So far in Q1 2013, the New York-based Soros Fund Management LLC hedge fund has acquired an $8.4% stake in Apache Corp (APA), a $7.4 million stake in C&J Energy Services Inc. (CJES), a $6.5 million stake in Cameron International Corp (CAM), a $6.5 million stake in Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG), a $16.7 million stake in Southwestern Energy co (SWN) and a $22.5 million stake in Ultra Petroleum Corp. (UPL).

Included in this impressive energy-holdings list, Soros also increased his stake in Halliburton Co. (HAL) to 820,200 shares (worth $33 million now).

A Whitehouse spokesman said Tuesday the politically charged remarks were pre-written as part of the senator’s weekly Senate floor speech on climate change.

“Tragically and unbeknownst to the senator at the time, a series of tornadoes were hitting Oklahoma at the same moment he gave his remarks,” the spokesman said. “Senator Whitehouse regrets the timing of his speech and offers his thoughts and prayers to the victims of yesterday’s storms and their families, and he stands ready to work with the senators from Oklahoma to assist them and their constituents in this time of need.”

“Honey,” said this husband to his wife, “I invited a friend home for supper.”

“What? Are you crazy? The house is a mess, I didn’t go shopping, all the dishes are dirty, and I don’t feel like cooking a fancy meal!”

“I know all that.”

“Then why did you invite a friend for supper?”

“Because the poor sap’s thinking about getting married.”

Got a great joke you want to share with the world? Write it up in the WND Laughlines forum. Who knows? It might be selected as the WND Joke of the Day – and your wildest dreams will come true.

Isaiah 55:8

Part of the motivation behind Cracker Barrel’s decision to have a made-in-USA-only section in its Old Country Store was because consumers and patrons kept “running into” souvenirs, gifts, trinkets, keepsakes, and knick-knacks made in other countries, and they made sure the management knew they were unhappy about it.

Among the store managers I talked to, the consensus was that the company simply felt it just wasn’t right to offer so many products with the American flag, or other American symbols on them, that weren’t made in America. And I’m pretty sure that most conscientious and concerned Americans would agree. I know that I do!

Browsing through the patriotic-theme products of Cracker Barrel’s Old Country Store, patriotic Americans can’t help but get the feeling they’ve walking into the right place. And if they’re Americans who express their patriotism through their consumer purchases, Americans who like to vote with their wallets, checkbooks and credit cards everyday not just on Election Day, then Cracker Barrel’s Old Country Store really is a dream come true.

Among the terrific variety of patriotic-theme products Cracker Barrel carries in their “Made in USA” section, you’ll find:

• United We Stand and USA baseball caps
• USA polo shirts in various color designs with patriotic design collars
• Ladies summer dress in patriotic colors (one of their best sellers, I’m told)
• Land of the Free, Home of the Brave t-shirt
• Rocking chair cushion set
• 100 percent cotton Patriotic Flag Kit
• USA Flag pin and U.S. Angel pin (yes, you can buy American flag pins made in the USA)
• Made in America aprons and kitchen towels
• United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence scrolls
• American Pride and Freedom is Not Free, But Worth Fighting For coffee mugs
• Americana candles by Woodwick
• Lodge Logic cast iron pans
• Patriotic wall hangings
• Red, White, and Blue Charms Blow Pops (and other candies)
• Slinky Spinwheels (I just put two of these in my front garden!)
• U.S. Constitution and United States jigsaw puzzles
• Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops (book) and 100 American Flags (book)
• The U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence (booklet)
• Made in America jewelry (my wife just loves her new patriotic earrings from Cracker Barrel!)

You can also shop online at www.crackerbarrel.com, where the American-made items in the Patriotic Collection part of the online store are noted by clicking the Details tab when the product you are interested in is displayed.

If you’re sitting on their front porch, relaxing while rocking in the Official Military Rockers that line the restaurant’s gracious porch, you’ll notice that even they are made in USA (other rocking chairs on the porch are assembled in USA, which means they can contain parts that are not from domestic sources).

In many ways, Cracker Barrel’s business really is synonymous with tried-and-true American values. Whether it’s treating people fairly, with dignity and mutual respect, encouraging those with the drive and talent to succeed, or giving people a fair deal at a fair price, sticking to values like these has rewarded the company with the praise and loyalty of guests. Not only do they crave their home-style cooking while dining out close to home, or traveling throughout America, they also appreciate knowing that when they stop in at one of Cracker Barrel’s 600 restaurants, the experience will be, without a doubt, a positive one.

The folks at Cracker Barrel also believe that they have an obligation to operate in a culture of mutual respect in the communities where they do business. Through their Cracker Barrel Foundation, they provide support for specific community relations efforts, like their in-school Rockin’ Reader® program, Employee Resource Groups, and employee diversity education programs.

