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The U.S. government is fighting to keep details of how its own federal gun agents let Mexican drug cartels buy rifles in Arizona illegally out of an upcoming murder trial in which two men will be tried for the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry who died after he ran into men carrying those same illegal guns. In a court filing Monday, prosecutors are trying to keep some details about the guns found at the slain agent’s murder scene away from the jury. Terry, 40, was part of the Border Patrol’s elite BORTAC unit. In December 2010, the...

Standing at your deathbed, the Apostles cried aloud in wonder: The Palace of the King withdraws: the Ark of holiness is raised on high. Let the gates be opened wide that the Gate of God may enter into abundant joy, She who asks without ceasing for great mercy on the world. Several years ago, I was sharing with an Orthodox pilgrim the thought that the Dormition fast, though short, was very intense spiritually and that hardships seemed to befall people more in those two weeks than in the long Apostles’ fast. Without hesitation he responded, “Of course! Lent is...

San Francisco (CNN)The gun used in the killing of a San Francisco woman in a case that gave new political prominence to the issue of illegal immigration was stolen from a vehicle belonging to a federal Bureau of Land Management agent, a source familiar with the investigation said Wednesday. Kate Steinle was shot to death on July 1 on one of San Francisco's busiest piers. The .40-caliber pistol was a personal weapon, not an official firearm, the source said. Investigators still are trying to determine how Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, the man accused in Steinle's killing, allegedly obtained the weapon, according...

The blood-soaked executioners of ISIS have spared neither women nor children since the jihadist army established its caliphate a year ago, putting an estimated 74 kids and even more women to death for such offenses as practicing “magic” and refusing to fast during Ramadan.

See Boehner doles out new punishment ”Boehner allies have been retaliating against rank-and-file members who voted against a procedural motion earlier this month, nearly derailing a major trade package favored by Republican leaders that is set to clear the House on Thursday.” Our Constitution is crystal clear that any deals cooked up by our president must receive a two thirds approval vote by our national legislature to be binding law. See Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2: The President shall have power "... by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of...

The burger chain that put "supersize" into the American vernacular is slimming down: For the first time in more than 40 years, and perhaps ever, McDonald's says the number of U.S. restaurants it has is shrinking. McDonald's plans to close more restaurants in the U.S. than it opens this year, according to the world's biggest hamburger chain. That hasn't happened since at least 1970, according to an Associated Press review of McDonald's regulatory filings. Becca Hary, a McDonald's spokeswoman, declined to provide a specific figure but said the reduction would be "minimal" compared with its total of about 14,300 U.S....

Senator Jeff Sessions is worried that the adoption of the Trans-Pacific Partnership would lead to an "historic international regulatory Commission" that would eoncmpass 90 percent of the world's GDP. He's concerned that it would "[create] a self-governing and self-perpetuating Commission with extraordinary implications for American workers and American sovereignty." “The House is preparing to vote again tomorrow on providing fast-track executive authority to the President. If adopted, it will be sent immediately to the Senate for final consideration," Sessions says in a statement to be released tonight. "It is essential that there be no misunderstanding: fast-track preapproves the formation of...

Fast-food giant McDonald's said Wednesday it would announce a turnaround plan in two weeks as sinking US sales dragged down profits again in the first quarter. The ubiquitous burger-and-fries chain said US sales, the largest share of global income, fell 2.6 percent from a year ago for comparable outlets.

“Furious 7″ raced to the top of the domestic box office, picking up a massive $143.6 million in its opening weekend. That establishes a new high-water mark for the month of April, blowing past the $95 million debut of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” as well as marks the highest grossing kick-off for any film in the “Fast and Furious” franchise. It also ranks ninth among the top ten openings in history. Audiences flocked to see star Paul Walker in one of his final roles. The actor died in a 2013 car crash at the age of 40 and his...

Have you ever visited your favorite fast-food restaurant and, as you grab that sack of burgers or chicken, wondered how much money that restaurant makes? Well, restaurant trade magazines track those stats for the big fast-food chains. And the answers can be surprising. It turns out that only seven of the top 50 quick-serve brands in the country pull in more than $2 million per store. For perspective on that, for a full-service restaurant to be a profitable enterprise, it needs to pull in $1 million a year — that’s the rule of thumb I learned in my years as...

