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Thirty-two arrests of suspected mobsters or mafia associates were made in dawn raids across New York and New Jersey today as part of an ongoing investigation into mafia control of the private garbage-hauling industry. Suspected members of five key criminal families in the area were arrested, according to ABC News. They said figures known as 'Papa Smurf,' 'Uncle Sonny' and 'Joe Cali' in the criminal underworld had been detained and charged with running an extortion racket. It is the lastest operation in the joint FBI and police investigation investigating illegal ties between waste disposal and the mafia. U.S. Attorney for...

ZEBULON, N.C. (WTVD) -- Hundreds of people met Wednesday evening to talk passionately about the Second Amendment and their rights to bear arms. Three local sheriffs, including Wake County's Donnie Harrison, took part in the minutemen's discussions in Zebulon. The meeting came just hours after President Obama unveiled his gun control plans. A boiling point in the meeting came about midway through. When dozens inside and dozens more outside of the Fargo Cattle Company Steakhouse bristled about a possibility that the federal government could violate their Second Amendment rights.

Algiers, Algeria (CNN) -- Islamist militants who seized Westerners at an Algerian gas plant are demanding safe passage to nearby Libya, authorities said, as fallout from the French offensive in Mali reverberates globally.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits tumbled to a five-year low last week, a hopeful sign for the sluggish labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 335,000, the lowest level since January 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the largest weekly drop since February 2010. The prior week's claims figure was revised to show 1,000 more applications than previously reported. While last week's decline ended four straight weeks of increases, it is probably not the start of a new trend or a sign of a material...

When the average person encounters a household disaster such as a blown furnace, a damaged roof in desperate need of repair, or leaking water pipes that create a major flood, they hope that homeowners insurance will cover the unforeseen expense. However, it seems that recently, most insurance companies have been very fond of including clauses within insurance policies that somehow exonerate them from having to write a check. When that happens, the so-called insured must step back and examine what can and cannot be cut in their budget in order to facilitate the needed repairs. The average person has no...

n the Jan. 21 New Yorker, David Remnick offers a long profile of various figures from the Israeli nationalist right, including Naftali Bennett, leader of a rising political party. If Bennett becomes Prime Minister someday—and his ambition is as plump and glaring as a harvest moon—he intends to annex most of the West Bank and let Arab cities like Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin be “self-governing” but “under Israeli security.” “I will do everything in my power to make sure they never get a state,” he says of the Palestinians. No more negotiations, “no more illusions.” Let them eat crème brûlée....

TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and more than 25 wounded in two car bomb explosions in a town in Salahudin province north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday, a provincial police source told Xinhua. The first attack occurred in the morning when a car bomb detonated in the center of al-Dujail town, some 60 km north of Baghdad. Minutes later, another car bombing followed targeting security forces and civilians who gathered at the site of the first blast, the source said on condition of anonymity. The attackers apparently followed old tactic which...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Time to Annex Judea and SamariaPosted By Steven Plaut On January 17, 2013 @ 12:45 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 12 Comments In a few months it will be the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the “Oslo Accord” on the White House lawn.  In that signing, Yassir Arafat, on behalf of the so-called “Palestinian Liberation Organization,” committed himself and his “people” to conduct negotiations with Israel that would lead to a peaceful resolution of the Middle East Arab-Israeli conflict. He forswore unilateral actions and decisions.Since then, the “Palestinian Authority,” which was set up...

Yet another "Trust Fund" is broke. This time, discussion involves an alleged "Transportation Trust Fund". As with Social Security, there is no "Transportation Trust Fund", only a stack of unmarketable IOUs from one branch of government to another. If there is any trust in the system, there shouldn't be, and soon won't be. Obama will surely see to that. Grid Chicago reports Charging by the mile, a gas tax alternative, sees serious movement. Because of vehicles with higher fuel efficiency, slightly less driving, and the gas tax not being changed since 1993, the motor vehicle fuel tax, or “gas tax”,...

BREAKING: 34 HOSTAGES AND 15 KIDNAPPERS KILLED BY AIR STRIKES BY ALGERIAN ARMY - ANI NEWS AGENCY SNIP (Previous) UPDATE - Twenty-five hostages escape Algeria siege - source ALGIERS - Twenty-five foreign hostages, including two Japanese, escaped from the siege of a gas plant deep in the Algerian desert on Thursday, an Algerian security source said.

