Over the weekend in the gun control Capitol of the country, 46 people were shot in Chicago. More from the Chicago Tribune:

“Our son is dead! Oh Jesus!” the 57-year-old screamed, referring to her other son, Cortez, who was killed earlier that morning on Chicago’s West Side. “Oh my God! Oh my God! We were just talking.”

At least 33 people were shot — six of them fatally — Saturday afternoon through Father's Day Sunday, stretching from 94th Street and Loomis Avenue on the South Side up to about North Avenue and North Pulaski Road on the Northwest Side, according to authorities. The youngest person who was killed during one of the bloodiest weekends in Chicago this year was 16.

Shootings from Friday afternoon into Saturday left another 13 people shot, 1 fatally. The combined tally resulted in 46 people shot, and seven killed this weekend. Last year at about the same time, there were 53 people shot, nine fatally in one weekend.

The Chicago Police Department is attempting to spin the situation by citing that murder numbers are down in 2013, but it is important to point out murder rates "being down" is in comparison to 532 murders in 2012 and 425 in 2011.

This is just too good. The White House tweeted a photo of President Obama with a scary looking assault water gun on Father's Day.

Hope all the dads out there have a great Father's Day weekend: http://t.co/JFD34sfklp #QualityTime pic.twitter.com/2UvcSk1VYk

— The White House (@whitehouse) June 15, 2013

Meanwhile, the kid who wore an NRA t-shirt to school is facing jail time.

Suspended and arrested after refusing to change his NRA shirt. Today, 14-year-old Jared Marcum appeared before a judge and was officially charged with obstructing an officer.

A $500 fine and up to a year in jail, that's the penalty that Jared could face, now that a judge has allowed the prosecution to move forward with it's obstructing an officer charge against him.

"Me, I'm more of a fighter and so is Jared and eventually we're going to get through this," Jared's father Allen Lardieri said.  "I don't think it should have ever gotten this far."

The Logan County Police Department initially claimed that the at-the-time 8th grade Logan Middle School student was arrested for disturbing the education process, obstructing an officer and Lardieri says that officers even went as far as threatening to charge Jared with making terroristic threats.

"In my view of the facts, Jared didn't do anything wrong," Ben White, Jared's attorney said.  "I think officer Adkins could have done something differently."

Appearing Sunday on ABC's This Week, Florida Senator Marco Rubio dodged a direct question about whether he'll vote for his Gang of Eight legislation. At the moment, the illegal immigration overhaul does practically nothing to secure the southern border with Mexico in a real and tangible way.

KARL: If it stays the way it is on border security, do you vote for it?
RUBIO: I don’t want to get involved in the hypotheticals and ultimatums.
KARL: It’s a real possibility.
RUBIO: No, I don’t think it is. A bill without increased border security which everyone has now conceded needs to happen. The debate is about what that border security provision looks like. If we do that, the bill will have strong, bipartisan support. If we fail, we will keep trying. The only way to pass the immigration reform law out of the House and Senate so the president can sign it is if has real border security measures.

Rubio has been all over the map on the issue of border security. For months we were told border security will come before the legalization process begins. Two weeks ago, Rubio told Univision in Spanish that legalization will come before border security, backtracked on Sean Hannity's radio show, voted down Senator John Cornyn's border security amendment last week and now won't say whether he will vote for the Gang of Eight legislation citing a lack of border security. A whole slew of amendments have been offered to boost border security, Democrats and Gang of Eight Republicans have voted against them. If they, including Rubio, really wanted border security, they could have had it a long time ago. This thing is turning out to be a huge waste of time.

H/T The DC

Earlier this week at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes was awarded the 10th annual Bradley Prize from The Bradley Foundation.

First, what exactly is The Bradley Foundation?

