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Today, Hillary Clinton came clean about e-mail-gate. Sort of. The former secretary of state told reporters that she decided to use a single, private e-mail account because at the time, her BlackBerry couldn’t handle two different e-mail accounts. Carrying two phones, she said, would have been inconvenient. This is crazy. As The Fix’s Chris Cillizza pointed out, “lots and lots of people carry two devices.” It’s especially true in Washington, where wielding multiple phones is something of a status symbol. And truthfully, it’s not much of a burden at all. People carry lots of other — heavier and more awkward...

Five years ago Counterfire was launched as an organisation on International Women's Day 2010, with the publication of A Feminist Manifesto for the 21st Century. It remains a timely analysis of the challenges that face us in the struggle for women's liberation 1 Globalisation and neoliberalism have had a profound effect on the lives of millions of women. Capitalism itself has created new forms and manifestations of women’s oppression. 2 Women’s oppression is a product of class society which has existed for thousands of years. It was only with the development of capitalism that large numbers of women developed a...

Federal prosecutors today kicked off the long-awaited trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with a devastating chronology of his alleged actions on the day of the bombings that killed three and wounded 260 — as defense attorneys freely admitted “it was him.” “He decided to place his bomb right behind a row of children... one of them was Martin Richard,” federal prosecutor William Weinreb said during opening statements at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston. “When he was a safe distance away, he detonated his bomb ... Some bled to death on the sidewalk as...

Some commentators inside and outside Iran have interpreted Khamenei’s stance as further proof that he has lost touch with reality. A closer look at the context, however, might show that Khamenei’s stance is very much based on reality: his reality. Khamenei does not see Iran as a nation-state but as a vehicle for a revolution with global ambitions. “I am not a diplomat,” he said amid cheers from a crowd of supporters. “I am a revolutionary.” The regime that Khamenei heads is not meant to act in the interests of Iran as a nation-state, but in the interests of the...

By the way, the FCC's Internet power grab is a bigger deal than executive amnesty.If it seems insane that Google at one point lobbied hard for so-called "net neutrality," you have to realize that the biggest and most influential players always figure they can benefit when a market becomes more political. That's because they figure they're in a better position to manipulate the market to their benefit.So imagine Eric Schmidt's horror when he realized that last week's power grab from the FCC was no ordinary bit of regulatory meddling in an otherwise free market. The heavy-handed move of three FCC...

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)Ryle,I enter on this branch of the subject with sorrowful feelings. I approach it as a sailor would approach some rock on which many gallant ships have made shipwreck. I cannot forget that I have arrived at a point on which millions of so-called Christians have erred greatly, and millions are erring at the present day. But I dare not keep back anything that is Scriptural, for fear of giving offence. The errors of millions must...

Do you find it difficult to believe in God or accept the claims of Christianity? I did, when I was an atheist, but I changed my mind, and my reasons for doing so may be of interest to you in your own personal journey and attempts to make sense of life. I am a freelance writer and lecturer. Since graduating from Oxford in 1973, with a degree in politics and philosophy, I have spent most of my professional life in politics and journalism, loving, as I do, the world of books, ideas and debate. Two questions in particular have always...

An Oakland man was arrested on suspicion of felony animal cruelty for allegedly burning a dog alive in a crate that he dumped on a Sacramento street, officials said Friday.

Following recent comments from Lord's Resistance Army rebel leader Joseph Kony in which he denied committing atrocities, Ugandan Ochola John, 25, responds by telling his story. He was abducted by rebels from his village, Namkora in northern Uganda, which was attacked in February 2002. During the attack 50 people were axed to death and he was one of 35 abductees. Ochola John was deformed by rebels from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army I wish I could be born again. It hurts me to see my reflection because of the way I now look. The memories of it all are so...

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson One evil man had the audacity to attack Christianity and defend Islam in the midst of 3,500 Christians at the recent National Prayer Breakfast. Many criticized and complained about Barack Obama’s speech afterward, but not a single Christian in that room had the courage to speak “truth to power.” Why is that? Evil operates through people, and it does what it’s supposed to do. Evil lies, seduces, divides and gives false illusions in order to conquer. God is greater than Satan. If we were truly God’s children, we would have...

