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Explanation: Two dark shadows loom across the banded and mottled cloud tops of Jupiter in this sharp telescopic view. In fact, captured on January 3rd, about a month after the ruling gas giant appeared at opposition in planet Earth's sky, the scene includes the shadow casters. Visible in remarkable detail at the left are the large Galilean moons Ganymede (top) and Io. With the two moon shadows still in transit, Jupiter's rapid rotation has almost carried its famous Great Red Spot (GRS) around the planet's limb from the right. The pale GRS was preceded by the smaller but similar hued...

WHEN a Vesuvius like John McCain tells you that you belch too much smoke and spew too much fire, you know you’ve got a problem. And Ted Cruz, a Republican freshman in the Senate who has been front and center in his party’s effort to squash Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defense, has a problem. He’s an ornery, swaggering piece of work. Just six weeks since his arrival on Capitol Hill, he’s already known for his naysaying, his nit-picking and his itch to upbraid lawmakers who are vastly senior to him, who have sacrificed more than he has and...

BURLINGTON, N.C. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has cancelled the deportation of Isaias Valles-Castejon, who was scheduled to be deported back to Mexico tonight at midnight

Microsoft yesterday confirmed that a retail copy of Office 2013 is permanently tied to the first PC on which it's installed, preventing customers from deleting the suite from one machine they own and installing it on another. The move is a change from past Office end-user licensing agreements (EULAs), experts said, and is another way Microsoft is pushing customers, especially consumers, to opt for new "rent-not-own" subscription plans. "That's a substantial shift in Microsoft licensing," said Daryl Ullman, co-founder and managing director of the Emerset Consulting Group, which specializes in helping companies negotiate software licensing deals. "Let's be frank. This...

Ed Schultz was in seventh heaven, lionizing Elizabeth Warren [new first name 'Sheriff'] for the way she grilled financial regulators for failing to take big banks to trial. Just one teenie-weenie factoid Ed failed to mention: those two regulators he showed Warren scalding during his MSNBC show tonight were appointed by, yup, President Barack Obama. View the video here.

A nice catch by the Examiner’s Charlie Spiering, especially after Rand Paul threatened to block Brennan unless/until he provides a straight answer on whether drones can be used against U.S. citizens here in the United States. This doesn’t quite qualify as a straight answer but it’s the closest we’ve come yet: “The rules outside of the United States are going to be different than the rules inside the United States,” Obama explained. “In part because our capacity to capture a terrorist inside the United States are very different than in the foothills or mountains of Afghanistan or Pakistan.” I mentioned...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc is cooperating with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into insider options trading in H.J. Heinz Co before the food company announced it was being acquired, Goldman said on Friday.

Someone notify Shirley MacLaine, because Katie Couric’s dead husband appears to be making 911 calls from his old phone. According to the New York Daily News, every Tuesday at 2 a.m. the late Jay Monahan’s phone line dials 911, then Couric gets an emergency call back saying help is on the way. She has notified the police and they are looking into it. Apparently there is a prank called “spoofing,” where someone uses a device to hack into a phone remotely. Or, Monahan’s disembodied spirit is trying to order a pizza, but is too drunk to hit the right speed-dial...

A Santa Clara engineer, who once worked for Apple's co-founder, was charged on Friday with threats connected to State Sen. Leland Yee, who was sent an email a month ago by a man who claimed he was a "trained sniper." Court documents show that Everett Basham, 45, - a onetime employee of Steve Wozniak a decade ago - faces 12 charges. The charging document for the first time revealed how many and what kind of guns were allegedly found at Basham's home. The full list of charges include: threats to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily injury,...

Sobering Thoughts from the Romeike Case By Michael Farris, J.D., LL.M. HSLDA Founder and Chairman Having immersed myself for about eight days in writing a brief for the Romeike family (a German homeschooling family who fled to the United States for political asylum), I wanted to share some insights I gained into the view of our own government toward the rights of homeschooling parents in general. You will benefit from some context. The U.S. law of asylum allows a refugee to stay in the United States permanently if he can show that he is being persecuted for one of several...

A West Liberty University professor has been criticized on campus and off for telling her students not to use Fox News as a “serious academic reference.” Political science prof Stephanie Wolfe's course syllabus listed the sources her students were banned from citing in their research. The Onion was first, followed by Fox News. "The tagline ‘Fox News’ makes me cringe," she wrote.

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Russian nuclear bombers intercepted near Guam U.S. military officials tell NBC News that two Russian bombers, capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles, circled the U.S. island of Guam in the Western Pacific this week. U.S. Air Force F-15 jets scrambled from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam to intercept the bombers. According to one military official, the Russian Bear bombers remained in international airspace, the encounter between the U.S. and Russian aircraft “stayed professional” and there was no incident. The official said it’s impossible to determine whether the Russian bombers carried any nuclear weapons.

I have read the latest few days how at least 3 firearm businesses are refusing to do business with the state of New York. I say bravo! Hit them in the wallet! I am considering writing firearm businesses in Maryland and asking them to do the same if Maryland passes the laws OMalley wants. What say you Freepers?

I have been wondering lately about some of the stuff going on in the news and our culture. Out of the hundreds of reporters in the US, where is one report of what happened in Benghazi? Where is one investigating journalist digging into Fast and Furious? Out of the thousands of people who work in the State and Defense Dept, where is the whistleblower releasing damaging emails or memos? Is the corruption so deep that no one is going to do the rght thing?

I was at the bus stop in DC today, waiting to catch a commuter bus home. Long story short - there was a black guy with a State Dept jacket and a white female in front of me and behind me was a Air Force officer, Major. The USAF officer was commenting on the State Dept guy's new boss and the talk got to Hillary. The USAF Major than stated that she would make a good President and he would vote for her. The two in front of me agreed with the woman stating she has no competition. This Major's...

Ray Fulk, 71, died alone on his farm, but apparently had an affinity for actor Kevin Brophy and “Young and the Restless” star Peter Barton. Fulk willed his 160 acres to the yesteryear hunks. According to RadarOnline, Fulk’s attorney says he was a “loner” who never married, and his neighbors didn’t even know him. Hmm ... a guy who keeps to himself and likes horror movies — awesome! As for the beneficiaries, they are understandably “shocked.” This whole thing would make a great horror movie plot, especially when the actors show up to claim their bounty and are devoured by...

On “The Daily Show” on Thursday, host Jon Stewart grilled United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice about the Obama administration’s response to the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last year. Stewart pressed her to explain why there was so much back-and-forth between government agencies and why no one seemed to have the straight story. Stewart asked why there seemed to be more effort put into ironing out talking points rather than preventing the attack in the first place. As he put it, “Why is there a bureaucratic system in place that is so tenacious with the explanation, yet...

Barack Obama says 'I wish I'd had a father' as he addresses guns in Chicago President Barack Obama today urged the young men of America to help tackle gun violence by taking responsibility for raising their sons, using an emotional return to his home city to admit: “I wish I'd had a father who was around and involved”. In an unusually personal speech at a school in his old Chicago neighbourhood, Mr Obama, who was raised by his mother, said his attempts to introduce new gun control laws must be matched by more men behaving like role models who are...