It's interesting that these military officers say Hilary gave them an 'order' to 'stand down'. Since 1986 military orders start with the President, bypass the Joint Chiefs (who no longer control their military branches) and go straight to theatre command staff.

Under secession rules the Sec State comes after the vice-president, and speaker of the house. So, she's not even in the military chain of command.

Now the State Department has meddled in military operations for decades by trying to tailor how the military behaves in certain countries so that the host country is not 'offended'. They also try to dictate tactics and rules of engagement, BUT state does not issue 'orders' to grunts in the field.

I find their 'excuse' personally unacceptable. If I'm a general and Hilary says do this or you're fired, you hand her the phone and tell her to call the President and he can fire you.

Any commander who doesn't work to save his men and women in the field doesn't deserve the position and should be removed.

I've only ever wanted to know Hilary by one title.....

"Convicted former candidate."

That works for me.

That is one honkin' crack. Almost a half a mile long. Other than the water erosion, any reason to believe the Yellowstone lava dome is involved?

It's only like 100 miles from Sheridan WY to Yellowstone National Park, so you're in the neighborhood, so to speak.

Could be the precursor to something bigger. Might want to prep a bug out bag if going mobile is required. Stock up the survival pantry in case you can't get out, and have to shelter in place with no shelter, like a quake takes the house down.

Winterized tent, clothing and food stocks to get you through at least a couple weeks if you have to dig out or walk out of the area.

Maybe set the USGS website as a browser favorite for a while.

I wouldn't be too concerned. The Israelis will only let the Russians get so close and then start 'painting' them with ground to air targeting radars.

The Russian pilots will get missile warnings and start dodging and weaving. They'll clue in that they were warned, and no missile was actually fired, and they'll know who did it and why.

A couple heated phone calls will be exchanged, and Ivan will smarten up. He knows the Israelis will have no problems shooting down Russian jets that penetrate Israeli airspace.

Makes the point to back off and it provides a demonstration of weapons systems Israel can then sell around the world.

Gee, Obama lied on healthcare premiums? I'm shocked! Well ok, not really shocked, more like NOT SURPRISED!!!

There have been numerous stories about exchanges failing all over the country in the last few weeks. Either too few enrollees, and too many payouts, or revenue models that were clearly not sustainable in the long term.

As people get funneled into fewer providers (a natural free market contraction) there will be a tendency for prices to go up. The new provider sees why others failed, and creates a more aggressive revenue stream to survive.

The 'deal' that people thought they were getting is as we on the right predicted not going to be a deal at all. Thus proving government interference can usually screw up just about anything.

Now the other issue is as more and more people fall out of work due to bankrupted businesses paying for Obamacare, OR they worked for a failed exchange, HOW will they be covered while they are unemployed? Will they get subsidized plans? IF not, are these not the disenfranchised and low income people that Obamacare was supposed to help?

Oh, so it was made in China? One hung blimp?

Oh I understand sarcasm quite well. I just choose to ignore it.

In regards to raising teenagers? I'd like to think I did quite well. One lives in Long Island, married to an American woman, the daughter is married and still lives here in Canada, with two kids of her own.

The son went into sales, the daughter into science. Astrophysics to be specific. The grandkids? Who knows. Lots of time for them to decide.

Neither one ever got tossed out of class by the cops, have ever been arrested, but like most kids experimented with alcohol and drugs. In both cases drugs never stuck. The son doesn't drink at all, and the daughter does. Their mom didn't drink and their natural father didn't either.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention I was their stepfather. Typically a more behaviorally challenging relationship in which to assert parental control.

But yeah, I don't know anything about raising teens......

Well, grandparent as you see fit. I'm sure the cops will be happy to help.

Be aware though that they will likely call your local child protective services department, say you have a problem grandchild that required them to attend your home, and you and her parents will likely be butt deep in social workers for 2-3 years.

That's how the system works now.

Hope that works out for ya.

