Sunday’s Circus in the Senate Is Exactly Why Trump Is Surging

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When Donald Trump uttered the words “I like people who weren’t captured” in response to a question about Sen. John McCain’s service in Vietnam, there was a universal sentiment among both admirers and detractors that he would sink like a rock in the polls. His meteoric rise was destined for a swift collapse. Except – that collapse never occurred. Why not?

Trump Maintains his Lead in the Polls

According to a new CNN-ORC International poll, which was conducted a week after Trump’s major gaffe, Trump is leading the field nationally with 18% of the vote, followed by Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. As Breitbart observes, Cruz is now beginning to surpass Rubio for 4th place. In addition, a new NBC News/Marist poll shows Trump with a commanding lead in New Hampshire, leading his closest rival 21%-14%.

When was the last time a Republican survived such a widely circulated career-ending gaffe?

In order to understand this unprecedented stubbornness of the GOP base in coalescing around a protest vote like Trump, look no further than the circus on display in the GOP-led Senate this past Sunday.

The Sunday Massacre in the Senate

What was the emergency impetus for this rare Sunday session in middle of the summer? Were the senators meeting to overturn Obama’s Iran alliance? Were they preparing a package of bills to “comprehensively” address the imminent problem of criminal illegal aliens? Were they holding a crisis session over the Supreme Court’s coup against our Constitution and the impending disaster of anti-religious bigotry unfolding in a number of states? Were they concocting a response to the growing homegrown Islamic terror attacks on our soil? Did they finally decide that our military bases, which have become prime targets for terror attacks, should be populated by armed soldiers instead of unarmed soldiers?

Nope – none of the above. They met on Sunday to renew the corporate welfare Export-Import Bank, the one government agency conservatives have successfully closed down for the first time in years. They met to rush through a massive $300 billion highway bill, in which McConnell blocked all amendments addressing some of the aforementioned issues so that the amendment process can be reserved for the crony Export-Import Bank.

The Senate voted 67-26 to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank and attach it to the “must-pass” highway bill. This amendment was supported by 24 Republicans. Accordingly, McConnell has now followed through with his private commitment to attach Ex-Im to the highway bill, in contravention to what he told GOP members privately. Yet, instead of exhibiting outrage over McConnell’s lie, Sens. Hatch, Alexander, and Cornyn – three allies of McConnell – took to the Senate floor to condemn Cruz for calling him a liar. If only they cared as much about our Constitution and the existential national security and sovereignty threats as they did “Senate decorum.”

Yes to Corporate Welfare, No to Conservative Priorities

Next, Cruz attempted to force a vote on an amendment prohibiting the lifting of sanctions on Iran until they recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and release the four U.S. hostages. Although his amendment was ruled out of order, any senator can force a vote overruling the decision of the chair if 10 other senators (for a total of one-fifth of the 51 quorum) join to “second” the request for a vote. Yet, for the first time in recent memory, GOP senators refused to second the motion, thereby saving Democrats, once again, from having to vote on Iran and Israel. McConnell and Corker had already blocked such amendments in May when they originally passed the unconstitutional Corker-Cardin Iran bill.

John Cornyn had the nerve to argue Sunday that the Corker-Cardin process has already granted the Senate sufficient oversight over the Iran deal and that there was no need for Cruz’s amendment. Evidently, he’s not up on the news that Obama has already abrogated that process.

Finally, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) attempted to offer an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood. Once again, he was rebuffed by the chair and he could not muster even 10 colleagues to force a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood.

Hence, corporate welfare is in; fighting Iran and Planned Parenthood is out. Is this what the American people thought they were getting when they voted for a GOP Senate last November?

The American people, and the GOP base in particular, are tired of liars. They are tired of Obama fundamentally transforming every value, principle, and tradition of this country before their very eyes while the Republican majority they elected stands by idly and focuses on liberal, petty, or trivial priorities – or downright helps Obama implement his policies.

This is exactly why the polls are continuing to show strong support for Trump. He is a protest vote through which voters are declaring their independence from the failed and corrupt Republican Party.

