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2 in Share . Last week's terror attack on offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine "has many of the characteristics of a false flag operation" and "simply doesn't wash," claims a blog post on the website for the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity on Wednesday. "The attack on the cartoonists' office was a disciplined professional attack of the kind associated with highly trained special forces, yet the suspects who were later corralled and killed seemed bumbling and unprofessional," writes columnist Paul Craig Roberts. "It is like two different sets of people ... the Charlie Hebdo story simply...

IÂ’ve watched the film depiction of the life of the late Chris Kyle, AmericaÂ’s deadliest sniper, Navy SEAL, and veterans advocate, twice. It is a gripping portrayal, but it is a portrayal nonetheless. While the screenplay perhaps lacks nuance, it is also a product of Hollywood and should be considered a truncated and dramatized version of one manÂ’s life story. The complexities of biography often elude filmmakers who are charged with creating dense and intricate portraits of a human being in 120 minutes. Nevertheless, the movie is quite enjoyable. The performances are stirring and the wartime themes, difficult as...

Gas prices, on average, are about 50 cents less a gallon than a year ago, giving a de facto tax cut and providing relief to millions of consumers as the holiday season kicks into high gear. However, a growing number of politicians have suggested that, given cheaper fuel costs, conditions might be ripe to hike federal taxes on gas in order to help fund infrastructure projects. Rendell is one of those voices. He supports raising the federal gas tax—

Former Rep. Barney Frank, and CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow, debate raising the gasoline tax.

The video appears on the website of Voices of Liberty, a group led by former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. It lobbies against "unjustified wars, unconstitutional surveillance, [and] extrajudicial drone assassinations," according to its website.

Every party in opposition goes a little crazy. For Republicans in the early Obama era, insanity took the form of the Sarah Palin spasm. Veteran politicos took the former Alaska governor seriously as a national figure. Republican primary voters nominated the likes of Todd Akin, Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle. Glenn Beck seemed important enough to hold a big rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Fortunately, serious parties eventually pull back from the fever swamps. That’s what’s happening to the Republican Party. It has re-established itself as the nation’s dominant governing party. Republicans now control 69 of 99 state legislative bodies....

Dion Waiters informs Northeast Ohio Media Group that he is a Muslim and plans to skip national anthems • Update: Dion Waiters clarifies remarks about his pregame ritual, will be there for anthems DENVER, Colo. – Prior to the Cavaliers getting set to take on the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, one of their players was missing from the pregame opening events. Dion Waiters was nowhere to be found when the national anthem was being sung. He was absent when the starting lineups were introduced. It was the first game of the season that he was coming off the bench. He...

DAVENPORT,Iowa(AP) -- Campaigning in one of the nation's key U.S. Senate contests, Vice President Joe Biden said Monday that keeping Democratic control of the chamber would "break the back of the hard right" and ease gridlock in Washington. Biden said next week's choice between Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst for the open Senate seat in Iowa was critical to the outcome. If Braley wins and the Democrats maintain their majority, he said, the Republicans in Congress will be open to compromising with Democrats on issues such as raising the federal minimum wage."If that happens and it will, what's...

Ron Klain on the "top leadership issue in the world today."

Russell Brand Tries to Rile Things Up at Fox News HQ. He Nearly Gets Himself Arrested. The former Mr. Katy Perry, actor Russell Brand, made quite the impression outside Fox News’ New York City studios this week. In a video he made for his The Trews YouTube channel, Brand set up in front of the building, which he explained was because his appearance on The Sean Hannity Show was cancelled. • “Here we are at Fox’s headquarters, all the greats are here – Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity – all the people who refuse to have us on the show.” At...

Clown with a gun reported in southwest The latest in a series of creepy clown sightings came shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday when Bakersfield police officers near Valhalla Drive and Belle Terrace responded to a report of a person in a clown suit holding a firearm. Officers checked the area but were unable to find the person. The incident came after a week with numerous calls to police from residents reporting seeing scary or mischievous clowns. "We've had multiple of these clown sightings all over town," said Bakersfield police Lt. Jason Matson. "He was gone by the time we arrived."

