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Hostess Brands Inc. lived to die another day. The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs said late Tuesday that it failed to reach an agreement with its second biggest union. As a result, Hostess plans to continue with a hearing on Wednesday in which a bankruptcy court judge will decide if the company can shutter its operations. The renewed talks between Hostess and The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union came after the company declared last week that it would move to wind down its business and start selling off its assets in bankruptcy court. The company...

Rangel: No daylight between Obama and Pelosi on tax hikesBy Mike Lillis - 11/20/12 05:12 PM ET President Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are on exactly the same page when it comes to supporting an increase in tax rates on the wealthy, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said this week. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the Republican whip, recently suggested that there's daylight between Obama and the House minority leader regarding their approach to those rates. But Rangel dismissed that claim outright, breaking into laughter Tuesday when he was asked about McCarthy's remarks. "I'm laughing because what he is saying, and...

A top security official in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi was killed in front of his home overnight on Wednesday, security officials said, in the latest violence to plague the cradle of the North African country's revolt. Faraj al-Deirsy, head of Benghazi police, died from multiple gunshot wounds, police and interior ministry sources said. "This happened in front of his house when unknown attackers opened fire and hit him before fleeing," a police source. An interior ministry official confirmed that Deirsy, in charge of security in Benghazi, had been killed in front his home. Libya has been hit by...

(Reuters) - U.S. forces have decimated al Qaeda's leadership and made gains against some of its affiliates, but the fight has shifted in new directions that will require persistent U.S. efforts to truly end the threat, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday. Panetta, in a speech to the Center for a New American Security, said while the United States had achieved progress against al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, associated groups had made inroads in Mali and Nigeria and were trying to gain a foothold in Libya. He said the United States had "decimated core al Qaeda," killing...

Democrats and the mainstream media have tried to paint Republicans as a regional -- and predominantly Southern -- party of white males, but nearly 30 percent of Democrats in the House will come from just two states -- California and New York -- when the next Congress convenes. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Wednesday said to “take a good look when the House convenes after this next Congress is sworn in” to see that the Republican party has gotten “white and more male,” while Democrats are “majority minority and female.”

A good read and a surprisingly fair treatment in that it actually addresses and condemns comments from Obama that are nearly exactly the same as Rubio’s: And here’s then-Sen. Obama, D-Ill., speaking at the Compassion Forum at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. on April 13, 2008: Q: Senator, if one of your daughters asked you—and maybe they already have—“Daddy, did god really create the world in 6 days?,” what would you say? A: What I’ve said to them is that I believe that God created the universe and that the six days in the Bible may not be six days...

UN official calls for marijuana ballot rollbackAP / November 20, 2012 VIENNA (AP) — The head of the U.N. drug watchdog agency is urging U.S. federal officials to challenge ballot measures in Colorado and Washington that decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and over. Raymond Yans says the approvals send ‘‘a wrong message to the rest of the nation and it sends a wrong message abroad.’’ Yans heads the International Narcotics Control Board.

Hostess Brands Inc. lived to die another day. The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs said late Tuesday that it failed to reach an agreement with its second-biggest union. As a result, Hostess plans to continue with a hearing on Wednesday in which a bankruptcy court judge in White Plains, N.Y., will decide if the company can shutter its operations. The renewed talks between Hostess and The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union came after the company declared last week that it would move to wind down its business and start selling off its assets in bankruptcy...

Local lawmakers are fuming over an Obama administration policy promoting welfare and EBT benefits for immigrants, with a “welcome” package and promotional website that encourage new arrivals to take advantage of the nation’s generous government largesse. “I think it’s a complete outrage that we’re encouraging people coming here to get on public assistance,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, a Taunton Republican who has fought for EBT reform. “We should be encouraging people to be self-sufficient. These programs are rampant with fraud and abuse.” The fight over welfare for recent immigrants is unfolding in Washington, where a group of GOP senators...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, saying the Jewish state's air raids could not be considered self-defence. "Israel is committing ethnic cleansing by ignoring peace in this region and violating international law," Erdogan said. "It is occupying the Palestinian territory step by step." The premier said Israeli air raids against Gaza could not be deemed self-defence, accusing Western countries of aiding what he called a "terrorist state" by condoning its violence. "Sooner or later, Israel will answer for the innocent blood it has shed so far," he said. Erdogan's words came...

