California Congressman Darrell Issa, who previously led an investigation into Benghazi as former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says the FBI "would like to indict both Huma [Abedin] and Hillary Clinton" for conducting sensitive government business on an unsecure, private email server.
"I think the FBI director would like to indict both Huma and Hillary as we speak," the Republican heavyweight told the Washington Examiner Thursday, during a debate watch-party at Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's New Hampshire campaign headquarters.
"I think he's in a position where he's being forced to triple-time make a case of what would otherwise be, what they call, a slam dunk," Issa said, referring to FBI Director James Comey, who previously told the Senate Judiciary Committee he would conduct a "competent," "honest" and "independent" probe into Clinton's handling of classified information during her tenure as secretary of state.
Still, Issa suggested Clinton's wrongdoing is obvious.
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WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND - Government Crimes and Corruption
January 29, 2016
January 28, 2016
IRS’s New Ethics Chief Once Ordered Records Be Illegally Destroyed
The new head of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) ethics office once oversaw the illegal shredding of documents sought by the federal tax agency’s inspector general (IG), and allegedly retaliated on the colleague he believed snitched on him about it.
Stephen Whitlock was named director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in August 2015. The OPR supports “effective tax administration by ensuring all tax practitioners, tax-preparers, and other third parties in the tax system adhere to professional standards and follow the law,” according to the agency’s web site.
Whitlock’s chief of operations was, until recently, a former tax enforcement agent who attempted to avoid government payments by declaring bankruptcy and who even lost his official sidearm in a bar fight.
Additionally, in this newly-appointed 7-person leadership team are two of Lois Lerner’s former top deputies, at least one of whom was involved in the targeting of conservative and Tea Party non-profit applicants. Records of those activities also mysteriously disappeared after Congress began investigations in 2013.
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Stephen Whitlock was named director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in August 2015. The OPR supports “effective tax administration by ensuring all tax practitioners, tax-preparers, and other third parties in the tax system adhere to professional standards and follow the law,” according to the agency’s web site.
Whitlock’s chief of operations was, until recently, a former tax enforcement agent who attempted to avoid government payments by declaring bankruptcy and who even lost his official sidearm in a bar fight.
Additionally, in this newly-appointed 7-person leadership team are two of Lois Lerner’s former top deputies, at least one of whom was involved in the targeting of conservative and Tea Party non-profit applicants. Records of those activities also mysteriously disappeared after Congress began investigations in 2013.
Read the entire article
January 27, 2016
Five Things The Liberal Media Won’t Tell You About The CMP Indictment
Planned Parenthood supporters are doing a victory lap Tuesday after news broke that a Texas investigation into the non-profit over fetal tissue dealings exposed by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) resulted in the indictment of the top CMP figures behind the videos.
Here are five points regarding the indictment the mainstream media won’t bother to point out.
It’s not surprising Planned Parenthood was cleared of all wrongdoing.
News of the indictment shocked the pro-life world, but it’s not surprising that Planned Parenthood was cleared of wrongdoing. A number of states have investigated and cleared Planned Parenthood already, including Massachusetts, Indiana and Georgia.
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Here are five points regarding the indictment the mainstream media won’t bother to point out.
It’s not surprising Planned Parenthood was cleared of all wrongdoing.
News of the indictment shocked the pro-life world, but it’s not surprising that Planned Parenthood was cleared of wrongdoing. A number of states have investigated and cleared Planned Parenthood already, including Massachusetts, Indiana and Georgia.
Read the entire article
January 26, 2016
State Dept. Official Brags Hillary Clinton Sent Sensitive Info by Email
Fox News has uncovered a video from 2013 that could cause huge legal problems for Hillary Clinton and her closest deputies.
In the video, seen a little over one minute into the clip below, former Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman boasts that BlackBerry mobile phone technology allowed top State Department officials to share information “that would never be on an unclassified system.”
But that’s exactly the kind of material that, by law, should never have been allowed on an unclassified system, such as a BlackBerry, and should never have been on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s highly irregular, unsecured private email server.
“Now we have BlackBerrys, and it has changed the way diplomacy is done,” Sherman told her audience at an American Foreign Service Association event in 2013. “Things appear on your BlackBerrys that would never be on an unclassified system. But you’re out traveling, you’re trying to negotiate something. You want to communicate with people, it’s the fastest way to do it.”
