Pat Caddell: Country Closer to Revolution than Ever

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Veteran pollster Pat Caddell says he agrees with the premise that America today is closer to another revolution than at any time in recent history, adding, “The strength of this country comes from its people and it has a political system that is run, now, to the exclusion of its people … you have three quarters of the American people saying the government in Washington does not rule with the consent of the governed.”

Caddell told Breitbart News Daily host Stephen K. Bannon that the current $1.1 trillion 2,000-plus page omnibus bill is “the greatest disaster anyone ever saw because of the deals being cut.”

Caddell cited elements of the bill that are still being discovered, such as the upping of the number of foreign visas. Caddell was referring to a provision that was outrageously “slipped into the bill” without the knowledge of many lawmakers.

The provision could more than triple the number of H-2B visas for foreign workers seeking jobs at hotels, theme parks, ski resorts, golf courses, landscaping businesses, restaurants and bars. The move is intended to boost the supply of non-agricultural seasonal workers.

The $1.1 trillion omnibus funding bill includes language that would dramatically increase the number of visas available for foreign workers, setting off alarm bells among conservatives and labor unions.

(Read more from “Pat Caddell: Country Closer to Revolution than Ever” HERE)

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Obama Poised to Tighten Gun Laws After Holidays

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Senior congressional aides and sources in the gun-control community expect the White House to use its executive powers to tighten federal gun laws shortly after President Barack Obama returns from a Hawaiian vacation in early January.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday he anticipates a legal review to continue through the holidays.

Since the deadly shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., White House officials have been, as Earnest has put it, “scrubbing through the law” to determine whether and how Obama can use his constitutional authorities to make it harder for terrorists and other potential mass shooters to legally obtain firearms.

On both sides of the Capitol, sources involved in the guns debate say, as one senior House GOP leadership aide put it, “something is brewing on guns” . . .

Since, however, Republican lawmakers have blocked Democratic measures on stiffening gun laws; and Democrats have kept a mental health bill the GOP has tied to mass shootings from passing, saying they would rather close loopholes in gun laws first. (Read more from “Obama Poised to Tighten Gun Laws After Holidays” HERE)

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All Schools Close in Augusta County, Virginia, over Islam Homework

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Photo Credit: CNN After a teacher at a Virginia school handed out a standard homework assignment on Islam, such an angry backlash flooded in that it prompted officials to close every single school in the county as a safety precaution.

“While there has been no specific threat of harm to students, schools and school offices will be closed Friday, December 18, 2015,” Augusta County Schools said. Extracurricular activities were shut down Thursday afternoon . . .

When the world geography class at Riverheads High School in Staunton rolled around to the subject of major world religions, homework on Islam asked students to copy religious calligraphy.

It read:

“Here is the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy.”

(Read more from “All Schools Close in Augusta County, Virginia, over Islam Homework” HERE)

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NYT Scrubs Details from Article About an Obama Off-The-Record Meeting

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The New York Times removed significant portions of an article it published on Thursday in which President Obama reportedly made the admission that he failed to recognize Americans’ anxiety level following the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

As often happens with news articles that are published online before being published in print, The Times removed some passages, added others and rearranged copy in the piece, which was entitled “Under Fire From G.O.P., Obama Defends Response To Terror Attacks.”

When unimportant information is involved, outlets rarely acknowledge the changes. And indeed, a spokeswoman for The Times tells The Daily Caller that the article was merely “trimmed” because of space requirements. But the two passages scrubbed from The Times article, written by Peter Baker and Gardiner Harris, appear to have contained significant information about Obama’s public response to the terror massacres. Obama’s reported statements also lend credence to Republican criticism that his response to the terrorist massacres was lacking.

In one of the pre-scrubbed versions of the article, Obama was said to have told a group of about 10 reporters during a two-hour off-the-record meeting held on Tuesday that he did not fully grasp how much anxiety Americans felt following the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino because he didn’t watch enough cable TV.

“In his meeting with the columnists, Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments,” that iteration of The Times article reads, according to NewsDiffs.com, a website that tracks changes made to news articles. (Read more from “NYT Scrubs Details from Article About an Obama Off-The-Record Meeting” HERE)

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US Poised to Lift Sanctions on Iran Under Nuclear Deal

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The United States appears poised to lift at least some sanctions against Iran — possibly as early as January — as members of Congress urge a swift, robust US response to Tehran’s recent ballistic missile test.

Secretary of State John Kerry said in a letter Wednesday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran is fulfilling its obligations under the international agreement in what Kerry calls a “transparent” and “verifiable” way, and that “suspension of sanctions … is appropriate.”

The committee’s top Democrat, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, said at a hearing Thursday that it appears that sanctions relief could start as early as January, not in the spring as initially anticipated.

The deal involving the United States, Iran and five other world powers would curb Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for giving Iran access to billions in frozen assets and oil revenue.

Cardin said that throughout the congressional review of the deal, witnesses for the administration guessed that it would be spring until Iran could comply with the terms required for that relief to begin. (Read more from “US Poised to Lift Sanctions on Iran Under Nuclear Deal” HERE)

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Rubio Misses Spending Bill Vote

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Sen. Marco Rubio missed Friday’s Senate vote approving a massive $1.8 trillion end-of-the-year spending bill and tax package — a day after he suggested that he could try to slow the legislation down.