Yes the alternative to the violence WAS ASKING THE STUDENT NICELY TO LEAVE THE ROOM. THAT WAS DONE ALREADY, AT LEAST 4-6 TIMES, BY TWO ADULTS. DUH

THEN the cop showed up. Fun and games are officially OVER now. DUH-UH

When NICE doesn't work, then you then move to NOT NICE. The cop was NOT NICE. In fact he was downright nasty. However the kids don't run the school, and don't get to arbitrarily decide what rules they will follow or not follow.

THAT's the issue. The lack of respect triggers the confrontation. If Princess Text Message LEAVES THE ROOM AT ANY POINT, NONE OF THIS EVER HAPPENS......

Actually there are reasons to toss a 16 yr old girl across a room if you're a cop. Like she has a weapon, or is reaching to obtain one.

Not the case here obviously, but never say never. Of course hurting a young girl should not be your FIRST choice if she's just being an objectionable little so and so.

At 16, she's hopefully got a couple brain cells, but seemingly none were used here. When a cop says move it or lose it, you move it. End of discussion.

Like I said in an earlier post, she wasn't engaged in some Rosa Parks type moment of moral introspection and courage that would make you want to resist authority and bear the consequences, ok.

This is not some seminal ground breaking moment in American history. It's some kid simply being a brat, and being given the chance to walk away. In fact, several chances. When the cop shows up, game time is over. Shut up and leave. You made the school have to get the cops to toss you outta class. Ooooooo, you're a thug now. A couple dings on the street cred machine.

You still want to be defiant? Well you pay a price for being a prick. I don't see WHY this is such a difficult concept for some people to grasp. It's not about being nice, caring, gentle, and letting the kid 'win' to where you now have even more students acting out.

We have rules. You follow them. You don't follow them, you get in trouble for that. The DEGREE of trouble is PURELY based on how much you want to push the confrontation.

Would it have been better if he had used a 'parade ground' voice and just screamed at her so long and loud that she cried and then he cuffed her? Called her names and made her cry?

Seriously. The pussification of the western world continues.

THIS JUST IN....The Pentagon has announced it has just dispatched a technical team to the White House. Their mission, in light of today's incident, is to explain in detail to Vice-President Biden the meaning of the phrase 'launching a trial balloon'.

Updates to follow as they become available.

Back to you Wolf......

"Secret Service agents have seized the blimp and wrestled it to the ground....."

Brilliant. So what if none of the other kids want to leave the room? What if they want to stay to watch the 'show'? You gonna suspend ALL of them for NOT leaving the room?

You can whine all you want about the violence of the arrest, BUT this young lady had NUMEROUS chances to show a little class and just get up and leave.

Personally? Maybe a face full of pepper spray would have been the better choice. She would have been instantly compliant.

Of note however is that some people have already taken the time to play the video in super slow motion. The cop actually grabs one pant leg and folds up her neck like he's trying to pull her out of the chair.

The slowed tape shows her take a wild swing at him, and her free leg looks like it attempts a kick, but that's a little subjective.

So he's now been fired and no cop is now going to enter a classroom to remove a kid disrupting the class for fear of losing their job. Well done mollycoddlers of the world.

Blimp is now down according to CNN speaking with local emergency management in Pennsylvania.

So a U.S. surveillance blimp has decided to go for 'walkies' and has left the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and is currently descending in the Pennsylvania countryside.

Used currently to co-ordinate air defense in the D.C. area NORAD is trying to track the blimp in order to vector recovery teams to the area when it finally touches down.

Dragging its steel mooring line behind it, several power outages have been caused as the line slices through power lines or shorts them out.

Thought to contain a ton of 'spooky' intel gathering gear, the government is likely sweating bullets if the locals get to it first, crack open the payload pods, and take pictures of the enclosed gear.

