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GOP leaders held their cards close to the vest on Monday. A spokesman for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who takes over as majority leader at the end of the week, said conversations about legislation continued through the weekend. But congressional aides would not offer a timeframe of when the House GOP bill might be released.
While the House bill would be much smaller than what Obama requested, the shortened timeframe could still address the more immediate aspects of the child migrant issue.
The Department of Homeland Security has said it expects Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run out of money in mid-August. It has projected the same for Customs and Border Protection by mid-September.
The House bill would ensure those departments get immediate funding.
Rogers said he will be presenting a plan before the GOP conference at its weekly meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The chairman said the bill could be released Tuesday for a vote by Thursday.
“I hope we file tomorrow,” Rogers said Monday night. “It’s practically ready to go.”
Rogers said Congress only needed to approve extra funding for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Funding beyond that date could be part of the regular appropriations process for fiscal 2015.
“Well, we can handle whatever is needed next in the regular bills,” Rogers said. “We really don’t need to do the fiscal year [2015].”
And with Senate Democrats struggling to line up enough support for their competing border proposal, the House GOP has an opportunity to distinguish itself as potentially the lone group to get something done.
But that won’t be easy, given the reluctance some Republicans will have in voting for any border bill.
From the beginning, a conservative bloc of lawmakers has urged leadership to ignore Obama’s funding request and simply pass a resolution underscoring their opinion that the president encouraged children to come to the U.S. with lax immigration policies and that the administration has the power already to address the matter.
Rep. Trent Franks Harold (Trent) Trent FranksArizona New Members 2019 Cook shifts 8 House races toward Dems Freedom Caucus members see openings in leadership MORE (R-Ariz.) introduced a resolution to do just that Friday afternoon. If passed, the nonbinding resolution would express the sense of the House that the president’s immigration policies have effectively “enticed” children to migrate from Central America, under the belief they would be free to stay if they made it over the border.
The resolution only had one co-sponsor as of Monday. If that number grows, it could be an indication that Republicans will have trouble pulling enough support for new funding, even when paired with policy changes to strengthen the border.
Meanwhile, nearly all Democrats have remained resolute in opposing the GOP bill.
Opposition among Democrats to changing a 2008 human trafficking law many Republicans blame for the influx of immigrant children has hardened. While Republicans are confident some Democrats will come around to the bill if it reaches the floor, so far, only a sparse handful of Democrats have said they are even considering supporting it.— This story was posted at 2:14 p.m. and updated at 7:25 p.m. and 8:41 p.m.
A Royal Marine taking part in a selection process for the SAS died after he fell down a gorge which he did not realise was there because it was marked on a map in Welsh.
An inquest into the death of 25-year-old marine Ashley Hicks, heard that he plunged more than 100ft down a steep gorge, in the dark, near Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia in October 2012 during an "escape and evasion" exercise.
Later the same night a second soldier suffered a broken leg after falling 30ft on to a ledge in the same gorge.
The coroner said the marine's death was avoidable as she recorded a verdict of accidental death.
"Had the gorge been identified in the recce procedure it would have been out of bounds and he wouldn't have been there," Nicola Jones, the coroner said.
She added: "Crucially there will be more attempts to gain local specialist knowledge of unacceptable hazards on training grounds.
"The failure to identify this gorge as an unduly hazardous location is clearly the most significant contributing factor to Ashley slipping and falling."
The coroner said the word "ceunant" (gorge) appeared on the planning map and asked why no one had identified it, as it was the local language.
"It's unlikely they would obtain translation of the words. We tend to operate in symbology," Soldier AA, the assistant chief of staff at the Ministry of Defence responsible for specialist units, told the inquest.
A service inquiry had been carried out following the incidentand Soldier AA was one of three panel members. The panel felt the planning and reconnaissance of the area was not as comprehensive as it could have been.
He told the hearing that Google maps were now used "to try to fly the terrain."
He added :"We are quite proud of our map-reading ability. On this occasion that ability wasn't good enough to prevent the non-identification of this hazard. We have taken steps to make sure that doesn't happen again. One of these steps is to take advice."
He added :"We now know what 'gorge' in Welsh looks like."
Another officer, known as 'Soldier R' and in charge of selecting new recruits said :"We can't eliminate all risk." He said in a statement that procedures had been reviewed.
"Escape, evasion and survival are inherent skills a soldier must demonstrate to join this specialist unit," he added.