Call this a contrast of leadership. In a meeting today with a delegation from the Church of Scotland, who traveled to the Vatican on an ecumenical visit, Pope Francis decried the slaughter of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt by Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Speaking in his native Spanish, the pontiff used the ecumenical audience of Presbyterians to declare that the Copts were martyred for their faith — the faith of all Christians. They died “only because they confessed Christ,” Pope Francis emphasized, and their “testimony cries out to be heard”: I would now like to turn to...

(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton said she "misspoke" last week when she gave a dramatic description of her arrival in Bosnia 12 years ago, recounting a landing under sniper fire. Clinton was responding to a question Monday from the Philadelphia Daily News' editorial board about video footage of the event that contradicted her assertion that her group "ran with our heads down" from the plane to avoid sniper fire at the Tuzla Air Base. Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for rival Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, said the Bosnia claim was part of "a growing list of instances in which Sen. Clinton...

As Islamists continue to kill innocents, they provide more fuel for the oft-made atheist claim that religion is evil. Atheist Richard Dawkins condemned the recent attacks in France by tweeting, "No, all religions are NOT equally violent. Some have never been violent, some gave it up centuries ago. One religion conspicuously didn't." Dawkins is right that some religions and religious people have consistently perpetrated evil. Atheists often use this fact to support atheism. However, the existence of evil turns out to be a bigger problem for atheists to explain than for theists. The kind of evil Dawkins and the rest...

The Obama administration began to chip away at the U.S. embargo against Cuba, announcing new changes taking effect Friday that will allow more trade and travel between the two countries. The changes were announced despite concerns from members of Congress that the landmark shift in U.S.-Cuba relations is a "one-sided deal" that will benefit the Castro regime.

There’s a solitary man at the financial center of the Ferguson protest movement. No, it’s not victim Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson. It’s not even the Rev. Al Sharpton, despite his ubiquitous campaign on TV and the streets. Rather, it’s liberal billionaire George Soros, who has built a business empire that dominates across the ocean in Europe while forging a political machine powered by nonprofit foundations that impacts American politics and policy, not unlike what he did with MoveOn.org.

If the Supreme Court dismantles a core provision in Obamacare, America will be plunged into a pre-2010 levels of dystopia – or worse. If Democrats are forced by the court to follow the law they wrote, then 36 states that aren’t interested in hosting federal “exchanges” would no longer be forced to do so and, consequently, the American Dream would be shattered.So, needless to say, the pending Supreme Court challenge over the Affordable Care Act via King v. Burwell is the most significant decisions since Hobby Lobby or perhaps Citizens United – or whenever the last time it was the...

If there is a single overriding message in Tolkien’s novels, it is how ordinary people can find the strength and courage to face and fight evil, how some of them lose heart and try to run away, and how others are seduced and suborned, to become collaborators with the enemy. Tolkien saw it happen more than once. It is the greatest psychological theme of the 20th century, just as it is in the 21st. Those Americans who have not closed their eyes to evil can easily spot the same characters in our political life: the brave, the cowardly, and the...

In 2013, 650 babies died under Holland’s assisted suicide law because their parents or doctors deemed their suffering too difficult to bear. Although the law was designed to help terminally ill patients have a dignified death, the right to die has also been granted to a growing number of people who are physically healthy but have psychological problems. Official figures show that 13 patients suffering from mental illness were euthanized in 2011; by 2013 this number had risen to 42 patients.And it is not just adults who are being euthanized. According to the Royal Dutch Medical Association, as many as...

JANUARY 2, 2015 The Abortion Distortion Jonathan Gruber’s thesis that abortion had led to a crime drop is cold and almost certainly false. By Mona Charen Jonathan Gruber, sage of MIT and proud champion of the Affordable Care Act, may well have had the worst year in American public life. His repeated demonstrations of arrogance, contempt for the American people, and smug self-satisfaction brought mortification to his party and president. His glib references to the redistributionist aspects of the Affordable Care Act gave the lie to the Democratic party’s dubious claim that the mandate was not a tax, along with...

The heritage of centuries has been wiped out in little more than a year. Eventually the need to wipe out all traces of unbelief becomes obsessive. At one time, for instance, Egyptian law demanded that any house found to contain a copy of The Apology of al-Kindi (a book containing a polemical dialogue between a Muslim and a Christian) would be demolished along with 40 houses around it. Ethics were defined by what Allah said was good or evil in Sharia law. The Islamic State's behaviour is solidly rooted in Islamic ideology, law and practice. It is only when this...