"The Bradley brothers were committed to preserving and defending the tradition of free representative government and private enterprise that has enabled the American nation and, in a larger sense, the entire Western world to flourish intellectually and economically.  The Bradleys believed that the good society is a free society.  The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is likewise devoted to strengthening American democratic capitalism and the institutions, principles, and values that sustain and nurture it.  Its programs support limited, competent government; a dynamic marketplace for economic, intellectual, and cultural activity; and a vigorous defense, at home and abroad, of American ideas and institutions.  In addition, recognizing that responsible self-government depends on enlightened citizens and informed public opinion, the Foundation supports scholarly studies and academic achievement."

-- From the Program Guidelines, approved by the Board of Directors, November 22, 1985

Second, Mr. Ailes gave a great speech which I recommend reading in full.

Editor's note: Fox News Channel Chairman Roger Ailes was awarded the 10th Bradley Prize on June 12. He serves as the Chairman and CEO of Fox News as well as the Chairman of Fox Television Stations.

After noting that he was donating his $250,000 prize to a charity for senior citizens and thanking the Bradley Foundation for "recognizing people who shape America," Ailes delivered a speech in Washington, DC, deviating slightly from his prepared remarks, printed here:

"America needs all of us to leave here tonight, renewed in our spirit and determination to turn this country forward to the future. I won’t say turn it around because yesterday is gone, so we must all focus on defining the themes for the future and lead the people to it.

"My remarks tonight are my own, and don’t necessarily reflect those of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch or Fox. I will say, however, that I didn’t give up my citizenship to create and run a news organization. I speak here with the highest authority and title anyone could ever aspire to -- citizen of the United States.

"We must stop waving our extended arms in an effort to balance ourselves as we tiptoe along the edges of the Constitution, in an effort not to upset weak-kneed appeasers, with our unflinching belief in the ideas and principles that made our country different and yes, great!

"Are we losing America to the inevitable onrushing tides of history? No. But we are in a storm, the mast is broken, the compass is barely functioning, and there is a big damned hole in the boat!

"We have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by others, many of whom want to impose their culture and laws under the manufactured utopian idea that all cultures are equal and most are better than America’s. Of course all people should be proud of their heritage. They should teach their children to be proud of their history and traditions.

"Immigrants will always be welcome here. But America is a culture, too.

"Back to the hole in the boat: America is losing its historic literacy. Recently some 556 seniors surveyed at 55 of the nation’s top colleges -- only 60 percent placed the American Civil War in the correct half of the 19th century. Only 34 percent identified George Washington as the American general at the Battle of Yorktown. Thirty-four percent thought it was Ulysses S. Grant. At 78 percent of the institutions polled, no history whatsoever was required in the undergraduate program. Historian David McCullough said, “We are raising a generation of young Americans who are historically illiterate.”
"If the hole in the boat is to be fixed, it will require the tenacity and ingenuity of the pioneers. Each of us must understand and teach the journey of liberty and justice. It requires steadfast insistence -- we must not allow our collective memory to fade or morph into trendy revisionist versions of political correctness, which becomes a substitute for truth.

"Traditional American culture influenced me greatly as I created the Fox News Channel for Rupert Murdoch. We knew that a fair and balanced news channel could succeed, as long as no views were rejected and conservative views were allowed to be heard.

"The Fox News Channel just finished its 137th consecutive month in first place in cable news, almost 12 years. The top 13 programs in cable news are all on the Fox News Channel. One reason is: We cover news but we also cover stories we know others will not. Like the abortion doctor in Philadelphia, who was actually killing babies after they were born. We covered Benghazi when four Americans were killed, even though no other network would touch the story. It’s an important story because it involves two hundred years of our military ethos, which is: If we ask you to go out in the middle of the night and risk your life for America, we promise that we will backstop you. And, try to get you out if it is humanly possible. In Benghazi we did not do that.

"I have come to the conclusion that even I don’t care what the president of the United States was doing that night. However, I would like to know what the commander in chief was doing that night.

"A few other hot news topics these days include the IRS. The federal government is about to hire 16,000 more IRS agents to enforce healthcare. Forty-seven new tax increases -- no wonder they need guns. Now we already know the IRS is arrogant. They waste as much money as the other government agencies. They enjoy pushing people around, and they can’t line dance. We don’t need 16,000 more people who can’t line dance! And we don’t need more people with guns, enforcing our healthcare. All right Granny, get your hands up. It’s the last time we’re telling you. Take your Metamucil!

