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When Democratic presidential candidates get together to debate, it really is like watching the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) once joked.

Commuters driving Pittsburgh's old Lincoln Highway alignment last week caught the last glimpse of the pillars of steam from the Shenango coke plant on Neville Island. Nearly 60 years after the furnace started producing coke for the once-booming steel industry that personified America's strength and work ethic, it is closing - affecting 173 union and non-union employees - as yet another business that made things ends its run. Days later, Pittsburgh-based Koppers, which converts steel-production waste into carbon-based chemicals for aluminum, vinyl and wood preservatives, announced that 52 employees would lose their jobs when it shuts its Clairton plant this...

This is really bad. From the Associated Press: BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad confirms that “several” Americans are missing in Iraq after local media reported that three Americans had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital. U.S. Embassy spokesman Scott Bolz said Sunday that “We are working in full cooperation with Iraqi authorities to locate the missing Americans.” His comments came after the Arab news channel, al-Arabiya, citing its own sources, reported that three Americans had been kidnapped by militias in Baghdad. The incident comes after a week that has seen a deterioration of security in and around...

ISIS massacres 300 and kidnaps at least 400 including women and children during attack on government-held city ISIS have abducted at least 400 civilians including women and children after capturing new territory in an assault on Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor. Activists from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they believed ISIS rounded up the civilians following an attack on the north of the city. 'After their attack on Deir Ezzor yesterday, IS abducted at least 400 civilians from the residents of the Al-Baghaliyeh suburb it captured and adjacent areas in the northwest of the city,' the...

Opinion The Comey Plan: What An Indictment of Hillary Clinton Would Mean For The Obama Legacy In June of 2013, President Barack Obama reached outside the spectrum of political logic to select a former Bush appointed Republican as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At 6’8”, FBI Director James Comey stands tall amongst his fellow members of the Obama administration not only due to his height, but also his consistent financial support of Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney in their bids for President. Why would Obama select a Republican, with nearly four decades of successfully prosecuting high-profile individuals...

Not much to say ... Only another few trillion lost from the pension funds, IRA's and 401K invested "for the future" ... So, when will the powers-that-be decide that "money" trumps "their liberal ideology" so the money stops protecting and defending democrat politics?

The Dow plunged 500 points on Friday afternoon, leaving it on track for the worst day since the late August market freakout. The S&P 500 fell 3.3%, while the Nasdaq lost 4%.

U.S. stocks traded sharply lower Friday after a slew of disappointing U.S. data, a fresh plunge in oil, taking it below $30 a barrel, and a sell-off in Chinese stocks added to mounting concerns about slowing global growth. The S&P 500 fell below its August low of 1,867, briefly trading 3.5 percent lower in midday trade. The Nasdaq composite lost more than 4 percent in midday trade. "I think it means we can continue to go lower. ... Crude continues to struggle as we continue to get mixed signals from China," said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade.

Opened at 16,354.33 Down 496.57 Down 3.03%

In an early morning ambush, Islamic terrorists of the radical al-Shabaab group attacked an African Union military base in southern Somalia Friday, breaching the walls by exploding a car bomb and overrunning the base. According to the officials of the Somali army, the blast demolished the entrance to the military base in in the town of El-Ade, Somalia, slaughtering dozens of Kenyan soldiers and allowing heavily armed jihadist militants to storm the base.

The American government is officially putting a giant vote of confidence behind self-driving cars. And the cash to back it up. Today, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is announcing a nearly $4 billion plan that’ll help manufacturers and tech companies develop safe, automated vehicles in the next ten years with real-world pilot projects. It’s all part of President Obama’s plan to make American transportation as futuristic as possible. The funds, which have been set aside in the proposed federal budget for 2017, will go toward pilot programs in specific transportation corridors in the US. The government will then work with...

Christian persecution is at an historic high thanks to global rise of religious fundamentalism, most notably by radical Islam, Christian charity Open Doors has found. Persecution has seen the biggest rise in countries such as Pakistan and Eritrea where radical Islam is on the rise, but North Korea still tops the list with its systematic oppression of Christians. More than 100 million Christians are being persecuted globally, according to the 2016 Open Doors World Watch List, and more than 80 percent of that persecution is down to religious fundamentalism of some kind.

On Monday night urban radio show host Tavis Smiley told Megyn Kelly Barack Obama has failed black Americans as president. Megyn Kelly: On the subject of race, are we better off today that seven years ago? Tavis Smiley: I'm not sure we are and I think ultimately the president missed a moment... On every leading economic issue, in the leading economic issues Black Americans have lost ground in every one of those leading categories. So in the last ten years it hasn't been good for black folk. This is the president's most loyal constituency that didn't gain any ground in...

Leaders of Designated Terrorist Group Invited to State of the Union Guess who gets a front row seat to watch the President? January 12, 2016 Joe Kaufman When President Barack Obama takes the stage tonight for his State of the Union address to the American people, he will be doing so with at least two individuals associated with terrorism seated in front of him. The individuals, Nezar Hamze and Sameena Usman, are leaders of CAIR and have involvement with Islamic Relief, two groups that have been named terrorist organizations by the government of United Arab Emirates (UAE). Nezar Hamze...

The continued collapse of The Baltic Dry Index remains ignored by most - besides we still have Netflix, right? But, as Dollar Vigilante's Jeff Berwick details, it appears the worldwide 'real' economy has ground to a halt!! Last week, I received news from a contact who is friends with one of the biggest billionaire shipping families in the world. He told me they had no ships at sea right now, because operating them meant running at a loss. This weekend, reports are circulating saying much the same thing: The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its...

(THE UNITED WEST) Tom Trento, executive producer of the new movie “Fallen Angel – The Cover-up of the Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six” which investigates the deaths of 30 U.S. special forces units in Afghanistan (the largest single day loss of life of SEALs in U.S. History), interviews retired U.S. Navy Admiral James “Ace” Lyons, the former commander-in-chief U.S. Pacific Fleet. Lyons states the shoot-down of SEAL Team SIX was a “dereliction of duty” and further states that the Obama-Clinton restrictive rules of engagement also directly led to the deaths of 30 of our nations finest warriors. According to Don...

The Navy released a video Saturday showing an Iranian military ship firing a rocket last month near U.S. and French military vessels and commercial ships in the Persian Gulf. The Dec. 26 incident appears to be the latest in a series by Iran that are raising concerns about the rogue nation, as the United States and other world powers prepare to lift crippling economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran curtailing its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. The most recent incident occurred in the Strait of Hormuz, which is the only nautical passage for oil-laden ships going to and from the...

DES MOINES, Iowa --A Des Moines man who beat an elderly neighbor to death was sentenced Monday in a Polk County court. Last month, a judge found Ngor Makuey, 20, guilty of first-degree murder. Makuey broke into the home of Rupert and Harriet Anderson and attacked the couple, killing Rupert with a metal spatula....

ISLAMISTS WITH SUICIDE BELTS Open Fire on Tourist Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt

“This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists. I once again urge the President to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans.” Abbott is absolutely right. “Terror arrests reported in Sacramento, Houston and Milwaukee,” by Denny Walsh and Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, January 7, 2016: Federal agents have arrested a terror suspect in Sacramento, along with two others in Houston and Milwaukee in a case...