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The son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is among 19 Americans being referred to criminal trial for allegedly receiving foreign funds illegally and being involved in banned activity in Egypt, several news agencies reported Sunday. In all, Egyptian officials say 44 non-governmental organization workers will be put before the court after investigating judges claimed they had reason to try the democracy and rights workers. The move is likely to further sour relations between Egypt's military rulers and the United States, the Arab nation's chief western backer for more than 30 years. The decision came just after Secretary of State Hillary...

Ignoring a U.S. threat to cut off aid, Egypt on Sunday referred 19 Americans and 24 other employees of nonprofit groups to trial before a criminal court on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country.

Four Jewish pilgrims from the United States were arrested before dawn on Friday in Shechem as they sought to pray at Joseph's Tomb. The four, associated with the Bratslav Hassidic group were confronted at gunpoint by Palestinian Authority police and taken into custody before reaching the grave site. They were handed over to Israeli police and taken to the Ariel police station. "Americans are allowed to stay in Nablus and their summary arrest is a violation of international law," a friend of the four detainees said. .....

More than one in five older Americans skimp on health care to save money, says the Employee Benefit Research Group. A significant number of Americans over the age of 50 skip medication or postpone doctors’ appointments to save money, according to a recent report by the EBRI, a private, nonprofit research institute based in Washington. According to the study, 21.5% cut down on their prescription drugs, switched to cheaper drugs or got free samples, and 19.4% skipped or postponed doctor appointments. An even larger number, 27.5 %, reported having difficulty paying their monthly bills. “We know that consumption tends to...

Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama's ReelectionJanuary 9, 2012 When it comes to how Americans view President Obama going into the new year, there appears to be very little spirit of Auld Lang Syne. Instead, according to the new Washington Whispers poll, many voters aren't forgetting what they dislike about Obama and want him out office. In our New Year's poll, when asked what news event they fear most about 2012, Americans by a margin of two-to-one said Obama's reelection. Only 16 percent said they fear the Democrat won't win a second term, while 33 percent said they fear four more...

In recent days, in the midst of people of different faiths celebrating the religious High Holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah, there have been extraordinarily brutal mob frenzies over the chance to buy assorted products. People have been beaten and killed in the pursuit of the most insignificant of material items. I have heard many different explanations. Of course, I prefer my own. “We The People” have let the individual down. “We The People” have allowed the lives of the everyday citizen of America to become valueless. The beauty of the American experiment is that as equals, we could live completely...

A Peculiar People February 3, 2009 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 Obama ends ban on U.S. funds to aid abortions WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that...

Many in U.S. Are Arrested by Age 23, Study FindsBy ERICA GOODE Published: December 19, 2011 By age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime, according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life. The study, the first since the 1960s to look at the arrest histories of a national sample of adolescents and young adults over time, found that 30.2 percent of the 23-year-olds who participated reported having been arrested for an offense other than a minor traffic violation. That figure...

A recent vacation in Mexico turned into a nightmare for a 79-year-old Illinois man. But it wasn't a devastating bus crash that almost killed U.S.-born Alfonso Acosta. It was his stay in one of Mexico's government-run hospitals. According to a harrowing account in the Quad-City Times, a daily newspaper, Acosta suffered a "major head injury, multiple facial fractures, broken ribs and a punctured lung." Yet for five weeks he lay "virtually untreated" at the hospital where he was taken in Toluca, about 40 miles southwest from Mexico City, say outraged family members in the United States who rushed to his...

Sen. Boxer: GOP bill will kill 8,100 AmericansBy C.J. Ciaramella | The Daily Caller – 17 hrs ago **SNIP** “They have attached a poison pill — literally, colleagues — because it will kill 8,100 more people more than would have otherwise been killed from pollution,” Boxer said. “They attach that to the payroll tax cut. So have that for a Christmas gift.” “We have asked for a lot from Santa in our day but we have never asked for lead, arsenic and mercury,” Boxer concluded.

