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This winter was not a good one for farmers in the Fertile Crescent. A punishing drought hit most of Syria and northern Iraq during what’s normally the wettest time of the year. In the mountains of eastern Turkey, which form the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, snow and rain were less than half of normal. The region has seen one of the worst droughts in decades. Drought is becoming a fixture in the parched landscape, due to a drying trend of the Mediterranean and Middle East region fueled by global warming. The last major drought in this region...

Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter, running to be Louisiana's next governor, is leaving the door open to a possible expansion of the state's Medicaid program to cover more of the working poor, as allowed under the federal health care law. Vitter said Monday that he's not opposed to the expansion if Louisiana can improve the performance of its Medicaid program and if the expansion doesn't draw state resources away from other spending priorities like higher education.

**SNIP** "If stimulating the economy were just as easy as taking from Jim and giving to Joe, don't you think communism would've worked out? Thanks progressive lefties, I'm sure this is making businesses feel secure about moving into Seattle. "Silliness," Shapiro concluded. Boze wondered why Seattle didn't just force the $15 wage immediately, if 70 percent of voters like it. In fact, Thursday's committee compromise is a disaster for the $15 Now group, which is pushing a ballot initiative for November that would enact the $15 wage on Jan. 1, 2015. "They're not interested in income equality," Boze said. "They're...

If we were living in normal times, the following scandals and failures — without going into foreign policy — would have ruined a presidency to the point of reducing it to Nixon, Bush, or Truman poll ratings. Think of the following: the Fast and Furious scandal, the VA mess, the tapping of the communications of the Associated Press reporters, the NSA monitoring, Benghazi in all of its manifestations, the serial lies about Obamacare, the failed stimuli, the chronic zero interest/print money policies, the serial high unemployment, the borrowing of $7 trillion to no stimulatory effect, the spiraling national debt, the...

Nigel Farage tonight claimed victory in the European elections, becoming the first 'insurgent party' to top a national vote. With results still being declared, Mr Farage broke cover to predict he will humiliate the Westminster parties, pushing Labour and the Tories into second and third. Support for Ukip has surged by more than 12 per cent, outstripping a more modest boost in votes for Labour, while the Lib Dems faced near-wipeout, with some calling for Nick Clegg to resign. Mr Farage said: 'Ukip is going to win this election and yes that will be an earthquake because never before in...

French economist Thomas Piketty has become a darling of the left for allegedly "proving" that, as paraphrased by Chris Giles at the Financial Times, "wealth inequalities are heading back up to levels last seen before the first world war." The Media Research Center's Julia Seymour has described Piketty as a "'rock star' of the far-left," an accurate assessment given praises heaped upon his book and especially his public policy prescriptions by the likes of Alternet and Vox's especially gullible Matthew Yglesias. Seymour also notes that Piketty's work has received a great deal of favorable notice in the establishment press, and...

Organizing for Action, the advocacy group supporting President Barack Obama's agenda, is scaling back its fundraising efforts and cutting its paid staff in half as focus shifts to the approaching midterm elections, three Democratic officials said.

WASHINGTON — President Obama is preparing to nominate Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio as his new secretary of housing and urban development, elevating one of his party’s Hispanic rising stars as part of a cabinet shuffle that has possible implications for the 2016 presidential race, Democrats informed about the plans said on Saturday. [snip] Some of Mr. Castro’s allies also believe that with income inequality becoming a focal point for Democrats, the HUD job offers the mayor an opportunity to burnish his credentials on issues of poverty and to raise his appeal among those on the party’s left. The...

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is about to be tapped by President Barrack Obama to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is the second time Obama will have asked Castro to serve in his administration. The move for Castro comes at a time where a big game of musical chairs is going on in the Obama Cabinet. Castro will be asked to replace HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who is expected to move to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Mayor Julián Castro is expected to leave his third term in office early to become HUD secretary for President Barack Obama. Mayor Julián Castro (center) with his brother, Joaquín Castro, are interviewed in Time Warner Arena as they prepare for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 3, 2012.

