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from Breitbart
THE GROUNDING OF BIG GOVERNMENT
COLLEGE KIDS SIGN CARD THANKING IRS FOR TARGETING CONSERVATIVES
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An emotional farewell: Police officers salute K-9 as he goes on his 'final journey'
Kaiser, a German Shepard serving in the Massachusetts Police Department K-9 unit, was put down after a battle with kidney disease
Heart-wrenching pictures that swept the Internet show the dog being given an emotional farewell salute by fellow police officers
Tricked into parenthood: How men are SABOTAGING women's birth control in a bid to 'leave a legacy'
The age where you could WALK from New York to Morocco! How countries of today would look 300 MILLION years ago
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from First Things
GOD, GODS, AND FAIRIES
One of the strangest claims often made by purveyors and consumers of today’s popular atheism is that disbelief in God involves no particular positive philosophy of reality, much less any kind of religion or creed, but consists merely in neutral incredulity toward a certain kind of factual asseveration. This is not something the atheists of earlier ages would have been very likely to say, if only because they still lived in a culture whose every dimension (artistic, philosophical, ethical, social, cosmological) was shaped by a religious vision of the world. More to the point, it is an utterly nonsensical claim—so nonsensical, in fact, that it is doubtful that those who make it can truly be considered atheists in any coherent sense.
At least nine dead after deadly tornadoes hit Oklahoma City region
from The Jerusalem Post
Turkish PM Erdogan calls for end to protests
Police attempt to relieve tensions after two days of clashes Erdogan acknowledges mistakes in tear gas use against protesters.
Behind the Lines: At the edge of the abyss
Lebanon is moving ever closer to being swept into the Syrian civil war amid cross-border fire, rebel response to increasingly overt engagement of Hezbollah militants in fighting.
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from First Things
GOD, GODS, AND FAIRIES
One of the strangest claims often made by purveyors and consumers of today’s popular atheism is that disbelief in God involves no particular positive philosophy of reality, much less any kind of religion or creed, but consists merely in neutral incredulity toward a certain kind of factual asseveration. This is not something the atheists of earlier ages would have been very likely to say, if only because they still lived in a culture whose every dimension (artistic, philosophical, ethical, social, cosmological) was shaped by a religious vision of the world. More to the point, it is an utterly nonsensical claim—so nonsensical, in fact, that it is doubtful that those who make it can truly be considered atheists in any coherent sense.
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from Fox News
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from The Jerusalem Post
Turkish PM Erdogan calls for end to protests
Police attempt to relieve tensions after two days of clashes Erdogan acknowledges mistakes in tear gas use against protesters.
Anti-government protesters chant "unite against fascism" and "government resign," in Istanbul a day after hundreds hurt in violent protests; activists call for similar demonstrations in more than a dozen cities.
Behind the Lines: At the edge of the abyss
Lebanon is moving ever closer to being swept into the Syrian civil war amid cross-border fire, rebel response to increasingly overt engagement of Hezbollah militants in fighting.
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Fatal Deputy-Involved Shooting In Spokane Valley
from KREM 2 News
5 dead in tornado in Oklahoma City area, 50 hurt
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State cashing in on liquor sales
The Most Stressful Jobs of 2013
A career site has produced a list of the most stressful jobs in America, based on a number of factors like danger, deadlines and how much you're in the public eye. Did your occupation qualify?
from NPR
Court Prepares To Write New Chapters In Civil Rights History
Haters Gonna Hate, As Shown On A Map
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from KHQ Local News
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5 dead in tornado in Oklahoma City area, 50 hurt
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from KXLY 4 News
State cashing in on liquor sales
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from Money Talks News
A career site has produced a list of the most stressful jobs in America, based on a number of factors like danger, deadlines and how much you're in the public eye. Did your occupation qualify?