Sherman went on to recall that, during a meeting between Hillary Clinton and Lady Ashton of the European Union at the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, “they sat there, as they were having the meeting, with their BlackBerrys, transferring language back and forth between them and between their aides to multitask in quite a new fashion, to have the meeting and, at the same time, be working on the quartet statement.”
Read the entire article
In the video, seen a little over one minute into the clip below, former Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman boasts that BlackBerry mobile phone technology allowed top State Department officials to share information “that would never be on an unclassified system.”
But that’s exactly the kind of material that, by law, should never have been allowed on an unclassified system, such as a BlackBerry, and should never have been on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s highly irregular, unsecured private email server.
“Now we have BlackBerrys, and it has changed the way diplomacy is done,” Sherman told her audience at an American Foreign Service Association event in 2013. “Things appear on your BlackBerrys that would never be on an unclassified system. But you’re out traveling, you’re trying to negotiate something. You want to communicate with people, it’s the fastest way to do it.”
Sherman went on to recall that, during a meeting between Hillary Clinton and Lady Ashton of the European Union at the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, “they sat there, as they were having the meeting, with their BlackBerrys, transferring language back and forth between them and between their aides to multitask in quite a new fashion, to have the meeting and, at the same time, be working on the quartet statement.”
Read the entire article
January 25, 2016
Is Donald Trump Conservative? Here’s the Rundown
This week, Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has bashed Trump for insufficient conservatism. He explained, “Donald’s record does not match what he says as a candidate.” Cruz isn’t the only one. Last month, Rush Limbaugh said that Trump’s attacks on Cruz reflected the fact that he was not a “genuine conservative.” Mark Levin said in 2011, “Trump is NOT the real deal… He is not a conservative. He was happy to donate to Schumer, Weiner & Emanuel campaigns last year. He was pro-choice recently and now claims to be pro-life. He sounds more and more like Ross Perot.” Andrew Breitbart said at the time, “Of course he’s not a conservative. He was for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) before he was against Nancy Pelosi.”
I don’t believe Trump is a conservative either; I’ve said that repeatedly. Full disclosure: I’ve also said that I would vote for Ted Cruz if the primaries took place today. I’ve also said that Trump channels conservative anger against the establishment brilliantly, and that he has become a vessel for much-needed conversations on immigration.
With all that said, it’s worthwhile exploring Trump’s worldview. To do that, we must separate two elements of that worldview: his current positions, and his historic positions. The first goes to supposed conservatism, and the second goes to credibility – even if he says he’s conservative today, should you believe him?
We’ll go through the issues here (thanks to Conservative Review for a handy guide to Trump’s positions as well). We report, you decide:
Read the entire article
I don’t believe Trump is a conservative either; I’ve said that repeatedly. Full disclosure: I’ve also said that I would vote for Ted Cruz if the primaries took place today. I’ve also said that Trump channels conservative anger against the establishment brilliantly, and that he has become a vessel for much-needed conversations on immigration.
With all that said, it’s worthwhile exploring Trump’s worldview. To do that, we must separate two elements of that worldview: his current positions, and his historic positions. The first goes to supposed conservatism, and the second goes to credibility – even if he says he’s conservative today, should you believe him?
We’ll go through the issues here (thanks to Conservative Review for a handy guide to Trump’s positions as well). We report, you decide:
Read the entire article
January 22, 2016
National Review Pens Letter to Conservatives: Don’t Vote for Trump
National Review is publishing a special edition of the magazine that argues against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, saying he is “not deserving of conservative support in the caucuses and primaries.”
The new issue of the long-established conservative magazine is headlined “Against Trump” and includes essays from conservative pundits and writers explaining their opposition to Trump’s candidacy.
But the overall theme is very clear: “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones,” says the editorial that leads the issue.
The authors argue that Trump isn’t consistent in his views:
Read the entire article
The new issue of the long-established conservative magazine is headlined “Against Trump” and includes essays from conservative pundits and writers explaining their opposition to Trump’s candidacy.
But the overall theme is very clear: “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones,” says the editorial that leads the issue.
