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<p>Former CIA officer Col. Tony Shaffer said the basics of President Trump's claim to have been "wiretapped" are likely true, and that the incident is "worse than Watergate."</p> <p>Noting it has been exactly two weeks since Trump tweeted that President Obama wiretapped his namesake tower, Shaffer said the "basic fundamental idea and claim is true."</p>

Denise Dresser is a Mexican political analyst, columnist and academic. She is a professor at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de MéxicoToday, Canada is standing tall. Its citizens are patting themselves on the back, proud to hail from one of the bastions of liberalism, of tolerance, of acceptance, of compassion. While the United States is closing doors, Canada is opening them. While U.S. President Donald Trump is slouching toward authoritarianism, Canada is safeguarding democracy. Canadians have much to be proud of and much to teach the world about compassion. Except for that one troubling spot of not-so-benign neglect that is Canada’s...

As he gave his brief press conference Friday afternoon confirming that Republicans had pulled their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, House Speaker Paul Ryan both looked and sounded like a hangdog high school football coach spilling out a few defeated platitudes after watching his team get ground into the turf. “Moving from an opposition party to a governing party comes with growing pains,” he said, “and, well, we’re feeling those growing pains today.” “We came really close today, but we came up short.” “I will not sugarcoat this. This is a disappointing day for us. Doing...

The embassy says he wasn't tracked by Saudi security services and didn't have a criminal record there. The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London says that the Westminster attacker was in the country three times and taught English there. A statement released late Friday says Khalid Masood taught English in Saudi Arabia from November 2005 to November 2006 and again from April 2008 to April 2009.

The memorial site at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland was closed for a short time on Friday due to the actions of a group of about a dozen protesters who slaughtered a sheep, lit a fire, took off their clothes and chained themselves to the famous gate that reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“work sets you free”). The protesters also draped a white banner emblazoned “love” over the famous sign. A spokesman for the Auschwitz memorial said the protesters’ motives were not clear, but some reports suggested that the group was protesting against the armed conflict in Ukraine. The group...

      DOING WELL WHAT OTHERS MAY NOT SEE In the New Testament scriptures, the Apostle Paul talks about the importance of striving for excellence. He writes, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8) Allow me to share with you a story about striving for excellence. . On one of the arches of a magnificent cathedral in Europe is sculptured a face of great beauty. Yet it can be...

U.S. think tank: N. Korea operating lithium-6 plant for hydrogen bombs By Chang Jae-soon WASHINGTON, March 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is believed to have built and is operating a plant to produce lithium 6, a key ingredient for hydrogen bombs that are much more powerful than conventional nuclear weapons, a U.S. think tank claimed Friday. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said the plant appears be located at the Hungnam Chemical Complex near Hamhung on the North's east coast. It cited a 2012 order the North placed in China to purchase large quantities of mercury and lithium...

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — Virginia wildlife officials say a member of the Giles County Board of Supervisors was hospitalized after being attacked by a deer. Department of Game and Inland Fisheries spokesman Lee Walker say Paul “Chappy” Baker was attacked by a nine-point buck outside his home earlier this week. The buck gored Baker’s lower legs and arms and caused bruises, cuts and lacerations.

The purpose of Illinois campaign disclosures laws is to promote transparency and to permit voters to make informed decisions. While posing as a virtuous civic organization, the ‘Wilmette Friends’ are actively supporting candidates and opposing their challengers without disclosing their campaign contributors in violation of Illinois law. No one knows how to learn what expenditures have been made or where the funds were deposited. The League of Women of Voters, which has a lot in common with the Wilmette Friends (and the New Trier Caucus) is supposed to be nonpartisan, but in New Trier it would appear that the local...

