Month: June 2013

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News Politics Texas

Tesla Loses Its Battle In Texas

Perhaps you have heard of the automotive company Tesla Motors and their CEO Elon Musk. Well for those who have not Tesla Motors is a start up automotive company that is focused on revolutionizing the automobile and bringing the entire automotive industry into the 21st century. The company was founded in 2003 by Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, JB Straubel, and Ian Wright. The companies first vehicle was called the Tesla Roadster which was a an all electric sports car; their following car is pictured above, called the Model S it is an all electric sedan and is currently leading the way in EV vehicles.

Tesla’s futuristic approach also appeared in how they went about selling their cars. You can travel in any direction and you will find multiple car dealerships for various auto companies that are privately owned by a family or as a group venture. Tesla though has established company owned stores to eliminate the middle man in car purchases and to bring forth a more efficient and cheaper way for anyone to purchase a car.

This radical way to sell cars though has caused quite a stir in Virgina and Texas where state laws do not allow a company to own the dealerships let alone sell their own cars. Today it was reported that Texas has shot down Tesla’s appeal to state laws to allow the company to sell their own cars through company owned dealerships.

Elon Musk personally pleaded his case before the Texas State Legislature during their meetings but was greeted with a stone wall when trying to change the laws and in return refused to budge when Texas Auto Dealers Association President Bill Wolters tried to compromise saying that Tesla could maintain some control over the dealerships but not all, of course Musk refused to give in. Word circulating around the story says that Elon Musk plans to take this fight to the federal courts where he hopes to have much more success.

Categories
Chrysler News

Chrysler Pushes Back on US Call for Jeep Vehicle Recall

The U.S. government today called for a major recall of nearly 3 million Chrysler sport utility vehicles based on what its experts say is a deadly fire hazard that has left an estimated 51 people dead.

“This will be the biggest recall [in terms of impact] since the Ford Pinto,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, which requested a U.S. probe into the SUVs in 2010.

The automaker is refusing, however, saying that its vehicles are safe and not defective.

The government says that initial findings show a safety defect in older model Jeeps — the Jeep Grand Cherokee from 1993 to 2004, and the Jeep Liberty 2002 to 2007.

The government also says the fuel tanks are vulnerable to rupture in rear-end collisions.

Photo credit: Jenelle Embrey 

h/t – ABCNEWS

Categories
Politics

Republicans At Work: Two Votes To Defund ACORN Scheduled This Week

Here, America. Here are your elected Republican House of Representatives at work. This week, Republicans have scheduled two, count’em, two votes to… defund ACORN.

Sidenote: ACORN no longer exists, but the pointless act of defunding this non-existent organization that once helped to register poorer Americans to vote, plays good in the Republican public. Afterall, election season is almost here again, and the “defunding ACORN” act is a good way to get the Fox News educated Republican to the polls.

House Republicans are scheduled to vote on two separate budget bills this week, each of which would reject funding for the poverty activism group ACORN, despite the fact that ACORN disbanded three years ago.

ACORN, also known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, came under heavy fire in the fall of 2009 after conservative videographer James O’Keefe released a set of selectively edited videos that appeared to show its employees offering advice on tax avoidance related to prostitution and child smuggling. Independent investigations by the California attorney general, the Massachusetts attorney general and the Brooklyn, N.Y., district attorney would later clear ACORN of criminal wrongdoing, and an investigation by the Government Accountability Office would clear ACORN of charges that it mishandled federal funds.

But in the fall of 2009, Congress banned federal funding for ACORN using broad language that applied to “any organization” that had been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws or campaign finance laws or with filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. The funding ban also extended to any employees, contractors or others affiliated with any group so charged.

Struggling with the bad publicity and loss of federal funds, ACORN dissolved in early 2010. Just to be sure, however, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) included this language in a government funding bill introduced on May 28 of this year: “None of the funds made available in this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries or successors.”

Categories
Politics

President Obama to Republicans: I Dare You. Block This…

President Obama laid down the gauntlet once again and dared Republicans to go against the American people and the Constitution by not doing their job.

Announcing his selection of judges to fill the three vacancies on the federal appeals court in D.C,  the president reminded Americans that nominating qualified individuals for these positions was his job, and voting on the nominees was Congress’s job. And he reminded the country that republicans have used politics to block almost all of his nominees to date, for no other reason but politics.

“There’s no reason — aside from politics — for Republicans to block these individuals from getting an up or down vote,” the President said during a ceremony unveiling three nominee. “It’s important we don’t play games here.”

Of course, Republicans will not disappoint. They have already signalled that they will in fact, do all the can to block these new nominees. Said Republican Chuck Grassley;

“It’s hard to imagine the rationale for nominating three judges at once for this court given the many vacant emergency seats across the country, unless your goal is to pack the court to advance a certain policy agenda.”

The hope by the Administration is that the American people would see the obvious, that Republicans have no intention of doing the people’s work, but instead would do what they think is best for them politically.

Video:

Categories
Politics

Jasper Texas: White Officers Videotaped Beating Black Woman

She must have done something terrible, right? Her crime? Failing to pay a $150 fine. Oh yea, and she’s black.

“The amount of force used was abominable,” the woman’s attorney, Cade Bernsen, told Yahoo News.

The incident was captured by security cameras at the Jasper, Texas, police headquarters.

Keyarika “Shea” Diggles, 25, was brought to the jail on May 5 for an unpaid fine, according to Bernsen. He said she was was on the phone with her mother trying to arrange to get the $100 owed when Officer Ricky Grissom cut off the call.

