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The violent robbery of a television news crew outside an Oakland school last week was the latest in a series of similar incidents in a city where the rate of strong-arm robberies and holdups is surging. But the brazenness of the attack - which occurred during a live broadcast in the middle of the day - has brought fresh urgency to the problem. Union officials who represent reporters at most of the Bay Area's major television and radio stations said Tuesday they had asked the broadcasters to immediately hire security guards to accompany news crews when they are in Oakland....

President Obama is taking a tough opening stance in talks over deficit reduction, pushing Republicans to accept a plan that calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue over the next ten years, according to reports. The figure is double the $800 billion last discussed by the White House and House Speaker Boehner (R-Ohio) during their 2011 negotiations on raising the debt-ceiling limit. The president’s plan is based on his most recent budget proposal, which sought the $1.6 in new revenues by targeting the wealthy and corporations. The president and congressional lawmakers are set to meet at the White House...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: A bunch of CEOs are in Washington. These people are beside themselves. They're having to hire outside consultants to pore through the Obamacare legislation and advise them, tell them what they have to do to comply. And they are asking for some kind of relief. You've got John Schnatter at Papa John's pizza, the Applebee's people and a number of other restaurant chains are saying, "We have no choice." If they're gonna keep our products priced where they are, which is the price they've all determined is the most sensible for profit stability and affordability for customers,...

Camp Bastion, Afghanistan: We Need Answers By Michelle Malkin November 14, 2012 12:00 A.M. While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boozes it up in Australia and the Pentagon grapples with more floozy eruptions, outraged military families are still waiting for answers about the forgotten 9/14 attack on Camp Bastion. Muckrakers and distraction engineers are having a front-page field day with the so-called sex scandal. But for surviving relatives and colleagues of heroic Marine Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Raible and Sargent Bradley Atwell, it’s the national-security scandal at Afghanistan’s Camp Bastion that deserves headline coverage. There’s been a virtual blackout of the...

More than 12 years after a car accident left him in a vegetative state, a Canadian man has begun communicating with doctors who are monitoring his brain activity through Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans. The BBC reports that 39-year-old Scott Routley has been able to communicate to doctors that he is not in any pain, marking the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-damaged patient has been able to give direct answers regarding their care and treatment."Scott has been able to show he has a conscious, thinking mind," British neuroscientist Adrian Owen told the BBC. "We have scanned him several...

WASHINGTON - The battle to shape the Republican Party's direction after its electoral losses will see its first skirmish in the Capitol on Wednesday in a House leadership fight in which the profile might be low but the symbolism is high. The House's Republican leaders would dearly like to elevate Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington to lead the House Republican Conference, putting a female face into the pantheon of the white male Republican leaders. But standing in their way is Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, one of the most conservative members of the House who has lined up some...

The Toledo Blade reported on Monday that the state Department of Jobs and Family Services will begin reducing food stamps for Ohio residents beginning in 2013. Reduction estimates should total $50 per family which is about $520 million worth of yearly groceries from a total of 869,000 households. ..... This amount was determined by the federal department and Ohio can do nothing to change the outcome. ... “This is a federal issue,” said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Directors’ Association. “It is what it is. They have a formula. ... We just...

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 GoLocalProv News Team A prominent Rhode Island lobbyist and Democratic fundraiser gave a $300,000 personal loan to the twin sister of Jill Kelley, the woman tied to the love affair that ended CIA Director David Petraeus’ career, court documents show. Bankruptcy records filed by Natalie Khawam last April list Gerald Harrington, the founder of the Capitol City Group, as an unsecured creditor on the loan. Khawam owes nearly $4 million in total. The loan was first reported by the New York Post. A message left at Harrington’s Providence law firm was not immediately returned. The Post...

During a press conference following a wreath laying ceremony at Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta responded to a reporter’s question regarding the whole issue of sequestration. "Sequestration" is a fiscal policy procedure adopted by Congress to deal with the federal budget deficit. It first appeared in the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Act of 1985. Simply put, sequestration is the cancellation of budgetary resources - an "automatic" form of spending cutback. ---------- And, you know, as you know from my own history dealing with budget deficits, in order to do it on a fair and effective...

