Monthly Archives: May 2015

Rand Paul wraps ‘filibuster’ over Patriot Act and NSA …

Posted: May 22, 2015 at 12:43 am

Story highlights Paul's speech wasn't technically a filibuster because of intricate Senate rules Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden joined Paul in support

Paul, R-Kentucky, ran through several binders of material over the course of his marathon protest, and also got some help from 10 fellow senators -- three Republicans and seven Democrats.

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, were the biggest boons to Paul's efforts, joining Paul on the Senate floor several times to give the Kentucky Republican a chance to catch his breath -- and often grab a sip of water and pop a candy in his mouth. And one of Paul's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, also ended up helping Paul's efforts late in the night.

"There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer. That time is now and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged," Paul said at the opening of his remarks, and those who joined him on the Senate floor shared his concerns and stressed the need to reform the Patriot Act.

The Senate is considering whether to reauthorize or reform a crucial section of that law that gives the government sweeping powers to collect phone metadata on millions of Americans in an effort to thwart terrorist plots. The House last week overwhelmingly approved a bill to reform that law.

The NSA's bulk collection program expires at midnight on June 1, and the Department of Justice warned in a memo shared by a GOP aide on Wednesday that the agency will have to begin preparing a week before the expiration date for a potential lapse in the law.

Paul's talk-a-thon Wednesday came more than two years after his nearly 13-hour filibuster in 2013, which was widely anticipated and brought him national attention for delaying the confirmation of CIA chief John Brennan to draw attention to U.S. drone policies.

But his speech Wednesday wasn't technically a filibuster because intricate Senate rules required him to stop talking by early Thursday afternoon for an unrelated vote.

Still, Paul's office insists it was a filibuster, saying Paul prevented lawmakers from taking action to reauthorize the Patriot Act while he had the floor.

READ: Boehner, McConnell split over NSA bill

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Transhumanism:Attempt To Use Technology To Turn Men Into …

Posted: May 18, 2015 at 4:43 am

knowledge will increase Guest Post by on May 5, 2015 16:46:59 GMT Transhumanism: An Attempt To Use Technology To Turn Men Into Gods

Did you know that the word transhuman literally means beyond human? All over the world, scientists and intellectuals are joining the transhumanism movement. Those that adhere to this philosophy believe that the time has come for us to use technology to take control of our own evolution. By doing so, they believe that we can give ourselves superhuman powers and radically extend our lifespans. Right now, the most popular movie in America is Avengers: Age of Ultron, and in recent years we have watched films about mutants and superheroes become some of Hollywoods biggest moneymakers. But transhumanists believe that we will soon be able to literally turn ourselves into such superheroes as technology continues to increase at an exponential rate. And once we have superhuman powers and superhuman intelligence, they are convinced that we will eradicate all sickness, disease, poverty and war. Many of them actually believe that we will be able to achieve immortality and establish a utopia on Earth just a few decades from now. In other words, we wont need a God because we will have become our own gods.

At the core of the transhumanist movement is an unshakable faith in the inevitable technological progress of humanity. Yes, there are some transhumanists that have doubts, but for most transhumanists the solution to all of our problems is more technology. If you are not familiar with transhumanism, the following is a really good definition that I recently came across

Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement promoting the aim of transforming the human condition fundamentally by developing and making available technologies to enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capabilities. Transhumanist thinking studies the potential benefits and hazards of emerging technologies that could overcome basic human limitations. It also addresses ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. Some transhumanists predict that human beings may eventually transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities that they justify a state of being known as posthuman.

Transhumanists want to help humans live much longer, and they also want to dramatically increase the quality of those lives. Ultimately, most transhumanists are fully convinced that they will be able to defeat death altogether. The following is a short excerpt from an ExtremeTech article

One of the core concepts in transhumanist thinking is life extension: Through genetic engineering, nanotech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, eternal life may soon be possible. Likewise, transhumanists are interested in the ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of (thus the term transhuman). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for example, which speeds up reaction times and learning speed by running a very weak electric current through your brain, has already been used by the US military to train snipers. On the more extreme side, transhumanism deals with the concepts of mind uploading (to a computer), and what happens when we finally craft a computer with greater-than-human intelligence (the technological singularity).

