LAS VEGAS SHOWDOWN: Pressure on Clinton to Keep Rivals at Bay — and Biden on Sidelines — in 1st Debate

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Hillary Clinton faces heavy pressure during the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday to outperform primary rivals cutting into her lead and perhaps keep her biggest potential challenger on the sidelines.

Vice President Biden, still mulling a bid, is not expected to be on stage in Las Vegas. But he’ll surely be watching as the former secretary of state spars in person for the first time with her 2016 Democratic opponents . . .

Most recently, Clinton has taken jabs from Democrats for coming out just last week against a major Pacific nation trade deal. In a taste of what awaits her on the debate stage, underdog rival Martin O’Malley noted he opposed the deal eight months ago, and didn’t just come out against it “on the eve of a debate … because polling told me to do it.”

A big question for Clinton on Tuesday night is whether she can shake that image and in doing so counter the ‘draft Biden’ push by showing she’s not so vulnerable after all.

Joe Desilets, managing partner for the Republican-leaning 21st & Main strategy firm, said that Clinton must “reintroduce herself to her Democratic base and to the country at-large,” if she’s going to change the narrative. (Read more from “LAS VEGAS SHOWDOWN: Pressure on Clinton to Keep Rivals at Bay — and Biden on Sidelines — in 1st Debate” HERE)

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What It Would Take for Paul Ryan to Run

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By Jake Sherman. Paul Ryan has made it abundantly clear he does not want to be speaker of the House. He enjoys the wonkery that comes with being Ways and Means chairman and believes he’d lose that as ringleader of the unwieldy Republican Conference.

But there’s one remote scenario, people close to him say, in which Ryan would consider abandoning his long-laid career plans and go for the speakership: if he was the true consensus choice of the party. That means no opposition, no sniping, no acceding to demands in exchange for support.

Republicans — including the hard-liners who pushed out John Boehner and convinced Rep. Kevin McCarthy to drop his bid for speaker — would need to show they’re prepared to follow Ryan.

There are some early signs that may be possible, though the sentiment on the right about Ryan is not unanimous. Two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney — indicated over the weekend that they could be comfortable with a Speaker Ryan. Mulvaney said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Ryan would “be a good speaker,” and Jordan said on “Fox News Sunday” that the 40-member caucus would “look favorably” on Ryan.

But both said they would ask Ryan whether he would commit to a host of changes to the institution’s rules. The Freedom Caucus is insisting that the next speaker run a more bottom-up operation — more floor votes on conservative legislation even if it lacks the votes to pass, less cracking down on members who buck leadership. (Read more from “What It Would Take for Paul Ryan to Run” HERE)

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Mike Allen: White House Would Like Ryan as Speaker

By Charlie Spiering. Politico’s Mike Allen thinks President Barack Obama likes the idea of Rep. Paul Ryan for Speaker.

“The White House would like that idea,” Allen said during an interview with Laura Ingraham on her radio show today. “Because they would like one more win … what they’ve always told me is that they admire Paul Ryan for being a substantive, smart guy.”

Speaking to business leaders in Washington D.C. last month, Obama acknowledged that his administration was working with Ryan to negotiate some level of tax reform, even though Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell disagreed.

“To his credit, Paul Ryan expressed real interest in discussions and negotiations,” Obama said during his remarks to the Business Roundtable Headquarters in September.

But the administration’s relationship with Ryan wasn’t always so close, especially after he challenged Obama on health reform during a 2010 public forum. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Amid Russia Airstrikes, a Putin Craze Takes Hold in Mideast

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By Zeina Karamvivian Salama. Amid the ornate walls of Damascus’ famed Omayyad Mosque, preacher Maamoun Rahmeh stood before worshippers last week, declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin a “giant and beloved leader” who has “destroyed the myth of the self-aggrandizing America.”

Posters of Putin are popping up on cars and billboards elsewhere in parts of Syria and Iraq, praising the Russian military intervention in Syria as one that will redress the balance of power in the region.

The Russian leader is winning accolades from many in Iraq and Syria, who see Russian airstrikes in Syria as a turning point after more than a year of largely ineffectual efforts by the U.S.-led coalition to dislodge the Islamic State militants who have occupied significant parts of the two countries. (Read more from “Amid Russia Airstrikes, a Putin Craze Takes Hold in Mideast” HERE)

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Putin Says Russia’s Campaign in Syria More Effective Than U.S.

By Jake Rudnitsky and Stepan Kravchenko. Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his air and cruise-missile strikes on terror targets in Syria as two Saudi Arabian officials softened their government’s position on the fate of Bashar al-Assad.

Putin discussed his Syria campaign on Sunday with Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Mohammed Bin Salman, who signaled a willingness to let al-Assad remain in power longer, while the foreign ministers of both nations also met to consider the situation in Syria.