Over the weekend, Ted Cruz has shown a willingness to fight this corrupt political cartel like nobody else in recent history. Obviously, Trump’s persona as a pop culture figure has overshadowed Cruz’s work in the Senate, especially given the “inside baseball” nature of this fight. But if he continues to bring this sort of fighting spirit to the campaign trail, he will be well positioned to reap the windfall from the wave Trump has created if and when The Donald implodes. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of most of the other contenders running in the field. (Published with permission from the author, “Sunday’s Circus in the Senate Is Exactly Why Trump Is Surging”, originally appeared HERE)

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What Bill’s Sex Accuser Just Did Has the Potential to Cripple the Clintons for Good

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Earlier this year, Western Journalism reported that one of Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual assault victims transitioned into a vocal opponent of his wife’s current presidential campaign.

In April, Kathleen Willey said of Hillary Clinton: “I haven’t seen one single accomplishment that would give her the credentials to be president of the United States.”

The scathing critique went further, as Willey called Clinton a “serial liar” who would attract scandals daily as the 2016 campaign drags on.

“Women should pay attention to what she’s done to other women,” Willey concluded, “and not just the women who were unfortunate to cross paths with her husband.”

According to a recent BizPac Review article, Willey has compounded her anti-Clinton stance by launching a new website to solicit accusations from other potential sexual assault victims.

“I think it’s time for people to start coming forward,” she said of those she believes were victimized by the former president. “I know I’m not the only one.” (Read more from “What Bill’s Sex Accuser Just Did Has the Potential to Cripple the Clintons for Good” HERE)

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Bruce Jenner’s Reality Show Premiered and It Did NOT Go as Planned…

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“I think this is one of the strongest things that have happened in our existence as human beings….” That’s how Kim Kardashian’s celebrity husband, rapper Kanye West, described Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner’s gender transition from manhood to womanhood during West’s brief appearance on the premiere of the new reality show “I Am Cait” on Sunday night.

While legitimately claiming the title of one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, West’s claim that Jenner’s public journey into transgenderism is somehow a seminal event in the history of man(?)kind seems to be a rather exaggerated, if not demonstrably preposterous, statement. Of course, this is “reality” TV.

In the minds of many sympathetic and supportive liberals, Jenner is a cultural hero of sorts — a courageous trailblazer leading the way to a more inclusive and accepting society. Paradigm-busting progressives celebrate the new series on the E! cable network as a breakthrough opportunity to shine a favorable light on the challenges and issues facing trans folk.

But not all the reviews of the first episode of “I Am Cait” were kind to the reality show — sometimes referred to as an eight-part documentary series that shows an angst-riddled but hopeful Jenner in a wide variety of settings and situations.

In his assessment of the show, The New York Times‘ Mike Hale offered a comment in his first paragraph that set the tone for his review: “Once again [Jenner is] a polished, effective pitchwoman, selling acceptance and transgender pride as capably as she once sold breakfast cereal.”

(Read more from “Bruce Jenner’s Reality Show Premiered Last Night. It Did NOT Go as Planned…” HERE)

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Chaffetz Asks Obama to Fire IRS Chief Koskinen for ‘Obstruction’ of Congressional Probes

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The head of the top House investigative panel Monday called for the firing of IRS chief John Koskinen, arguing he has repeatedly “obstructed” congressional probes into the agency’s political targeting of taxpayers.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs, made his request Monday in a letter to President Obama, arguing the president vowed in 2013 to “work hand-in-hand with Congress to fix the problem.”

However, Chaffetz argued that Koskinen, during his roughly two-and-a-half-year tenure, has obstructed such efforts by failing to testify truthfully, comply with subpoenas and preserve as many as 24,000 emails related to congressional investigations.

“Mr. Koskinen should no longer be the IRS commissioner,” Chaffetz said in prepared remarks for a Capitol Hill press conference announcing his request. “At best, Commissioner Koskinen was derelict in his duties to preserve agency records. At worst, he and the IRS engaged in an orchestrated plan to hide information from Congress.”