So would you like to live forever armed with superhuman powers?.............

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The Fourth Amendment and open carry of guns (where such …

Posted: May 15, 2015 at 8:44 am

From the Sixth Circuit federal court of appeals decision today in Northrup v. Toledo Police Dept.:

On a midsummer evening, Shawn and Denise Northrup went for a neighborhood walk with their daughter, grandson, and dog. Apparently in a happy-go-lucky mood, Shawn wore a t-shirt reading, This Is The Shirt I Wear When I Dont Care. Shawn carried a cell phone, which he holstered on his hip next to a black semiautomatic handgun.

A passing motorcyclist stopped to complain about Shawns visible firearm. The stranger, Alan Rose, yelled, [Y]ou cant walk around with a gun like that! But [O]pen carry is legal in Ohio! Denise responded. As the Northrups walked away, Denise and Rose exchanged increasingly unprintable words until he was out of view (and earshot).

Rose called 911, reporting that a guy walking down the street with his dog was carrying a gun out in the open.

The police eventually arrived, ordered Northrup to stop, demanded that he turn over the gun, handcuffed him, and kept him handcuffed in a police car for 30 minutes. Eventually, they let him go, and all charges were dropped. Northrup sued, and the Sixth Circuit allowed the case to go forward:

While open-carry laws may put police officers (and some motorcyclists) in awkward situations from time to time, the Ohio legislature has decided its citizens may be entrusted with firearms on public streets. Ohio Rev. Code 9.68, 2923.125. The Toledo Police Department has no authority to disregard this decision not to mention the protections of the Fourth Amendment by detaining every gunman who lawfully possesses a firearm. And it has long been clearly established that an officer needs evidence of criminality or dangerousness before he may detain and disarm a law-abiding citizen. We thus affirm the district courts conclusion that, after reading the factual inferences in the record in Northrups favor, Officer Bright could not reasonably suspect that Northrup needed to be disarmed.

The police had also initially suggested that Northrup was guilty of the Ohio crime of causing panic, but the court pointed out this wasnt so (at least under Northrups version of the facts). Indeed, the Ohio causing panic statute provides,

No person shall cause the evacuation of any public place, or otherwise cause serious public inconvenience or alarm, by doing any of the following:

(1) Initiating or circulating a report or warning of an alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime, or other catastrophe, knowing that such report or warning is false;

(2) Threatening to commit any offense of violence;

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Human Longevity, Inc. and Cleveland Clinic Establish Broad …

Posted: at 8:42 am

LA JOLLA, Calif. and CLEVELAND, May14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Longevity, Inc.(HLI)and Cleveland Clinic today announced a broad collaboration agreement to first sequence and analyze blood samples from Cleveland Clinic's GeneBank study of de-identified patients.

The two organizations will apply whole genome, cancer and microbiome sequencing focusing on a subset of samples with the goal of discovering novel disease genes and disease pathways associated with heart disease.

"Cleveland Clinic is one of the premier clinical health care settings in the world and we are excited to be working with Dr. Cosgrove and his team. Using HLI's powerful genomic technologies and analysis tools to better understand the biological basis for disease should enable earlier intervention and better treatments," said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., CEO of HLI.

"In medicine we are constantly exploring opportunities to better understand how diseases develop and what we can do to either prevent or provide the most impactful and effective course of treatment," said Toby Cosgrove, M.D., President and CEO of Cleveland Clinic. "We are thrilled to be advancing the correlation of genomic data with clinical care."

HLI is currently sequencing and analyzingthousands of whole genomesper month.The company is integrating this whole genome sequence data with extensive and unique clinical measures and imaging within the HLI Knowledgebase. The combined high quality, comprehensive data will continue to enrich the HLI Knowledgebase, which includes the company's proprietary informatics analysis and data interpretation and integration. The company is pursuing agreements with a variety of customers including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic health systems, governments and insurers.

About Human Longevity, Inc.HLI, a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, CA was founded in 2013 by pioneers in the fields of genomics and stem cell therapy. Using advances in genomic sequencing, the human microbiome, proteomics, informatics, computing, and cell therapy technologies, HLI is building the world's most comprehensive database of human genotypes and phenotypes as a basis for a variety of commercialization opportunities to help solve aging related disease and human biological decline. HLI will be licensing access to its database, and developing new diagnostics and therapeutics as part of their product offerings. For more information please visit, http://www.humanlongevity.com

About Cleveland ClinicCleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals, more than 75 Northern Ohio outpatient locations, including 16 full-service Family Health Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, scheduled to begin seeing patients in 2015, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2013, there were 5.5 million outpatient visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 130 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org.Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.

