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First there was Pizza Rat. Then there was Bagel Rat. Donut Rat even made an appearance one day. It seems the furry creatures can't get enough of New York's penchant for fast food. But New Yorkers aren't the only ones embracing a so-called 'New Year, New Me' health kick as Salad Rat has arrived on the scene. The healthy vermin was spotted hauling a salad bowl along subway tracks on Wednesday.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Of all the Democratic caucusgoers I spoke with in Iowa last week, not one told me his or her first choice was Joe Biden. Now I know why: there were never that many Biden supporters in Iowa to begin with.All of the caucus results might not be in yet, but we know enough to say with confidence that Biden’s campaign in Iowa collapsed. Despite leading in many state polls over the past year, he finished a distant fourth, barely clearing the 15 percent threshold for viability and, with 86 percent of precincts reporting as of...

Results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses were delayed by “quality control checks” on Monday night. Days later, quality control issues have not been resolved. The results released by the Iowa Democratic Party on Wednesday were riddled with inconsistencies and other flaws. According to a New York Times analysis, more than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, that were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of the Iowa caucuses. In some cases, vote tallies do not add up. In others, precincts are shown allotting the wrong number of delegates to certain candidates. And in...

My fellow taxpayers, this is your quarterly warning that Uncle Sam is not a good steward of your money. The Congressional Budget Office just released its most recent 10-year projections for federal spending and revenues. The picture is not pretty. A quick overview: This fiscal year, 2020, the federal government will collect $3.6 trillion in tax revenues. But due to its spending addiction, the government will expend $4.6 trillion. This means that the government will have to borrow $1 trillion this year alone, in order to cover a deficit of 4.6% of GDP. This is the first trillion-dollar deficit not...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., proved how divided the state of the union is by the "petty childish behavior" she exhibited after President Trump's address Tuesday night, former House speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday. Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade, Gingrich said he understands where the president is coming from when he snubs Pelosi. "Speaker Pelosi has attacked him for four solid months. She has called him the most vile names possible," he said. "You know, I introduced Bill Clinton four times when I was speaker of the House," Gingrich remarked, referring...

MIAMI (AP) — Six American oil executives under house arrest in Venezuela were rounded up by police hours after President Donald Trump met Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s chief opponent at the White House, according to family members of the men. Alirio Zambrano said early Thursday that the executives of Houston-based Citgo were abruptly taken from their homes last night by the SEBIN intelligence police. Zambrano, the brother of two of the six detained men, said their current whereabouts are unknown. “We demand to know they are safe but more importantly their freedom!” Zambrano said on social media, adding that he...

The University of Connecticut expelled a male student for an allegedly nonconsensual sexual encounter with a female student. But now a judge has issued a temporary restraining order to halt the student's removal, on the grounds that the university's investigation was wildly unfair. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has obtained a transcript of the court proceeding, which took place on January 23. As it shows, U.S. District Judge Michael Shea was especially perturbed that UConn did not interview key witnesses who would have undermined the accuser's credibility. "I am troubled by aspects of this procedure," said Shea,...

President Trump announced yesterday he would be delivering remarks from the White House today discussing the conclusion of the House impeachment effort. The anticipated start time is Noon today.

Just about every major movie release these days is scrutinized about whether or not it will feature an obvious LGBT character. Ever since the live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast,” and a bit before, Disney has been sprinkling LGBT characters generously across its film properties. Even the most recent installment of “Star Wars,” (now owned by Disney) features the franchise’s first, albeit strangely placed and obviously forced, same-sex kiss. And, Marvel Studios (also owned by, you guessed it, Disney) has joined the cause, including a gay character in its upcoming movie, “The Eternals.” The studio also recently announced a...

Latter-day Saints urge church to spread the word about manual’s mistake on race By Peggy Fletcher Stack Published: 5 days ago Updated: 3 days ago In a rare move, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has acknowledged an “error” in its 2020 Sunday school printed manual for members on the issue of race and corrected the mistaken commentary online.

Layoffs show no sign of rising despite slower economy The numbers: The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits at the end of January fell close to a postrecession low, signaling the U.S. labor market is still rock solid despite stiffer economic headwinds. Initial jobless claims declined by 15,000 to 202,000 in the seven days ended Feb. 1, the government said Thursday. The figures are seasonally adjusted. New unemployment applications are seen as a rough measure of how many people are losing their jobs. They touched a 50-year low of 193,000 in April 2019 and have hovered in the...

