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Israel’s reported strike January 18 on a joint Iranian-Hezbollah convoy driving on the Syrian Golan Heights was one of the most strategically significant events to have occurred in Israel’s neighborhood in recent months. Its significance lies both in what it accomplished operationally and what it exposed. From what been published to date about the identities of those killed in the strike, it is clear that in one fell swoop the air force decapitated the Iranian and Hezbollah operational command in Syria. The head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, the head of its liaison with Iran, and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son...

From Sarah Palin to Donald Trump to Ben Carson, Republicans Just Can't Get Enough of obviously unqualified presidential contenders.

TEL AVIV – A consulting firm almost entirely composed of former staffers of President Obama’s re-election campaign has been hired to run an election effort in Israel aimed at defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The conservative blogosphere is reporting Jeremy Bird, national field director for Obama’s 2012 campaign, is now working for a new non-profit group, V15, that is running an effort to defeat Netanyahu in the upcoming election. A closer look at Bird’s consulting firm as well as its working relationship with the Israeli groups finds he is just one of scores of former senior Obama election campaign staffers...

You say "Jeb Bush," Thomas Roberts says "the Kouachi brothers." It's got to be one of the strangest political Rorschach test results of all time. MSNBC's Roberts believes that Jeb Bush would have a "big onus" around his neck if he runs for president "because if we hear 'Bush' we're automatically going to go to people bringing up the Kouachi brothers and their photos of Abu Ghraib that radicalized them about Iraq." View the video here.

Attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch won the backing of a senior Republican senator during the second day of her Senate hearings Thursday, a big step on her path to be confirmed as the first black woman to lead the Justice Department. [Snip] "I'm going to be a strong supporter of her nomination," Hatch told the witnesses. "And I believe she's not only qualified, but exceptionally well qualified, and a very good person, to boot." Two other committee Republicans, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona, have indicated they'll support her nomination, which would give her the...

The statement said the automatic spending cuts, known in Washington as "sequestration," had hurt the U.S. economy and its military. Obama, the White House said, will seek to "fully reverse" cuts in domestic spending while providing equal spending boosts for military and national security programs.

Republican Mitt Romney is to give an update to his supporters on Friday on whether he should run for president a third time in 2016 amid signs he has yet to convince some financial backers as to why he should take the plunge again. A former staffer, who asked to remain unidentified, said a conference call with Romney was expected to be held at mid-morning on Friday, and that he might give a signal as to which way he was leaning. Romney for the past three weeks has been seeking traction for another presidential run after he was defeated by...

....Obama weighed into the ‘deflategate’ controversy by cracking a few jokes ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl. Speaking at the annual House Democratic retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, Obama called on any supporters of the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks to keep it clean.....

HOUSTON — Rand Paul wants to lead the United States. On Saturday in Texas, his father was speaking at a conference about how to leave it. “A lot of times people think secession, they paint it as an absolute negative,” said former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. After all, Paul said, the American Revolution was a kind of secession. “You mean we should have been obedient to the king forever? So it’s all in the way you look at it.” This weekend was a crucial one for Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky and un­declared candidate for the presidency. He...

The newly GOP-controlled US Senate has approved the Keystone XL Pipeline in a 62-36 vote, with three Democrats joining all 53 Republicans. However, the issue is far from over. Now the White House will be in an embroiled battle with the US Congress, as the Senate and House versions of the Keystone legislation must still be synchronized. The White House and liberal Democrats have been fighting the Keystone Pipeline for years now. Notable Democrats opposed to the energy project are Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Boxer told the AP that passing the Keystone Pipeline...

Sheriff John Rutherford touched on a wide range of topics, including a potential run for a Florida House of Representatives seat in 2016, his thoughts about abortion and the fact that he no longer believes in the death penalty, in a meeting Thursday with a group of Times-Union reporters and editors. Rutherford has been Jacksonville’s sheriff since 2003, but he’s term limited and will leave the Sheriff’s Office this summer — the place he’s worked starting in 1974. It’s a realization that’s just starting to hit home, he said. Especially as Thursday night was the last time he said he...

