And The Country Posing The Greatest Threat to Peace as 2013 Ends is …

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Shakil Adil

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Shakil Adil

The past year witnessed bloodshed in Syria and Iraq, turmoil in Egypt, anarchy in Central Africa, threats by a nuclear-armed North Korea and Chinese military posturing, but as 2013 ends a global poll finds that the country seen as representing the greatest threat to peace today is … the United States.

Not only did the U.S. top the list with an aggregate of 24 percent, but the runner-up threat country, Pakistan, was way behind at eight percent. China was third at six percent, followed by North Korea, Iran and Israel at five percent each.

The survey of opinions across 65 countries by pollster Win/Gallup International recorded some of the strongest anti-American sentiment, predictably, in countries widely regarded as rivals, led by Russia (where 54 percent of respondents said the U.S. was the greatest threat to peace) and China (49 percent).

But the view that the U.S. poses the greatest threat to peace was also strongly held in some purported U.S. allies – such as NATO partners Greece and Turkey (45 percent each), and Pakistan (44 percent), which is also a top recipient of U.S. aid.

Two other countries where strongly negative opinion of the U.S. was found were Bosnia, a candidate for European Union membership (49 percent), and, closer to home, Argentina (46 percent).

Read more from this story HERE.

Officials Admit New Problems With ObamaCare Launch

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Administration officials acknowledged Tuesday that some people will have problems when their new plans under ObamaCare begin Wednesday, but said they are working closely with insurers to minimize difficulties.

Wednesday is a major milestone for the law, as new plans bought through the exchanges before Dec. 24 will go into effect.

The White House on Tuesday said it had worked closely with the insurance industry to ready for the important date.

White House advisor Phil Schiliro on Tuesday said the admnistration knows insurers will be in the spotlight, and has set up a toll-free number to help consumers.

“We don’t want anybody to have problems but we know some people will,” he said on MSNBC.

Read more about problems with Obamacare launch HERE.

Kickin’ off the New Year: Forecast for Parts of U.S. – 40 Below Zero (+video)

Photo Credit: thisreidwrites/flickr

Photo Credit: thisreidwrites/flickr

While Los Angeles will kick off 2014 with highs in the 70s, the National Weather Service forecasts many other areas of the United States will have a chilly start to the New Year with lows below zero — well below zero.

“The two really cold spots will be New England and Wisconsin,” said Bruce Terry, a forecaster with the weather service. Minnesota and North Dakota will also be frigid, he said.

Lows in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota could reach 40 degrees below zero on Tuesday night, he said. In New England, temperatures will be relatively warmer, with lows near or below zero.

Snow is expected to hit parts of Iowa and head eastward, into areas of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi: Betrayal that Whitewash Won’t Cover

Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin

Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin

By Wesley Pruden.

Transparency, the current vogue word for truth-telling, is usually a good thing, unless you’re trying to fool all the people some of the time, like spending 7,000 words to resurrect a fairy tale in Benghazi, all to give a helping hand to a lady in distress.

The New York Times understands that Hillary Clinton is likely to be the only credible hope the Democrats have for 2016 and that she already needs lots of remedial help. The Times huffed and puffed to deliver an excuse for betrayal in Benghazi, meant to second Mrs. Clinton’s famous alibi for her tortured misfeasance as secretary of state — “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

The right response might have made a lot of difference to an American ambassador who lay dead, slain at the hands of Islamic terrorists, and three other Americans who had to give up their lives because nobody at the White House could be bothered to ride to the rescue. President Obama and his frightened and timid acolytes, including Mrs. Clinton, insisted that this was not Islamic terror or the perfidy of al Qaeda, but merely the reaction of innocent Muslims offended by a video posted on YouTube mocking the religion of the Prophet Muhammad.

Even after the White House dispatched Susan Rice, who was then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to push the confection about the video as revealed truth, almost nobody believed it. The White House couldn’t even find anybody else who would say he believed it.

Read more about the Benghazi betrayal HERE.

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NYT editor defiant on Benghazi report amid lawmaker criticism

By Fox News.

A New York Times editor on Monday staunchly defended a controversial report on the Benghazi attack which largely backed the State Department’s narrative, amid withering criticism from congressional Republicans and others.

