Obama Administration Zika Shifts Proves Money Was There

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The shifting of $81 million to combat Zika is overdue and demonstrates the Obama administration has had untapped resources to fight the mosquito-borne illness, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said.

“For over six months we have been calling on the administration to use every existing resource at their disposal to address this crisis,” Rogers said in a statement.

While the Republican House passed a Zika funding measure, Republican lawmakers have insisted that the administration has unused cash on hand to tackle the problem. However, administration officials contend this is robbing from important research in other areas, such as cancer research.

“Our calls have been met with little action, while the White House continues to cast aspersions and blame at others for lack of funding,” Rogers continued. “It is clear yet again, with the announcement today, that federal agencies do indeed have existing funds available within their budgets that can be redirected to fight Zika. This has been the case all along, and it is disappointing that it has taken this long for this action to occur.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell announced Thursday that she is transferring $34 million from the National Institutes of Health to fund the Zika vaccine, and another $47 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to continue contracting with private companies to assist in research for the vaccine.

President Barack Obama and administration officials have asked for immediate funding increases for Zika. However, Republicans in Congress have approved about $800 million less than Obama asked for, and has called on the administration to use existing resources.

Rogers actually saluted the move as needed while Senate Democrats hold up the $1.1 billion funding bill approved by the House.

“I commend the administration for finally moving forward with additional existing funding to fight this epidemic,” Rogers continued. “And, if more resources are needed, I urge the Senate Democrats and the White House to approve the legislation already passed by the House, so that these funds to prevent and stop the spread of the Zika virus can be used quickly, effectively, and responsibly.”

Obama has criticized congressional Republicans for not approving his $1.9 billion request for Zika from February. The House passed a $1.1 billion package, but Senate Democrats are holding up the legislation, complaining the bill doesn’t offer enough money and does away with environmental protections in seeking to reduce the mosquito population.

In her letter to members of Congress, Burwell complained that National Institutes of Health money is being taken away from other worthy causes in order to fund the fight against Zika.

“As you know, there has been bipartisan support for providing additional support to NIH as it is on the front lines of finding effective treatments and cures for many of our nation’s most devastating illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and others,” Burwell said. “Reallocating NIH resources is not consistent with a strategy to provided maximum support to the important work that our nation’s leading scientists are performing, but the lack of a clean, bipartisan Zika funding bill has left me no choice but to move forward with the action at this time.”

There are 7,300 cases of Zika in the United States, 972 of those are pregnant women and 15 babies have been born with Zika-related illnesses or defects, according to HHS. Zika is spread by mosquitoes, but it can also be sexually transmitted and passed from pregnant mother to child. The virus is particularly dangerous for pregnant women because it can trigger microcephaly, which is a birth defect that causes a baby’s head to be smaller than expected and its brain to be underdeveloped.

Burwell said in the letter to Congress that the NIH will still need another $196 million for fiscal year 2017 to continue the Phase II trial of the Zika vaccine. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will need another $342 million to continue working with private contractors.

“For NIH, this could involve delaying or possibly halting research work on vaccines,” Burwell said in the letter. “And for BARDA, this could result in companies that have partnered with the U.S. government to develop a Zika vaccine not having access to additional funding need to continue their work.”

This is the second shift of money. The Obama administration announced in April it was tapping $589 million in unspent Zika funds to help fight the virus. However, members of Congress raised questions after reports that only $180 million had been obligated as of July. After that, the HHS began highlighting expenditures, such as $5.1 million on Zika testing, and $16 million on a Zika birth defect registry.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blamed Republicans for blocking the funding.

“As Secretary Burwell’s letter details, Republicans’ incomprehensible inaction on Zika is forcing HHS to raid critical health initiatives just to stave off a needless and dangerous delay of Zika vaccine development,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Not only are these resources coming out of commitments to the fight against other devastating illnesses, they are nowhere near sufficient to address the Zika crisis with the seriousness it requires.”

