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he Super Bowl champion Patriots visited the White House on Thursday, but they did so without the player who was arguably the most important in getting them there. Quarterback Tom Brady did not join his teammates to meet with President Obama due to a prior family commitment, the Boston Globe's Ben Volin and others reported.

Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt, left, shakes hands with Pope Francis during their meeting in the Vatican on April 20, 2015. Pope Francis called on Christians to stand united with Jews to defend themselves against discrimination and persecution. The Pope made the call during a meeting with a 30-member delegation from the Conference of European Rabbis on Monday at the Vatican. The highest leader of the Catholic Church cited the "troubling" anti-Semitic movements in Europe, in his address to rabbis who met with him in anticipation of the 50th anniversary in October of the "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council's declaration on...

On Thursday, the State of Israel is celebrating her 67th birthday. Naturally, pro-Israel college students nationwide have organized celebratory gatherings – ranging from guest speakers to culturally (read: food) oriented events.On Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s campus, the planned celebration was not without controversy and dissent.On April 20th, the student group Palestine@MIT issued an “open letter” decrying an Israel Independence Day celebration scheduled to take place during SpringFest. Palestine@MIT went as far as to claim that the event makes them feel “unsafe.” The Israeli Independence Day raises politically sensitive questions given that it just so happens to represent the 1948 Palestinian...

Officers in Framingham, Mass. swarmed a home Tuesday morning with guns drawn, shouted for its residents to come out, searched inside — and then realized the bust was a bust. This home was the latest victim of "swatting," a prank where an anonymous caller tricks police into sending a heavy presence to a quiet home that has no crime happening inside. In this case, Framingham resident Irandi Waighe and her 96-year-old mother-in-law — who is a double amputee in a wheelchair — were the ones awakened to a false alarm. The call came in around 8 a.m. from a blocked...

In what would be a first-ever race pitting former secretaries of state, only Condoleezza Rice would beat Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa, according to a new poll that could put fire under a languishing "Draft Condi" movement. A new Townhall/Gravis Marketing poll found that Rice would beat Clinton in the state as every other Republican loses to the first Democrat to officially announce her candidacy. Condoleezza Rice and her successor at State, Hillary Clinton. In the poll, Rice would beat Clinton 43 percent to 40 percent, taking evangelical Protestants, Catholics and voters under 50 years old. "What this tells me...

"I supported you big time. I was the first liberal talker to support you. I've carried your water big time when it comes to health care, I've carried your water on the economy and defending your move on the automobile industry, but Mr. President, you can take shots at this network, but I guarantee you, you are wrong on this and you cannot prove to the American people," Schultz said. Video at link...

Vactor Philip Casnoff hadn't read the full script yet when he arrived for the first rehearsal of "Ferguson," a play chronicling the shooting of Michael Brown by a Missouri police officer. Casnoff thought he knew what the play, set for a four-day staged reading starting Sunday at the Odyssey Theater, would be about: the wilderness of testimony the grand jury navigated while investigating the day Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot the unarmed 18-year-old. Casnoff presumed a variety of viewpoints, the fog of truth. Then he read the script, which tells the story that Brown didn't have his hands up and...

If you have spent any time with Bill or Hillary Clinton in person, as this writer has, you’ll get this point: Whether you like or hate their politics, you cannot deny their brilliance. The former president is a phenomenal, freewheeling thinker, able to integrate knowledge from multiple sources with insight that puts him a level above the crowd. His spouse, the former senator and Secretary of State and probable presidential candidate, possesses a steely, directed brilliance that is in sharp contrast with her more extemporaneous husband. Even on their individual merits, were they not the most powerful political couple in...

Marco Rubio runs best against Hillary Clinton among all Republican 2016 contenders, according to a new Quinnipiac University national poll released Thursday. Clinton has a clear lead over all potential Republican opponents in prospective matchups, with the exception of Rubio, whom she leads by just 45 percent to 43 percent — within the margin of error. Story Continued Below . . The numbers suggest that the Florida senator has received a slight boost by formally entering the race. In March, before either Rubio or Clinton had officially announced their candidacy, 46 percent said they would back Clinton. When the question...

Dr. Phil stopped by Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday, April 22, where the two discussed Bruce Jenner's upcoming special with Diane Sawyer, and his gender transition from male to female. "I was wondering if it breaks your heart that Bruce Jenner is going to speak to Diane Sawyer on Friday night instead of coming to your show," Kimmel asked the talk show host. "It would be boring to talk to me about that," Dr. Phil replied. "First off, I would say, 'Look. If it's what you want to do... do it! What the hell's it matter what anybody else thinks?' That...

