Major Shakeup at Very Top of GOP Field That’ll Send Shock Waves Through the Race

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By Randy DeSoto. For the first time in many months, the GOP has a new front-runner in the presidential primary race: Dr. Ben Carson.

The latest New York Times/CBS poll has Carson taking the lead from Donald Trump garnering 26 percent to 22 percent of registered Republican voters. The lead falls within the margin of error of 6 percent.

The results are a reversal from last month in the Times/CBS poll, which had Trump at 27 percent and Carson at 23.

No other candidate registers in double digits in the new poll. The next three after the two leaders are Sen. Marco Rubio at 8 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina each at 7 percent.

The poll also finds that a majority of Republican primary voters have not made up their minds regarding who they will support. Seven in 10 indicated it was too early to say for certain who they would vote for, with just 28 percent reporting their minds were made up.

“Carson has made gains across many key Republican groups. In a reversal from earlier this month, he is now ahead of Trump among women and is running neck and neck with him among men. Carson’s support among evangelicals has risen and he now leads Trump by more than 20 points with this group,” according to CBS News. (Read more from “Major Shakeup at Very Top of GOP Field That’ll Send Shock Waves Through the Race” HERE)

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Ben Carson Edges Trump in National GOP Race

By Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto, and Fred Backus. Ben Carson has surpassed Donald Trump and now narrowly leads the Republican field in the race for the nomination in the latest national CBS News/New York Times Poll.

Twenty-six percent of Republican primary voters back Carson, giving him a four-point edge over Trump (22 percent). Support for Carson has quadrupled since August.

The rest of the Republican presidential candidates lag far behind in single digits. Marco Rubio is now in third place (eight percent), followed by Jeb Bush (seven percent) and Carly Fiorina (seven percent). All other candidates are at four percent or lower.

Carson has made gains across many key Republican groups. In a reversal from earlier this month, he is now ahead of Trump among women and is running neck and neck with him among men. Carson’s support among evangelicals has risen and he now leads Trump by more than 20 points with this group.

Carson performs well among conservative Republicans and those who identify as Tea partiers. Trump does well with moderates and leads Carson among those without a college degree – although Trump had a larger advantage with non-college graduates earlier this month. (Read more from “Ben Carson Edges Trump in National GOP Race” HERE)

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Parents Allow 5-Year-Old Daughter to Make End-Of-Life Choice

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Julianna Snow is dying of an incurable disease. She’s stable at the moment, but any germ that comes her way, even just the common cold virus, could kill her. She’s told her parents that the next time this happens, she wants to die at home instead of going to the hospital for treatment.

If Julianna were an adult, there would be no debate about her case: She would get to decide when to say “enough” to medical care and be allowed to die.

But Julianna is 5 years old. Should her parents have let her know how grave her situation is? Should they have asked her about her end-of-life wishes? And now that those wishes are known, should her parents heed them?

When she was 9 months old, Julianna’s parents noticed she couldn’t sit up steadily, something most babies can do around 6 months. At her first birthday, when children typically start to walk, Julianna couldn’t even pull herself up into a standing position . . .

This worried Michelle Moon, as a mother and as a neurologist. “The worst thing in the world for a neurologist is to not hit your milestones,” she says. “But I tried really hard not to overreact and freak out.” (Read more from “Parents Allow 5-Year-Old Daughter to Make End-Of-Life Choice” HERE)

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Hillary: I’ll Go Further Than Obama in Granting Amnesty to Illegals [+video]

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This isn’t the first time she’s said this. Back in May, in fact, she specified how much further than O she’d go. His mega-amnesty last year would legalize parents of children who are U.S. citizens; Hillary’s proposing to extend that to parents of children who are DREAMers, who are illegals themselves but were brought here as young children and spent most of their childhoods growing up in the United States. Obama’s amnesty, as bad as it is, requires some sort of anchor of American citizenship to trigger special status for mom and dad. Hillary, desperate to maximize turnout among Latino voters, will attempt to lower the bar further. And I do mean “attempt”: The reason Obama didn’t extend his own policy to DREAMers is because his lawyers told him his legal authority was too shaky. Then again, he’s been known to warm to legally dubious policies after the Clintons pronounce them a good idea so maybe he’ll reconsider. And if he does, Hillary will promise to go a step further than that, all in the name of countering high white turnout for Republicans with high Obama-esque turnout by minorities. (Read more from “Hillary: I’ll Go Further Than Obama in Granting Amnesty to Illegals” HERE)

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House Republicans Begin Impeachment Against IRS Chief

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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz began the impeachment process against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen on Tuesday, accusing him of misleading the public and destroying documents that were sought under a congressional subpoena.

