Beau Biden 1969-2015

Joseph Biden III, known as Beau, son of Vice President Joe Biden, has died of brain cancer, after being admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center ten days earlier.  He was 46.  He had previously been hospitalized in 2010, for what was stated to be a "mild stroke", and again in 2013.  He is survived by his wife and two children.

Beau Biden was born on February 3, 1969 in Wilmington, Delaware.  In 1972, he and his brother Hunter were injured in a car crash that killed their younger sister Naomi and their mother Neilia.  After graduating from Archmere Academy (as had his father), he obtained his B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Syracuse University.  He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in Philadelphia, and for two years as a partner in a law firm.  He was elected twice as Delaware Attorney General, serving from January 2007 to January 2015.  Biden also served in the Delaware Army National Guard, and was a Major in the JAG Corps.  He was deployed to Iraq in 2008.  Most recently, he announced his intention to run for Governor of Delaware.

Read more at WABC, The Washington Post, ABC News, CNN Politics and Delaware Online.

Friday Links

As the last weekend in May approaches, here are some things going on:

From The New York Times, the U.S. economy contracted by 0.7% during the first quarter of 2015.

From Fox News, PSCMotors, based in Las Vegas, announces that it will build a hybrid "supercar" that can reach speeds of up to 280 miles per hour.

From Fraud Of The Day, a gym owner gets busted for his side business, selling drugs and steroids.  (Via Watchdog(dot)org)

From Real Clear Politics, Megyn Kelly doesn't "have time to explain how wrong" Chris Cuomo is in his comparison of drawings of Mohammed to the N-word.

From The Washington Free Beacon, a panel on MSNBC say that President Obama's actions toward terrorist groups don't go as far as his rhetoric.

In National Review, Jonah Goldberg asks, "Does the media hold anyone to a lower ethical standard than the Clintons?"

From The Hill, and speaking of the Clintons, Mr. Bill reportedly agreed to appear at a charity event only after $500,000 was offered to the Clinton Foundation.

From Frontpage Mag, the history and return of Islamic jizya.

From 1776 Channel, the UEA container terminal operator Gulftainer has been allegedly shipping weapons to two terrorist groups in Iraq.

From WUIS, just two days after a group of their officials were arrested in Switzerland, FIFA is having a presidential election.

From the New York Post, a former elementary school teacher in the Chinese province of Ganzu has been executed for "molesting or raping" 26 students.

From My Fox Chicago, deposits in Greek banks have hit their lowest amount in over 10 years.

From Al Arabiya, since ISIS captured Ramadi, over 85,000 have fled the city.

From Malaymail Online, a Malaysian Muslim asks about the origins of the shahadah, and gets charged with blasphemy.

From TechCrunch, the Europas Conference announces their agenda.

And from The Blaze, here's MIT's robotic cheetah.

Former Speaker Hastert Faces Federal Indictment

Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), who rose to that position in 1999 after the resignations of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and his heir-apparent Bob Livingston (R-Lou) during the proceedings which led to then-President Bill Clinton (D-Ark) being Impeached, has been indicted on federal charges of structuring bank account withdrawals to avoid reporting requirements and then lying to the FBI.  Each charge has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  Hastert left Congress in 2007 after becoming the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House.

Read more at The New York Times, Yahoo News, NBC News, The Washington Post and ABC News.

Did Governor Walker Say That Forced Ultrasounds Were "Cool"?

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R), who in 2013 signed a bill requiring ultrasounds to be provided for women seeking an abortion, has drawn some flack for saying  that such mandatory ultrasounds are "just a cool thing for women".  But like Sarah "I can see Russia from my house" Palin, he never actually said such a thing.  From the Washington Examiner:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker believes forced ultrasounds are "just a cool thing for women," a handful of online news sites reported Wednesday.

Problem is: That's not exactly what the Republican governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate said.

In an interview Friday with conservative radio host Dana Loesch, Walker defended a bill that he signed into law in 2013 mandating that women seeking abortions must also be provided with ultrasounds.

Did the governor, then, actually say anything about ultrasounds being "cool"?  As it turns out, he did, but not in reference to any law.

"Most people I talk to, whether they're pro-life or not, I find people all the time who'll get out their iPhone and show me a picture of their grandkids' ultrasound and how excited they are, so that's a lovely thing. I think about my sons are 19 and 20, you know we still have their first ultrasound picture. It's just a cool thing out there," he said.

