Second State Employee Refuses GOP Questions on Clinton Server

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A State Department staffer who oversaw security and technology issues for Hillary Clinton is refusing to answer Senate investigators’ questions about the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server — marking the second time an ex-State employee has declined to talk to lawmakers.

John Bentel, a now-retired State employee who managed IT security issues for the top echelon at the department, declined to be interviewed by GOP staff on the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The chairmen of both committees, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), are now threatening to consider other ways to compel him to discuss the matter . . .

Bentel’s lawyer, Randy Turk of Baker Botts in Washington, did not reply to a request for comment, but the recent letter notes that Bentel told House Benghazi investigators last year he did not recall the server matter, according to the Senate letter. And in email correspondence between the panel and Bentel’s laywer, which was reviewed by POLITICO, Turk lamented that Bentel had already talked to the House Benghazi panel “about precisely what the committtees’ letter states is the subject of their investigation.” (Read more from “Second State Employee Refuses GOP Questions on Clinton Server” HERE)

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National Uproar Over Obama’s Homosexual Ambassador and His ‘Husband’

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A little over two years after Obama campaign bundler and LGBT advocate James “Wally” Brewster arrived in the Dominican Republic, accompanied by his spouse, Bob Satawake, to assume his duties as U.S. ambassador, calls are growing in the conservative country for his recall.

Church leaders, politicians and education officials in the Caribbean island nation are clamoring for his removal, and a petition was lodged with the White House this week accusing him of promoting an “LGBT agenda inconsistent with the Christian cultural values and tradition of the Dominican Republic.”

…Dominican Teachers Association president Eduardo Hidalgo asked the country’s education ministry to bar Brewster from visiting public or private schools with Satawake, saying the rights of children should be protected. . .

Pelegrin Castillo, presidential candidate for the center-right National Progressive Force (FNP) party, was quoted as saying that under the guise of defending the rights of minorities Brewster “has a business agenda to convert Santo Domingo into the Caribbean’s gay paradise.”

On the left, the United Left Movement (MIU), in a statement marked by anti-U.S. rhetoric, accused Brewster of using his office as “convenient camouflage” to promote his personal agenda, and accused USAID of meddling in the country’s internal affairs. MIU secretary-general Miguel Mejia said the ambassador deserved to be declared persona non grata. (Read more from “National Uproar Over Obama’s Homosexual Ambassador and His ‘Husband'” HERE)

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Poll: Rubio Drops to Third in Florida, Days Before Big Tuesday Primaries

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By Fox News. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio has dropped to third place just days ahead of a crucial primary in his home state of Florida, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday.

The primary, among five Tuesday, is essentially a must-win for Rubio, who significantly trails front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the delegate count. And Rubio’s drop in the poll appears to be another indication that his campaign might soon come to an end.

On Sunday, he continued to criticize the violence at Trump rallies, saying the candidate and protestors share the blame.

“You have a leading contender for president telling people in his audience, ‘Go ahead and punch someone in the face. I’ll pay your legal bills,’ ” Rubio said in Florida. “That’s wrong if our kids did it. That is disastrous if a president does it.” He has also acknowledged that some of the protestors appeared to be paid. (Read more from “Poll: Rubio Drops to Third in Florida, Days Before Big Tuesday Primaries” HERE)

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Rubio Wins District of Columbia’s GOP Convention

By NBC Washington. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida narrowly won the District of Columbia’s Republican convention on Saturday, seizing his third primary-season victory as a critical contest looms in his home state.

The small band of establishment-friendly Republican voters in the nation’s capital also offered a rebuke to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who failed to win a single delegate. Rubio got 37 percent of the vote and won 10 delegates, and the runner-up, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, won nine delegates with 36 percent of the vote.

Trump was third and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was fourth, but neither met the minimum threshold to earn delegates.

Earlier this month, Rubio won the GOP caucuses in Minnesota and the party’s primary in Puerto Rico, but he’s still a distant third in the overall delegate count behind Trump and Cruz. (Read more from “Rubio Wins District of Columbia’s GOP Convention” HERE)

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After Trump Cancels Chicago Rally, Ted Cruz Immediately Blames Chaos on SHOCKING Factor

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In comments that had him called a “despicable opportunist” by conservative Ann Coulter, Sen. Ted Cruz said Republican presidential rival Donald Trump bears some of the blame for the organized protests that disrupted a planned Trump rally Friday and led to the cancellation of the Chicago event.

” … in any campaign responsibility starts at the top,” said Cruz, after saying violence has no place in political contests. “Any candidate…is responsible for the culture of the campaign. And when you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have a campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse.”

“I think a campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment,” Cruz added. “When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face. The predicable consequence of that is that it escalates. And today is unlikely to be the last such instance. That is not how our politics should occur.”

