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<p>“Nobody believes in it. You’re like, ‘Fuck this,’” a former Green Beret says of America’s covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian militias. “Everyone on the ground knows they are jihadis. No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort, and they know they are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, ‘Fuck it, who cares?’”</p>

Ahead of tomorrow's Utah caucuses and Arizona primary, Ted Cruz will appear in a special prime time lineup tonight, Monday, March 21st: 6:00 pm ET: Ted Cruz on Special Report with Bret Baier – FOX NEWS 6:50 pm ET: Ted Cruz speaks at AIPAC – WATCH HERE 8:30 pm ET: Ted Cruz Interview with Wolf Blitzer – CNN 9:20 pm ET: Ted Cruz on the Kelly File – FOX NEWS

RED WING, Minn. - Asking someone to prom always has the potential for drama, but in Red Wing this weekend a special surprise invite to the big spring dance triggered widespread smiles and tears of joy. The idea to have eighth-grader Lucas Martin ask freshman Erica Quandt started with the paraprofessionals that help the two special education students on a daily basis. Kelsey Bystrom and Natalie Littfin had noticed a friendship growing between the two since they met last summer, and came up with the idea of helping them go on a prom date. Kelsey and Natalie went to their...

At a time when U.S. special operations are devising plans for the mission of accepting women into the male domains of SEALs, Green Berets and Army Rangers, the terrorist-fighting community is facing a looming readiness problem. The new challenge is tucked inside President Obama’s 2017 defense budget. It states that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and its 69,000 personnel are up against “training challenges” and is seeing “minor impacts to the forces’ ability to accomplish missions” that could grow worse. Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs face some limits on training due to cutbacks in fleet and training range operations,...

President Obama’s nominee to head U.S. Central Command recently penned a memo to Defense Secretary Ash Carter demanding that the Pentagon stop discussing the operations of elite American troops. Foreign Policy, which obtained an excerpt of the memo, reported that Gen. Joseph Votel, currently the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, wrote the December 8 memo to express concern about the Obama administration’s exposure of special operations forces’ activities. “I am concerned with increased public exposure of SOF activities and operations, and I assess that it is time to get our forces back into the shadows,” Votel wrote to Carter....

VIRGINIA BEACH An off-duty Homeland Security special agent pointed a gun at another man during a road rage incident in Virginia Beach, police say. It happened around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday near the intersection of London Bridge Boulevard and Dam Neck Road. Witnesses called 911 to report a man pointing a gun at another man, said Officer Tonya Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Police Department. The drivers were traveling north on Dam Neck approaching London Bridge when one pulled in front of the other and stopped. The two exchanged words, and a threat may have been made, police said....

I sat down Monday evening and pondered connecting the dots on something I consider a national security issue: the growing list of military officers being prosecuted for questionable reasons. When I’m out traveling, many folks ask me if there is a targeted “purging” of military leaders. I’m never one to join in on conspiracy theories, but there have been some recent instances that we should pay attention to — and perhaps there are more, of which you our astute readers are aware. Perhaps the most recent is Army LTC Jason Amerine. LTC Amerine, who is according to CNN, “a Special...

Seven Southwestern states will soon be infiltrated by 1,200 military special ops personnel as part of a controversial domestic military training in which some of the elite soldiers will operate undetected among civilians. Operation Jade Helm begins in July and will last for eight weeks. Soldiers will operate in and around towns in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado where some of them wil drop from planes while carrying weapons loaded with blanks in what military officials have dubbed Realistic Military Training. ....snip....

A new state senator for this area was elected Tuesday in a special election that was decided by only 12 percent of the nearly 82,000 registered voters in eight counties. Republican Steve West of Millersburg won six of the eight counties to capture the remaining 20 months of the term. Democrat Kelly Caudill of Maysville won in Rowan and Mason counties but lost by a total of 866 votes in the special election. West will fill the Senate seat vacated by Walter Blevins.

ALBANY — Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is joining Gov. Cuomo’s administration as a special adviser to the governor, the Daily News has learned. Quinn will be a part-time staffer until mid-April when she finishes her stint as a resident fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, a source said. After that, she will jump on board full-time. Quinn headed up the Cuomo-created Women’s Equality Party in 2014 during the governor’s reelection campaign.

December 2014 is the month Putin’s Russia was plunged into undeniable crisis. Between the dramatic drop in oil prices and the collapse of the ruble, under Western sanctions pressure, Russians are going into the new year in a dramatically different, and lessened, economic situation than the one they enjoyed at the beginning of the year now ending.This will bring myriad hardships to Russians, particularly because even Moscow is admitting that low oil prices may be the “new normal” until the 2030’s. Caveats abound here. The vast majority of Russians don’t travel abroad, much less have vacation properties in Europe, nor...