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Court Prepares To Write New Chapters In Civil Rights History
Haters Gonna Hate, As Shown On A Map
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from POLITICO
Ted Cruz: DOJ case ‘without precedent’
Mitch McConnell recorder explains bugging
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from REALfarmacy
Top 10 Most Unhealthy, Cancer-Causing Foods
note: Some of this information needs verification. - C. S.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Medicare gets small respite
Government calculates health program’s main fund will stay solvent until 2026
Oklahoma capital hit by severe weather
Five killed when tornadoes rip through suburbs
Idaho agencies scramble to reward workers
State falling further behind in pay for public employees
Four Houston firefighters killed in blaze
Crew were searching for people believed trapped in motel
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Arena dropping Bon Jovi from name
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena managers decided late Thursday evening to drop a publicity stunt announced Thursday morning.
After arena managers announced that they were temporarily changing its name to the Bon Jovi Veterans Arena, local veterans and community members criticized the decision on social media.
“We didn’t really expect people to react the way they did,” arena General Manager Matt Gibson said Friday.
Gibson said in the original announcement that the renaming was intended to show “Because We Can” tour promoters that Spokane was serious about hosting the rock band. Big names like Bon Jovi rarely come to Spokane, so booking the concert was a huge accomplishment, he said.
“It wasn’t meant to be anything other than a goofy promotional stunt for the concert,” Gibson said Friday.
Bon Jovi will play in Spokane on Oct. 6.
Crew were searching for people believed trapped in motel
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In brief: From Staff and Wire Reports:
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena managers decided late Thursday evening to drop a publicity stunt announced Thursday morning.
After arena managers announced that they were temporarily changing its name to the Bon Jovi Veterans Arena, local veterans and community members criticized the decision on social media.
“We didn’t really expect people to react the way they did,” arena General Manager Matt Gibson said Friday.
Gibson said in the original announcement that the renaming was intended to show “Because We Can” tour promoters that Spokane was serious about hosting the rock band. Big names like Bon Jovi rarely come to Spokane, so booking the concert was a huge accomplishment, he said.
“It wasn’t meant to be anything other than a goofy promotional stunt for the concert,” Gibson said Friday.
Bon Jovi will play in Spokane on Oct. 6.
PHOENIX – The weeklong detention of an American woman after Mexican authorities said they found 12 pounds of marijuana under her bus seat illustrates just one of the perils Americans face while traveling south of the border.
Yanira Maldonado, 42, walked out of a prison on the outskirts of Nogales, Mexico, and into her husband’s arms late Thursday after a judge dismissed drug-smuggling charges against her.
The judge determined Maldonado was no longer a suspect after viewing video that showed the couple climbing on the bus with just a purse, blankets and bottles of water.
After returning to the Phoenix area Friday, Maldonado said, “I got strength through my faith and said, ‘I’m going to be out,’ and I got out.”
The governor of the Mexican state of Sonora, where Nogales is located, apologized for Maldonado’s ordeal during a visit to Phoenix on Friday. He said he made sure she was safe and wasn’t transferred to a federal prison and worked to ensure the court proceedings went quickly.
Japan pledges aid to build Africa ties
YOKOHAMA, Japan – Japan is wooing African nations, promising $32 billion as government and private-sector aid to foster growth in a region that is increasingly an appealing market and business partner.
The package for the next five years, including $14 billion in government aid called ODA, or official development assistance, was announced at a three-day conference in Yokohama, near Tokyo, opening today.
Japan is eager to catch up with neighboring Asian rival China, which has a big head start in courting Africa, investing heavily in infrastructure projects.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office late last year, is bullish about investing in and exporting to Africa.
He is holding meetings with officials from African nations, including Zimbabwe, Sudan and Kenya.
China hints it may join free-trade pact
WASHINGTON – Since the U.S. and other nations began talks on an Asia-Pacific free-trade pact, Chinese officials had pretty much looked at the deal with suspicion, as another attempt to contain China’s rise in the world.
