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President Obama has nothing but "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" for the women of soul, even if he accidentally misspelled the title of Aretha Franklin's signature anthem. In an "oops" moment tonight, the president dropped a letter when paying tribute to the one and only Franklin at the White House concert series event, "In Performance at the White House: Women of Soul." "When Aretha first told us what R-S-P-E-C-T meant to her...

Medical Examiner: Sudden cardiac arrest of Israel Hernandez-Llach was 'accidental'

...Obama will visit a Miami high school on Friday to talk to students about how education can help the country succeed economically....

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) kicked off the annual Conservative Political Action Conference with a populist rallying cry, outlining a 10-point plan for his vision of fixing America. "We need to tell the truth. The truth is, Washington is corrupt," the Tea Party favorite said to cheers from the half-empty auditorium, bashing both President Obama and centrist Republicans. "We need to end the corruption. We need to eliminate corporate welfare and crony capitalism," he said later. "If you come to Washington and serve in Congress there should be a lifetime ban on lobbying, and we need to pass a strong constitutional...

A Canadian designer is defending a satirical ad featuring a fictional, semi-nude Quebec terrorist group after a national sporting goods retailer pulled his outerwear brand from its shelves over the “incredibly offensive” video. “I regret losing those sales, but I don’t regret what I did,” Moose Knuckles founder Will Poho said. “I do not want to be stifled by a very small minority.” The ad shows a made-up paramilitary army called the Fédération unilatérale du Québec (FUQ) — a parody of the separatist group Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).

This was the flag of slave holding states in the United States that seceded in 1861, causing Civil War. Today the symbol is used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups, and other organizations who are hostile to African-Americans. For the last several decades, protests have continued, demanding that this flag not be displayed in public places. Many people were greatly disturbed to see that the Confederate Flag is now being displayed, not in the United States, but in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. Larry Holmes, a civil rights activist in New York City, explained why the flag is...

Not only is manufacturing goods using a 3D printer far cheaper than purchasing items, new research appearing in a recent edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production reveals that it can actually help preserve the environment. The 3D printing process was very expensive when Charles W. Hull of 3D Systems Corp created the first working model in 1984, and while the costs have dropped dramatically over the past 30 years, the cost of purchasing plastic filament still needs to be factored in. The new study, however, shows how old milk jugs can reduce those expenses. In their study, Michigan Technological...

Restaurant patrons might want to take a closer look at their next bill as some are adding a charge they’ve probably never seen before. Double D’s Sourdough Pizza is a family owned business, serving hot New York style slices to customers. But these days there’s something other than pizza on their menu. “I looked at the bottom and it was like ticket shock,” a customer said. “It’s interesting, I’ve never heard about it before,” another customer said. It’s not an ingredient they’re talking about, but rather a 5 percent surcharge added to customers’ bills to help cover the cost employees’...

Ted Cruz is running late. In a quickly crowding hallway in the middle of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., a yellow-shirted CPAC volunteer is trying to keep control of a metastasizing line of conference attendees waiting for a Cruz meet ‘n’ greet. “His speech went long,” she tells me. With the possible exception of Sarah Palin, Cruz has to be the most in-demand CPAC star. The Texas senator has been a grassroots darling from Jump Street. So his appearance at the mother of all conservative events means hallways will be clogged, iPhones will be...

A number of Amazon.com sellers are furious over an abrupt change that limits the number of “novelty” items they’re allowed to sell. Reuters Entrepreneurs who have built their livelihoods around the massive retail ecosphere that is Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are once again being reminded who is running the show. According to a number of third-party Amazon merchants, a recent change that limits the amount of items they’re allowed to sell on the Amazon Marketplace is going to devastate their bottom lines. Last month, the Seattle-based retail giant began informing some merchants that SKU caps are being imposed on “novelty” items,...

A couple months ago, a Gallup poll recorded a small uptick in the percentage of Americans who identify as “liberal” — to 23 percent, or what Gallup, eliding the margin of error in the poll, called a “new high.” My Post colleague Chris Cillizza wondered if liberal was “no longer a dirty word.” We will see. After all, there were far more conservatives in that Gallup poll, which, for some, means we’re still a “center-right nation.” But whether people call themselves “conservative” isn’t necessarily that telling in the first place. A recent book by two political scientists shows that liberal...