A Blair County man to be executed for three first-degree murder convictions asked a federal judge on Monday to stay his execution by Pennsylvania while he appeals his sentences. Miguel Padilla, 34, of Gallitzin plans a federal challenge of the constitutionality of his convictions and sentence, said the brief filed by Marshall Dayan, an assistant federal public defender who specializes in death penalty appeals. He's also asking for the court to appoint an attorney to handle his final appeal and waive his filing fees. Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed the death certificate for Padilla. Padilla's state appeals ran out...

Asymmetric Solutions is a Division of Applied Defense Technologies. The St. Louis-based company is staffed by combat experienced SpecOps vets, including: Army Green Berets, Army Delta, Navy SEALs, SEAL 6, and Agency SOF. The company offers a real-world training environment with exceptional instructors on self defense from criminal violence.On Tuesday Assymetric Solutions tweeted out that they were being deployed to Ferguson, Missouri.

Insufficient IRS explanations cause Judge to order sworn answers from IRS about Lois Lerner’s hard drive and emails. Judicial Watch has sued over missing IRS emails in the federal district court in D.C., pursuant to its FOIA request for such documents.The IRS was ordered to provide explanations as to missing emails, particularly Lois Lerner.The IRS provided explanations, but those were not good enough for the Judge, who launched his own inquiry into the matter, as Judicial Watch explained in a statement posted on its website: Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement in response to today’s order...

It was one of the more astonishing political images of the year: a newspaper advertisement that linked Osama bin Laden, the suspected international terrorist, with Senator Spencer Abraham, the Michigan Republican. Why is the senator, asked the advertisement that ran in some of Michigan's largest newspapers, ''trying to make it easier for terrorists like Osama bin Laden to export their way of terror to any street in America?''

Two longtime members of The City's little-known Patrol Special Police resigned in recent weeks after administrative charges were filed against them with the Police Commission, but then apparently rescinded their resignations, opting instead for a leave of absence. The resignations or leaves of absence of brothers Todd and Scott Hart brings the already dwindling number of Patrol Specials down even further. Once numbering in the hundreds, they now stand at fewer than 10. "They were brought up on administrative charges, not criminal charges," said Alan Byard, president of the Patrol Special Police Offcers Association. "They have resigned so everything is...

Over the past few weeks, political news outlets have been filled with articles beaming about the masterful strategy of the GOP establishment in crushing grassroots challenges. They smugly celebrate the wily tactics of Senator Mitch McConnell, the Chamber of Commerce, and Crossroads in counterattacking the Tea Party. But when you think past the initial headline, you will find that there is nothing special, clever, or innovative about their strategy. It is quite simple. Members of the political class, which is comprised of the leaders in both parties, support unconstitutional policies, corporate welfare, amnesty for illegals, consistent debt ceiling increases, federal...

Wednesday, 'Wheel of Fortune' had a very inspirational contestant in Trent Girone. The 21-year-old Peoria, Ariz., resident is a self-described "Wheel of Fortune" fanatic, but more important, he's the first special needs contestant ever to compete on the show.Girone has had nine brain surgeries and has both Asperger's and Tourette's syndromes, but that didn't stop him from taking early control of the wheel by successfully guessing the first puzzle, "a smashing success." Girone ultimately didn't win the game -- he hit the dreaded Bankrupt slot -- but he won viewer hearts from coast-to-coast.  WATCH:

House Republicans plan to vote next week on a resolution that would urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups. In a statement announcing the vote, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Republicans have no faith in the investigation that is already being carried out at the Justice Department. “It is time for Attorney General Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate the IRS targeting scandal and bring the appropriate charges against those responsible,” Cantor said in a statement. “This is far too serious a matter

It’s a miracle on 42nd Street. The long-unseen Christmas episode of WPIX/Ch. 11’s beloved “Magic Garden” children series has magically reappeared and will air Christmas Day at 6 p.m. “We’re beyond excited,” says Rolando Pujol, executive producer of digital, who along with licensing producer Joan De Jesus discovered the show in a forgotten sub-basement at the station’s East 42nd St. offices earlier this year. The show originally aired on Dec. 13, 1981. It may have had a re-airing a year or two later, but then it disappeared. It turned up among several hundred vintage WPIX tapes in a long-ignored room,...