The State Department, as might be expected, also spoke in defense of the New York Times article.

“Much of what’s in this in-depth investigation … tracks with what the [internal review board] found and with our understanding of the facts,” spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday.

The lengthy Times report and the subsequent fallout represent the latest battle over the public narrative of what happened the night of Sept. 11, 2012. Even the State Department’s internal review did not offer a definitive explanation of what caused the attack and who was behind it.

The Times investigation, though, aggravated some of the department’s toughest critics by concluding there was no involvement from Al Qaeda or any other international terror group and that an anti-Islam film played a role in inciting the initial wave of attacks.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Senate Intel panel to release Benghazi report in early 2014

By Susan Crabtree.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded its Benghazi investigation and is set to release its report in early 2014, a move that will only intensify the debate over the administration’s handling of the deadly terror attack.

On Sunday, the New York Times published a six-part article on the attack that concluded that al Qaeda played virtually no role in the September 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.

The piece also bolstered the argument that at least part of the attack was prompted by anger over an anti-Islamic video, as the Obama administration originally claimed.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has yet to weigh in on the New York Times’ Benghazi report. A spokesman said she was traveling on Monday and didn’t plan to comment but also noted that the committee plans to release its Benghazi review “very early in 2014.”

What that report says about al Qaeda’s role, the security lapses surrounding the attack and the motivation behind it will reshape the debate yet again, likely keeping Benghazi in the headlines for weeks to come.

Read more from this story HERE.

Conservatives Should Adopt Reagan’s No Compromise Position in Dealing with Republican Establishment, Ruling Class

Ronald-Reagan-APLooking ahead to 2014, Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer said that the best way for conservatives to defeat the permanent political class and the Republican establishment is to not compromise with or be co-opted by them.

On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon, Schweizer, regarded as the top expert on crony capitalism in the nation, said Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. are like “two vultures fighting over a carcass.” He said both parties are fighting over “who’s going to pick at the carcass more.”

He said the natural tendency of the Republican establishment is to “compromise and give away.” Schweizer mentioned that this was also the case during President Ronald Reagan’s tenure in office, when much of the Republican establishment that had loathed him, at least since 1976, wanted to “cut a deal with the Soviets.”

Reagan did not, and Americans eventually saw the collapse of the “Evil Empire,” as Schweizer noted….

Ultimately, Schweizer said, despite establishment groups like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads can spend hundreds of millions of dollars waging war against conservatives, “what elects people is votes not dollars.” He said that the Republican establishment can spend “as much money as they want, but those candidates will have to appeal to Americans for votes.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Global Warming Scientists Forced to Admit Defeat (+video)

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty

Photo Credit: AFP/Getty

They went in search evidence of the world’s melting ice caps, but instead a team of climate scientists have been forced to abandon their mission … because the Antarctic ice is thicker than usual at this time of year.

The scientists have been stuck aboard the stricken MV Akademik Schokalskiy since Christmas Day, with repeated sea rescue attempts being abandoned as icebreaking ships failed to reach them.

Now that effort has been ditched, with experts admitting the ice is just too thick. Instead the crew have built an icy helipad, with plans afoot to rescue the 74-strong team by helicopter.

The expedition is being lead by Chris Turney, a climate scientist, who was hoping to reach the base camp of Douglas Mawson, one of the most famous Antarctic explorers, and repeat observations done by him in 1912 to see what impact climate change had made.

It is thought that the group, which includes scientific researchers and a journalist, will now be able to escape by air after two sea rescues failed.

Read more about the global warming scientists HERE.

Joe Miller: We Must Send This Unmistakeable Message

Photo by Zach Rudisin

Photo by Zach Rudisin

Dear Friend of Liberty,

We are heading into a tough primary to determine who will represent the Republican ticket in November against one of Barack Obama and Harry Reid’s most dependable allies – Alaska junior senator Mark Begich. 

It is imperative that we send an unmistakable message to Washington that we will no longer tolerate big government’s intrusion into our private affairs, nor will we accept its crushing economic consequences for our children and grandchildren.

