The Obama administration may believe that Iranian president Hassan Rouhani is a “moderate,” but he has presided over a wave of executions, the latest being of Iranian-Arab poet and activist Hashem Shaabani, according to the Jerusalem Post. The 31-year-old was
Palestinians are gripped by a new conspiracy theory: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to assassinate their president, Mahmoud Abbas. The theory is being propagated by senior Palestinian officials and media, and one official has threatened to file
The expansion of government-provided health insurance through Obamacare has some Californians stunned to discover they are suddenly “on the dole”–eligible for state subsidies through Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicare. According to Covered California, the state’s Obamacare exchange, 1.2 million people
The agreement in South Africa between the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and purported presidential candidate Mamphela Ramphele has fallen apart less than a week after it was announced, to global fanfare, on Jan. 28. Ramphele issued a statement on Jan. 31
Democrat pundit Bob Shrum made a point that was both useful and incendiary on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday morning, when he likened the Republicans’ new immigration principles to “apartheid.” Shrum’s point was that granting millions of illegal aliens a kind
George Stephanopoulos, the former Clinton White House staffer-turned-ABC News anchor, challenged Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on This Week Sunday morning by playing “the Pope card”: “You don’t think he’d Pope would endorse your budget, do you?” he asked the House Budget Committee
You have to wonder at the latest John Kerry stuff-up. He’s once again offended–and worried–the Israelis by referring to terrible things that might happen to them if they don’t cooperate with his peace deal. Last time, it was terrorism. This
The Associated Press reports that Punxsatawney Phil has seen his shadow, meaning six more weeks of brutally cold winter for the eastern half of the country, and crippling drought in the west. Also, he picked the Broncos over the Seahawks,
California’s State Water Project is cutting its water allocation to farms and cities by five percent of capacity–to zero. The Central Valley Business Times reports that the agency is taking the drastic step to prevent dwindling reservoirs from reaching the
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has failed to comply with international agreements that he turn over chemical weapons, and retains some 96% of his original stockpile, hoarding them in regions controlled by his Alawite ethnic group in case the country is
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is once again the target of criticism, direct and indirect, by Israeli leaders after he suggested that Israel could face “delegitimization” and “boycott” campaigns without a peace deal with the Palestinians. That remark, made
Senate Minority Leader has urged President Barack Obama to “pick up that pen you’ve been talking so much about” and approve the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, after a State Department review found that the project would have no
Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, is retiring after twenty terms in Congress. (That’s terms, not years.) For four decades, he has represented one of the most liberal districts in the country, which pumps millions into Democratic coffers. Yet whom does
Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon took aim at the peace process being pushed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry–albeit in far more diplomatic terms–this week at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Earlier in
Martin Indyk, who serves as the State Department’s special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, presented the outline of Secretary of State John Kerry’s framework for a peace deal on a conference call with American Jewish leaders, the Times of Israel reports.
The Palestinian Authority is seeking help from Iran in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, hoping to pressure Israel–and to send a signal of defiance to the Obama administration. Jibril Rajoub, a senior official of the “moderate” Fatah faction, declared Thursday
James L. Pollack (no relation), the former finance director for Michele Bachmann’s 2012 presidential campaign, won last week’s Wall Street Journal stock-picking contest, beating thousands of entires, many of them from Wall Street professionals. Then Pollack did something no one has
Sandra Fluke, the birth-control activist who helped Democrats launch their “Republican war on women” theme in the 2012 elections, is reported to be considering a run for the seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). Waxman announced his retirement
It is common to hear Democrats blame California’s ongoing severe drought on climate change. Gov. Jerry Brown made that claim last week in his “state of the state” address. Now a Republican is also claiming that California’s drought is man-made–by
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), reversing his earlier insistence that he intended to run for a 21st term in the U.S. House of Representatives, announced Thursday morning that he will retire. His opponent, spiritual guru Marianne Williamson, will be join Breitbart
Worried by a wave of popular outrage at Obamacare, the activists of President Barack Obama’s community organizing arm, Organizing for Action, are urging members to share positive stories about the president’s flagship domestic policy. In an email to volunteers in
California Gov. Jerry Brown will attempt to divert water from Southen California, which has invested in storage capacity in recent years, to Northern California, which has not. In what local media are already calling a “water war,” the friendly rivalry
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday that Iran now possesses the capacity to build nuclear weapons. In a report submitted to the committee, Clapper noted: Tehran has made technical progress in a number
“After a comprehensive review, I’ve determined that we can ensure the security of America and our allies, and maintain a strong and credible strategic deterrent, while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one-third. And I intend to
Israel’s governing coalition avoided a potentially devastating split when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett patched up their differences over the suggestion that some Jews living in Israeli settlements in the West Bank might become citizens of
A Palestinian terrorist who opened fire at Israeli soldiers and civilians on Wednesday and was killed by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) posted numerous images and quotes of left-wing icon Che Guevara on his Facebook page, among other radical images,
President Barack Obama has been aware for at least two years that Russia had been testing missiles in violation of the terms of the 1987 Immediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty for several years. In May 2013, according to a report in
Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson has quit her role as an “ambassador” for Oxfam International after the global charity criticized her for appearing in a Sodastream commercial that was prepared for the Super Bowl. Sodastream, an Israeli company that manufactures do-it-yourself
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has revealed details of a field hospital it has opened to treat Syrian civilians who are injured in the conflict between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the wide array of rebel groups, many of them Islamist.
Patch.com laid off hundreds of employees Wednesday morning, without apparent warning, meaning that most of the network’s local websites will cease to produce news, local or otherwise. The decision was made by Hale Global, the “turnaround” company that bought Patch.com
Several rural communities in the San Francisco Bay area face acute water shortages as a result of the state’s severe drought–and some could run out of water within three to four months, according to state officials. Matt Bigler of KCBS-San
At National Review’s “The Corner,” Grace Marie-Turner points out that President Barack Obama only used 7 percent, or 462 words, of his speech to address Obamacare. (She adds that those 462 words were largely misleading, to boot.) To me, the
Americans who watched President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on the live White House stream had a fundamentally different experience than those who watched it on television. At whitehouse.gov, there was a split screen: on the left was
In the space of about twelve hours, two major emerging market economies, Turkey and South Africa, raised interest rates dramatically in order to attract foreign cash flows and shelter their currencies from an ongoing global crisis in confidence. Turkey’s central
“I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.” President Barack Obama spoke these words in his State of the Union on
President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening to make the best case for the interim nuclear deal with Iran–and against bipartisan sanctions legislation that enjoys majority support in both houses of Congress. The president’s
I’m going “deep undercover” to watch the State of the Union address at a gathering hosted by members of President Barack Obama’s own campaign-turned-activist organization, Organizing for Action (OfA). I can’t disclose the location: suffice it to say it’s in
The political stakes are rising dramatically in the race to save California’s economy from a crushing drought that is among the worst in the past century. The U.S. Senate rejected an effort by three California Republicans–Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and
Congress secretly approved “light arms” for the “moderate” factions among Syria’s rebels, according to a report Monday by Reuters. The weapons include rifles and anti-tank guns, though not anti-aircraft missiles, according to the report. Citing two unnamed sources, Reuters says