Members of the House on Tuesday reiterated their call for the Obama administration to answer their questions about the September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, and pressed for former CIA Director David Petraeus to testify on the matter. "Congress still doesn't know why our people in Libya were left vulnerable," Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said on the House floor. "We still don't know why the U.S. military was not sent to their defense. "It is of the highest importance that General Petraeus, who led the CIA at the time, be brought before...

In an interview with POLITICO, Paul said he’ll return to Congress this week pushing measures long avoided by his party. He wants to work with liberal Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and Republicans to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for pot possession. He wants to carve a compromise immigration plan with an “eventual path” to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a proposal he believes could be palatable to conservatives. And he believes his ideas — along with pushing for less U.S. military intervention in conflicts overseas — could help the GOP broaden its tent and appeal to crucial voting blocs that handed Democrats...

Colorado Springs, Colo. (November 12, 2012) – On Election Day, at an enthusiastic gathering of Obama supporters in Fountain, Colorado; Dave Phillips, a reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, had just finished an interview with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar about his controversial policies for managing America’s wild horse populations. Just after Secretary Salazar answered final questions about the future safety of wild horses and he turned to leave the interview, he unexpectedly approached Phillips and told him, “If you set me up like this again, I’ll punch you out.” Standing nearby was Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of...

What did the president know, and when did he know it? Of what steel are the Republicans in Congress made? We’re about to find out. Big scandals from little leaks grow. Watergate was at first only “a third-rate burglary.” Bubba thought he was only trying to cover up the details of a failed real-estate scheme down on the White River. Humiliation, resignation and even an impeachment followed. History warns presidents that second terms are never Sunday picnics, and the unfolding — exploding is more accurate — of the story of what really happened on a violent night in Benghazi, Libya,...

It happened again. Another restaurant chain is under attack from the left. This time, it's Papa John's Pizza. What was so terrible that the liberal talkers are going bonkers? The CEO simply spoke the truth -- if Obamacare kicks in, there will likely be cuts to employee work hours in order to cover the new healthcare costs. Don't liberals realize that bigger government comes with consequences? As reported by The Washington Times, John Schnatter, the CEO of Papa John's Pizza has come out swinging against Obamacare, and the liberals don't like it. Recently, however, Papa John has come under fire...

Gun sales are up in the wake of Barack Obama's re-election on Tuesday, driven by fears of tighter regulations under a Democratic president, especially for firearms that might be classified as assault weapons. "Sales are up," said John Kielbasa, owner of Fernwood Firearms in Hankins, N.Y. "I had a guy waiting here first thing in the morning [after the election.] He came in, bought two AK-47s." Kielbasa said that he sells semiautomatic versions of the fully automatic Kalashnikov rifles, as is permitted by law. He said the demand for semiautomatic rifles is being stoked by memories of the assault weapon...

President Obama is considering asking Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David H. Petraeus. Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with the transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. John O. Brennan, Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, is a leading contender for the CIA job if he wants it, officials said. If...

A White House petition gathering force calls for citizenship to be stripped and exile for anyone who signs a petition in favor of a state's secession. "Mr. President, please sign an executive order such that each American citizen who signed a petition from any state to secede from the USA shall have their citizenship stripped and be peacefully deported," the full petition reads. The title of the petition is, "WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Strip the Citizenship from Everyone who Signed a Petition to Secede and Exile Them." As of this writing, 2,205 have signed the petition; 22,795 more...

Yesterday, Dianne Feinstein threatened to subpoena the CIA over a trip report from David Petraeus that he allegedly wrote after a personal trip to Benghazi after the terrorist attack that killed four Americans. Today, ABC News reports that Petraeus' visit to Libya was no mere observational tour. The then-Director of Central Intelligence conducted his own interviews with personnel on the ground in Libya in preparation for testimony that has now been cancelled: In late October, Petraeus traveled to Libya to conduct his own review of the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.While in Tripoli, he...

