These Are the Victims of America’s Horrible Holiday Storms

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The names of 19 of the at least 47 people who were killed over the weekend after tornadoes, blizzards, severe thunderstorms and foods swept the middle part of the United States have been revealed.

In all, 11 were killed in Texas, ten in Mississippi, six in Tennessee, eight in Missouri, five in Illinois, two in Alabama, two in Georgia and one in Arkansas.

As some survivors of the storms begin to clean up their towns, and others prepare for more severe weather potentially on its way, names of those who have died have begun to pour in.

In Texas, seven of the 11 victims have been named as 30-year-old Kimberly Tippett and her one-year-old son Camryn Cain; Petra Ruiz, 27; LaShondra Whitaker, 32; Sharva Sanders, 42; Timothy Harris, 58; and Cecil Lowrie, 77.

All of the named Texas victims were from Garland, a Dallas suburb that was hit by a tornado on Saturday night. The National Weather Service has said the EF-4 tornado, which is the second-most powerful with winds up to more than 200mph, hit the community at about 6.45pm Saturday. (Read more from “These Are the Victims of America’s Horrible Holiday Storms” HERE)

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Wall Street’s Forecast for 2016

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Many Wall Street strategists are dusting off their 2015 targets for the S&P 500 index and trimming them for 2016.

Crashing-oil prices and fears of a global recession threw cold water on the index’s performance in 2015, causing it to fall short of the average expected gain of about 10%. With a handful of trading days left in the year and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.22% closing at 2,061 on Thursday (for a 0.1% gain year to date), only a handful of the more bearish analysts can hope to meet their 2015 targets — and only if a Santa Claus rally plays out.

(Read more from “Wall Street’s Forecast for 2016” HERE)

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Illegal Immigration Surge: 106% More Unaccompanied Minors, 173% More ‘Family Units’ Apprehended

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The latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics show that illegal immigration by unaccompanied minors and family units surged during the first two months of FY2016 compared to the same period in FY2015.

According to CPB, 106 percent more unaccompanied alien children (UAC) under the age of 17 were apprehended illegally crossing the southern border of the U.S. between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30, 2015 than during the same time a year ago.

Statistics released by the federal agency show that 10,588 UACs were apprehended at the nation’s southern border with Mexico compared to the first two months of FY2015, when 5,129 UACs were taken into custody.

The surge in unaccompanied minors was concentrated in two sectors – Big Bend in Texas and Yuma in Arizona– which both saw a more than 500 percent increase in the number of UACs crossing into the U.S. illegally. The El Paso sector was next, reporting a 250 percent increase.

The statistics also show an even larger surge in the number of family units apprehended at the border – a 173 percent increase so far in the first two months of FY2016. (Read more from “Illegal Immigration Surge: 106% More Unaccompanied Minors, 173% More ‘Family Units’ Apprehended” HERE)

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U.S. Taxpayers Will Fund Lion’s Share of UN Budget Again in 2016

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American taxpayers will once again be liable for more than one-fifth of the United Nations’ regular budget next year, as well as more than one-quarter of the much-larger peacekeeping budget – a total of approximately $2,957,000,000.

The U.N. General Assembly just before Christmas approved a regular operating budget of $5.4 billion for the 2016-17 period. (That budget is calculated biannually.) Of the $2.7 billion earmarked for 2016, the U.S. will account for 22 percent, or $594 million.

Of the separate peacekeeping budget – $8.27 billion for the year ending June 30 – the U.S. is liable for 28.5783 percent, or $2.363 billion. Combined, the two U.S. contributions amount to just under $3 billion.

In actual fact the full extent of U.S. funding for the U.N. system will be considerably more than that: The $2.957 billion figure comprises the U.S. “assessed contributions” to the two main budgets, but the U.S. in addition provides much more in “voluntary contributions” to a range of U.N. agencies.

(The last time the administration was obliged by law to provide Congress with a full breakdown, the total for fiscal year 2010 was $7.69 billion. The reporting requirement fell away in 2011.) (Read more from “U.S. Taxpayers Will Fund Lion’s Share of UN Budget Again in 2016” HERE)

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Russia Makes Major Claim About the Pentagon’s Fight Against ISIS

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The Pentagon, refusing to transfer the data on terrorist targets in Syria to the Russian military, continues to fight against the Islamic State terrorist group “in word only”, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Monday.

He thus commented on a recent statement by the Pentagon spokesperson Michelle Baldanza who confirmed that the US military did not intend to share with Moscow the information on IS targets until Russia changes its policy towards Syrian President Bashar Assad. “We are not going to cooperate with Russia on Syria until they change their strategy of supporting Assad and instead focus on ISIL (IS),” Baldanza said.

“The hackneyed thesis has once again confirmed that the Pentagon will fight against IS in word only, instead of taking real action,” Konashenkov said. “The statement by the US Defense Department spokesperson Michelle Baldanza about the [US side’s] refusal from any cooperation in the fight against Islamic State is a broken record, and it’s high time to change it,” he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said that at last week’s news briefing of the chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, General Sergey Rudskoy, the military presented data on changes in the routes of illegal transportation of oil by the Islamic State militants.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the new routes run through the north-western regions of Iraq, which “are in the focus of constant attention of the United States.” “We publicly told our American colleagues that it is necessary not to discuss the IS activities in Iraq, but to take real action to block the terrorists’ sources of income in the region,” Konashenkov said. (Read more from “Russia Makes Major Claim About the Pentagon’s Fight Against ISIS” HERE)

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This Is Where Trump Placed in Poll for Most Admired Man in the World – the Surprise Is Who He Tied with

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Donald Trump and Pope Francis are tied for second in a new survey that asks Americans to name their most admired man in the world.