It is time for the calls for reparations to the descendants of those who were enslaved by colonial powers via the trans-Atlantic slave trade to bear fruit. The European countries and the United States need to compensate for the injustices suffered by slaves and their families. African-Americans and African-Caribbean intellectuals have been agitating for reparations for many years, but the question as to how the compensation would be calculated and in what form is yet to be answered. Since 1999, the African World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission called for the West to pay trillions of dollars to Africa. In...

The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday afternoon to make the fine/“tax” for violating Obamacare’s individual mandate $0 for this year, and it did so by the wide margin of 90 votes (250 to 160). That’s 83 more than the 7-vote margin (219 to 212) by which Obamacare passed the House four Marches ago. Moreover, 27 Democrats voted for today’s legislation—27 more than the number of Republicans who voted for Obamacare when it passed. In all, 223 Republicans voted for today’s bill, while only one—Paul Broun of Georgia—voted against it. Here’s the member-by-member tally for the vote. Earlier today, the...

Miami-With just weeks left to sign up for health care under the Affordable Care Act, Michelle Obama zeroed in on recruiting the crucial young adult demographic during a visit to a Miami community health center Wednesday. The first lady congratulated a handful of residents who had just enrolled during an intimate event, asking one woman whether she had gotten her son to enroll. “Tell him he could get hit by a car. It’s crazy. They don’t think about that kind of stuff,” said Obama, who moments later applauded another mother for signing herself and adult son up for insurance plans....

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released the above image today showing the Russian Navy’s Ochakov, a Kara-class cruiser, which was intentionally sunk last night to blockade the Ukrainian Navy ships located in Novoozerne.

Some high school students in Westchester County were under fire Wednesday evening, after their basketball team lost a close game. As CBS 2’s Don Champion reported, Mahopac High School fell to Mount Vernon High School in the semifinals, and after the game, some students took to social media after the game, and many people said what they posted online was racist.

~Favorite Seas Songs~ I'm Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys(1957) *Video* The Dreadnoughts' Best Sea Shanties *Video*

Sneed is told senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett is dating Ahmad Rashad, the four-times-married sportscaster who was once a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. Although Jarrett has told at least one Chicago pal “it is not serious,” Sneed hears Rashad accompanied Jarrett to first lady Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday party at the White House in January. (snip) Rashad, who converted to Islam, was originally named Bobby Moore. ◆ Backshot: Rashad was photographed at an event in the East Room of the White House last Thursday to promote the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative introduced by President Barack Obama urging...

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump ditched the teleprompter at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday and received huge ovations as he slammed President Barack Obama's leadership both at home and abroad. "We have so many problems — and we have so little leadership," Trump said at the session in suburban Washington. "It's all about the leadership." He cited China's move this week to devalue its currency against the American dollar, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine as examples of the United States' decline as a world power. "The reason why they're doing it is because our...

Immaculate Heart of Mary's iconic float in Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade Co-authored with Patrick Craine BOSTON, March 6, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The organizers of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade have rescinded their controversial invitation to a homosexual advocacy group, saying they believe the group’s application was a “ploy� made under “false pretenses.� The news comes days after a Catholic school said it would withdraw its iconic float and school band from the March 16 celebration because of the decision. "In the footsteps of St. Patrick, [Immaculate Heart of Mary School] does not condone and will not appear to condone...

A bill that would give the Legislature power to write and approve Wisconsin's academic standards is unlikely to pass in its current form, the leader of the state Senate said Thursday as hundreds of teachers, school administrators and business leaders -- including Madison superintendent Jennifer Cheatham -- converged on the Capitol to oppose it. And the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, which held a hearing on the measure, told The Associated Press that at least five Republican senators told him they opposed the measure that would likely lead to the undoing of the Common Core standards adopted in 2010....

The California gun store that put the nation’s first smart gun on sale is facing a furious backlash from customers and gun rights advocates who fear the new technology will encroach on their Second Amendment rights if it becomes mandated. Attacks in online forums and social networks against the Oak Tree Gun Club have prompted the store to back away from any association with the Armatix iP1 smart gun. The protests threaten the nascent smart gun industry, which received a jolt of support recently when a group of Silicon Valley investors offered a $1 million prize for promising new technology....

