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("Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland are not gun-toting utopias," Wonkblog (December 14, 2012)). It is unfortunate then that the body of your research on Switzerland can only be described as "shoddy," at best. At worst it appears more like raw academic fraud.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi isn't ruling out pushing for upper-income earners to pay more even after the "fiscal cliff" deal that raised their taxes. She tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that "I'm saying that's not off the table." The California Democrats isn't getting into specifics but she does discuss changes to tax law that might involve deductions and other breaks.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi isn’t ruling out pushing for upper-income earners to pay more even after the “fiscal cliff” deal that raised their taxes. … The former House speaker also says the current Republican Party isn’t the “Grand Old Party that did so many things for America that commanded so much respect.” …

The Californian picked to lead congressional Democrats´ efforts on gun control says the positions held by some gun rights advocates are unnecessarily divisive, and that government action should go beyond simply outlawing certain weapons. "I think assault weapons are a pox on the home of every gun owner," Rep. Mike Thompson said Saturday on CNN. "I think that´s the thing that´s going to cause the overwhelming majority of people in this country who aren´t gun owners to have negative feelings about those of us who are gun owners." Thompson is a gun owner and hunter himself,

January 6, 2013 Congress has just raised payroll taxes. It has done it before, and will do it again. Our august solons excuse themselves, however, by pleading that the 2 percentage point hike is merely the sunset of a tax holiday. And necessary to shore up a faltering system. It’s not a triumph of responsibility, though. What is responsibility? Every year the Social Security Administration sends out a helpful note to its “clients” about how much we’ve contributed in payroll taxes. The kindly bureaucrats also warn us not to rely only upon Social Security payments. They don’t tell us that...

Two days ago we posted a discussion around a newly released photo from the White House. The picture was taken in the oval office on Sept 11th 2012: (Snip) The picture was taken at exactly 7:28:16pm DC time. It was dusk outside, and President Obama had just completed a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Why is this important? Because we know the conversation lasted an hour. (Snip) So this phone call between Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama started three hours after the attack began.

During George W. Bush's presidency, it was a matter of liberal faith that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on al-Qaida members "undermine our moral authority and do not make us safer," as Barack Obama once put it. According to Obama, "enhanced interrogation techniques" are wrong, and -- no matter what common sense tells you -- they never work. Asking nicely works best with terrorists. "Zero Dark Thirty" -- Kathryn Bigelow's new thriller about the decadelong quest to bring Osama bin Laden to justice -- doesn't cleave to that liberal orthodoxy. At a preview Thursday, I saw a steely homage...

There is a crisis in law-school education, but don't expect the institutions to tell potential applicants about it. In short, there are far too many graduates for the number of jobs available, and the majority of those who get jobs are not being paid nearly enough to service their debt. Nationally there are twice as many graduates as there are jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the economy will provide 21,880 new jobs for lawyers annually between 2010 and 2020; law schools since 2010, however, have produced more than 44,000 graduates each year. Yet schools continue to enroll...

President Obama plans to ally himself with big business once again by using crony capitalist tactics to pass gun control just as he used them to pass Obamacare. In this case, Obama reportedly plans to make sure that the new gun control law benefits big businesses that sell weapons. “[T]he White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association that one source said could include rallying support from Wal-Mart and other gun retailers for measures that would benefit their businesses,” The Washington Post reports.“Wal-Mart and other major gun retailers may have an incentive to support closing a...

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's public swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 21 is prompting a different kind of oath within the capital's tourism industry, as the prospect of disappointing attendance threatens to dent spending on all manner of travel goods and services, from luxury hotel suites to servings of the president's favorite chili. Mr. Obama's 2009 inauguration drew an estimated 1.8 million people to Washington, more than any other gathering on the National Mall, according to officials at Destination D.C., the city's main tourism and convention marketer. This week, D.C. transportation and tourism officials said they expected turnout to be less than half...

