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Netanyahu, Lapid Win Israel Elections - Obama Disappointed, US PleasedBy Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel --- January 23, 2013 ... Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just won a third term. And has done so with greater strength and support than most Israel media are reporting. Even though Netanyahu only secured 31 seats, out of the Knesset's 120, for his right wing Likud Party, he has the full support of a new political party - Yesh Atid (there is a future) led by former TV news personality Yair Lapid. Lapid and Netanyahu only differ in age, their politics are...

Just a couple minutes ago, presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett, who is personally close to President Barack Obama, tweeted, that "If there's one thing we should all agree on, it's protecting women from violence." Jarrett's tweet comes the same hour Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the Obama administration would allow women to serve in combat. The AP reports: Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military's ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war. The groundbreaking move recommended by...

O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc, America’s oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer, today announced that the company will not attend or support the 2013 Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The company reached this decision after Reed Exhibitions banned Modern Sporting Rifles and has refused to reconsider their stance. Mossberg’s position on the Second Amendment is unwavering and steadfast; therefore, the company will not support any organization or event that prohibits the display or sale of legal firearms. We stand united with our loyal customers and supporters in this constitutional right and had only hoped for a different outcome.

Millions of Americans have their own stories about how they arrived at the pro-life position on abortion, but Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver has a unique one. He experienced the reality of abortion in a way most people never have.In a new interview with the National Catholic Register, he talked about the experience of seeing the body of a baby who had been victimized by abortion in a sink. It left such an indelible impression on him that he said he will forever be pro-life.From the interview: “Today is a day to repent,” Archbishop Aquila said in his Jan....

Neighbors and activists, who stood out in the bitter cold for more an hour on Wednesday morning to protest the planned eviction of Jeffery Solivan of 32 Edgemont St., cheered after hearing that Fannie Mae had canceled its action. The protest kicked off just before 8 a.m., initially with about a dozen people and grew to about 30 people when word came that the eviction was off. No date has been given for a new eviction. Solivan said he hopes something can be negotiated with the lender that will allow him to keep his home, in the Pine Point neighborhood....

Food trucks have become the hottest new industry, yet many cities are doing everything they can to stop them in their tracks. In city after city, lawmakers are imposing complicated regulations on food trucks and other street vendors, often in the name of consumer safety, which make it nearly impossible for vendors to actually operate their trucks. Chicago’s regulations are particularly onerous, as Reason reports: According to the Chicago Tribune, 109 would-be purveyors of mobile cuisine have applied for licenses, but the city hasn’t seen fit to OK any of them. Among the requirements they may be having difficulty meeting:

Anyone else feel like it really is a tide that is turning these days? The American College of Nurse Midwives issued a statement in support of working towards quality, competent care for trans and gender non-conforming people. Woo-hoo! ~ Radical Doula Miriam Zoila Pérez, January 17, excited over a recent statement issued by ACNM that “addresses the need for education about transgender issues in midwifery education.” The statement explains: HIV infection within the gender variant community is 4 times the rate of the general population; rates of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, and depression and suicide attempts are also higher....

TenPoint Crossbow Technologies’ Chairman and CEO, Rick Bednar, expressing his company’s steadfast disagreement with the decision of the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show management to prohibit the display and sale of Modern Sporting Rifles at its 2013 Harrisburg, PA event, has decided to remove TenPoint’s display from the upcoming February 2-10 show. “We are taking this action to stand in solidarity with many other shooting and outdoor sporting goods manufacturers in support of the guarantees expressed in the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution,” Bednar said. “We regret having to make this decision because we have supported this great consumer event...

Photography © by Andy Coan There is a myth that we must lay to rest, once and for all – Protestants are all about the Bible, while Catholics are all about the Sacraments. While I can’t speak for my Protestant brethren, I can say this with certainty – the Catholic Church has never tolerated any such “either/or.” Both Scripture and Sacraments are precious gifts from the Lord, gifts we desperately need.“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ!” insisted St. Jerome, a father and Doctor of the Catholic Church from the 5th century AD. Because of this, every liturgical service of...

