Calling a political opponent 'unpatriotic' is unpatriotic: Christine M. Flowers

When I was about 11 or 12, I saw a made-for-television movie called "The Man Without A Country." It was based on a short story written by Edward Everett Hale, and told the story of a man who - angered at being tried for treason against the United States - spouted out in the middle of the trial, "I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" In punishment, the astounded judge grants him his wish: He is found guilty and sentenced to spend the rest of his life on U.S. Navy warships.

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Shocking Report: Obama Threatened To Shoot Down Israeli Jets Targeting Iran

In a shocking report, a Kuwaiti newspaper is claiming that President Barack Obama once threatened to shoot down Israeli jets if they went through with a plan to target Iranian nuclear sites. Citing "well-placed sources," Al-Jarida claims that sometime in 2014, the Israeli government made plans to attack Iran when they heard that the United States and Iran were on the cusp of striking a secret nuclear deal behind Israeli's back.

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GOP Blocking DHS Funding Is 'Delusional,' Rep. King Says

House Homeland Security Committee member Rep. Peter King today called some members of his Republican caucus "self-righteous and delusional" for opposing a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security. "I said the other night, when I was at the Republican meeting, that they are self-righteous and delusional," King said on "This Week" of the Republican contingent holding up the bill because of their opposition to President Obama's executive action on immigration.

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a Cpac history lesson: How Rand Paul is like Reagan

President Barack Obama's effort to bridge the trust deficit between African-Americans and law enforcement, the money wars heading into 2016, a little CPAC history and a "do not reply" mandate fill our Sunday trip around the "Inside Politics" table: Rand Paul won his third consecutive CPAC presidential straw poll this weekend, and most political journalists yawned -- and understandably so. There have been 20 previous CPAC straw polls, and only in four of those cases has the winner ended up as the Republican presidential nominee.

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GOP pushes budget plan, contentious issues in Legislature

Republican lawmakers who have firm control on the Statehouse are pushing ahead with a series of contentious issues as they head into the second half of the legislative session. Lawmakers appear determined to allow the replacement of Democratic schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz as the state Board of Education's leader.

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Faulconer gets high marks

A new U-T San Diego/10News poll asked 501 registered voters in San Diego for their views on Kevin Faulconer after a year in office.

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Wisconsin's Walker: Sure, Obama loves his country

Gov. Scott Walker still hasn't spoken with President Barack Obama about the president's love for America, but the possible contender for the Republican nomination now has an opinion on the subject. Wisconsin's governor tells "Fox News Sunday" that Obama or "anybody else who is willing to put their name on the ballot certainly has to have the love for country to do that."

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Cartoon - Making Netanyahu Uncomfortable

A tag is a way to search for this diary. If someone is searching for "Barack Obama," is this a diary they'd be trying to find? Use a person's full name, without any title.

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File under: It almost makes sense

Last week, two alcoholic bears who have been living in squalor for 20 years next to a bar in Sochi were ordered by a Russian court to pack up and go into rehab. A place in central Transylvania -- one that has a lot of experience with retired boozing circus dancing bears, of course -- stepped up and offered to put the duo on a 12-step regimen.

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Sierra Leone VP Quarantined for Ebola Virus

In case you were wondering, Ebola is still a thing, and it's still tearing West Africa apart. The latest manifestation of this is the Vice President of Sierra Leone putting himself in voluntary quarantine after one of his security guards died of Ebola .

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House Majority Whip: 'No Deal' On Funding DHS Past Friday

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise on Sunday rejected the suggestion that House Republicans had made a deal with Democrats to pass a "clean" bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security next week, telling "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, "There is no such deal and there's no such bill." Scalise is seen as a leader of the conservative wing of the GOP-controlled House, which has so far rejected any long-term funding for DHS that does not include language that dismantles President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration.

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Scott Walker Doubles Down: Union Busting Is The 'Kind Of Leadership' Needed To Defeat ISIS

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a possible Republican presidential candidate, on Sunday doubled down on the notion that his union busting experience was what was needed to defeat the terrorist group ISIS. While speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Walker had said that dealing with protesters who opposed his so-called right-to-work legislation was like fighting ISIS.

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Upscale NY suburb embroiled in a wily debate over coyotes

In this Feb. 19, 2015 photo, Ann Styles Brochstein holds her Havanese dog Samson near where Samson was attacked by a coyote outside her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. The suburban Town of New Castle, which includes Chappaqua, is divided over how to deal with the coyotes that have moved in over the last several years. Photo: Jim Fitzgerald, AP FILE- In this Feb. 24, 2011 file photo, a coyote crosses a snowy street in the Irvington section of Portland, Ore.