"Of course, the country’s split politically. Democrats and Republicans can’t get along. And it is hard to figure out if it is ever going to get back together. But I heard a story about a guy who was in a hot air balloon. He was lost and he lowered his altitude. He spotted a man down below and descended a bit more and then called out to him. He said, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I’d meet him an hour ago, and I don’t know where I am.” The man on the ground consulted his GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon approximately 30 feet above ground elevation at 2,346 feet above sea level. You are 31 degrees, 14 minutes north latitude; 100 degrees, 49 minutes west longitude,” and the guy in the balloon said, “You must be a conservative,” and he said, “I am. How did you know that?” He said, well, “Everything you told me is technically correct but I have no idea what to make of your information. The fact is I’m still lost -- and frankly, you haven’t been very much help so far.” The guy on the ground yelled up: “You must be a liberal.” He said, “I am. How did you know that?” He said, “Well, you don’t know where you’re going or where you’ve been, you’ve risen to where you are on hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep. You expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you’re in the same place you were before we met and now it’s my fault!”

"Regardless of your political party there are some themes that I believe we should all agree on: Government must reinforce the value of the individual and life. Government must have programs to help individual independence flourish and not reinforce dependency. Votes must not be purchased by corrupt organizations or individuals on false missions of mercy. Freedom cannot be compromised anywhere. Anti-Americanism needs to be answered every place, every time. By every one of us.

"I mentioned earlier that American culture is unique and must be included in all discussions of culture. It is America that has fed more and freed more people on earth than all the other countries put together. You know how I know this is a great country? Because everybody is trying to get in, and nobody is trying to get out.

"I have heard complicated treatises on world affairs. I have listened to theories of foreign policy. I have listened to the criticism of the United States. I’ve watched even some Americans systematically try to dismantle the greatest country on earth and yet we are still strong. We’re strong, because of three words I believe, God, country, family.

"I cannot and will not apologize for any of those and anything that enhances those, I will defend them with my life.

"Thank you. And God bless you all."

According to a new Rasmussen Report, the majority of Americans believe the data collected by the NSA will be used as a political weapon.

There is little public support for the sweeping and unaccountable nature of the National Security Agency surveillance program along with concerns about how the data will be used.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters nationwide believe it is likely the NSA data will be used by other government agencies to harass political opponents. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 30% consider it unlikely and 14% are not sure. 

With the ongoing IRS scandal, these numbers and feelings aren't surprising. Take for example True the Vote and tea party leader Catherine Engelbrecht, who received visits from multiple government agencies after filing for tax exempt status through the IRS.

The Houston-based group, True the Vote, was founded by Catherine Engelbrecht and members of her King Street Patriots Tea Party effort. True the Vote’s experiences are set apart from many of the other organizations that were discriminated against by the IRS due to their having applied for 501(c3) status and not just 501(c4) status.

The group received an unprecedented level of scrutiny from the IRS since its original application for 501(c3) status was filed in 2010. The IRS sent rounds of questions over several years that went as far as demanding to see each and every tweet Engelbrecht had ever sent out and each and every speech she had ever given.

The IRS did not stop there. They demanded to know who had spoken at the group and to see each and every speech the speakers had given. They demanded to know the identities of all members of the group and who had attended their meetings. The list of probing and outlandish questions was exhaustive.

Soon, the IRS began to audit Engelbrecht’s family business and her personally. And the scrutiny from the federal government did not stop with the IRS.

Two DOJ agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) began to make their presence felt in Engelbrecht’s life as well.

“They [FBI] contacted us, asked questions about one of the people who attended a program," Engelbrecht told Breitbart News. "They asked for us to call if he ever showed back up. They repeated [their calls] over time, but no longer about that individual. They said they were just calling to check up with us. They called to check up with us a great deal and said it was ‘routine."