P8-Is: Indian Navy's eye in the sky The Boeing P8-I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft (LRMRA) which the Indian Navy got lat month is the most sophisticated weapon system in its inventory yet. The aircraft, which is now being used for training by Indian naval personnel in coordination with the US Navy in the US, has the latest radars, electronic warfare systems, and weapons to kill hostile submarines, several of which lurk underwater in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal around the Indian coast. Built on the body of a civilian Boeing 737-800 jetliner with the wings of a 737-900,...

With deep condescension, my professors informed me that we live in a post-religious world. Religion, I was lectured, was the opiate of the people. I wondered, but never had the courage to suggest, that perhaps Marxism was the opiate of the elites.

India may buy up to 189 French Rafale combat jets PARIS — India could buy up to 189 of the Rafale fighter jets currently being used by France to bomb Islamist militants in Mali, sources close to negotiations on the multi-billion dollar deal have told AFP. The possibility of an additional 63 jets being added to an expected order for 126 was raised by India when Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid visited Paris last week, they said. "There is an option for procurement of an additional 63 aircrafts subsequently for which a separate contract would need to be signed," a source...

Talk about your strained analogies . . . Tom Brokaw has analogized people unwilling support measures aimed at limiting gun violence to those during the 1960s who were unwilling to speak out againt the likes of Bull Connor. Brokaw made his remarks on today's Morning Joe. While asserting that he favored a "holistic" approach to gun violence, including addressing video games and the coarsening of the culture, Brokaw did remark that "guns are the endgame." View the video here.

<p>WASHINGTON - An influential group of business CEOs is pushing a plan to gradually increase the full retirement age to 70 for both Social Security and Medicare and to partially privatize the health insurance program for older Americans.</p> <p>The Business Roundtable's plan would protect those 55 and older from cuts but younger workers would face significant changes. The plan unveiled Wednesday would result in smaller annual benefit increases for all Social Security recipients. Initial benefits for wealthy retirees would also be smaller.</p>

When thinking of Canada, I strongly doubt that the first thing to pop into most people's heads would be "bastion of political conservatism". Yet in this liberal country, prime minister Stephen Harper has carved out an impressive reputation as one of the world's most successful centre-right leaders. Through two minority Tory governments (2006 and 2008), and since May 2011 at the head of a majority government, Harper has balanced strong leadership with a confident domestic and foreign policy agenda. Canada may be a middle power, but our prime minister will accept nothing less than a seat at the top table.

What happened with the Rep from Texas that was going to push for impeachment if Obama issued his 19 EOs? Well he issued 23 I'm pretty sure. Did I miss something or was this just another GOP pretend to have guts moment?

President Obama should violate the debt ceiling, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are urging. Force Republicans to sue in court. Democrats are already violating legal requirements to pass a national budget each year. Republicans would lose even more influence if Democrats broke more laws. So does the national debt ceiling have 'teeth?' What would happen if Barack Obama simply shattered the debt ceiling, to avoid negotiating with Congressional Republicans? Democrats argue it would take a long time for appeals courts to wrangle through the dispute. Obama could go on spending for years while unpredictable judges sort it all out. In...

Listen to the Quinn & Rose Morning Show from 6:00 to 9:00 Eastern on: www.wpgb.com (104.7 Pittsburgh, Pa) http://wysl1040.com/ (Rochester, NY) http://www.talkradio560.com/ (Frostburg, MD) http://wicofm.com/ (Salisbury/Ocean City, MD WOBX - Outer banks NC httphttp://www.wncoam.com/main.html (Ashland, OH) ://tunein.com/radio/The-War-Room-with-Quinn--Rose-p34761/ for archived shows And now on 166 XM

WASHINGTON -- Former senator Chuck Hagel is a suave, energetic, spirited fellow. He is intelligent, and from his early youth apparently patriotic and undoubtedly courageous. He showed that in Vietnam. Hagel has been a Republican senator and an accomplished businessman. Now he is President Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of defense. Because he is President Obama's nominee for secretary of defense he is attracting dutiful scrutiny, and that is all to the good. This is not your ordinary presidency. In domestic policy and foreign policy President Obama is showing every indication of attempting to be an epochal president (with four...