Editor's Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.

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Italian Astronaut Shows Off Space Station’s Snack Supply …

Posted: May 14, 2015 at 10:42 am

When it comes to preparing for a long-duration space trip, forget the Tang; what you really need are some wholesome snacks.

Aspiring astronauts got a glimpse of spaceflyers' snack options when Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti showed off her favorite space snacks in a videorecorded on the International Space Station and released the European Space Agency on April 21.

"Snack time is a great opportunity to put the right kind of rocket fuel in your body," Cristoforetti, the first Italian woman to fly in space, said in the video. "And, as always, don't panic eating healthy is not rocket science."

In the video, she casually grabs dried apples, macadamia nuts, a pumpkin-seed bar and other snacks from a rack in the space station's Node 1 (Unity) module, showing all of them before letting them float away off-camera. (Except for one macadamia nut, which Cristoforetti munched.)

All of these snacks have a long shelf life, which makes sense because astronauts don't have access to refrigeration on board the orbiting lab, and the spaceflyers routinely go months between cargo shipments.

Lastly, Cristoforetti displayed a "very special power bar" made just for her. It includes "plenty of healthy nutritious ingredients" such as nuts, seeds, full-grain cereals and the cyanobacterium spirulina.

Cristoforetti arrived at theInternational Space Station in November. She and fellow Expedition 43 crewmembers Anton Shkaplerov and Terry Virts are scheduled to come back to Earth Wednesday (May 13).

Follow Elizabeth Howell@howellspace, or Space.com@Spacedotcom. We're also onFacebookandGoogle+.Originally published onSpace.com.

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What Is Genetic Engineering?

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What is Genetic Engineering?

Written by: Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher WEN Trust, July 1998

Synthesis/Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought, Vol. 18 (Winter 1999), pp. 9-12 [Note: For technical reasons, the graphics accompanying the orginal article have not been reproduced here.]

We find it mixed in our food on the shelves in the supermarket--genetically engineered soybeans and maize. We find it growing in a plot down the lane, test field release sites with genetically engineered rape seed, sugar beet, wheat, potato, strawberries and more. There has been no warning and no consultation.

It is variously known as genetic engineering, genetic modification or genetic manipulation. All three terms mean the same thing, the reshuffling of genes usually from one species to another; existing examples include: from fish to tomato or from human to pig. Genetic engineering (GE) comes under the broad heading of biotechnology.

But how does it work? If you want to understand genetic engineering it is best to start with some basic biology.

What is a cell? A cell is the smallest living unit, the basic structural and functional unit of all living matter, whether that is a plant, an animal or a fungus.Some organisms such as amoebae, bacteria, some algae and fungi are single-celled - the entire organism is contained in just one cell. Humans are quite different and are made up of approximately 3 million cells -(3,000,000,000,000 cells). Cells can take many shapes depending on their function, but commonly they will look like a brick with rounded comers or an angular blob - a building block.Cells are stacked together to make up tissues, organs or structures (brain, liver, bones, skin, leaves, fruit etc.).

In an organism, cells depend on each other to perform various functions and tasks; some cells will produce enzymes, others will store sugars or fat; different cells again will build the skeleton or be in charge of communication like nerve cells; others are there for defence, such as white blood cells or stinging cells in jelly fish and plants. In order to be a fully functional part of the whole, most cells have got the same information and resources and the same basic equipment.

A cell belonging to higher organisms (e.g. plant or animal) is composed of: a cell MEMBRANE enclosing the whole cell. (Plant cells have an additional cell wall for structural reinforcement.) many ORGANELLES, which are functional components equivalent to the organs in the body of an animal e.g. for digestion, storage, excretion. a NUCLEUS, the command centre of the cell. It contains all the vital information needed by the cell or the whole organism to function, grow and reproduce. This information is stored in the form of a genetic code on the chromosomes, which are situated inside the nucleus.