Jewish comedian Stephen Glickman late Wednesday accused Burbank, California, comedy club Flappers of cancelling his all-Jewish pre-Purim show, scheduled for this Sunday, because club management did not want its venue used to support Israel. On Twitter, Glickman said: “The Purim stand up show at @FlappersComedy has been cancelled because the owners said they do not support benefits that support Israel.” “Everyone should have the right to believe what they want but a COMEDY CLUB being ANTI ISRAEL is disgraceful and as a Jewish man I am hurt!” he wrote on Twitter. Glickman told his 283,000 Twitter followers: “I’ll be reaching...

National Harbor (United States) (AFP) - How do you win the White House? US conservatives and Tea Party faithful launched their annual convention Thursday seeking to answer that gnawing question after several setbacks in Washington. Born of a grass-roots thirst for small government and greater protections of constitutional liberties, the Tea Party movement celebrated its fifth anniversary last month amid deep divisions within the Republican Party in a mid-term election year. Internal battles have uncomfortably pitted the party's politicians against one another as the far-right seeks to oust establishment Republicans in the Senate and House that the movement deems insufficiently...

A Republican congressman is calling for the federal government to hire a full-time watchdog for ObamaCare, amid ongoing concerns about fraud and mismanagement. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., introduced a bill on Thursday that would create a "Special Inspector General for Monitoring the Affordable Care Act (SIGMA)." He told Fox News the position is needed to follow the money. "There's very specific criteria that the special inspector general is required to produce and follow up on," Roskam told Fox News. "But the point is it needs to be done holistically and in a larger context. It's just a common sense approach...

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all the terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival." -Winston Churchill Okay, we'll call it a win-win, even as mainstream media states Putin "blinked," and John Kerry talked about revolution and the global community. President Obama bristled at the idea Putin was tough or won, and that his actions were not "a sign of Russian strength." The fact of the matter is, Russian troops are in control of Crimea, and they didn't have to fire a shot. While it's true, nations should...

February was not kind to supporters of the liberal agenda. In the span of four weeks, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released four separate reports, each concluding that misguided big government policies are hurting American businesses and families. CBO first reported in early February that President Obama’s healthcare law will drive millions out of full time work and push our ballooning national debt to $27 trillion dollars. A second report released by the CBO concluded that a mandated hike in the minimum wage to $10.10 would kill 500,000 jobs, mostly for low-wage workers. And a third report suggested that...

The journalists at Good Morning America on Thursday were sufficiently provoked by a pro-American Cadillac commercial that they devoted a whole segment to wondering if the spot was "arrogant" and "xenophobic." GMA's reporters, who couldn't find any time to cover former IRS head Lois Lerner pleading the Fifth on Capitol Hill, devoted almost three minutes to the "backlash" against the car commercial. The ad features a man strolling around his large house, praising the free enterprise system and the work ethic of Americans: "Other countries, they work. They stroll home. They stop by the café. They take August off. Off!"...

A new poll by the Washington Post shows that amnesty is a vote-loser for GOP legislators. The poll of 1,002 adults shows that pluralities of independents and moderates oppose candidates who support amnesty, which was euphemistically dubbed “a path to citizenship” by the poll designers. The poll showed that 41 percent of independents and 37 percent of moderates were less likely to vote for an amnesty-backer. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/05/amnesty-is-a-vote-killer-for-gop-says-washpo-poll/#ixzz2vDxSkPEQ

In one of the most significant steps of its kind taken by any Administration, President Barack Obama has unveiled a plan which he hopes will lift young minority men out of a persistent cycle of despair and hopelessness into productive lives. Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative will be in the hands of a top-level task force, which the president has appointed “to develop a coordinated federal effort to improve significantly the expected life outcomes for boys and young men of color,” he wrote in a memo outlining his plan. The program will cover not only young African-American men but also...

Uprising began at the end of November 2013 when president failed to sign European Union Association Agreement. There were few hundred pro-EU protesters on the streets and police moved on them. In a next few days many students and journalists were beaten up and all country learned about police beating peaceful protesters. Thanks God we have freedom of speech in Ukraine which we won 9 years ago at Orange Revolution

Count me among those — a dwindling minority, I’m afraid — who think that politics should end at the water’s edge. No one, Republican or Democrat, ought to take pleasure at the spectacle of America’s foreign policies failing and the perception of America as a hobbled giant. That is, self-evidently, what we’re seeing: Russian boots are on the ground in Ukraine. North Korea is firing missiles. Iran’s negotiators are playing high-stakes poker, while the U.S.-led side doesn’t seem to know a flush from a straight. In Syria, Iran’s proxies confront al Qaeda forces (forces the administration two years ago congratulated...

