Feds Spend $6,000 Studying ‘History of French Lesbian Activism’

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The National Endowment for the Humanities released its latest round of projects, which includes studies of the “history of French lesbian activism,” and $20,000 for a new college course on “questions about neighborliness.”

The projects are part of $21.1 million in grants announced this week for the federal agency’s “Common Good” initiative.

Tamara Chaplin, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, received a $6,000 summer stipend for her project “Postwar French Media, and the Struggle for Gay Rights.”

The project is described as a “book-length study of the history of French lesbian activism since World War II.”

Chaplin’s areas of study include contemporary France, the histories of gender and sexuality, feminist and critical theory, and queer studies. She previously contributed to the 2011 book Orgasm without Limits: May ’68 and the History of Sex Education in Modern France. (Read more from “Feds Spend $6,000 Studying ‘History of French Lesbian Activism'” HERE)

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Japan Executes Two Prisoners Amid Protests

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Human rights campaigners have condemned Japan’s use of the death penalty after two inmates were hanged, bringing the number of executions to 16 since the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, took office in late 2012.

The executions were carried out on Friday, just weeks before Japan is to host the G7 leaders summit: Japan and the US are the only two G7 nations that retain the death penalty, while European countries are among the most vocal critics of Japan’s secretive executions.

Yasutoshi Kamata, 75, was hanged in Osaka for the murders of five people – including a nine-year-old girl – between 1985 and 1994, according to Japanese media.

Junko Yoshida was convicted of killing two men in the late 1990s to obtain life insurance payments. The 56-year-old, who was executed in Fukuoka, is the first woman to be hanged in Japan since 2012.

Campaigners accused Japan of resisting the global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty in the mistaken belief that the punishment acts as a deterrent. (Read more from “Japan Executes Two Prisoners Amid Protests” HERE)

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Ben Carson Reveals the Crucial Advice He’s Giving Trump – It May Put Him Over the Top

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Former Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson has received criticism for his decision to endorse front-runner Donald Trump.

Carson asserts he has been able to convince Trump — at least in flashes — to act more presidential.

In a phone inverview Friday, Carson said, “I’ve had talks about being presidential, about toning it down a bit, appealing to a broader group of people. You did notice that he wasn’t nearly as caustic in the last debate. People appreciated that. It’s a matter of cultivating and capitalizing on that.”

Following an incident earlier this week, when Trump attacked Cruz for distributing a racy photo of Melania, Carson conceded Trump’s instincts could not be permanently contained.

This incident resulted in Trump retweeting an unfavorable photo of Heidi Cruz and his threat to “spill the beans.” Cruz responded, calling Trump a “sniveling coward” and saying he was going to beat Trump for the nomination.

Calling the incident a broader craving for public gladiatorial combat among politicians, Carson admitted to dealing with the same issues while he was in the race, saying, “We have all these serious things. Nobody wanted to hear that. We want to hear juicy stuff … Maybe it’s just human nature.” (Read more from “Ben Carson Reveals the Crucial Advice He’s Giving Trump – It May Put Him Over the Top” HERE)

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Now Members of GOP Establishment Saying They’re Open to Support Hillary If Trump Is the Nominee

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Members of the GOP foreign policy establishment are open to supporting Ted Cruz or even Hillary Clinton for president if that’s what it takes to prevent Donald Trump from becoming commander in chief.

In interviews with The Hill, prominent Republicans who signed a scathing open letter denouncing Trump said they aren’t wavering from their opposition to him.

“What’s happening is you have a lot of people who are desperate to get anybody in there other than Trump. … People are going to go for Cruz, because at the end of the day they think he’s considerably less bad than Trump,” said Eliot A. Cohen, a former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) who also served in the George W. Bush administration.

Cohen, along with Bryan McGrath, organized an open letter opposing Trump that was signed by more than 120 members of the Republican foreign policy establishment. The letter declared that Trump is unfit to be president because his views of American power are “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle” . . .