The authors argue that Trump isn’t consistent in his views:
Read the entire article
January 21, 2016
Rush Limbaugh: ‘Nationalism and Populism Have Overtaken Conservatism in Terms of Appeal’
On his show on Wednesday, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh offered his analysis of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s rise, which he argued wasn’t a sign that conservative orthodoxy was winning the day, but instead it is a pushback against the modern-day Democratic Party and President Barack Obama.
And that according to Limbaugh is a sign of the rise of nationalism and populism overtaking conservatism.
“What’s happening here, nationalism, dirty word, ooh, people hate it, populism, even dirtier word,” Limbaugh said. “Nationalism and populism have overtaken conservatism in terms of appeal. And when this has happened, when it exposes — what people in Washington are afraid of — and that that is, you know, all this money we’ve asked people to send us and all these donations people have made, this movement, promote that movement, where is conservatism in Washington, they’re asking. Where is it? The Republican Party isn’t conservative. Where are all these conservative people that are contributing to policy being implemented in Congress or in the Senate? They don’t see it.”
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And that according to Limbaugh is a sign of the rise of nationalism and populism overtaking conservatism.
“What’s happening here, nationalism, dirty word, ooh, people hate it, populism, even dirtier word,” Limbaugh said. “Nationalism and populism have overtaken conservatism in terms of appeal. And when this has happened, when it exposes — what people in Washington are afraid of — and that that is, you know, all this money we’ve asked people to send us and all these donations people have made, this movement, promote that movement, where is conservatism in Washington, they’re asking. Where is it? The Republican Party isn’t conservative. Where are all these conservative people that are contributing to policy being implemented in Congress or in the Senate? They don’t see it.”
Read the entire article
January 20, 2016
New Anthony Weiner Documentary Offers Window onto Hillary
Spare some sympathy for Anthony Weiner: had he been elected Mayor of New York in 2013, the city would be in better shape than under arch-leftist Bill de Blasio.
Weiner was undone by a return to the sexting–and, more particularly, the cover-ups–that destroyed his congressional career. Now, Weiner, a new documentary, tells the story of that second implosion, and how it affected Weiner’s marriage to long-serving Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
This is not Weiner’s first turn on the silver screen. He made his debut at the end of Hating Breitbart, the Andrew Marcus documentary about the founder of this website, but appears only in an epilogue, as credits roll.
In 2012, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin portrayed “Weinergate” in an episode of HBO’s Newsroom–one that distorted history to demonize new media and the woman who reluctantly came forward with the damning evidence. (If you want to know the real story, as told by Andrew Breitbart himself and not in Sorkin’s rewrite, you can read it here.)
Read the entire article
Weiner was undone by a return to the sexting–and, more particularly, the cover-ups–that destroyed his congressional career. Now, Weiner, a new documentary, tells the story of that second implosion, and how it affected Weiner’s marriage to long-serving Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
This is not Weiner’s first turn on the silver screen. He made his debut at the end of Hating Breitbart, the Andrew Marcus documentary about the founder of this website, but appears only in an epilogue, as credits roll.
In 2012, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin portrayed “Weinergate” in an episode of HBO’s Newsroom–one that distorted history to demonize new media and the woman who reluctantly came forward with the damning evidence. (If you want to know the real story, as told by Andrew Breitbart himself and not in Sorkin’s rewrite, you can read it here.)
Read the entire article
January 19, 2016
RNC dumps NBC News, teams with CNN for Super Tuesday debate
The Republican National Committee announced Monday that the Super Tuesday debate will be stripped from NBC News and given to CNN.
The RNC already had suspended ties with NBC News over bias in the handling of an earlier candidate forum by CNBC, but the status of the Feb. 25 debate in Houston had remained in limbo.
In a statement Monday afternoon, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said the party “has decided to move forward without NBC’s participation [and] … has awarded the debate to CNN, who will broadcast it … in Houston at a location to be decided.”
The debate will come less than a week before voters in Texas and 13 other states vote in the biggest day on the Republican presidential primary calendar.
Despite the RNC’s refusal to deal with NBC, one of the debate partners will be Telemundo, an NBC-owned Spanish-language network.
Read the entire article
The RNC already had suspended ties with NBC News over bias in the handling of an earlier candidate forum by CNBC, but the status of the Feb. 25 debate in Houston had remained in limbo.