Putin’s bombing campaign to support his ally Assad took the U.S. and NATO by surprise and overshadowed a flurry of diplomacy over how to tackle the conflict. As Russia builds up its military presence in Assad’s stronghold on the eastern Mediterranean Sea, U.S. President Barack Obama dismissed any notion that his leadership on the world stage was being challenged.

Now Russia is leading the diplomatic charge, with Putin in bilateral meetings with Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed, who were in Sochi in southern Russia, site of a Formula 1 auto race. Putin again called for a political resolution emanating from Assad’s government. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Politicians Exploit School Shooting, Silent About Obama’s Bombing Victims

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Following the recent Oregon school shooting, many politicians rushed to the microphones to call for new gun control laws. President Obama even called on gun control supporters to “politicize” the shooting, while some members of Congress worked to establish a special commission on gun violence.

The reaction to the shooting stands in stark contrast to the reaction to the U.S. military’s bombing of an Afghanistan hospital run by the international humanitarian (and Nobel Peace Prize winning) group Doctors Without Borders.

Our Nobel Peace Prize winning president did apologize to his fellow Nobel laureate for the bombing. However, President Obama has not “politicized” this tragedy by using it to justify ending military involvement in Afghanistan. No one in Congress is pushing for a special commission to examine the human costs of U.S. militarism, and the mainstream media has largely ignored Doctors Without Borders’ accusation that the bombing constitutes a war crime.

The reason for the different reactions to these two events is that politicians prefer to focus on events they can “politicize” to increase government power. In contrast, politicians ignore incidents that raise uncomfortable questions about U.S. foreign policy.

If the political and media elites were really interested in preventing future mass shootings, they would repeal the federal “gun-free” schools law, for example. By letting shooters know that their intended victims are defenseless, the gun-free schools law turns schoolchildren into easy targets. (Read more from “Politicians Exploit School Shooting, Silent About Obama’s Bombing Victims” HERE)

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This Is What Obama Is Blaming the Outcry From Hillary Clinton’s Email ‘Mistake’ on

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President Obama said Sunday that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct her correspondence while secretary of state was a “mistake,” but denied that U.S. national security had been jeopardized as a result.

“She made a mistake. She has acknowledged it. I do think that the way it’s been ginned up is in part because of politics,” Obama said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “I think she’d be the first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better and the disclosures more quickly.”

Obama added that he was not initially aware that Clinton was using the private server, which was kept at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., as opposed to a professional data center. When CBS’ Steve Kroft pointed out that the Obama administration has prosecuted people for having classified material on their private computers, the president said he didn’t get the impression there was an intent to “hide something or to squirrel away information.”

The FBI is currently investigating whether classified information that passed through Clinton’s server was mishandled. Last week, the bureau extended its investigation to obtaining data from a second tech company, which had been hired by another firm in 2013 to back up data on Clinton’s server. (Read more from “This Is What Obama Is Blaming the Outcry From Hillary Clinton’s Email ‘Mistake’ on” HERE)

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Leaked Letter Adds Intrigue, Confusion to Vatican Bishops Meeting

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By Philip Pullella. A gathering of world Roman Catholic bishops was thrown into confusion on Monday with the leak of a letter from conservative cardinals to Pope Francis bitterly complaining that the meeting was stacked against them.

It was published by the same Italian journalist whose press credentials were stripped by the Holy See last June after he ran a leaked copy of the pope’s major encyclical on the environment.

The gathering, or synod, of more than 300 bishops, delegates and observers, including some married couples, is discussing how the 1.2 billion-member Church can confront challenges facing the modern family.

The bishops are debating ways to defend the traditional family and make life-long marriage more appealing to young people, and at the same time reach out to disaffected Catholics such as homosexuals, co-habiting couples and the divorced.

L’Espresso newsweekly, which published the English-language letter in full, said 13 cardinals signed the letter and one of them hand-delivered it to the pope last week. (Read more from “Leaked Letter Adds Intrigue, Confusion to Vatican Bishops Meeting” HERE)

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Rebel Cardinals Accuse Pope of Stacking Synod Cards

By Agence France-Presse. Conservative cardinals have accused Pope Francis of stacking the cards against them in an ongoing battle over issues including the Church’s approach to gays and to divorced and remarried believers, it emerged Monday.

In a letter sent to the pontiff on October 5, the opening day of a Church synod on the family, a group of cardinals described procedures for three weeks of discussions as “designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.”

The ostensibly private (but quickly leaked) letter was delivered to the pope by Australian Cardinal George Pell and reportedly signed by peers including the archbishops of Toronto and New York, Thomas Collins and Timothy Dolan, and arch-Vatican conservative Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop of Bologna.