Read the full story, which includes screen shots of the online sites reporting Walker's remarks.

Music Break - Lesser-Known Originals

With some popular songs, the original version is not as well known as a later cover version.  This is often the result of an American act covering a song first recorded by a British act, thus bringing the song to the American public, while the original is heard mostly back in Britain.  One fairly well-known example is Black Magic Woman, made famous in America by Santana, but originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac, written and sung by the band's founder, Peter Green.

Alexandria National Cemetery

Alexandria National Cemetery is located in an out-of-the-way area of Alexandria, Virginia.  It is much smaller than the better known Arlington National Cemetery a few miles to the north, but is still the final resting place of over 4,000 people, including five Buffalo Soldiers and four civilians who died pursuing President Lincoln's assassin.  Also known as Soldiers Cemetery, it is located adjacent to a group of civilian cemeteries, each owned by a local church.

The main gate of Alexandria Cemetery faces east.  The area in front of the gate and wall is part of one of the civilian cemeteries.

The headstones are substantially identical to each other, except for the information identifying the person buried in the respective place.  The flags were placed in front of each marker during Memorial Day weekend.

While recently attending a Memorial Day service, I was given a card inviting me to visit a specific grave, that of Corporal Albert Warner, who was from Connecticut.  His marker was very close to the northern wall of the cemetery.

In this wider shot of the area around Corporal Warner's gravestone, we can more easily see the cemetery's northern wall, including a gate which is now permanently closed.

Corporal Warner's service was noted by The New York Times, which on August 19, 1862 published the names of the Fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers who were killed, wounded or missing.  His name appears ninth from the top.

The Haines Shoe House

Most of us have heard of the nursery rhyme about the "old woman who lived in a shoe", but in southern Pennsylvania a few miles east of York is the real thing.  The Haines Shoe House was built in 1948 by Mahlon Haines, who had created his own chain of shoe stores.  The house sits on its own namesake road, the south end of which intersects with PA Route 462.

I first read about the Shoe House in Weird U.S., but Off the Beaten Path! and Roadside America also recount its story.  The place has been recently purchased by a local couple, who sell ice cream and other treats on its ground floor, as noted by Penn Live.

Here's the south side of the Shoe House, including the ground-floor entrance to the snack shop.

In this shot, you can see the "heel" and part of the fire escape on the north side of the building.

This smaller "shoe", surrounded by a flower garden, is a dog house.  Its occupant is a stuffed animal.

From the Shoe House property, you can see Shoe House Road passing over U.S. Route 30.  There's no interchange here.  You have to access Shoe House Road either from PA Route 462, as mentioned above, or from back roads to the north.

Sunday Links

Here are some things going on in the middle of Memorial Day weekend:

From Fox News, two anti-drilling activists chain themselves to a Shell Oil ship.

From the Epoch Times, actress Susan Sarandon urges people to visit Nepal.

From WUIS, a novelist explores the "optical illusion" of being bi-racial.

From CNN, although protests following the acquittal of a Cleveland police officer were mostly peaceful, 71 people were arrested.

Also from CNN, mass graves of human trafficking victims have been found in northern Malaysia.

From The Big Story at AP, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter says that Iraq's army appears to lack the "will to fight".

From Soopermexican, some illegal aliens get upset when Hillary Clinton's Secret Service detail asks them about their status.

From Grabien, a correspondent for the Atlantic calls Hillary Clinton's relations with the press "corrosive".

From the Washington Examiner, a body of released Hillary Clinton emails (Yes, some have been released.) says little about the violence in Libya that was going on before the Benghazi attack.  (via American Thinker)

From The Daily Caller, Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) says that he will not be anyone's vice presidential running mate.

From CBS Detroit, a tanker fire shuts down Interstates 75 and 375.

From Canada Free Press, the approval of gay marriage in Ireland by way of a referendum (about which I posted on Friday) can be attributed to some extent to American money.

From Yahoo News, in Ireland, the Catholic Church "reels" in reaction to the "Yes" vote on gay marriage.

From ABC News, a Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and his wife have been killed in a taxi crash.

From the Chicago Tribune, a teenage inmate in Cook County, Illinois is "eating the jail".

And from The Blaze, a high school football player makes the most impressive catch that I've ever seen.

Ireland Votes On Same-Sex Marriage

From WUIS:

Voters in Ireland are deciding today whether the country will amend its constitution to make same-sex marriage legal.