In a statement Monday afternoon, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said the party “has decided to move forward without NBC’s participation [and] … has awarded the debate to CNN, who will broadcast it … in Houston at a location to be decided.”
The debate will come less than a week before voters in Texas and 13 other states vote in the biggest day on the Republican presidential primary calendar.
Despite the RNC’s refusal to deal with NBC, one of the debate partners will be Telemundo, an NBC-owned Spanish-language network.
Read the entire article
January 18, 2016
The FBI’s Criminal Investigations regarding Hillary Clinton. Two Smoking Guns: Espionage and Corruption
The federal criminal investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s failure to secure state secrets was ratcheted up earlier this week, and at the same time, the existence of a parallel criminal investigation of another aspect of her behavior was made known. This is the second publicly revealed expansion of the FBI’s investigations in two months.
I have argued for two months that Clinton’s legal woes are either grave or worse than grave. That argument has been based on the hard, now public evidence of her failure to safeguard national security secrets and the known manner in which the Department of Justice addresses these failures.
The failure to safeguard state secrets is an area of the law in which the federal government has been aggressive to the point of being merciless. State secrets are the product of members of the intelligence community’s risking their lives to obtain information.
Before she was entrusted with any state secrets – indeed, on her first full day as secretary of state – Clinton received instruction from FBI agents on how to safeguard them; and she signed an oath swearing to comply with the laws commanding the safekeeping of these secrets. She was warned that the failure to safeguard secrets – known as espionage – would most likely result in aggressive prosecution.
Read the entire article
I have argued for two months that Clinton’s legal woes are either grave or worse than grave. That argument has been based on the hard, now public evidence of her failure to safeguard national security secrets and the known manner in which the Department of Justice addresses these failures.
The failure to safeguard state secrets is an area of the law in which the federal government has been aggressive to the point of being merciless. State secrets are the product of members of the intelligence community’s risking their lives to obtain information.
Before she was entrusted with any state secrets – indeed, on her first full day as secretary of state – Clinton received instruction from FBI agents on how to safeguard them; and she signed an oath swearing to comply with the laws commanding the safekeeping of these secrets. She was warned that the failure to safeguard secrets – known as espionage – would most likely result in aggressive prosecution.
Read the entire article
January 15, 2016
Cruz To Trump: ‘Not a Lot of Conservatives Come Out of Manhattan’
Republican presidential candidates Texas Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told fellow candidate Donald Trump “not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan” during Thursday’s GOP primetime debate on the Fox Business Network.
Cruz, in response to a question as to what he meant when he said Trump “embodies New York values,” stated, that “values in New York City are socially liberal” and “focus around money and the media. He continued, “Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert, and in that interview he explained his views on a whole host of issues, that were very, very different from the views he’s describing now. And his explanation, he said, look, I’m from New York, that’s what we believe in New York. Those aren’t Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York. And so, that was his explanation.”
He then added, “I guess I can frame it another way, not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I’m just saying.” A seeming reference to Trump saying, “not many evangelicals come out of Cuba.”
Trump responded, “So, conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so — if i could, because he insulted a lot of people. I’ve had more calls on that statement that Ted made, that New York is a great place, it’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two 110-story buildings come crashing down, I saw them come down, thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction, I was down there. And I’ve never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought, and fought, and fought, and we saw more death and even the smell of death, nobody understood it, and it was with us for months, the smell. the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched, and everybody in the world loved New York, and loved New Yorkers, and I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”
Source
Cruz, in response to a question as to what he meant when he said Trump “embodies New York values,” stated, that “values in New York City are socially liberal” and “focus around money and the media. He continued, “Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert, and in that interview he explained his views on a whole host of issues, that were very, very different from the views he’s describing now. And his explanation, he said, look, I’m from New York, that’s what we believe in New York. Those aren’t Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York. And so, that was his explanation.”
He then added, “I guess I can frame it another way, not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I’m just saying.” A seeming reference to Trump saying, “not many evangelicals come out of Cuba.”