The futures don’t look so hot this morning before the opening bell. As of 8:50 a.m. EST, Dow futures are down nearly 70 points. S&P and NASDAQ futures look pretty much as bad, down nearly 9 and 20 points respectively. While yesterday’s action seemed relatively benign, it wasn’t, as lots of sectors were getting hammered but, due to low semi-holiday volume, this wasn’t readily apparent. Our utilities got hit so hard we had to exit via percentage stops, and we’ll probably need to pare back what energy and banking issues we still have today. The “fiscal cliff” again is the...

Moments ago the MTS [Monthly Treasury Statement] released the final October budget report. It was not pretty, although those who read our report on how much debt was added - $195 billion to be precise - in the first month of the 2013 Fiscal Year will know where this is going. The US budget deficit was expected to soar after the September surplus of $75 billion, driven entirely by calendar shifts and pre-election propaganda, to -$113 billion. That was optimistic: the total amount of overspending in October was $120 billion. What is distressing is that this was well above the...

A cadre of top labor leaders is headed to the White House on Tuesday to press their concerns about the fiscal cliff. Topmost on their list: Tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans, and protection from cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other programs for low income families. Attending the meeting are leaders representing teachers, municipal employees, nurses, truck drivers, grocery store clerks, and factory floor workers, among others. The fiscal cliff is the most pressing issue facing the President, who won reelection last week. If Congress doesn't act in the next seven weeks, it will deliver a one-two punch...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta seemed not to have extensive knowledge of the Petraeus affair when talking to the press earlier today on board a flight to Australia. "You know, I don’t know the answer to that," Panetta said in response to a question about when the affair started and whether the CIA director would be prosecuted. "I guess, I’m reading the papers like you are to determine just what the committees finds out, what the ultimate investigation determines on that issue. We obviously are going to watch this closely to determine just exactly when that took place. But I think...

Of all the misguided, corrupt and deranged ideas floating around inside the D.C. bubble, perhaps the single worst one is giving illegal aliens amnesty as part of some sort of attempt to capture the Hispanic vote. If the GOP were to pursue a policy that primarily benefits corrupt business owners, the government of Mexico, and Democrats at the expense of our country and our own base, we'd truly deserve the "Stupid Party" moniker that has so often been hung around our neck. This policy wouldn't be a calculated risk or even a longshot; it would be a game of Russian...

As the 2012 election approached, conservative enthusiasm grew. Mitt Romney was drawing huge crowds while Barack Obama spoke in half-filled stadiums. All the passion lay on the right while the left was discouraged with a promised messiah who proved merely a politician. And the prediction was that, in contrast to 2008, Republican turnout would dwarf the tuned-out and carry the day. Hence the shock November 6 eve. How could Romney lose, especially by such a wide electoral margin? Maybe he didn't. At least not legitimately. When I predicted Obama's re-election, I stated that, despite our country's inexorable leftist slide, Romney...

Fat chance for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s White House aspirations in the wake of his post-Sandy bromance with President Obama. National Republican political consultant John McLaughlin said Christie didn’t do himself any favors with his enthusiastic embrace of Obama after Hurricane Sandy devastated his state — or with his arguably self-serving Republican National Convention keynote speech.... McLaughlin added that just “a couple of days after” Christie lavished praise on Obama, the president “certainly might have deserved some criticism, and still to this day, because the federal response in the area is nonexistent in a lot of ways.” Christie has...

One piece of information that got lost the last few days of sex scandals is the news that David Petraeus personally traveled to Libya after the Benghazi attack — and apparently filed a “trip report” covering his own findings. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee probing the Benghazi terrorist attack, wants either the report or Petraeus to testify to its contents. So far, though, the CIA and the White House have refused to provide it — and yesterday, Feinstein threatened that subpoenas may be forthcoming if the stonewalling continues... ...This lack of openness, coming on the heels...

AFP - Palestinians on Tuesday began work to open the grave of the late Yasser Arafat ahead of an exhumation of his body for a murder probe, a source close to his family told AFP. "Today they started removing concrete and stones from Arafat's mausoleum and the work will last for almost 15 days," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.” However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers. It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how...

PARIS — Hundreds of French nationalists have demonstrated in Paris against Islamist extremism, chanting the French anthem and saying the religion has no place in the country. Protester Romain Cyiril says, “France was always a welcoming country, but for the first time we have to deal with a religion which can’t and doesn’t want to integrate itself.”