The vote follows months of debate in the heavily Catholic country. Opinion polls suggest the referendum will pass and Ireland become the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in a national vote.

There are actually two questions being voted on today, each with its own ballot.  From The Irish Times:

Voters will be given two ballot papers: a white ballot paper for the marriage referendum and a green ballot paper for the age of presidential candidates referendum.

Ireland currently requires its president to be at least 35 years old, which is the same as in the United States.  The proposed change would reduce that age to 21.  The Irish Times also reports that the referendum has a requirement that where implemented in the United States, has our friends on the left screaming in horror.  In Ireland, each voter must (gasp!) show an ID.

All voters should bring evidence of identity with them. Anyone who fails to produce evidence of identity when requested, or who fails to satisfy the presiding officer that they are the person to whom the document relates, will not be allowed to vote.

A number of documents that will be accepted as evidence of identity are listed on polling cards and on posters displayed at polling stations.

Read more at the two links above.

Colonel Sanders To Return

Pretty soon, we'll be paraphrasing the little girl in Poltergeist II by saying, "He's baaaaack."  KFC is bringing back their longtime icon Colonel Harland Sanders for their latest advertising campaign.  He will be portrayed by Darrell Hammond, who used to impersonate President Bill Clinton on Saturday Night Live.  The real Colonel Sanders, who founded KFC, died nearly 35 years ago at the age of 90.  

If I were a follower of Hinduism, I would be wondering how many lifetimes as a chicken the Colonel has endured since then.  For him, karma wouldn't be a bitch, but a hen.

Read more at Fox News, CNN Money and Adweek.

Monday Links

On the 35th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption, some stories from today:

From Politico, Medicaid signups under Obamacare's expansion of that program increase so much that some Republican governors are thinking "I told you so."

From Yahoo Finance, Obamacare may have negatively affected consumer spending.

From Grabien, President Obama cuts back the flow of "military-style" equipment to local police departments.

In Frontpage Mag, Bruce Thornton says "We're still dumbing down the Iraq war."

In National Review, Quin Hillyer asks Jeb Bush (R), who can't seem to figure out what to think about the Iraq war, "Why Art Thou Even Running?"

From The Washington Times, former Governor John Sununu (R-NH) calls hindsight questions about the Iraq war "dumb".

Also from The Washington Times, the Supreme Court has struck down a Maryland tax law on income earned in other states.

From Breitbart's Big Government, according to presidential candidate and Maryland resident Dr. Ben Carson (R), presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D) "realizes the less she talks, the better off she is."  (A good idea for politicians in general, maybe?)

From The Blaze, the Supreme Court rules that a convicted felon may transfer his guns to someone else, as long as the felon no longer has control over them.

From Reuters, a U.S. Appeals Court has reversed part of a verdict that Apple won against Samsung.

From the New York Post, Al Sharpton's daughter, who recently sued New York City for a sprained ankle, was still able to climb a mountain in Indonesia.

From WGN, service on the Chicago Transit's Yellow Line has been suspended due to an embankment under the tracks giving way.

From CBS News, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) gives his reasons for running for president, even though he hasn't yet announced his candidacy.

From Weasel Zippers, CNN commentator Sally Kohn complains that the bikers who fought in Waco, Texas aren't being called "terrorists" or "thugs".

And from the Chicago Tribune, a tongue-in-cheek review of the latest Mad Max movie, in which the reviewer feared that while watching the movie, he might lose part of his anatomy.

35 Years Ago, Mount St. Helens Erupts

Thirty-five years ago today, a volcano in southwestern Washington named Mount St. Helens erupted, spewing ash over much of the state, setting off a landslide, creating local floods, and killing 57 people.  The eruption remains the deadliest and costliest in U.S. history.  Here are some reports recalling that fateful day in 1980:

From USA Today, some facts about the eruption.

From io9, an image of Mount St. Helens today.

From CBS News, the return of nature to the area, including the death and rebirth of Spirit Lake.

From the Epoch Times, "exactly what happened" during the eruption.

And from KOMO News, a man who at the time was a high school student recalls the ash cloud arriving in Spokane.

Nine Dead In Waco, TX Biker Shootout

In Waco, Texas, nine people were killed and 18 others injured in a gunfight that broke out between rival motorcycle gangs at a restaurant in a shopping center near Interstate 35.  Members of five different gangs are thought to have been involved.  All those killed were gang members.  No innocent bystanders or police officers were injured.