Trump responded, “So, conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so — if i could, because he insulted a lot of people. I’ve had more calls on that statement that Ted made, that New York is a great place, it’s got great people, it’s got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two 110-story buildings come crashing down, I saw them come down, thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction, I was down there. And I’ve never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought, and fought, and fought, and we saw more death and even the smell of death, nobody understood it, and it was with us for months, the smell. the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched, and everybody in the world loved New York, and loved New Yorkers, and I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.”
Source
January 14, 2016
GOP Lawmakers Call On IRS To Fix Audit System And Protect First Amendment
A pair of tax-writing lawmakers called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Wednesday to stop unfair targeting of Americans and ensure taxpayers’ First Amendment rights aren’t being violated.
The statement release by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brandy and Oversight Subcommittee Chair Peter Roskam comes after two Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports showed flaws in the agency.
In the wake of a scandal involving the IRS unfairly targeting conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, the GAO found taxpayers could still be susceptible to wrongful selection “based on an organization’s religious, educational, political, or other views.”
The reports found the IRS lacks strong internal controls and consistent procedures for documenting audit selection. In some instances, the agency failed to document how cases were even selected.
Read the entire article
The statement release by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brandy and Oversight Subcommittee Chair Peter Roskam comes after two Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports showed flaws in the agency.
In the wake of a scandal involving the IRS unfairly targeting conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, the GAO found taxpayers could still be susceptible to wrongful selection “based on an organization’s religious, educational, political, or other views.”
The reports found the IRS lacks strong internal controls and consistent procedures for documenting audit selection. In some instances, the agency failed to document how cases were even selected.
Read the entire article
January 13, 2016
A dispiriting final speech from an out of touch president
What makes for a credible public voice? A key ingredient is truth.
The crucial difference between Winston Churchill and Baghdad Bob was not their nations' respective fortunes in war. It was that Churchill was open with the British public about the difficulties his nation faced. He could have tried to pretend otherwise, but he wisely chose not to diminish his own credibility with happy talk.
This comparison comes to mind because President Obama's address Tuesday night suffered for his enduring failure to understand this. Obama is reputed to have a talent for soaring rhetoric — although can you think of anything memorable he said that wasn't also risible? — but he is hopeless at connecting with people by acknowledging their real concerns about domestic and international problems.
To be clear, we share Obama's view that America is not in some kind of hopeless decline, not even now. But he cannot credibly make the case for this by acting as though his own administration's failures don't exist, and downplaying the very real threats facing the nation.
Read the entire article
The crucial difference between Winston Churchill and Baghdad Bob was not their nations' respective fortunes in war. It was that Churchill was open with the British public about the difficulties his nation faced. He could have tried to pretend otherwise, but he wisely chose not to diminish his own credibility with happy talk.
This comparison comes to mind because President Obama's address Tuesday night suffered for his enduring failure to understand this. Obama is reputed to have a talent for soaring rhetoric — although can you think of anything memorable he said that wasn't also risible? — but he is hopeless at connecting with people by acknowledging their real concerns about domestic and international problems.
To be clear, we share Obama's view that America is not in some kind of hopeless decline, not even now. But he cannot credibly make the case for this by acting as though his own administration's failures don't exist, and downplaying the very real threats facing the nation.
Read the entire article
January 12, 2016
Report: FBI Has Enough Evidence to Prosecute Hillary Clinton for Public Corruption
An investigation into possible mishandling of classified information on Hillary Clinton’s private email server has expanded to consider whether Clinton’s work as Secretary overlapped with her work for the Clinton Foundation run by her family.
Fox News‘ Catherine Herridge published the report, citing unnamed FBI sources, Monday morning. The report indicates the initial security referral looking into whether or not classified information was mishandled has expanded to look at possible public corruption involving the Clinton Foundation.
The report paints a picture of an internal struggle within the FBI over whether or not to prosecute Clinton. Herridge quotes an unnamed FBI source saying, “many previous public corruption cases have been made and successfully prosecuted with much less evidence than what is emerging in this investigation.”
One parallel said to be weighing on the FBI is the prosecution of David Petraeus. Petraeus pled guilty to a misdemeanor for sharing highly classified information with his biographer and lover Paula Broadwell and also for lying to the FBI. A two-year investigation concluded that none of the classified information ever appeared in Broadwell’s book. Nevertheless, Petraeus’s treatment was considered a slap on the wrist by some agents within the FBI.
