Denver Police Peacefully End Hostage Situation

Denver police responded to a shooting where two shooters had taken a hostage in a robbery gone wrong. SWAT and a Crisis Negotiation Team were eventually able to end the situation peacefully.

It all occurred at the Radio Shack at 5305 E Colfax Avenue. Police closed the intersection of Colfax and Glencoe, as well as sections of both streets during the incident.

People claiming to be friends of one of the the gunmen, said that nineteen year old's brother was recently killed in a standoff with Aurora police, and that he feared the same would happen to him in this standoff. He posted on Facebook asking friends and families to call him, to say their goodbyes.

Police escorted any employees and customers out of the neighboring businesses, after searching them. Denver Public Schools placed Palmer Elementary, Montclair School of Academics and Enrichment, Teller Elementary, and Park Hill Elementary on lockdown.

Much credit is being given to the Denver Police Department in their handling of the whole incident.

Schools Tracking Students

Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas has announced that they will be tracking their students, from now on.

Tracking chips have been placed inside all student IDs and the district says that it will make the schools safer.

"Northside ISD is harnessing the power of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) to make schools safer, know where our students are while at school, increase revenues, and provide a general purpose “smart” ID card. Parents entrust us with their children and expect that we always know where their children are; this technology will help us do that."

Jay High School and Jones Middle School will be the test grounds for the new system.

It is expected that the new system will make it easier to keep students from ditching classes.

School district officials hope that the higher numbers will bring in extra federal funding for the district.

"Through more efficient attendance management, schools can generate additional revenues by identifying students who are not in their seats during roll call but who are in the school and locate them."

Many parents and students are upset over the decision, feeling that it is a violation of civil rights.

The school district promises that the IDs will only work on campus.

At Least Sixty-Four Killed in Chinese Quakes

At least sixty-four people have been killed in China after several quakes have rocked the southwest of the country.

The original 5.6 quake has been followed by over sixty after shocks, causing landslides and felling buildings, injuring thousands.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by the landslides which have obstructed roads throughout the mountainous area of the Guizhou and Yunnan provinces.


Electricity and phones have been knocked out in the area, keeping authorities from being able to communicate.

Rescue workers, that have been able to reach destruction scenes, are combing through rubble in search of victims, and aiding those they find.

Canada Severs Diplomatic Relations With Iran

Canada has announced the severing of diplomatic ties with Iran.

They have closed their embassy in Tehran.

Foreign Minister Baird announced Friday morning that "diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran have been suspended."

He went on further to call Iran "the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today".

All Iranian diplomatic staff will be expelled, within the next five days.

Analysis of August Jobless Numbers

The latest economic status report and unemployment numbers are out. In August, unemployment dropped, slightly, to 8.1%. Again, on the surface, that appears as good news. However, workforce participation also dropped, meaning that decline in unemployment was, again, due to people leaving the workforce. That means that the net jobs "created" was near zero if not negative.

We now have the smallest workforce participation in the history of tracking the participation rate. If we had the workforce participation we had on January 1, 2009, the unemployment rate would be 11.2% with a much higher U6 rate, near 23%. 

The news on the workforce participation rates raises curiosity about any correlation to SSDI recipients. In previous months, the decreased participation rate had a proportionate increase in SSDI applications, mostly due to "mental disabilities". If the trend holds, it indicates that more and more Americans have been severely depressed, to the point of chronic mental disorder, by the current administration. That could lead one to wonder if the federal politicians in office could be sued for "mental anguish". In any case, it indicates an even further strain on taxpayers, since Social Security is already nearly bankrupt.

In addition, both the June and July numbers were revised to higher than initially reported. This is the consistent trend we have seen since January 20, 2009. As bad as the numbers are, next month or the month after, we will find they were actually worse than first reported.

The reported increase in jobs created or personnel hired resided mostly in the food service profession. In other words, more people were hired to serve fast food or as waitresses and dishwashers. Most of those jobs are part-time and qualify as "under employment". Those taking those jobs are listed as "marginally attached to the labor force".

The unemployment rate of personnel with a Bachelors' Degree or higher is still hovering around 4.1%, which is what the overall unemployment rate should be, while the rate for that demographic should be closer to 2.5%. 

Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans' unemployment remains near 11% with workforce participation decreasing at a more rapid rate than the civilian sector's rate. This means more and more veterans are giving up even seeking employment because the potential for employment looks dim. This is despite the incentives to hire veterans imposed by the federal government under the same bills that the IAVA praised as "positive" for veterans issues. If they were positive, they would have worked. They are failing. This is not how we take care of those who put their lives on the line to protect this great republic.

So what does this all mean? It means, in reality, we have even fewer adult citizens employed. It means that the current economic conditions set by federal regulations and tax codes, to include Obamacare, are motivating private companies to shrink their human capital. Those few companies that are expanding are hiring overqualified people into part-time positions normally held by teenagers. That means fewer opportunities for high school and college students to earn a wage and defray the costs of their education.

This is the "hope and change" that Obama built during his tenure in office. Is this what his voters want?

Original article and further commentary at Mental Aikido. 

McCarthy Takes Line Drive to The Head

During the Los Angeles Angels vs. Oakland A's game, on Wednesday, Brandon McCarthy had a bit of a scare.

While pitching to Erick Aybar, he took a line driver to the head, and then hit his head hard on the ground as well.

Good news was that McCarthy not only got up after being hit, but never lost consciousness.

He was taken out of the game and taken by ambulance to the hospital.

His hospital visit was merely precautionary, and it seems he didn't even suffer a concussion.

McCarthy is now hoping he didn't use up all his luck surviving the hit.

Representative States Dutch Enslaved Brooklyn in 1898

Whilst on the Colbert Report, Democrat Yvette Clarke, the US representative for Brooklyn made some interesting statements.

She insisted that there was still slavery in the Brooklyn, in 1898.

Slavery was ended in that part of the country in 1783.

To make matters all the better, she declared that it was the Dutch who had been the slavers.

The Dutch haven't ruled that area since 1674.

Colbert even gave Clarke several chances to think her statement through and take it back, but each time she all the more confirmed that her statement was fact.

Well hopefully the representative knows her current Brooklyn politics better than it's historical ones.

Third Hantavirus Death

A third person has died from catching hantavirus at Yosemite National Park.

Four other people are currently ill with the disease, after staying at the park, in California.

Ten thousand people are believed to have stayed at the Curry Village campground, and all could have caught the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned all visitors to the camp ground to be checked for the deadly illness.

Worries now are that one of the cases may have come from the High Sierra Camps, which is in a totally different area.

If that is the case then thousands more could have been infected.

Lakewood Officer Inolved in Deadly Shooting

Just after midnight in Lakewood, Colorado an officer pulled over a vehicle, that had been reported stolen. The officer waited for back up to arrive, and then the two officers approached the vehicle.

When they began asking questions, the passenger began arguing with the second officer, striking at him and beginning to fight him. That officer then used his taser in self defense.

As that occurred the driver began driving off. Somehow the first officer's arm was pinned in the car, and he began to be dragged. He drew his weapon and fired one shot, which struck the woman, who later died at the hospital.

Both officers suffered minor injuries. The passenger of the vehicle has been arrested.

Jefferson County's Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the incident. As per regulations, both officers have been placed on leave whilst everything is investigated.

Blue to Gold: ARMY Staff Sgt. Jonathan P. Schmidt

ARMY Staff Sgt Jonathan P Schmidt 28, of Petersburg VA, died Sept 1, in Batur Village, Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense announced Tuesday that 28-year-old Staff Sgt. Jonathan P. Schmidt, was killed when his unit was attacked by small arms fire on Sept. 1 in Batur Village.

According to Virginia television station WWBT-TV, Schmidt was just weeks away from returning home.  Schmidt attended Thomas Dale High School and leaves behind a wife and young son in North Carolina..

Schmidt was assigned to 192nd Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, 20th Support Command at Fort Bragg. The 52nd Ordnance Group works to disarm and dispose of enemy explosives. The 20th Support Command specializes in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high yield explosives and was activated Oct. 16, 2004. It is capable of handling all types of improvised explosive devices.