-snip- The only thing that President Obama seems to have accomplished in Cambodia vis-a-vis his meeting with Hun Sen is giving the authoritarian leader an even stronger stranglehold on an office that he’s held longer than any other leader on the entire continent of Asia. After the fall of another long-ruling tyrant, Moammar Gaddafi of Libya, Hun Sen was asked if he was nervous about being overthrown himself. He responded, “I not only weaken the opposition, I’m going to make them dead … and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those...

TOPEKA -- About 50 college students who are in the U.S. illegally marched Tuesday on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's office urging him to stop working on immigration laws and to do his state job

The Obama Administration is playing dirty. Trying to put a price tag on access — either a news organization plays ball and accepts what they dish out without challenge, or the news organization is excluded, punished... ...and now the latest…. DNI Director James Clapper told Capitol Hill last week that the DNI did not know who took the term Al Qaeda out of the talking points that was given to Ambassador Susan Rice. It turns out that is not true and the DNI released a memo to the media last night indicating that DNI Director James Clapper was wrong last...

At a campaign event today in Wisconsin, President Obama once again misled the country about the status of the terrorist group al Qaeda. "Al Qaeda has been decimated," he said to the crowd. This statement is simply not true. Recently, "al Qaeda is on the run" was dropped from Obama's campaign trail stump speeches due to the fallout over the 9/11 attack in Benghazi which was carried out by al Qaeda terrorists. That move by the campaign doesn't change the fact that al Qaeda has not been "decimated" and is not "on the run" as President Obama suggested to the...

MULTAN: The parents of a girl whose body was found buried in a field a month ago have confessed to killing her, police said on Monday. They said the parents had killed her for marrying without their consent. They said the post-mortem examination had revealed that the girl had been strangled and the body burned before she was buried. ... the mother had confessed to helping her husband kill Naureen. She told police that they tied her hands and feet and tried to strangle her. They said they then covered her mouth with a cloth and set her on fire...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — About 625 people will be laid off when Cliffs Natural Resources idles a Michigan mine and cuts production at a Minnesota operation due to declining demand for iron ore, the company announced Monday. Two of the four production lines at Northshore Mining's taconite plant in Silver Bay will shut down effective Jan. 5, resulting in 125 layoffs, said Cliffs' Minnesota spokeswoman Sandy Karnowski. It has not been determined how those layoffs will be distributed between the plant and Northshore's mine in Babbitt, she said. Cliffs also plans an extended summer shutdown at the Empire Mine near Palmer,...

Snip: The Ohio Republican has smoothed over differences with Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), expanded his powers on the panel that doles out plum committee assignments, shot down a challenge to his earmark moratorium and worked behind the scenes to ensure that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) would win her leadership contest.

Full title: Atheist Group Backs Parents Who Are Upset School Wants To Take Kids To See ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ At ChurchLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CBS Atlanta) — Charlie Brown has been caught in the crossfire of the “war on Christmas” mantra. KARK-TV reports that some parents were upset that Terry Elementary School in Little Rock wanted to take children to go see a play of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at a local church.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — There's a new superpower growing in the Great Plains and the South, where bulging Republican majorities in state capitols could dramatically cut taxes and change public education with barely a whimper of resistance from Democrats. Contrast that with California, where voters have given Democrats a new dominance that could allow them to raise taxes and embrace same-sex marriage without regard to Republican objections. If you thought the presidential election revealed the nation's political rifts, consider the outcomes in state legislatures. The vote also created a broader tier of powerful one-party governments that can act with...

Intelligence Report: Fired Jesse Jackson Jr. staffer says she fled Chicago over harassmentChuck Goudie November 20, 2012 Updated at 06:21 PM today (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A former top aide to Jesse Jackson Jr. says she had to flee Chicago because of harassment by the Jackson family. **SNIP** "I started to receive harassment after I went to see Rev. Jackson," Hayyim said. "I've had people coming by my home taking pictures and damaging property, which I filed a police report for, but I removed myself from that location to a safer place." **SNIP** Hayyim says she is having to represent herself...