“The record is clear that the IRS and Commissioner Koskinen have been cooperative and truthful with the numerous investigations underway,” the IRS said in a statement. “The agency has produced more than one million pages of documents in support of the investigations, provided 52 current and former employees for interviews and participated in more than 30 Congressional hearings on these issues.” (Read more from “Chaffetz Asks Obama to Fire IRS Chief Koskinen for ‘Obstruction’ of Congressional Probes” HERE)

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Watch: Chinese Woman Trapped in Escalator Dies, but Heroically First Saves Toddler Son

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A Chinese woman died after being trapped in a shopping mall escalator, but not before pushing her 2-year-old son to safety.

Sunday’s horrific accident in the central city of Jingzhou was caught on surveillance camera footage that circulated heavily on the Internet in China . . .

Graphic video:

The woman — identified in media reports as 30-year-old Xiang Liujuan — is shown reaching the top of the escalator when the section of landing platform she had stepped onto suddenly collapses, trapping her inside the still-moving machinery. (Read more from “Chinese Woman Trapped in Escalator Dies, but Saves Toddler Son” HERE)

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Pro-Life Concerns About the Pending Expansion of Medicaid in Alaska [+video]

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Last Thursday Alaska Governor Bill Walker announced that he would use his executive authority to expand Alaska’s state Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. Walker’s proposal would extend Medicaid eligibility to all Alaskans earning less than 133 percent of the poverty line. Walker reported that he sent a letter to the Alaska legislature’s Budget and Audit Committee, giving legislators the required 45-day notice of his plan. The committee can make recommendations, but Walker said he has legal authority to move forward without the legislature’s approval.

This action by Governor Walker will likely prompt both a political and a legal battle. Earlier this summer, the Republican-controlled state legislature rejected Walker’s plan to expand Medicaid. They even included language in the state’s budget prohibiting any such move. However, opinions from both the Alaska Department of Law and from the legislature’s legal counsel declared that the effort to block Walker likely doesn’t adhere to the state’s constitution.

Additionally, Governor Walker has defended his decision. He stated that previous Alaska governors have used the same authority to accept money from sources outside the state’s general fund on seven prior occasions. Also, governors in other states, including Kentucky and Ohio, also have adopted the Medicaid expansion without new legislation.

Regardless, pro-lifers have strong grounds to oppose Medicaid expansion in Alaska. As I point out in a recently released Charlotte Lozier Institute policy analysis, Governor Walker’s proposal would place anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 women of childbearing age directly on to a Medicaid program which covers elective abortions. Alaska is one of 17 states that publicly fund abortions through their state Medicaid program. Additionally, over 40 percent of all abortions performed in Alaska are paid for by Medicaid. Putting more women of childbearing age onto a Medicaid plan which covers abortion – and funds a high percentage of abortion in Alaska — will almost certainly increase Alaska’s abortion rate.

Other implications of Medicaid expansion are of concern. Medicaid expansion would also induce some women who are on exchange plans which do not cover abortion to transfer to a Medicaid plan which does cover abortion. Finally, it would increase taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider and a provider of a significant number of abortions in Alaska. Overall, the Alaska state legislature should be commended for rejecting efforts to expand Medicaid this summer. Any efforts to delay or block Governor Walker’s proposal merits public support. (Published with permission from the author, “Pro-Life Concerns About the Pending Expansion of Medicaid in Alaska”, originally appeared HERE)

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New California: Mass Immigration Turning Virginia Blue

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The birthplace and final resting place of George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson—and once one of the most reliably-red of red states—is being rapidly turned into a progressive stronghold.

These changes are not the result of an inside agency, or a natural evolution in political thinking, but rather the result of one of the most impactful yet least-discussed policies of the federal government.

Each year the federal government prints millions of visas and distributes these admission tickets to the poorest and least-developed nations in the world.

A middle-aged person living in parts of Virginia today will have witnessed more demographic change in the span of her life than many societies have experienced in millennia.

A census study entitled “Immigrants in Virginia,” released by University of Virginia (UVA) researchers, documented the phenomenon: “Until 1970, only 1 in 100 Virginians was born outside of the United States; by 2012, 1 in every 9 Virginians is foreign-born.” (Read more from “New California: Mass Immigration Turning Virginia Blue” HERE)

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Uganda President to Obama: ‘Respect African Values’ – What Gays ‘Do Is Terrible’ [+video]

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Like the way President Barack Obama was told by the president of Kenya this week that “gay rights is really a non-issue” and not accepted by Kenyans, Uganda’s president told Obama last year that, unlike in America, homosexual behavior is a “no-go” subject, “never supported by Ugandans,” and Obama should “respect African societies and their values.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also explained that Ugandans – a country that is 84% Christian — reject the notion that unnatural behavior is a “human right,” and added that the behavior homosexuals engage in is “terrible.”