As many as 100 special agents are said to be working on the investigation, including about 50 assigned to work the case on a temporary basis. Herridge reports the agents have been asked to sign new non-disclosure agreements, possibly to prevent leaks or because of the classified information being handled in the examination of Clinton’s server.
Read the entire article
Fox News‘ Catherine Herridge published the report, citing unnamed FBI sources, Monday morning. The report indicates the initial security referral looking into whether or not classified information was mishandled has expanded to look at possible public corruption involving the Clinton Foundation.
The report paints a picture of an internal struggle within the FBI over whether or not to prosecute Clinton. Herridge quotes an unnamed FBI source saying, “many previous public corruption cases have been made and successfully prosecuted with much less evidence than what is emerging in this investigation.”
One parallel said to be weighing on the FBI is the prosecution of David Petraeus. Petraeus pled guilty to a misdemeanor for sharing highly classified information with his biographer and lover Paula Broadwell and also for lying to the FBI. A two-year investigation concluded that none of the classified information ever appeared in Broadwell’s book. Nevertheless, Petraeus’s treatment was considered a slap on the wrist by some agents within the FBI.
As many as 100 special agents are said to be working on the investigation, including about 50 assigned to work the case on a temporary basis. Herridge reports the agents have been asked to sign new non-disclosure agreements, possibly to prevent leaks or because of the classified information being handled in the examination of Clinton’s server.
Read the entire article
January 11, 2016
Donald Trump, Republican establishment headed for convention showdown
Donald Trump is on track to storm into July just shy of the majority of delegates needed to win the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, rolling into the national convention in Cleveland slightly ahead of Sen. Ted Cruz, according to a state-by-state analysis by The Washington Times.
That would set off a feverish scramble with Mr. Trump trying to seduce some 150 or more delegates away from his competitors. The billionaire businessman would have to pull off a series of artful deals — wielding the accouterments of his wealth and promises of plumb jobs to delegates’ relatives — that would be the envy of Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban.
Establishment Republican leaders already are working to deny Mr. Trump the nomination. Their operatives are quietly recruiting prospective delegates to commit to voting for someone other than Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz if the nomination goes to a second ballot July 18.
But the establishment may have outsmarted itself when it rewrote its rules in 2012, requiring that no candidate can be nominated unless he or she wins a majority of permanently seated delegates from eight states. The old rule was a plurality of five states.
Read the entire article
That would set off a feverish scramble with Mr. Trump trying to seduce some 150 or more delegates away from his competitors. The billionaire businessman would have to pull off a series of artful deals — wielding the accouterments of his wealth and promises of plumb jobs to delegates’ relatives — that would be the envy of Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban.
Establishment Republican leaders already are working to deny Mr. Trump the nomination. Their operatives are quietly recruiting prospective delegates to commit to voting for someone other than Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz if the nomination goes to a second ballot July 18.
But the establishment may have outsmarted itself when it rewrote its rules in 2012, requiring that no candidate can be nominated unless he or she wins a majority of permanently seated delegates from eight states. The old rule was a plurality of five states.
Read the entire article
January 8, 2016
Powerful Union Pledges To Defy DHS, Help Immigrants Evade Authorities
One of the most powerful national unions condemned President Barack Obama when it pledged to openly defy the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent crackdown on illegal immigrants Wednesday.
While amnesty has been a central tenet of Obama’s immigration policy, the AFL-CIO argues his administration has failed to properly help illegal immigrants. The DHS has recently been conducting more armed raids against those suspected of coming into the country illegally. The union has pledged to defy the administration to stop the deportation raids.
“Whether that means providing support for rapid response efforts, helping to ensure that communities are organized against deportations, or identifying places of sanctuary, including our union halls,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. “The labor movement will stand strong with Central American refugees until we see an end to these raids and a real commitment to ensuring full and fair legal proceedings.”
DHS Secretary Jeh C. Johnson detailed his commitment Jan. 4 to deport those immigrants who came here illegally. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the same day that the president has not been directly involved in the decision.
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While amnesty has been a central tenet of Obama’s immigration policy, the AFL-CIO argues his administration has failed to properly help illegal immigrants. The DHS has recently been conducting more armed raids against those suspected of coming into the country illegally. The union has pledged to defy the administration to stop the deportation raids.
