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WASHINGTON (AP) -- A White House official dismissed a view expressed by Sen. John McCain about President Donald Trump's CIA nominee, saying Thursday at a staff meeting that "it doesn't matter" because "he's dying anyway," two people in the room told The Associated Press. Kelly Sadler was discussing McCain's opposition to Trump's pick for CIA director, Gina Haspel, when she made the comment, according to the two people, who described feeling shocked and stunned by the remark. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door communications staff meeting. The White House did not dispute the...

On Sunday, the Roman anti-Christ opened his mouth and inserted both feet as he displayed a profound ignorance of how the world actually works. On Sunday, he tweeted, "Do we really want peace? Then let’s ban all weapons so we don’t have to live in fear of war." Seriously, this is the most moronic thing someone could say. I say, "You first, Popey! Start with your own army and disarm them." Even if there was a declaration of banning every weapon, those weapons would still exist. They just don't disappear into thin air! Not that the Vatican wasn't heretical enough...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a tough crackdown on knives Sunday as the city reels from a spike in stabbings that have led its number of homicides to top New York City's for two straight months. He tweeted: “No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.” The tweet also included an action plan to boost police power and prevent future violenceLondon has seen more than 50 homicides already in 2018. Most of the city’s murder victims have been stabbed to death,...

Pope Francis is among those who did not learn history and so is destined to repeat it. That, or he is just another in a long line of papal antisemites. I think it’s the latter. Hitler’s Pope, Pope Pius XII, before and during the Nazi era, assisted in the legitimization of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany, through the pursuit of a Reichskonkordat (“Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich”) in 1933. How is this any different? Not only did the Vatican help to norm and mainstream Hitler in the early 30’s, their work with Nazis carried on...

In another interview with his longtime atheist friend, Eugenio Scalfari, Pope Francis claims that Hell does not exist and that condemned souls just "disappear." This is a denial of the 2,000-year-old teaching of the Catholic Church about the reality of Hell and the eternal existence of the soul. The interview between Scalfari and the Pope was published March 28, 2018 in La Repubblica. The relevant section on Hell was translated by the highly respected web log, Rorate Caeli. The interview is headlined, "The Pope: It is an honor to be called revolutionary." (Il Papa: “È un onore essere chiamato rivoluzionario.")...

One of President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics on Capitol Hill will address the country just after next Tuesday’s State of the Union. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, will speak at the top of a BET News special after Trump delivers the State of the Union, a BET spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. The program, “Angela Rye’s State of the Union,” is part of a broader partnership announced just days ago between the network and the Democratic strategist and political commentator. Rye will executive produce news programs with a sharp focus on issues facing black Americans. The programs will run quarterly,...

“Jingle Bells,” one of the most well-known Christmas carols in the world, is now being called racist. A Boston University theater professor claims the Christmas carol has a “problematic history” because it was originally performed to make fun of African Americans. “The legacy of ‘Jingle Bells’ is one where its blackface and racist origins have been subtly and systematically removed from its history,” Kyna Hamill, a BU theater historian, wrote in her “Theatre Survey” research paper on the story of “Jingle Bells.” “Although ‘One Horse Open Sleigh,’ for most of its singers and listeners, may have eluded its racialized past...

A pair of World War Two machine guns were among over 140 firearms handed in to police on the first week of the National Gun Surrender. The two weapons, which had been deactivated, were among five automatic guns handed in to the Metropolitan Police along with 31 shotguns, 11 pistols, 10 handguns, nine revolvers and six rifles. Some 3,859 rounds of ammunition were also handed in, as well as 48 air weapons, to the Met. The national gun surrender drive was launched on November 13 and ends on Sunday. Detective Superintendent Mike Balcombe, of the Met’s Trident and Area Crime...

An edict announced Monday by the militia's supreme leader, Mulla Mohammad Omar, calling for the destruction of all statues in line with "Islamic" laws, has caused shock around the world. Afghanistan is home to an array of pre-Islamic historic treasures from its days as a key stop on the ancient Silk Road and a strategic battleground for conquerers dating back to Alexander the Great and the Aryans before him. The two massive Bamiyan Buddhas, carved into a sandstone cliff near the provincial capital in central Afghanistan, stand 50 meters (165 feet) and 34.5 meters (114 feet) tall and were built...

