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President Obama is considering asking Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David H. Petraeus. Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Wealth advisors say that with capital-gains taxes potentially going to 25 percent from 15 percent, and other possible increases in the dividend tax, estate tax and other taxes, many clients are selling now to save millions in taxes. If the Bush-era tax cuts expire, taxes on capital gains would revert back to its previous rate of 20 percent from its current 15 percent. Another 5 percent may be added from health-care levies and changes in itemized deductions, bringing the rate to 25 percent for many high earners. Taxes on dividends could go from 15 percent to over 43 percent. And...

Petraeus Scandal: An affair that was known to the FBI for months and kept from congressional oversight committees might explain his complicity in a false narrative of the Benghazi terrorist attack and the order to "stand down." The addition of sex to Benghazigate adds a dimension sure to keep the scandal going and one that does indeed make Watergate seem like a third-rate burglary. The affair admitted to by Gen. David Petraeus, now our former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, might have attached blackmail or the potential for blackmail to a scandal we have already called a case of...

After an election campaign that featured jobs as a central issue, some of the nation’s businesses have responded to President Obama’s victory with a series of layoff announcements related to a variety of factors including the New Year’s “fiscal cliff.” A number of companies had hoped the election of Republican Mitt Romney would raise the chances of avoiding the cliff’s $1 trillion in federal spending cuts, half of them defense-related, plus higher taxes from the expiration of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts. Other factors in the spate of layoff notices included costs related to Mr. Obama’s health care plan...

EXCLUSIVE UPDATED: It seems like there is another wave of belt-tightening at NBCUniversal. I hear the company has been imposing layoffs across the various TV divisions of the company. The layoffs started two weeks ago with Los Angeles-based personnel, with New York-based employees getting pink slips today. (NBCU’s LA-based film studio, Universal Pictures, also was hit with layoffs about two weeks ago, when it let go of 25 employees.) I hear the cuts, which don’t appear to be very deep, are the result of a corporate decision and virtually all networks are affected to some extent including NBC; Syfy; USA;...

The nasty ads took a toll, but GOP House members supported Ryan’s plan — and won. Lukewarm. That’s the feeling I get from the election numbers.Turnout was apparently down, at least as a percentage of eligible voters. The president was reelected by a reduced margin. The challenger didn’t inspire the turnout surge he needed.Every reelected president since Andrew Jackson has won with an increased popular-vote percentage. Barack Obama didn’t. He won 53 percent to 46 percent in 2008. His numbers as I write are 50 percent to 48 percent over Mitt Romney. That could go up to 51 percent to...

The video of the original Obamaphone lady that you can see by clicking the link above sums up, better than many words and in-depth analyses, why Obama won. This has truly become a client state. I like the following definition of client state, applied to Scotland: Keep spending more and more money on more and more voters, and you've built a client state. Those in receipt of the largesse will want it to continue. One day the money will no longer be there to spend (see technical note from Liam Byrne for details), but by that point you will...

Add Newt Gingrich to the list of Republicans coming to terms with the loss of the presidential election. On Monday, the former speaker of the House sounded reflective on the "Today" show, saying, "We need to stop, take a deep breath and learn." He added, "The president won an extraordinary victory. And the fact is, we owe him the respect of trying to understand what they did and how they did it." Gingrich said, "But if you had said to me three weeks ago Mitt Romney would get fewer votes than John McCain and it looks like he'll be 2...

The American people have spoken, renewing President Obama’s mandate for change for yet another four years. Following the announcement of Obama's reelection, Communist Party USA (CPUSA) chairman Sam Webb wrote an article in the CPUSA’s official newspaper, People’s World, expressing his contentment with the election results. “After a long and bitterly contested battle, the forces of inclusive democracy came out on top yesterday,” Webb said. “The better angels of the American people spread their wings, as they went to the polls.” Webb went on to reaffirm that the election results were in the CPUSA’s favor: The Communist Party said a...

There are many pleasant actions that can be taken that won't do any good. There are others that might at least begin to do some good. These won't do much good beyond diverting attention from our problems and maybe providing a good feeling. Feeling good is comforting, and that's it. 1. Hit your thumb again and again with a big hammer. That will focus attention away from the November 6th debacle. Still mad about November 6th? Then 2. Get drunk. Still thinking about November 6th? Then 3. Sign petitions to:♦ Impeach President Obama for . . . anything you feel...