Americans' hostility toward members of Congress is at a record high, a new Gallup Poll found. Seventy-six percent of those surveyed said most representatives do not deserve to be reelected, the highest number in the 19 years Gallup has asked the question and six points higher than in August, just after the contentious debate over raising the debt ceiling. Only 20% said most members should be reelected, a record low. "If voters' current sentiments toward Congress prevail through next November's election, it is possible that control of the House would flip back to the Democrats," wrote Frank Newport, editor in...

<p>Question: When the Libyan "military" comes to US staff colleges -- a real possibility-- do they get to bring their flags of al Qaeda with them?</p> <p>This is a joke, right? I'm dreaming, aren't I? Either give me a pitchfork, or wake me up when it's over.</p>

(CBS/AP) BEIRUT - The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria. "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," said a statement issued to the American community in Syria Wednesday and posted on the Embassy's website. "The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly since the summer, while many of those airlines remaining have reduced their number of flights." The warning followed...

For some reason, Barack Obama has decided that part of his path to re-election will involve blaming his failures on the American people, who can be insulted into loving him again. This narrative involves convincing us that the American spirit was so degenerate by 2008 that not even the dazzling skills of the LIghtworker could save us… at least, not in a mere four years. In September, Obama declared that it was his unhappy duty to preside over “a great, great country that has gotten a little soft, and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over...

For some reason, Barack Obama has decided that part of his path to re-election will involve blaming his failures on the American people, who can be insulted into loving him again. This narrative involves convincing us that the American spirit was so degenerate by 2008 that not even the dazzling skills of the LIghtworker could save us… at least, not in a mere four years. In September, Obama declared that it was his unhappy duty to preside over “a great, great country that has gotten a little soft, and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over...

A growing number of Americans is thinking about turning expat, according to a survey by America Wave and Zogby International. The share of Americans planning to relocate increased to 2.5 percent from 0.8 percent in 2009. If this number describes the entire population, that means around 6 million Americans are planning on leaving the country. America Wave's Bob Adams (a Business Insider contributor) found that single people, political conservatives and men were more likely to be in this group.

New Americans are sworn in at ceremony celebrating Statue of Liberty's 125th anniversaryArticle by: KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Updated: October 28, 2011 - 9:02 AM NEW YORK - A total of 125 immigrants from 46 countries have been sworn in as United States citizens at a ceremony marking the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. **SNIP** Lady Liberty is getting a high-tech uplift for her birthday. Internet-connected cameras on her torch that will let viewers gaze out at New York Harbor or see visitors on the grounds below.

As the world population reaches seven billion people, the BBC's Mike Gallagher asks whether efforts to control population have been, as some critics claim, a form of authoritarian control over the world's poorest citizens.> In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson warned that the US might be overwhelmed by desperate masses, and he made US foreign aid dependent on countries adopting family planning programmes. Other wealthy countries such as Japan, Sweden and the UK also began to devote large amounts of money to reducing Third World birth rates. > Meanwhile, Paul Ehrlich has also amended his view of the issue. If he...

Here is a message for those nonunion folks who are looking for jobs: Don’t expect any help from President Obama. If there is any doubt about this, just examine the record. Starting with the president’s pending $447 billion “jobs” bill, Mr. Obama himself has repeatedly stated that his plan is to keep teachers, policemen and firefighters on the job and to provide money to put construction people to work. Now just what do these folks have in common? If you have not guessed it, they are all union members. As noted by The Washington Times in an Oct. 18 editorial...

<p>“I think the downturn in the economy occurred in the year 2000,” Paul told CNN, adding that there have been no new jobs since then “and yet we’ve had a 30 million increase in population.”</p> <p>“Just go out and talk to the people – unemployment rate in the true numbers (is) over 20%, so there’s been a depression,” Paul said after an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”</p>

However, the judge would not rule that the plaintiffs have any Constitutional rights to own a dairy cow, consume milk from their own cow, board a cow at the farm of another farmer, or produce and consume the foods of their choice.