Congress will be considering a spending bill in September that includes Zika, said Paul Winfree, director of economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation.

“It’s clear that the administration has not been forthcoming with their ability to prioritize unobligated resources,” Winfree told The Daily Signal in an email.

Winfree said the September bill will likely require an emergency designation for the Zika funding.

“Emergency designations are not intended to avoid having to pay for spending,” Winfree added. “They are intended to provide supplemental funds outside the normal appropriations process.” (For more from the author of “Obama Administration Zika Shifts Proves Money Was There” please click HERE)

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What Conservatives Did to Pull off Religious Liberty Win in California

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California conservatives won a surprise victory this week, changing a state assembly bill that would have curtailed the freedom of private religious colleges.

“We literally were able to see tens of thousands of people mobilize to make calls and to write their legislators, and to participate in the political process,” William Jessup University President John Jackson told The Daily Signal in a phone interview.

“We were hearing from legislators who said that they had gotten hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of phone calls on just this one piece of legislation,” he added. “And I think that’s a tremendous, tremendous encouragement to me for the health of our state.”

It’s a victory that they hope will prove a bellwether for institutional liberty fights to come.

Facing a maelstrom of grassroots controversy, state Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat, said Wednesday that he would remove the portions of his bill, SB 1146, that would have harmed the right of religious colleges to operate according to their principles.

Under the previous wording, SB 1146 would have ultimately blocked low-income students from receiving Cal Grants, California’s system of need-based education aid, if they attended colleges with policies such as bathroom use based on biological sex that violated the state’s LGBT policies. It also would have enabled students who feel discriminated against in light of these policies to bring a lawsuit against their college.

“Without a doubt, the unmodified version [of the bill] would have jeopardized Christian institutions and egregiously penalized all students of faith, especially Latino and African-American individuals,” Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said in a statement.

Conservatives who opposed the measure say they are relieved by this change, but some stressed that the current version of the bill, while less concerning, may still negatively impact religious colleges. Jackson mentioned a new amendment that would make religious colleges release data on expelled students—ostensibly to ensure they were not expelled for discriminatory reasons.

“What we’ve indicated to the senator [Lara] is that we’ll have to review the bill and compare it to [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] regulations,” Jackson said.

But religious liberty activists say they are pleased to have an effective blueprint for success as that battle progresses, a blueprint that involves building national coalitions focused on preserving the rights of religious Americans.

In addition to grassroots mobilization, conservative nonprofits also played a pivotal role in the controversy.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty publicized the fact that three of four students affected by the loss of Cal Grants would be low-income minority students, circulating a petition that quickly garnered 100,000 signatures.

With an open statement, Andrew Walker’s, the director of policy studies at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, commission publicly opposed the bill with the support of a diverse group of advocates and thinkers both on the ideological left and on the right. Notable signatories included law professors, administrators at religious colleges, Hispanic and Islamic leaders, seminary presidents, Christian denominational authorities, intellectuals at think tanks (including three from The Heritage Foundation), and conservative magazines.

The statement was publicly released on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Lara announced that he was changing the provisions.

“I just think that this was a multifaceted effort that really showed what effective communication and strategy can result in,” Walker told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “You get your national coalitions working with your people on the ground, coupled with strong messaging—and religious liberty, we found out, is not dead in California.”

Continued defeats on issues of individual conscience, Walker said, showed that advocates of religious freedom still have a long way to go. But as lawmakers nationwide begin to bicker over the limits of freedom of conscience for religious institutions, the changes to SB 1146 represent a heartening opening salvo.

“There’s one discussion about private citizens engaged in commercial acts, like the bakers and the florists and the photographers, but what we see here is that the ability to protect religious institutions and their religious integrity remains very intact and very strong,” he said. “We’re going to have to turn especially and fight on all fronts, and that includes institutionally. We had a large institutional win in California.”

Jackson and Walker also stressed that conservatives must remain vigilant to oppose similar encroachments in the future.