In Uganda it is against the law for a person to have “carnal knowledge against the order of nature,” i.e., homosexual behavior, and the guilty party can face a long prison term up to life imprisonment. After Uganda revised its anti-homosexual law in 2014, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions against the country.

In a February 2014 interview, CNN’s Zain Verjee asked Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni about why the Ugandan state was acting against the “free choice” of some people.

President Museveni said, “I’m acting on behalf of the society. It’s not just the state, it is the society. And that’s why I would like to advise the Europeans and the Western groups that this is one area which should be a no-go area.” (Read more from “Uganda President to Obama: ‘Respect African Societies and Their Values’ – What Gays ‘Do Is Terrible'” HERE)

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Lost WWII Vet Asks to Sleep in His Car for a Night, This Town Made Sure He Wouldn’t Have to Do That

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It started with a wrong turn and ended with a World War II veteran being absolutely embraced by the residents of one New Jersey township.

Lost while driving nearly three hours from his home in Pennsylvania, 92-year-old Oscar Ehrhart was returning from a veteran’s convention when he ended up in Bob Shea’s driveway . . .

He then had one request:

“Oscar asked if it would be O.K. for him to sleep in his car overnight since he was not the best driver in night low light conditions. Without blinking an eye Bob offered his home to Oscar and told him he could spend the night in a spare room.”

Refusing to impose, Oscar politely declined. [So, several police] officers took Oscar to the local Hampton Inn and Suites. (Read more from “Lost WWII Vet Asks to Sleep in His Car for a Night, This Town Made Sure He Wouldn’t Have to Do That” HERE)

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You Won’t Believe This Stunning and Credible Theory on the Secret Iranian Nuclear Side Deals

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By Doug Ross. John Kerry is lying when he claims he doesn’t know what is in the Iranian side deals. He would rather pretend ignorance than admit their contents.

No one calls the ruling class on their lies. With a dysfunctional media — that is now fully intertwined with the government — the American people are left bereft of real news and thoughtful analysis.

We live in an alternate reality. Nothing is real, except their lies and only their lies. Lies are now the truth.

As for me, I believe the secret side deals with Iran are quite specific. Incredibly specific.

And I believe they call for an international military alliance and a protective force for Iran. An international force, sponsored by the United Nations.

And that deal is to protect Iran… from Israel.

We already knew this administration represented an existential threat to Israel, from its calls for pre-1967 “Holocaust borders” to its repeated intelligence leaks.

This sets the stage, ladies and gentlemen, for global aggression. Against Israel. And reprisals. Financial. Diplomatic. Even the boys in blue, firing their weapons for the very first time in recorded history.

Against the Jews.

It’s called Armageddon.

(Published with permission from the author, “You Won’t Believe This Stunning and Credible Theory on the Secret Iranian Nuclear Side Deals”, originally posted HERE)

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U.S. Secretary of State Suggests America Could Use Military Force Against Israel

By Lauren Richardson. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry indirectly agreed that the U.S. would defend Iran’s nuclear program from Israeli sabotage on Thursday, in a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he was grilled over the Iran nuclear deal.

When Senator Marco Rubio pushed Kerry for an answer if the U.S. would use military force to protect Iran from Israel, Kerry would not answer. His answer was “we will be coordinating very closely,” and “wait till we get to that point.”

That is as dangerous as Nancy Pelosi saying, ‘but we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog,’ about Obamacare and look how well that turned out.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) put Kerry on the spot when he asked him and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz whether the controversial articles in Annex III on page 142 of the 159-page deal would stipulate that the U.S. block Israeli attempts to scupper the Iranian nuclear threat. (Read more from “Iranian Nuclear Side Deals May Result in US Force Against Israel” HERE)

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