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DALLAS (Reuters) - A pickup truck used by former President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch was sold for $300,000 at an auction on Saturday after he donated it to benefit a charity that serves U.S. military families.

A senior U.S. lawmaker said on Sunday that he and fellow Senate Democrats, for the first time more than in three years, intend to meet Republican demands to finally pass a U.S. budget. Senator Charles Schumer, the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat, said, however, that the spending plan will include proposed new revenue despite Republican warnings that they won't go along with more any tax hikes. … President Barack Obama’s Democrats control the Senate, but haven’t passed a budget since 2010 amid disagreements within the party over possible spending cuts, particularly in entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. This has...

The Pro- abortion activists will be “rallying for choice” on Tuesday next week, January 22, at the Capitol Bell Tower to “protect reproductive rights in Virginia and celebrate the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade at 10:00 - 11:30 a.m., then inside the Capitol Building at 12:00 - 12:30 p.m. Would you plan to be there representing the side that celebrates LIFE in a peaceful counter-protest? The battle is reaching a fever pitch, and we cannot afford to be absent or let up when we are closer to winning than when we first began. Family Foundation will provide hot chocolate...

White House adviser David Plouffe said Sunday that he believes President Barack Obama has sufficient votes in Congress to pass gun-control legislation. … Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” which was televised from the National Mall in Washington D.C., Plouffe said he believes the White House has 60 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House from Democrats and Republicans. … He also predicted that immigration reform will make it through Congress. …

According to Plouffe, it "starts with parents" taking responsibility for their children. Plouffe also attempted to note that the study commissioned by the president on violent media "is really important" because "scientific background" helps explain the causation between video games and gun violence.

Though extensive due process protections apply to the investigation of crimes, and to criminal trials, perhaps the most important part of the criminal process -- the decision whether to charge a defendant, and with what -- is almost entirely discretionary. Given the plethora of criminal laws and regulations in today's society, this due process gap allows prosecutors to charge almost anyone they take a deep interest in. This Essay discusses the problem in the context of recent prosecutorial controversies involving the cases of Aaron Swartz and David Gregory, and offers some suggested remedies, along with a call for further discussion.

Ted Cruz was on Meet the Press this morning to primarily discuss the Second Amendment and the debt ceiling. The downside to this clip is that he’s on with Schmucky Schumer. Watch:

Democrats understand that when they are losing a political fight, their best move is to change the political lexicon. When progressivism fails, they become liberals; when liberalism fails, they become progressives. Now they’re using that rhetorical trickery to try to save the wildly unpopular centerpiece of President Obama’s first term: Obamacare. Obamacare sets up what were originally termed state health care “exchanges.” These “exchanges” were supposedly set up to pool risk between health care insurance companies. Of course, if the market saw a benefit in such pooling, it would have done so already. In fact, many insurance companies already pool...

Among the 23 “executive actions” President Obama announced yesterday amidst great fanfare (and shameless exploitation of children) is this: “Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.” Obama may want to put a hold on that one, until he comes to grips with what happened the last time a U.S. president tried it.

As NewsBusters reported Friday, Newsweek magazine's newest cover touts Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration as "The Second Coming." Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank apparently doesn't agree, and wrote about the President's first term Friday the "messiah never came.""Monday’s phony ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol contributes to the overall letdown that is this 2013 inauguration," said Milbank. "For all the grand preparations, the moment feels small." "Four years ago, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the capital, sleeping on floors and lining the streets so that they could be part of history: the inauguration of the first black president,...

Federal prosecutors have filed a fraud charge against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway, just a few days before she leaves the state's highest court in a scandal involving the sale of a Detroit-area home and suspicious steps taken to conceal property in Florida. The charge was filed Friday as a criminal "information," which means it was negotiated and that a guilty plea is expected in federal court. Defense attorney Steve Fishman declined to comment Saturday.

