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Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fired Scud missiles at rebel fighters in recent days, Obama administration officials said on Wednesday. The move represents a significant escalation in the fighting, which has already killed more than 40,000 civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict that has threatened to destabilize the Middle East. One American official, who asked not to be identified because he was discussing classified information, said that missiles had been fired from the Damascus area at targets in northern Syria. “The total is number is probably north of six now,” said another American official, and that the...

All three networks on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning ignored the violent assaults by union protesters in Michigan, instead vaguely insisting that picketers were simply "voicing their anger" at the "showdown raging in the heartland."

[Sowell's book] challenges many of the long-prevailing assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on not only the trendy intellectuals of our times but also such historic interpreters of American life as Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Law Olmsted. In a series of long essays, this book presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many mistaken and dangerous actions, policies, and trends. It presents eye-opening insights into the historical development of the ghetto culture that...

The pro-union broadcast networks are deliberately censoring footage of thuggish union violence directed at conservatives. If a Tea Partier had physically assaulted a liberal journalist or ripped down a structure occupied by a liberal organization all on video, the footage would be broadcast on an endless loop.

Minutes before Michigan Governor Snyder signed the 'Right-To-Work' bill into law... ... Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa appeared on CNN, as seen in the clip below, warning that: "This is just the first round of a battle that's going to divide this state. We're going to have a civil war," ...as the bill to weaken unions' power is passed. If Hoffa is right, look for Michigan GDP to soar: after all it is one of the more Keynesian states in the union. Via AP: Michigan Gov. Snyder signs right-to-work bills LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed right-to-work...

NBC Sports talker Bob Costas caught plenty of heat for launching into an anti-gun rant in the wake of the murder/suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher. Last night, Costas waded into the subject once more, but this time he brought up the George Zimmerman case to buttress his points. "What does common sense tell you about the likelihood of that confrontation ever taking place in the first place if George Zimmerman was not carrying a gun?" Not so fast. Costas' own network is being sued for shoddy journalism involving Zimmerman's case. That didn't prevent the sportscaster from...

December 12, 2012 Heckuva job: Michigan union thugs destroyed hot dog vendor’s cart Michele Malkin This is small business owner Clint Tarver of Lansing, Michigan. He was caught in the violent chaos that erupted when union thugs attacked the Americans for Prosperity tent on the capitol grounds yesterday during the right-to-work debate. His hot dog stand was destroyed. Velvet Hammer reports that the thugs shouted “Uncle Tom” and “nigger” at Tarver.Dana Loesch has more on the story and how to help.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird explained Canada’s preconditions for official recognition at a meeting with representatives of the opposition Syrian National Coalition in Morocco on Tuesday,the official said. “He outlined the importance of rejecting extremism,the inclusion of minorities,and the importance of the role of women in a post-Assad era,” said the official,who did not want to be named. On Wednesday,Mr. Baird will publicly spell out those preconditions during an address before the Friends of the Syrian People meeting —a gathering of more than 100 countries in Morocco’s Marrakesh working to bolster legitimate opposition to the Assad regime.

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A top Democratic leader Wednesday accused House Speaker John Boehner of stringing out "fiscal cliff" negotiations with President Obama until after he wins his speakership reelection, when he would then cave in to Democratic demands to get a deal done without a majority of House Republican support. "I hope he wouldn't avoid the tough decisions simply to take us into January and after his swearing-in, but I've become increasingly worried that that is exactly what's going on," charged Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen. "I would hope that he would put the interests of getting an agreement before House Republican politics,"...

Exclusive: Molotov Mitchell says 'the computers are taking over!' Molotov Mitchell is president of the award-winning Illuminati Pictures. His specialty is entertainment communications, particularly reaching the "under 40" demographic.

In the early 1980s, Ford and Chrysler were struggling to make ends meet and Chrysler needed a government bailout to keep going. General Motors' predicament in the 1980s wasn't life threatening so it continued along its merry way without making significant changes. I don't remember which automaker it was, but in the early 1980s one of the Big Three asked its union workers in Michigan to take a pay cut so that it could continue to operate. The unions were told that if they didn't accept a pay cut, the firm would move production to Texas. The unions considered the...

A follow-up to JD’s post from this morning. The screenshot actually says it all. Let me translate this for you. Ha! Steven Crowder says he was assaulted! That’s a laugh! Especially when he is provoking “peaceful union people” by talking to them! Video emerges of assault. Um. Er. . . . . HEAVILY EDITED!!!!!!!1!!1!! Talk about adding insult to injury.

To best understand this spending aspect of the current budget negotiations in Washington, we must answer one crucial question: how much taxation on the top income-earners would be required to fully fund the present level of government spending? To do so, we must first make the unreasonable assumption that the rich will not respond to confiscatory tax rates and hide money from being taxed. This is unreasonable because no scheme of taxation since WW2 has been able to capture more than 21% of GDP. With current spending levels around 23% of GDP, history suggests that no level of taxation we...

Exclusive: Pamela Geller teaches reporters realities of effort to establish 'victory' facility “It’s all pray and no play,” said the New York Post on Sunday. “The Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero that opened with great fanfare a year ago is now an empty space with no community programs. And while the developers behind Park51 insisted for two years that the project was more than a mosque, it now appears to be just that. Dozens of worshipers gather at the site on Park Place Friday for prayer services – but that’s the only activity in the building.” The New York...

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress that it intends to sell Israel some 6,900 tail kits which can turn "dumb" bombs into satellite-guided "smart bombs," including bombs capable of penetrating hardened targets, Bloomberg Business Week reported. Some of the hardened targets one would immediately think about are those underground nuclear plants the Iranian government has been so chatty about this past decade or so. According to BBW, the sale will includes 1,725 all-weather satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM tail kits with BLU-109 bombs, which are 2,000-pound, hard-target penetrators. Bombs delivered this way are among the most...

Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed for the first time to take on the issue of gay marriage. No matter how it rules in the two cases it will hear next spring, polling data suggest it is only a matter of time before legal recognition of same-sex unions is the norm throughout the country. Something similar is happening with marijuana, which became legal in Washington last week and in Colorado on Monday. With both pot and gay marriage, familiarity is breeding tolerance. The cases before the Supreme Court deal with popular reactions against gay marriage: the Defense of Marriage...

Dean: Republicans "Have To Change Their Philosophy" Of "Beating Up" On Gays, Immigrants & Women Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean says Republicans will have to change their philosophy and not just their ground game in order to win in the future. Dean says conservatives can not sell hate of women, gays and immigrants and expect to win elections. VIDEO

New discoveries and technological advances have increased the oil industry's ability to increase production in recent years, pushing global maximum oil production to 98 million barrels per day for longer than initially expected, Total SA's Chairman and Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie said Tuesday. Global oil production should plateau at that level for some time before dropping as reserves gradually deplete, de Margerie said during a meeting with the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris. Technological constraints led the French oil major to estimate in 2007 that the "peak oil" production rate would be at around 95 million barrels per day,...

Over the years, I’ve shared some outrageous examples of overpaid bureaucrats. The chief bureaucrat of a low-income California city getting almost $800,000 per year.Cops in Oakland getting average compensation of $188,000.A school superintendent in New York raking in more than $500 thousand of annual compensation.A Philadelphia bureaucrat, after working only 2-1/2 years, nailing down a guaranteed pension of $50,000 per year.A New York school bureaucrat simultaneously getting a $225,000 salary and $300,000 pension.California taxpayers being forced to pay a fired bureaucrat $550,000 for unused vacation time.An employee of the New Jersey Turnpike system raking in annual compensation of $320,000. Hopefully...