Read more at NBCDFW, the WacoTrib, KWTX, KCEN and the Statesman.

American Forces Kill ISIS Leader In Syria

In an overnight raid in eastern Syria, American Special Operations forces killed ISIS commander Abu Sayyaf, who had been involved in the organization's black market financial operations, and captured his wife Umm Sayyaf.  A Yazidi woman, thought to have been enslaved by Umm Sayyaf, was rescued.  All American personnel are reported to have returned from the raid safely.

The sources of this information are BBC News (via the Examiner) and CNN (via Hot Air)

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Gets Death Penalty

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of two brothers who planted two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring scores of others, and who later killed a policeman, has been sentenced to death by a Federal jury.  The counts giving rise to this sentence stem from the second of the two bombs, which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev planted on Boylston Street near the Forum restaurant.

Read more at CNN, Yahoo News, US Weekly, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald.

B.B. King 1925-2015

Legendary blues guitarist B.B. King passed away yesterday evening at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 89.  He had been in home hospice care after experiencing dehydration.  King had suffered for decades from type II diabetes.

Riley King was born on September 16, 1925 on a cotton plantation near Indianola, Mississippi and spent much of his childhood working on cotton farms.  He sang in church choirs, and after learning some basic guitar chords from his uncle, often played on street corners.  In 1947, he moved to Memphis to stay with from his cousin Booker "Bukka" White, himself a noted blues performer at the time.  King developed his guitar skills by studying White and other blues guitarists.  He would be billed as "the Blues Boy from Beale Street", which was shortened to "Blues Boy" and again to "B.B.", the name under which he became famous.

Although talented as both a singer and a guitarist, King never developed the ability to sing and play at the same time.  His first hit on the R&B charts was 3 O'Clock Blues, recorded in 1951 at the Memphis YMCA.  In 1969, King had his first hit single with The Thrill Is Gone, which would become his most famous song.  His music would eventually influence many blues-rock guitarists, such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

Read more at CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, Fox News and Billboard.

In 1988, King teamed up with U2 to produce When Love Comes To Town.

Drone Launched Near White House

You'd think that after the incident in January in which a drone flew onto the White House grounds, and the gyro copter landing in front of the Capitol building last month, that most people would realize that flying personal aircraft around Washington, DC is not a good idea.  Unfortunately, at least one person did not get the message.  This afternoon, a man allegedly tried to fly a drone near the White House.  As a result, the park just north of the White House, from which the drone was launched, was locked down, and the man was detained.

Read more at CNN, Yahoo News and NBC News.

(Some More) Wednesday Links

Some things in the news, other than the already-noted train wreck in Philadelphia:

From the Daily Mail, a federal judge has given the State Department until September 21 to hand over emails from Hillary Clinton to Citizens United.

From CNN, the No. 2 leader of ISIS has been killed in an airstrike, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

From Life News, the House will vote on a bill to prevent abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

From the Washington Examiner, House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) has unveiled a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

From The Times Of India, Malaysia has decided to push back boats carrying Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority in Myanmar.

From the Chicago Sun Times, the Vatican has officially recognized the state of Palestine.

In Western Journalism, Marita Noon writes an open letter to presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson (R).

From MyFoxChicago, Hungary honors their 700,000 citizens who were taken to Soviet labor camps.

From Campus Reform, on Mother's Day, students at U.C. Berkeley protest on behalf of mothers of a different species.

From Bizpac Review, a Wal-Mart worker makes a video of herself accusing her employer of racism, while on the job.  (If she gets fired for this, will that be racism, too?)

From the New York Post, how to take the perfect nap.

And from Fox News, scientists have created chicken embryos with dinosaur snouts.

Amtrak Train Derails In Philadelphia

Six people were killed and over 140 injured just after 9:00 p.m. yesterday when an Amtrak train derailed in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, near Frankford Junction.  The train was traveling from Washington to New York.  Eight passengers have been reported to be in critical condition.

Read more at NBC10, Philly(dot)com, AOL, Yahoo News and Reuters.

In related news:

From WUIS, a team from NTSB has been sent to investigate.

From Fox News, a New Jersey policeman, who had been riding on the train, did what he could to help his fellow passengers.  (via BB4SP)

UPDATE:  Also from Fox News, a seventh person has died, and the train's speed has been estimated at over 100 miles per hour, which is twice the speed limit of the section of track where it was traveling.

