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The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted on Thursday to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress. The committee’s approval paves the way for a vote in the full House of Representatives. Lerner is accused of leading an effort to target the tax status of conservative organizations, while giving liberal organizations a pass. Lerner previously pled the Fifth Amendment when questioned by the committee on May 22, 2013. The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination. But since Lerner had previously professed her innocence in a statement, a little over one month later the committee voted that...

Potential leads on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 keep coming. So do the setbacks and frustrations. Monday's search ended without finding anything significant, Australian officials said. Four orange objects spotted by search aircraft and earlier described as promising turned out be nothing more than old fishing gear, they said. Underscoring the difficulty of the search, U.S. Navy officials loaded underwater locating gear aboard an Australian naval support vessel and set out to sea Monday evening, but won't be able to make use of the equipment until searchers narrow the search zone. U.S. Navy Cmdr. William Marks told CNN's "State...

This isn’t exclusively an “Obama problem” — the boss emeritus has been scorching ICE for its catch-and-release policies for ages, starting long before O took office — but it’s important counterprogramming to the left’s narrative that Obama is some sort of fanatic about deporting illegals. Jeff Sessions put one hole in that balloon last week when his office ran the numbers and found that that if you’re here illegally and don’t have a criminal record, you’re already basically exempt from deportation. ICE won’t touch you, whether because you qualify for some sort of statutory exclusion or because Obama’s definition of...

Malaysian authorities are assuming beyond a reasonable doubt that the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been lost in the Southern Indian Ocean. NBC News reports that Malaysia Airlines sent a text message to the relatives of the 239 people who were on board the plane saying "we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board have survived. ... We must not accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean." Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the new developments at a press conference on...

All signs indicate Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will likely veto politically-charged legislation that supporters say promotes religious freedom and opponents contend discriminates against gays and lesbians. Brewer did not signal her intention either way in an exclusive interview with CNN on Monday at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington. "I can assure you, as always, I will do the right thing for the state of Arizona," she said. But some Arizona Republicans who know her well say they are confident those comments mean Brewer will almost surely reject the bill that is generating nationwide controversy. The Republican-led measure would...

You may remember where you were sitting or standing when you heard this news. Or, given Piers Morgan’s pitiful ratings, you may have to be reminded that he has a show at all. In either case, here’s some good news for a Monday: Crusading against our Second Amendment rights has finally cost Piers Morgan his primetime gig at CNN. I received a return call from Mr. Morgan and was prepared for an endless argument over my assumptions. Not so. His show, he conceded, was not performing as he had hoped and was nearing its end.“It’s been a painful period...

Apparently in the eyes of the Ohio National Guard, if you're a staunch defender of the US Constitution, you're an extremist and a domestic terrorist. That's the basic message that we can take away from a training exercise drill that took place in Portsmouth, Ohio on January 17, 2013. The Ohio National Guard ran a drill responding to a biological attack at a local junior high school. The nasty evildoers behind the fake attack? A janitor and science teacher who were fervent Second Amendment supporters and white supremacists to boot! This is how our taxpayer dollars are spent in conducting...

After boycotting snow removal, William Wilhelm Jr. aka Bill de Blasio will be boycotting the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.Bill de Blasio doesn’t seem like a fan of parades in general. Before the election he showed up at the Columbus Day Parade and claimed that he wasn’t doing it to support Columbus.Wilhelm Jr. isn’t a fan of St. Patrick either because the parade doesn’t allow gay rights signs. That will make Bill de Blasio the first mayor since Dinkins to pull this stunt. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he won’t be marching in the nation’s largest St. Patrick’s...

Woman Who Can’t Afford Her Own Birth Control Switches to Run for California State SenatePosted By Bryan Preston On February 5, 2014 @ 7:58 am In Politics | No Comments Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown grad best known for telling America that she can’t afford her own birth control, spent $1,740 on the filing fee to run for Congress. Now Fluke says she isn’t running for Congress. Instead, she is running for state Senate. Democratic attorney and activist Sandra Fluke has decided against running for retiring Rep. Henry A. Waxman’s congressional seat, instead planning a bid for the state Senate. “I...

He’s a Clinton appointee but he’s been sitting on this case for, if you can believe it, nine years. Maybe that’s because he was waiting for the Supremes to tackle the issue or maybe he just didn’t want to touch it in a state as red as Oklahoma. Either way, the plaintiffs were unhappy. They’re happier today. “The Court holds that Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” U.S. District Court Judge Terence Kern wrote.The ruling will not go into effect immediately, Kern decided, issuing a...

