Watch: Trump Just Got an Endorsement From One of the Biggest (and Most Controversial) ‘Winners’

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5439999805_474811d69f_b-913x512Superbowl champion Tom Brady appeared to at least informally endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy today during a press gaggle in the New England Patriots’ team locker room.

Reporters commented on the quarterback having one of the billionaire candidate’s “Make America Great Again” hats hanging in his locker. Brady said Trump had sent it to him.

Although Brady isn’t yet sure if he’s going to vote for Trump, he seemed to be pulling for him, according to CBS Sports.

Asked if Trump has what it takes to win, the football player responded: “I hope so. That would be great,” adding: “There would be a putting green on the White House lawn. I’m sure of that.”

Brady and Trump have known each other since 2002, when the Patriots quarterback served as a judge at the Miss USA pageant. The pageant is run by the Miss Universe organization, which was partially owned by Trump until he sold it earlier this week. The friendship has now lasted for over a decade, and the two used to regularly play golf before Brady’s kids were born.

In an interview last week, Brady described Trump as “a good friend” and added: “It’s been pretty amazing what he’s been able to accomplish as an entrepreneur and then, really, as a television star, and now he’s running for political office. People who can do those type of things and transition into different arenas and still have that type of appeal and carryover. He’s obviously appealing to a lot of people.” (Read more from “Trump Just Got an Endorsement From One of the Biggest (and Most Controversial) ‘Winners'” HERE)

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Obama Set to Deport 12 Iraqi Christian Refugees

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iraqi-chaldean-refugeesNearly half of the 27 Iraqi Christians the Obama administration has been holding for the past six months at an ICE detention center in Otay Mesa, California, are set to be deported in coming weeks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday.

An immigration judge ordered their removal in the last two weeks, ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said. She declined to provide specific information about why the immigrants are being deported and where they will be taken.

Immigrants who face deportation are typically returned to the country where they were living before entering the United States. It’s likely that most of the Iraqis will be deported to such countries as Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, where many United Nations refugee camps are stationed . . .

The 27 Iraqi Christians — also known as Chaldeans — have been detained in Otay for about six months as their immigration cases proceeded, activists and family members told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Chaldeans were detained by immigration authorities after they attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border through the San Ysidro Port of Entry without documentation several months ago. (Read more from “Obama Set to Deport 12 Iraqi Christian Refugees” HERE)

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CIA Director Worried Iran Might Outsource Nuke Program to North Korea

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Ayatollah Ali KhameneiThe Iran nuclear deal does not prohibit Iran country from outsourcing its nuclear arms research to North Korea, which has vowed this week to produce more nuclear bomb fuel, experts are saying.

“We have to make sure that we’re doing whatever we can to uncover anything,” CIA Director John Brennan told reporters on Tuesday, reports The Washington Times.

“I’m not saying that something is afoot at all — what I’m saying is that we need to be attuned to all of the potential pathways to acquiring different types of [weapons of mass destruction] capabilities.”

The deal will free between $100 billion to $150 billion in Iranian assets, which could be used to pay other rogue countries, like North Korea, to carry out the research operations that the agreement prohibits in Iran itself, said Michael Rubin, an analyst for the American Enterprise Institute.

“[Secretary of State John] Kerry and crew left a loophole a mile wide when they effectively allowed Iran to conduct all the illicit work it wants outside of Iran, in countries like North Korea or perhaps Sudan,” Rubin said. (Read more from “CIA Director Worried Iran Might Outsource Nuke Program to North Korea” HERE)

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Boehner and His Allies Prepare Fall Battle With Conservative GOP Critics

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130226_john_boehner_1_605_apHouse Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) is bracing for what could be the toughest weeks of his speakership as several dozen conservatives in his party are threatening to topple him unless he is more ferocious with Democrats during the upcoming fiscal showdowns.

That internal feud has increased the chances that Washington, for the second time in two years, could stumble into a shutdown of the federal government.

The speaker’s lieutenants are openly girding for battle with the small but influential bloc of anti-Boehner conservatives who have signaled that if Boehner cuts any deal that they don’t like with congressional Democrats and President Obama, they could seek to remove him from the speaker’s post. It is a threat that Boehner and his allies are taking seriously.

“The people considering this are being totally irresponsible, but Boehner’s guys, we’re getting ready for whatever may come — not out of fear, but with exasperation about what some Republicans are willing to do to their own party,” said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who is part of the speaker’s circle of unofficial advisers.

Talk of unseating Boehner is not new, but this latest uprising is getting a jolt from the Republican presidential campaign, in which anti-establishment sentiment has driven two non-politicians, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, to the front of the pack. (Read more from “Boehner and His Allies Prepare Fall Battle With Conservative GOP Critics” HERE)

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This Company’s Ad-Blocking Software Could Threaten Free Internet

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Safari-browser[After Apple launched] its new software update for the iPhone, users [are offered] the chance to surf the mobile Web without annoying ads cluttering up their screen.

But Apple’s support for ad-blocking technology is ringing alarm bells on Madison Avenue, where critics warn it threatens not only the lifeblood of their business — but also the economic underpinnings of the free Internet.

“We don’t think ad blocking is right,” Scott Cunningham, senior vice president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, told The Post.