Now, however, Beijing is giving a wholly different signal: a willingness to join the U.S.-led negotiations.
“We will analyze the advantages, disadvantages and the possibility of joining the TPP,” said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, at a briefing Thursday.
The TPP talks already involve 11 countries, including Australia, Vietnam, Canada and Mexico. And with Japan soon to join, those at the negotiating table would represent close to two-fifths of the world economy.
The Obama administration sees the TPP as more than an agreement that would remove tariffs in the fast-growing Pacific region. It is meant also to set standards and address critical regionwide issues on regulations, supply chains and state-owned enterprises. All of which would presumably help President Barack Obama’s broader goal of boosting American exports as well as strengthening Washington’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
U.S. withholding aid to Syrian rebels
WASHINGTON – The United States is withholding $63 million that it had pledged to the main Syrian opposition organization because the Obama administration is frustrated with the group’s disarray and is searching for more credible partners to support in the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad, knowledgeable officials said Friday.
The decision not to fund the Syrian Opposition Coalition contrasts sharply with the Obama administration’s continued public expressions of confidence in the group, which has been central to U.S. policy on Syria since last fall and which the administration recognizes as the representative of the Syrian people.
But U.S. officials said privately that they are fed up with the group’s inability to organize, appoint a government-in-exile or reach decisions on a wide range of issues. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity so as to more freely discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Officials insisted the plan wasn’t to give up on the coalition. But they said Secretary of State John Kerry was mulling greater support of rival opposition factions such as the rebels’ military command and grass-roots civil society organizations inside Syria.
State Department officials also said they were incensed at the coalition’s announcement Friday that it wouldn’t attend U.S.-Russian sponsored peace talks in Geneva. The coalition blamed its refusal to attend on the “invasion of Syria” by Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Assad suggested in a Lebanese television interview Thursday that he might personally attend.
Starbucks expands no-smoking policy
NEW YORK – Starbucks customers will soon have to stamp out their cigarettes before approaching the cafes.
The Seattle-based chain says it will start banning smoking within 25 feet of its stores beginning today. A Starbucks spokeswoman said the intent is to expand the indoor no-smoking policy to the outdoor seating areas.
The rule will apply to the 7,000 cafes owned and operated by Starbucks Corp., regardless of whether they have outdoor seating areas.
Jobless rate at new high across European Union
BRUSSELS – Unemployment across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro has hit another record high, the latest in a series of ignominious landmarks for the ailing single-currency zone.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said Friday that unemployment rose to 12.2 percent in April from the previous record of 12.1 percent the month before. Another 95,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed, taking the total to 19.38 million.
The figures mask big disparities among countries. While more than one in four people are unemployed in Greece and Spain, Germany’s rate is at 5.4 percent.
Test wheat from U.S., EU advises members
BERLIN – The European Union is urging its 27 member states to test wheat shipments from the United States after unauthorized genetically modified grains were found in Oregon.
Tokyo on Thursday halted imports of certain types of wheat from the U.S. following the discovery of an experimental strain that was tested by Monsanto but never approved.
The European Union imports more than 1.1 million tons of U.S. wheat each year, mostly to Spain.
Advisory panel worried about Fed policies
WASHINGTON – Some members of a Federal Reserve banking advisory committee expressed concerns this month that the Fed’s low interest-rate policies could be creating an “unsustainable bubble” in stock and bond markets.
The discussion among members of the banking advisory group and officials at the Federal Reserve showed the advisory panel believed that the Fed’s policies have provided support for a slow economic recovery. But some advisory members worry that the policies may also lead to higher inflation or market instability.
The group is made up of private bankers from each of the Fed’s 12 banking districts.
FBI confirms ricin in letter to Fairchild
The deadly poison ricin was present in a letter sent from Spokane to Fairchild Air Force Base last month, the FBI confirmed Friday.