Since it's an 'air defense' asset, one can assume radar and commo gear to transmit signals. People however will want to see if it's carrying other info gathering toys like Stingray cellphone trapping devices. This way the conspiracy folks will have another 'a-ha' moment about how the government is spying on you. Spoiler alert? They are. So is big business. Both of them are engaged in various data mining programs, but with different goals for manipulation of the data recorded.

Once the blimp lands, you will have a very small window to crack that sucker open before cops and the military close the scene down and bring in the flatbed trucks to haul it away and write the checks to cover the damage.

So I watched a video this morning done by the Florida GOP. Amazing. They went to a Hilary campaign event in Florida looking for supporters. They asked them straight up, look into the camera and tell us the two main accomplishments of Hilary as Secretary of State?

Cue the sound of crickets. Zip. Zero. Nada. No one could name an accomplishment.

One said she was good at the job, one said she was a lawyer, another said she was good at being first lady....

So they went to her Senate record. Name two things she did as senator? This time it's worse. The interviewees are now bailing, saying well you know I didn't really follow her much back then, blah blah yadda yadda.

It's ok if you want to vote ideology. Most of us do. We vote the party and not the guy/gal running for the job. Problem is she was a senator for 8 years,and secstate for 4 years. So a dozen years in office to serve America and she did what?

During her term as Secretary of State what did do? Pretty much squat. In four years she engaged in strategies to tinker with the administration of the State Department with huge re-orgs and 'thinking'.
She hands the Russians a 'reset button' at a photo op.
She got the Turks and Armenians to open a long closed border.
She agreed to send 21,000 troops to 'surge' Afghanistan.
She convinced Obama NOT to publish pics of a dead Bin Laden.
Under her watch department cables were publicized by the Wikileaks scandal.
She changed her view on Egypt like other people change underwear. Mubarek is good, he's bad, we need regime change, the Muslim Brotherhood is ok, they are bad, we need regime change.
She pushes for regime change in Libya turning it into a failed state enduring civil war and killing U.S. personnel.
She pushes UN in a speech for gay rights.
She and Obama fail to stop the carnage in Syria. She backs the training of 'rebels' which costs over half a billion dollars, trains less than a dozen fighters who actually fight ISIS instead of the Syrian army.
Benghazi? 'nuff said.
E-mail server? Say even less.

So a stunning record of 'achievement'. Still want her as President? God help you if she wins.

Well there are numerous WTF moments in the Vince Foster case.

1) Foster kills himself with a gun no one in the family had ever seen. It was constructed of parts from different guns, so a 'junk' piece is being carried by a White House lawyer?
2) Oh yeah, and carrying the gun would have been illegal in D.C. Based on the timeline released Foster would have had to have had the gun with him in the WH. NO ONE on staff gets their own gun into the WH except the President and the Secret Service.
3) Forensics of the blood spatter, and blood flow from the wound don't add up.
4) Since Foster dies in a U.S. parks site, the Park Police became the 'lead' investigators. Highly unusual considering the importance of the victim.
5) U.S. park police are interrupted while searching Fosters WH office by Hillary. She tells them to sit in chairs against the wall and not to move. Citing lawyer/client privilege, she and her staff literally empty the office of every scrap of paper.
6) Three weeks later the WH calls the park police back and say "Um, hey guys, we found a suicide note. Did you want it?" The 'note' was found in a briefcase previously searched, and that was supposedly empty.
7) The 'tone' of the note is that of a 13 yr old girl who just got dumped. It speaks of how mean people are to the Clintons, how politics are such a nasty business, etc etc. This from a lawyer who had the reputation as a cutthroat litigator who took no prisoners.
8) The 'note' was a little tough to read though as they had to tape it together. The reason being that it had been torn into about two dozen pieces, oh and no fingerprints were ever found on it.

Hmmmmm. Foster killed in the WH and dumped elsewhere? Highly doubtful as I can't see the Secret Service covering it up because as an institution there's nothing in it for them to do so.

I'm just going to respectfully disagree as we're obviously never going to see eye to eye on this.

