Free Republic

CNN: Top U.S. Officials Say Fall of Kobani Would Be 'Not a Big Concern to Us' By Jillian Kay Melchior The fight Kobani is becoming increasingly desperate for the Kurdish troops trying to prevent the Syrian border town from falling into the hands of the Islamic State, CNN reports now: The key Syrian border city of Kobani will soon fall to the Islamist terror group ISIS, several senior U.S. administration officials said. They downplayed the importance of it, saying Kobani is not a major U.S. concern. But a look at the city shows why it would mark an important strategic...

Mayor Bloomberg's popularity rating has dropped to its lowest level in five years, in part because of his ardent defense of a proposed mosque several blocks from Ground Zero, according to a poll released yesterday. New Yorkers' approval of their third-term mayor (pictured) dipped to 49 percent, down from 56 percent in April, as 53 percent of those surveyed said they disagree with his position on the mosque, according to the Marist survey. "The mosque is not doing him any good . . . He's certainly on the wrong side of public opinion on that in the city," said pollster...

A new poll finds that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approval rating has dipped below 50 percent for the first time in five years. The Marist College survey was released Tuesday. It found that 49 percent of registered New York City voters think the billionaire mayor is doing either an excellent or good job. The poll said 33 percent rate him as doing a fair job, 16 percent said poor and 2 percent weren’t sure. The last time Marist asked this question, in April, 56 percent of voters rated him excellent or good.