There’s no audio on the video, but Diggles and Grissom were apparently arguing when Officer Ryan Cunningham comes in behind Diggles and attempts to handcuff her. When she appears to raise her hand, Cunningham grabs Diggles by the hair and slams her head into a countertop. The officers wrestle Diggles to the ground before dragging her by her ankles into a jail cell.

“She got her hair pulled out, broke a tooth, braces got knocked off … it was brutal,” Bernsen said.

Diggles was charged with resisting arrest for arguing with the officers, a charge dropped on Monday, according to Bernsen.

Cunningham, reached by phone Monday afternoon, hung up on a Yahoo News reporter. A message left for Grissom was not immediately returned.

Video:

Categories
Entertainment Television Videos

Star Spangled Banner Cymbal Fail Goes Viral

A junior high school band member on the cymbals has new found fame after his instrument fails mid-show and the video goes viral.

His new found fame comes not because of the cymbal that falls apart in his hand, instead it’s his recovery that has people watching, sharing and talking.

Categories
Politics sandy hook

More American Gun Related Deaths After Sandy Hook, Than In The Entire Iraqi War

It’s like we have our very own war going on right here in America. And the NRA and Republicans in Congress are doing everything possible to keep things that way.

More than ten years ago, in March of 2003, American-led forces began their invasion of Iraq. Since then, 4,409 American service members died in the Iraq War.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, by contrast, occurred less than six months ago. As of this writing, according to data published by Slate, 4,539 people have been killed by guns in the United States.

Categories
News sandy hook

Sandy Hook Parents Petition to Block Release of Grisly Photos


Parents of Sandy Hook massacre victims are petitioning the state of Connecticut to prevent the public release of graphic photos and audio taken of the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

“We feel very strongly that we need to protect that scene,” said Nicole Hockley, who lost her 6-year-old son Dylan in the shooting rampage. “Once these images are on the internet they are out there forever and I don’t want my 8-year-old son to see these photos of his brother’s corpse when he is older.”

Nicole and her husband Ian Hockley, Mark and Jackie Barden, and Jimmy Greene and Nelba Marquez-Greene filed the petition on the website www.change.org on June 1. They are all parents of children who were murdered when Adam Lanza, 20, opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 children six adults.

h/t – ABCNEWS

Categories
News Transgender

Transgender Navy SEAL ‘Warrior Princess’ Comes Out

Kristin Beck, formerly Chris, penned her story of going from an elite Navy SEAL to a woman in the book “Warrior Princess.” (“Warrior Princess”/Advanced Press)

A former member of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs has come out to say she’s now a woman.

Kristin Beck, formerly Chris, served 20 years as a SEAL and fought on some of the most dangerous battlefields in the world, but after she left the service she realized she wasn’t living the life she wanted.

“Chris really wanted to be a girl and felt that she was a girl and consolidated that identity very early on in childhood,” said Anne Speckhard, co-author of Beck’s biography “Warrior Princess,” which was published over the weekend. Speckhard told ABC News Beck suppressed that secret for decades, however, through the trials of SEAL training and the harrowing missions that followed, growing a burly beard as she fought on the front lines of American special operations.

Brandon Webb, a former SEAL who served on a different SEAL team than Beck, said that Beck’s reputation in the SEALs was a good one and said she was, by all appearances, the “consummate guy’s guy.”

But the book says that Chris “had considered living as the woman he felt himself to be for a very long time, but while he was serving as a SEAL he couldn’t do it.”

h/t – ABCNEWS

 

Categories
Entertainment Music Robin Thicke

Robin Thicke Hits #1 in the UK (Video)

Robin Thicke’s new single has sold 190,000 copies during its first week’s release in the UK making the tune the fastest selling single of the year.

and rightfully so…

This Blurred Lines collaboration with Pharrell and T.I.  is perfect for the upcoming summer BBQ and backyard party jams. I caught Thicke’s new song earlier today on the radio waves and I’ve been playing this infectiously smooth dance jam ever since.

I am a huge fan of Thicke, Pharrell, and T.I., so I think this collaboration is quite a tasty one.

The song will no doubt remind you of Marvin Gaye’s classic beat, Got To Give It Up — Another perfect summer jam.

Have a listen and don’t be afraid to get up and dance a little. C’mon, Everybody Get Up!

Categories
michael steele Politics

Michael Steele Wants To Be Your Governor

If you’re living in Maryland that is. The former Republican National Committee Chair is actively considering a run for the governorship.

“We’re looking at it,” Steele told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on Monday. “You’re going take a look at the numbers. Maryland’s a tough state, there are a lot of challenges there.”

It’s the second such comment Steele has made recently. Last week, The Daily Caller reported on a radio interview in which Steele said he was “looking at it.”

“I’m looking at it,” Steele said on WMAL radio. “We’ll see what the numbers tell us.”

Maryland’s present governor, Martin O’Malley, is widely viewed as a potential Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. He will have reached his term limit in 2014.

Steele is the former lieutenant governor of Maryland. In 2006 he lost a Senate race to Ben Cardin (D), who was reelected in 2012.

Steele had a rocky term as RNC chairman, with the organization frequently producing negative headlines about lavish spending. He lost his chairmanship to Reince Priebus in 2011, despite overseeing massive Republican gains in the 2010 election cycle.

Categories
News Videos

Police Dog Pays Respect To His Fallen Partner

33-year-old Kentucky K-9 police officer Jason Ellis of Bardstown, Kentucky ended his shift Saturday, May 25th but continued to serve and was killed in a suspected ambush. During Ellis’ funeral his canine partner, Figo, said goodbye by placing his paw on Ellis’ closed casket. This picture, taken by photographer Jonathan Palmer, is currently being shared throughout the world.

Figo Places His Paw On Jason Ellis’ Casket

[TODAY] [Via]

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