Proteins are the basic building materials of a cell, made by the cell itself. Looking at them in close-up they consist of a chain of amino-acids, small specific building blocks that easily link up. Though the basic structure of proteins is linear, they are usually folded and folded again into complex structures. Different proteins have different functions. They can be transport molecules (e.g. oxygen binding haemoglobin of the red blood cells); they can be antibodies, messengers, enzymes (e.g. digestion enzymes) or hormones (e.g. growth hormones or insulin). Another group is the structural proteins that form boundaries and provide movement, elasticity and the ability to contract. Muscle fibres, for example, are mainly made of proteins. Proteins are thus crucial in the formation of cells and in giving cells the capacity to function properly.

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Eighty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India …

Posted: May 13, 2015 at 7:46 am

The Eighty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution (Eighty-fifth Amendment) Act, 2001, enables the State to make any provision for reservation in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, giving them the benefit of consequential seniority in matters of promotion to any class of classes of posts in the services under the State, if they are not adequately represented.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

1. Short title (1) This Act may be called the Constitution (Eighty-fifth Amendment) Act, 2001.

2. Amendment of article 16 In article 16 of the Constitution, in clause (4A), for the words "in matters of promotion to any class", the words "in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class" shall be substituted.[1]

Article 16 of the Constitution provides for equality of opportunity in matters of public employment. The 85th Amendment amended clause (4A) of the article replacing the words "in matters of promotion to any class" with the words "in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class" in order to enable the State to make any provision for reservation in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, giving them the benefit of consequential seniority in matters of promotion to any class of classes of posts in the services under the State, if they are not adequately represented.[2]

The Bill of The Constitution (Eighty-fifth Amendment) Act, 2001 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 26 November 2001, as the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Bill, 2001 (Bill No. 105 of 2001). It was introduced by Vasundhara Raje, then Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. The Bill sought to amend article 16 of the Constitution.[2] The full text of the Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the bill is given below:

The Government servants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes had been enjoying the benefit of consequential seniority on their promotion on the basis of rule of reservation. The judgments of the Supreme Court in the case of Virpal Singh Chauhan (1995) 6 SCC 684 andAjit Singh No. I AIR 1996 SC 1189, which led to the issue of the O.M. dated 30th January, 1997, have adversely affected the interest of the Government servants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category in the matter of seniority on promotion to the next higher grade. This has led to considerable anxiety and representations have also been received from various quarters including Members of Parliament to protect the interest of the Government servants belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

2. The Government has reviewed the position in the light of views received from various quarters and in order to protect the interest of the Government servants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, it has been decided to negate the effect of O,M. dated 30th January, 1997 immediately. Mere withdrawal of the O.M dated 30th January, 1997 will not meet the desired purpose and review or revision of seniority of the Government servants and grant of consequential benefits to such Government servants will also be necessary. This will require amendment to article 16(4A) of the Constitution to provide for consequential seniority in the case of promotion by virtue of rule of reservation. It is also necessary to give retrospective effect to the proposed constitutional amendment to article 16(4A) with effect from the date of coming into force of article 16(4A) itself, that is, from the 17th day of June, 1995.

3. The Bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objects.

The Bill was considered by the Lok Sabha on 28 November 2001, and passed on the same day with a formal amendment changing the short title from Ninety-second to Eighty-fifth. The Bill, as passed by the Lok Sabha, was considered and passed by the Rajya Sabha on 5 December 2001. The Bill, as passed by the Rajya Sabha, was considered and passed by the Lok Sabha on 22 August 2000. The Bill received assent from then President K. R. Narayanan on 4 January 2002, and was notified in The Gazette of India on the same date. It retroactively came into effect from 17 June 1995, as stated in clause (2) of Section 1 of the Amendment Act.[2]

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Brantley Gilbert Inks His Love For The Second Amendment …

Posted: at 7:46 am

Model Erin Wasson attends "The Heimlich Maneuver" screening at Soho Grand Hotel in NYC on June 27, 2012 (Rob Kim/Getty photo)

Singer Rihanna attends the DKMS' 5th Annual Gala: Linked Against Leukemia honoring Rihanna & Michael Clinton hosted by Katharina Harf at Cipriani Wall Street on April 28, 2011 in New York City. (Andrew H. Walker, Getty Images)