Owners of guns have been stocking up because they are concerned about a potential tightening of regulations on assault weapons in the president's second term. In October the number of background checks on people applying to buy guns, an indicator of future sales, increased by 18.4 per cent. There was a similar jump when President Obama was first elected in 2008. A total of 12.7 million background checks were carried out that year, up from 11.2 million the year before, and the number has been rising since then. Shares in weapons manufacturers like Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger also...

JUST BEFORE HURRICANE SANDY, OBAMA SIGNED EXECUTIVE ORDER MERGING HOMELAND SECURITY WITH PRIVATE SECTOR TO CREATE VIRTUAL DICTATORSHIP November 9, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While all eyes were on Hurricane Sandy in the days leading up to the storm’s breach on the mainland of the Northeast, the White House was busy devising new ways to enslave Americans under the guise of protecting national security. On October 26, 2012, Barack Obama quietly signed an Executive Order (EO) establishing the so-called Homeland Security Partnership Council, a public-private partnership that basically merges the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with local governments and the private sector...

<p>It is clear that Obama hates the U.S. Constitution. Has himself stated that it's a flawed document and it and the courts do not go far enough in saying what the government must do for you on your behalf in regards to social and economic justice and the redistribution wealth. He says the courts have failed to remove the constraints on government from doling out social and economic justice, so it must be done legislatively.</p>

Today's must-read comes from Tim Carney: Re-elected, Obama takes aim at religious liberty. A bit: Green and his family own Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts-and-crafts stores. They sued the administration on the grounds the contraception mandate prohibited their free exercise of Christianity by forcing them to pay for abortifacient morning-after pills. The Greens weren't arguing that morning-after pills should be illegal. They weren't even trying to keep their employees from using them. They just didn't want to implicate themselves in what they saw as immoral activity. The administration responded with an unsettling argument: The Greens aren't protected by the...

Homeland star Damian Lewis told a British talk show he sent a Muslim joke to president Barack Obama. During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show Saturday night, the Emmy-winning actor says the president wanted a signed DVD box set of the Showtime hit to give to the Teamsters labor union (the president has previously revealed Homeland is his favorite show). Lewis says co-star Claire Danes wrote something along the lines of, ”I was a fan of yours long before you were a fan of ours.” But when it was the British-born Lewis’ turn, the actor says he jokingly wrote:...

According to the White House, more than 7,000 people have signed petitions for Indiana and Kentucky to secede from the union. Related. In total, there are 20 states with similar petitions, all of them filed within the last two days. The petitions all came from individuals and not state governments. Withdrawing from the union is not legal. They all read the same way, "We petition the Obama administration to peacefully grant (the state) to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government." The petitions also cite Declaration of Independence. The petitions require 25,000 signatures each,...

In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore — equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird — Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric.... “I have $80 bucks left!” Magida said. “I’m so happy!” “I have $12,” Mak said with a frown. The two friends weren’t tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for...food stamps. Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living...

Operative Faith reveals that Kroger will soon join the ranks of Durden Restaurants and slash the hours of its non-exempt (hourly) workers to avoid millions in Obamacare penalties. To give you a sense of Kroger’s size and importance, its sales last year were $90 billion and it employs nearly 350,000 people. Most of its jobs are hourly and the vast majority of workers are neither millionaires or billionaires. Faith is a mid-level manager at Kroger and reports the dire news: Last week we found out that, beginning in January, any employee who is not full-time at that point,will be limited...

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.” However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers. It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how...

Benefit to fall $50 a month starting in January Ohio families receiving food stamps could get an unwelcome surprise come January: $50 less every month in assistance. For the 869,000 households enrolled in the program for the poorest Ohioans, that could amount to about $520 million annually out of the grocery budgets. Because of the way the federal government calculates utility expenses for people receiving the benefit, a mild winter nationwide last year, and a lower price for natural gas, many families could experience a significant cut in aid, those familiar with the program say. Recipients should get a letter...