It was the latest move in the battle over the targeting of tea party groups at the tax agency.

Less than a week earlier, the Justice Department issued a report finding no criminal behavior in the decision by top IRS officials to subject conservative groups to intrusive scrutiny.

Among the specific charges leveled by Mr. Chaffetz and 18 of his fellow Republicans on the committee were that Mr. Koskinen, appointed by President Obama in December 2013 after the targeting scandal broke, misled Congress when he said he had turned over all of former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner’s emails and that he oversaw destruction of evidence when his agency got rid of backup tapes that contained the emails.

It was unclear how far the resolution would go in a Congress preoccupied with so many other fights and with little more than a year to go in President Obama’s tenure. (Read more from “House Republicans Begin Impeachment Against IRS Chief” HERE)

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New Planned Parenthood Video: Doctor Wants Intact Fetal Heads for Brain Harvesting

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A new Planned Parenthood video, the 11th in a series of secretly-taped interviews, shows a Texas doctor wishing to conduct an abortion that produces intact fetal heads for brain harvesting.

“I haven’t been able to do that yet,” said the doctor, Amna Dermish of Planned Parenthood Austin. “This will give me something to strive for.”

The video is the latest in the sting produced by the The Center for Medical Progress in the ongoing Planned Parenthood baby parts scandal that has led to the formation of a special investigative committee in Congress because the women’s health group receives federal funding.

Republican Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska havn’t committeed to the defunding measure and without their support it is likely to fall short of the needed 51 votes, according to reports.

In the latest video, Dr. Dermish tells the camera that she was trained by the Senior Director of Medical Services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Dr. Deborah Nucatola. (Read more from “New Planned Parenthood Video: Doctor Wants Intact Fetal Heads for Brain Harvesting” HERE)

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Islamic Invasion Pulls Trigger: Europe Now Scrambles for Guns

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Austrians are arming themselves at record rates in an effort to defend their households against feared attacks from Muslim invaders.

Tens of thousands of Muslim “refugees” have poured into Austria from Hungary and Slovenia in recent months on their way to Germany and Sweden, two wealthy European countries that have laid out the welcome mat for migrants. More than a million will end up in Germany alone by the end of this year, according to estimates from the German government.

Obtaining a working firearm and ammunition in Germany, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands is practically impossible for the average citizen. Germany, for instance, requires a psychological evaluation, the purchase of liability insurance and verifiable compliance with strict firearms storage and safety rules. And self-defense is not even a valid reason to purchase a gun in these countries . . .

A Czech TV report confirms that long guns – shotguns and rifles – have been flying off the shelves in Austria, and Austrians who haven’t already purchased a gun may not have a chance to get one for some time. They’re all sold out.

Until the refugees started flooding Europe, it was mostly hunters and sport shooters who purchased firearms. Now, people are seeking weapons for self-defense because they are worried about their personal safety. Most have never used a gun before. (Read more from “Islamic Invasion Pulls Trigger: Europe Now Scrambles for Guns” HERE)

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Child Says TX Teacher Forced Students to Deny God Is Real, or Have This Happen

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A Texas seventh-grader is standing up for her religious beliefs after she alleges her teacher forced students to deny that God is real, and threatened them with failing grades if they don’t agree.

Jordan Wooley, a seventh grade student at West Memorial Junior High School in the Katy Independent School District, testified at a school board meeting last night about an assignment in her reading class that caused a serious controversy, and expressed frustration about her teacher’s atheist indoctrination.

“Today I was given an assignment in school that questioned my faith and told me that God was not real. Our teacher had started off saying that the assignment had been giving problems all day. We were asked to take a poll to say whether God is fact, opinion or a myth and she told anyone who said fact or opinion was wrong and God was only a myth,” Wooley told board members.

Students immediately objected, Wooley said, but the teacher refused to consider their position.

