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President François Hollande said on Thursday that Islamist groups holding French hostages in Africa were not trustworthy and should not be taken seriously after Al-Qaeda accused Paris of blocking negotiations for their release. There are a total of nine French hostages on the continent. On Tuesday the Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said France was snubbing talks proposed by the group to free four French citizens abducted in Niger in September 2010. "The less one speaks, the better one can work," Hollande told journalists during a visit to Rungis, a giant wholesale food market just outside Paris. "There have been...

The Republican Party doesn’t have a leader who is looked upon favorably by a majority of Americans, according to a Politico/George Washington University poll. Defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, each garnered only 47 percent approval, according to the poll. …

Local and federal political conditions have created a climate where the people who make this country work have been penalized past the point of tolerance. This is partly because our leadership class has failed to meet its responsibilities. This is big. This is a failure at every level of society, in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, from the local to the national levels. The public-sector leadership is more culpable than the private sector’s, but neither can be pardoned. How did we get in this mess? Well, our leadership has lost its way, plunging us...

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich spoke to a sold-out crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, calling the “so-called fiscal cliff” a “fantasy being used as an excuse to panic.” Speaker Gingrich went on to discuss House Republicans, telling them to not form a “Surrender Caucus” by stating, “They are the majority. They are not the minority.”

The passage in Ruth (1:16) highlights what it means to belong: "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God my God." This was Ruth's response when her mother-in-law Naomi suggested she go back to her own people after the death of her husband (Naomi's son). But Ruth was determined to stay, to be with Naomi. In a broader context of groups and leaders, Ericka Anderson, author of the new book "Leading So People Will Follow," describes great business leaders we are drawn to follow. "We are drawn...

Barbara Lee drops leadership bid, clearing way for CrowleyBy SEUNG MIN KIM | 11/28/12 10:47 AM EST Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she is dropping her leadership bid in what would’ve been the only contested race among House Democrats. **SNIP** Lee, a former chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she was withdrawing her bid in order to “unify” lawmakers around Crowley.

Dear Speaker Boehner and Other Assorted Clueless Bozos on Capitol Hill,You've already been pwned, and it's too late to un-pwn yourself even if such a thing were possible. Which it isn't. Now it's time to try something new. Let's call it: Give them what they want.I'll repeat: Give President Obama and the Democrats the tax hikes they demand, and which most polls show the American public accepts.You'll let us avoid the fiscal cliff --- a phrase I'm going to do my best to avoid using from now on. A better phrase, if less elegant, might be, "the totally artificial...

If you're discouraged or think the world is upside down, I have something for you. Guess what, regardless of who won the election, today we still have millions of babies being aborted every year. We still have 50% of marriages ending in divorce. We still have a supposedly Christian culture that has separated sex from marriage from procreation. We still have many Americans who are more likely to vote based upon peer pressure, or how nice somebody is, or their own self-interest, or by what the media told them, or by what's socially easy than they are to vote based...

This post is written in anger and frustration. Angry that we continue to follow the Republican Party’s elite ignorance. A party that continues to pull defeat from the jaws of victory characterized by pompous fools who fulfill the sterotype built by the left. Frustrated that the reality of politics is this: There will be no third party capable of competing with the coalition constructed by the dems. As a result, true conservatives MUST take steps to irradicate the ignorance of the Republican Party while still adhering to the core values of our forefathers (beliefs that I discovered are considered extreme...

The first statements from the Obama administration about what happened in Benghazi seemed plausible. There were, after all, protests throughout the Muslim world on the anniversary of 9/11 -- some incited by Islamists using an obscure video to arouse anti-American fervor in the mobs, and some, no doubt, just pelting U.S. embassies on general principles. When the administration explained that one of those protests had spun out of control and led to the murder of our ambassador and three other Americans in Libya, there seemed no reason to doubt it. For a day. But within hours, the administration account deflated...

