In 2013, the US military lifted its ban on women serving in combat. Shortly after, the Marine Corps began what it calls an “unprecedented research effort” to understand the impact of gender integration on its combat forces. That took the form of a year-long experiment called the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, in which 400 Marines—100 of them female—trained for combat together and then undertook a simulated deployment, with every facet of their experience measured and scrutinized. MORE

Just ahead of the fourteenth anniversary of al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks on the U.S., the leader of the terrorist group took aim in an angry speech at a mortal enemy — but not American “crusaders” this time. Rather, the object of his tirade was the leader of ISIS in a declaration of war that will “irreconcilably” divide the two terror groups in a way the U.S. may be able to exploit, experts say. MORE

Various news sites and social media rumor mills have been spreading a photo of a haredi woman standing grim faced in front of Pope Francis, and telling a story to go along with it. Sopposedly, the woman – Rivka Ravitz, Bureau Chief of President Reuven Rivlin – refused to bow to the pope, because of the cross that was hanging from his neck. MORE

WASHINGTON — President Obama, under increasing pressure to demonstrate that the United States is joining European nations in the effort to resettle Syrian refugees, has told his administration to take in at least 10,000 displaced Syrians over the next year. MORE

You might not make it to heaven in the afterlife, but you sure can go as far as the moon. Celestial funerals are now a possibility, thanks to San Francisco startup Elysium Space. For a ginormous fee of about $12,000, the company will privately transport your cremated remains to the moon! MORE

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated and thousands of properties destroyed, after rare torrential rains saw a major river burst its banks north of Tokyo in Japan on Thursday.

A further 800,000 people across eastern Japan have been advised to evacuate after officials issued pre-dawn warnings of unusually harsh rainfall to 5 million people. MORE

Donald Trump is all ready stimulating the Los Angeles economy.  The Donald Trump pinata’s are selling faster then burrito’s  The can’t what to take a swing at Donald, And he’s coming here next week, Ha. MORE

After nearly a quarter-century of efforts in California to afford terminally ill patients the right to end their lives with a doctor’s help, state lawmakers and the governor may be on the verge of granting the dying that authority. MORE

Help Us STOP the new law, SB 277 and keep our kids in school!   MORE

“Negotiate with Iran without pre-conditions. Play along with the charade of a civilian Iranian nuclear industry.”

I’m not quoting this to toot my own horn. Plenty of other people were writing along the same lines back then. The point I’m trying to make is a different one.

The trouble is that plenty of liberals and moderates, and even some Republicans, are acting as if Obama’s Iran deal is something shocking and unexpected. It wasn’t. MORE

It’s difficult to show the spherical Earth on a 2D map, with countries becoming distorted in different ways.

Now two computer developers in Detroit, Michigan, have created an interactive map called ‘The True Size Of,’ which shows how large countries really are compared to one another.

It allows you to search for a country and drag it on top of another one to show how the scale of a country is distorted the closer it gets to the Earth’s poles.

Type in a country below to compare its size to others MORE

It’s only fitting that these countries who opposed the bombing of Syria should take in more of the refugees.

In yet another rather embarrassing event for The White House, just days after President Obama praised the French for helping in the fight against ISIS, and General martin Dempsey noted “the French were our very first ally and they’re with us again now,” French officials have, according to Reuters, ruled out participation in airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria. With the fall of France (and Germany already saying “nein”), it appears the broad coalition is now a “coalition of none,” as Obama has stated the US would not go it alone…MORE

With Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) having now announced her support for the U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement, President Obama has thirty-four senators in favor, making the deal all but done.

Beyond its main purpose, the agreement with Iran affords us a historic opportunity to get right what we’ve gotten wrong in Afghanistan ever since September 11. When we went into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the attacks, we chose to rely on the one country least likely to help us win: Pakistan. MORE

Is Francis sending us an undocumented Mexican message?

WASHINGTON —  When Pope Francis celebrates a canonization Mass for a Spanish-Americanmissionary in Washington this month, he will do so in a language that the new saint, Junípero Serra, would recognize: Spanish.

There’s a number of reasons for that, said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington who will be hosting the pope on the Washington leg of his three-city U.S. visit later this month.

First, Spanish is the pope’s mother tongue; he was born in Argentina. MORE