Engelbrecht added: "We support law enforcement and the FBI beginning to call wasn’t such a big deal in itself, but it came as the IRS was probing us and auditing everything. It came as the ATF began surprise visits and audits of our business."

She added: "Not only were the IRS, ATF, and FBI now in our lives, but OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] and a governmental environmental entity started auditing us in surprise visits as well.”

It is clear the government is capable of abusing power, going outside of the law and using information improperly for political purposes. Why would the NSA data be any different?

Liberals just can't help themselves. They'll do anything to protect the White House. With the latest scandalpalooza in Washington D.C., Obama's most loyal supporters are struggling to defend the President's agenda. So what are they doing instead? Calling opponents of that agenda "Obamaphobic."

First it was New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, who called Texas Senator Ted Cruz "Obamaphobic" for opposing Amnesty.

“Well, I think he has Obamaphobia,” Menendez said of Cruz on MSNBC. “The reality is that it is the Gang of Eight that came together — four Democrats, four Republicans — and said that we need a path to citizenship.”

Menendez’s comments were in response to Cruz saying on Monday that he thinks President Barack Obama is the “biggest obstacle” to real immigration reform rather than the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill.

Thursday night on his show, MSNBC Host Al Sharpton continued to use the term after Cruz jokingly embraced being "Obamaphobic" on Twitter.

AL SHARPTON: You got to hand it to the Republicans. They know how to stay on message. Scandal, scandal, scandal is all you hear from the right. But today President Obama called them out for standing in the way of progress.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA CLIP #1: Some Republicans may be rethinking the stances that they took in the past. That's the good news. We want to encourage that. But the fact of the matter is that a whole bunch of Republicans out there are not interested in getting things done.

PRESIDENT OBAMA CLIP #2: What's holding us back right now is inaction in Washington, gridlock in Washington, too many folks in Washington who are putting the next election ahead of the next generation.

SHARPTON: He's talking about Republican Senator Ted Cruz, the guy who once called President Obama the most radical President we've ever seen. He tweeted, "If supporting real immigration reform, not path to citizenship, is 'Obamaphobia,' guilty as charged. Re-tweet if you're a fellow 'Obamaphobic.'"

Bragging about being Obamaphobic. Now, I know he was responding to a Democratic Senator, but the fact is, this is who they are. They are scared because the party is built on fear and obstruction. And no matter how hard they try, it`s not working.

Republicans and conservatives like Cruz aren't afraid of President Obama, they simply oppose his big brother, big government agenda.The use of terms like "Obamaphobic" are used to cut off debate about serious issues.

Shortly after the news broke that the Department of Justice had been secretly monitoring the phones and email accounts of Associated Press and Fox News reporters (and the parents of Fox News Correspondent James Rosen), CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson said her computer seemed like it had been compromised. Turns out, it was:

"A cyber security firm hired by CBS News has determined through forensic analysis that Sharyl Attkisson’s computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012. Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data.

  This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion.

  CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access.”

Attkisson has lead the way in exposing and covering Operation Fast and Furious, Solyndra and Benghazi.

Again I asked the question: How many reporters and outlets was the Department of Justice secretly monitoring? I guarantee it doesn't stop with the Associated Press and Fox News.

UPDATE: Attkisson says she believes this was an effort to intimidate her.

She said in an interview Friday that she was “outraged” by the breach, which did not appear to be aimed at extracting personal financial information.

“This wasn’t any ordinary malware of a phishing attempt,” that is, an effort to gain personal information, she said. “I assume someone wanted to see what I was working on.”

“The privacy and security of every American citizen in his own home, not to mention the work of a journalist, is sacrosanct. The idea that an unknown party could come into your home electronically is upsetting and disturbing. .?.?. People should be disturbed that a reporter would be spied on and intimidated this way. I do feel that this was an attempt to make me feel intimidated.”

Late last year, New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg launched a super PAC to counter the National Rifle Association when it comes to elections. Since new gun control measures failed in the Senate in April, Bloomberg has been out for blood running ads against Democrats who didn't vote for those measures. But it turns out, Bloomberg's efforts to unseat anti-gun control Democrats are backfiring.

