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On November 9, 2012 the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) issued a press release indicating that “Workers at the Transportation Security Administration made history today when they voted to ratify the first-ever collective bargaining agreement at the agency. The agreement between the American Federation of Government Employees and TSA was ratified with a vote of 17,326-1,774.” The AFGE represents over 650,000 employees of the federal government. It is the largest union for non-postal federal employees and the largest union for D.C. workers who report directly to the mayor. Brian Koenig writes that the AFGE “coerces members to fork over...

"We have to start electing people who look like their communities..."

Former CIA Director David Petraeus stoked the controversy over the Obama administration's handling of the Libya terror attack, testifying Friday that references to "Al Qaeda involvement" were stripped from his agency's original talking points -- while other intelligence officials were unable to say who changed the memo, according to a top lawmaker who was briefed.  Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News that intelligence officials who testified in a closed-door hearing a day earlier, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, said they did not know who changed the talking points. He said they...

As the IDF’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza continues, Hamas has made several totally false claims about damages it has supposedly done to Israeli cities and soldiers. This is done in order to give the public in Gaza a false image as though Hamas is defeating Israel. In response, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit has put together and distributed several videos which present the truth and disproves the Hamas lies. Among other claims, Hamas said its missiles directly hit Tel Aviv. In fact, despite sirens having been sounded in Tel Aviv in recent days, there were no direct hits on...

In yet another Daily Beast column that trains her fire on the Right, Meghan McCain hits Republicans with yet another set of MSNBC talking points that she swears are only for our own good. But this time she's making threats: "If I don’t see some changes in the next four years, I’m going to consider registering as an Independent in 2016." Oh, no. Not that.

A San Bernardino family counselor responsible for providing services to children and families also coerced a 15-year-old girl into prostitution and sold sexual services on the Internet, the San Bernardino County district attorney's office said Thursday...

As many as 1000 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) workers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) are considering going on strike on Thanksgiving eve in what is the busiest travel day of the year. Andrew Gross-Gaitan, the director of the Southern California Airports Division of SEIU, said the protest would be in response to an LAX contractor that failed to comply with the city’s Living Wage Ordinance.

Since the November 6, 2012 elections, resulting in significant Democrat Party gains (including keeping the White House), talk of secession has become rather serious. Such talk has been around for years. Travel to Alaska (I admit it's been years since I have been there, but I've visited courtesy of Uncle Sam three times) and you'll see secessionist literature everywhere...diners, wherever people gather. To a lesser extent, this has been true in Texas, as well (lived there for years). Alaska and Texas are admittedly the two most independent-minded States in our nation. Now....such talk isn't relegated to the pioneer-minded, two largest...

A retired Soviet lieutenant colonel whose self-control prevented a nuclear war from being triggered by a long-classified accident in 1983 was named on Friday a recipient of a German anti-war prize. Stanislav Petrov, 73, won the fourth Dresden-Preis (Dresden Prize), which comes complete with a check for 25,000 euro ($32,000), prize organizers said on their website, Friendsofdresden-deutschland.com. The prize is to be bestowed at a ceremony in Dresden on Feb. 17, the anniversary of the Dresden bombing in 1945, the organizers said. Ironically for a military officer, Petrov shot to fame for ignoring his direct responsibilities. The officer served at...

They are supposed to be prepared to handle most anything, yet a harmless lizard managed to scare the daylights out of U.S. Secret Service agents preparing a residence for President Obama's trip to Thailand. Thai officials, however, reassured the U.S. Secret Service that the massive lizards found on the Government House grounds were not the dangerous Komodo dragons, but the harmless, lazy water lizards.

the estate tax -- also known as the "death tax."... set to soar at the beginning of 2013 ... The estate tax dates back to 1916 when then-President Woodrow Wilson imposed the tax of 1 to 10 percent on the wealthy because World War I reduced federal government revenues. Under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the tax rose to 77 percent, as Congress tried to prevent wealth from becoming concentrated among a few powerful and super-rich families. Ironically, many nations historically more concerned with class and wealth -- namely Russia and China -- have since abandoned their estate taxes.

