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Despite what some people think, hero is not a synonym for competent government-hired killer.If Clint Eastwood's record-breaking movie, American Sniper, launches a frank public conversation about war and heroism, the great director will have performed a badly needed service for the country and the world. This is neither a movie review nor a review of the late Chris Kyle's autobiographical book on which the movie is based. My interest is in the popular evaluation of Kyle, America's most prolific sniper, a title he earned through four tours in Iraq. Let's recall some facts, which perhaps Eastwood thought were too obvious...

We will find out the answer to the question posed in the title in the outcome of the contest between the new Greek government, formed by the political party Syriza, and the ECB and the private banks, with whose interests the EU and Washington align against Greece. The Spartans, whose red cloaks and military prowess struck fear into the hearts of both foreign invaders and Greek opponents in the city-states, are no more. Athens itself is a ruin of its historical self. The Greeks, who were once to be contended with, who were able with 300 Spartans, supplemented with a...

<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - "American Sniper" is tops at the box office but don't expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it.</p> <p>Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won't see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.</p>

President Obama is being knocked by local press for chewing gum today at the Republic Day parade in India."In an ungainly sight, cameras caught US President Brack Obama chewing gum during the Republic Day parade on Monday. In the picture captured by cameras and posted on Twitter by some users, Obama was spotted removing his chewing gum while PM Modi was seen trying to explain something to the US president," reports the Times of India.Here's the picture that appears to be driving the conversation:The report has more:

Liberal icon and current ESPN host Keith Olbermann took to Twitter Wednesday night to callously mock Sen. Joni Ernst for her growing up in a poor working family in Red Oak, Iowa. Ernst spoke of her childhood when she gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address: “As a young girl, I plowed the fields of our family farm. I worked construction with my dad. To save for college, I worked the morning biscuit line at Hardees. “We were raised to live simply, not to waste. It was a lesson my mother taught me every...

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...