And of course, their values are now reflected in the products they offer from truly American vendors. These vendors are pleased to have the opportunity to offer their American-made products in Cracker Barrel’s Old Country Store. If you’re a Buy American advocate, one form of mutual respect is surely worth noting: an all-American business – Cracker Barrel, selling American-made products to support other American businesses, which helps to keep Americans employed and the engine of our national prosperity churning.

This kind of reciprocal and mutual relationship is one thing that’s great about the way America is moving today, because it benefits all Americans, it’s keeping jobs, taxes, and profits within our national borders, and it’s what’s helping us continue to build a strong and proud nation.

Biltz has been researching the Hebrew roots of Christianity for several years and has stumbled across an amazing discovery. According to the NASA website, four total lunar eclipses are scheduled to occur on the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles and on Passover in 2014 and 2015.

He explains similar events occurred in 1492, when Catholic Spain expelled the Jews, in 1948 when the nation of Israel was established and in 1967 when the Six-Day War happened and the Jewish nation regained control of Jerusalem.

According to Biltz, the four back-to-back lunar eclipses occurring on Jewish Feast Days in 2014-2015 signify important events for the nation of Israel – and even the global economy.

Also on this week’s program, Robinson addresses the comments from some economists who now are saying that the U.S. is facing disinflation – a general decrease in the existing inflation rate.

He dissects the week’s important economic and financial news including the latest PPI and CPI figures for April.

And he explains why disinflation is important and how investors should be preparing for the Federal Reserve’s eventual exit strategy from its massive quantitative easing program.

Robinson also talks about the seven favorite stocks for the next 30 days, five major trends on which to claim a profit this decade and what technical analysis is needed for active stock trading.

Tom Cloud then joins the program to discuss the economy, including the gold and silver markets, following gold’s decline by 7 percent in just the past few weeks.

Then Jay Peroni, CFP, joins the podcast with this week’s investing idea.

Podcast is 1:18:48.

Previous podcasts:

All eyes on stocks rally

‘This isn’t your grandfather’s economy’

Gold dropping? Why not to worry

What’s to love about gold, silver prices

Let the printing presses roll!

New challenge rattles economy’s foundation

Big Brother looking at your bank account

Currency war pushes stocks to new realms

America and the ‘Age of Fiat’

Entitlement liabilities? Try $120 trillion

Paycheck to paycheck, and what to do about it

Boosting your savings – now!

Germans want gold reserves returned

‘The unbelievably bogus debt ceiling debate’

Investing in what people need

Is America on the eve of a civil war?

Becoming your own banker

Again? Feds printing and spending more

Why you should care about petrodollar system

The real story about the fiscal cliff

Last hurrah from a state statesman

Housing starts up, prices grow, and that’s bad?

Stock-market rally ‘flashing warning signs’

Staying afloat through global monetary flood

How to cope when the government prints money

Future of the dollar and fate of the euro

‎Welcome to time of unlimited currency printing

Lies, propaganda and the 2012 vote ‎

Demise of the American war machine

16 trillion reasons why American is bankrupt

The Word from the European central bank

Learn more about Jerry Robinson’s “Follow the Money Quarterly” newsletter.

“Bankruptcy of Our Nation: 12 Key Strategies For Protecting Your Finances In These Uncertain Times.”

Jerry Robinson is an economist, published author, columnist, radio talk show host, and international conference speaker. Robinson has been quoted as an economic authority by USA Today, FoxNews and many other news agencies. His columns have appeared regularly in numerous print and web publications, including WND. In addition, Robinson is also the editor-in-chief of the popular economic newsletter, “Follow the Money Quarterly.”

The legislation raises caps on high-skilled workers and creates a new visa program for low-skilled workers.

It would allocate billions of dollars to securing the Southwestern border and tracking visas at airports and seaports around the country. It would make E-Verify mandatory for employers across the country to crack down on illegal workers and deter future waves of illegal immigration.

