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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are finalizing a deal to avert a debt default and reopen the government, capping a frantic day that had Washington bracing for an economic crisis of its own making. The deal is essentially done, sources say, as aides for the two leaders finish drafting the legislative language Tuesday night.

More than four decades ago, Mick Jagger claimed that he couldn’t imagine jumping around a stage and singing rock and roll when he was thirty. If things didn’t turn out quite like he imagined they might, Jagger — who turns 70 on July 26 — has certainly beaten the odds. Not only has rock music not cut him down as it has far too many others, it’s kept him young. An impossibly agile performer, Jagger — as these clips, presented in chronological order, attest — still has most of the moves he displayed when he first took the stage with...

Former President George W. Bush is expected to make a speech next week on how immigration reform is good for the country, the Dallas Morning News reports. Bush will speak after a citizenship ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Wednesday followed by a panel discussion titled “What Immigrants Contribute.” Although it is not clear whether Bush will throw his support behind the immigration bill making its way through Congress, he has supported reform in the past. While he was president Congress defeated an immigration reform overhaul Bush supported and the Bush center has published several...

If ever I thought myself objective and unbiased, the George Zimmerman trial is definitely not that moment. So let's cut to the chase. Any attorney, jury member, judge or white person in that courtroom is not going to understand Rachel Jeantel. And I don't expect them to. In fact, I certainly, like my fellow writer Rachel Samara, understand why white people wouldn't like Rachel. She's hard. She's black. And your assumptions about her background and lack of education make you feel like you are better, somehow. That her testimony, no matter how powerful and impactful it may be to this...

When momentous events happen like the election of a new president, White Bear Lake resident Laurie Wenker makes sure to get two copies of that day's newspaper to tuck away in memory boxes for her teenage daughters. She did just that -- and more Tuesday. Wenker and daughters Eleanor, 16, and Lillian, 13, joined a crowd of an estimated 6,000 people who gathered at the state Capitol to witness Gov. Mark Dayton sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in Minnesota. "I wanted my kids to experience history, to take in and breathe in the equality in the air," Wenker said.

Control of a Baltimore prison was effectively handed over to a group of gang member inmates who seduced and bribed the female guards. Federal prosecutors say 13 female correctional officers, seven inmates and five others with gang ties have been charged with plotting to smuggle drugs, cellphones and other contraband into the Baltimore jail and other corrections facilities. An indictment unsealed Tuesday said the ring also involved sex between inmates and guards that led to four of the officers becoming pregnant by Tavon White, leader of a jailhouse gang called the Black Guerrilla Family. He is held at the Baltimore...

In some ways, today's Supreme Court arguments over California's proposition 8 were overshadowed by the decision of several Democratic senators from red or purple states to openly and active support marriage equality. Actually, even that pales in comparison to Richard Land, the key Southern Baptist political evangelist, who just said, basically, "nevermind," when it comes to the next generation of evangelicals being uncomfortable about gay rights. (To be sure, he still opposes gay rights, still thinks that gay marriage will lead to polygamy, and believes that anti-gay leaders are being ostracized from polite society.) On that last part, he's kind...

There are two ways to look at the election of Pope Francis. He takes the name of the famous saint, whose life was defined by a vision in which he was commanded by a crucifix to “rebuild my Church, which is in ruins.” That name, combined with rumors that Cardinal Bergoglio impressed his fellow Cardinals at preconclave meetings with his willingness to clean up the Curia, may be a signal that reform is on the way. His choice of name may also signal an affiliation with the Jesuit saint Francis Xavier, an exemplary evangelist and missionary. Cardinal Bergoglio is known...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In his congratulations message to the new Pope Francis I, President Obama once again cited his “work with Pope Benedict XVI.” The phrase is reminiscent of his message to Pope Emeritus Benedict upon his resignation, when he wrote, “I have appreciated our work together over these last four years.” President Obama, who opposes the Catholic Church's position on a host of social issues and has defunded Catholic agencies over their opposition to abortion, did not specify what this work might be. His message to the new pope called Pope Francis “a champion of...