U.S. actor Sean Penn engaged in attempts to secure the release of two Americans freed by Iran this week, flying to Venezuela to ask President Hugo Chavez to intervene with Iran's leader, a source close to the release process said on Friday. Since Tehran freed Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer on Wednesday details have emerged about the efforts to win their freedom, which involved the United Nations, Iraq and Oman - as well as Chavez, who is a fiery critic of the United States. Venezuela's deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that Chavez brought up the case with his Iranian...

The number of Americans in poverty has jumped to an incredible 27-year high, with almost one in six people now falling into the bracket. More than 46 million people, or 15 per cent, are in poverty - which is up from 44 million, or 14 per cent, in 2009, the Census Bureau said. The report highlights the huge economic challenges facing President Barack Obama and Congress as they battle to save the U.S. economy.

<p>Christina Romer, the University of California at Berkeley economics professor and President Obama's first chief economist, once relayed the old joke that "there are two kinds of students: those who hate economics and those who really hate economics." She doesn't believe that, but it's true. I'm surprised how many students tell me economics is their least favorite subject. Why? Because too often economic theories defy common sense. Alas, the policies of this administration haven't boosted the profession's reputation.</p>

Eighty percent of Muslim Americans approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president, according to a newly released survey conducted by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, a partnership between Gallup and the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi. According to the survey, 65 percent of Jewish Americans approve of the job Obama is doing; 60 percent of atheists, agnostics, and those of no religion approve; 50 percent of Catholics approve; 37 percent of Protestants approve and 25 percent of Mormons approve.

WASHINGTON — The State Department is urging Americans in Syria to leave the besieged country immediately while commercial transportation is still available. The Syrian government is clamping down on a rebellion in the city of Hama, the center of anti-government activity. Thousands of protesters across the country are marching, demanding solidarity with the people of Hama and demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad. On Friday, the State Department urged U.S. citizens who must remain in Syria to limit travel and warned U.S. citizens not in the country to avoid traveling there for now.

Some liberals inform us that conservative criticism of President Barack Obama is racially motivated, which is why they would no doubt be surprised that conservatives gathered in Denver recently gave some of their loudest cheers for presidential aspirant Herman Cain. Did they not notice he was black? Of course they did, but it didn’t matter. By the calculations of my own internal applause meter, they were at least meagerly less enthusiastic about the speeches of white Republican candidate Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and white Texas governor Rick Perry, whose hints he’ll run are about as subtle as his state is...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans cut their spending in June for the first time in nearly two years after seeing their incomes grow by the smallest amount in nine months. The latest data offered a troubling sign for an economy that is adding few jobs and barely growing. Consumer spending dropped 0.2 percent in June, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was the first decline since September 2009. Some of the decline was the result of food and energy prices moderating after sharp increases earlier this year. When excluding spending on those items, consumer spending was flat. Still, consumers also cut...

President Barack Obama alienated 37,00 twitter followers last night with scores of tweets urging followers to contact their local Congressman over the debt deal. With his approval rating sitting at an all-time low of 40 per cent amidst the debt crisis, tens of thousands of Americans unfollwed the President to avoid the deulge. The president’s staff sent a total of 118 tweets asking his followers to write their Republican lawmakers to demand a compromise on debt legislation. The first tweet read: 'The time for putting party first is over. If you want to see a bipartisan #compromise, let Congress know....

Harry Reid ‘Tea Party Aren’t Real Americans’??On July 27, 2011 by velvethammer

Americans sweltered today in the scorching heat in what was officially the hottest day of the year in scores of cities across the country. The heatwave covered a million square miles, affecting 141million Americans. New York's Manhattan experienced the hottest ever July 22 recorded, with an overwhelming 104-degree temperature in Central Park. The Washington DC region continued to be smothered in heat and humidity with temperatures reaching 102 degrees but with a heat index of more than 120 - hotter than Death Valley at daybreak

All over America, restlessness and frustration are growing. It has now been almost three years since the great financial crash of 2008, and yet the U.S. economy is still a complete and total mess. Click here to see the facts > In fact, there are all sorts of signs that things are about to get even worse, and the American people are just about fed up. Virtually every major poll, survey and measure of consumer confidence shows that the American people are becoming more pessimistic about the economy. Millions of hard working Americans that worked their fingers to the bone...