While the Democratic nomination is so far very much about one person – Hillary Clinton – the GOP contest is anything but. As Paul Koring reports, nearly all of the likely Republican candidates are political heavyweights with a real shot at the Oval Office.The Republican field vying for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination is as crowded and wide open as the Democratic lineup is scant and predictable. With three already declared candidates, three more probables poised to enter and a pack of hopefuls, long shots and returning also-rans, the Republican race will be hard-fought, chaotic and compelling. This field includes...

The Mark Levin Show is on-the-air: “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” -- Mark Levin in "Liberty and Tyranny". Welcome to “The Levin Lounge"... Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811.

Another Coyote Also Reported In Norwood, New JerseyCoyotes remained on the run Thursday in both the suburbs and city, and residents remained on edge as they were warned of possible danger. As CBS2’s Matt Kozar reported, at least one coyote has been spotted more than once now by CBS2 cameras running around Riverside Drive. CBS2 cameras captured the coyote at 4:45 a.m. at Riverside Drive and 96th Street, and then again around 5:38 a.m., CBS2’s Janelle Burrell reported. The second time, the coyote sprinted in front of Mobile 2 and scampered across the street toward Grant’s Tomb in Morningside Heights....

Crime, at its core, inflicts harm on the victim. As such, one of the primary purposes of the criminal justice system should be to repair the damage done by the crime and prevent further victimization by rehabilitating and holding accountable the offender. Yet, with the criminal justice system and reform dialogue so often focused on offenders and taxpayers, the needs of individual victims frequently go undiscussed. Although it is important to acknowledge the damage crime does to society at large, we must not forget the tremendous and often emotionally paralyzing impact crime has on the affected individuals. America’s criminal justice...

The carcass of a dead sperm whale that washed up on a beach in Pacifica was tagged with graffiti bearing the name of a local Bay Area gang. The graffiti, which spelled out "East Bay Rats Motorcycle Club" in what appeared to be white spray paint, was erased by Wednesday's high tide along the Sharp Park State Beach south of San Francisco. But photos posted online showed the graffiti scrawled across the whale's body. Several visitors to the beach told NBC Bay Area they deplored the action, with one visitor saying the whale's body should have been left to rest...

“I don’t want to be another rich, dead dude.” So said Frank Giustra, the billionaire Canadian philanthropist who recently received the Dalai Lama Humanitarian Award from the Dalai Lama himself. For the Hollywood Reporter, Giustra is the Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, which he founded 15 years ago or so. Moviegoers and TV watchers know Giustra, or rather Lionsgate, for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, The Hurt Locker, Juno, Monster’s Ball, Orange is the New Black, and Nurse Jackie. Undoubtedly, based on the award and the Hollywood Reporter headline, the group of online journals that have arisen lately to lionize big givers...

A study of the Bay Area region finds that San Francisco is becoming less diverse as surrounding counties increase multicultural populations. CityLab noted the study's starkest findings in the PolicyLink study: San Francisco is predicted to be the "whitest county" in the Bay Area by the year 2040. San Francisco is the only county in the Bay Area that is becoming less diverse; surrounding counties are becoming more diverse as soaring rent prices continue to drive people into other cities and towns. "It's startling because the city's diversity and identity as a progressive, inclusive city is seriously at-risk," Sarah Treuhaft,...

Wages of America's middle class have dropped below 1970s levels as immigration has surged 325 percent, according to a new congressional report that questions claims that native Americans are economically helped by greater immigration. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report studied immigration and middle class income from 1945-2013 and found that as immigration slowed between 1945 and 1970, American incomes increased. But when immigration expanded, the incomes of the bottom 90 percent of Americans went flat and then dropped beginning in 2000. In the report to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the CRS reported that the foreign-born population of the United...

The New England Patriots are visiting the White House today to receive congratulations from the president for their Super Bowl XLIX championship. But the team's victory lap in the nation's capital will come without their biggest star. Quarterback Tom Brady is snubbing President Barack Obama and won't be there. A spokesman for the team cited 'prior family commitments' as the reason Brady, 37, can't go. The superstar athlete has been to the White House before. He does have three other Super Bowl rings, afterall. But all the prior championships were under the Bush Administration. February's win was the first for...

Chelsea Clinton is opening up about life in the public eye, being a new mother and whether or not she would like to see her own mother become president in a new interview. Clinton, whose mother Hillary is expected to formally announce her presidential campaign this Sunday, said it is time the United States had a female leader. 'One of our core values in this country is that we are the land of equal opportunity, but when equal hasn't yet included gender, there is a fundamental challenge there that, I believe, having our first woman president—whenever that is—will help resolve,'...