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-ive-become-more-humble_704715.html Obama: I've 'Become More Humble' 2:08 PM, Feb 26, 2013 • By DANIEL HALPER President Barack Obama admitted today in a Virginia speech that he's "become more humble": "But in order for us to make that happen I'm going to need you. You know, the one thing about being president is, after four years, you get pretty humble. You'd think maybe you wouldn't but actually you become more humble--you realize what you don't know," said Obama.

Every day for the past 22 years, California's background checks have stopped about a dozen felons, mentally ill people and others from buying guns. When prospective gun buyers stride into California gun stores such as Ron Kennedy's Canyon Sports in Martinez, they must swipe their driver's licenses or state IDs. That sets off a review process that runs their names not only through the same FBI criminal database other states use but also almost 20 other sources, from mental health records to DMV data. It's a check more rigorous than any other state's. California is also one of only two...

.... Fortunately, despite worries about a warming planet, no one is predicting the end of snow anytime soon. Some cold places will see more snow, because warmer air can carry more moisture. In the Northern Hemisphere, snow coverage this past December was the greatest since records began in 1966, Rutgers University’s Global Snow Lab reported. But Dr. David Robinson, a climatologist at Rutgers, warns that year-to-year fluctuations and regional differences can deceive casual observers. In general, he says, there has been an “overall decline in snowfall.” Other studies echo that conclusion. The United States Global Change Research Program’s recently released...

The NRA executive vice president has just proposed a plan that many predicted the NRA would come up with: The solution to guns is more guns. Liberal commentators are already lambasting it, but I think the news that the NRA is even discussing the matter is a positive sign. They have put a proposal on the table, and that implies that there is a problem. What was really worrying about Wayne LaPierre's remarks was the return of a very old trope — blaming Hollywood violence for real-life death. LaPierre even mentioned "celebrities" in his talk — as if Megan Fox...

Stuart Stevens was the chief strategist for the Romney presidential campaign. Over the years, one of the more troubling characteristics of the Democratic Party and the left in general has been a shortage of loyalty and an abundance of self-loathing. It would be a shame if we Republicans took a narrow presidential loss as a signal that those are traits we should emulate. I appreciate that Mitt Romney was never a favorite of D.C.’s green-room crowd or, frankly, of many politicians. That’s why, a year ago, so few of those people thought that he would win the Republican nomination. But...

SWEDEN'S largest toy chain "gender neutral" after picturing boys holding baby dolls and banishing girls from the dolls pages of its Christmas catalogue. Digital Pass - $5 weekend papers "For several years, we have found that the gender debate has grown so strong in the Swedish market that we ... have had to adjust," Jan Nyberg, director of sales at Top Toy, franchise-holder for US toy chain Toys R Us, said. The country's advertising watchdog reprimanded the company for gender discrimination three years ago following complaints over outdated gender roles in the 2008 Christmas catalogue, which featured boys dressed as...

Michelle Obama is the most popular woman in America, and Hillary Clinton’s standing has never been higher. So with the Democrats’ lead among female voters beginning to falter, should the party be exploiting its two greatest assets [?]Her long hair drawn back into a soignée French knot, the Secretary of State is tackling questions on Libya at the State Department in Washington DC. Dressed in a sharp navy suit, she speaks with authority, displaying an absolute command of the facts. At 65 – it was her birthday on Friday – Hillary Rodham Clinton is a woman on the crest of...

The marquee Senate race this year is in Massachusetts, where Democrat Elizabeth Warren is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown. "I never thought I'd run for public office, but I feel the urgency of this moment," says Warren. "If we don't make some important changes and make them soon, this country is going to change fundamentally, and it's not for the better." Democrats took notice of the former Harvard professor late last year, when a video of Warren speaking on fair taxation and debt surfaced online. "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody," Warren...

BARF ALERT.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — First lady Michelle Obama got rave reviews for the custom-made Tracy Reese pink and copper dress she wore while giving a tribute to her husband at the Democratic National Convention. The sleeveless dress showed off Mrs. Obama's famously toned arms and the length modestly skirted her knees. She paired the dress with pink pumps from J. Crew and her fingernails were painted a trendy blue-gray.