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian has confirmed that UCLA is funding part of the cost for the basketball team’s trip to Tennessee. Like a shell-game, they claimed that it isn’t state funds that are going to this trip — those funds are used for other things, like paying the salaries of people going on the trip and supporting the trip. Nazarian’s spokesperson said these funds are coming from ticket sales and other sources. It’s like a shell game. Just move funds around to limit exposure and liability. The funds that are going to pay for this trip could...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” journalist and former Conservative member of the UK Parliament Louise Mensch stated that the slogan “America First” is “a Nazi slogan being pushed by Russia, who are quite literally attacking, not only America, but the whole of the West.”

A 31-year-old man in Virginia was arrested and charged with wearing a mask in public Friday after he was spotted walking around dressed as the iconic comic book supervillain the Joker, police said. Police in Winchester -- located about 75 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. -- said the Winchester Emergency Communications Center received "several calls" around 2 p.m. on Friday of a suspicious male wearing a black cape and carrying a sword walking around the city.

(At 3:04-John Lamb) "We did have court today for Ammon Bundy and it was a hearing that was for Morgan Philpot to see if he was able to use him as a second lawyer like second chair on his case when Ammon's tried coming up and we don't know when its going to be just yet, its the second trial, but that motion was allowed and Philpot is able to represent Ammon in this next trial, so that was good news. It was a sealed hearing, we were not allowed to be at it, we had to stay on the...

A former hedge fund manager on Friday fought for a chance to get former Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara on the witness stand. David Ganek, founder of Level Global, asked a federal appeals court to keep alive his 2015 lawsuit charging Bharara and the FBI with “fabricating evidence” to raid his $4 billion hedge fund in 2010. Bharara already tried once filed to kill the suit, which a trial judge denied in March. The prosecutor then appealed the ruling. “The notion there is no remedy when an officer of the United States [lies] in an affidavit is extraordinary,” Ganek’s lawyer...

A strong majority of anti-establishment conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus voted on Wednesday night to support Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin for House speaker, assuring that he will have the votes to secure the post next week and averting a leadership crisis for Republicans. Mr. Ryan indicated that he was prepared to seize the gavel and try to bring unity to his party, which has been riven over how House leaders exert authority over members. That fight had become so bitter that it forced the resignation of Speaker John A. Boehner and derailed the candidacy of the majority...

The annual wrangling around the debt limit was set to disappear, pundits thought, since Republican control of both the executive and legislative branch would effectively make any showdown over such a silly exercise an own goal. That’s the current view in the Trump White House at least. “We’ve spent the money. The concept of the debt limit is somewhat of a ridiculous concept,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday. “I am hopeful that this something Congress addresses before the [summer] break. I think everybody understands we need to raise the debt limit, and that’s something we’re going to do.”...

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A holdover from the Obama administration who helped broker the Iran nuclear deal continues to work in the Trump State Department as a member of the “policy planning staff,” according to her biography on the agency website. “Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, she served as a Director for Iran and Iran Nuclear Implementation on the National Security Council Staff from 2014-2016,” Sahar Nowrouzzadeh’s bio states. “Sahar also previously served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and a Team Chief and Senior Analyst at the Department of Defense.” In an October 2016, Nowrouzzadeh was...

The wife of former Alabama GOP Chairman Bill Armistead was killed in a traffic accident Thursday morning. Armistead made the announcement on Facebook late Thursday night, saying he had lost the love of his life. He and his wife, Emily, were preparing to celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary. Efforts to reach law enforcement officials for details of the accident weren't immediately successful. The West Alabama Watchman reported that the couple was crossing Highway 43 in Linden when she was struck. She was taken to Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital in Demopolis, where she was pronounced dead. According to publication, the...

Friday, 24 March 2017 Text size A A A Russia is “perhaps” supplying the Taliban as they fight US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, a top US general said Thursday. General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s supreme allied commander who also heads the US military’s European Command, told lawmakers he had seen Russian influence expand in multiple regions, including in Afghanistan. “I have seen the influence of Russia of late – an increased influence – in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban,” Scaparrotti told the Senate Armed Services Committee, without elaborating. NATO troops have been fighting in Afghanistan...