• The Associated Press: Telephone records for a number of lines over a period of weeks were taken by the feds. WND reported that the Obama administration said it pursued the news wire’s records because a double agent in the war on terror was compromised by a story. However, the news agency’s reporting on the issue didn’t mention the agent. It was CIA Director John Brennan, who then was President Obama’s terror adviser, who told members of Congress that the U.S. had “inside control” of the situation. Media then reported on the use of a double agent. That’s according to a profile of the government’s justification for pursuing the reporters’ telephone records published in the Los Angeles Times, which was one of the publications that reported on the double agent after Brennan documented the situation to Congress. Government officials told the newspaper that it was an AP story May 7, 2012, about a foiled plot to blow up a passenger jet that prompted the controversy. AP held the story for five days at the request of the CIA. But the report said the story did not mention the informant.
• Fox News reporter James Rosen: The network’s chief Washington correspondent was the subject of a DOJ probe because he was considered a possible criminal co-conspirator by the federal government. The Washington Post reported Rosen was the subject of a Department of Justice probe over his reporting on North Korea’s reaction to United Nations sanctions. An FBI agent alleged in an affidavit that Rosen had broken the law “at the very least, either as an aider, abetter and/or co-conspirator.” The government did not let him know he was being investigated. But his phone records, emails and security badge access records were investigated.
• Fox News reporter William La Jeunesse: He was targeted in a DOJ investigation into leaks about the scandal-plagued agency program that shipped guns to Mexican drug lords. The plan was that authorities would track the guns to the chiefs of Mexico’s narcotics gangs, but it didn’t happen. The federal government lost track of thousands of firearms, which later were linked to more than 300 deaths, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. La Jeunesse broke stories about the Fast and Furious scandal.
• Fox News producer Mike Levin: Levin was caught up in the same probe that targeted LaJeunesse.
• CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson: She reported her personal and work computers were compromised, but few other details have been released. “There could be some relationship between these things and what’s happened to James [Rosen],” she said. She reported that the irregular activity on her computer was identified first two years ago while she was reporting on the Fast and Furious scandal.

Her father told the Daily Mail she “always has a smile on her face.”

Many of the other victims – there were an estimated 24 fatalities – have been identified but their names not yet released publicly as families are contacted, even as authorities promise to triple-search all of the flattened homes, businesses and schools to make sure no survivor is unhelped or casualty unrecovered.

An estimated 230 people were injured as the storm, which tore a path of destruction two miles wide at some points, moved through the suburb of Oklahoma City. It was on the ground for about 17 miles – and 45 minutes.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin promised all the help government could offer to the victims and expressed her own grief, “Our hearts are broken for the parents that are wondering about the state of their children that had been in the schools that have been hit.”

The National Guard was on scene helping and federal emergency management officials were directly streams of aid to victims.

At least one family tried to seek shelter inside a freezer as the storm destroyed their neighborhood, and did not survive, authorities said. And the children who died at the school reportedly were trapped underneath debris and were drowned by water from burst pipes.

Oklahoma City Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman Amy Elliott said it is possible yet more bodies will be found.

Power was out for tens of thousands and occasional flames erupted from leaking gas lines. Jackhammers, construction equipment – and human hands – cleared away debris in search of those hit.

A student, Damien Kline, was on the “Today” show explaining how he owes his life to his teacher, Rhonda Crosswhite.

“A teacher took cover of us, Miss Crosswhite. She was covering me and my friend Zachary. … Then she went over to my friend, Antonio, and covered him, so she saved our lives.”

Flattened were Plaza Towers and Briarwood Elementary Schools, but all students from Briarwood were accounted for.

The images are nothing short of horrific. What used to be homes now appearing in aerial photographs like neatly lined individual piles of rubble. Rescuers pulling children from underneath the wreckage of their school. A single wall of a home, still standing. Quilts and a football helmet crowning piles of splintered walls. What appears to have been a barn, now sitting on top of a car. Piles of crushed cars.

The storm track took the tornado only a few hundred yards away from where a 1999 tornado struck with wind velocities surpassing 300 mph. Another tornado hit nearby in 2003.

See footage of the storm:

The National Guard looks for survivors:

Before and after images:

The schools that were destroyed:

“We have suspicion that the IRS delayed our application for nearly 13 months due to the selective targeting of Ohio conservative groups that Congress is now investigating in both the House and Senate,” stated Chris Long, president of the Ohio Christian Alliance, told WND.

Long said his group’s original application made it clear that the new organization would go into Christian congregations with a non-partisan effort to register voters in the battleground state of Ohio during the 2012 presidential election.

“The IRS knew we would be registering conservative church-goers and weighing in on the 2012 presidential election,” he said.

Nothing tells the story of the tea-party movement better than the “Tea Party” movie. The inspiring and powerful story gets to the heart of why “We the People” are taking America back!

Long pointed out that the non-partisan Ohio Christian Alliance Educational Fund, operating as a 501(c)3 organization, would have registered both Democrats and Republicans.

The group has operated as a 501(c)4 since 2004, but only 501(c)3 groups can accept tax-deductable contributions.

The ACLU has both a 501(c)3 and a 501(c)4 organization. The 501(c)3 group pursues legal cases, and the 501(c)4 advocacy group engages in legislative efforts.

Long suspects the IRS was attempting to block the Ohio Christian Alliance, or OCA, from forming a 501(c)3 organization because it didn’t want the organization to counter the ACLU in court.

He noted that at the time of OCA’s application, the Obama administration was pushing forward the Obamacare mandate that would require even Christian organizations to pay for abortion and contraceptive services in employee health care plans.