WASHINGTON — When the jubilant couple were wed in June, they exchanged personalized vows and titanium rings, cheered the heartfelt toasts and danced themselves breathless. Then, as the evening was winding down, unexpected questions started popping up. One after another, their guests began asking: Are you going to have kids? When are you going to have kids? Tom Lotito and Matt Hay, both 26, could not help but feel moved. They never imagined as teenagers that they would ever get married, much less that friends and family members would pester them about having children. “It’s another way that I feel...

On Aug. 1, thousands flocked to local restaurants in support of National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. For the Aug. 7 National Marriage Equality Day -- not so much...Just might smash last week's "Kiss In" record for epic fail on the "fluster cluck" meter. According to their website, gay rights activists at Equally Wed Magazine launched a campaign Tuesday designed to counter the highly successful outcome of last week’s Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, during which the company announced “record sales.” Here are ten reasons why this counter offensive qualifies as a "fluster cluck." According to the Urban Dictionary, a “fluster cluck” is defined...

There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way — and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed. Many economists believe that the overhang of excess household debt, a legacy of the bubble years, is the biggest factor holding back economic recovery. Loosely speaking, excess debt has created a situation in which...

Gay rights activists are planning to hold on Friday a "national same-sex kiss day at Chick-fil-A," the restaurant chain whose president's opposition to same-sex marriage sparked a media frenzy. "Let's show Chick-fil-A thanks for their support of Love, Equality, and the Real Definition of Marriage!" organizers posted on their Facebook page. Same-sex couples are expected to arrive at restaurants across the country and kiss in protest, then post video or photos of the event on social media. But on Wednesday, throngs of others weighed in on the Chick-fil-A debate, buying chicken sandwiches at stores to show their support of the...

Why are so many willing to back down when logic is on their side? Talk about power: The gun lobby barely had to say a word before the media sent advocates of saner gun regulation shuffling off in defeat. In a political version of Stockholm syndrome, even those who claim to disagree with the National Rifle Association's absolutist permissiveness on firearms lulled themselves into accepting the status quo by reciting a script of gutless resignation dictated by the merchants of death. It's a script built on half-truths and myths. For example, polls showing declining support for gun control in the...

Tech. Sgt. Erwynn Umali, 34, and civilian Will Behrens, 35, held their wedding at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in N.J. in June When Tech. Sgt. Erwynn Umali and civilian Will Behrens wanted to seal their commitment in a civil union in New Jersey, they chose a venue that nine months ago would have been unthinkable: a military base. The grooms said their vows on June 23 before 150 guests at the chapel at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst — the first time a civil union or gay wedding has been held in such a facility in the United States. While the...

Retailers are going mainstream with ad campaigns aimed at gay customers in an effort to get their merchandise into more consumer closets. “Retailers, particularly fashion retailers, always like to be ahead of the curve,” said local retail analyst Chris Boring of Boulevard Strategies. “In 2012, supporting gay rights and accepting gays is pretty mainstream.” In one high-profile move, J.C. Penney is running an ad for Father’s Day featuring a gay Texas couple and their two children. A month ago, the retailer had an ad for Mother’s Day showing a lesbian couple with their children. The iconic retailer also has tapped...

Politics: it's not a game, exactly. But there are rules, and when you break them you are running….Politically Foul! Colin Powell: retired 4-star General, Secretary of State, suggested Presidential Candidate and....future pop star? Appearing on CBS This Morning with Gayle King, the former Cabinet Secretary used a commercial break to drop his rendition of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "Call Me Maybe." Powell even went so far as to break out some signature dance moves showing that while the Retired General may have given up the march, he will never lose his need to boogie. Speaking of kicking it old school,...

It’s no secret that I have been and remain a vocal critic of Mitt Romney. To say that his conservative bona fides are suspect is an understatement. I have tremendous respect for a number of fellow evangelical Christians who say that they will not support his presidential candidacy. I expect I will anger some of them, and may even lose a few friends. Still, in November, I am voting for Mr. Romney and suggest that any Christian - Republican, Democrat or independent - should do the same. Jesus admonished: “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of...

Every year he has been in office President Obama has made it a point to cozy up to America’s tiny homosexual activist minority by officially recognizing June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.” This year, of course, was no exception. Having just come out officially in favor of legalizing same-sex “marriage,” the President followed up on June 1 by issuing this year’s proclamation setting aside the entire month to commemorate the valuable contributions that gays, lesbians, transvestites, and an odds-and-ends assortment of sexually- and gender-confused individuals have made to American society. “The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)...