Anyone who has watched the English Parliament debate knows that -- ceremonial forms of address notwithstanding -- they can be a fairly raucous bunch, routinely shouting down opposing speakers, yelling out, "Hear, hear!" and even booing with some regularity. This includes events at which the prime minister speaks before Parliament. By contrast, debate in the United States Congress tends to be a comparatively staid and polite affair. (There have been notable exceptions. For example, in 1856, then-Rep. Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, assaulted then-Sen. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts, hitting him repeatedly in the head...

The U.S. government will spend more than half a million dollars to provide residents of a tiny, poverty-stricken African nation with condoms. The money, $700,000, will help fund a ( National Condom Strategy) launched by the Ministry of Health in Eswatini, a landlocked south African country smaller than New Jersey. Until recently Eswatini was known as Swaziland but its tyrannical ruler, King Mswati III, changed it so the country could ( break with its colonial past.)

On Wednesday evening, Republican congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida announced that he is filing an ethics complaint against Nancy Pelosi for her disgraceful stunt after President Trump finished his State of the Union address.“I’m filing an ethics complaint against @SpeakerPelosi for destroying @realDonaldTrump’s State of the Union speech,”  he wrote on Twitter. According to Gaetz, Nancy's behavior was a potential violation of 18 USC 2071. BREAKING: I'm filing an ethics complaint against @SpeakerPelosi for destroying @realDonaldTrump's State of the Union speech. Her conduct was beneath the dignity of the House, and a potential violation of law (18 USC 2071)....

Attorney General William Barr has issued a memo requiring the FBI to obtain approval from Barr himself before conducting any investigation into any 2020 presidential election candidate. “In certain cases, the existence of a federal criminal or counterintelligence investigation, if it becomes known to the public, may have unintended effects on our elections,” Barr wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the New York Times. The attorney general went on to emphasize that “we also must be sensitive to safeguarding the department’s reputation for fairness, neutrality and nonpartisanship.” The memo establishes certain requirements for the FBI and other agencies...

Last week, I received a phone call from a professor who teaches in another department here at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington (UNCW), where I have taught for the past 27 years. He was reporting a case of possible discrimination, which resulted in a professor being denied tenure thus losing his livelihood very soon. When I received the call, I immediately began asking questions to assess the validity of his concern. After just a few questions, I came across some information that will shock the conscience of any clear thinking, rational individual. By way of background information, professors...

Mitt Romney didn't just shoot inside the Grand Old Party's tent by voting for one article of impeachment against President Trump. The Utah senator became a heretic to the very people who once supported him, financially and electorally. The vote for conviction goes beyond mere policy disagreement, such as the proper tax rate for depreciation recapture. It goes beyond refusing to defend your party head. What Romney did was lob a M67 into the center of the Republican Party, intended for everyone from Ted Cruz to Susan Collins to lifelong GOP member Ethel Grannysmith in Boca Raton, before retreating to...

Breakthrough technologies such as carbon capture and hydrogen cannot be relied on to help the UK meet its climate change targets, a report says. The government had hoped that both technologies would contribute to emissions reductions required by 2050. They say the government must start a debate on other, controversial steps. These actions, which they say would need to be implemented in the near-term, include cutting down on flying and eating red meat. The report says: “Businesses and the public want to act to eliminate emissions, but exaggerated claims about the speed at which new technologies can be introduced are...

The Chinese doctor who tried to warn other medics about the coronavirus has died after contracting the infection in Wuhan. According to local media, Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist, died from the virus on Thursday. Global Times ✔ @globaltimesnews #Breaking: Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, one of the eight whistleblowers who tried to warn other medics of the #coronavirus outbreak but were reprimanded by local police, dies of coronavirus on Thursday in Wuhan, the Global Times has learned. View image on TwitterView image on Twitter 4,567 9:38 AM - Feb 6, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 5,705 people are talking...

A judge has overturned the convictions of four women who left water and other supplies for migrants in the deserts of Arizona. USA Today reported that the judge in Tucson, Ariz. reversed convictions for the four women, who are volunteers with a migrant advocacy group called No More Deaths and faced up to 6 months in prison and fines of $500. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez wrote that the government was stifling the women's religious beliefs by arresting them and charging them for providing humanitarian aid. "Defendants met their burden of establishing that their activities were exercises of their sincere...