“The sponsor of this bill has said that he intends to study this issue at further depth, and possibly reintroduce legislation like this next year,” Walker said. “We’re not naïve to the fact that this is an ongoing battle.” (For more from the author of “What Conservatives Did to Pull off Religious Liberty Win in California” please click HERE)

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Bill Clinton’s Pay at For-Profit Education Company Topped $17.5 Million

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Bill Clinton was paid more than $1 million in 2015 by Laureate Education, a global operator of for-profit colleges, according to tax returns released today by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

The new figure brings the former president’s total compensation from Laureate to more than $17.5 million for his five-year role as an “honorary chancellor.” His role consisted of advising the company on educational matters and traveling to campuses across the world to speak to young people. Clinton ended his position at Laureate in April 2015 after Hillary Clinton launched her bid for the White House.

Laureate International Universities, the company’s international arm for which Clinton worked, has donated $1 million to $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, with a new contribution made as recently as the second quarter of this year, according to records posted on the foundation’s website. (Read more from “Bill Clinton’s Pay at For-Profit Education Company Topped $17.5 Million” HERE)

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SHA-WINGGG! DNC Email Hack Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger

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An investigation by the FBI has revealed the hack against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) may be much larger than expected.

According to The New York Times, the hack extended well beyond the DNC, and may have affected hundreds of other Democratic party officials and organizations, including the Democratic Governors Association.

The FBI briefed staff members of the House and Senate intelligence committees last week on the investigation into the email hacks against the DNC in July. The FBI told staff it has no doubt that the Russian government was behind the hack, according to The New York Times, citing an anonymous staff member briefed on the matter.

The FBI said that it has no direct evidence that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server was hacked by the Russians. FBI director James Comey has said previously that hackers have tried to gain access into Clinton’s private server, and that they may have been skilled enough to leave no trace of a successful hack. The FBI also said that there is no evidence at this point that the hack extended to the emails of members of Congress or staff members of the intelligence committees.

According to the Boston Globe, the main targets of the hack appear to have been the private accounts of Clinton campaign officials, Democratic party officials, and Democratic party organizations. (Read more from “SHA-WINGGG! DNC Email Hack Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger” HERE)

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14 Winning Issues Trump Could Use Against Hillary

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When a football team is down and headed into the second half of the game, the coach does himself no favors by denying reality and avoiding a course change.

With every single national and state poll showing Trump losing demographics Republicans haven’t lost in over 60 years and making states like Arizona, Georgia, and Missouri competitive, anyone who truly wants to beat Hillary Clinton does themselves no favors by spending the next few months simply declaring the polls skewed. The people must demand a course change and ask of their nominee to finally get back on message, go relentlessly on offense on the critical issues people care about, and begin spending money in the important states needed to win this election in November. Anything short of taking this approach is ensuring that Hillary Clinton indeed is on her way to the White House – the very outcome the most ardent Trump fans claim they wish to avoid.

Trump’s reliance on media coverage and name recognition may have gotten him through the primary but, as we’re witnessing, this won’t get him through the general. This is why it’s so important for Trump to get back on message, place Hillary on defense on critical issues, and run ads relentlessly holding her accountable for the security, societal, and economic woes that the entire country feels… so long as they are not distracted by the excitement of reality TV. When elections are about personalities, Democrats win, but when they are about issues Republicans win. And fortunately for Trump, his opponent’s past and present record provides ample opportunity for any challenger to expose her weaknesses and to run an honest campaign against a corrupt candidate.

Here is just a sample of the many issues that can easily be used to place Hillary on defense for the rest of the election.