Sean Lyons is accused of stealing the identities of more than 100 people, some living, some dead, in order to file fraudulent tax returns, according to Sunrise police. The identities were found after an officer approached Lyons Tuesday while he was parked in the lot of the Isles at Lago Mar condominium complex about 3:50 a.m. along the 12600 block of Vista Isles Drive.

In Washington, the best way to get good press is to announce you’re leaving. Case in point: Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (call him Jay), D-W.Va., is stepping down when his term ends. And The Washington Post makes haste to bring him laud. “Jay Rockefeller wasn’t ever going to be just some Democratic senator from West Virginia,” writes Manuel Roig-Franzia. The story intimates this is because Rockefeller, as an heir to a vast fortune earned through unbridled capitalism, needed to make amends. “He found a way to be a Rockefeller that was about serving people,” the senator’s longtime political adviser,...

Poll: Is Sen. Frank Lautenberg too old to be re-elected? Sen. Frank Lautenberg turns 89 today, the same day a new poll says his age could hinder his re-election bid.

After the Prime Minister's announcement that the UK will have an in/out referendum on Europe if the Conservatives win the next general election, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "There is absolutely no reason to carry this on past the general election, and perhaps the biggest issue which will emerge over time is the issue of trust".

"Has anybody other than Karl Marx established a theory for why, when, and how revolutions occur?.....The answer to that question is that there is a very considerable literature on this.One key indicator is that those with access to the levers of power within the ruling order cease to believe in the religion or ideology that legitimizes the regime. Another is that their underlings also gradually abandon the beliefs that render respectable the rule of their masters. This happened some time ago in China, and there very nearly was a revolution at the time of Tiananmen Square. Tellingly, the key players...

A woman returning from a cruise vacation is being held in a central Florida jail on a warrant from 1991. Brevard County Jail records show 41-year-old Robin Hall is being held on an out-of-county warrant. She’ll stay there until she is transferred to Orange County — possibly on Thursday — where she was arrested more than 20 years ago for stealing a pack of cigarettes at a local Wal-Mart. She was 18 at the time. Hall tells WESH-TV she owes the state $85 in court costs. “I just want it all to be over so I can go home,” Hall...

For Immediate Release: Janurary 22, 2013 Crimson Trace Withdraws from Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show (Wilsonville, OR) - Crimson Trace Corporation, the industry leader in laser sighting systems for personal defense, announces their withdrawl from the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show February 2nd- 10th in Harrisburg, PA. Despite five years of attendance to serve the over 200,000 consumers in the Harrisburg and surrounding areas for one of the largest outdoor shows in the country, Crimson Trace stands with their industry partners and the NRA, who have decided not to attend in reaction to the decision from Reed Exhibition on displaying...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Why did Occupy Wall St. help to reelect Wall St.’s #1 favorite politician of all time? I’m against the cozy relationship between Wall St. and the government, which is one of the reasons why I voted for Ron Paul for President in 2008, and Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2012.A very small percentage of Occupy Wall St. protestors voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein or Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2012, so the question posed by me in the title of this blog post is not directed at them.Instead, my question is directed at those who claim...

Embattled Argentine President Cristina Kirchner cheerfully mugged for photos in the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Viet Cong to ambush United States troops during the Vietnam War and likened Ho Chi Minh to George Washington during a visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Sunday. Kirchner playfully peeks her head out of one of the spiderholes in one photo. She sits cross-legged and grinning outside the tunnel, dressed in guerrilla-style fatigues, in another.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—The Republican Party is looking for advice. To kick off this week's Republican National Committee's winter strategy session, which will focus in part on how to broaden the party's appeal to women and minority voters, the RNC on Thursday launched a website soliciting ideas and constructive criticism about what the party did wrong in 2012—and what it can do better over the next four years. The site, which is part of its "Growth and Opportunity Project" created to analyze the last election, includes a wide-ranging survey seeking input on things such as whether Republicans should spend more or less...