...........Moderator: We turn now to the economy and domestic policy. It's your turn to go first, Mr. President. What are your thoughts on the proper role and scope of government? Do we need more government, or less?Obama: We need more--for two reasons. We need more regulation to keep greedy capitalists from ripping off everyone else. And we need more government intervention and planning to pick the economic winners of the future.I'll help our auto companies retool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for American people to afford these...

So for those of you who have access to Cable and power, I was wondering, what has been the coverage of Obama's response ? I have not been able to closely follow what Obama's response has been. I think the State Governers are doing a good enough job so that there won't be any need for Obama to rush out with Fema for mass rescues and have government agents rush out onto the scene to provide shelters for hundreds or even thousands of people made homeless like there was during Katrina. I think that the only thing Obama can do...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama the candidate stepped aside Monday so the commander in chief could take over. In the waning days of his re-election bid, the president scraped two days of campaigning and retreated from the trail. He hunkered down at the White House to oversee the government's response to the East Coast superstorm — and to project presidential leadership. "The election will take care of itself next week," Obama said, speaking to reporters at the White House after hastily flying back to Washington from Florida, one of the handful of states the two campaigns are contesting the...

It's almost certain that President Obama released his agenda, titled "The New Economic Patriotism," the night before a Donald Trump blockbuster announcement designed to derail Obama's reelection. He had to have been hoping dearly the Trump stink-bomb would take all the oxygen away from any second-day stories about the "plan for jobs and middle-class security" the campaign published. It's not just that the plan is the first voters have heard of any Obama has for his second term — two weeks before Election Day — but that the brochure is about as cheesy a cheap shot as they come. Unfortunately...

During the Civil War, when the union's preservation and slavery's abolition were in doubt, President Lincoln roused the nation with his dream “of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” In rekindling our founders' vision, Lincoln helped assure that America would become the freest and most prosperous nation on earth, a status that successive U.S. presidents have dutifully maintained, or they were cast aside by voters. As Americans Think Again about President Obama, consider that no president has won re-election amid such economic stagnation, declining incomes, high gas...

House Democrats will hold their leadership elections after the Thanksgiving break, a leadership aide announced Wednesday. On an afternoon call with members of her caucus, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the party will stage the elections on Nov. 29, the aide said. That date is much later than the schedule adopted by Republicans, who have indicated they'll finalize their leadership slots the week before the Thanksgiving holiday. The distinction has stirred some speculation that Pelosi might be preparing to step down after 25 years on Capitol Hill, and that she plans to use her return in the lame-duck...

Some US Navy personnel are raising concerns that President Barack Obama intends to implement a pro-gay agenda in the Pentagon by sweeping out many commanding officers of the US Navy and replacing them with pro-Obama sailors. They would remain on-duty even if Obama does not get re-elected to the White House.

While it is probable that Obama had information that the murder of our ambassador in Libya was not the result of an obscure video trailer, he has claimed that he did not know. He has said he had no idea that on the anniversary of 9/11 there was an orchestrated terrorist attack on our American mission in Benghazi, Libya. Americans should stand amazed at this Obama defense. For the sake of argument, let us take them at their word. That leads to the conclusion that the entire intelligence community, if we believe Joe Biden, did not inform the President of...

Leadership is a trait known to many, learned by some and perfected by few. It is not something that can be inherited or passed on or even learned in a textbook. It’s about taking responsibility, and has to be earned on a daily basis. John F. Kennedy perhaps described it best: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Ronald Reagan praised Kennedy’s words of wisdom, adding his...

EN ROUTE TO AFGHANISTAN — Dear Gov. Romney, It seems as if every pundit, campaign consultant and professor of political science has been on the air or in print lately, offering advice on how you can "jump-start," "turn around" or "reset" your presidential campaign. Most of them say that your best chance of "regaining momentum" will be during the upcoming presidential debates. Seeing as I will be in Afghanistan keeping company with our American heroes while you're debating their current commander in chief, this seems like a pretty good time to send you some of what I have heard them...