“Whether that means providing support for rapid response efforts, helping to ensure that communities are organized against deportations, or identifying places of sanctuary, including our union halls,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. “The labor movement will stand strong with Central American refugees until we see an end to these raids and a real commitment to ensuring full and fair legal proceedings.”
DHS Secretary Jeh C. Johnson detailed his commitment Jan. 4 to deport those immigrants who came here illegally. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the same day that the president has not been directly involved in the decision.
Read the entire article
January 7, 2016
How Corrupt Is the American Government?
Government corruption has become rampant:
Senior SEC employees spent up to 8 hours a day surfing porn sites instead of cracking down on financial crimes
Nuclear Regulatory Commission workers watch porn instead of cracking down on unsafe conditions at nuclear plants
An EPA employee who downloaded 7,000 porn files, then spent 2-6 hours each workday watching porn. He’s been doing it for years … but the EPA never fired him. Another EPA employee harassed 16 women co-workers … and then was promoted to a higher-paying job with more responsibility, where he harassed more women
NSA spies pass around homemade sexual videos and pictures they’ve collected from spying on the American people.
NSA employees have also been caught using their mass surveillance powers to spy on love interests, such as girlfriends, obsessions or former wives … and to eavesdrop on American soldiers’ intimate conversations with their wives back home. And see this (“routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted” … “‘Hey, check this out … there’s good phone sex’”)
Read the entire article
Senior SEC employees spent up to 8 hours a day surfing porn sites instead of cracking down on financial crimes
Nuclear Regulatory Commission workers watch porn instead of cracking down on unsafe conditions at nuclear plants
An EPA employee who downloaded 7,000 porn files, then spent 2-6 hours each workday watching porn. He’s been doing it for years … but the EPA never fired him. Another EPA employee harassed 16 women co-workers … and then was promoted to a higher-paying job with more responsibility, where he harassed more women
NSA spies pass around homemade sexual videos and pictures they’ve collected from spying on the American people.
NSA employees have also been caught using their mass surveillance powers to spy on love interests, such as girlfriends, obsessions or former wives … and to eavesdrop on American soldiers’ intimate conversations with their wives back home. And see this (“routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted” … “‘Hey, check this out … there’s good phone sex’”)
Read the entire article
January 6, 2016
Actual Veterans Are A Scarce Sight In Top Veterans Affairs Hospital Jobs
Despite a long-running government-wide push to hire veterans, only 13 percent of the top officials managing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system medical facilities are veterans and only two of those facilities are run by doctors who served in the military, according to an analysis by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
TheDCNF analysis examined the biographies of the 300 top employees who run VA’s 75 medical centers and regional offices, including directors, chiefs of staff and associate and assistant directors. (See interactive database below and here.) The original Veterans Preference Act in federal employment became law in 1944.
Viewing the 13 percent figure, it’s almost as if the VA wants to ensure that, if veterans do work for the agency, they don’t have the power to make changes.
Retired Navy Seal officer Gilberto Serrano, for example, told TheDCNF he applied for “at least 20” jobs at the VA. He has two master’s degrees, a background in finance at major corporations, and spent three years volunteering doing financial analyses for the Puerto Rico VA.
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TheDCNF analysis examined the biographies of the 300 top employees who run VA’s 75 medical centers and regional offices, including directors, chiefs of staff and associate and assistant directors. (See interactive database below and here.) The original Veterans Preference Act in federal employment became law in 1944.
Viewing the 13 percent figure, it’s almost as if the VA wants to ensure that, if veterans do work for the agency, they don’t have the power to make changes.
Retired Navy Seal officer Gilberto Serrano, for example, told TheDCNF he applied for “at least 20” jobs at the VA. He has two master’s degrees, a background in finance at major corporations, and spent three years volunteering doing financial analyses for the Puerto Rico VA.
Read the entire article
January 5, 2016
White House Rolls Out Executive Actions On Guns
The Obama administration rolled out a series of executive actions on gun policy Monday night that would expand background checks for firearms.
“The President and Vice President are committed to using every tool at the Administration’s disposal to reduce gun violence,” the White House said in a statement.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will begin to enforce the rule that anyone selling firearms from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet must have a Federal Firearms License and conduct background checks. The administration says that there is no “specific threshold number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement.”