If you’re a Democrat operative forced to resign for facilitating vote fraud, what do you do for a follow-up? If you said brutally attack your girlfriend, cracking her skull, your name just might be Patrick Moran. And if you’ve skated on both counts, your father just might be Jim Moran, Democrat congressman from Virginia. Patrick Moran was the field director for his father’s campaign before the election — that is, until a sting operation caught him on video coaching an undercover reporter on how to commit vote fraud. He sounded as if he’d already achieved semi-pro status, too. But since...

he Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is asking the nation’s media to make this their new year’s resolution: Stop using the word “Islamist.” Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s communications director, explained in a Jan. 3 op-ed why his group is upset the Associated Press added the term to its latest stylebook, a document that guides reporters worldwide. Hooper wrote: That entry reads: “Islamist — Supporter of government in accord with the laws of Islam. Those who view the Quran as a political model encompass a wide range of Muslims, from mainstream politicians to militants known as jihadi.” The AP...

House Democrats have named the leaders of a new panel designed to fight gun violence. The task force, formed in the wake of last month's shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn., will be led by lawmakers as diverse as Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), an ardent supporter of gun control; John Dingell (Mich.), a long-time ally of the National Rifle Association; and Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), who was injured in the Tucson shooting that almost killed former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.). Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), appointed chairman of the panel last month by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said the group's task...

President Obama intends to take a confrontational approach with Republicans in future economic battles by using the same campaign-style events the White House saw as effective in the “fiscal-cliff” fight. Many in Obama’s party believe that he got the upper hand in the recent deal to avoid the mixture of across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts, and that the aggressive approach helped build his public case. Sources close to Obama say he can fend off Republicans for several reasons: his successful reelection; polling suggesting public support for many of his positions; and division among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Jen Psaki,...

Chuck Hagel likely would face opposition from both liberals and conservatives for his past stances and comments ... Coats said. "... We watched Chuck take positions that are, frankly, ... to the left of Barack Obama." He continued: "Hagel has moved ... to someone that looks like they are out of the most leftist state in the country and exceeding even a lot of Democrats," ... Sen. Linsey Graham, R-S.C., told Chris Wallace, "There would be very little Republican support for his nomination. ... There will be very few votes.”

FBI reveals surveillance of 60 minutes correspondent Mike Wallace, who was accused of being a communist The FBI files include an investigation of a threatening letter sent to Wallace by a World War II veteran titled 'Communist Control of the Press' In the summer of 1970, Wallace and late '60 Minutes' creator Don Hewitt took a trip to Cuba, which the FBI kept tabs on Wallace was not discovered to be a communist By Damian Ghigliotty PUBLISHED: 19:33 EST, 5 January 2013 | UPDATED: 20:26 EST, 5 January 2013 The U.S. Federal Investigation Bureau released records it was keeping on...

Sometimes silence isn’t so much golden as deadly. Just ask Christians living in the troubled Middle East. Their world will be a very dangerous place in 2013 as believers face being wiped out of their “biblical heartlands” because of mounting persecution by militant Islam, according to a new report by the U.K. think tank Civitas. It warns that Christians suffer greater hostility in the Middle East than any other religious group on the planet while the world wilfully ignores their plight. And it claims the clear majority of politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians...

The Jersey City Police Department collected over a hundred and twenty guns during a gun buy-back program held earlier today at a Mcginley Square church, according to police spokesman Stan Eason. As part of Operation Life Safer 2, the four-and-a-half hour event began at 12 p.m. at the Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church at 661 Montgomery St. where gun owners handed in their weapons in exchange for cash with no questions asked. Since 2005, the city held two prior gun buy-back programs in an effort to reduce gun violence and managed to collected 1,297 rifles, handguns, and assault weapons, according to...

Michael Moore Recommends Soldiers Punch the Lights Out of Citizens Who Thank Them for Their Service By Noel Sheppard Created 01/06/2013 - 8:16am On New Year’s Eve, schlockumentary filmmaker Michael Moore made a resolution to stop saying he supports the troops. On Thursday, Moore put an exclamation point on this anti-American insanity publishing a piece at the Huffington Post entitled “Those Who Say 'I Support the Troops' Really Don't.” “I don't support the troops, America, and neither do you,” Moore began. “I am tired of the ruse we are playing on these brave citizens in our armed forces. And guess...

Matt Damon’s latest film “Promised Land” arrived in theaters nationwide yesterday with a focus on the controversial issue of fracking. Written by Matt Damon (who won an Oscar for co-writing “Good Will Hunting”) and John Krasinski (“The Office),” the story focuses on a small community that is asked to debate the merits of the process when a large corporation arrives in town wanting to buy much of the local land. In an article from the Wall Street Journal, reporter Daniel Gilbert described -- much more succinctly than the film does -- what the process of fracking entails. He noted that...