The Florida Republican, who is running for president, was the only 2016 contender to miss the vote, which is the Senate’s final vote of the year.

Rubio defended his absence in an interview, telling CBS News that “in essence, not voting for it, is a vote against it.”

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), three other presidential candidates, all voted against the legislation.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a fourth GOP presidential candidate from the Senate, backed the bill. (Read more from “Rubio Misses Spending Bill Vote” HERE)

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Hamas Seeking to Orchestrate Suicide Bombings in Israel

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Hamas is attempting to launch major terror attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings, from the West Bank, a senior Palestinian Authority source told The Times of Israel.

Information gleaned from interrogations of Hamas operatives arrested recently by PA security services shows that the terror group’s leaders in Gaza and abroad have sent orders to local commanders to escalate their activities — from encouraging protests and stabbing attacks to more dramatic and deadly assaults on Israeli civilians, the source said.

Some two dozen Israelis and others have been killed in a wave of Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shootings since the start of October. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed, a majority of them attackers who died during their terrorist attacks.

Over 1,000 Israelis were killed in terror attacks, including dozens of suicide bomb attacks, during the Second Intifada, from 2000 until roughly 2004, many of them carried out by Hamas operatives.

The PA sources said Hamas’s new efforts to escalate the violence would further raise tensions, as Israel would be expected to counter the increased violence with further clampdowns on Palestinian areas in the West Bank, in turn leading to a weakening of the Palestinian Authority – a key interest of Hamas. (Read more from “Hamas Seeking to Orchestrate Suicide Bombings in Israel” HERE)

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Poll: Trump Jumps, Cruz Climbs, Carson Sinks in GOP Race

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Donald Trump, a candidate even Republicans once considered a side show, increases his lead yet again in the nomination race, according to the latest Fox News national poll.

The poll also finds Ted Cruz ticking up, Marco Rubio slipping, and Ben Carson dropping.

Trump hits a high of 39 percent among Republican primary voters, up from 28 percent a month ago. The increase comes mainly from men, white evangelical Christians, and voters without a college degree — and at the expense of Carson.

However, the poll is not all good news for the Donald. Despite his increasing advantage in the primary, his support in the general election is down. More on that later . . .

Trump’s 11-point jump in support comes after his comments about stopping non-U.S. Muslims from coming into the country. (Read more from “Poll: Trump Jumps, Cruz Climbs, Carson Sinks in GOP Race” HERE)

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If Your Church Makes Christianity ‘Cool’ and Comfortable, You Should Find a New Church

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There are no two words in the English language more incongruous than “celebrity” and “pastor,” but as we all know, these are very incongruous times. One of the latest red carpet-trotting “celebrity pastors,” Rich Wilkerson, was just profiled here on TheBlaze.

Pastor Rich is a young guy who dresses in skinny pants and deep v-neck tees, poses for photo ops, takes Instagram selfies with Justin Bieber, and shies away from “controversial” subjects like gay marriage and abortion, because, as he explains, he wants people to like him. Pastor Rich brags of being “great friends” with Kanye West, and even officiated his wedding a few years ago.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with befriending a sinner — we’re all sinners, to be sure — but maybe a pastor ought to exercise some prudence. It might be wise to avoid creating scandal among your flock by publicly hobnobbing with a blasphemous egomaniac who claims to be God and made his fortune rapping about getting high and having sex with hookers. But Pastor Rich is super cool, and super cool people are supposed to hang out with famous rappers. Remember, a good Christian must always be awesome, fun, and trendy, no matter what. As Jesus proclaimed, “The only rule in life is have fun, don’t be boring, and dress cute wherever you go.”

Sorry I think that was actually Paris Hilton. It can be easy to get those two confused, depending on which church you attend.

The preview for his new reality show (of course) intersperses clips of Pastor Rich cavorting on the beach with his scantily clad wife with footage of him shouting self-help cliches – “Nothing will be impossible!.. We’re gonna do life together!” – to a mosh pit of cheering fans at a rock festival. Er, I mean, a congregation of Christian disciples at “church.” At one point, Rich reveals to the viewing audience his insightful pastoral motto: “I don’t think people are interested in a bunch of religion — like, yo, tell me what I can and can’t do — but I think people are interested in a relationship with a higher power. “ (Read more from “If Your Church Makes Christianity ‘Cool’ and Comfortable, You Should Find a New Church” HERE)

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Old Dixie Highway Renamed in Honor of Obama in Riviera Beach

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Riviera Beach renamed Old Dixie Highway in honor of President Barack Obama during a ceremony on Thursday, a change that city officials say will help move the community past its segregated history.

It is the second road in Palm Beach County to be named in honor of the 44th president, county officials said. Two years ago, Pahokee in western Palm Beach County renamed East First Street to Barack Obama Boulevard.

A crowd cheered as a crew lowered the Old Dixie Highway street sign in Riviera Beach and raised one bearing the sitting president’s name: President Barack Obama Highway.

“We are stepping up to a new day, a new era, and replacing Old Dixie with Barack Obama, who represents change,” Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters told Sun Sentinel news partner WPEC-Ch. 12.

The City Council voted in August to change the highway’s name inside the city limits. The first intersection of roads named after Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be in Riviera Beach, city officials say. (Read more from “Old Dixie Highway Renamed in Honor of Obama in Riviera Beach” HERE)

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