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Eighty-four MKs support measure, which also passes first reading; Livni lashes ‘hysterical’ Netanyahu; Arab party leaders say they’ll unite Knesset members voted overwhelmingly in favor of dissolving the current Knesset in a preliminary vote on Wednesday. Eighty-four MKs supported the measure, none opposed it, and one Knesset member abstained. A first reading of the bill later Wednesday was also approved, with all 22 Knesset members present voting in favor. The move will be finalized on Monday with second and third readings. Knesset faction leaders agreed on March 17, 2015, as the date for new elections, in a meeting with Knesset...

Full title: Judicial Watch: Documents Reveal Obama HHS Paid Baptist Children and Family Services $182,129,786 for Four Months Housing of Illegal Alien Children Taxpayer funds covered free laptops, big screen TVs, $75 per child per day for food, pregnancy tests, and “multicultural crayons” (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on September 9, 2014, it received documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that the Obama administration paid Baptist Children and Family Services (BCFS) $182,129,786 to provide “basic shelter care” to 2,400 “unaccompanied alien children” (UAC) for four months in 2014. The BCFS budget included...

With House conservatives wanting to keep the pressure on Barack Obama given his end run of the political process when it comes to illegal immigration, reports indicate Republican House Speaker John Boehner may be considering doing the un-thinkable -- abandoning House conservatives to do a deal with Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi to keep the government open long-term. Hardline conservatives who have caused problems for leaders for years were not falling in line. These conservatives estimate their ranks are 30 to 40, enough to derail a vote.That swelling Republican opposition gives Pelosi and her down-in-the-dumps House Democrats some unexpected power: the...

French jihadists complain about the cold, not knowing how to fight and how their iPods are running out Letters from French jihadists home to their parents have revealed the misery, boredom and fear suffered by Islamist recruits as the gloss fades from their big adventure. In a series of letters seen by Le Figaro newspaper, some of the 376 French currently fighting in Syria have begged for advice on how to return. Others have complained that, rather than participating in a noble battle, they have been acting as jihadi dogsbodies. "I've basically done nothing except hand out clothes and food,"...

By the time this piece goes to press, America, for better or worse, will have a newly elected majority of Republicans sitting in the US Senate. Or at least that’s what the smart money, the boys in the back room say about how this 2014 off-year election will go down. So how do they know? Well there are several touchstones to tell us. Litmus paper tests to tell which way the wind will blow, you know? Polls they’re called. The public will. The voters’ choice. And why not? Ain’t that what democracy’s all about? Before the election, pollsters gather information...

The coming clash between President Obama and Congress over immigration promises to light up what I like to call a constitutional moment. This is a moment in which our politics are so divided that we have scraped away the soil of legislation and are fighting on American bedrock. Rarely has it shone more clearly than in respect of who has the power to decide who can come here and be naturalized as a citizen.

Senate Republicans had no appetite for discussing how to thwart President Obama’s executive orders on immigration during the conference’s weekly lunch, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Senator David Vitter (R., La.) tried to broach the topic, but were ignored. “At different times, Lee and Vitter stood up and tried to begin a discussion about what the plan was and asked leadership about what their strategy was to deal with the spending bill and respond to Obama executive amnesty, and the reply was always an effort to try to change the subject...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a ruling that could short-circuit one of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, a federal court has allowed U.S. tech workers to challenge extensions of foreign laborers’ status here. The case of Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has “major implications” for the president’s ability to expand the number of work visas and the terms or durations of those visas, said Dale Wilcox, executive director of the Immigration Reform Law Institute. * * * Gene Nelson, a longtime activist for U.S. tech workers’ rights, estimates that downward wage pressures by...

Vetoes and the threats thereof are about to become regular features in Washington, DC, and President Obama appears to be taking a few warm-up tosses in advance of the Republican takeover of Congress. Last week, the president said he'd reject a bipartisan deal on tax extenders -- on which Harry Reid was a chief negotiator -- because it "exclude[s] a pair of Obama's top priorities."  That deal blew up anyway, as a result of Obama's controversial executive action on immigration.  Now the White House is vowing to veto a spending bill that funds all of the government, but blocks Obama's sweeping amnesty fiat. From yesterday's briefing:...

In late October, Hillary Clinton traveled to the Hawkeye State to campaign for Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Braley. Hillary offered some choice words about Braley's Republican opponent, Joni Ernst, who'd recently declined to meet with a major state newspaper's editorial board. Ernst's refusal to answer tough questions (besides in her many media interviews and debates, that is) was "disqualifying," the likely presidential candidate averred: Hillary Clinton on Wednesday turned up the heat on Republican hopeful Joni Ernst for skipping meetings with newspaper editorial boards, calling it a “disqualifying” factor in the Iowa Senate race. “You test your candidates. You force them to be...