“My suspicion is the IRS knew the Ohio Christian Alliance would appear in court to oppose the ACLU and the HHS mandate,” he said.

“It did cause us to wonder after these reports surfaced if there may have been some motive behind the additional questions to our application and the delay in its processing.”

Long said it’s now up to Congress to further investigate what the motives of the IRS officials might have been.

In a formal letter, Long and OCA have asked the House Ways and Means Committee to investigate how the IRS handled their request to form the Education Fund as a 501(c)3 organization.

The group wants the House panel to find out how the applications of other organizations with missions similar to the Education Fund were processed last year.

Sarah Swinehart, a House Ways and Means Committee staff member, was shown a copy of OCA’s letter to the committee and said she had not seen it. She promised to pass it on to appropriate staff.

The committee has established a page on its website titled “The IRS Political Discrimination Investigation: Share Your Story,” inviting organizations that alleged discrimination by the IRS for political reasons to tell their story and file a complaint with the committee.

IRS timeline

The Ohio Christian Alliance provided WND with documentation, including copies of IRS correspondence, that establishes the following timetable:

• OCA filed a Form 1023 application with the IRS on Feb. 8, 2011, to create the Ohio Christian Alliance Education Fund as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt group in which contributions would be tax-deductible;
• On March 17, 2011, the IRS responded to OCA, saying within 90-days it should receive a response from the IRS;
• Months went by with OCA receiving no response from the IRS, despite repeated efforts by the group’s lawyers to determine the status of the application;
• Then, on Dec. 12, 2011, OCA received what amounted to a two-page demand letter from the IRS, dated Dec. 8, 2011;
• The IRS demand letter required OCA to file “additional information” to a detailed series of questions by no later than Dec. 30, 2011, 18 days after the receipt of the IRS demand letter, or the IRS would conclude OCA no longer wanted to pursue the application;
• The IRS informed OCA that if it did not respond by the deadline, the IRS planned to treat the Ohio Christian Education Fund as a taxable entity.

“The IRS gave us only 18 days during the holiday season in December to respond to a long list of intrusive questions when the it knew it would be difficult for us to get the time required from our lawyers,” Long said.

He believes the IRS’s motivation was political.

“I believe the IRS wanted to block the Ohio Christian Alliance from being effective registering Christians to vote in the 2012 election, especially because Ohio was considered such an important battleground state,” he said.

Long’s lawyers were available in mid-December 2011, and OCA was able to expeditiously answer the IRS.

Finally, on Feb. 21, 2012, OCA received a determination letter approving 501(c)3 status for the Ohio Christian Alliance Education Fund, nearly 13 months after the original filing.

Long explained to WND that OCA lost several substantial donations from contributors who wanted to make tax-deductible contributions.

“Each month the application was delayed put the Ohio Christian Alliance Education Fund at a distinct disadvantage in fundraising capability,” he noted. “Most grant dispersements to organizations with missions similar to that of the OCA Ed Fund were distributed in November and December 2011 and January 2012. By the time we got our determination letter, that money from the large contributors had already left the barn.”

IRS questions ‘opposing anti-Christian bigotry’

The questions submitted in the IRS demand letter of Dec. 8, 2011, caused OCA to wonder about the IRS’s motivation, Long said.

“The IRS narrative suggested that somehow it was objectionable to oppose anti-Christian bigotry and defend the rights of Christians.”

The IRS letter read:

“The narrative [of the Ohio Christian Educational Fund] indicates the organization ‘ … opposes anti-Christian bigotry and defends the rights of Christians.” Please describe how the organization achieves this purpose. For example, will the organization engage in legal action against activity the organization interprets as Christian bigotry, or are the actions of the anti-Christian organization against anti-Christian bigotry more accurately classified as educational in nature.”

Long instructed his attorneys to inform the IRS that the Ohio Christian Educational Fund did intend to file legal actions in court.

“The ACLU is a 501(c)3 organization and they file legal suits in court all the live-long day,” Long countered. “We are opposed to the positions the ACLU holds, we are at the opposite end of the spectrum. But why would we not have access to the courts to defend the First Amendment rights of churches, Christians, and institutions that hold with religious beliefs?”

The IRS also asked OCA to supply a complete description of all activities planned for the Ohio Christian Alliance Education Fund for the next 12 months.

“Remember, we had already filed with the IRS a detailed and comprehensive application in which we went through the entire narrative of what the Education Fund would be about, as well as the details of how it would be organized, how it would be structured and what activities the 501(c)3 would be conducting,” he said.

Long said his organization’s lawyers found the IRS’s handling of the application very unusual, expecting the application to be accepted in five or six months, at the most.

“We had already answered all those questions in the original application,” he said. “Our lawyers have had some three decades of experience filing tax-exempt applications with the IRS, and they were surprised.”