What would the U.S. look like if McCain/Palin had won the presidency in '08? Christianity 101, drilled into me through 10 years of Catholic schools from elementary to high school: Heaven and Hell, respectively, are places to work towards entering joyously and avoiding at all costs. Purgatory was that ambiguous place where souls not quite pure as the driven snow yet not as dark as the devil's--went to "dry out." Think of it as rehab for the slightly sinful before they could be rehabilitated into Heaven. Purgatory comes to mind envisioning a John McCainJohn McCain and Sarah PalinSarah Palin victory....

He may be the leader of the free world, but he still takes a moment to tuck his wife in at bedtime. First Lady Michelle Obama revealed that tidbit and other details from the couple’s personal life in a People magazine interview that hit newsstands Friday. "We have a ritual where he tucks me in, because I'm usually in bed before anybody," the First Lady spilled. "He'll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss, and we'll talk. He's like, Ready to be tucked? I'm like, Yes I am.'"

Barack Obama is one of history's three greatest political leaders with Irish ancestry, according to an international poll. John F Kennedy, however, is voted the greatest such leader, ahead of Ronald Reagan second and Obama third, in an online poll of over 4,000 Americans and Britons conducted by YouGov for the genealogy site findmypast.com and its Irish partner, findmypast.ie. Che Guevara, the Latin American revolutionary who also had Irish roots, ranks fourth. "The most surprising people turn out to have Irish ancestry," says Cliona Weldon, spokesperson for findmypast.ie, which marks its first birthday this month. The findmypast poll asked respondents...

Actress Betty White is a big fan of President Barack Obama, the AP reports: As she prepares to visit the Smithsonian Institution and National Zoo next week, White told The Associated Press she "very, very much favors" President Barack Obama in the election. The 90-year-old actress said Friday she is very bi-partisan and has stayed away from politics all of her life. She usually never says who she is for or against because she doesn't want to turn off any of her adoring fans. White says in this year's election, she likes what Obama has done and "how he represents...

Conservatives will be enthusiastic about the 2012 election, but only in a negative way because of grim danger of a second Obama term. Kerry, Gore, and Clinton were crummy politicians, but compared to the quiet malevolence of Obama, those Democrats were Boy Scouts. The problem with conservatives is that since Reagan left office, we have had nothing to vote for; George H. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and John McCain treated conservatives like barely tolerated stepchildren. Will the Republican presidential campaign this time be as condescending and dull? Mitt Romney, almost unnoticed, has done something no other Republican nominee...

A quick review of the long and illustrious career of Facts reveals some of the world's most cherished absolutes: Gravity makes things fall down; 2 + 2 = 4; the sky is blue. But for many, Facts' most memorable moments came in simple day-to-day realities, from a child's certainty of its mother's love to the comforting knowledge that a favorite television show would start promptly at 8 p.m. Over the centuries, Facts became such a prevalent part of most people's lives that Irish philosopher Edmund Burke once said: "Facts are to the mind what food is to the body." To...

As many of us have been made well aware of, on Feb. 26, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was found shot to death in a community in Sanford, Fla. Since then, the story has gained a lot of national attention from people all over the country. Racism and a lack of justice seem to be the central theme that has angered thousands of people all over the nation. I would like to present the argument that these issues are terrible, however I do believe that a bigger issue has been overlooked for far too long. The death of Trayvon Martin is, was,...

In Puerto Rico, for the price of 20 delegates, Mitt Romney sold out his conservative principles. There is a long history of Congress requiring English to be the language of government and schools for territories seeking to be admitted to the Union — e.g., Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. For all of the territories that had large non-English speaking populations, Congress announced before the territories voted on the question of statehood that a change in language policy would be a prerequisite for statehood. In the case of Puerto Rico, where according to the latest Census only 15% of residents...

President Obama: “I deserve a second term” By Erik Wasson - 02/05/12 04:57 PM ET President Obama in a pre-Super Bowl interview aired on Sunday said that despite being unable to completely turn the economy around in three years, he still deserves to be re-elected. “I deserve a second term but we're not done,” Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview broadcast from the White House. Lauer noted that in a pre-Super Bowl interview three years ago, Obama had said "If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” Obama said...