A GUNMAN who shot dead five people and injured eight others at a Florida airport “had walked into an FBI office claiming he was being forced to fight for ISIS”. Esteban Santiago, the prime suspect in the mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale airport’s baggage reclaim, spoke to authorities about the terror group in November. He told officials he was hearing voices in his head, some of which were telling him to join ISIS and watch their videos, and was taken to hospital for a mental health evaluation. Santiago, who also told the FBI the government controlled his mind, gunned down...

In a move that will likely be overturned promptly by the administration of Donald Trump, president Obama on Tuesday formally blocked offshore oil and gas drilling in most of the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, responding to a call from environmentalists who say the government needs to do more to prevent drilling in environmentally sensitive areas of U.S.-controlled oceans. The president had been expected to take the action by invoking a provision in a 1953 law that governs Outer Continental Shelf offshore leases, and he did just that to block drilling in federal waters in the Arctic's Chukchi Sea and most...

President Obama is dishing out a much rockier transfer of power to Donald Trump than he received from his predecessor eight years ago, from accusing the president-elect of being aided by Russian hackers to first lady Michelle Obama’s complaint that the nation has lost hope. Despite pledging a “smooth and efficient” transition on the day after Mr. Trump’s victory, Mr. Obama has presided over an increasingly acrimonious war of words between the White House and the president-elect’s team. The awkward transfer of power stands in stark contrast to the cooperative atmosphere fostered by Republican George W. Bush’s White House in...

Senate Democrats are eager to make Donald Trump pay a political price for nominating staunch conservatives to fill out his Cabinet, hoping to exact revenge for the GOP's stubborn opposition to President Barack Obama's nominees. But there is little they can do about it -- and some top Democrats are now coming to regret it. That's because Senate Democrats muscled through an unprecedented rules change in 2013 to weaken the power of the minority party to filibuster Cabinet-level appointees and most judicial nominees, now setting the threshold at 51 votes -- rather than 60 -- to overcome tactics aimed at...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis warned against what he called a "virus of polarization" and hostility in the world targeting people with different nationalities, races or beliefs, as he led a ceremony Saturday giving the Roman Catholic Church 17 new cardinals from six continents. The consistory ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica formally inducted the churchmen into the cardinals' ranks. Francis used his homily to caution the new "princes of the church," as cardinals are sometimes called, to guard against animosity creeping into the church as well, saying "we are not immune from this." The pope spoke of "our pitiful...

Dear UT Community, I would like to address a topic I know is on everyone’s minds — last week’s election, and the university’s efforts to support students, faculty and staff members of all political affiliations who are reacting to the election in a range of ways. Since the election, my leadership team has had extensive discussions about our efforts as a campus community. The results of the election took many across the country, including on campus, by surprise. While many are celebrating the outcome, others are profoundly disturbed by it. Some heard the rhetoric of the campaign and fear they...

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell mostly made nice with Trump but also shot down or expressed little enthusiasm in some of his plans. On Trump's proposal to impose term limits on Congress, McConnell said, "It will not be on the agenda in the Senate." McConnell has been a long-standing opponent of term limits, as NPR's Susan Davis reports. "I would say we have term limits now — they're called elections." McConnell also threw some cold water on Trump's infrastructure plans, calling it not a top priority. McConnell did say repealing Obamacare is a "pretty high item on our...

Kellyanne Conway’s real house in Alpine, New Jersey, looks eerily like the one NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” imagined in a parody earlier this month. The bit fantasized what a day off would be like for her — rollerblading, painting, doing yoga — only to be constantly interrupted by demands for television appearances so that she can try to explain fictitious off-the-wall comments from her boss. In the few short months since becoming Trump’s campaign manager, Conway has become a constant fixture on television — laying out his agenda, talking points and often trying to smooth over Trump controversies. In dedicating...

I live in a Republican dominated suburb of the great State of Texas and never saw a Trump/Pence 2016 yard sign. I never saw a Trump/Pence bumper sticker. Were we all Deplorables and not advertising the fact? The quiet majority that stayed hidden this election season.

The pop star furiously jiggled and gyrated on stage at a rally in support of the Democrat candidate in Miami yesterday. Hillary enlisted the help of scantily clad pop star Jennifer Lopez to drum up support for her campaign. The singer got down low on stage at the event in Miami, Florida. The FBI announced this week that it was launching a controversial new probe into the US presidential hopeful’s use of private emails. But J-Lo appeared to ignore Hillary’s mantra of “If they go low, you go high” – getting down and dirty in an outfit that left little...

Donald Trump vowed Saturday to sue every woman who has accused him of sexual assault or other inappropriate behavior, as an adult film star claimed publicly that the Republican presidential nominee offered her $10,000 for sex 10 years ago.