The only guy in front of them is President Obama, who received 17 percent of the mentions in the annual Gallup survey, while Trump and his Holiness each received a 5 percent share.

Topping the women’s list will be Trump’s Democratic rival, if each frontrunner wins their party’s primary contest, with Hillary Clinton receiving 13 percent of all mentions.

Gallup has asked this question of Americans since 1946 for men and 1948 for women and Trump has finished in the top 10 four times before . . .

Clinton has also appeared on the list before, in fact, she holds the record for the most times a woman has been No. 1. (Read more from “This Is Where Trump Placed in Poll for Most Admired Man in the World – the Surprise Is Who He Tied with” HERE)

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Family of Brain-Dead Jahi McMath Sues to Have Her Declared Alive

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It’s been two years since Jahi McMath’s tonsil surgery went wrong, she suffered brain death, and was declared dead, and now her family wants that death certificate revoked for the now-15-year-old who remains on life support.

Jahi’s mom, Nailah Winkfield, is suing in federal court various entities that include the state of California to have her daughter declared legally alive, reports Courthouse News Service.

She “wishes to have her daughter’s basic human right, to life, restored to her so that she can return to California” from New Jersey. Jahi is currently under care in the latter state, which allows a religious exemption to rulings about brain death, notes CBS News.

“I want her to have the same rights as any other disabled kid,” says Winkfield, per the AP. Should Jahi leave New Jersey without such a declaration, per the suit, “she could be refused treatment, unplugged, even shot, without repercussion as she is legally dead in California.” Getting the death certificate overturned would allow the family to move Jahi back to Oakland and have insurers cover her medical bills, the family attorney tells AP. (Read more from “Family of Brain-Dead Jahi McMath Sues to Have Her Declared Alive” HERE)

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Trump Just Turned the Tables on Hillary by Publicly Pointing out 1 Big Thing About Bill

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By Cassandra Vinograd. Donald Trump took a swipe at Hillary Clinton with a jibe about her husband late Saturday, the latest in a war of words between the two presidential hopefuls.

The Republican frontrunner sparked a firestorm last week for calling Clinton’s debate bathroom break “disgusting” and for saying she had been “schlonged” in the 2008 Democratic primary.

While Clinton wouldn’t respond directly to the remarks, she told the Des Moines Register she deplored the “tone” of Trump’s campaign and said he had shown a “penchant for sexism.”

Trump has since defended his use of the term “schlonged” and struck out against allegations of sexism.

In one Tweet following Clinton’s interview Trump warned her to “be careful” when complaining about sexism — and late Saturday he fired another salvo with a dig about her husband, Bill Clinton. (Read more from “Trump Just Turned the Tables on Hillary by Publicly Pointing out 1 Big Thing About Bill” HERE)

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Donald Trump: Hillary Clinton Is Playing the ‘Woman’s Card’

By Gregory Kreig. Donald Trump on Sunday accused Hillary Clinton of unfairly trading on her gender while declaring Bill Clinton to be “fair game” as the former president hits the trail to campaign for his wife.

“She’s playing the woman’s card,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News, before turning his attention to Clinton’s husband, declaring him “fair game because his presidency was really considered to be very troubled because of all the things that she’s talking to me about.”

“She’s mentioning sexism,” Trump added, referencing a recent interview in which Clinton told the Des Moines Register the billionaire had “demonstrated a penchant for sexism” . . .

On Sunday morning, a little more than 12 hours later, Trump gloated about it.

“I turned her exact words against her,” he said. (Read more from “Donald Trump: Hillary Clinton Is Playing the ‘Woman’s Card'” HERE)

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GOP Rep Calls for More Mosque Surveillance, Says They’re the Real Terror Threat

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New York GOP Rep. Peter King on Sunday called again for better surveillance of mosques in the U.S., suggesting Islamic terrorists visit them and said that critics can “cry all they want” about the tactic amounting to a civil liberties violation.

King, a member of the House’s Homeland Security and Select Intelligence committees, told “Fox News Sunday” that “99 percent” of Muslims in the United States are good people and that he’s friends with people of the Islamic faith.

“But the fact is, (mosques are) where the threat is coming from,” King said.

He also argued that some Americans have a “blind political correctness” on such issues and that civil libertarians and other critics of better mosque surveillance can “cry all they want” . . .

King, a 12-term congressman and former chairman of the lower chamber’s Homeland Security committee, also suggested that he agrees with Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi saying in a purported video this weekend that the roughly 16 months of U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria have done little damage to the terror group. (Read more from “GOP Rep Calls for More Mosque Surveillance, Says They’re the Real Terror Threat” HERE)

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Texas Gears up for New Open-Carry Handgun Law

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The owners of Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen are old hands at confronting the typical challenges of a burgeoning restaurant business—hiring, competition, even developing a “gluten guide.” But recently the Tex-Mex chain has been facing an unusual dilemma: whether to allow customers to openly display their guns while munching fajitas.

Come Jan. 1, licensed firearms owners in Texas will be able to openly carry a handgun in most places. A law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this year will make Texas the most populous state in the U.S. to allow the practice, known as “open carry.”

Existing Texas law requires licensed gun owners to conceal their handguns so they aren’t in plain view. The new law will allow them to carry handguns openly, in belt or shoulder holsters.

But private businesses and other establishments have the right to ban open carry under the law, and many have been wrestling with how to proceed.

“We’re primarily a family environment in terms of our restaurant. And so we decided it’s probably best not to allow open carry,” said Al Flores, counsel for Gringo’s, which has 14 restaurants, mainly in the Houston area and surrounding counties. “We just felt that knowing our customers, allowing someone to walk in openly carrying a weapon, it would make them feel a little uncomfortable.” (Read more from “Texas Gears up for New Open-Carry Handgun Law” HERE)

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