Another Earthquake Strikes Nepal

Earlier today, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Nepal in an area about 50 miles east of Kathmandu, near the country's border with China.  Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in Nepal and India, along with one person killed in the Chinese region of Tibet.  At least 15 aftershocks, including one of magnitude 6.3, have been reported.  This quake comes just 17 days after the 7.8 magnitude quake that caused extensive damage and over 8,000 deaths in Nepal, India, Tibet and Bangla Desh.

Read more at BBC News, The Guardian, CNN and USA Today.

Noted Shooter Gets Shot At

Florida resident George Zimmerman, known for killing teenager Trayvon Martin in self-defense and for a few brushes with the law afterwards, has been shot in what has been described as a "road rage incident".  Although shot in the face, his injury is described as "minor".  Zimmerman reportedly walked from his car to an ambulance after being shot.

Read more at The Washington Times, WFTV, WESH and Russia Today.

UPDATE: Reports are now indicating that Zimmerman was not struck by any bullet, but by glass from his car's windshield.  He has been released from the hospital.

Two Mississippi Policemen Killed While On Duty

Saturday evening, two police officers were fatally shot in Hattiesburg, Mississippi during a traffic stop.  After the shooting, the suspects reportedly stole a police vehicle and used it to flea.  Three people have been arrested and charged with murder or accessory to murder.  The two officers were Liquori Tate, 25, who had been on the force less than a year, and Benjamin Deen, 34, who had been decorated for his K-9 work.  These men became the first Hattiesburg officers to be killed in the line of duty since the last day of 1984.

Read more at CBS News, CNN, The Clarion-Ledger and the Daily Mail.

WWII-Era Planes Fly To Commemorate V-E Day

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, known as V-E day.  To commemorate this event, 56 military airplanes from that era flew down the Potomac River and then over Washington, DC.  Some information about the flyover can be found at USA Today, WUSA and the Military Times.

I got to watch parts of the flyover from the Maryland side of the Potomac.  Here is a formation of three planes.

Through the leaves of a tree, I saw a plane that had a double fuselage.

This might be the largest single plane I got a decent photo of.  Strangely, the background sky faded to white.  The word on the bottom of the left wing is "ARMY", which would indicate that the plane belonged to the Army Air Corps (in which my father served just after the war).  At the time, there was no separate Air Force.

Two other four-engine planes flew up the Potomac.  This picture was somewhat out of focus, and unfortunately, several subsequent attempts turned out even worse.

I eventually made my way back to where I had parked my car.  On the way, I saw a family of local residents, who share (or will share) the airplanes' ability to fly.

Tories Win U.K. Election

In the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party won 330 seats, enough to form a slim majority in the House of Commons in yesterday's national election, exceeding pre-election expectations.  They had previously formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democratic Party, but will now be able to govern on their own.  Party leader David Cameron will thus remain in office as Prime Minister.  The Scottish National Party won 56 of the 59 seats within Scotland, which had been a stronghold of the Labour Party.

The Conservatives are popularly known as the Tories, and in the past have included prime ministers such as Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and John Major.  The Labour Party, which has included prime ministers such as Tony Blair, retains the second largest number of seats with 232.

Read more at BBC News, The Guardian, Yahoo News, The Telegraph, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Mirror and The Independent.

Hillary Was "Adamantly Against Illegal Immigrants"

The following video was put on YouTube by the Republican Party, and comes via The Washington Free Beacon:

It appears that Hillary Clinton was against illegal immigrants before she was for them.  Or maybe we could say that her position on this matter has evolved.

Wednesday Links

Some items in the news, and a bit of opinion thrown in:

From The Daily Caller, one of the failed Garland, TX attackers had planned to join ISIS.

From American Thinker, crowd funding is for everyone - well, almost.

From Your Daily Does of Conservatism, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan thinks that we should eat bugs.  

From National Journal, the latest attempt by Congress to save the Post Office.

From ABC News, scientists attempt to find out why golden retrievers are dying of cancer more than other breeds.

From the New York Post, a woman in Oklahoma is arrested for slashing the face of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, who was already dead.

From Fox News, a cemetery in Oklahoma is damaged by four-legged grave robbers.

From Reuters, U.S. stocks take losses today after a warning by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

From Vice News, a Shell drill ship, intended to explore for oil in the Arctic, fails a Coast Guard inspection.