Oh, what a joy it is when a bad person makes a mistake that makes them into a hypocrite. Even better, it’s profoundly rewarding to see hypocrisy displayed on a national scale. And what’s even better that that? When it happens immediately following a triumph. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and nothing is bigger at this moment than the liberal hatred of Arizona for what many liberals labeled the “anti-gay” law. While I agree that the Arizona bill could have been written more precisely, and with a more adept legislative hand, the bill was clearly intended to...

The Russian invasion of Crimea occurred in a place little known to Americans, for reasons rooted in a tangled and bloody history. The showdown between President Vladimir Putin and the new Ukrainian government is a fight about tangible matters of intense mutual interest. But many Americans can't address international crises without sounding like a Toby Keith song: "I Wanna Talk About Me." If bad things are happening anywhere in the world, it must be something we caused and something we can fix. Listen to John McCain, the Arizona Republican senator whose current mission in life is to confirm the wisdom...

Yesterday, Cato Institute senior fellow Michael Tanner made the case at National Review Online that the Tea Party is waning. He identified what he sees as the main problem: the Tea Party is getting mixed up in social issues, which is not only hurting their brand but also driving away libertarians.It is true that on Capitol Hill, the Tea Party has lost a great deal of influence. Since September, the Tea Party has seen the government reopen without slowing – never mind stopping – the Affordable Care Act. The debt ceiling has been dissolved and raised, respectively, and a budget...

To clarify, he’s the least popular incumbent in his home state among the many states that PPP has polled this year. This is a survey of Arizona, not of the entire U.S., in case that makes a difference to you. And maybe it should: A former national nominee would probably poll better nationally, based on pure name recognition (and maybe some sympathy for his defeat), than he might among locals who are following his Senate votes day to day.But let’s not let the fine print spoil this. At last, my friends, people of all partisan stripes have found something they...

Hillary Clinton showed more signs of flexibility Wednesday on how Obamacare is implemented, but she insisted the law is too important to “turn the clock back.” In a question-and-answer session following a lecture at UCLA, Clinton suggested she’s open to different ways of achieving the health law’s goals. She praised Arkansas — the state where she and her husband rose to political fame — for carrying out a new approach to expanding Medicaid coverage, by using the federal money to buy private health insurance for more than 100,000 low-income residents. Clinton called the move, spearheaded by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe...

Contract negotiations are stalled for thousands of workers at casinos on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas to the point where they may go on strike — and the sticking point is Obamacare. On Feb. 20, thousands of housekeepers, porters, cooks, cocktail servers, and others represented by Nevada’s largest union, the Culinary Union Local 226, voted to end a contract extension the workers agreed to last summer. The union wants to maintain its current benefits — including health care coverage at no cost to workers, pensions, and guaranteed 40-hour workweeks. Rising health care costs due to provisions in the...

The Keystone oil pipeline is good idea for the United States, Warren Buffett said Monday, even though it would take away some business from his Berkshire Hathaway rail subsidiary BNSF. The long-delayed leg from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska should be approved, the billionaire investor told CNBC. "I would vote 'yes,'" Buffett said in a "Squawk Box" interview, but added he has "no idea" if President Barack Obama will approve it. "I don't believe in the Keystone pipeline because of the jobs you'd make building it. You can build anything and create jobs," he said. "I just believe it's a useful...

My mother was puzzled. As she regularly was by this strange country and haven, where they did things differently from the old country, thank God. So she asked my older brother to explain something to her. "Irving," she was saying, "I know the Army fights on the land, the Navy on the sea, and the Air Force in the air. But what do the Marines do?" "Ma, they're shock troops," he said. "Shock troops?" "Shock troops," he repeated. "They go in before all the others, land on the beaches, wipe out the enemy and everything else in the way,...