The teacher, “started telling kids they were completely wrong and that when kids argued we were told we would get in trouble. When I tried to argue, she told me to prove it, and I tried to reference things such as the Bible and stories I have read before from people who have died and went to heaven but came back and told their stories, and she told me both were just things people were doing to get attention. (Read more from “Child Says TX Teacher Forced Students to Deny God Is Real, or Have This Happen” HERE)

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US Diverts Mini-Spy Planes to Jordan to Patrol ISIS Border Threat

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They may look like your average crop dusters, but four U.S. planes being sent to Jordan are outfitted with state-of-the-art surveillance gear and laser weapons that will allow the Middle Eastern ally to patrol its lawless eastern border with Iraq, where the ISIS threat looms large.

The spy planes, retrofitted 36-foot AT-802 two-seaters, were initially destined for Yemen, where the U.S. had been trying to help the president hold off an Iranian-backed siege. But with American forces pulled out of that Gulf nation, and Jordan in need of help in the fight against ISIS, the new planes could be the first installment of a bigger armament package diverted from Yemen. The Air Force ordered accelerated delivery of the planes, which Amman requested to help it seek and destroy terror threats on both sides of the border, and documents seemed to indicate that personnel could be on the way, too.

“These four aircraft are urgently needed to eliminate a combat capability deficiency, which is likely to result in combat fatalities,” the military order said. “The Kingdom of Jordan faces a myriad of nationwide threats requiring specially trained United States Central Command forces to assist conducting Counter Terrorism missions.”

The document cites “increasingly high volume of insurgent activity” in the country. The U.S. has already supplied Jordan with JDAM precision bombs for its air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and has long provided F-16s to the monarchy. Last summer, Israel gave 16 Bell Cobra attack helicopters to Jordan’s Royal Air Force, which is small but capable, and includes 16 squadrons. The Arab nation began air strikes on ISIS late last year, and King Abdullah II, himself a fighter pilot and special forces operator, angrily accelerated strikes after a Jordanian pilot crashed, was captured and then burned alive on a video ISIS posted online. (Read more from “US Diverts Mini-Spy Planes to Jordan to Patrol ISIS Border Threat” HERE)

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China’s Military Built With Cloned Weapons

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Historically, China has been a great innovator contributing inventions such as gunpowder, paper and the compass to human advancement. However, China has earned an international reputation in recent decades as being the home of a prolific copycat culture.

The Chinese have become proficient at cloning products ranging from designer handbags and the latest smartphones to movies and alcoholic beverages. Fake Apple stores, counterfeit KFC restaurants and imitation IKEA big-box outlets dot the Chinese landscape. They have even built entire replica European towns.

Some Western observers believe this cultural attitude towards imitation is rooted in Confucianism where followers traditionally learned by replicating masterworks and then tried to improve upon them.

The fact that the Chinese commonly refer to today’s imitation products as “Shanzhai” indicates that they recognize the dubious nature of the current practice. The term “Shanzhai” translates to “mountain stronghold” and was originally applied to pirate factories producing counterfeit goods in remote areas beyond the reach of regulatory control.

The copycat business is no longer restricted to outlying lawless regions. It has entered the mainstream and been embraced by government officials who seem content to allow other nations to develop products and technology which they can then acquire legitimately through licensing or illegitimately through counterfeiting and espionage. This approach allows China to stay competitive on the world stage while saving them the time and money it would cost to develop their own products. (Read more from “China’s Military Built With Cloned Weapons” HERE)

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As Planets Align, Some See Return of Jesus’ Star of Bethlehem

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Could the rare convergence of Venus, Jupiter and Mars seen on the horizon this week be a repeat of the biblical phenomenon, the Star of Bethlehem? As early bird stargazers enjoy this planetary trio through November 3, like everything else in religious tradition and astrology, what the skies portend is a matter of faith — and interpretation.

Coming on the heels of the October 8 Blood Moon, until the end of this week the three planets can be seen grouped together inside a five degree diameter circle, in an astral phenomenon known as a “planetary trio.” On Monday, the height of the grouping, Venus and Jupiter will pass within 1.1 degrees of each other. Bright stars Regulus and Procyon have also been visible this week, forming a line in the sky with the planets.

Best beheld before dawn, the relative brightness of Venus and Jupiter make the event easily seen by the naked eye or binoculars and is being labeled by some Internet-savvy astronomers as the same Star of Bethlehem phenomenon the magi saw some 2,000 years ago.

But could this type of rare astral grouping really have been what propelled the three oriental gift-bearing kings to traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, while following yonder star?

To answer this question, one must first ask, why would the three magi (astrologers) follow a star to Bethlehem in the first place? (Read more from “As Planets Align, Some See Return of Jesus’ Star of Bethlehem” HERE)

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