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In the hours that followed, Hicks says, the Libyan military agreed to fly a C-130 from Tripoli to Benghazi in the early morning hours of September 12 – a flight that was to include a second team of Special Operations soldiers – dispatched from the Libyan capital to join a team sent earlier to Benghazi. But as those reinforcements were leaving for the flight, they were told to stand down. Hicks received the news in an early morning phone call from a top military commander in the region. “So Lieutenant Colonel Gibson, who is the SOCAFRICA commander, his team, you...

Master etymologist Gerald Cohen knows how jazz got its name, why they’re called hot dogs, and much moreOut in the wilds of western Missouri, in Rolla, which is not far from the tornado-devastated town of Joplin, lives a scholar who has made etymology his life’s work. He is Gerald Leonard Cohen, professor in the department of arts, languages, and philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and grand impresario of American etymologists—as well as the world’s leading corraler of language historians, who often join him in tackling some of the most challenging puzzles of word origins. Cohen does...

The president of St. John’s University, Father Donald Harrington, will announce his retirement this afternoon. The news comes in the midst of an investigation into the conduct of both Harrington and his chief of staff, Rob Wile, after allegations of corruption and misuse of university finances. Wile will resign effective June 30, according to sources. "The difficulties for everyone during the past year have convinced me, after much prayer and reflection, that the time to leave the presidency has now come," Harrington wrote in an internal communication to the St. John’s community. The dual departures follow a series of New...

Fox News has revealed the names of the Benghazi whistleblowers from the State Department who will testify at a special hearing of the Oversight Committee on Wednesday: Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agencyÂ’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the...

The U.S. military could have prevented one wave of the deadly attack on American personnel in Benghazi if fighter jets had been promptly deployed, a top diplomatic official who was in Benghazi during the Sept. 11 assault told congressional investigators. The account, contained in a transcript obtained by Fox News, was given by Gregory Hicks during an interview last month with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Hicks, a whistle-blower who is preparing to testify Wednesday before that committee, was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya -- after Ambassador Chris Stevens

<p>The FBI has taken into custody a Minnesota man who was believed to be plotting a terrorist attack. Buford Rogers, 24, of Montevideo, was arrested Friday after authorities searched his home and found guns and explosive devices, according to an FBI news release.</p>

Quincy, Illinois, Tea Party activist Chip Gerdes passed away early this morning after suffering a heart attack. He leaves behind a wife and daughter. Tea Partyers across the Twittersphere are mourning his untimely death and paying their respects to their friend and fellow happy warrior:

WORCESTER — The distraught mother of Boston Marathon bombing mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev wants his body sent home to Russia, the funeral director caring for the remains said today. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva called Peter A. Stefan “in tears” yesterday afternoon, said Stefan, whose Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlor has been seeking a Massachusetts cemetery that will accept Tsarnaev’s body since Friday. “The woman was in tears,” Stefan said. “She just said, ‘It would be nice if you could get him home.’ She’d love to have him back there, obviously. Regardless of what he did, she’s still his mother. What are you...

I have a piece going up later today over at CNN.com on the NRA convention, but there's something I raise there that I want to elaborate on. If you look at the list of Republican politicians who spoke to the assembled firearm enthusiasts, it wasn't exactly the A-team. Last year Mitt Romney showed up, but this year they had failed presidential candidate Rick Santorum, failed presidential candidate Rick Perry, universally disliked freshman senator Ted Cruz, currently unpopular Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, and former half-term governor and current punch line Sarah Palin. Every one of them would like to be president...

Did you hear that? The shotgun blast heard ‘round the world? It happened when A&E Network’s hit reality TV show Duck Dynasty reached over 8 million viewers in its season premiere. Like any gunshot, it got my attention. I tuned in to see what all the fuss is about and am now hopelessly hooked on this revolutionary bit of televised perfection. I quickly discovered that Duck Dynasty has very little to do with ducks or duck hunting, and everything to do with traditional American values and the current American condition.Like all great television, Duck Dynasty works because it follows...