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Before Netanyahu Speaks, AIPAC Gives Thanks for An Aggressive Congress

Applause filled the Washington Convention Center, from thousands of people attending AIPAC's annual policy conference. In the Obama years, AIPAC's show of force in Washington often overlapped with a moment of tension or scandal in the relationship between the president and the Likud government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Bridget Bardot To The Resue

Last week, two alcoholic bears that have been living in squalor for 20 years next to a bar in Sochi were ordered by a Russian court to pack up and go into rehab. A place in central Transylvania -- one that has a lot of experience with retired boozing circus dancing bears, of course -- stepped up and offered to put the duo on a 12-step regimen.

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Joe Lieberman Blames Democrats For Making Netanyahu Speech 'Partisan' By Their 'Absence'

Former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, who almost ran as Vice President on John McCain's 2008 ticket bashed Congressional Democrats for refusing to show up in the halls of Congress for Bibi Netanyahu's speech on Tuesday. Speaker John Boehner caused a major rift within the White House and Congress when he purposefully ignored telling the president that he had invited Netanyahu to speak out against the USA/Iran negotiations.

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Lindsey Graham Promises AIPAC Members He Will Cut UN Funding and Derail Iran Negotiations

Speaking to the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference Sunday morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened to cut funding to the United Nations, who he believes is alienating Israel in the international community and tolerating anti-Semitism in Europe. His promise was met with applause and a standing ovation by the nearly 15,000 AIPAC members in attendance.

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Top Putin critic shot dead

President Vladimir Putin yesterday vowed to bring the "vile" killers of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov to justice as Western leaders and Russia's opposition roundly condemned the drive-by shooting near the Kremlin walls. Putin, who earlier blamed the assassination on foes trying to discredit the Kremlin, said in a message to Nemtsov's mother: "Everything will be done so that the organisers and perpetrators of a vile and cynical murder get the punishment they deserve," The 55-year-old former deputy premier who was a vocal critic of Putin, was shot in the back several times shortly before midnight Friday as he walked across a bridge a stone's throw from the Kremlin.

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President Obama on Attorney General Holder: "He Has Been One of Our Finest"

Yesterday evening, the President spoke at the portrait unveiling ceremony for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The event marked Holder's anticipated departure from the Department of Justice after more than six years of service as Attorney General.

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Obama, Netanyahu on collision course 6 years in the making

For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies. The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests.

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More

By letting a measure become law without his signature to prohibit local governments from expanding anti-discrimination protections, Gov. Asa Hutchinson is straddling the debate over a proposal being cast as endorsing bias against gays and lesbians. Hutchinson, a Republican, last week allowed a bill to become law that would prohibit cities and counties from expanding anti-discrimination protections beyond what's already covered in state law.

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Washington Wrap: Yellen defends Fed on the Hill

During her appearance before the Senate Banking Committee on Feb. 24, she tried to more clearly the central bank's strategy for eventually raising its key interest rate. Yellen said that current economic conditions do not warrant an increase to interest rates for "at least the next couple of [Federal Open Market Committee] meetings."

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6 questions about Netanyahu's visit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is just days away from landing in Washington, where a storm is raging over his plans to address a joint session of Congress. A few dozen Democrats plan to skip the speech, the White House isn't done blasting the prime minister and Republicans -- especially presidential hopefuls -- are using it all as red meat.

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Republicans agree with ... Elizabeth Warren?

William Temple of the Golden Isles Tea Party in Georgia, dressed as Button Gwinnett, the second signer on the United States Declaration of Independence, cheers as Ben Carson speaks. They want to break up the big banks.

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Climatic Jihad?

ISIL and other Islamist jihad movements continue to round up and silence all who oppose them or refuse to convert to their extreme religious tenets. They are inspiring thousands to join them.

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MD Congressman Andy Harris: Showdown Far From Over In Homeland Security Funding Fight

Maryland Congressman Andy Harris thinks the Homeland Security funding dispute is only the first of many big fights to come on Capitol Hill. Harris, a Republican, blames the President and the Senate's top Democrat for much of the political strife, "The problem is this is how we're going to define what the next two years are going to look like," Harris told the Jimmy Mathis show Saturday on WBAL Newsradio 1090.

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Mark Levin tells CPAC crowd GOP has 'no guts': 'It's time for a new Republican Party'

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Mr. Levin said "It's time for a new Republican Party," The Hill reported . "No more excuses.

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Republican Party's elephant symbol

The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee reported Saturday that Mayor Ashley Swearengin will not seek the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2016. In a University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released Friday, Swearengin received the largest support among potential Republican candidates: 9 percent of registered voters who were surveyed.

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Illinois Racing Board Appointments Announced

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has announced four appointments to the Illinois Racing Board, including a consumer loan executive and campaign contributor as chairman. The appointments will allow the board to resume its business after having to cancel a January meeting because it lacked a chairman.

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Mayor of Fresno won't seek US Senate seat

The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee reported Saturday that Mayor Ashley Swearengin will not seek the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2016. In a University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released Friday, Swearengin received the largest support among potential Republican candidates: 9 percent of registered voters who were surveyed.

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