Support among the group appears to be shifting to Cruz, especially now that the Texas senator has won endorsements from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). (Read more from “Now Members of GOP Establishment Saying They’re Open to Support Hillary If Trump Is the Nominee” HERE)

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Revealed: Something Sinister About Trump Critics in the GOP That Will SHOCK Many Republicans

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By Fred Maxwell. Some prominent Republicans may be willing to go to great lengths to ensure Donald Trump does not become the next Commander in Chief.

A letter crafted by Eliot A. Cohen, former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio, and Bryan McGrath calls Trump unfit to be president due to his views of American power, which are referred to as “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle,” the Hill reports.

The letter was signed by over 120 members of the GOP foreign policy establishment.

The Hill reached out to 13 signers of the letter and were contacted by 11 of them.

Some members of the group appear to be showing support for Sen. Ted Cruz, who has been endorsed by FL. Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Speaking of Trump, McGrath calls him “a caricature of classless wealth.” He goes on to say, “Donald Trump is not a Republican, he is a caricature of the Ugly American.” (Read more from “Revealed: Something Sinister About Trump Critics in the GOP That Will SHOCK Many Republicans” HERE)

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Donald Trump Viewed More Unfavorably Than Congress, GOP

By AOL. The turbulence the Republican party is currently experiencing does not look like it’s going to end or even let up anytime soon. New polls report the party’s front-runner is the most unfavorable candidate among American voters.

A Bloomberg poll, conducted by Selzer & Co., released Tuesday reveals the one thing American voters disapprove of more than the Republican party and even Congress — Donald J. Trump.

According to the poll, 53 percent of Americans view Trump “very unfavorably.” That’s half of the United States, as opposed to only a third of voters who view Congress in the same light. (Read more from “Donald Trump Viewed More Unfavorably Than Congress, GOP” HERE)

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Giuliani Suggests Hillary ‘Founding Member of ISIS’

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Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, slammed Hillary Clinton during a recent Fox News broadcast, telling host Bill O’Reilly and the millions of watchers the former secretary of State is a big reason why ISIS exists.

“I mean, Hillary Clinton could be considered a founding member of ISIS,” he said, the Hill reported.

He said Clinton had ample opportunity to deal with the terror group during her State Department tenure, but she refused and will instead go down in history as “part of an administration that withdrew from Iraq,” he said.

“By being part of an administration that let Maliki run Iraq … into the ground,” Giuliani said, the Hill reported, “[she] forced the Shiites to make a choice, by not intervening in Syria in the proper time.”

O’Reilly suggested Clinton wasn’t really that culpable for the rise of ISIS because she never held the power to force President Obama to do something he didn’t want to do. But Giuliani said it’s such politicking that makes her a poor choice for president. (Read more from “Giuliani Suggests Hillary ‘Founding Member of ISIS'” HERE)

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FBI Counter-Terror Expert Sees Historic Islam Pivot

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The Muslim Brotherhood and its various offshoots have chosen 2016 as the year they will turn their focus away from the Middle East and toward the Western democracies seen as ripe for revolutionary activity, says a former FBI counter-terrorism specialist and Islam expert.

The revolutionary jihad movement that swept through the Middle East and North Africa as part of the “Arab Spring” is starting to take root in Europe with attacks already carried out on Paris and Brussels, said John Guandolo.

This movement will eventually spread to the United States, said Guandolo, a former Marine and instructor at the U.S. Army War College who now provides training to law enforcement agencies that want to learn more about the jihadist network in the U.S.

That network is operated, he said, by the International Muslim Brotherhood through its many front organizations. Among them are the Muslim-American Society, or MAS; Muslim Student Association, or MSA; Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR; Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA; and North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT.

Guandolo, author of the book “Raising a Jihadi Generation,” said the Muslim Brotherhood is teaming up with the Black Lives Matter movement to create violent events that will surprise many police agencies in cities across the U.S. (Read more from “FBI Counter-Terror Expert Sees Historic Islam Pivot” HERE)

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After Paul Ryan Attacked Trump, He Immediately Fired Back in a Way Ryan NEVER Expected

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A day after House Speaker Paul Ryan appeared to call out Donald Trump for “ugliness” on the campaign trail, the GOP front-runner’s campaign announced that its first Wisconsin rally will be held in Ryan’s hometown.