A day later, without making any reference to the letter, Francis made an unscheduled intervention in the synod discussions to warn participants not to be taken in by “spiritually unhelpful” conspiracy theories.

And in comments that now look like a slapdown of a challenge to his authority, he also pointedly stressed that he had personally approved the methodology for three weeks of talks intended to reshape Catholic teaching on a broad range of questions related to family life. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Watch: Chelsea Clinton Asked If Bill Preys on Young Girls, This Is Her Response

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Conservative activist Robert Morrow attended Chelsea Clinton’s book signing in Austin, Texas Friday with camera in hand.

“Has your mother ever told you that you’re the daughter of Webb Hubbell, and not Bill Clinton,” he said while Chelsea was looking down, signing a copy of “It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going.”

The question was in reference to a long-time rumor alleging Chelsea was the result of an affair between the Clinton lawyer and Hillary . . .

Referring to Clinton’s book being geared towards kids, Morrow asked, “Would you say Bill Clinton also targets teenage girls, except for sexual reasons?”

“I would say my book is really resonating with kids,” Clinton responded. “I was at the Ann Richards School earlier today and I’m so grateful that it’s resonating to the young girls and the young boys that I’ve been talking to across the country.” (Read more from “Watch: Chelsea Clinton Asked If Bill Preys on Young Girls, This Is Her Response” HERE)

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Trump Says People Will Turn off Today’s Democratic Primary Debate Because He’s Not in It – You’ll Never Guess Who Agrees

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Tuesday’s first Democratic presidential primary debate will be a low-ratings snoozefest, according to Donald Trump – because he won’t be on the stage in Las Vegas.

And a CNN executive is hinting that he might be completely right.

‘I think people are going to turn it on for a couple of minutes and then fall asleep,’ The Donald said Monday morning on ‘Fox and Friends’ . . .

‘I don’t want to say this in a braggadocious way, but a person at CNN and a couple of other people said, ‘We have to put Donald Trump in this debate. We’re going to die with it’,’ Trump claimed.

‘Let’s see,’ he said. ‘I don’t think they’ll do badly, because there is a curiosity factor. I don’t think they’re going to do great, and I think a lot of people will turn off after a little while.’ (Read more from “Trump Says People Will Turn off Today’s Democratic Primary Debate Because He’s Not in It – You’ll Never Guess Who Agrees” HERE)

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Twin Daughters of Air Force Vet Barred From Wearing Jackets With Logo to School

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By J.D. Miles. From the flag outside their Providence Village home to the photos inside, the Rolens are a proud military family.

Eleven-year-old twins Kaidence and Abigail were even born on an Air Force base.

So the new fall jackets they bought to wear to Aubrey Middle School shouldn’t be a surprise.

But the girls didn’t expect the reaction they got from teachers once they stepped into their classrooms.

“She yelled at me and said that’s out of the dress code and that she would get me in trouble if I wore something out of dress code,” says Kaidence. (Read more from “Twin Daughters of Air Force Vet Barred From Wearing Jackets With Logo to School” HERE)

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School Says Air Force Logo Violates Dress Code

By Todd Starnes. A Texas school district threatened to punish two patriotic sisters who refused to remove hoodie-style jackets emblazoned with the U.S. Air Force logo . . .

[These] twin daughters were told that the Air Force logo violated the dress code policy of the Aubrey Independent School District. The 11-year-old girls were told they could face disciplinary action if they wore the jackets on school property.

“These girls were born on an Air Force base so you can imagine my reaction,” Mr. Rolen told me. “It’s absurd” . . .

In a statement to the NBC television affiliate in Dallas the school district defended itself against accusations they were being unpatriotic.

“Aubrey ISD has a student dress code to follow, just as our military personnel are expected to wear uniforms,” Superintendent Debby Sanders said in the statement. “The dress code, which has been in place for over a decade, instills pride, discipline and levels the playing field for students to allow them to focus on learning.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Deleting Genes Could Boost Lifespan by 60 per Cent, Say Scientists

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The secret of extending life by decades may lie in switching off certain genes, scientists believe, after showing that small genetic tweaks can make organisms live 60 per cent longer.

Ten years of research by the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing and the University of Washington has identified 238 genes that, when silenced, increase the lifespan of yeast cells.

Many of the genes are present in mammals, including humans, suggesting that switching them off could dramatically increase lifespan.

“This study looks at aging in the context of the whole genome and gives us a more complete picture of what aging is,” said lead author Dr Brian Kennedy.

“Almost half of the genes we found that affect aging are conserved in mammals. (Read more from “Deleting Genes Could Boost Lifespan by 60 per Cent, Say Scientists” HERE)

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