1. Hang Obamacare on Hillary’s neck: Hillary bragged about being the pioneer for socialized medicine at the Democratic National Convention. Well, while private insurance costs are skyrocketing and doctors are leaving the health care profession in record numbers, now is the time to put Obamacare back into the center of this election. Republicans won two mid-term landslides on this issue, but lost in 2012 because they nominated someone who couldn’t effectively make health care an issue. That Obamacare has barely been mentioned in this election is criminal negligence. Trump must make it clear that if Hillary is allowed to expand Obamacare instead of repealing it, no middle class family will be able to live in dignity without government dependency and the largest sector of our economy will be permanently damaged, which will, in turn, continue to drag down the economy. There is something fundamentally wrong when Hillary is up double digits on the issue of health care, and the refusal to seriously campaign against Obamacare would be a great place to look for the culprit.

2. Hillary’s Regulations Will Crush the Poor: Democrats thrive on playing class warfare and claiming to only tax the rich while giving handouts to “the little guy.” The dirty little secret that needs to be publicized is that the hidden tax of regulations is shouldered by everyone and is most regressive against the poor. A new report shows how Obama’s regulations have cost the economy $734 billion. The total cost of all federal regulations in 2014 reached $1.88 trillion, which amounts to a $14,976 hidden tax per family every year. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, this amounts to 23 percent of the average family budget of $51,000. The $1.88 trillion number is also more than receipts from corporate and personal income taxes combined. Trump needs to shout at every event and run ads in every state warning that a third term of Obama will crush families with a higher cost of living for the most essential goods and services.

3. Highlight Hillary’s Radicalism on Immigration: Instead of holding a press conference about his wife’s immigration history, thereby making this, once again, about personality, Trump could capitalize on the spotlight by detailing all of the illegal executive actions Obama has taken in recent weeks to endanger this nation’s security and violate its sovereignty. He could then run endless ads in critical states warning about Hillary’s plan to walk in the footsteps of Europe and bring in hundreds of thousands of additional refugees from the Middle East. Continuing with some of the messaging from the Republican convention, he can note how it is Hillary who doesn’t care about American security and the economy by sacrificing our sovereignty on the altar of billionaire special interests in support of open borders.

4. Hit Hillary on Her War on the Suburbs: Elections are won or lost in the suburbs and Trump is getting crushed in suburban counties at this point. He needs to hammer home Obama’s fundamental transformation of America via HUD’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule.” This program mandates suburban jurisdictions construct a certain number of “low income” housing. At the same time, HUD channels federal funds to crony left-wing organizations to move people out of the city into the suburbs, overwriting the zoning codes of the local governments. This unconstitutional executive action, cheered on by the lawless courts, violates property rights, federalism, and the true ideals of equal opportunity. It also represents a backdoor federal gerrymander and de facto eminent domain for ACORN-style organizations. Fight political correctness and win suburban votes at the same time.

5. Make Hillary Own Iran: Obama has allowed Iran to humiliate us and it is now clear he paid them a ransom to get back American hostages. Coupled with seizing our naval ship without retaliation, nothing embodies American weakness more than the Iran alliance. This all started under Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State. The ad ideas to run against her on this issue are endless.

6. Attack Hillary’s Support for Jail Break Legislation: Make it clear that Hillary is the candidate of anarchy in an increasingly dangerous world. Rebuke Obama’s pardon of 214 criminals this week – 52 of which have serious gun violations – and demonstrate the irrevocable damage of four more years of this.

7. Attack Hillary’s Foreign Policy Record. This is perhaps the easiest, and most obvious, layup. WikiLeaks revealed Clinton had a hand in arming terrorists in Syria. That, coupled with her comments at the Democratic convention confirming that her approach to stopping ISIS will not be fast-acting, is enough to turn the millions of voters concerned about the barbaric attacks we’re witnessing throughout the world by the hand of radical Islamic terrorists. Hillary’s role in involving the U.S. in Libya should be another easy target. As Secretary of State, Hillary’s Libya “intervention” has in turn led to the rise of Boko Haram and the loss of almost the entire continent of Africa. Now, Obama is quietly sending more troops to Libya with no definite mission.

