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An Audience With … Nigel Farage features a stage with only a table, a chair, and a bottle of wine as props. Farage thinks it will give him a chance to “explain who I am” and, crucially, to “reach a new audience”. … “We need a much more muscular defense of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Yes, we’re open to different cultures, but we have to defend our values. That’s the message I want to hear from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from our politicians. Anything less is appeasement of the worst kind.” Yet he speaks not as a defender of the...

JACKSON, Mississippi– Gov. Phil Bryant says he has no choice but to reject a soon-to-be-delivered order from the Pentagon for Mississippi to grant same-sex spouses of Army National Guard members the same benefits as other spouses. Bryant’s stand sets up a showdown with the Pentagon at a time Mississippi is trying to hang on to its military installations and is seeking to show it is a strong partner of the military. The governor’s is refusing to lift the state’s Army National Guard ban on spouses in gay marriages being eligible for IDs necessary to obtain benefits — a circumstance Secretary...

Explanation: This webcam and telescope image of banded gas giant Jupiter shows the transit of three shadows cast by Jupiter's moons in progress, captured in Belgian skies on October 12 at 0528 UT. Such a three shadow transit is a relatively rare event, even for a large planet with many moons. Visible in the frame are the three Galilean moons responsible, Callisto at the far left edge, Io closest to Jupiter's disk, and Europa below and just left of Io. Of their shadows on the sunlit Jovian cloud tops, Callisto casts the most elongated one near the planet's south polar...

GRAND FORKS – North Dakota may not recognize gay marriage, but the North Dakota National Guard does, a spokeswoman said Friday. Because the state receives federal funds for Guard units, it will process military identification for same-sex spouses of Guard members, said Billie Jo Lorius in response to a media inquiry. Some Guard units in states that do not recognize gay marriage had been singled out by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel this past week in a speech before the Anti-Defamation League. The Defense Department began issuing identity cards to the spouses in same-sex couples following a Supreme Court ruling this...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The spouses of gay and lesbian National Guard members cannot get military ID cards at most National Guard locations in West Virginia, which U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says is a violation of federal law. The ID cards are necessary to get benefits, such as health care, that all military spouses are entitled to. The West Virginia National Guard issues ID cards at nine locations across the state, according to its website. Four of those locations -- the four run by the federal government -- are issuing ID cards to same-sex spouses. However, the five state-run facilities...

The first month of the new health law’s rollout reveals an unexpected pattern in several states: a crush of people applying for an expansion of Medicaid and a trickle of sign-ups for private insurance. This early imbalance — in some places, nine out of 10 enrollees are in Medicaid — has taken some experts by surprise. The Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid to cover millions of the poorest Americans who couldn’t otherwise afford coverage, envisions a more even split with an expanded, robust private market. “When we first saw the numbers, everyone’s eyes kind of bugged out,” said Matt...

Melissa Joan Hart, the actress most well known for playing “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” told HuffPost Live that, because she tweeted her support of Mitt Romney, she was overwhelmed with hateful insults in 2012. “I got called every name in the book. And told I was, you know, they hope I die, and that they hope my children are gay which was, somehow, supposed to be some kind of punishment,” Hart said. …

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma may be taking the federal government to court again, this time over Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s order that the Oklahoma National Guard must comply with federal policy on same-sex spouses. Alex Weintz, spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin, said she “is working with Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to evaluate the legal options available to the Oklahoma National Guard.” In early September, the Pentagon said it would treat all legally married couples the same regarding spousal benefits, regardless of the sex of the partners. This followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating a portion of the national...

ObamaCARE didn’t terminate your health plan; OBAMA did! It’s right there in black-and-white on page 43 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The president’s famous promise that if you like your plan you can keep your plan (without which the bill most certainly would never have passed) is indeed the law of the land. It is Section 1251, to be exact. This is what it says . . . . SEE LINK Ironclad. Bulletproof. If you like your plan, “nothing in this Act” can “require that an individual terminate coverage.” It’s. The. Law. So why are millions of...

The sun has erupted more than two dozen times over the last week, sending radiation and solar material hurtling through space - and scientists say more eruptions may be coming. This shouldn't be unusual. After all, we are technically at solar maximum, the peak of the 11-year cycle of the sun's activity. But this has been a noticeably mellow solar maximum, with the sun staying fairly quiet throughout the summer. So when our life-giving star suddenly let loose with 24 medium strength M-class solar flares and four significantly stronger X-class flares between Oct. 23 and Oct. 30, it felt like...