In response to the government's recent declarations that internet speeds of 100Mb/s should be available to "nearly all homes" in the UK, a great many might suggest that this is easier said than done. It would not be the first such bold claim, yet internet connections in many rural areas still languish at 20th-century speeds. The government's digital communications infrastructure strategy contains the intention of giving customers the "right" to a broadband connection of at least 5Mb/s in their homes. There's no clear indication of any timeline for introduction, nor what is meant by "nearly all homes" and "affordable prices"....

Could the act of ordering a “McMuffin” be less dignified than it already is? Yep, says Kate Batchelder. Significantly less.

Just as Second Amendment civil rights activists feared, federal government bureaucrats were supplying illegal firearms to Mexican drug cartels in the expectation that it would led to pressure for more regulation. Analyzing a 60 page document release in response to a FOIA action by Judicial Watch Attkisson writes:

Christian refugees in a Chaldean Catholic church in Erbil The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad Raphael Louis Sako calls on Iraqi Christians to fast on Christmas Eve in order to implore the Lord for the return of refugees in Mosul and the Nineveh plains. At the same time, he asks the faithful not to organise "any worldly celebration" for Christmas and New Year as "a sign of solidarity with their displaced brothers and sisters, who are going through indescribable suffering." ... For this reason, he urges them to fast from Monday 22 December until night on 24 December, not touching...

In a review of Michael S. Rose's book entitled, "Goodbye, Good Men," Rev. Robert J. Johansen noted that, "There is too much evidence of the abuse of authority in certain dioceses and seminaries to dismiss Rose’s claims as baseless. It is still the case, even in a seminary with a reputation for orthodoxy such as St. Charles, that seminarians would not openly admit to members of the formation committee that they attended a licit (under the Ecclesia Dei indult) Tridentine liturgy for fear of being branded a “reactionary” and hounded out. I know many priests and seminarians who were subjected...

With the media and engaged citizens focused on critical mid-term elections, the Department of Justice turned over 64,000 pages of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious that it had previously claimed executive privilege for, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Responsibility announced Tuesday. Per the committee release, the production of the documents, compelled by court order, is further evidence the administration had no legitimate reasons for withholding them in the first place consistent with the purposes behind executive privilege, and their withholding was part of a continued effort to avoid disclosures “that embarrass or otherwise implicate senior Obama...

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been trying to investigate the Fast and Furious scandal for years, but has been stymied by the Obama administration’s stonewalling. The House committee was willing to narrow its request for Department of Justice documents to an extraordinary degree; ultimately, the committee asked only that the Obama administration produce documents after February 4, 2011, relating to the false letter to Congress that bore that date, and the process by which Eric Holder’s DOJ decided to withdraw that letter. Notwithstanding this narrow scope, the Obama administration has stiffed the House committee for three years,...

THE WORST 14 FAST FOODS ACCORDING TO EMPLOYEES 1. Anything from McDonald's McCafe 2. Ballpark hotdogs 3. Steak and beans at Taco Bell 4. Wendy's chili 5. Anything off the Starbuck's secret menu 6. Movie popcorn 7. Panera pasta 8. McDonald's chicken nuggets 9. Beans at Taco Johns 10. BBQ sandwiches at KFC 11. Quesarito at Chipotle 12. Eggs at Einsteins Bagel's 13. Gas station slurpees 14. Dunkin Donuts' doughnuts

Can a federal agency trying to cover up wrongdoing lawfully withhold documents under executive privilege—reserved for the president of the United States—when the records don’t even involve the commander-in-chief? That’s the question being argued before a federal court in Washington D.C. and the ruling could have a widespread impact on how government unscrupulously hides information from the public as well as Congress. The feud involves a congressional committee investigating a disastrous Obama administration experiment that allowed Mexican drug traffickers to obtain U.S.-sold weapons that later ended up in a multitude of crime scenes, including the murder of a Border Patrol...

American chain restaurants have long been fond of expanding beyond the U.S. borders – see McDonald's (MCD), KFC and Subway – and as time marches on, the trade works in reverse, too. Restaurants from Asia, Central and South America, Africa, Europe and Australia have over the years made their way to the States, bringing with them all manner of entrees, sandwiches and sweets. Some have been here a while and made sizable inroads, such as Canadian doughnut seller Tim Hortons (THI), while others are newer and smaller, like South Korean chicken shop Bonchon.