Around 250 students took part in each course and the inquest heard the pass rate was between nine and 13 per cent.
Marine Hicks, of Solihull, was in the top ten of students. The exercise scenario was that soldiers had been in a helicopter downed in hostile territory. A "hunter" force of 100 "enemy" soldiers were seeking them.
Soldier R said:"He was a good candidate for whom we had the highest expectations. We would expect rather than hope someone of Ashley's quality would pass the course."
The religious group known as the Blackburn Cult, the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven, or the Great Eleven Club, was started in 1922 on Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and later formed a retreat in the Southern California Simi Valley. The group's founder, May Otis Blackburn, is said to have received revelations directly from angels, and, along with her daughter Ruth Wieland Rizzio, believed that she was charged by the archangel Gabriel to write books revealing the mysteries of Heaven and Earth, and life and death.[1][2]
Newspaper articles from the period reported strange rituals including the sacrifice of animals, sex scandals and attempts to resurrect a dead 16-year-old girl.[3] Police found the corpse of Willa Rhoads under the floor at the Rhoadses' residence, wrapped in spices and salt, and surrounded by the bodies of seven dead dogs.[2] Mr. and Mrs. Rhoads later confessed to the police that they had placed their daughter in the tomb fourteen months earlier at the suggestion of May Otis Blackburn.[2] The cult was also accused of killing a member in an oven, poisoning another during a "whirling dervish" ceremony, and making several other members disappear.[4]
Indicted for grand theft [ edit ]
In 1929, group leaders were indicted in Los Angeles for grand theft and investigated in connection with the disappearances of several members.[1] These indictments created a sensation after the background of the grand theft was revealed to the public.[3] May Otis Blackburn was charged with twelve counts of grand theft, and articles at that time referred to her as a "cult leader".[5]
According to Time magazine , the Blackburn Cult was also known as "The Great Eleven", and May Otis Blackburn was referred to as the "Heel of God".[6]
The cult collapsed after May Otis Blackburn was imprisoned for stealing 40,000 dollars from Clifford Dabney.[6][7]
Depicted in theatrical productions [ edit ]
In October 2007, actresses playing May Otis Blackburn and Ruth Rizzio appeared in the Ghost Tour in Strathearn Park, in Simi Valley, California. The actress playing Blackburn stated: "May Otis is really fun and flamboyant..She's a cult leader. Who wouldn't want to play a cult leader?"[8] The "Ghost Tour" in Robert P. Strathearn Historical Park had previously featured Blackburn in 1999.[9]
Subject of fictionalized history [ edit ]
In 2008, R.J. Baudé, son of the last surviving member of the Great Eleven, published a fact-based novel about the group, "The Blackburn Chronicles: A Tale of Murder, Money and Madness". "The Kept Girl," [10] Kim Cooper's novel about the cult, Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, was published in 2014.
Non-fiction/Historical Accounts [ edit ]
In 2014, Samuel Fort published "Cult of the Great Eleven," a detailed historical account of the rise and fall of the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven.
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Renovations began this week to transform the Baltimore Visitor Center into an event space that the city's tourism bureau hopes is used by as many local residents as tourists.
An $800,000 project is underway to remove the permanent brochure racks from the Inner Harbor building and open its main room to create a functional event space. The glass building will still function primarily as an information source for visitors, but it will also allow for alternative uses such as convention receptions and private parties.
"It’s not just for tourists anymore — locals can use it,” said Tom Noonan, CEO of Visit Baltimore.
When the center opened in 2004, visitors were primarily getting their information about tourist attractions through physical brochures, so the space was constructed with a series of permanent racks for them. Now that information is primarily accessed through mobile devices, those racks are defunct.
After the renovations are complete, the building brochures and tourist information will be kept in carts on wheels, so they can be moved out to create an open space. Noonan estimates the building could accommodate up to 500 people, though he hasn't been given a cap yet from the fire department.
Rental fees for the space have not been determined, but Noonan said those proceeds will go to the Visit Baltimore Education & Training Foundation, which provides scholarships for local students seeking higher education in hospitality.
In addition to opening the building up as event venue, the renovation, which is set to wrap up by March, will also upgrade the televisions and other technology in the center.
"It kind of gives the building a second life which it really needs,” Noonan said.
The revamp is part of a series of changes underway at the Inner Harbor. The USS Constellation Museum is being transformed to a new water taxi terminal, according to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. Additionally, the Harborplace pavilions along Pratt and Light streets are slated for an overhaul, and new vendors like Yard House are already moving into retail spaces there. Rash Field is in the midst of a redesign, too.
