Free Republic

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leadership said in a joint statement Tuesday that they would vote to help save Speaker Mike Johnson if far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., moves to oust him. "From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. "At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that." Democratic leaders said they would...

Anna Ruch had never met Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo before encountering him at a crowded New York City wedding reception in September 2019. Her first impression was positive enough. The governor was working the room after toasting the newlyweds, and when he came upon Ms. Ruch, now 33, she thanked him for his kind words about her friends. But what happened next instantly unsettled her: Mr. Cuomo put his hand on Ms. Ruch’s bare lower back, she said in an interview on Monday. When she removed his hand with her own, Ms. Ruch recalled, the governor remarked that she seemed...

The BBC reports that "senior Western counterterrorism officials" claim that the missile fired at a safe house in Pakistan two days ago killed Abu Laith al-Libi. Libi has "fallen as a martyr", according to an Islamist website: US intelligence agencies have been investigating reports that a top al-Qaeda figure was killed in the Afghan-Pakistan border area this week. It follows a missile attack in Pakistan's North Waziristan area in which 12 militants were reported killed. While Western counter-terrorism officials told the BBC they believed Libi to be dead, they would not discuss how he was killed. Some in American circles...

LOS ANGELES - Marc Lawrence, whose pockmarked face and brooding mannerisms made him a natural for roles as the tough guy, gangster and undertaker in dozens of movies beginning in the 1930s, has died. He was 95. Lawrence died early Monday at his Palm Springs home from heart failure, said Alicia Lawrence, the actor's second wife. "He was the gangster in his movies, that was definitely his style," said Alicia, a Mexico native who married Lawrence two years ago. "But in real life he was a really good person." After spending eight days in the hospital a few weeks ago,...