The Trump rally is slated for Tuesday afternoon in Janesville in southern Wisconsin.

In a speech to congressional interns Wednesday, Ryan said, “When passions flair, ugliness is sometimes inevitable, but we shouldn’t accept ugliness as the norm.”

“If someone has a bad idea, we tell them why our idea is better. We don’t insult them into agreeing with us,” he added.

Ryan’s remarks came a day after Trump threatened Sen. Ted Cruz’s wife via Twitter in response to an ad run by a pro-Cruz super PAC, which included a suggestive modeling picture of the billionaire businessman’s wife . . .

The three remaining candidates face off in the April 5 Wisconsin primary with 42 delegates up for grabs. The most recent polling has the race neck-and-neck with Cruz at 36 percent, Trump at 35 and Gov. John Kasich at 19 percent. (Read more from “After Paul Ryan Attacked Trump, He Immediately Fired Back in a Way Ryan NEVER Expected” HERE)

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Obama Admin Engaged in Secret Talks to Pay Iran Nearly $2 Billion

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The Obama administration has spent three years engaged in secret talks with Iran that resulted in the payment of nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds to the Islamic Republic, with more payouts likely to come in the future, according to a recent letter issued by the State Department and obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.

The administration’s disclosure came in response to an inquiry launched in January by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.), who was seeking further information about the Obama administration’s payment of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to Iran, which many viewed as a “ransom payment” for Iran’s release that month of several U.S. hostages.

The administration’s official response to Pompeo was sent earlier this week, just days after a Free Beacon report detailing a months-long State Department effort to stall the lawmaker’s inquiry.

“We apologize for the delay in responding,” Julia Frifield, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs, states in the letter’s opening.

Obama administration officials first began talks to settle a number of outstanding legal claims leveled against the United States by Iran in 2014. The administration predicts that more taxpayer-funded payments are likely to be granted to the Islamic Republic in the future, according to the letter. (Read more from “Obama Admin Engaged in Secret Talks to Pay Iran Nearly $2 Billion” HERE)

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This Is Scott Walker’s Prediction If a Contested Convention Happens

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By Jessie Opoien. If the Republican Party finds itself with an open convention in July, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker believes the nominee may not be Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich.

“I think if it’s an open convention, it’s very likely it would be someone who’s not currently running,” Walker told reporters Thursday. “I mean, who knows. The one thing I qualify — it’s like the qualifications you see on those ads you see for car dealerships. I think any of us who comment on this election have to qualify that almost every prediction’s been off, so it’s hard to predict anything.”

The governor, who ended his own presidential campaign in September, has yet to endorse a candidate. He plans to decide whether to endorse within the next few days, he said.

Walker spoke to a few reporters in Madison after signing into law a bipartisan bill creating a dietetic internship program in the state’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

“I think it might be one of the days where the weather trumps Trump,” he joked, adding that that was probably “wishful thinking.” (Read more from “This Is Scott Walker’s Prediction If a Contested Convention Happens” HERE)

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Ryan: No Mention of Trump but Warns of ‘Ugliness’ in Politics

By Deirdre Walsh. Without mentioning Donald Trump by name, House Speaker Paul Ryan repeatedly warned Wednesday the presidential race is dividing the country and urged GOP candidates to offer solutions instead of campaigning on the politics of fear.

“We shouldn’t accept ugliness as the norm,” the Wisconsin Republican said in a bluntly worded address about the “state of politics” to an audience made up mostly of congressional interns but aimed squarely at the adults in his party who are running for the White House in a campaign marked by name calling and profanity.

Recounting his early days working on Capitol Hill as a young staffer, Ryan said: “It did not used to be this bad and it does not have to be this way.” (Read more from “Ryan: No Mention of Trump but Warns of ‘Ugliness’ in Politics” HERE)

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