One of the Atlanta Public School officials who was convicted in the largest national school cheating scandal in U.S. history – appeared before a Judge today: 

(Via AJS) Convicted APS educator Donald Bullock, a former test coordinator with the school system, asked the judge to show leniency and not sentence him to jail time.

Bullock – who was the second convicted APS educator to address Judge Jerry Baxter at Monday’s sentencing hearing — asked if he could instead provide community service and be placed on probation.

“I’m appealing to the compassionate side of you,” Bullock said. “I know you’re a man of compassion.”  “I ask you to grant leniency to me… My livelihood is gone.” (link)

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Garry Kasparov: Negative impact. I think we are now facing disaster beyond belief. Obama should understand that normalization of relations with any country means a two-way street. And now we can see it in only one way. The deal with Iran, we hear two opposite stories. And not just about little things here or there; not commas and a couple letters.

You know, the fundamental differences in most of the substantial points in the deal. Then he shakes hands with Raul Castro. Shaking hands with a dictator, you know a hand covered in blood. You have to get something in exchange. There are still hundreds and hundreds of political prisoners in Cuba. It seems Obama wants his PR opportunities and he’s furiously defending his policy attacking GOP, attacking… while offering an olive branch to those who are attacking the values of the free world around the globe.

New York Times, Washington Post, HuffPo, Politico, WSJ, AP, Bloomberg Reuters and McClatchy reporters gather at Washington DC home of John “Skippy” Podesta to begin construction of media narrative for Clinton 2016 Presidential bid. That media bias question? Nah, nothing to see here, move along, move along….

NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton’s campaign team held an off-the-record dinner Thursday night in Washington, D.C., for roughly two dozen journalists and staff members at John Podesta’s house, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The dinner signals that the Clinton team is trying to engage with top reporters in the days before the Democrat’s expected announcement of a 2016 presidential run. It also suggests the new campaign team is looking to change course from the toxic relationship with the press that plagued the 2008 race.

Podesta, the campaign chairman and a seasoned cook, made a pasta with walnut sauce for the dinner guests, which included reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, McClatchy, Reuters and several major TV networks. (more…)

The deal is what we say it is, until it isn’t what it’s not; and then it becomes something the Iranians say it is.

Gotcha.

Within 24 hours of announcing his presidential bid the cable media machine (MSNBC, CNN, NBC et al) is labeling Rand Paul as “sexist”, “thin skinned”, “quick tempered”, and “unstable”…..

https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/585969415629377537

…. here’s a few examples.

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Otis Byrd was the guy found in Mississippi hanging from a tree. The media machine was initially thrilled at the thought of a black victim hanged in Mississippi…. Oh the stories they were ready to sell. Alas, the initial DOJ investigation showed he committed suicide – rats!

(Via Clarion Ledger) The Byrd family’s attorney has enlisted Dr. Michael Baden, who conducted an autopsy on Michael Brown, to do an independent investigation into Otis Byrd’s hanging death.

The family of a man found hanging from a tree in March does not believe he committed suicide, they announced through their legal counsel Wednesday afternoon.

Otis Byrd, 54, was found March 19 hanging by a bed sheet from a tree not far from his residence in Claiborne County after having been missing for over two weeks. Local authorities called in the FBI after finding his body.

Authorities have said evidence doesn’t suggest foul play, but the results of an autopsy have not been made public. The FBI says it has discussed the autopsy results with the family but the family’s attorneys, Sweet and Associates, disagrees. (more…)

To push their ridiculous Iran narrative, the White House puts this graphic out via Twitter.

Worth sharing: Here's how the #IranDeal would shut down Iran's pathway to a nuclear weapon → http://t.co/BWuabs0TNz pic.twitter.com/8aYQi2KEgq

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) April 8, 2015

A not so subtle and snarky swipe at Benjamin Netanyahu who spoke before the U.N. with this image: (more…)

In an irony befitting only a rabid President Obama supporter, the USPS is releasing a stamp to honor Maya Angelou. The only problem is the quote accompanying the image of Mrs. Angelou is not actually hers – it’s a fraud.

The stamp features the quote: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” Apparently the USPS was trying to highlight a 1969 book authored by Angelou titled “I know why the caged bird sings“.

But the actual quote does not belong to Angelou. The quotation on the stamp is from “A Cup of Sun”, a 1967 poetry collection by children’s author Joan Walsh Anglund. When Anglund was contacted by the Washington Post she admitted the quotation was actually from her own writing, and not from Maya Angelou. (more…)

Stingray technology is a data tool for capturing cell phone communication and tracking cell phone users. Stingray Systems mimic cell tower signals and capture the content of targeted cell phone users.

The New York ACLU went to court to force Erie County Sheriffs’ to disclose details about the law enforcement use of Stingray Technology. What they uncovered is alarming. In 46 out of 47 examples law enforcement never sought a warrant to use Stingray intercepts, and in 46 out of 47 examples the same law enforcement used Stingray tools to track the movements of “suspects” – again without warrants or court oversight.

(NYCLU April 7, 2015) — The New York Civil Liberties Union released today records it received from the Erie County Sheriff’s Office on its use of ”stingrays,” devices that can track and record New Yorkers’ locations via their cell phones. The records showed that of the 47 times the Sheriff’s Office used stingrays in the past four years, it apparently only once obtained a court order, contradicting the sheriff’s own remarks.

“These records confirm some of the very worst fears about local law enforcement’s use of this expensive and intrusive surveillance equipment,” said NYCLU Staff Attorney Mariko Hirose. “Not only did the Sheriff’s Office promise the FBI breathtaking secrecy to keep information about stingrays as hidden as possible, it implemented almost no privacy protections for the Erie County residents it is sworn to protect and serve.” (more…)

The Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against an Obama administration DACA program – delaying deportations of illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as children. This is a different case than the challenge as to whether President Obama’s expanded immigration executive actions can proceed.

In today’s decision the court ruled plaintiffs’, the state of Mississippi and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), did not provide enough evidence to prove they were harmed by the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that allows qualifying illegal immigrants to apply for work permits. (more…)