8. Run Against Hillary’s Judicial Oligarchy Philosophy: Don’t just run on appointing better judges but on reforming the judiciary altogether. Show how the courts are crushing the states on their most essential functions and promise to work with Congress to return power to the states. Talk about the recent rulings banning voter ID laws, a most basic element of protecting the franchise. Again, this would cut through the perception that Trump is a top-down power hungry leader. By being a voice for judicial integrity, Trump would connect with the large swath of Middle America that supports voter ID and strike a populist tone that is actually rooted in the Constitution.

9. Hillary Won’t Stand for Religious Liberty, bring out the Megaphone on Religious Freedom: Note that Hillary Clinton tolerates the Muslim Brotherhood but has no place for religious Jews and Christians in this country. Be the candidate of civil and religious liberty and stand for conscience and property rights. Promise legislation defending the people and the states from the agenda of coercion pushed by the sexual identity movement.

10. Attack Hillary’s Nanny State Agenda and Stand for Civil Liberty: One glaring hole in Trump’s entire agenda – from the primary through the general election – is no mention of liberty. This is something Democrats have insidiously but cleverly exploited to outflank him on constitutional freedoms. He must point out Hillary’s nanny state agenda, support for endless violations of the Fourth Amendment, and become the candidate of the Bill of Rights. “While Hillary wants to grant citizen rights to illegal aliens and coddle the Muslim Brotherhood, she doesn’t believe in the Bill of Rights for Americans,” would be a great line of attack.

11. Will Hillary Denounce Planned Butcherhood? It’s truly amazing that Planned Parenthood has been caught on video trafficking baby parts, a seminal moment in the 40-year battle over abortion, and yet Republicans have walked away from the issue. Trump is currently losing Catholics by 17 points. This is political malpractice. He needs to remind voters that Hillary has never disavowed Planned Parenthood’s butchery and that she wants to continue taxpayer funding for a private entity under criminal investigation for barbaric practices.

12. Double Down on Hillary’s Farcical War on Women Rhetoric: Instead of playing defense every time Hillary attacks him for his off-handed comments about women, Trump should double down on Hillary’s fake and hypocritical ‘war on women’ agenda. Throughout her career, Hillary has made championing women’s rights a central part of her platform despite having sent billions to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East that degrade, rape, and even occasionally mutilate and murder women who do not adhere to Sharia law. Not to mention Hillary’s support for bringing into the U.S. even more migrants who have the potential to mistreat women like we’re seeing take place in countries like Germany and Sweden. How is exposing women to rape, threats and potential abuse good for women?

13. Keep the Internet out of Hillary and K Street’s Hands: There is no greater issue that fits more into Trump’s branding and simultaneously seizes upon the liberty mantle while attracting younger voters (who are already sour on Hillary) than to oppose Obama’s giveaway of internet domains to an international tribunal that includes China, Russia, and Iran. The internet is the beacon of freedom that also exemplifies American exceptionalism (Making America First Again!). If Republicans don’t cave on this issue before the end of the year, this election will determine whether America will continue to control internet domains and ensure its freedom from the globalists and elitists, as well as despotic countries. Just imagine the ads that could be run on this issue and marketed to younger voters? Opposition to Hillary Clinton’s support for K Street’s internet sales tax would also be a great messaging tool.

14. Double Down on Hillary’s One-Size-Fits-All Education Policy: Common Core is just like Obamacare. It’s beyond an abstract policy issue. Every parent understands what it is and what it represents. This is an issue that Democrats have admitted, time and again, could destroy them on the campaign trail. There are so many clever commercials Trump could run demonstrating what children will be forced to do under Hillary’s Department of Education.

Obviously, this is just a cursory list. Once Hillary’s dangerous associations with Islamists are factored in, there are endless security issues that can be hung around her neck. The point is that it’s time to go on offense and make Hillary the relentless focus of this campaign.