Of the 35 Senate seats up for grabs in 2014, the 10 most contested battles come in mostly rural, conservative-leaning states such as Montana, West Virginia, Alaska and Arkansas, and nine of them are held by Democrats. Every Republican up for reelection in 2014, including the top GOP leaders, Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and John Cornyn (Tex.), have demonstrated that their biggest political fear is a primary challenge from the right, making them much more receptive to supporting the NRA’s position.

With parents of the young Newtown victims providing emotional reminders of the shooting for lawmakers Wednesday, one of their most high-profile political allies, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), adopted sharper tactics, urging thousands of his city’s top political donors to withhold donations from four Senate Democrats who voted against the gun bill.

In a letter to more than 1,000 donors, Bloomberg called out the four Democrats — Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.). “Instead of rising above politics to pass a law that would save lives,” he wrote, the four senators “sided with a gun lobby increasingly out of touch with Americans’ priorities.”

“The next time these four Senators want you to support them with donations to their campaigns, tell them you cannot,” Bloomberg wrote.

By asking campaign donors to withhold funds, the deep-pocketed mayor went against the will of his congressional Democratic allies, who tried but failed to secure enough GOP support for the gun bill and have warned that public criticism of vulnerable Democrats who voted against the bill will result in Republican gains and less of a chance to enact new gun laws.

Since the bill’s defeat in April, Bloomberg’s anti-gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting senators of both parties for voting against the measure. A group founded by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) — who was severely wounded in a January 2011 shooting — also has raised millions of dollars as it airs radio and television ads.

And the punch to the gut comes from fellow New Yorker Chuck Schumer.

Speaking to Time magazine, Schumer suggests Bloomberg’s targeting of pro-gun Democrats for their votes against gun-control legislation is unproductive.

“Frankly, I don’t think Bloomberg’s ads are effective,” Schumer said. “The Mayor of New York City putting ads against people in red states is not going to be effective.”

There's a reason Obama didn't run on gun control in 2008 or 2012. It's a losing issue especially for Democrats in red states, something Bloomberg is learning the hard way.

Self-proclaimed "practicing Catholic" and pro-abortion Nancy Pelosi got testy today during an exchange with a reporter about late term abortionist Kermit Gosnell. The House is currently considering the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, legislation that would ban abortions after 20-weeks of pregnancy.


Pelosi falsely claimed two things in her response.

1) Legislation being considered in the House bans abortion past 20 weeks. Pelosi said the legislation would ban all abortions.

2) Pelosi said Gosnell is an isolated case, which isn't true. LiveAction and LifeNews have extensively reported and documented cases of abortionists all over the country who consistently operate in similar ways as Gosnell did.

President of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List Marjorie Dannenfelser released the following statement in response to Pelosi's comments.
 

“As a mother and practicing Catholic, I have a modest proposal for Mrs. Pelosi: that she consider the Church's teaching which says each life is sacred and reject the idea that each abortion is."

Senior Policy Advisor for The Catholic Association Maureen Ferguson has also released a statement in response.

“After witnessing firsthand the atrocious human rights abuses taking place inside America's late-term abortion clinics it is amazing that this did not touch Nancy Pelosi's heart. What we learned from the Gosnell trial and what we understand is going on inside other clinics is not only human rights abuse but it also puts women in harm’s way. The only difference between the Gosnell ‘after-birth’ abortions and legal late-term abortions is the location of the baby at the time of death. And contrary to Pelosi's extreme claim that the Franks bill is ‘disrespectful’ to women, the majority of women are opposed to late-term abortions according to a recent Gallup poll."

The United States Senate has just killed an amendment submitted by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley to secure the southwest border with Mexico before any kind of amnesty or legalization for illegal immigrants is granted. All four Republican members of the Gang of 8, John McCain, Jeff Flake, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham voted with Harry Reid to table the amendment. Reid only received five total votes from Republicans. They came from those in the Gang of 8 and Lisa Murkowski.