Rihanna attends the "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2011 in New York City. (Stephen Lovekin, Getty Images)

TV personality Kelly Osbourne (tattoo detail) attends the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's "An Evening" benefiting homeless youth services at Sunset Tower on January 23, 2012 in West Hollywood, California. (David Livingston, Getty Images)

TV personality Kelly Osbourne (tattoo detail) attends the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's "An Evening" benefiting homeless youth services at Sunset Tower on January 23, 2012 in West Hollywood, California. (David Livingston, Getty Images)

Singer Trisha Yearwood attends a Celebration of Paul Newman's Dream to Benefit the SeriousFun Children's Network at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on April 2, 2012 in New York City. (Larry Busacca, Getty Images)

Trisha Yearwood performs onstage at the Songwriters Hall of Fame 42nd Annual Induction and Awards at The New York Marriott Marquis Hotel - Shubert Alley on June 16, 2011 in New York City. (Larry Busacca, Getty Images)

Actress Angelina Jolie arrives at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Jason Merritt, Getty Images)

Actress Angelina Jolie arrives at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Jason Merritt, Getty Images)

Actress Kyra Sedgwick arrives at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Jason Merritt, Getty Images)

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NSA: ISIS views ‘increasingly resonating’ with Americans …

Posted: May 12, 2015 at 2:44 pm

66 photos

Iraqi soldiers fire their weapons toward ISIS group positions in the Garma district, west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, on Sunday, April 26. Pro-government forces say they have recently made advances on areas held by Islamist jihadists. Iraqi security forces control pockets of territory in Anbar, a vast desert province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approaches to Baghdad.

66 photos

A member of the Afghan security forces stands at the site where a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up in front of the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on April 18. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. The explosion killed at least 33 people and injured more than 100 others, a public health spokesman said.

66 photos

Iraqi counterterrorism forces patrol in Ramadi, Iraq, on April 18. Iraqi special forces maintained control of the provincial capital after days of intense clashes with ISIS left the city at risk.

66 photos

Thousands of Iraqis cross a bridge over the Euphrates River to Baghdad, as they flee Ramadi, Iraq, on Friday, April 17. The city of Ramadi has been embroiled in clashes with ISIS militants.

66 photos

People leave their hometown of Ramadi on April 15. ISIS' offensive in Ramadi shows its resilience despite months of U.S.-led airstrikes and its recent defeat in the northern city of Tikrit.

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2nd Amendment advocates push to repeal switchblade, other …

Posted: at 2:43 pm

Shown here is a spring-assisted knife.(AP)

Once overshadowed by the hot-button gun rights debate, laws restricting knife sales and possession are the new "second front" in the battle to preserve Second Amendment rights.

The issue has gained more attention in recent years -- most recently in Baltimore, where obscure knife laws have surfaced at the center of the Freddie Gray death case.Well before that case, though, the nonprofit advocacy group Knife Rights has been steadily working in state capitals across the country to roll back or repeal longstanding knife bans and restrictions.

And they've seen a string of successes.

Weve introduced the Second Amendment to a significant number of people who never considered it their amendment, said Doug Ritter, who founded Knife Rights in Arizona in 2009.

The group argues that possessing and carrying any kind of blade is, as with guns, a right enshrined in the Constitution.They've deployed that argument to, so far, help 10 states wipe most -- if not all -- knife restrictions from the books. It also has successfully advocated for so-called preemption laws in eight states, blocking local jurisdictions from circumventing state law with their own, stricter regulations.

Not all repeals are the same -- some leave laws against switchblades like stilettos on the books. But others are comprehensive, like in Oklahoma and Maine, which just legalized switchblades, in March and April respectively.

Knife Rights first victory was in 2010, when it worked to get all switchblades, dirks and daggers legalized in New Hampshire. Bills in several other states are currently pending.

Theres no blood running in the streets, no state has come back and said we shouldnt have done this and tried to reinstate [laws], Ritter said.

Contrary to the image of gang members carrying butterfly knives to the local rumble, people carry knives for a multitude of reasons, and it is not to maim or kill, Ritter said. The reality is, millions of Americans use and own knives at home, work, and recreation. But every once in a while someone uses a knife as an arm, to protect the family.

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