Many of those who read Cruz’s comments on TheBlaze disagreed.

“Really Ted? Then why didn’t you say this when the rumors were flying that your campaign said Carson was dropping out of the race and to vote for Ted? Why didn’t you say this when the fraudulent mailer/report cards were mailed out in two separate states? Why didn’t you say this when the video that was edited incorrectly to make Rubio look like a heretic and instead you fired your campaign manager?” wrote Narroway. (Read more from “After Trump Cancels Chicago Rally, Ted Cruz Immediately Blames Chaos on SHOCKING Factor” HERE)

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Another State Bans Late-Term Abortions!

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Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill late Thursday that prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, making South Dakota the 13th state in the nation to ban late-term abortions.

“The state has a compelling state interest in protecting the lives of unborn children from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain,” the bill stated.

The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act passed the state Senate 21-14 on February 23, and was approved 59-7 in the South Dakota House on March 3.

The law recognizes “the humanity of unborn children”, Rep. Isaac Latterell (R-District 6), who sponsored the bill in the House, told the Associated Press. “These are people just like you and me.”

“When an abortion of an unborn child capable of feeling pain is necessary due to a medical emergency, the physician shall deliver the child in the manner which, in reasonable medical judgment, provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive, but only if it is consistent with preserving the pregnant mother’s life and preventing an irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman,” the new law states. (Read more from “Another State Bans Late-Term Abortions!” HERE)

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Tips for Persuading the Fledgling Socialist in Your Life

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It seems everywhere I turn these days, liberty minded people are perplexed to see their friends, family members and the general public supporting presidential candidates who are socialist or socialist in everything but name. The younger generation seems especially friendly to “Feeling the Bern,” leaving small government people trying to figure out how their loved ones can possibly overlook candidates’ socialist tendencies.

I can tell you why so many of the youth love the socialist candidates. This is complicated point which will take a lot of concentration to understand and accept, so please brace yourself for the nuclear bomb of truth I’m about to drop. People are supporting socialist candidates because…they really, really like socialism.

I know this should be obvious, but I think a lot of people, especially the older generation, are in denial. Those who grew up during The Cold War era when the socialism of the U.S.S.R. was painted as the philosophical antithesis to all things American have an instinctive and vitriolic rejection of anything reminiscent of Soviet Russia, but most in the millennial generation were not even alive during The Cold War and none know much about it unless they happen to be a dedicated student of history. Most youngsters have zero problem with socialism, so no amount of, “But he’s a socialist,” style arguments will ever sway today’s budding leftists.

If you’re looking at me to convert your loved ones, you’re out of luck. You have a personal relationship while I’m just some dumb schmuck with a blog. Hopefully, the leftists you know trust and respect you which puts you in a much better position to reach them than I’ll ever possess, so let me share some strategies which should help you make your case.

Ease Off on the Nazis

Talking with a friend the other day, we discussed how our church gave us both the impression that a sinful life would immediately destroy you and make you miserable, so when my friend first smoked pot and first had premarital sex and did not immediately become a heroine addict or break out in genital warts, he felt the stated risks of sin had been nonsense. If the church had emphasized a more realistic view of sin being fun for a season but having serious long-term cost, perhaps he would have taken a different path.

Similarly, some conservatives paint an overly cataclysmic picture of socialism. Yes, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were all practitioners of different forms of socialism which lead to the deaths of at least a hundred million people, but we need to be intellectually honest. There are plenty of socialist states in Europe where people are not being rounded up and executed in death camps.

People do need to know the horror stories of National Socialism and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (by the way, you can start using these terms instead of Nazism and the U.S.S.R. to subtly emphasize the importance of socialism to these regimes), but leftists also need to know the more moderate problems inherent in all socialist nations such as the negative impact of socialized medicine, the higher taxes and the lower standard of living. However if you make it sound as if electing Bernie Sanders will lead directly to another holocaust, most leftists will understandably dismiss you.

Feelings not Facts

For generations, small government types have been making largely fact based arguments while leftists have appealed to the feelings of the American people. Which side has been winning?

Bernie Sanders hasn’t been giving specific answers to how economic systems should be structured to even the playing field or how he will fund his many new initiatives, but he has been abundantly clear in condemning the status quo as morally corrupt and stating that the rich have an unfair advantage. Many people don’t need to be convinced in their head if you can capture their hearts.

Fight fire with fire. It’s counterintuitive for many conservatives, but lead with emotions. Ask questions like, “Is it fair for people who chose not to go to college and those who sacrificed to pay their own way through college to have to pay for everyone else’s tuition?” and, “How will it make people who spent years working to earn $15 an hour feel to learn they are now working a minimum wage job with a higher cost of living?” Don’t drop the facts, but insert the feelings into the facts.