Makes sense. One’s the leader of a messianic religious movement that’s recently been hobbled by scandal, the other’s Pope Francis.I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t happened already. Secretary of State John Kerry said the President was “looking forward” to visiting the popular new leader of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican.Kerry did not say when the trip would take place…Kerry, a Roman Catholic, met with Vatican leaders on Tuesday to discuss foreign policy and economic issues, including Francis’ outspoken stance on income inequality worldwide.He did not meet with the Pope. Normally the president meeting the Pope is a simple goodwill-building...

One mark of a good song is that it makes Billboard's top 10 list. An even greater indicator is its staying power; whether it is remembered decades after it was a hit. Perhaps the highest accolade is whether the artist influences other musicians. All of these standards were met by the singing duo the Everly Brothers, one of whom, Phil, has died days shy of his 75th birthday. At age 16 I was a disc jockey for a suburban Washington, D.C., radio station. I hosted a weekend music program called "The Top Fifty Show." The Everly Brothers were always at...

.........But that led to a follow-up question from Bash, and a condescending reply from the Senate majority leader. BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it? REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. To have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless. BASH: I’m just asking a question.

<p>President Barack Obama summoned congressional leaders to the White House on the second day of a partial government shutdown that has furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers and closed military cemeteries as far away as France. Republican leaders welcomed the Wednesday afternoon meeting but questioned whether Democrats were ready to deal.</p>

During a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, Texas senator Ted Cruz said that people who think his plan to defund Obamacare can't work would have opposed fighting Nazi Germany if they had been alive in the 1940s. Cruz first argued that skeptics of the defund-or-shutdown plan would have surrendered during the American Revolution and the Civil War. "I guarantee you all of the pundits that we see going on TV and intoning in deep baritone voices, 'this cannot be done,' if we were back in the 18th century, they would be going on, I don't know, maybe pigeon...

The president of Kenya declared victory over terrorists today saying that despite an "immense" loss of life during the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, defense forces "ashamed and defeated our attackers." President Uhuru Kenyatta described a scene of bloody carnage following a lengthy siege of the Westgate mall that left at least 72 people dead, including 61 civilians. The death toll is expected to rise, he said, because in the final hours of fighting, three of the mall's floors collapsed, resulting in "several bodies still trapped in the rubble including the terrorists." He said 240 people had been injured...

Is there anyone in American media who trolls more people with less effort than this insufferable wanker? IÂ’m not even mad. ItÂ’s a talent. If you donÂ’t have an actual fan base, the logical thing to do when youÂ’re not playing pattycake with celebrities is to seize a hot-button issue with both hands and start a fight over it at every opportunity. If America ever did ban guns, his first tweet the next morning would be about how, if you think about it, abortion really should be available up to and including the start of labor. Last nightÂ’s talking point:...

No doubt leering at the staff, too: Reid (D-Nev.) said Tea Party Republicans are preventing progress on an energy efficiency bill by offering amendments on ObamaCare and other unrelated issues.“We’re diverted totally from what this bill is about. Why? Because the anarchists have taken over,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “They’ve taken over the House and now they’ve taken over the Senate.“People who don’t believe in government — and that’s what the Tea Party is all about — are winning, and that’s a shame.” Actually, what that is is a lie. On a variety of levels: Anarchists – as...

Thousands of bikers descended on Washington, D.C., Wednesday to protest a Muslim march provocatively timed for the 12th anniversary of 9/11. While the "Million Muslim March" looked likely to be a flop, the "2 Million Bikers" event brought participants from throughout the eastern seaboard. One estimate put the number of bikers there at 880,000. So many turned out that plans to have them ride through the streets of the Capital had to be changed. "There are so many motorcycles that trying to go through Washington, D.C., would not have worked," ride organizer Eric Zern told WTOP-Radio.

Rights: Colorado voters on Tuesday ousted two leading supporters of stricter gun control laws, saying "ready, aim, fired" to those who would deny movie patrons and college women the right to armed self-defense. One would think that Colorado, the site of the tragedies at Columbine and the Aurora movie theater, the purple state where President Obama accepted his first nomination amidst faux Greek columns, would be the least receptive of states for the arguments of Second Amendment defenders. Colorado state Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron found out differently on Tuesday as they were ousted by gun rights...