Pope Francis traveled on his first trip to Turkey over the weekend attempting to reach out to the Muslim community, warning that the Islamic State is a major threat to Christians in the Middle East and calling on moderate Muslims to join in constructive dialogue and solidarity with the rest of the world. Instead, Turkish President Recept Tayyp Erdogan, who had a message of his own for the Pope, greeted him at his $600 million palace and blamed the rise of ISIS and the recent violence in Syria and Iraq, including beheadings, enslavements, and the wholesale ethnic cleansing of the...

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is in the political fight of her life. So why doesn’t the Democratic Party have her back? Sen. Mary Landrieu did everything she could Monday night to salvage the shards of her bid for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate. In her only debate against her Republican opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy, Landrieu lit into the congressman as untrustworthy and dishonest, at one point accusing him of telling a “blatant lie.” She also spoke repeatedly of her Catholic faith, called abortion “in almost every case immoral,” and described Cassidy as “disrespectful to the president and the...

Congressional Republicans are locked in an internal debate over a difficult dilemma: Is there any way of persuading conservatives they are fighting against Obama’s immigration tyranny with everything they’ve got, without fully using the destructive scorched earth tactics conservatives actually want them to employ against it? This internal tactical struggle — and with it, the broader debate over immigration — are now set to spill over into the GOP presidential primary. Jeb Bush has now come out against the tactics conservatives want — which are favored by Ted Cruz.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest is warning that President Barack Obama would veto any spending bill that prohibits federal funds from being spent to enact Obama's executive amnesty. That means Obama is willing to shut down the government to preserve his executive amnesty. When asked if Obama would veto a bill that prohibits federal funds from being spent to enact his executive amnesty, Earnest simply replied: "yes." When asked if that would mean Obama is willing to shut down the government if Congress passes a funding bill that would "tie the president's hands" on executive amnesty, Earnest spun and...

Detroit — A widespread power outage Tuesday has caused evacuations of buildings throughout the downtown, including Joe Louis Arena, Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, the Detroit Institute of Arts and some buildings at Wayne State University. Most of Detroit's municipal power grid has gone down, cutting electricity to public buildings in the city, officials have said. Police, fire, school, and jail buildings have lost power and traffic lights aren't working, a city spokesperson said. Some people are trapped in elevators throughout Detroit, according to Detroit Fire Chief Jack Wiley, and fire crews are working...

WASHINGTON— Ashton Carter, the former deputy defense secretary, is the leading candidate to become the next Pentagon chief, but senior officials said President Barack Obama wouldn’t make an announcement Tuesday. The president could announce his pick for defense secretary later this week, a senior White House official said. Mr. Carter, who was out of town Tuesday, is seen as the likely choice, officials said. But the White House is continuing to look at other candidates, including former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former assistant Secretary of State Kurt Cambpell. Mr. Obama could still change his mind and opt for one...

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson acknowledged Tuesday that his department had to release two men who admitted they were part of a terrorist group from Turkey, after a judge ordered them to be let out — a decision he said he disagreed with. Earlier this year, Mr. Johnson had told Congress that four men who were caught crossing the southern border and who claimed to be part of a Marxist terrorist group would be deported. But Tuesday he told the Homeland Security Committee that two of them remain in U.S. custody, and two others were released into the U.S. and...

The Islamic State (ISIS) militants claimed on Twitter that they had the 'dirty bomb' and had 'terror' plans for London, confirming fears raised by the United Nations(UN) back in July. Several ISIS affiliate accounts made the claim in the last few days that the militant group had the capacity to make the ' Bomb' using 40kg of Uranium that the group 'stole' from the Mosul University some four months ago. The details of the 'dirty bomb' emerged recently after the ISIS fighters boasted on Twitter of the chaos they could wreck in London. A "dirty bomb" is a type of...

resident Obama’s plan to close the federal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, hit a major snag Monday as lawmakers finalizing the annual defense policy bill rejected steps to shut down the facility. The final defense bill will not have a provision giving the president the power to transfer terror suspects to the U.S. if Congress signs off on the plan, said Sen. Carl Levin. "Our language ... [on Guantanamo] ... will not be in," Levin said. Levin backed the authority for Obama to transfer the suspects and enthusiastically heralded it in May as the “path to close Guantanamo.” The House...

An Iranian McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet has struck Islamic State targets in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, footage shot by regional media shows. At least one F-4 is seen conducting a bombing run against ground targets in the footage shot by Al Jazeera , which erroneously identified the aircraft as an Iraqi fighter. Iran and Turkey are the only regional operators of the F-4, and the location of the incident not far from the Iranian border, and Turkey's unwillingness to get involved in the conflict militarily, indicate this to be an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force...