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When the Clintons last occupied the White House, Sidney Blumenthal cast himself in varied roles: speechwriter, in-house intellectual and press corps whisperer. Republicans added another, accusing Mr. Blumenthal of spreading gossip to discredit Republican investigators, and forced him to testify during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. Now, as Hillary Rodham Clinton embarks on her second presidential bid, Mr. Blumenthal’s service to the Clintons is again under the spotlight. Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican who is leading the congressional committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, plans to subpoena Mr. Blumenthal, 66, for a private transcribed interview....

CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt confronts men who bombarded her with vulgarity at Sunday's TFC game. Update: The moron in the yellow shirt got fired from his job today.

An armed group battling Macedonian police over the weekend left 22 people dead and aimed to destabilize the country with terror attacks, the country's president declared Sunday in a nationwide television address. ... "Police have prevented coordinated terrorist attacks at different locations in the country that would cause serious destabilization, chaos and fear," Ivanov said. "The members of the group are extremists and criminals with remarkable military training and skills. That's why we have paid such a high price with the loss of lives." The attacks left at least 22 people dead, including eight police and 14 attackers Interior Ministry...

Astrophysicist and cosmologist Neil DeGrasse Tyson is defending Scientology in light of HBO's highly critical documentary on the church. HBO's documentary "Going Clear" did not show the church in an entirely positive light — Scientology has a built a reputation for tormenting members who leave it either by surveillance or harassment. The film highlights the celebrities who made the religion intriguing to the world as well as the horrific stories of abuse from former members. But Tyson, in an interview with The Daily Beast, declined to bash the controversial church, saying people are free to believe whatever they want. "So,...

<p>Hillary Clinton isn't accused of doing anything illegal in the Gawker stories. And Blumenthal's advocacy appears to have been pretty tame, consisting of passing on the statements of a third individual who, it was acknowledged openly, worked for Ivanishvili. But the White House, as Gawker notes, had rejected Clinton's efforts to hire Blumenthal in an official capacity. So you have the Secretary of State using an off-books email account to discuss national policy with someone who wasn't a government employee, was known to be disliked by the president's staff, and who might have been violating an actual law by participating in the conversation. That's probably not something Clinton is going to brag about in campaign commercials. It's also exactly the kind of foreign entanglement that critics have warned she is susceptible to—of being unduly influenced by financial connections, via the Clinton Foundation, to foreign interests. Blumenthal is a longtime Clinton-family ally and appears to have described himself as an adviser to the Clinton Foundation on more than one occasion.</p>

Alabama's first openly gay state lawmaker threatened to "out" fellow elected officials engaged in extramarital affairs, especially those that champion family values and traditional marriage. State Rep. Patricia Todd's (D-Birmingham) ire came to a boil after several state officials reacted negatively to a recent federal ruling that declared Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard called the ruling "outrageous" and said that the will of 80% of Alabama citizens who voted in 2006 to define marriage as between a man and a woman has been overturned by the act of "a single unelected and unaccountable federal...

The door is firmly shut to Bill Cosby's return to NBC, the network's top entertainment executive said Friday. 'That's safe to say,' NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said Friday when asked if the network would ever again do a project with Cosby, who 30 years ago was the sitcom king with the network's 'The Cosby Show.' NBC's decision to sever ties with the 77-year-old comedian comes in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual assault against him, two lawsuits and a complaint to Los Angeles police earlier this week from a woman who says the comedian sexually abused her in...

One of the secular left’s latest windmills at which to tilt is America’s fanciful “rape culture.” There is a universal ethos of violence against women, as they imagine it, that stems from a millennia-old global patriarchy chiefly derived from religion in general and Judeo-Christianity in particular (another of their pet nemeses). Paradoxically, these “progressive” Don Quixotes actually believe in said “rape culture,” something that, outside of Islam, does not exist, while they disbelieve in their Creator, Christ Jesus, who both did and does exist. Exhibit A, of course, is the now-debunked UVA fraternity gang-rape hoax concocted in the disturbed minds...

Five years earlier, after an actress on Mr. Cosby’s TV series “Cosby” told the police that he had tried to put her hand down his sweatpants at his New York townhouse, Mr. Cosby’s lawyers threatened The National Enquirer with a $250 million defamation suit for publishing detailed comments about the incident by the woman’s relatives.