Obamacare must be repealed; the tax code must be overhauled; onerous federal regulations have to go; and the outrageous violation of our Constitutional liberties must be ended once and for all.

Don’t be deceived. It will take bold new leadership to make that happen. Simply replacing Mark Begich is not enough. We must replace him with a fighter, not someone who likes to play the Washington game. 

The status quo is unacceptable, even if it masquerades in a Republican costume! There must be a clear choice. Ronald Reagan was right, “Bold colors, not pale pastels.”

If you agree, I need your help today! With just two days left in this reporting period, I’m asking that you consider a generous donation to help us finish the quarter strong. It is imperative that we show increasing momentum as we move quarter-to-quarter towards election day.

My opponents can count on big outside interests to come to their aid; I’m depending on you to have my back. 

If you want to send a message to the big government politicians and their corporate cronies, now is a good time to show a reform candidate will have what it takes to go the distance against the establishment candidates and win the race!

I understand that many of you are experiencing difficult economic times, but some could afford to do more. I’m asking that those of you who can, please seriously consider it. A change in policy in Washington is the only hope to restore strong economic opportunity and liberty that should be the birthright of all Americans.

I must admit, I’m not excited about what it will cost to make this happen. And I’m not just talking dollars and cents. 

When I swore to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, I meant it. And I still do. America is worth fighting for!

Will you join me in ensuring that we replace Mark Begich with a real reformer?  

Please help us end the quarter on an upswing by clicking here today!

Many thanks . . . and may God bless you in the year to come.

In the Fight,

Joe Miller

Pope ‘Shocked’ By Gay Adoption, Urges Bishop to Speak Out Against Legislation Permitting It

Photo Credit: Sunday Times of Malta

Photo Credit: Sunday Times of Malta

Pope Francis is “shocked” about legislation in Malta that would allow homosexual couples to adopt children and encouraged the auxiliary bishop of that island nation, Charles J. Scicluna, to “speak out” against the proposal, the bishop told the Sunday Times of Malta on Dec. 29.

In his Christmas Day sermon, Bishop Scicluna had defended the Catholic Church’s teaching against same-sex “marriage” and gay adoption. When asked why he would discuss such a topic as part of a Christmas homily, Bishop Scicluna said he had met with Pope Francis on Dec. 12 and the pope advised him to speak boldly on the subject.

“We discussed many aspects,” said Bishop Scicluna. “And when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [gay adoption], he encouraged me to speak out.”

“[T]hat is exactly what I did in my Christmas sermon,” said Bishop Scicluna. “My sermon was not about the rights of gay people but about children’s rights.”

In his Christmas Day homily, the bishop had said, “The message of Christmas remains always a current message. It beckons and invites us to seek and recognize the true Wisdom that the manger of our Lord Jesus embraces ….

Read more from this story HERE.

Moving Toward Victory: Record Numbers of Surgical Abortion Clinics Close in 2013

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue

Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue

A record 87 surgical abortion clinics closed in 2013, a new study finds.

The total number of surgical abortion clinics in U.S. fell 12% to 582 in 2013 – a 73% decline from a high of 2,176 in 1991.

Texas led all states with 11 closures in 2013, most of which shut down after Texas passed an abortion law earlier this year that required abortionists to maintain local hospital privileges. New clinic safety rules in Pennsylvania and Maryland also prompted closures in those states.

“The numbers don’t lie. A 73% drop in surgical abortion clinics is a significant loss. We are witnessing the death throes of the abortion cartel,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, which conducted the study.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pregnant Nurse Attempting to Protect Her Baby Fired For Refusing Flu Vaccine (+video)

Photo Credit: CBS

Photo Credit: CBS

A woman who lives just over the border in Pennsylvania is drawing national attention for her beliefs. As Mike Schuh reports, when the pregnant nurse refused a flu shot, she was fired.

For the past five years, 29-year-old Dreonna Breton came to her nursing job at Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, Pa.

This fall, the hospital required her to get a flu shot.

“It’s frustrating to me to be forced to do something that you’re not comfortable with,” Breton said.

The mother of a 19-month-old son, she has another baby on the way.

Read more about Ms. Breton’s consequences for refusing flu vaccine HERE.