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Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano registered a massive eruption, emitting a plume of ash and gas that reached an altitude of 2.4 miles. Note: video is silent. (June 18)

A day after the cast of an Atlanta sports radio show was fired for mocking Steve Gleason’s battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the former Saints player issued a response.

Team Gleason, an organization named after the former NFL player, posted a statement on its Facebook page Tuesday, accepting the apologies of the radio hosts, and thanking those who defended Gleason.

“… I would like to thank the public for their support,” the statement read. ” ‘Defend Team Gleason’ now has been officially redefined. Additionally, the DJs have provided genuine apology. Received and accepted. We have all made mistakes in this life. How we learn from our mistakes is the measure of who we are.”

Gleason, 36, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS patients lose the ability to speak and move, which has happened to Gleason.

The show, Mayhem in the AM, was broadcast on 790 The Zone Monday morning.

In a statement Monday, General Manager Rick Mack said the station regrets comments made about ex-New Orleans Saints safety Steve Gleason.

“790 The Zone, our owners, sponsors and partners in no way endorse or support this kind of content,” Mack said.

The station lists the hosts as Nick Cellini, Steak Shapiro and Chris Dimino.

More: Ex- NFL Player With ALS Responds After Radio Hosts Fired for Mocking Him

“I gave them everything on a silver platter, and these dogs didn’t do anything,” she said of the original investigators. She said she had to battle to get key evidence introduced, and deal with detectives who didn’t take her leads seriously. “I’m in this for all of us,” she said of the victims’ mothers. “I feel that she (Jessica) is with me, helping me.”

Finally this year, the state agreed to create a small team of investigators devoted to focusing on the murders. The difference from past cases is that victims are now much more empowered than in the 1990s, prosecutors are more willing to listen to them. Moreover, following the reported disappearances of more than 24,000 people over the last six years in Mexico, a strong tradition has emerged of relatives taking it on themselves to carry out basic investigation tasks that police can’t or won’t do.

“This was done with the creation of the investigative agency, our presence and the efforts of the mothers, who were the ones who provided leads from the beginning,” said Norma Ledesma, leader of the advocacy group Justice for Our Daughters. “They (the mothers) carried out their own investigation.”

“Mothers today know their rights,” Ledesma said.

More: 12 Arrested in Slayings of 11 Young Women in Mexico

From Mother Jones:

5) Fewer than 300 phone numbers were targeted in 2012.
NSA officials say that even though the agency has access to Americans’ phone records, it investigated fewer than 300 phone numbers connected to US citizens in 2012. The officials did not provide any detail on the number of email addresses targeted.

much more

When Laura Gambrel, 22, of Zionsville, Ind., graduated from Indiana University in May, she wanted to keep the celebration pretty low key. She didn’t walk at the ceremony, nor did she have a party because she planned to go right back to the university this coming fall for grad school.

It seemed only fitting then that the one thing her mother attempted to do to recognize her accomplishments would go hilariously wrong, ending in Gambrel’s 15 minutes of fame.

Laura Gambrel’s mom, Carol Gambrel, went to the local bakery to get her daughter a graduation cake with a picture of her face, a scroll and the school’s colors – red and white. She thought it would be a nice touch to add a graduation cap on top of Gambrel’s head

Link With Pic

At least 200 members of Sunflower Community Action were bused into Kobach’s Kansas City-area neighborhood on Saturday - to protest his staunch anti-illegal alien views.

“I was just appalled,” Kobach told Fox News. “They have a right to protest at my office or at public places - that’s fine. But they don’t have a right to enter someone’s private property and engage in this kind of intimidation.”

“I have four little girls and they would have been terrified to see 200 protesters shouting at their daddy on megaphones on the front lawn,” he said.

The secretary of state said a large number of the protesters were believed to be illegal aliens. They can be seen on video chanting in Spanish, standing on Kobach’s porch, front yard and driveway and demanding that he come outside.

“Kris Kobach, come on out,” one unidentified protester shouted. “We’ll show you what Kansans are all about.”

Kobach and his family happened to be out-of-town when the demonstrators arrived. Video showed the protesters arriving in four buses - and then marching through the neighborhood. They left behind 20 pairs of shoes at his doorstep - representing illegals who’ve been deported.