Discussion of why there is an investigation on this level.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — FBI agents are at the North Carolina home of the woman whose affair with retired Gen. David Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director. A spokeswoman for the FBI says that agents went to Paula Broadwell’s home in Charlotte on Monday night. FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch declined to say what the agents were doing there. FBI agents appeared at Broadwell’s home carrying the kinds of cardboard boxes often used for evidence gathering during a search. They walked through the open garage of Broadwell’s house and knocked at a side door before entering the home. One person...

President Obama is considering asking Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David H. Petraeus. Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Just a single source, but this does jibe with what Broadwell said in her Denver speech. In the original Oct. 26 Fox News report, sources at the annex said that the CIAÂ’s Global Response Staff had handed over three Libyan militia members to the Libyan authorities who came to rescue the 30 Americans in the early hours of Sept. 12.A well-placed Washington source confirms to Fox News that there were Libyan militiamen being held at the CIA annex in Benghazi and that their presence was being looked at as a possible motive for the staged attack on the consulate and...

The FBI withheld its findings about Gen. David Petreaus' affair from the White House and congressional leaders because the agency considered them the result of a criminal investigation that never reached the threshold of an intelligence probe, law enforcement sources said today. The sources said agents followed department guidelines that generally bar sharing information about developing criminal investigations. The FBI is also aware of its history under former director Herbert Hoover of playing politics and digging into the lives of public figures. As one official said, the rules are designed to protect people (both private and elected officials) when negative...

According to the White House, more than 7,000 people have signed petitions for Indiana and Kentucky to secede from the union. Related. In total, there are 20 states with similar petitions, all of them filed within the last two days. The petitions all came from individuals and not state governments. Withdrawing from the union is not legal. They all read the same way, "We petition the Obama administration to peacefully grant (the state) to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government." The petitions also cite Declaration of Independence. The petitions require 25,000 signatures each,...

Operative Faith reveals that Kroger will soon join the ranks of Durden Restaurants and slash the hours of its non-exempt (hourly) workers to avoid millions in Obamacare penalties. To give you a sense of Kroger’s size and importance, its sales last year were $90 billion and it employs nearly 350,000 people. Most of its jobs are hourly and the vast majority of workers are neither millionaires or billionaires. Faith is a mid-level manager at Kroger and reports the dire news: Last week we found out that, beginning in January, any employee who is not full-time at that point,will be limited...

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.” However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers. It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how...

Benefit to fall $50 a month starting in January Ohio families receiving food stamps could get an unwelcome surprise come January: $50 less every month in assistance. For the 869,000 households enrolled in the program for the poorest Ohioans, that could amount to about $520 million annually out of the grocery budgets. Because of the way the federal government calculates utility expenses for people receiving the benefit, a mild winter nationwide last year, and a lower price for natural gas, many families could experience a significant cut in aid, those familiar with the program say. Recipients should get a letter...

The White House is pulling a tactic out of its campaign playbook – and President Obama’s own community organizing past – using the organs of government to enlist average Americans to help Obama advocate for his priorities. In an email sent to people who signed up to receive official updates from the White House, recipients are told to forward the message to their friends, asking them to help promote what is in effect White House propaganda. The White House email list, which government officials began compiling earlier in Obama’s term, is separate from the famed Obama campaign email list, but...

Military expert Paula Broadwell, who was allegedly improperly involved with resigned CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, confirmed in October that the CIA annex in Benghazi asked for reinforcements when the consulate came under attack on September 11.... Broadwell was speaking at her alma mater, the University of Denver, on October 26. Her lecture, which is on YouTube under the title "Alumni Symposium 2012 Paula Broadwell," now has added value, because based on the recent disclosures, it can now be assumed that she indeed knew exactly what it was that Petraeus knew about the attack. Broadwell confirmed the reports on Fox...