In an editorial aired yesterday on Vatican Radio, Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the press office of the Holy See, called “initiatives announced by the United States government in view of limiting and controlling the diffusion and use of arms … a step in the right direction. “Forty-seven religious leaders of various confessions and religions have issued a call to American politicians to limit firearms, which ‘are making society pay an unacceptable price in terms of massacres and senseless deaths,’” Lombardi stated in his address. “I’m with them.” While acknowledging “that arms, throughout the world, are also instruments for legitimate...

Chuck Hagel has been tapped by Obama for Secretary of Defense, which has resulted in a slew of push backs over his troubling record: criticism and lack of support for Israel; coddling of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran; and his almost immediate appointment after retiring as a senator to Deutsche Bank’s Americas Advisory Board, the mega bank that has been accused of funneling billions of dollars to Iran’s nuclear program. But the most troubling aspect of Chuck Hagel is the fact that he may have stolen both of his senatorial elections. In 1992, Hagel was CEO of Election Systems & Software,...

NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel spoke about President Barack Obama's "diminished" influence over global affairs this morning on NBC's Meet the Press, saying that "authoritarian" China was being seen as a model for governance by more of the world's youth than the United States.Engel was on a panel hosted by David Gregory that also included Obama campaign honcho David Axelrod, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, NBC's Tom Brokaw and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough.Engel made his comments toward the end of the first segment of the round table discussion on Obama's second term which started today.Engel faced push back from Scarborough,...

The date was January 12, 2013. You probably didn’t hear about this tragedy involving guns and two teenage boys. But this was the headline in the Chicago Tribune: “Boys, 14 and 15, killed in separate shootings Friday.” You didn’t hear about it because such events aren’t news in Chicago. They’re ordinary daily occurrences. As we continue to hear calls for ever-tightening gun laws from the Obama administration, and from states such as New York, it is worth thinking about those headlines in Chicago. And in inner cities all around America, places where strict gun laws are already in place. Places...

Friday, October 5, 2012 US Temperatures Have Been Falsely Adjusted According to the Level of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere Steven Goddard in recent months has been presenting evidence on his real-science site of fraudulent manipulation, by NASA and other renowned federal scientific institutions, of the temperature data used by climate scientists to promulgate global warming hysteria. Goddard has presented the following graph, showing that adjustments made to the US temperature records have systematically lowered past temperatures and raised more recent ones, to give a false indication of warming over the past century and more: The indicated adjustments looked familiar...

Dear FRiends, We need your continuing support to keep FR on the air. FR is funded solely by contributions made by liberty loving people who enjoy and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly in the support of liberty. We cannot exist without you. If you have not yet made your donation, today would be an excellent day to do so. Every donation counts no matter how big or small. If you can donate $5, $10, $20...

The World's Happiest Countries: 1. Norway 2. Denmark 3. Sweden 4. Australia 5. New Zealand 6. Canada 7. Finland 8. The Netherlands 9. Switzerland 10. Ireland So where does the United States rank? It's at 12th place this year, slipping from 10th. According to Legatum, the U.S. has slipped in the areas of governance, personal freedom, and most troubling, in entrepreneurship & opportunity. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, but Legatum notes "a decline in citizens' perception that working hard gets you ahead."

President Barack Obama is asking every American to help celebrate his second inauguration by “making an effort to serve America and your community by donating your time to the public good.” “Too many Americans are wrapped up in selfish pursuits most of the time,” the President said. “They place ‘making a buck,’ spending time with friends and family, and enjoying life ahead of serving others. What I am asking is that on the day of my inauguration everyone divert themselves from these egocentric activities and do something useful for their fellow human beings.” Obama suggested that “participating in a food...

What they fail to mention: in the state of Oregon, one can register to vote on the same form used to apply for a driver’s license, and their citizenship is never checked. Granting drivers licenses to illegals paves the way for MASSIVE voter fraud in the next election (like Oregon wasn’t rife with it already).