In the early days of America’s nascent republic, the founding fathers envisioned a secular government with a wall of separation between the affairs of church and those of the state. The First Amendment of the US Constitution stipulates that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” and Article VI specifies that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” A growing number of Christian conservatives, apostolics and evangelicals, however, believe the founding fathers got it wrong, that devout Christians...

Tax the rich, give to the poor with the White House choosing who wins and who loses. RCP - “Americans are not like — ‘I demand this, you know, I draw the red line here and I draw this in the sand.’ They just want us to get something done that’s sensible, that spreads the sacrifice and spreads the prosperity,” White House press secretary jay Carney said at Tuesday evening’s press conference.

IDF sources claimed Monday night that new intelligence information obtained by Israel in recent days shows that participants of the flotilla planning to break Israel’s sea blockade over the Gaza Strip later this week plan to kill IDF soldiers who board their ships. According to the information obtained by the IDF, some of the participants have prepared a number of sacks with sulfur, which they plan to pour on the soldiers as they board the vessels. “This is a chemical weapon and if poured on a soldier it can paralyze him,” an IDF source told The Jerusalem Post Monday night....

In the wake of the recent memo from the Obama administration which announced “prosecutorial discretion” in dealing with illegal aliens, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country have been speaking out what many of them are calling a “backdoor amnesty.” On Wednesday, ICE Union president Chris Crane told PRNewswire: “Any American concerned about immigration needs to brace themselves for what's coming. This is just one of many new ICE policies in queue aimed at stopping the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws in the United States. Unable to pass its immigration agenda through legislation, the Administration is now implementing it...

Imagine a Republican president, giving a speech on tough economic times in which he claimed that the plight of Americans who are hurting is what is on his mind every day as he walks to the Oval Office. Imagine that same Republican president, in that same speech, bragging that he has "a better plane" and "a bigger entourage" than when he was a candidate. Now imagine the howls from the MSM about such president's vainglory and insensitivity. President Obama gave just such a speech today.

While grilling former Pennsylvania Senator and presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on NBC's Sunday Meet the Press, host David Gregory was skeptical of the idea that Americans should be able to choose their own health care plan: "They're better off with the freedom that they've got in the vagaries of the private insurance market?" Gregory was responding to Santorum's criticism of ObamaCare: "[Obama] doesn't believe Americans can actually make decisions for themselves, that he has to tell you how much money you're going to, you're going to spend on health care." After doubting the value of freedom in

Contrary to what NBC's David Gregory said Friday, U.S. News & World Report editor Mort Zuckerman believes that in the wake of President Obama's Mideast speech, "The Israelis do not feel they have the Americans at their back for the first time since the founding of the state of Israel." Such was said during a heated debate about the subject on PBS's "McLaughlin Group" (Snip) Mclaughlin: You know what that's called? That's called betrayal. Zuckerman: Yes, that’s exactly what they feel. The Israelis do not feel they have the Americans at their back for the first time since the founding

The bleeding hearts at NPR (funded by you) are worried that Americans are celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden (world hide and seek champion 2001-2011). “Is there moral philosophical justification for rejoicing over the demise of someone like bin Laden?” the article asks, the argument seems to be that no, indeed there is not. In fact the article goes so far as to draw parallels between those celebrating Bin Laden’s death, and those that danced on the streets of Gaza after the 9/11 attacks. Here are a few simple reasons why the good folks at NPR do not know...

We Americans have been bemoaning a “leadership vacuum” in politics – and other matters – for some time now. Is there really a leadership vacuum, or has it been vacuumed away from us? Allow me to explain. In multiple parts of life, this author has been accused of “taking over” when a job needs to be done. It comes sort of naturally. In the last week, particularly in church choir, the leader has come out a few times (the first incident was upon request from the followers who were lost) and has gotten very frustrated with the number of people...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans are more pessimistic about the U.S. economic outlook than they have been since the start of the Obama administration and most believe the United States is on the wrong track, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday. The number of Americans who think the economy is getting worse jumped 13 percentage points in just one month, to 39 percent, the poll suggested. Just 23 percent said they thought the economy was improving, down 3 percentage points from the previous month. Seventy percent of respondents said the country was heading in the wrong...