“But it is important to note that even a few transactions, when combined with other evidence, can be sufficient to establish that a person is ‘engaged in the business,'” the White House said, warning that courts have upheld convictions for dealing without a license when as few as two guns were sold or when only one or two transactions happened, when other factors also were present.
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“The President and Vice President are committed to using every tool at the Administration’s disposal to reduce gun violence,” the White House said in a statement.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will begin to enforce the rule that anyone selling firearms from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet must have a Federal Firearms License and conduct background checks. The administration says that there is no “specific threshold number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement.”
“But it is important to note that even a few transactions, when combined with other evidence, can be sufficient to establish that a person is ‘engaged in the business,'” the White House said, warning that courts have upheld convictions for dealing without a license when as few as two guns were sold or when only one or two transactions happened, when other factors also were present.
Read the entire article
January 4, 2016
The Bundy Family and Armed Resistance to ‘Government Land Grabs’: Know the Facts
Ammon Bundy, son of infamous Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, is leading an armed effort to occupy a headquarters building located in a federal wildlife preserve near Burns, Oregon, as a reaction to a local criminal case between ranchers and public land officials beginning in 2001.
What started as a community protest–over the extended sentencing of father and son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond for two cases of arson on public lands–has morphed into another Bundy showdown where sovereign citizen rhetoric, revisionist history, and self-identified militia converge. Due to the extensive nature of this decades-long story, Breitbart News will be filing multiple stories from eastern Oregon in the days ahead.
While it may appear to be a severe overreaction to a criminal justice matter, such episodes are deeply embedded in certain pockets of western states where local property owners and government officials regularly clash over land usage rights and restrictions. Like some progressive activists capitalizing on officer-involved urban shootings, the Bundy family is now leveraging its experience in fomenting illogical protests across state lines.
Standing up to the federal government and protecting private property rights both can be noble pursuit that inspires the hearts of conservatives, but was the Bundy standoff really about private property rights? The answer is largely no. Let’s look at what happened previously with the Bundy family in hopes of understanding the current standoff.
Read the entire article
What started as a community protest–over the extended sentencing of father and son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond for two cases of arson on public lands–has morphed into another Bundy showdown where sovereign citizen rhetoric, revisionist history, and self-identified militia converge. Due to the extensive nature of this decades-long story, Breitbart News will be filing multiple stories from eastern Oregon in the days ahead.
While it may appear to be a severe overreaction to a criminal justice matter, such episodes are deeply embedded in certain pockets of western states where local property owners and government officials regularly clash over land usage rights and restrictions. Like some progressive activists capitalizing on officer-involved urban shootings, the Bundy family is now leveraging its experience in fomenting illogical protests across state lines.
Standing up to the federal government and protecting private property rights both can be noble pursuit that inspires the hearts of conservatives, but was the Bundy standoff really about private property rights? The answer is largely no. Let’s look at what happened previously with the Bundy family in hopes of understanding the current standoff.
Read the entire article
January 1, 2016
Hillary emails show ties to Rahm, Blumenthal, Clinton Foundation
A trove of Hillary Clinton's private emails made public by the State Department Thursday highlighted the former secretary of state's ties to figures outside the agency she ran during President Obama's first term.
Like most previous batches of Clinton emails, the records detailed the former secretary of state's close relationship with Sidney Blumenthal, a divisive former aide and informal advisor while she worked at the State Department.
But the new emails also show the extent to which Clinton attempted to conceal her personal relationship to Blumenthal.
For example, after Blumenthal emailed her a Foreign Policy story in March 2010 about Gen. David Petraeus and prefaced the article with a personal note, Clinton asked an aide to print five copies of the email "but w/o heading from Sid."
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Like most previous batches of Clinton emails, the records detailed the former secretary of state's close relationship with Sidney Blumenthal, a divisive former aide and informal advisor while she worked at the State Department.
But the new emails also show the extent to which Clinton attempted to conceal her personal relationship to Blumenthal.
For example, after Blumenthal emailed her a Foreign Policy story in March 2010 about Gen. David Petraeus and prefaced the article with a personal note, Clinton asked an aide to print five copies of the email "but w/o heading from Sid."
Read the entire article
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