Philosophy not Politicians

We’ve all felt indignation when the media attacks a conservative politician unfairly. Perhaps we were not even that thrilled with the politician ourselves, but when we heard the opposition taking a hatchet to a guy on our side, we got defensive.

Leftists feel this way too. A lot of people love Bernie and Hillary, and if you aggressively attack them, you’ll likely end up hurting the feelings of their fans and make them less likely to listen to your arguments. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk, and I fully admit that I all too often fail in this area, but it’s important to focus criticism in a way that targets the message and not the messenger. Make sure to focus on issues rather than personal attacks or you risk ostracizing your audience.

That’s it for today, but later on in the week, I’ll release Part 2 where I’ll discuss a few more strategies. (For more from the author of “Tips for Persuading the Fledgling Socialist in Your Life” please click HERE. You can follow him on Facebook HERE and Twitter HERE.)

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34 Dead, 125 Wounded in Turkey Explosion

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A car bomb blew up near an Ankara bus stop on Sunday, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 others, according to the Turkish health minister.

At least one or two of the dead were perpetrators of the attack, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said, according to Reuters, and at least 19 of the wounded were in serious condition.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would use its right to self-defense to prevent future attacks and called for national unity.

“Our people should not worry,” Erdogan said. “The struggle against terrorism will for certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees.”

The Turkish interior minister told Reuters those responsible for the explosion would be named Monday, when an investigation into the blast was completed. (Read more from “34 Dead, 125 Wounded in Turkey Explosion” HERE)

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7-Eleven Customer Shoots, Kills Hatchet-Wielding Attacker

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By Catherine E. Shoichet and Carma Hassan. A customer drinking coffee at a Seattle 7-Eleven Sunday morning drew a pistol and shot dead a hatchet-wielding man who went after him and the store clerk, authorities said.

Investigators haven’t yet identified the suspect, who’s believed to be in his 40s and was wearing a mask when he entered the store early Sunday, the King County Sheriff’s Office said.

“The suspect did not make any statements but swung the hatchet at the customer and then went behind the counter and attacked the clerk,” the sheriff’s office said. (Read more from “7-Eleven Customer Shoots, Kills Hatchet-Wielding Attacker” HERE)

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Hatchet-Swinging Attacker Shot and Killed by Customer at 7-11

By Lucas Combos. A customer with a concealed carry permit shot and killed a masked man wielding a hatchet inside a convenience store Sunday morning, according to investigators.

The King County Sheriff’s Office was called to a 7-Eleven on 8th Avenue South, near White Center, at 5:45 a.m.

The store clerk says the masked man entered the store and immediately started swinging a hatchet toward a customer — then he turned his sights on the clerk.

Witnesses told deputies the attacker remained silent during the entire ordeal.

The clerk suffered minor injuries to his stomach, but before more damage could be done, the customer fired his pistol and hit the suspect. (Read more from “Hatchet-Swinging Attacker Shot and Killed by Customer at 7-11” HERE)

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Cruz Ad Says Senator’s Wife Will Be the ‘Very First Pro-Life First Lady’

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A television commercial for Ted Cruz featuring James Dobson says if ted Cruz becomes president, his wife will be the very first pro-life First Lady. Cruz is running against pro-life Senator Marco Rubio, whose wife is also pro-life.

“His wife, Heidi, will be the very first pro-life first lady,” Dobson says in the TV ad, in which he also endorses Ted Cruz for president.

(Read more from “Cruz Ad Says Senator’s Wife Will Be the ‘Very First Pro-Life First Lady'” HERE)

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Unease Over Chinese Investors Buying Farms Down Under

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With Chinese buyers eyeing farm land in Australia and New Zealand, authorities are coming under growing pressure to balance the need for foreign investment against accusations of “selling out.”

Currently up for sale is the S. Kidman and Co. Limited cattle empire — a vast Outback estate which covers 1.3 percent of Australia’s land mass and has an average herd of 185,000 cattle.

Treasurer Scott Morrison blocked its sale to all foreign investors in November, including from China, saying it was contrary to the national interest given part of the holding overlaps with a military testing range.

But Morrison recently approved the sale of Australia’s largest dairy farming business to a Chinese buyer, despite criticism that businessman Lu Xianfeng’s Aus$280 million (US$210 million) purchase of Tasmania’s Van Diemen’s Land Company could impact food security.

In a statement headed “Sell Out”, independent Senator Nick Xenophon labelled the decision “wrong, wrong, wrong” saying Morrison failed to give sufficient weight to an alternative Australian bid. (Read more from “Unease Over Chinese Investors Buying Farms Down Under” HERE)

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