Kobach has built a national profile presenting tough policies on illegal immigration issues. He and his family apparently weren’t home during the protest at his home.

“You don’t go to a public official’s home and try to intimidate him because of the positions he’s taken,” he said.

A receptionist at Sunflower Community Action told Fox News they would be releasing a statement to the press later today.

Kobach said he was especially troubled to learn that it took police at least 15 minutes to respond to his house.

“You have a mob of 200 people gathering on someone’s property and it takes the police 15 minutes to get there,” he said. “That doesn’t give you a whole lot of confidence either. I shudder to think what would have happened if one of those members of the mob had tried to break into the house.”

He also feared what would have happened had he been home with his wife and four young daughters.

“On a typical Saturday, my four girls would have been riding their bikes and coloring chalk in the driveway,” he said. “That’s where they play. If four buses pulled up and the mob started marching down upon them, they would have been absolutely terrified.”

The secretary of state is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment - and he said the incident at his home is an example of why Americans should bear arms.

“If we had been in the home and not been armed, I would have felt very afraid - because it took the police 15 minutes to show up,” he said. “It’s important we recognize there’s a reason we have the Second Amendment. There are situations like this where you have a mob and you do need to be able to protect yourself.”

He said had they been home and the mob had gotten out of hand, his family would have been in “grave jeopardy.”

“The Second Amendment is the private property owner’s last resort,” he said.

Kobach said he’s asked local police and the county attorney to investigate the incident. He believes a number of laws were violated including terrorizing a public official.

The county attorney did not return calls seeking comment.

Kobach said he will not be silenced by the weekend mob-action.

“My views are set and I’m determined to do what I can to restore the rule of law,” he said. “Let’s obey our laws and not give amnesty to illegal aliens.”

And he also leveled a warning to would-be protesters.

“Don’t come to my home and don’t scare my family,” he said.

More: Immigration Activists Mob Kansas Secretary of State’s Home

Todd Starnes, from the “fair and balanced news network” stirs the outrage (just in case the fearful apparently aren’t askeert enough:

Huge mob of illegals storm the home of Kansas Sec. of State http://t.co/hW9711C2cB Lock and Load, America.

— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) June 17, 2013

Been a while since I was reminded of this one. Friend of mine posted it today. Let me share it with you. Liam Clancy

Averages can be misleading. The familiar, one-dimensional story told about American education is that it was once the best system in the world but that now it’s headed down the drain, with piles of money thrown down after it.

The truth is that there are two very different education stories in America. The children of the wealthiest 10 percent or so do receive some of the best education in the world, and the quality keeps getting better. For most everyone else, this is not the case. America’s average standing in global education rankings has tumbled not because everyone is falling, but because of the country’s deep, still-widening achievement gap between socioeconomic groups.

And while America does spend plenty on education, it funnels a disproportionate share into educating wealthier students, worsening that gap. The majority of other advanced countries do things differently, at least at the K-12 level, tilting resources in favor of poorer students.

Link

That’s a trend that the Idaho Republican Party wants to stop before it spreads to more towns.

“I’d hire a gay guy if I thought he was a good worker,” Rasor explained at the party’s summer meeting, according to The Spokesman-Review. “But if he comes into work in a tutu … he’s not producing what I want in my office.”

“If a guy has a particular predilection and keeps it to himself, that’s fine,” he added. “But if he wants to use my business as a platform for his lifestyle, why should I have to subsidize that? And that’s what these anti-discrimination laws do.”

More: Idaho Republicans: Void Anti-Discrimination Laws in Case ‘Gay Guy’ Works ‘In a Tutu’

Apparently it’s ok to wear a tutu to work… as long as you’re straight.

President Obama, through a White House policy statement, has threatened to veto the House’s bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks if it reaches his desk.

The White House responded to the likelihood that the House will pass the bill tomorrow with a veto threat. The Executive Office of the President put out a statement telling House Republicans that their abortion ban bill has zero chance of ever becoming law:

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1797, which would unacceptably restrict women’s health and reproductive rights and is an assault on a woman’s right to choose. Women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care, and Government should not inject itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor.

More: Obama Threatens to Drop the Veto Hammer on House Republican Abortion Ban Bill