For better or worse, Donald Trump has the biggest megaphone of any single human being in this country. He has the ability to attract media attention instantaneously. While the media will always be biased and exhibit a glaring double standard to any GOP nominee, Trump can take his destiny in his own hand. Elections are all about the ability to focus the public attention. Trump can do his part using this significant megaphone to focus voters on these and many other issues where Hillary stands in opposition to the majority of Americans. Or he can continue making his personality the focus of this campaign, something the Hillary campaign and the media are all too eager to capitalize on. (For more from the author of “14 Winning Issues Trump Could Use Against Hillary” please click HERE)

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Trump Doubles Down on His Claim That Obama Created Islamic State

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By Christine Rushton. Donald Trump doubled down Thursday on his accusation that President Obama created Islamic State, insisting that he didn’t simply mean that Obama’s troop draw-down in Iraq left behind chaos in which the terrorist group thrived.

The Republican nominee first called Obama the “founder of ISIS,” another term for Islamic State, during a rally Wednesday in Florida. He was asked Thursday in an interview on CNBC whether that was appropriate.

Trump responded: “He was the founder of ISIS, absolutely.”

Islamic State grew out of Iraq’s Al Qaeda affiliate founded around 2004, a half-decade before Obama took office. Its capabilities ebbed and flowed over the next decade as the group merged and split with other extremists. Around 2013, it increasingly began carrying out attacks in Iraq, and the group began overtaking large swaths of territory in both Iraq and neighboring Syria a year later. Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for attacks elsewhere, branching out as coalition-led forces roll back its territorial gains in the Middle East. (Read more from “Trump Doubles Down on His Claim That Obama Created Islamic State” HERE)

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GOP Rep: Obama Responsible for Manipulated Intel About ISIS

By Julian Hattem. President Obama and other senior administration officials created a political climate that led intelligence officials to create warped reports about the United States’s fight against Islamic extremists, a leader of a Republican task force studying the matter said on Thursday.

“They wanted a good news story,” Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), one of three GOP lawmakers leading a House task force into alleged intelligence manipulation at the Pentagon’s Central Command, told The Hill.

“Is there a memo from Barack Obama saying, ‘Don’t send me bad news’? We haven’t yet found that,” he added.

“But in every organization I’ve ever been a part of … leaders set a culture and the team that works around that leader understands the expectations of that leader,” Pompeo said. “Here that led to manipulation of an intelligence product that was extremely important to keeping our kids safe.”

The comments magnify the criticism in an initial report published by the task force on Thursday that concluded that Centcom reports about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were “consistently more optimistic” than analysts on the ground. (Read more from “GOP Rep: Obama Responsible for Manipulated Intel About ISIS” HERE)

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Russia Caught Red Handed With Hundreds of Ground Mercenaries in Syria

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A recent Sky News investigation reveals Russia is hiring hundreds of private military contractors to fight on the ground in Syria, catching the government in a lie that it only assists Syria from the air.

Russia has repeatedly stressed its military operations are low cost, highly limited and focused on helping the Assad regime defeat jihadist groups. Sky New’s investigation reveals hundreds of Russian private military contractors are fighting side by side with the Syrian regime. Russia’s use of private military contractors is only the latest lie about its campaign inside Syria.

Independent analyses of Russian airstrikes in Syria reveal they almost exclusively focus on groups that threaten territory valuable to the Syrian regime. Russia also broke several internationally brokered ceasefires in March 2016.

Russia is likely hiding the extent of its intervention in Syria to not inflame domestic tensions. Direct Russian military intervention in the Middle East harkens many Russians back to the Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan. Thousands of Russians were killed in Afghanistan, and many Russians blame the Afghan war for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia has a history of guising the scope its intervention with “unofficially” affiliated troops in active war zones. In Ukraine, Russia deployed thousands of non-uniformed Russian fighters to fight against the Ukrainian military. These fighters became infamously known as “little green men” and have been demonstrably linked back to the Kremlin. (Read more from “Russia Caught Red Handed With Hundreds of Ground Mercenaries in Syria” HERE)

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Was Ex-Twitter CEO Censoring Negative Speech About Obama?