The rise of ad blockers is one of the biggest sea changes to affect the Internet ad business in decades, Cunningham said. For years, publishers have made what they believe is a fair trade-off with readers.

“Advertising is the economic engine that drives the free Internet,” Cunningham said. “The reality is the last 20 years have seen people developing content online for distribution, and consumers have opted in for that free content.” (Read more from “This Company’s Ad-Blocking Software Could Threaten Free Internet” HERE)

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Nobel Panel Saw Obama Peace Prize as ‘Mistake,’ New Book Claims

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peaceprize_c0-34-2590-1543_s561x327The former director of Norway’s Nobel Institute revealed this week that he regrets the committee’s decision to give the 2009 Nobel Peace award to President Obama.

Geil Lundestad, director at the institute for 25 years, said in his just-published memoir that he and the committee had unanimously decided to grant the award to Mr. Obama just after his election in 2009 more in hopes of aiding the American president to achieve his goals on nuclear disarmament, rather than in recognition of what Mr. Obama had already accomplished . . .

“[We] thought it would strengthen Obama and it didn’t have this effect,” he told the Associated Press in an interview.

The award so early in his term appeared to take the Obama White House by surprise, and Mr. Lundestad said U.S. officials privately asked if a Nobel Prize-winner had ever skipped the awards ceremony.

Normally the Nobel committee’s decision regarding recipients remains private, and Mr. Lundestad’s frank and revealing remarks regarding internal decisions have caused a stir in Norway, detailing the politicking and compromises that have gone into determining the annual laureate. (Read more from “Nobel Panel Saw Obama Peace Prize as ‘Mistake,’ New Book Claims” HERE)

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3 Dead After Strong Quake Rattles Chile Capital, Causing Some Tsunami Flooding

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89e483b3-ef05-477b-8a3d-858c0a3c8a37-2060x1236A powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake hit off Chile’s northern coast Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway in the capital of Santiago and bringing flooding from small tsunami waves in some shore towns . . .

Authorities had issued a tsunami alert for Chile’s entire Pacific coast, and the tremor was so strong that people on the other side of the continent, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, reported feeling it.

Numerous strong aftershocks, including one measuring 7.0 magnitude and three above 6, rattled the region after the first major tremor since a powerful quake and tsunami killed hundreds in 2010 and leveled part of the city of Concepcion in south-central Chile. (Read more from “3 Dead After Strong Quake Rattles Chile Capital, Causing Some Tsunami Flooding” HERE)

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Mixed Reaction to National Anthem in Media Filing Room: To Stand or Not to Stand [+video]

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download-2-640x480Most reporters continued to sit while the National Anthem played at the start of the GOP’s presidential primary debate.

Breitbart News captured a video showing most reporters and support staff sitting down, instead of standing as most Americans typically do . . .

In the past, some journalists have been under fire for texting or working during the singing of the National Anthem, while others have stated that it is a journalist’s job to remain neutral . . .

“On this subject, a recent op-ed by Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher warns journalists that perception is often truth and that the penchant that journalists have for not standing proudly and patriotically during the National Anthem does not help their image any — good advice that will be roundly ignored by journalists the country over,” noted Warner Todd Hutson in 2008 on this topic. (Read more from “Mixed Reaction to National Anthem in Media Filing Room: To Stand or Not to Stand” HERE)

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Pilot Spots Large Object off Reunion, Aviation Authorities Say

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150805141042-07-reunion-island-debris-0730-exlarge-169Nearly two months after debris from the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 washed up on Reunion Island, a large object reportedly floating off the island has piqued the interest of French officials there.

An Air France pilot reported seeing “a white object” floating in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday morning about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of the French island, said Siva Vadivelou, assistant director of the French Civil Aviation Authority on Reunion.

The Air France flight was at an altitude of 3,000 meters, or about 9,800 feet, the office of the island’s prefect said. Because of the altitude, “it must be a voluminous object for the pilot to see it,” Vadivelou said.

Authorities diverted a merchant ship to the area and flew an aircraft over it at low altitude, but nothing was found Tuesday, according to the prefect’s office.

French investigators said this month that debris that washed up on the island in July — an airplane flaperon — was from MH370, a Boeing 777 that disappeared with 239 people aboard in March 2014 while on a flight scheduled from Malaysia to China. (Read more from “Pilot Spots Large Object off Reunion, Aviation Authorities Say” HERE)

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Vet Group Hosting Trump Lost Nonprofit Status

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Donald TrumpThe Internal Revenue Service revoked the nonprofit status of the veterans benefit organization that hosted and sold tickets to a foreign policy speech by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump aboard a retired U.S. battleship, The Associated Press has learned. The group’s endorsement of Trump at the event also could raise legal problems under campaign finance laws.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to questions from the AP about whether it was aware that the IRS had revoked the nonprofit status of the Veterans for a Strong America, which sold tickets to Trump’s event for up to $1,000 as a fundraiser. The IRS issued its decision Aug. 10, citing the group’s failure to file any tax returns for three consecutive years, according to IRS records reviewed by the AP.

The group’s chairman, Joel Arends of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said the organization was appealing the IRS decision. He would not provide AP with copies of any tax returns, which would show how much money the group has collected over the years and how it spends its money. By law, such records are supposed to be available to the general public for inspection. (Read more from “Vet Group Hosting Trump Lost Nonprofit Status” HERE)

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