A new CNN poll finds that just 12% of Americans consider the Obamacare program a "success." President Barack Obama has pressed fellow Democrats to laud and run on his signature legislative achievement. However, other polls confirm that the law, which has been in effect for over four years now, remains deeply unpopular. The latest Pew/USA Today poll finds just 41% of Americans now support Obamacare. A record 55% disapprove of the law. The CNN poll found less support for repealing Obamacare; 49% want Congress to make changes to the law, and 12% said to keep Obamacare as is. Of those...

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SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has scheduled a news conference for Thursday to announce a plan to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. **SNIP** Committee members representing business and labor could not agree on issues like crediting tips and benefits against the $15 minimum. And council member Kshama Sawant revealed another hurdle -- she said there has been little talk of automatically increasing the minimum wage with inflation. “If going forward the new minimum wage does not have a cost of living increase attached to it every year of the phase in it's not going to...

The hypocrisy could not be more evident as reports indicate Media Matters for America is resisting efforts by Service Employees International Union Local 500 to unionize its employees. Heck, next thing you know, they'll be asking them for a higher minimum wage. "...Last week, the union filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, indicating that the nonprofit media watchdog organization rejected an effort by the union to organize MMFA's staff through a Card Check election..."

Among the many political messages that resonate in the African-American community, President Obama knows that calls to protect voting rights will rouse many of his most loyal supporters. In an election year in which fairness and equity are Democratic themes, and motivating the party’s base is essential by November, Obama on Friday expressed alarm about rights threatened and justice denied, stirring 1,600 people packed inside a New York City ballroom to stand and cheer.

Citizens United is not just the default reference for US Supreme Court decisions—including the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling—that have ushered in a new era of corporate dominance of American elections. It’s the name of the conservative group that encouraged Chief Justice John Roberts and the most activist Court majority in American history to tear the heart out of what were already weak campaign finance laws. Citizens United still exists as an activist group that produces documentaries—ACLU: At War with America, Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration, Fire From the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative...

As President Barack Obama's job approval ratings continue to flounder nationwide, he can still look to California for affirmation. A new Field Poll found 53 percent of California voters approve of Obama's job performance while 41 percent disapprove. That's nearly the opposite of the nation as a whole, where an average of major polls now finds a 53 percent disapproval and 43 percent approval -- not his all-time low, but nothing to brag about either. Among California Democrats, 80 percent approve of Obama's job performance and 15 percent disapprove; among Republicans, 80 disapprove and 16 percent approve. Nonpartisans and third-party...

France's socialist prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault resigned yesterday. Joined by his entire government following meltdown in local elections .. Resignation is huge blow to France's social President Francois Hollande. Last night, Hollande admitted mistakes and said priority was to cut taxes ... last night socialist President Francois Hollande – whose rule has become synonymous with a 75 per cent top rate of income tax – admitted to mistakes and said his priority was now to cut taxes. The government’s resignation is a huge blow to the president, who was elected to a five-year term in 2012 but whose first two...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Battling food shortages, the government is rolling out a new ID system that is either a grocery loyalty card with extra muscle or the most dramatic step yet toward rationing in Venezuela, depending on who is describing it. President Nicolas Maduro's administration says the cards to track families' purchases will foil people who stock up on groceries at subsidized prices and then illegally resell them for several times the amount. Critics say it's another sign the oil-rich Venezuelan economy is headed toward Cuba-style dysfunction.

Donning a pinstripe home white jersey and blue Mets cap over dress pants, de Blasio was loudly booed twice by Flushing faithful — once as he was announced and then again as he left the Citi Field diamond.... De Blasio wore No. 6 in honor of late-1960s Boston Red Sox great Rico Petrocelli, the mayor’s aides said. The infielder, who slugged 210 home runs in his 13-season career, grew up in Brooklyn. So the Boston-loving mayor managed to pay homage to his beloved Red Sox, his adopted home borough and to Italian Americans by donning that shirt. But that still...