Thirty years after his arrest in Orange County, one of California’s deadliest and most depraved serial killers still lives and breathes on San Quentin’s death row. What’s wrong with this picture? ...

The search is on for one last senator to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees from workplace discrimination. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the Senate floor for the first time in 17 years next week, a statistic that both awes and infuriates advocates who say the vote is long overdue. "People realize this is the next big civil rights step in America," says Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "It is a historic step forward." The legislation would make it illegal for employers to fire workers based on their sexual orientation. Already nearly two...

PPP’s newest national survey finds that in the wake of the shutdown, Republican voters now view Ted Cruz as their party’s leader. 21% picked Cruz to 17% for Chris Christie, and 15% for John Boehner. Cruz finished well ahead of the other GOP Senators we tested- Rand Paul got 9%, John McCain 7%, and Mitch McConnell only 4%. Mitt Romney at 8% and Sarah Palin at 4% were the other people we tested. Numbers PPP will release next week show Ted Cruz would be an exceedingly weak Presidential candidate in the general election. The good news for the GOP is...

A federal lawsuit is being filed Friday challenging Georgia’s “Stand Your Ground” law, claiming that the seven-year-old statute is too vague and unconstitutional. The lawsuit is brought by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a man imprisoned for shooting someone in self defense and the parent of another man who was shot and his killer was acquitted. Georgia common law has allowed a self-defense argument for more than a century. But in 2006, the Legislature passed a statute that says that self defense can be claimed by anyone in any circumstance ”if they have a reasonable belief” that they or anyone else...

October 31, 2013 A Truly Wicked Blow: Jimmy Carter Hammers Obama for Ineptness Pete Wehner IÂ’ve been quite critical of President Obama over the course of his presidency. Earlier this week, for example, I wrote a piece in which I accused Mr. Obama of mendacity. So I take a back seat to no one when it comes to leveling harsh judgments against the president. But even I, an Obama critic, believe there are some lines one should not cross, some things that should never be said, some blows that are too brutal even for American politics.I had in mind what...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticized the Obama administration at a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, calling the administration's reluctance to fully back Syrian rebels an “embarrassment.” "Today's hearing left me bewildered that this government does not have a strategy as to Syria," Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, said in an interview with CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper." Syria's chemical weapons post a threat to national security...

November 2, 2013 The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)  The following are a selection of the readings that may be chosen for this day. Reading 1 Wis 3:1-9 The souls of the just are in the hand of God,and no torment shall touch them.They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;and their passing away was thought an afflictionand their going forth from us, utter destruction.But they are in peace.For if before men, indeed, they be punished,yet is their hope full of immortality;chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,because God tried themand found them...

Tricare leaves thousands of beneficiaries without medical providers No, that headline is not hyperbole. It is true. In Angeles City, Philippines the two hospitals that beneficiaries are required to use, and the affiliated specialist at these hospitals, have cancelled their participation in the Tricare Demonstration Project, yet the beneficiaries are still required to use only these same medical providers for their medical care or forfeit reimbursement for their out of pocket cost for that care. Here are the details. On 1 January, 2013 Tricare started a Demonstration Project for beneficiaries in the Philippines. Tricare’s contractor, International SOS, (ISOS), was tasked...

My granny made it through surgery and is doing well in recovery! I sent a private freepmail to a few friends and copied our wonderful prayer group leaders earlier asking for prayer. I shouldn't be amazed but I am about how many replies and wonderful, kind words y'all had for me. FReepers are truly the best! As I said, Granny is 98, but she's a spunky girl. In the recovery room, they asked her what her name is, etc. She answered everything correctly. Then they asked her who the president is. She said, "Obomber" and shook her head. Everybody laughed....

Discussing video of Sen. Ted Cruz’s father telling a crowd he wants to send President Barack Obama “back to Kenya,” former John McCain adviser Steve Schmidt says the GOP has some ideas about where the Texas senator can go. “A lot of Republicans I think tonight look at Ted Cruz and wish Ted Cruz would go back to Canada,” Schmidt said Thursday night on MSNBC’s “Last Word.” Schmidt was referencing the fact that Texas Republican was born in Canada, though experts say his American mother still makes him a natural citizen if he were to run for president. The Republican...