...given the enormity of what he inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

...given the enormity of what he inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

Now is the time for midcourse corrections to ensure the success of the conservative movement, as well as the American experiment. With that mission in mind, I would like to make a few suggestions of my own. Intellectual conservatism was once defined by two clear goals - the defeat of communism and the reduction in the size, scope and sweep of government. There are three observations I’d like to make about this conservatism. First, it was conservatism with a purpose. The goal of consigning communism to the ash heap of history was to eliminate oppression, increase liberty, and spread democracy....

Just wondering, but are most people reluctant to type a title or keyword in Search before posting a topic? Oh, I try my best to see if a topic has been started before I post something. But multiple posting of a breaking news story? Nothing is so urgent that it needs to be posted so quickly. Sometimes scrolling down the first or next page will show a story has already been posted.

A fashion and beauty maven says women should look to the first lady for inspiration on how to stock their own closets with style. Mikki Taylor, the editor at large for Essence magazine, even bestows a new title on Michelle Obama in her new book, Commander in Chic: Every Woman’s Guide to Managing her Style Like a First Lady. Taylor, who first became attracted to Obama’s fashion sense while working with her on a 2006 magazine story, says that unlike other presidents’ wives, “Michelle Obama effectively dresses for Michelle Obama. She dresses to delight herself. She’s not so influenced by...

Obama's re-election campaign received a huge boost Monday night from CNN's Piers Morgan. The host groveled before Obama's campaign strategist David Axelrod, gushing that "A lot of things are just perfect about Barack Obama." The interview could have been served on a silver platter for the Obama campaign. Morgan's first question went thus: "I would imagine that you guys are feeling fairly chipper, aren't you? I mean you had an extraordinarily successful week in many ways." Morgan also fawned over the President himself, touting "I always feel he's got so many pluses, doesn't he? In a sense, he's personable, he's...

HANOVER, NH—Jon Huntsman walked out of the rear door of a Dartmouth auditorium. His head swiveled as he looked for the black SUV that will take him to his next stop. He had just given a speech emphasizing his claim that the future of America will not be decided on a battlefield in remotest Afghanistan but along the trade routes of the Pacific. The applause had barely died down in the hall as Huntsman exited into the quiet streets of Hanover. He took one second to sigh. He had just launched “Phase Two” of his campaign, and it was a...

Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, expresses her excitement over a potential Obama/Hillary ticket: "The problems that he [Obama] is having with women would automatically be solved. She's a statesman. I like Hillary Clinton, even though I am a Republican, just simply for the fact that she's a woman that kicks ass in politics."

Islamabad (CNN) -- A Pakistani woman is being held on suspicion of killing her husband, cutting him up and trying to cook the pieces, Karachi police said Friday. Zainab Bibi, 32, was arrested in connection with the murder Tuesday of her husband Ahmad Abbas, police said. Her 22-year-old nephew, Zaheer Ahmed, is accused of helping Bibi stab Abbas to death and carve his body into small pieces. Police said she wanted to cook her husband's body parts so she could dispose of them without being caught. Neighbors raised the alert when they detected a foul odor in the neighborhood, police...

Joseph P. Kennedy III, the grandson of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, is joining the Middlesex district attorney’s office as a prosecutor, the office announced today. Kennedy, the son of former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, had been serving as a prosecutor in the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office.

Today is the 50th birthday of the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Here at NewsOne we decided to provide you with 50 things on his 50 birthday that you may not know about our president. This birthday couldn’t have come at a better time for the president with criticisms being launched at him on the economy and other issues in the country. Check out the list. 1. He and Bill Cosby are the only people to ever get free food from Ben’s Chili Bowl. 2. He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper when he lived...

Today is the 50th birthday of the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Here at NewsOne we decided to provide you with 50 things on his 50 birthday that you may not know about our president. This birthday couldn’t have come at a better time for the president with criticisms being launched at him on the economy and other issues in the country. Check out the list. 1. He and Bill Cosby are the only people to ever get free food from Ben’s Chili Bowl. 2. He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper when he lived...