Mandalay Bay & MGM Ban OnSite Investigator – Armed Guards & FBI Agent Throw Him Out Of His Room
An independent onsite investigator by the name of Nick Falco decided to stay at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino and investigate things pertaining to the Las Vegas shooting. He was subsequently banned from the hotel, as well as MGM for life and escorted out of his hotel room by armed guards and an FBI agent.
The actions of Falco and the hotel occurred within 24 hours of his arrival.
Falco tweeted out his investigation (his tweets require approval to be seen, but I have linked them below), along with the ban he received from Mandalay Bay & MGM.
“I questioned the #LasVegas shooting narrative. I went to Mandalay Bay to check for myself. After 24 hours I was banned for life from MGM,” tweeted Falco, providing the following picture to prove his ban: https://t.co/AEdgzRGfG8.
Falco spoke with Intellihub and sought to confirm certain things, including the validity of the receipt that was leaked online from Stephen Paddock’s room.
Intellihub reports:
Falco told Intellihub exclusively that he received a phone call from the front desk of Mandalay Bay shortly before 7:30 p.m. in which a female operator instructed him to answer his hotel room door where four men (two armed guards, a security guy, and an FBI agent) simultaneously met him. Falco was then told to pack up his belongings before the FBI agent conducted a subsequent inspection of his room. Soon after the independent investigator says that he was escorted over to the main entrance of the Mandalay Bay where a security guard stood him in front of a camera and verbally read him the trespass. During Falco’s visit, he was able to prove that the leaked online version of Stephen Paddock’s room service receipt was, in fact, “authentic” after comparing it to a receipt he himself received after ordering room service Saturday morning.
Here’s the series of tweets from Falco with links to each tweet.
2. I stayed at Mandalay Paddocks room service receipt was leaked online. It is authentic.https://t.co/us9zDGoU57 Here’s mine- ONE guest pic.twitter.com/JEAyuEzpKM — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 3. There’s 1000s of surveillance cameras in gaming area, mostly visible There’s a surveillance camera in each main elevator. You cant hide pic.twitter.com/qXeOlORYUb — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017
He did shoot down theories that Paddock used his wife/girlfriend’s ID to access the service elevator saying, “Service elevators aren’t prohibited from guests. No signs. No locks.”
4. Some People have said Paddock used service elevator w his girlfriends ID- this is FALSE There are No locks, No signs, No keys required pic.twitter.com/rjE5sdr6yD — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 5. Police said Paddock used service elevators.
Why? To bypass security? Service elevators arent prohibited from guests. No signs. No locks pic.twitter.com/kHVYc8WPLK — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 6. There are visible surveillance cameras in all service elevators. There was no reason for Paddock to use these to get around security. pic.twitter.com/xNFWYtMF3i — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017
Falco also pointed out that the freight elevator is quite a distance from Paddock’s room.
7. Red dot is service elevator. Main elevators are in middle. I’m pointing to Paddocks room Why did Paddock use service elevator? It’s far pic.twitter.com/FSrVnTuY5a — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017 9. There is an exit staircase right next to Paddock’s room. No locks, no alarms, no signs & most importantly? No Cameras. pic.twitter.com/GF0JoXJaq3 — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017
Falco goes on to say that there was no need for a second window as the vantage point Paddock would have had over the venue didn’t require it.
8. I had clear view of Paddocks room, concert & fuel tanks Shooter didnt need 2nd window to shoot people & fuel tanks Why break 2 windows? pic.twitter.com/Tq5giT76In — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017
Additionally, Falco told Intellhub that he is no conspiracy theorist, just someone checking out the facts.
And take note of MGM’s privacy policy which Falco notes in tweet number 12 of 14.
I don’t think that is far-fetched considering the wealth of information Wikileaks has provided the American people on the illegal activities of the CIA in our own country.
Falco then concludes his series of tweets by asking, “I was evicted after less than 24 hours but a shooter w 23 rifles was at their hotel for 7 days & they didn’t know?”
13. I was evicted after less than 24 hours but a shooter w 23 rifles was at their hotel for 7 days & they didn’t know? This guy? Really? pic.twitter.com/ZUGpLqeqMe — Nick (@Nick_Falco) October 15, 2017
It seems to me that Nick Falco has provided a plethora of evidence, just in his being banned from the hotel that attorney Brian Claypool may have a proper theory concerning Mandalay Bay and MGM simply being negligent of a high roller like Stephen Paddock, which put lives in danger, grave danger.