During oral arguments on Prop 8, Justice Kennedy alluded to the views of children of same-sex couples as if their desires and concerns are identical to and uncritical of their parents’ decisions. But the reality is far more complicated. During the oral arguments about Proposition 8, Justice Anthony Kennedy referred to children being raised by same-sex couples. Since I was one of those children—from ages 2-19, I was raised by a lesbian mother with the help of her partner—I was curious to see what he would say. (snip) I have heard of the supposed “consensus” on the soundness of same-sex...

Syrian state TV announced today that President Bashar al-Assad was activating Palestinian groups to retaliate against Israel. Al-Ikhbariya announced that the government had given a green light to Palestinian groups to conduct “operations” against Israeli targets on the Golan Heights. Hezbollah-linked media, meanwhile, reported that Lebanon and Syria had established “popular committees” ready to fight Israel in the region.

No matter what happens with Darrell Issa’s congressional committee meetings this week, we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Obama administration, and the cause is Benghazi. It’s impossible to overestimate the blowback that has been gathering steam for the past seven months, now about to erupt with full force. Few reputations will emerge unscathed, Obama’s presidency will be crippled, Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 candidacy will be destroyed — and perhaps some new heroes will be born. My New York Post column on Friday, which was also linked at RealClearPolitics, sets the stage: On Wednesday, the FBI released photos...

Dan Savage is an author, advice columnist, and founder of It Gets Better, an anti-bullying project. If you’ve ever seen one of those videos of a celebrity telling gay teens “it gets better,” that was Dan’s idea. A noble goal, to be sure. But when he says things like this, it makes me wonder just how noble he is: Woke up to Sarah Palin’s voice. She’s taken up chewing tobacco now cuz LIBRULS or Bloomberg or something. Now seeing upside of oral cancers. — Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) May 4, 2013 And yes, that’s the real Dan Savage. His Twitter handle...

Full title - "Report: Nearby US special forces blocked during Benghazi attack, told ‘you don’t have authority to go’" As the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya raged on for more than seven hours, a team of U.S. special forces in Tripoli was blocked from flying in to attempt a rescue, according to a top American diplomat who was in the region. In previously secret testimony given by Gregory Hicks — the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya — to congressional investigators last month, Hicks revealed two possible...

Kampala - A popular Ugandan priest has been ostracized from the Catholic Church after exposing what he calls an 'open secret'-- the rampant sexual abuse of children by clergy members. Earlier this year, Ghanian cardinal and papal candidate Peter Turkson raised eyebrows when he told CNN that the international clergy sex abuse scandal couldn't happen in Africa because "African traditional systems kind of protect... its population against this tendency" and "in Africa homosexuality... [is] not countenanced in our society." But one African priest strongly disagrees. Anthony Musaala, a gospel music star known as the "Dancing Priest," has been publicizing sex...

The Center for American Progress says the Senate’s pending immigration bill will help legalize 32.5 million migrants over the next 10 years. The estimate is only slightly less than the initial 33.5 million estimate prepared by NumbersUSA, which opposes the bill. Both groups produced similar estimates, but couched them very differently, for very different political purposes. The NumbersUSA group said their estimates were cautious, while the Center for American Progress (CAP) group said their April 30 study shows the Senate bill will actually reduce the current inflow of immigrants. Their similar estimates match the May 3 prediction of a 32.7...

Al Gore will always be known for suffering one of the most gut-wrenching losses in Electoral College history, but at least he's found a very nice way to cushion the blow. Instead, of spending eight years dealing with the worst problems the world can throw you, in the years since he became Almost-President, Gore has slowly amassed a personal fortune to rival another famous presidential loser.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon repeatedly denied knowing anything about Missouri illegally sharing its citizens private CCW information with the federal government, even after his own head of Missouri Highway Patrol contradicted him in a public hearing.

A former FBI counterterrorism agent has hinted at a vast and intrusive surveillance network used by the U.S. government to monitor its own citizens. Tim Clemente admitted as much when he appeared on CNN Wednesday night. Discussing the Boston Marathon attack and past telephone conversations of Katherine Russell and her now deceased husband, suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Clemente said that those conversations would be available to investigators. Clemente discussed the issue in this exchange with host Erin Burnett, as recorded by the CNN transcript...