How is Donald Trump NOT perfect for D.C.? He’s got the persistence of a lobbyist, the family money of a past president or two, the shamelessness of a scandal-plagued senator, the marital track record of at least one former House speaker (ahem) and the self-promotional drive that draws so many of America’s student council presidents to the nation’s capital. Read full article > >

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Donald Trump will fit right in on Pennsylvania Avenue

In their debates, ads and speeches, the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are vying for the label of most Reagan-esque. On taxes, “I take the Reagan approach,” former senator Rick Santorum said at a recent Florida debate. Read full article > >

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Why the GOP should stop invoking Reaganomics

BRUSSELS — U.S. and NATO officials struggled Thursday to clarify how long their troops would remain engaged in combat in Afghanistan, a day after Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said U.S. forces would shift toward a training and advisory role next year. Read full article > >

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U.S., NATO seek to clarify Panetta comments on ending Afghan mission

In a sign of just how unpopular Congress has become, rank-and-file senators hijacked this week’s debate over a narrow conflict-of-interest bill and turned it into the chamber’s most sweeping ethics debate in a generation. Read full article > >

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Minor Senate bill sparks major debate on ethics

Once U.S. leaves, according to NATO report.

Original post:
Taliban to Retake Afghanistan: Report

Once U.S. leaves, according to NATO report.

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Taliban to Retake Afghanistan: Report

Pakistan’s foreign minister says her country has no hidden agenda in Afghanistan, as a leaked Nato report accuses Islamabad of links to the Taliban.

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Pakistan dismisses Taliban links

According to classified NATO report.

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Pakistan Helping Afghan Taliban

The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC.

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Pakistan security ‘helps Taliban’

The late Arizona Republican senator Barry Goldwater , aptly dubbed “Mr. Conservative” probably understands better than anyone exactly what Newt Gingrich is now going through . As with the Republican establishment onslaught encountered by Gingrich in his run for the Republican nomination, Goldwater in 1964 also ran smack into a GOP establishment as desperate then, as it is now, to stop a conservative they couldn’t control from becoming the standard bearer. Read full article > >

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Colby King: Gingrich and Goldwater, establishment targets

PARIS—France said Friday that it will accelerate the pullout of its combat forces from Afghanistan by one year, to the end of 2013, and in concert with Afghanistan urged NATO to hand over all combat operations to the Afghan army by the same date. Read full article > >

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France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

KABUL — Three Afghan civilians were killed on Thursday when a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, according to officials. A female civilian expatriate official from the coalition was hurt along with 30 other Afghan civilians in the attack in which the bomber used a vehicle outside the governor’s compound in Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s provincial capital. Read full article > >

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Bomber targets NATO convoy in Afghanistan; 3 killed

Chuck Pagano, defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens , has been named head coach of the Indianapolis Colts . Pagano, 51, coached the Ravens’ secondary for three seasons before taking over as defensive coordinator in 2011. He has coached in Oakland and Cleveland. The news was first reported by Pro Football Talk and the team made the announcement late this afternoon. Read full article > >

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Colts name Chuck Pagano, Ravens’ defensive coordinator, head coach

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan on Monday sternly rejected an American account of a deadly NATO airstrike in November, an incident that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a post near the Afghan border and severely strained ties between the long-wary allies. Read full article > >

Link:
Pakistani report rejects U.S. account of fatal NATO airstrike

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, on Friday called off a scheduled vote on the anti-Internet piracy bill that had rallied the Web, and House leaders took steps to slow legislation as well.

Link:
Senate Postpones Vote on Internet Anti-Piracy Bill