Lea Michele broke the news on Monday that she would be appearing on the seventh and final season of FX’s Sons of Amarchy by excitedly tweeting, “I’ll be appearing on an episode of my favorite show @SonsofAnarchy! Thank you so much @Harparbar & @sutterink #SOAFX” Earlier today Lea was photographed on the Sons of Anarchy set filming a scene with show matriarch Katey Sagal in which Lea was wearing a waitress uniform and both ladies were smoking cigarettes and chatting on a bench.
Click to enlarge:
The scene jibes with details about Lea’s character Gertie released by the network, which describe her as a single mom working as a waitress at a truck stop. Gertie “connects with Gemma,” played by Katey Sagal, “during a difficult time.” I assume we are seeing Gertie and Gemma connecting during a difficult time in the photos. 🙂
To wrap things up, here are Lea’s still-excited tweets from the last few days while filming SOA:
Day two at @SonsofAnarchy today… pretty easy getting up at 6am when I'm this excited! pic.twitter.com/sSX4g2zVOi — Lea Michele (@msleamichele) July 29, 2014
In an abstract from her essay published in Gastronomica, which calls itself The Journal of Critical Food Studies, a leftist professor posits that the reason Greek yogurt has become so popular is because it’s white. The author, one Perin Gurel, also intimates that white Americans had a prejudice against yogurt because it had Middle Eastern origins.
That’s not all; Gurel believes that yogurt was viewed as a “strange and foreign food” by Americans until the mid-twentieth century, at which point the dairy industry “adopted a postfeminist ethos,” seizing upon the “intersectional processes of feminization and de-exoticization.”
Gurel explains that not only were white females lured into buying yogurt, but the fact that yogurt had dreaded “connections to the Middle east” was obscured by foregrounding a nonthreatening “white” ethnicity.
According to statista.com:
Greek yogurt is … known as strained yogurt. Through the straining process, the excess watery whey is removed, which gives the yogurt a much thicker and creamier consistency … As of 2014, the category held a share of over 50 percent of the U.S. yogurt market, up from about 4 percent in 2008 … The Greek yogurt category experienced tremendous growth in the United States over the past few years. Dollar sales of Greek yogurt amounted to about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, up from 391 million U.S. dollars in 2010.
Gurel received her Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 2010; she currently serves as Assistant Professor of American Studies; Concurrent Assistant Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame. In 2016 she wrote the multimedia essay “Representing Muslims and Islam in the Sanders campaign.” In 2012 she organized a conference titled, “Beyond Islamophobia: Islam and American Empire.”
FIRST: Thank you for helping us hit the first stretch goal! We will add wireless communication capability between the STEM Base and the host.
NOW, THE UPDATE: The STEM System represents an evolution from the earlier generation of Sixense technology used in the Razer Hydra. The STEM System features lower latency (even with wireless trackers), longer range and better tracking performance at all ranges. To help explain the technology behind these improvements, here is a video with Igor Khalfin, PhD, a member of our Advisory Board and one of the world's foremost authorities in high-precision tracking, guidance and navigation systems. (Dr. Khalfin’s bio is below the video.)
Igor Khalfin, PhD
Dr. Khalfin has over 30 years of experience in the aerospace/defense industries and academia, holds 5 patents in electromagnetic tracking and has published over 40 scientific papers on related topics. His expertise includes optoelectronics, electromagnetics, imaging systems and sensors, remote sensing, applied physics, signal processing, and nonlinear systems. Dr. Khalfin is currently employed with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, where he leads the projects on spacecraft control systems. His prior experience includes senior engineering positions at Rockwell Collins, Polhemus, State University of New York, and University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He holds a PhD in physics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
Common Weal director Robin McAlpine argues that universalism is intertwined with Scotland's political identity, and should be protected
IF you want to understand what is different about political culture in Scotland as compared to England and Wales, I'd suggest that the best place to start looking is the question of universalism.
It is also why I believe that Scotland gives up any ground on the issue of universalism at substantial risk to its very political identity.
There are two broad ways to look at social provision, universalism or selectivity. Universalism means that you decide that something should exist, that it is a core part of your society and that you should therefore ensure it is provided to all.
It is so dispiriting that this debate has been opened up by comments by the Scottish Government's new 'poverty tsar' Naomi Eisenstadt.

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