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According to a report by BuzzFeed News, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo secretly ordered staff to filter out “abusive and hateful” replies to President Obama during his #AskPOTUS Q&A session in 2015.

BuzzFeed reports:

According to a former senior Twitter employee, Costolo ordered employees to deploy an algorithm (which was built in-house by feeding it thousands of examples of abuse and harassing tweets) that would filter out abusive language directed at Obama. Another source said the media partnerships team also manually censored tweets, noting that Twitter’s public quality-filtering algorithms were inconsistent. Two sources told BuzzFeed News that this decision was kept from senior company employees for fear they would object to the decision.

If true, the information reveals a major fault-line in the social media company’s longstanding unfettered free speech stance. For many years, Twitter has touted itself as a global leader for free speech. Top executives even published a blog post boasting of such in 2011 titled, “The Tweets Must Flow.”

In the post, executives wrote, “Freedom of expression is essential. Some Tweets may facilitate positive change in a repressed country, some make us laugh, some make us think, some downright anger a vast majority of users. We don’t always agree with the things people choose to tweet, but we keep the information flowing irrespective of any view we may have about the content.”

“There are Tweets that we do remove, such as illegal Tweets and spam,” the blog post acknowledged. But only rarely, and only to serve the broader goal, which is simply to “not to remove Tweets on the basis of their content.”

… Except for when they may be harmful to a favored political figure. Got it. (For more from the author of “Was Ex-Twitter CEO Censoring Negative Speech About Obama?” please click HERE)

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What Malia Obama Getting Caught Smoking Weed Tells Us About the Drug War

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When celebrity website Radar Online shared a video of Malia Obama allegedly smoking marijuana at Lollapalooza in Chicago last week, the internet came to her defense.

On Twitter, comedian Chris Rock suggested she could one day be an Olympic gold medalist — or even president of the United States. Other users complained about those criticizing Malia by telling them to “let her live!”

But has anyone touched on Malia Obama’s father’s reluctance to embrace personal freedom outside the boundaries of his own household?

This Thursday, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a response to petitioners asking the government to remove the “Schedule I” classification of marijuana. In a letter, DEA leadership maintained its refusals to give in to proponents of legalization. In an interview, Chuck Rosenberg, the acting administrator of the DEA, said the decision is due to the fact that “science doesn’t support” the notion marijuana may be used for medical ends — a narrative that has previously been debunked by several studies . . .

Despite Malia’s apparent acceptance of the substance — and the Internet’s apparent resistance to finding anything contradictory about her father’s positions on drug policy — President Obama had, by early 2013, been harsher on marijuana users than former President George W. Bush, Reason observed. “In other words,” Jacob Sullum wrote, “Obama is averaging 36 medical marijuana prosecutions a year, compared to 20 a year under his predecessor.” Even the Huffington Post has reported that when it comes to pot, Obama has a highly hypocritical stance, ignoring his own history and promises. (Read more from “What Malia Obama Getting Caught Smoking Weed Tells Us About the Drug War” HERE)

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Economics, Family Issues Spur Legislative Challenge

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Alaska’s House District 31 is commonly known as the “Homer District” but also encompasses the communities of Anchor Point, Clam Gulch, Ninilchik, Kasilof, and includes the Russian village of Nikolaevsk. Many people have touted this district as being ultra-liberal and impossible for a conservative to win. While this may be true of the more liberal leaning city of Homer, it is not indicative of the larger district population.

Proof of this can come from the US Senate race in 2010 when conservative, pro-life candidate Joe Miller beat Senator Lisa Murkowski by nearly 6 percentage points. Further, in 2014, Joe Miller again won District 31, beating well-established opponents Mead Treadwell and Dan Sullivan in the three way race by more than 12 points.

This shows that conservative voters are excited to support someone who they feel will truly represent them. I believe I am that person.

I am committed to government staying within its proper role, the first of which is to protect the rights and liberties of the people. The people of Alaska should be free to live within a state that promotes creativity, protects liberty, and cherishes the successes of its people.