Sheriff Joe think about the GOP and the Latino vote? Find out by watching our interview with him this week.

The White House made only small, factual edits to the CIA's initial intelligence assessment on the September attack on Americans in Benghazi, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Saturday. "We were provided with points by the intelligence community that represented their assessment," Rhodes said aboard Air Force One en route to Asia. "The only edit made by the White House was the factual edit about how to refer to the facility.”

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza, and the "Iron Dome" defense system shot down a Tel Aviv-bound rocket on Saturday as Israel geared up for a possible ground invasion. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, said Israeli missiles wrecked the office building of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh - where he had met on Friday with the Egyptian prime minister - and struck a police headquarters. Along the Tel Aviv beachfront, volleyball games came to an abrupt halt and people crouched as sirens sounded. Two interceptor rockets streaked into the sky. A...

The Clinton Administration sent detailed questionnaires to longtime White House employees asking them about their finances and their personal and political activities, the Pennsylvania Congressman leading an inquiry into the White House's handling of personnel information said today. It is unclear how many employees received the questionnaires, which were sent to nonpolitical household staff as well as political appointees. But those who did receive them were instructed to return them to Craig Livingstone, who resigned as head of the White House personnel security office last week over his role in that office's improper acquisition of as many as 900confidential F.B.I....

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is defending the court's 2010 decision in the Citizens United case that helped fuel hundreds of millions of dollars of spending by independent groups in the just-concluded campaign season. Alito told roughly 1,500 people at a Federalist Society dinner this week that the First Amendment protects political speech, whether from an individual or a corporation. His comments to the overwhelmingly conservative and Republican crowd were part of his broader analysis of arguments put forth by the Obama administration in recent years that Alito said would curtail individual freedoms in favor of stronger federal power. He...

Truce backed by Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, US, according to Channel 2 report; Egypt's Morsi says "some indications" of truce in Gaza, warns against ground invasion; Russo: Israel will continue until rockets destroyed. Israel is currently negotiating a cease-fire with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to take effect later in the night, sources told Channel 2 on Saturday night. Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi gave credence to the report, saying there are "some indications" of a cease-fire in Gaza, but that there were not yet any guarantees. "There are some indications that there is a possibility of a ceasefire soon, but we...

Conservative scholar, talk radio host, and former Reagan administration official Mark Levin said conservatives need to first overthrow the Republican establishment to more successfully take on President Barack Obama and the institutional left. “We cannot get through Obama and the left until we get through the Republican Establishment,” Levin said, railing against establishment consultants who attack the base and politicians who know nothing of “Burkean reform” because they have spent their whole careers “clawing their way to the top.” In a talk at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday with his mentor, former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese, for whom Levin...

FORT PIERCE — Circuit Court Judge Larry Schack has denied a motion by Democrat Patrick Murphy to halt the recount of early votes in St. Lucie County. About 4:15 p.m., the judge made his ruling, saying if Murphy loses because of the recount, he still can contest the results of the election. Meanwhile, workers in the Supervisor of Elections office on Okeechobee Road continued recounting the early votes for the tight District 18 congressional race. Early Saturday morning, the Murphy campaign team announced they had filed an preliminary injunction to halt the recount, saying it was not legal. Schack began...

KINSHASA (Reuters) - United Nations attack helicopters hit rebel positions in eastern Congo on Saturday after insurgents gained ground in heavy fighting with government troops, the U.N. said. The clashes to the south of the town Kibumba mean the rebels have advanced to within 30 km (18 miles) of Goma, the closest they have been to North Kivu's provincial capital since a rebellion exploded in the eastern provinces eight months ago. North Kivu governor Julien Paluku said the army retreated to the southern outskirts of the town after M23 rebels - a group of soldiers who mutinied in April -...