So here is a bizarre twist in the David Petraeus resignation saga. Paula Broadwell, the biographer revealed as the woman having a secret affair with the now-former CIA director, gave a talk at the University of Denver on Oct. 26 in which she appeared to reveal sensitive, maybe even classified, information about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The most interesting revelation is her claim that the CIA was holding several Libyan militia members prisoner, which may have prompted the attack.... [UPDATE: The CIA has denied holding prisoners at the annex, according to the DailyBeast's Eli...

"Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is battling legal troubles and mental illness, is likely to resign from Congress and face jail time under the terms of a plea deal his lawyer is negotiating with the federal government."

<p>A score of people this past week have asked me about the three million Republicans allegedly "missing" at the polls this year. For starters, if the Washington Post is to be believed, Mitt Romney received 1.3 million fewer votes than John McCain did in 2008, not 3 million. For the record, Obama received 7.5 million fewer votes in 2012 than he did in 2008.</p>

A cross honoring those who died in World War I was returned after being stolen two years ago. Fox News reporter Dominic Di-Natale reported from Barstow, California where a rededication ceremony was taking place for the Mojave Desert cross. It was originally raised in 1934 and was at the center of a national controversy over the separation of church and state. The objections over the cross being place on public land went all the way to the Supreme Court. The cross was hidden from the public and eventually stolen in a nighttime heist but returned about a week ago. The...

There were many factors that hurt Mitt Romney and favored Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. The Democrats portrayed Romney in the worst light possible; as a wealthy, out of touch millionaire who wanted to return women to the 1800's. The left wing media predictably did everything it could to perpetuate that false caricature. Obama's race was an advantage; voters of all persuasions, particularly minorities, still cannot get over the allure of the first black president. The 47% of Americans on welfare were predisposed to vote for the food stamp president over Romney, wanting the free goodies to keep...

The CEO-in-waiting of the defense contractor who declined to issue WARN Act layoff notices on the urging of the Obama administration — sequestration-related notices mandated by law that would have gone out just before the election — has resigned, citing an affair. Christopher E. Kubasik, 51, today resigned from his role as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer (COO), effective immediately, Lockheed Martin announced. Kubasik was set to become CEO in January. He “resigned after an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. His actions violated the company’s Code of Ethics and...

As local employees sign up for their 2013 benefits, many are learning that they’ll lose a bigger chunk of their paychecks to health-care costs. For the first time, central Ohio employers will deduct, on average, more than $2,000 from their workers’ paychecks next year to help pay ever-pricier health-care premiums, according to a recent survey by benefits consultant Aon Hewitt. The survey included 113 employers in the Columbus area that represent 79,000 employees. Cost-shifting is just one way that employers have long tried to handle higher health-care costs. Local health-benefit experts say they’re seeing several other strategies emerge, too. For...

Report: FBI whistle-blower contacted Eric Cantor on David Petraeus affair By: John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman November 11, 2012 12:16 AM EST House Majority Leader Eric Cantor spoke to an FBI whistle-blower two weeks ago who accused then-CIA Director David Petraeus of having an extramarital affair and potentially jeopardizing the security of classified information, according to a news report. Cantor’s chief of staff, Steve Stombres, later met with FBI officials to pass on the accusations from the whistle-blower, the New York Times reported on Saturday night. (Also on POLITICO: 6 questions on Petraeus's exit) Cantor’s involvement in the Petraeus scandal...

Some low-wage employers are moving toward hiring part-time workers instead of full-time ones to mitigate the health-care overhaul's requirement that large companies provide health insurance for full-time workers or pay a fee.Several restaurants, hotels and retailers have started or are preparing to limit schedules of hourly workers to below 30 hours a week. That is the threshold at which large employers in 2014 would have to offer workers a minimum level of insurance or pay a penalty starting at $2,000 for each worker. Pillar Hotels & Resorts this summer began to focus more on hiring part-time workers among its 5,500...

The victory by Barack Obama on election night has resulted in a huge wave of firings and layoffs all over America. A large number of businesses seem to have suddenly shifted into panic mode. The number of layoff announcements that we have seen in the last 48 hours has been absolutely shocking. So why is this happening? Well, the truth is that the federal government is absolutely suffocating small businesses all over America with rules, regulations and taxes. If you have never tried to run a small business, then you have no idea how oppressive this system actually is for...