Instead we are often left wondering if legislators in Juneau are more concerned with their paychecks than they are with the safety and liberty of the people they claim to represent.

I am running for State House in District 31 because I am genuinely concerned for the future of our state. Alaska is facing a time to make tough decisions that affect not only our economic future, but the future of our families and the generations to come.

Most troubling is the fiscal dilemma that Alaskans face which affect all facets of their lives. We must have a bold and fiscal innovator. I understand that over spending and taxation will not lead to prosperity. It will exacerbate and compound this deleterious fiscal situation.

The knee-jerk reaction by Representative Paul Seaton to implement a 15% income tax on hard working Alaskans is not only detrimental, but shows that other actions were not looked at first to solve the financial crises within the States’ over inflated budget.

Cuts must be made across the board to programs that are not producing a positive return on expenditures. A tax increase or personal income tax should only be considered after all other options are thoroughly looked at and implemented. I believe we are a far cry from cutting as much as we can.

Mayor Wythe likes to tell people in the district that she is opposed to additional taxes, but her record belies the fact that this is not the case. Hidden in the proposed bill to build the new police station (which was retracted), was the plan to pay for the project. It included an additional 1% sales tax on top of the already-exorbitant 7.5% that we currently pay.

Additionally Mayor Wythe supported removing the grocery tax exemption which was voted on by the people of District 31. This type of action will only hurt the citizens of the district and generate financial hardship on those that live within a fixed income.

Such a blatant disregard for the will of the people shows that Mayor Wythe is more concerned about growing government than she is about honoring the people’s wishes.

I believe that Representatives, whether City or State, must be honest with their constituents about the facts. It is not appropriate to pander for self gratification. This is not an act of servant leadership but an act of deception.

Both Representative Seaton and Mayor Wythe are on record in favor of removing the Senior Tax exemption. I consider this to be heartless. Not only are Seniors those in our community that we can look up to and learn from, but they also put 3-4% back into the local economy. We should welcome them to stay in our communities with open arms, not drive them out with higher property taxes!

As a small business owner, I understand the importance of balanced budgets, appropriate spending, and increasing revenues (unlike Representative Seaton who received a D- grade on the Alaska Business Report Card!). We need a Representative in District 31 who will apply these same principles in state government.

Economic issues aside, we must look at the future of our families. As a man, I believe it is my duty to defend those who are weaker than I am. As your Representative I will count it among my chief duties to defend your liberties. As a Christian, it is my duty to defend the rights of those in Alaska who cannot necessarily speak up for themselves.

I call myself a conservative, which means that I will fight not only for smaller government but also for the protection of pre-born children and for family values.

Though some would call Mayor Wythe a conservative, both she and Representative Seaton are outspoken in their support of one of the most pro-abortion US Senators, Lisa Murkowski. I find it hard to believe that someone who endorses her can also hold firm to principles that are completely anathema to what she stands for.

I am proud to have support and sole endorsements from Alaska Right to Life, Alaska Republican Assembly and Joe Miller. They see that in District 31, the choice is clear. We can continue to have more of the same – growing government, raising taxes, and surreptitious behavior from our elected officials or, the people can choose the one conservative who will truly fight for them!

I proudly defended my country by serving in the Navy for 30 years. When I joined the Navy I took the oath to protect and defend the Constitution “so help me God”. When I retired I gave up my uniform but I was never relieved of my duty to protect the Constitution. The people and the United States Government has entrusted me in the past with the lives of your husbands, your wives, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. During my watch I never lost a life. I am only asking for you to trust me once again.

Not only am I the only true conservative in the race, but polling from an outside group shows that I am in the best position to beat liberal Republican Paul Seaton, leading Mayor Wythe by twice as much support from likely Primary voters.

We should never expect mediocrity from our public servants! As your Representative I will always be open to hear your concerns and will work hard to make the people of District 31 freer, more prosperous, and less burdened by undue taxes!

I would be honored to receive your vote on August 16th.

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