. They returned fire in defense, and called for more officers. SWAT responded eventually killing the shooter, during the thirty minute shoot out.

During the shooting Constable Brian Bachmann and a sixty-five year old male bystander were killed. Three or four people were injured, including two other officers and a fifty-five year old female bystander, who is in surgery. The thirty-five year old shooter was shot during the gun fight, and died of his wounds at the hospital.

Police are now confident that there was only one shooter, and have ended the search they had announced earlier. Texas A & M, has lifted it's "crimson alert" and ceased warning people away from the campus.

At this time, authorities are uncertain why Bachmann, 41, an elected official, was on the scene. Unconfirmed reports have him there serving an eviction notice, but assistant police chief Scott McCollum could not confirm them. As county constable an eviction notice would have been under his duties though.

Ugandan Military Helicopters Missing

An unknown number of Ugandan military helicopters have apparently disappeared.

The helicopters were on their way to reinforce African Union peacekeepers in Somalia, and were scheduled to stop in Wajir, Kenya for refueling.

Only one of the flight made it to Wajir.

Somewhere between Entebbe, Uganda and Wajir the rest of them disappeared.

Kenyan forces have not commented yet, but are searching for the missing helicopters.

One source said that the flight was made up of four helicopters, but that is unconfirmed.

Preview: Expendables 2

The Expendables return this Friday in the sequel, of which no expense was put into creating a name for, The Expendables 2.

This time they go off on what is supposed to be an easy mission, only to find themselves betrayed, as one of their number is murdered.

For the rest of the movie they're working on getting revenge, and not getting themselves killed.

Whilst on their search for vengeance they might just accidentally save the world from terrorists, who have gained access to plutonium.

The combined efforts of the first team are added to by action legends Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, and newcomer Liam Hemsworth and Nan Yu.

Movie goers can expect lots of shooting, explosions, and lines such as Schwarzenegger being told he's going to be "terminated".

Expendables 2, is basically just an end of summer action film, that might entertain, but mostly will be a good way to spend that last summer evening with friends.

Collision at Sea

Early Sunday morning, the USS Porter collided with M/V Otowasan, a Japanese and Panamanian oil tanker.

The two ships were just outside of the Strait of Hormuz when the crash occurred.

No one was injured when the two ships struck each other, but a ten by ten foot section of the Porter was severely damaged on her starboard side.

Neither tank nor guided missile destroyer are leaking oil or any other substances.

The US Navy is investigating the cause of the collision, but no word as to how it occurred has been released.

Olympic Medal Totals

The 2012 London Olympics have concluded, and the medal totals are in.

Team USA dominated, winning seventeen more medals than any other nation, including eight more golds than anyone else.

All together they brought in one hundred and four medals consisting of forty-six gold, twenty-nine silver, and twenty-nine bronze.

China, Russia, Great Britain, and Germany finish out the top five countries with Japan, Australia, France, South Korea, and Italy closing out the top ten.

For a comprehensive listing of all of the medals, check out the Wall Street Journal's interactive page.

Morsi Shakes up Egypt's Military Command

Egypt's President Morsi is shaking up the country, once again.

On Sunday, he announced the dismissal of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was the head of the army and the country's defense minister.

Abdul-Fatah al-Sessi will be replacing Tantawi in both of those posts.

It is yet unclear if there will be a replacement for Tantawi as head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which had been ruling the country since President Honsi Mubarak was knocked from power in February of 2011.

Morsi was voted into power on June 30, 2012 but has still had to struggle with the military over some political powers.

Tantawi and the army's chief of staff Sami Anan, who is also being forced to retire, will both become presidential advisers.

Various other military leaders were removed from their posts, as well, and given other posts that allow them some influence, but nowhere near as much.

President Morsi also took the time to appoint Mahmoud Mekki, a senior judge who had been outspoken against Mubarak, as vice president.

Various amendments that were placed by the military council, which limited presidential authority and power, were also struck down by Morsi.

The military has yet to respond, but the appointments of ousted leaders to other positions at least suggests that they had foreknowledge and agreed to some degree.

Texas West Nile Outbreak

Texas is seeing an outbreak of West Nile Virus.

In Dallas County, nine have died and 175 others are infected causing Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, the county's director of homeland security and emergency management, to declare a state of emergency.

Dallas will be do extra spraying of insecticides in hopes to end the threat.

Both hand held and plane dropped methods are going to be used.

Other counties have seen hundreds of cases of the disease, but they have not yet declared an emergency.

Officials throughout the rest of the state are warning the population to be aware of the increased threat.

Deadly Riot in Mumbai

A riot in Mumbai, India saw two killed and at least fifty-two others injured, many of the injured were police officers.

Muslims were protesting the deaths of other Muslims, who had died whilst rioting last month.

When rioters started burning vehicles, police began beating the rioters with bamboo batons.

After officers started going down, police began firing into the air.

At least a dozen buses, several police vehicles, and three TV vans were destroyed in the riot.

Rioters singled out TV crews and vans, as they say the media was biased in it's coverage of the previous riots.

As of Saturday night, the riots had mostly calmed down, and police had regained control.