Nudists will need to cover up or limit where they show their bare buns after the Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 to pass a ban on public nudity. Supervisors Jane Kim, John Avalos, Eric Mar, Christina Olague and David Campos voted to oppose the ban. Campos argued that police resources could better be spent fighting violent crime, instead of tracking down naked men roaming the streets. Other supervisors argued the ban seemed to infringe on people’s right to express themselves and was merely a problem in a Castro that didn’t need a citywide ban. The ban still requires a second...

Hostess Brands Inc. said Tuesday night that mediation talks with its bakers union failed and the company will proceed with plans to close down and sell its assets.

Fiscal 2013 Second-Quarter Results – Continuing Operations, Excluding Fiscal 2012 Productivity Charges: Heinz delivered its 30th consecutive quarter of organic sales growth (volume plus price) of 3.3%.Reported sales grew 0.5% to $2.83 billion, despite a -2.4% foreign currency exchange impact.Emerging Markets delivered 13.2% organic sales growth (+10.3% reported) and represented 23% of total Company sales.Top 15 Brands delivered organic sales growth of 4.6% (+1.7% reported).Global Ketchup posted 5.0% organic sales growth (+3.8% reported).Net income grew 10.4% to $290 million (+22.3% reported).Marketing investment increased 13.4% on a constant currency basis (10.0% reported).Operating income declined 1.0% (+9.4% reported).EPS grew 11.1% (+23.3% reported).On...

The IDF hit more than 50 targets in Gaza on Tuesday evening, bringing the total number of strikes in the region Tuesday over 100. Half of the strikes were aimed at terrorist cells that were engaged in firing rockets at Israel. Six known Hamas terrorists and one known Islamic Jihad terrorist were killed over the course of the day. Twenty terrorists were injured in airstrikes as they attempted to fire Grad rockets. Twenty-two percent of Tuesday’s strikes hit rocket launchers that were not manned at the time. Another 8 percent of strikes targeted smuggling tunnels. Four percent targeted weapons stockpiles,...

Looming over politics in 2012 was Franklin Roosevelt’s admonition in his Second Bill of Rights speech (his 1944 State of the Union Address) for the creation of security. To revive its founding, the government must guarantee various now-fundamental rights including the “right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;” the right to “adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;” and “the right to a good education.” Together, “All of these rights spell security.” In this view, security is the highest aim of American politics: “Necessitous men are not free,” FDR...

Top Illinois state officials said Tuesday they’ll push to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants — a move backed also by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who for years stood as Democrats’ key impediment to pushing immigration in Congress. State Senate President John Cullerton said he’ll try to pass a bill in the legislature’s veto session next week to remove restrictions on illegal immigrants getting licenses there, and Gov. Pat Quinn said he’ll sign it, if it reaches his desk. Both men are Democrats. The move represents pushback after a decade in which states went the other direction, putting tighter restrictions...

A new chart produced by Republicans staffers on the Senate Budget Committee shows food stamp enrollment continuing to increase even as the unemployment rate goes down. From October 2009 to October 2012 the unemployment rate has declined from 10.2 percent to 7.9 percent. In that same time frame, nearly ten million new recipients have been added to the food stamp rolls, according to government data analyzed by the Republican committee staff. “Spending on the food stamp program has increased every single year since 2000, and a record number of individuals now receive the benefit. For instance, food stamp enrollment has...

Mayor Cory Booker is known for his social media savvy, having helped direct emergency services in Newark, New Jersey to stranded citizens during snowstorms and field questions during Hurricane Sandy. Now he's taking the talk offline as he bet a Twitter trash-talker that he could live healthfully on food stamps for a month. The Democratic politician got into a dispute with a woman on Twitter who took issue with his dispelling of some free advice via Plutarch. 'An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics,' Booker wrote on Sunday morning. User @MWadeNC...

