JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel’s election on Tuesday, claiming victory despite unexpected losses to resurgent center-left challengers.

Exit polls showed the Israeli leader’s Likud party, yoked with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, would still be the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly with 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 they held in the previous parliament.

If the exit polls compiled by three local broadcasters prove correct – and they normally do in Israel – Netanyahu would be on course for a third term in office, perhaps leading a hardline coalition that would promote Jewish settlement on occupied land. (more…)

(Canada Free Press)  Forget Wal-Mart and skip your local gun show. The murderers of tomorrow will not be found wearing orange vests at your local sporting goods store. They won’t have NRA memberships or trophies on their walls.

You won’t find them in America. Look for them in Obamerica.

67% of firearm murders took place in the country’s 50 largest metro areas. The 62 cities in those metro areas have a firearm murder rate of 9.7, more than twice the national average. Among teenagers the firearm murder rate is 14.6 or almost three times the national average. Those numbers are from six years ago. They have grown worse since.

Those are the crowded cities of Obamerica. The places with the most restrictive gun control laws and the highest crime rates. These are the places where the family is broken, money comes from the government and immigrants crowd in from some of the most violent parts of the world bringing with them their own organized crime. These are also the places that have run by Democrats and their political machines for almost as long as they have been broken. (more…)

Inaugurals always magnificent…appears Pres. Obama comfortable with high unemployment and huge deficits..no serious mention

— Jack Welch (@jack_welch) January 21, 2013

Chris Matthews says President Obama’s inaugural address comparable to Abraham Lincoln.   Time magazine says Obama talks in terms too complex for the ordinary earthly person to understand.   The Congressional Black Caucus says Obama is fulfilling the Martin Luther King legacy with Obamacare as an example.    NBC’s Brian Williams says Michelle Obama is the most fascinating woman since Jackie Kennedy.

President Obama’s campaign director, David Plouffe, says that Washington, and this nation, is not worthy of a man as great as Barack Obama and the opportunity he presents.  Newsweek has declared President Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ.

But the most profound, reflective and ironic statement can be found right here in The Last Refuge;  As Sharon reflects upon the inaugural poster of President Obama “The Prophecy Fulfilled“: (more…)

We are re-visiting history again in 2013.  A recent Washington Times article highlights a recently published paper from a seriously agenda driven “think tank” member, Arie Perliger.  [learn more about Arie Perliger here]

(Via Washington Times)  A West Point think tank has issued a paper warning America about “far right” groups such as the “anti-federalist” movement, which supports “civil activism,  individual freedoms and self-government.”

The report issued this week by the Combating  Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military  Academy at West Point, N.Y., is titled “Challengers from the Sidelines:  Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.”

The center — part of the  institution where men and women are molded into Army officers — posted the  report Tuesday. It lumps limited government activists with three movements it  identifies as “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement  and a fundamentalist movement.”

The West Point center typically focuses reports on al  Qaeda and other Islamic extremists attempting to gain power in Asia, the  Middle East and Africa through violence.

But its latest study turns inward and paints a broad brush of people it  considers “far right.” (more…)

If you are a person who follows U.S. foreign policy, even tangentially, you must watch this video of Hillary Clinton discussing the terrorist attack / hostage crisis in Algeria:

Couple of thoughts. (more…)

There is no reasonable doubt, Obama’s decision is a payback for McDonough’s unyeilding loyalty in handling both Fast and Furious and Benghazigate.

The picture of President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Chief of Staff Jack Lew, National Security Advisor(s) Denis McDonough and Tom Donilon, has drawn quite a bit of attention. Not from the main stream media – but from independent-minded research bloggers and seekers of truth.

The backstory that began the research is HERE, and the ultimate unraveling of the riddle behind what was actually taking place is HERE. But the issues that surround the team pictured are larger and even more consequential. (more…)

Progressive and intolerant Colin Powell has the whole gun debate figured out:  “why can’t we just test everybody” before they are allowed to own a firearm?

There’s those pesky “Bill of Rights” thingy’s again.   Maybe we could test before allowing voting rights.  Or, well,  maybe a stability test before free speech expression, or religious affiliation.

What’s that, those other rights can’t kill people?  Really?  Think about that.

And NO, driving is not a “right”, so testing is not an appropriate comparison.   And if you cannot see the slippery slope to ownership of ice-cream purchasing based in physical exam and BMI (Body Mass Index) then you really don’t connect dots that well. (more…)

Um, toldyaso…   The architect of the Oval Office defense behind Fast and Furious, AND the architect of the Benghazi defense, Denis McDonough, is going to be rewarded with the office overlooking the Don Regan patio.

(Via The Hill) President Obama is leaning toward choosing Denis McDonough, currently a deputy national security adviser, as his next chief of staff, sources told Bloomberg.

McDonough, who worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign, is considered deeply loyal to the president. He was a longtime congressional aide who worked for Obama when he was a freshman senator. McDonough also served as foreign policy adviser to then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (S.D.) and legislative director to then-Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), who is now the secretary of the Interior. (more…)

Considering John O Brennan is nominated to head the CIA, Chuck Hagel is nominated to head the Department of Defense and John Kerry is nominated to be the next Secretary of State.   It may seem odd to align the Treasury Secretary pick with them.   Odd that is, until you remember:

Prior to his position as President Obama’s Chief of Staff, and prior to him being Obama’s Budget Director (comical considering Obama has never had a budget) Jack Lew served as State Department Director under Hillary Clinton.    It was Lew’s influence that shaped and positioned the failed Obama foreign policy toward the Middle East.   Specifically toward Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya during their upheavel, the Arab Spring.   How has that worked out for our interests ?

President Obama has presented his Chief of Staff, Jack Lew, as his nominee for Treasury Secretary.   Make no mistake, this is not a decision made with the economic interests of the United States in mind, this is a highly partisan decision made with the specific intent of finding methonds of spending that will work AROUND congress.

Senator Jeff Sessions is right when he calls Jack Lew a “liar”, but the issues with Lew are far larger than his intentional propensity to mislead:

As the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Lew has spent an inordinate amount of time honing one specific aspect of federal spending. (more…)

Pat Caddell is a Democrat. But he is an American first. As he eloquently states” the political class swears an oath to the constitution, not their party. They exist at the consent of the governed and something is about to explode… something…..