What you see as the 'wrong' response I see as one predicated by the lack of desire the student shows in following the requests of those in authority. These were reasonable requests to leave the classroom area, and she was given numerous chances to comply. Just leave the room. Simple. Easy. Feel free to talk smack and even toss the finger as you go. Just go.

You want to spare the rod and spoil the child as it were. Fill your boots and raise your kids as you see fit. You can call it encouragement and support, and I can call it mollycoddling. It's all about perspective and life experience.

As someone who coached kids in baseball, softball, football and hockey for over a decade, I've seen all kinds of parenting styles. I have seen the overbearing parent who calls his six year old a 'loser' for a mistake that was unavoidable, and I've seen parents that hand a 16 year old kid a joint to smoke before a baseball game to 'calm him down'.

Loser dad? He and I had a serious chat about this being t-ball and NOT the World Series Game 7, so dial his volume down on his kid, and lighten up. Mr. and Mrs. Spliff? Sent the kid home before the game started. I can't let him go to the plate and try to avoid an 80 mph fastball headed for his face when he's high enough to go duck hunting with a rake.

The successful parents, and the talented kids who enjoyed the games? Their families had rules, set limits, had modest expectations of their children. The kids knew how far they could push things, AND more importantly they knew when they went over the line there would be consequences.

My players ALWAYS knew my rules (I had a handout), the parents ALWAYS knew my rules (they got a different handout) and depending on the level we played at, the players knew what was expected of them by way of practice and execution. I never yelled at one kid for a mistake on the field. I did yell at the kids however who didn't try.

Actually the examples are completely relevant. They all speak to behavior that should not have been engaged in during class time like dancing on the desk, singing in math class, or smoking in a classroom.

When you allow one kid to thumb their nose at the teacher,and the vice-principal and suffer no immediate consequences, you will find the behavior emulated.

It makes no difference if you toss her out of school for 3 days LATER, the kids know that teacher and the vice principal have no final option to restore order NOW, if you leave the punishment until after school.

So, in my example, if she fails to do her presentation, she'll be fired right? The company and the client however still suffer because she even dared to contemplate this as acceptable behavior.

In the old folks home example? Sure. She would be reprimanded or fired. BUT you've been sitting in your own filth for a week. She chose to IGNORE her responsibilities.

As a student, that's to pay attention in class and try to learn something, not text during the lesson.

These are learned behaviors of kids attempting to test limits. We all did it. When we step over the line, we get punished. You lose a privilege, lose your allowance, get grounded, in some cases you get spanked or smacked around at home.

In her case, she tried to come off as a hard azz. The teacher was the authority figure, the vice principal was meant to be the coercive figure of authority. When the cop showed up in the room though she should have known the game was over. Instead, she pushed, and the system pushed back.

I'm sorry she had to learn a nasty lesson in the school having the 'nuclear option' at its disposal, but I have NO sympathy for the attitude that caused the confrontation.

Sorry, but you're wrong. Schools are just one of the places we learn to follow the rules, and respect our elders. She wasn't asked to do anything unreasonable except to follow the rules, and if she couldn't, to go somewhere else. She had plenty of opportunity to leave of her own volition.

So your solution is ignore the kid and teach the class? Ok. So what if she's jumping on the desk and singing to her iPod? She's kinda disturbing the class.Oh, how about she sparks up a fatty, or maybe just a regular cigarette. We just going to let her sit there?

Great. So tomorrow three kids in class decide to do the same thing, then five, then ten. Now, who runs the school again? The students or the administration?

Can't wait until she gets into the working world. "Excuse me Princess Text? Yeah the boss is in the meeting room with the client wondering when your presentation will start? Oh I see,you don't feel like giving it today? You'd rather watch You Tube cat videos? Sure. No problem."

Yeah, lemme call HR so I can get her mom's phone number to come to the office and pick her up!

Oh, how about when she becomes your care giver in the old folks home and doesn't feel like changing your diaper for a week? I'd have you call her parents, but they would likely be DEAD.