Screenshots from sources show that the profile of the secret “alias” email account allegedly used by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was loaded on three computers under her name, as well as the computers of other agency employees within the Office of the Administrator. “This is a complete link between the Windsor email address and Jackson,” a source said in an email. Last week, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported that Jackson was allegedly using a secret “alias” email account under the name “Richard Windsor.” On Monday, The DCNF confirmed that the Windsor account was in use, citing an email released...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Tightly spun accounts of when and what the president and top administration officials knew and did prior to, during and following the deadly 9/11 terrorist attack on our Benghazi consulate are unraveling at warp speed. While the mainstream media has previously ignored the entire debacle, don’t necessarily expect that selective indifference to continue.  Now, with the election over and their candidate victorious, the seductive allure of key party sex and security scandals are already becoming irresistible news features. As Congressional investigations and a rising torrent of informed leaks continue to reveal disturbing new information, there are some major questions that...

BOSTON (CBS) – Two women have been placed on unpaid leave from their jobs after their photo at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia angered thousands of people on Facebook. An edited version of the controversial Lindsey Stone Facebook photo. Lindsey Stone was visiting the Tomb of the Unknowns last month on a business trip when she posed for a picture next to a sign that reads “silence and respect.” In the photo, Stone is pretending to yell and she’s showing her middle finger. The photo, taken by co-worker Jamie Schuh, went viral and sparked thousands of angry comments. Some of...

The US government can create an appropriate level of energy independence by causing up to four million barrels per day of additional transportation and heating fuels to be produced from North American energy sources by auctioning long-term financial hedges (Contracts for Difference) to firms offering the best terms for building appropriate conversion facilities. An appropriate level of energy independence is one that a) greatly reduces volatility of worldwide oil markets, b) eliminates the perceived need for political and military intervention in the Middle East and other unstable regions, and c) allows sensible and transparent competition among alternate sources of basic...

Several dozen members of the House have introduced a resolution that calls on President Obama not to sign the United Nations's Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). It also demands that if Obama does sign it, the government should not spend any time or money on implementation until the Senate approves it.

In a (video) presentation to the Nevada Association of Counties, Representative Ken Ivory (American Lands Council) talks about the inequitable treatment of the States West of the Mississippi by federal failure to dispose of the public lands into private ownership as promised in State Enabling Acts. Ivory/ALC proposes legislation to return lands to the Western States for lease or disposal into private ownership. Sale could provide revenue to discharge the National Debt.

Nowhere in the charter of the United Nations is there any mandate for the U.N. to stack the deck in favor of terrorists. Yet that is exactly the effect of the current U.N. furor over conflict between Israel and the terrorists who control Gaza. When terrorists in Hamas-run Gaza busied themselves in recent years launching well over 2,000 rocket and mortar attacks on Israel, including hundreds of attacks in recent months, the U.N. shrugged it off as business as usual. That’s not to say that the U.N. ignored the attacks entirely. As the bombardments went on, and on, a few...

For one reason or another, this economy is going down. As everyone must know by now, a fiscal cliff looms ahead. Unless current law is changed, the U.S. economy will take a $600-billion hit starting next year. Taxes will go up by $500 billion, while spending will have to be slashed by $100 billion. These are big numbers for a healthy economy to absorb, much less one that’s in the shape this economy is in. It amounts to at least 4% of our gross domestic product — enough to push the fledgling recovery back into recession. In an attempt to...

The next four years are likely to be unpleasant. There are already several crises heading towards us, and in the fiscal, monetary, regulatory and general economic areas the Barack Obama administration's policy is likely to be counterproductive. In these circumstances, there's only one sound course of action for the Republican congressional majority: they must abandon all their natural politicians' preference for avoiding short-term pain and adopt a root-canal approach, welcoming short-term economic pain for the sake of preserving the US economy intact for better times ahead. For the past four years, Obama's trillion-dollar deficits and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's...

The White House announced the federal government will spend $6 billion over four years for a “sustainable energy future” plan with Asian countries that involves loaning tax dollars to other countries to increase their purchasing power for U.S. technology, services and equipment. “Recognizing that energy and the environment are among the most pressing issues confronting our region, President Obama, in partnership with Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and President of the Republic of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, today proposed the U.S.-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Partnership for a Sustainable Energy Future,” the White House announced Tuesday as Obama visits Asian Pacific...

Six Palestinian men have been executed after being accused of spying for Israel. After a brief trial, the six alleged informers were executed and dumped in a Gaza street, reports said. “Their bodies are still there now. Ambulances have been arriving to presumably take them away,” Sky News correspondent Stuart Ramsay said.

