Beet L. Jooz

One year ago yesterday, a gunman opened fire on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia. He had scouted the area for a month,  and found congressional Republicans were practicing there for the annual congressional baseball game. He double-checked with two members of Congress about the party affiliation of the men on the field before firing off some 70 rounds. He hit two staffers, two Capitol Hill police officers, and Majority Whip Steve Scalise before being taken down by Capitol Hill Police.

Members credit the police, there as part of Scalise’s leadership security detail, with saving all of their lives. Scalise and others wounded were tended by Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a doctor and combat vet with experience in Iraq. His quick action is also credited with keeping the injured alive.

But the road back wasn’t easy for those who fell at the hands of 66-year-old James Hodgkinson. Scalise was in the hospital for months, sometimes threatened by infection as much as his original injury, and had to relearn to walk. Here are some moments from his triumphant return to make you smile.

1. Thursday night, he walked onto Nationals field and got the first out in the congressional baseball game, scooping a groundball from his knees and throwing to first.

Sweet moment as Rep. Steve Scalise is mobbed by his teammates after snagging a grounder on the first pitch of tonight's congressional baseball game.

A year ago, Scalise was among four people shot during a GOP practice for the annual charity contest. https://t.co/WbdZaWBTzP pic.twitter.com/ULAgVxSjHD

— ABC News (@ABC) June 14, 2018

You can see the progress he’s made from the clip of his moving comeback to Congress in September.

2. Before that, he announced his own comeback via Twitter:

I’m back in the game. pic.twitter.com/zs9xsiPd8p

— Rep. Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) June 14, 2018

Scalise entered the stadium with the aid of a cane in one hand, hugging each of his teammates before taking his place for the national anthem.

3. David Bailey and Crystal Griner, the two officers injured at the scene, threw out the ceremonial first pitches, with two other survivors of the shooting playing catcher.

Congressional aide Zach Barth suffered a minor injury. Lobbyist Matt Mika fought through a wound near his heart, a severed nerve in his hand, and five surgeries within a month before rehab.

“If you’d seen him the way I saw him a year ago, you would not believe he is standing, let alone playing baseball tonight,” Rep. Mike Bishop told the Detroit News of Mika.

Bailey and Griner were awarded the Capitol Hill Police Medal of Honor last year, along with three Alexandria Police officers.

4. Speaker Paul Ryan walking out to thank and hug Capitol Police officers Bailey and Griner for saving his colleagues’ lives.

.@SteveScalise and the rest of the baseball team that day owe a debt of gratitude to the two Capitol Police officers who sprang into action. Thank you Crystal and David! pic.twitter.com/Vvv7TtxcIq

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 15, 2018

5. A week ago, Sen. Jeff Flake, who was also present at the 2017 shooting, tweeted a picture of Scalise practicing in uniform, with his cane on the field in the background.

.@SteveScalise back on the field this morning. This does my heart good. pic.twitter.com/97uQImUgCl

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) June 6, 2018

Deputies arrested another man in connection with the deadly incident in Pearl River that occurred Saturday evening.

It's been two years since the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. The community remembered the victims Tuesday. (Source: CNN)

The Obama administration, motivated by politics, engaged in the “wholesale destruction” and “loss” of tens of thousands of government records that should have been preserved by law, according to an investigative reporter.

Thomas Lipscomb, founding publisher of Times Books, explained at Real Clear Politics that National Archivist David Ferriero discovered in the process of transferring Obama administration records in the National Archives that many key records are missing.

He explained that Ferriero, a “first-rate librarian,” has been leading a much-needed digital overhaul and expansion of the National Archives over the nine years of his appointment that will greatly improve access to the files.

“To support this effort, in 2014 President Obama signed the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments. For the first time electronic government records were placed under the 1950 Federal Records Act. The new law also included updates clarifying ‘the responsibilities of federal government officials when using non-government email systems’ and empowering ‘the National Archives to safeguard original and classified records from unauthorized removal.’ Additionally, it gives the archivist of the United States the final authority in determining just what is a government record,” he said.

However, the “accumulation of recent congressional testimony has made it clear that the Obama administration itself engaged in the wholesale destruction and ‘loss’ of tens of thousands of government records covered under the act as well as the intentional evasion of the government records recording system by engaging in private email exchanges.”

So far, Lipscomb said, Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Lynch and several EPA officials have been named as offenders.

The IRS suffered record “losses” as well, he wrote.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy called it “an unauthorized private communications system for official business for the patent purpose of defeating federal record-keeping and disclosure laws.”

Lipscomb wondered, “What good is the National Archives administering a presidential library, like the planned Obama library in Chicago, if it is missing critical records of interest to scholars?”

He asked, “What’s to prevent evasion of the entire federal records system by subsequent administrations to suit current politics rather than serve scholars for centuries to come?”

One of the biggest archive issues during the Obama administration was Clinton’s use of a personal, unsecure email server, which prevented the government from having a full record of her communication while also comprising national security.

Her husband’s former national security adviser Sandy Berger infamously removed documents from the National Archives, stuffing them in his clothing.

The Clintons had other records issues as well.

In 1994, the Rose Law Firm records that had been subpoenaed in one of the their many scandal investigations disappeared from the private White House quarters then suddenly reappeared in 1996.

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Ohio's secretary of state announced on Tuesday that the state will not start purging people from voter rolls until after November's midterm elections. His decision came the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the state's policy of removing infrequent voters from voter lists was constitutional.

Details are surfacing of a video put together by the White House to assist in diplomacy messaging toward Kim Jong-un and the team of North Korea negotiators.  According to reports, toward the end of the talks between President Trump and … Continue reading →

'Anybody could have followed me.'

He turned himself in

Two days after actor Robert De Niro surprised the censors at the Tonys (and elicited a standing ovation from the audience) by delivering a profanity laden rant where he declared "F**k Trump"...

Here's video of DeNiro swearing at Trump on #TonyAwards
Australian feed didnt censor it. pic.twitter.com/KZNrT8UIyH

— Rhett Bartlett (@dialmformovies) June 11, 2018

The president has - true to form - rebuked the Oscar-winning actor with a tweet, labeling De Niro a "very Low IQ individual" who "has received to many shots to the head b real boxers in movies."

Trump then questioned whether De Niro understands that the "economy is the best it's ever been with employment being at an all time high, and many companies pouring back into our country." Trump concluded the rant with "Wake up Punchy!"

Robert De Niro, a very Low IQ individual, has received to many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. I watched him last night and truly believe he may be “punch-drunk.” I guess he doesn’t...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018

...realize the economy is the best it’s ever been with employment being at an all time high, and many companies pouring back into our country. Wake up Punchy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018

We imagine De Niro - who owns the upscale restaurant chain Nobu (where he recently grabbed headlines by banning Trump from eating there) - is keenly aware of the strength of the economy. After all, restaurants like his typically are the first to benefit from a growing economy as the limousine liberal set typically feels more comfortable dropping $500 or more for dinner when times are good.

'If you talk about things that are racist...'

Donald Trump repeatedly spoke out against the merger