Last November, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell proudly declared himself a socialist on national television. On Wednesday, "The Last Word" host took this a huge step further saying the whole idea that Americans are rugged individualists is an illusion because they're all really socialists (video follows with transcript and commentary): (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: From our first days as a nation, we have put our faith in free markets and free enterprise as the engine of America's wealth and prosperity. More than citizens of any other country, we are rugged individualists, a self-reliant people, with a healthy skepticism of too...

One in five mothers in America have children with different fathers, a new study shows. Researchers found that the trend was higher in minority groups and mothers with low income and education backgrounds. The data was taken over a 27-year period from nearly 4,000 U.S. women who had been interviewed more than 20 times. The study's author Cassandra Dorius said of the one in five figure: 'To put it in perspective, this is similar to the number of American adults with a college degree. It's pervasive.'

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL * EUROPE NEWS * MARCH 3, 2011, 9:57 P.M. ET Frankfurt Shooting Suspect Had Links to Radical Islamists Suspect Had Contact to Radical Islamist Groups via Facebook By DAVID CRAWFORD, LAURA STEVENS and MARCUS WALKER FRANKFURT—The suspected gunman who killed two U.S. servicemen at Frankfurt airport Wednesday had links to Germany's radical Islamist circles, but German investigators say they currently believe he carried out the attack on his own. U.S. President Barack Obama said he is "saddened" and "outraged" by the shooting of a group of U.S. airmen in Germany. Video courtesy of Reuters Investigators suspect...

Folks, I have been in lurk-mode for about a year. However, the awful events in Christchurch NZ have prompted me to post this general update, for anyone in FReeperland who may be interested. By now, you will have heard the bare facts concerning the Christchurch earthquake, so I won't reiterate them here. The official death toll currently sits at just under 100, with expectations it may well rise to 300+. It is a terrible situation, one that New Zealand was never expecting. My beloved Guardian Angels NZ organization has 3 Lads in Christchurch. They are all OK, as are their...

The United States says it has not been able to move some of its non-essential diplomats from Libya, as governments send airplanes and ships to pick up their citizens stranded by Libya's bloody unrest. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday the United States was looking at various ways to move the diplomats, their families, and other Americans out of Libya. HE DID NOT ELABORATE ON WHY THE US COULD NOT DO SO ON TUESDAY.. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the safety and wellbeing of Americans is the highest U.S. priority. Meanwhile, Britain's foreign secretary says his country has...

Oprah says all Americans should respect Obama even if they oppose his policies. Appearing on MSNBC’s low-rated Morning Joe program on Friday, Oprah Winfrey became upset with the criticism that Americans have expressed towards Barack Obama for the last two years. As a result of this discontent, Oprah declared that her fellow Americans ought to respect Obama, lecturing Americans that they should knock off their criticism of him. Impressed and bedazzled by the authority and governance of Obama, Oprah also said that she was concerned and shocked at the level of criticism being directed towards him. She has the luxury...

"Despite today's nearly double-digit unemployment rate, 4 in 10 unemployed Americans expect to get a job in the next four weeks and one in three underemployed have the same expectations with respect to obtaining a full-time job." That's the finding of a new Gallup poll released yesterday. I guess it's nice that so many Americans remain upbeat in the face of our economic challenges. But this goes beyond upbeat into pure delusion. As Mish points out, there are around 14.5 million unemployed people. In order to employ 40% of them, businesses would have to create 5.95 million jobs. In December...

ObamaNet - Government issued Internet ID card required for all Americans The government will be able to track every web site you visit, every keystroke you send, every purchase you make, every blog comment, and every Facebook and Twitter post. The Washington Times is warning that the White House cybersecurity adviser and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are drawing up "ObamaNet," President Obama's mandate for what amounts to a national ID card for the Internet. President Obama wants to establish passwords for every citizen to centralize your personal information. Instead of logging onto Facebook or one's bank using separate passwords established...