When Roger Ailes was a kid he used to watch Roy Rogers movies. He used to love the part where “the cattle would all start heading toward the cliff in a stampede. And one poor son-of-a-bitch had to go out there and ride on a horse and ride into the middle of it and try to turn the whole herd.” That’s how the 72-year-old co-founder of Fox News sees himself today. “If someone’s got to go in there and turn the herd at least I’m willing to wade in and try it,” Ailes told TVNewser during a lengthy interview in...

An IDF soldier who was critically wounded in a rocket attack Tuesday evening in the Eshkol region has died. He has been identified as 18-year-old Yosef Fartuk of Emanuel. Fartuk was posthumously promoted from private to corporal. Israeli civilian Alayaan Salem al-Nabari was killed in a mortar shell attack in the Eshkol region at approximately the same time. Al-Nabari, an Israeli Bedouin, lived in the southern Negev desert. .....

Nearly one in three motorists who use the Intercounty Connector without an E-ZPass transponder don’t pay the toll later, making Maryland’s newest and most expensive highway home to a toll violation rate four times higher than the state average. Individual motorists racked up as much as $1,418 each in unpaid tolls after driving on the ICC, or Route 200, as many as 430 times during the first six months of this year. A rental car company owed $4,263 in ICC toll debt, while a construction company accrued $2,241 for 65 unpaid trips during that time. The new 18.8-mile highway between...

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- For the third time in the last 24 hours, President Barack Obama has spoken by phone with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in an effort to broker an end to the crisis in Israel and Gaza, the White House said. In the latest call, Morsi and Obama spoke for about 20 minutes as Obama returned aboard Air Force One from a trip to Asia, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on board the plane just after it landed for a refueling stop in Japan.

CANTON — Fired police officer Daniel Harless could get his job back if he gets medical clearance to return to work. An arbitrator hearing Harless’ appeal ruled in the former patrolman’s favor. The 15-page ruling was dated Saturday and released by the city Wednesday. Harless’ attorney indicated his client is unlikely to seek his old job, at least for now. He has been receiving workers’ compensation and has applied for a disability retirement pension. But Harless now has the right to be back on the job, according to arbitrator Harry Graham. PAST VIDEOS ON HARLESS: • VIDEO: Canton officer threatens...

Dear friends, First, thanks to everyone who has expressed their concern for our safety. We live between Ashkelon and Kiryat Malachi in a small kind of “village” for want of a better word (“yishuv” in Hebrew). This means that we get the sirens when rockets are sent in the direction of Kiryat Malachi and also hear Ashkelon and Ashdod sirens and booms from a distance. Yesterday, there were seven sirens here and this morning two so far. In the cities, there are tens of sirens (and attacks or successful interceptions) per day and through the night. Families without fortified rooms...

The world of organ donation in Denmark is in turmoil. A documentary was aired earlier this month which showed family members reacting in anguish to the news that their 19-year-old daughter was brain dead after a car accident, agreeing to donate her organs and allowing doctors to turn off her respirator. About 1.7 million viewers tuned in to the heart-rending drama. But Carina Melchior did not die after her respirator was removed. She is now undergoing rehabilitation and may make a full recovery. About 500 people immediately removed their names from Denmark’s organ donor register. Doctors at Aarhus University Hospital...

We are all aware of the slippery slope that the profligate spending of our politicians has put our nation on, and those who are honest enough to admit it know that the mighty United States of America is headed for a fiscal disaster that, if our course is not drastically altered, will shake the very foundations of our stability and reduce the greatest nation the world has ever known to a Greece-like shell complete with social upheaval and worthless currency. When we think about the ramifications of our decades of foolishness, we tend to be concerned about the social fall...

Citi's commodities team believes Iraqi oil production is set to explode in the coming years, causing prices to turn downward.In a massive survey helmed by analyst Edward Morse, Citi's team projects Brent crude to fall to $99 next year.One of the main reasons: Iraq's oil production is poised to reach heights never seen in its history — neither prior to America's 2003 invasion nor in Iraq's '80s heyday.This would be the world's second huge energy boom, with the US being the other big story. Citi Importantly, the current Iraq trajectory is based on post-invasion dynamics.For instance, a second development at...