When it comes to Barack Obama, I've always been out of sync. Back in 2008, when many liberals were wildly enthusiastic about his candidacy and his press was strongly favorable, I was skeptical. I worried that he was naive, that his talk about transcending the political divide was a dangerous illusion given the unyielding extremism of the modern American right. Furthermore, it seemed clear to me that, far from being the transformational figure his supporters imagined, he was rather conventional-minded: Even before taking office, he showed signs of paying far too much attention to what some of us would later...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, I asked at the beginning of the program, is it fair to ask, we're gonna beat George W. Bush up for Katrina. Where does Obama come in for similar treatment when it comes to Ebola? I mean, there's no comparison. Katrina was one of the smoothest, most efficient operations you can imagine, compared to the way this Ebola circumstance is being dealt with. So this morning on CNN's New Day, they had a fill in co-host there, John Berman. He spoke with Van Jones, the former communist -- well, current communist but former member of the...

This really happened. Today. This was actually posted by The White House on Instagram.

The former vice president believes the politics of global warming are changing.Al Gore says Republicans seeking the White House in 2016 are in a bind on climate change. Asked if it would hurt the GOP nominee to be a climate skeptic or advocate against taking action on global warming, Gore replied: "Oh, yes. Definitely." "In a general election? At the national level, where moderate voters hold the balance? It would be extremely harmful to a Republican candidate," Gore told National Journal in an interview Wednesday. But Gore doubts that a "pro-climate" Republican can get the GOP nod, because "carbon polluters...

Megyn Kelly tonight brought viewers the first part of her contentious showdown with Professor Ward Churchill, best known for his controversial comments about the “little Eichmanns” who were in the World Trade Center when the planes hit on September 11th. ... Churchill stood by the Eichmann comment, saying, “You do not have to be the one who turned on the gas if you’re making it possible for the gas to be there.”

Tuesday on “The Alan Colmes Show,” former Gov. Jesse Ventura talked to Alan about a variety of topics including what he think about race relations in Ferguson, MO, the militarization of police forces, and some of the tactics used to deal with the protestors in Ferguson. He also spoke at length about the criticisms he received from former Gov. Sarah Palin after his defamation lawsuit involving the family of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, and how he felt he was perceived as a “villain” as a result: VENTURA: I see the bottom line of this is racism…We still have a racism...

Man sets house afire trying to kill spider with lighter, spray paint SEATTLE -- Fire officials say a West Seattle man was using a lighter and a can of spray paint to kill a spider in his laundry room when the house went up in flames. Fire crews were called to a home in the 10200 block of 34th Avenue SW just before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Firefighters originally battled the blaze from a distance after learning there may be ammunition inside. Crews were eventually able to extinguish the fire, but not before it did significant damage to the structure....

New Hampshire GOP establishment has foisted Walt Havenstein on the state as the Republican candidate for Governor. But, typical of these establishment types, it seems that they have more contempt for people on their own side than they do for the real enemy; the Democrats. Havenstein, for instance, calls you Tea Partiers the disgusting name “teabaggers.” Not only that but he refuses to apologize for his slander. Havenstein was recorded on video calling members of the Tea Party “teabaggers” at talk he gave a few years ago at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Now, one...

Arizona police arrest man for shooting at the moon PHOENIX (Reuters) - A marijuana smoker was arrested in Arizona after shooting at the moon with a handgun and wrestling with officers who were called by his girlfriend to subdue him, authorities said on Wednesday. Police went to a home in Prescott Valley, about 85 miles north of Phoenix, late last Friday where the woman told them her partner had fired several shots into the air after telling her and her teenage son he had seen Halley's Comet. Prescott Valley police spokesman Sergeant Brandon Bonney said Cameron Read, 39, was arrested...