As one of the first to chronicle and applaud its rise, I am not ready to pronounce the death of the tea party movement. But there are plenty of reasons to believe that what was a concerted and focused force in politics is becoming more that of a less focused and more diffused effort. Some who have created their political fortunes under the tea party mantel, particularly its "leaders" in various parts of the nation, refuse to accept that what remains a great overall philosophy is no longer a "party" with which vast numbers want to identify. That has been...

<p>“I was horrified,” said John Stemberger, chairman of the board of Trail Life USA, a new, rapidly-growing scouting organization that doesn’t allow openly gay members.</p> <p>Stemberger was referring to an Associated Press photograph that accompanied an in-depth story about Trail Life. The image showed a group of young boys gathered in a circle with their hands raised at an unusual angle. The AP’s original caption on the photo said they were reciting the organization’s “creed” during a meeting in North Richland Hills, Texas.</p>

Actually, although I have video of his speech, I don’t have video of the reception he got. You’ll have to trust David Freddoso and Eliana Johnson on that: The crowd gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference rose to its feet as Chris Christie exited stage left…Christie’s remarks were highly anticipated, not only because of the lingering scandal but also because CPAC brass dinged him last year by leaving him off of the guest list. Today, the governor was greeted with murmurs and some quiet cheers; he drew more excitement from the audience as he proceeded…Christie returned to a familiar...

The daily allowance for a person's sugar intake should be halved to six teaspoons, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. Draft guidance published by the international body advises a dramatic reduction in sugar consumption to help avoid mounting health problems including obesity and tooth decay. The WHO is proposing to retain its current formal recommendation that no more than 10 per cent of an individual's calories should come from sugar – the equivalent of 12 "level" teaspoons a day for the average adult. However, its draft guidelines state that a further reduction to 5 per cent "would have additional...

It's an oft-repeated message that religion and LGBT bashing go together like santorum and anal sex, but a new survey finds that is not the case, after all. According to a new national survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), titled "A Decade of Change in American Attitudes about Same-Sex Marriage and LGBT Issues," not only have attitudes changed drastically in favor of pro-LGBT rights, but religious bias has also been overstated. The religiously unaffiliated, unsurprisingly, overwhelmingly support teh gheyz (73 percent), but so do majorities of Jewish Americans (83 percent), white mainline Protestants (62 percent), white Catholics (58...

While IRS officials were targeting Tea Party groups for special scrutiny of their 501(c)3 tax exempt applications, the IRS also hired a policeman who had been prosecuted by the Justice Department — and convicted in federal court — of using his access to the FBI’s NCIC system to tip off a terror suspect about the bureau’s surveillance. The leak wrecked a major terror investigation.He is still at the IRS. Weiss Russell (he has changed his name from “Weiss Rasool,� the name under which he was convicted), is currently employed as a financial management analyst in the IRS Deputy Chief...

Give Obama this: When he wants something, no one moves more quickly and decisively. From unilaterally rewriting Obamacare at least 18 times to bypassing Congress and implementing the DREAM Act’s immigration policies by fiat, Obama rules by decree. His executive orders recall the late Yul Brynner’s portrayal of Pharaoh Ramses II in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956). As the maximum leader of Egypt said: “So let it be written. So let it be done.” Now that’s leadership. “America does not stand still,” Obama likewise declared in his January 28 State of the Union address. “And neither will...

It turns out that some still aren't ready for women to fly planes, as a sexist note left by a passenger for the female pilot of his flight revealed. “The cockpit of an airliner is no place for a woman,” began the note scrawled on a napkin and left behind by a passenger on a recent WestJet flight from Calgary to Victoria, B.C. “Were (sic) short mothers, not pilots” continued the note, signed by "David," and also referenced a biblical verse. The passenger wrote he wished the airline would tell him when “a fair lady is at the helm” so...

"Will we hear from you a pledge, a personal promise, that the information provided in the registration process will not be used for deportation purposes in this country?" "Absolutely," Obama said, putting his hand down for emphasis. "It's true that the undocumented are not eligible [for Obamacare], that's how the law was written, but if you are a U.S. citizen or you have a legal presence in this country, you are eligible," he said. "And none of the information that is provided in order for you to obtain health insurance is in any way transferred to immigration services. So that's...

Last week a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. District Court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of Morgan Hill Unified School District, a civil rights suit brought by high school students who were asked to remove clothing bearing images of the American flag after school officials learned of threats of race-related violence during a school-sanctioned celebration of Cinco de Mayo.