According to the Washington Post, Mitt Romney’s primary residence is in Utah, and he has recently registered to vote there. HOLLADAY, Utah — After losing two straight presidential races, Mitt Romney packed up his home in Massachusetts and journeyed west to Utah, building a mansion here in the foothills of the Wasatch Range that has served as his sanctuary from defeat.Here in the Salt Lake Valley, first settled by his Mormon ancestors, residents look past Romney’s electoral shortcomings and revere him as a savior for rescuing the 2002 Olympics. Romney won his highest 2012 vote margin in Utah — 73...

Communist Party USA Chairman Vows Cooperation With Democratic Party The Daily Caller The chairman of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA has penned a 2,023-word manifesto making the critical point that American Communists are eager to work with the Democratic Party to advance the modern communist agenda and achieve communist goals. Communist Party chairman John Bachtell published his essay last week at People’s World, a “daily news website of, for and by the 99% and the direct descendant of the Daily Worker.” “[L]abor and other key social forces are not about to leave the Democratic Party anytime soon,”...

"By the way, you made me realize right now what it is about Sarah Palin. She seems to have no first language," former American talk show host Dick Cavett said on Thursday's broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball. This elicited a laugh from host Chris Matthews. VIDEO at link.

The 2016 Republican nominating season is beginning to move to the next level as events like last weekend’s Iowa Freedom Summit give candidates more opportunities to interact with primary voters in early states. Although Jeb Bush’s announcement late last year that he will explore a candidacy has shaken up the race, the Republicans can hardly be described as closing ranks around the former Florida governor. It remains likely that the Republican primary field will be large, and by most measures, strong, leading to a genuinely competitive primary. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is the kind of candidate who can easily...

We don’t want war; but war has been declared on us. That is the dilemma of the political elites, and their string of puppets in the media. Obama is the dance-away politician. He has always danced away from the consequences of his actions. But this time he can’t. The French, by facing the truth of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, are actually more honest and courageous in facing reality. America is lagging.

“I don’t see any need for Congress to confirm somebody to be the chief law enforcement officer of this nation who is at that table insisting that she intends to execute a policy that is contrary to law and to what Congress desires and what the American people desire. And says that someone here unlawfully is as much entitled to a job in this as somebody who is here lawfully. It is just beyond my comprehension,” Sessions said.

The plot thickens! Thanks TS for sending this one. Who is Loretta Lynch? INTERESTING More dots connected in Obama admin. And the beat goes on .....been planned for a long time! Curious circumstances. Hmmmm! They have started investigating Loretta Lynch, Obama’s pick for Attorney-General, and immediately they could see an interesting and unnerving connection. It appears that when Loretta Lynch started Harvard, she co-founded an African-American only sorority. There was only one other girl in this sorority, Sharon Malone. The name rings a bell... The name of the wife of the current, corrupt AG, Eric Holder, is Sharon Malone; and...

Ted Cruz and Lee Zeldin have sent a letter to Kerry asking for an investigation into whether or not Obama has launched a political campaign against Netanyahu before the March elections. It’s a good question because we know White House officials have been throwing Netanyahu under the bus in Israeli media recently. But apparently there’s a lot more too it: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Congressman Lee Zeldin, R-NY-1, today sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking for information regarding media reports that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to fund efforts to influence upcoming elections...

A Senate hearing opened this morning with Code Pink protesters trying to arrest former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for “war crimes.” The protesters, bearing signs reading “Kissinger War Criminal” and “Cambodia,” rushed up behind the 91-year-old diplomat at the witness table of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was holding a hearing on global challenges and the U.S. national security strategy. Also testifying were 94-year-old former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and 77-year-old former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he would call recess until Capitol Police removed Code Pink from the room. “I’ve...