From Epoch Times. the self-driving vehicle with 18 wheels.

From Canada Free Press, how the left is willing to "blame the victim" if Muslims resort to violence.

From WQAD, a woman in Florida, allegedly held hostage, asked for help by ordering a pizza online.

From Townhall, former Arkansas Governor and current presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (R) had a penchant for releasing violent criminals from prison.

From UPI, the U.S. Navy has discontinued escorting ships through the Straits of Hormuz.

From Computerworld, some recent advances in hologram technology.

From the Washington Examiner, the top ten "Clinton conflicts of interest".

And from NBC News and the "you can't make this stuff up" department, a Nebraska woman files a lawsuit against all gays on behalf of God.  (via Mad World News)

More On The Garland, Texas Attack

Both attackers have now been publicly identified.  The two men, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, were roommates who lived in Phoenix, AZ.  This has been reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post, the latter also stating that Simpson had "converted to Islam at a young age".  USA Today also has a report about yesterday's events.

Gunmen Attack At "Muhammad Art Exhibit"

This evening near a "Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest" held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas hosted by noted anti-jihadist Pamela Gellar, two gunmen shot a security guard and were then shot dead by policemen who were helping with security for the event.  The security guard was treated and released at a local hospital.  The vehicle in which the gunmen had traveled to the event was search by a police bomb squad.  There are no indications yet of the shooters' motives, but depictions of the prophet Mohammed are considered blasphemous by Muslims.

Read more at The Dallas Morning News, NBCDFW, CNN and Pamela Gellar's site.

UPDATE:  Read still more at the Daily Mail.

UPDATE 2:  One of the attackers has been identified as Elton Simpson, who lived in Arizona and was previously investigated by the FBI, according to ABC News.

North Korea Arrests NYU Student

North Korea has announced the arrest, made last month, of Won Moon Joo for illegally entering the country.  He reportedly entered North Korea from Dandong, China by crossing the Yalu River.  Joo is a U.S. green card holder living in Tenafly, NJ, where he graduated high school, and is a student at New York University, but was not taking any classes during the current semester.  I'd say that his academic career faces the possibility of a significant interruption.

Read more at the New York Post and Fox News, and if you ever feel like entering North Korea, please do so legally, like Dennis Rodman.

It's A Princess

Princess Catherine a.k.a. Kate Middleton a.k.a. the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby girl, who becomes the fourth person in the line of succession to the British throne.  The new princess was born at 8:34 a.m. and weighs 8 lbs. 3 oz.  No name has yet been announced.  Both her Highness and her new Highness are reportedly doing well.

Read more at BBC News, The Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Mirror.  The title of this post comes from a poster held by some people shown in the Daily Mail.

Links For May Day

May 1st was a traditional day of celebration in communist countries such as the Soviet Union, which held military parades in the Red Square in Moscow on that date, and is still a traditional day of demonstration by the worldwide left.  "May Day" has also been a distress call (when spelled as a single word) and the name of femme fatale in a James Bond movie.  Here are some things in the news on this year's May Day:

From MyFoxChicago, activists in Chicago plan their May Day activities, while left-wingers around the world stage their demos.

From Reuters, according to th Institute for Supply Management, U.S. manufacturing growth in April was the lowest in two years.

From Roll Call, a few Capitol Police officers have inadvertently left their guns in odd places.  (via The Blaze)

From ABC News, a former ally of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will reportedly plead guilty in relation to his involvement in the George Washington Bridge traffic jams.

From Truth Revolt, in the wake of the Baltimore riots, a very large liberal makes his demands.

From CBS Baltimore, the six policemen involved in the death of Freddie Gray will be indicted.

From Bloomberg, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D) gets a not-so-coveted endorsement.  (via The Daily Caller)

From LifeNews, mothers of some "very premature" babies speak out against abortion.

From The Christian Post, ISIS in Libya crucifies three brothers.

From Fox News, residents of a refugee camp in the Central African Republic have accused French soldiers of raping children.

From the New York Post, during Morrisey's upcoming performance, Madison Square Garden will only serve vegan foods.

From SHTFplan, the video on racism that "they don't want you to see".  (via Freedom Outpost)

From The Federalist, the sadness of the empty stadium.

From Red State, Baltimore doesn't need more money, they need churches.

And from CNN, singer Ben E. King, most famous for the song Stand By Me, has died at age 76.