This may seem to be a rather obscure topic, but it popped up while I was reading Helen Smith’s musings on whether or not pornography should be made illegal and the long term, detrimental effects that it can have on marriage. As a subset of that discussion, she touched on David Friedman’s book, Law’s Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters. In it, Friedman makes the following observation on prostitution in general and the specific side effects it can have when married men pay for sex outside of marriage. (I specify “men” here only because...

Defense: China has just tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver up to 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads, using technology given to them on President Clinton's watch to launch communications satellites. The Dec. 13 test of the DF-41 was the third for the new weapon. But it marked the first test of a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, or MIRV, technology and raises by an order of magnitude the nuclear threat to the U.S. as China continues its massive arms buildup. And disturbingly, the threat is in large part of our own making. "The DF-4, which could be...

...In the midst of the summit, Clinton touched briefly on US-Cuba relations, telling CBS4’s news partner the Miami Herald, he believes the embargo could be lifted if Cuba released USAID subcontractor Alan Gross, who’s serving out a 15 year sentence on the island. Following the daylong meeting, Clinton and his wife Hillary were the guests of honor at a fundraiser at the Star Island home of Gloria and Emilio Estefan. “President Clinton, when he left office in 2001, still thought he hadn’t done enough, and thought as a private citizen he would like to do what he can,” Gloria Estefan...

BEIJING — China's new stealth fighter could certainly "take down" its opponent in the sky, the president of China's top aircraft maker said on Tuesday, referring to its U.S.-made counterpart. Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), which developed the J-31 stealth fighter, made the remarks in an interview on state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). "When it takes to the sky, it can definitely take it down," he said, in a reference to the U.S.-made F-35. "That's a certainty." Lin also emphasized the company's desire to compete with the United States in new markets, particularly countries...

According to Robert Christy at zarya.info, the Yaogan satellites are imaging satellites “with a government or military purpose. Some seem to carry optical payloads and others carry radar. There are also some launches into orbits very like the US NOSS satellites.” ... There have been 24 launches of these satellites since 2006, with one launching as recently as November 20, 2014. Four of the launches were for “triplets” of these satellites.

The inappropriate sexual relationship between Molly Shattuck, the 47-year-old former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader, and a 15-year-old boy which has lead to the mother-of-three being charged with third-degree rape was instigated by her own son, police have revealed. According to Delaware State Police, it was one of Shattuck’s own children who urged the unnamed victim to text his mom because ‘she is obsessed with you’ after spotting photos of the teen on Instagram.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Shocked and offended by explicit questions, some U.S. servicemen and women are complaining about a new sexual-assault survey that hundreds of thousands have been asked to complete.</p> <p>The survey is conducted every two years. But this year's version, developed by the Rand Corp., is unusually detailed, including graphically personal questions on sexual acts.</p>

FULL TITLE: Two boys, 13 and 14, 'raped two sixth-grade girls for hours in the auditorium of their Bronx middle school' A 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy have been arrested for raping two sixth-grade girls for nearly two hours in the auditorium of their middle school, police have said. The two young girls, who are just 12 and 13, were lured into the area at the Urban Science Academy in the Bronx on October 16 and attacked for at least two class periods, officials said. Although the students were missing from class for hours, no teacher or security officer...

A couple long-time friends and readers brought this to my attention from 1994:In a city where name recognition is synonymous with success, Ron Klain has made a virtue of being unknown. As Attorney General Janet Reno’s chief of staff, he is all but invisible to the public but recognized in Democratic circles as the man to have on your side in a political or legal fight. A rare mix of top-flight lawyer and savvy politician, Klain shepherded the nominations of Reno and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg through the Senate and steered the omnibus crime bill through the...

Leading astrologers say that Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky is destined for a future working on social justice and will enjoy a strong relationship with her proud grandparents, Hillary and Bill. After Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinsky’s daughter was born at 7:03 pm at Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Friday, POLITICO asked astrologers to weigh in on what is written in the stars for the former first daughter’s first daughter.

The powerful reaction to Ray Rice’s elevator assault against his then-fiancé raises an awkward question for the media and feminist groups. Where were they when news came out that Juanita Broderick was assaulted by Bill Clinton, and advised to “put some ice on it.”? The list of women abused by Clinton is long, and includes Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and the young star-struck intern Monica Lewinsky. Yet Bill Clinton remains a revered figure in Democrat circles, just yesterday lionized in Iowa as his wife made a “will I or won’t I?” appearance at a political event.