Four other letters are believed to have been addressed in the same manner and sent at the same time to a federal judge, a post office, President Barack Obama and the Central Intelligence Agency. Two were intercepted by postal inspectors at the downtown Spokane post office on May 14.
Ricin had been previously confirmed in three of the letters. The one addressed to the CIA has not been recovered, FBI spokeswoman Ayn Sandalo Dietrich said. No one has been hurt by the letters.
The investigation is ongoing, Sandalo Dietrich said.
A Spokane man is in custody on a charge of making death threats in one of the letters, addressed to U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle. Matthew Buquet, 38, was arrested May 22.
ACLU: Wolfinger misinterpreted law
The Idaho ACLU charged Friday that Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger misinterpreted the law when he said sodomy was unlawful in Idaho, as part of his concerns about continuing a charter for a Boy Scout troop chartered by the sheriff’s department.
The organization said the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 invalidated criminal statutes that regulate sexual activity among consenting adults.
Wolfinger said Thursday that he hadn’t decided whether to continue to charter the troop. His concern stemmed from the national organization’s decision to permit gay youth to join Scout troops.
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Shipping lanes set up to save whales
New passageways account for the marine mammals
Marijuana’s THC aids brain-damaged mice
Some positions moving to California; S. Carolina, Ukraine centers planned
Liquor sales, prices up
Rise is good news for state, local budgets
Irish ambassador disputes tax haven claim
Senators say Apple Inc. receives special, extra-low corporate rate
Consumers reporting optimistic outlook
Index at highest level since July 2007
Vestal: ‘Tax hike’ hyperbole doesn’t stand up to scrutiny
Library director begins new chapter
New York native Chanse looks forward to job, area
Man admits to grisly killing
Co-defendant sentenced to 13 years
Divers extracting sunken I-5 bridge
Train service offers alternative to snarl
Oregon coal port gets initial permits
Trains would unload onto barges at Boardman
Hole found in I-84 span near Hood River
Labrador’s chief of staff latest to leave
Editorial: U.S. border crossing fee a severely flawed idea
Froma Harrop
Under Obama, war rising as America recedes
Charles Krauthammer
Ideas for more effective math instruction
George K. Brown
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letter:
News reports say an oversized truck was the likely cause of the Interstate 5 bridge collapse. But I can tell you, as a former highway engineering technician, there is absolutely no reason why a truck smacking into that bridge should have brought it down. The core cause of this disaster and many others is the criminal neglect of our nation’s infrastructure.
The frustrating part is that if we committed to rebuilding and adequately maintaining our infrastructure, far fewer people would be out of work. Increased efficiency would save the government billions. And the boost to the economy would increase revenues enough to negate any need for tax increases.
It’s a no-brainer folks, and could literally save your life.
Devin Barber
Spokane
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letter:
Scandals are a symptom
Amid all these ongoing scandals we see the Obama administration involved with (Benghazi, Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups, Associated Press communications tapped) we can extrapolate one of two things: Either they are 100 percent naive and don’t know what they are doing; or they are 100 percent corrupt and are completely in control of all of what is happening. Either way, they have no business running this country.
The problem we have is that too many American voters think it’s OK to prosper from other people’s hard work. They want the easy way out, so they vote for Democrats. As long as politicians can use the IRS to forcibly confiscate our earnings and use them to pay others to vote for them, we will continue down this path of irresponsibility and corruption. America needs desperately to rein in government control of all our lives before it’s too late and we lose what freedoms we have left.
The problem is those who think as I do are targeted because those who want big government are afraid of what we believe, and need to quash it. They are not above using intimidation and fear to achieve this. When is enough, enough? Who should be held accountable?
Rob Leach
Mica
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Paul Graves
Court upholds sentence in ’10 Bayview rampage
Commentary: These guys are running college sports?
Captain’s fond farewell
Salvation Army of Spokane to honor Smith’s five years of service
Pia Hallenberg The Spokesman-Review
Anthony L. Komaroff
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Obituary:
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