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With friends like Saudi Arabia, who needs enemies? Last week we learned that the Saudi government almost certainly played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attack and that our government kept that secret from the public for about fourteen years. A brief history of the coverup is in order here. In 2002, a joint congressional committee investigated the intelligence failures that led to the attack. That committee found suspicious clues that pointed toward Saudi Arabia--an official "ally" of the United States known for exporting radical Wahhabi Islam across the world. In a 28-page summary, the committee detailed the connections between...

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday afternoon at the end of its two-day policy meeting. Policymakers said "near-term risks" to the economy have faded, but investors generally saw the central bank in no rush to raise rates. Key points from the FOMC policy statement: "Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished." "On balance, payrolls and other labor market indicators point to some increase in labor utilization in recent months." "Household spending has been growing strongly but business fixed investment has been soft." "Inflation is expected to remain low... ...Fed statement was a tiny step toward an eventual...

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) praised the Democratic Party platform’s new language Tuesday that calls for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion, saying doing so will save money. […] Chu supported the EACH Woman Act last summer, which would have lifted the Hyde Amendment’s restrictions on federal funding for abortion. …

"How can there be pleasure in saying, 'You’re fired!?' asked Biden. Biden said Trump is "a man who embraces the tactics of our enemies," including torture and religious intolerance. "We cannot elect a man who exploits our fears of ISIS and other terrorists," he said. "Donald Trump with all his rhetoric would literally make us less safe. We simply cannot let that happen as Americans."

Donald Trump on Wednesday said that any classified intelligence Hillary Clinton receives will likely be filtered to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, who Trump said is a "sleazeball and a pervert." . . . "Her No. 1 person is Huma Abedin, married to Anthony Weiner, who is a sleazeball and a pervert," Trump said, referring to Clinton's close adviser. "I'm not saying that. That's recorded history, right? I don't like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all these secrets."

Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby has dropped all charges against the remaining police officers (video below). All charges were dropped against all the officers who faced trial in connection with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray April 2015. The decision was announced during pretrial motions for Officer Garrett Miller, who was the next to face charges of second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.

The clock is counting down toward an important decision for Maryland’s economic future, namely whether to allow hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to drill for natural gas in the state. Over a year ago, legislation that blocked fracking for another two years became law without Gov. Larry Hogan’s signature. That law barred the state from issuing drilling permits until October 2017 and required the Department of the Environment to adopt new regulations by October 2016. The passage of this law effectively delayed any decision on fracking until next year. To recap: the Marcellus Shale is a geological formation found...

This summer, deadly terrorist attacks and crimes have taken place across the world and have many wondering how they can be safe even in the United States or Western Europe.This violence has been conducted with a range of weapons—including a suicide bomb in Ansbach, Germany, a truck in Nice, France, a rifle at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and a pistol in Munich, Germany, last weekend. While most of these are clear cases of terrorism, the investigation is still ongoing in Munich.Such violence will likely continue and every American should take the time to think about what they would...

Donald Trump spent about an hour answering questions from supporters and members of the media today during his ‘Ask Me Anything‘ on Reddit. The AMA was titled “I’m Donald J. Trump and I’m Your Next President of the United States,” which received over 24,000 comments and was ‘gilded’ a record 103 times at time of publication. The number of comments is also a record and beats Obama’s AMA held three years ago. Trump answered a dozen questions, more than Obama’s AMA, repeating many of the same statements he has made on the campaign trail while offering more insight into his...

Krauthammer’s Take: Trump’s Russia Comment ‘Set a Trap That the Clinton Campaign Fell Into’ NR STAFF July 27, 2016 7:47 PM Charles Krauthammer said tonight that the Clinton campaign contradicted itself by calling Donald Trump’s request for Russia to locate Hillary’s missing e-mails a threat to national security: Well, that was his parting shot, and it was a clever thing to plant, because it is an issue. But I do think there was something about his reference to Russia that, whether planned or not, was extremely clever. I’m not the first to point out that it set a trap that...

Hundreds of Sen. Bernie Sanders' most devoted followers vowed Wednesday to keep their political revolution alive, returning to the streets with renewed energy on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. For more than six hours at a plaza near City Hall, speakers including dozens of Sanders delegates yelled out to a crowd that swelled to more than 400 people. Despite pleas for unity, including from Sanders himself, many said they would not fall in line. "This revolution will not end after the DNC!" shouted Gary Frazier, Philadelphia coordinator for the advocacy group Black Men for Bernie, which helped...

by Ed Barkowitz, STAFF WRITER The residents who live in the shadow of the Wells Fargo Center are hot, and it has nothing to do with the heat wave. Call it Convention Fatigue. The traffic, the noise, the vandalism and the protesters are taking a toll. "I understand if you want to protest [and exercise] First Amendment rights, but don't be disgusting about it," said Sandra Costanzo. "They were in Marconi Park [Broad and Oregon] running around naked. There's children around here. They see that and wonder what kind of America is this." The problems persist long after the TV...

Something very courageous happened at a recent Douglas County commissioners’ hearing. Colorado Community Media reported that at a June 28 hearing, Commissioners Roger Partridge and David Weaver voted “no” to accepting federal Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) monies. In the past, CDBG funds have been distributed to a variety of nonprofit and non-governmental entities throughout Douglas County. Both commissioners voiced their concerns of the far-reaching rules, regulations and compliance requirements hidden deep within HUD’s updated CDBG application. Included in HUD’s application are two things that should cause each of us to pause. The first is the...

By Emily Zanotti | 5:41 pm, July 27, 2016 The nomination was barely sealed up at the Democratic National Convention before Bernie Sanders, who had campaigned against Hillary Clinton for the party’s nod, went back to being an Independent. Sanders, who considers himself, officially, an Independent in Congress because his views lean further left than the Democratic party’s platform, caucuses with Democrats. But until declaring an intention to run for the presidency in 2015, he had rarely, if ever, identified as a member of the Democratic Party (he’s been in politics since 1979). And now, despite pleading with his base...

RACINE COUNTY — Paul Ryan's primary challenger released a television ad Wednesday criticizing the House speaker over immigration. The ad features Julie Golvach, whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant, outside of Ryan's home, according to news release from challenger Paul Nehlen's campaign. Golvach says in the ad that "Paul Ryan's home behind me has a fence" and blames "Ryan and other politicians" for not protecting the border. Nehlen's campaign called the ad buy a "significant purchase," though it did not disclose the amount. The ad will run throughout the 1st Congressional District, which includes Racine County, on cable...

Right now, prisoner #47042-083, Abdurahman Alamoudi, sits in his cell in a federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky. It's a long way down from being one of Hillary Clinton's favorite colleagues. Alamoudi organized White House events during the Bill Clinton administration. Under Hillary's supervision, he held official positions: Alamoudi was strategically placed at the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department. That is, until he was arrested and convicted in a bizarre Libyan intelligence/al-Qaeda assassination plot to kill the Saudi crown prince. Later, he was identified by the Treasury Department as an Al-Qaeda fundraiser who had operated inside the United...

Linky only.

PITTSBURGH —Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay said he focused his message on policing and community relations during his address to the Democratic National Convention. McLay responded to criticisms of his appearance raised by some rank-and-file officers and spread via social media. "There was no endorsing of any candidate, there was no endorsing of any particular objective. I'm simply getting the truth that needs to be said about what meaningful police reform needs to look like in this country out on a much broader scale," McLay told reporters during an informal question-and-answer session following his return to Pittsburgh from his convention...

(CNN) —Shortly after being elected nearly two years ago, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said prosecutors in her troubled city had the "toughest job in America."

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