Draft Biden Official: ‘I Am 100 Percent That Joe Is in’

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biden_double_guns_APWhen Josh Alcorn joined the Draft Biden super PAC, MSNBC headlined its story on the move “Draft Biden just got real.” Alcorn had been finance director and senior adviser to the late Beau Biden, the vice president’s son, and had worked as finance director for Harry Reid as well. Judging from phone conversations Alcorn had on an Amtrak train from New York to Wilmington yesterday, the Biden campaign is about to get still more real.

Another passenger said that Alcorn was being loud enough in the café car to make it hard to work. He said that Alcorn had said on one call, “I am 100 percent that Joe is in.” He was less certain of when Biden would announce, but guessed it would be in mid-October. Alcorn’s own plans to travel to California in early October would have to be canceled if Biden announced earlier.

The other passenger said that Alcorn said that test ads were doing well in converting Hillary Clinton supporters to Biden supporters, and that money had been lined up to come in right before the announcement. He had just had breakfast with Jim Torrey, an Obama bundler, whom he described as wanting to be “the Penny Pritzker” of the Biden campaign. Pritzker was the national finance chair of Obama’s 2008 campaign and is now the Secretary of Commerce. (Read more from “Draft Biden Official: ‘I Am 100 Percent That Joe Is in'” HERE)

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Watchdog Finds Widespread Fraud at U.S. Census Bureau

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baniDozens of government employees at the U.S. Census Bureau have been billing taxpayers for time they never actually worked, wasting more than $1 million.

The 40 officials were supposed to be performing background checks on the census personnel who walk door-to-door throughout the country to collect information about Americans. Instead, they “engaged in pervasive misconduct over several years,” according to an investigation by the Commerce Department’s inspector general.

The watchdog found at least one employee in the Census Bureau’s employment office who “used his official position as a personal hiring vehicle for friends and their families.”

That employee, who was not identified, “was involved in a sexual relationship” with a contractor he personally interviewed, hired and supervised . . .

The inspector general found that dozens of employees claimed to have worked at least 19,162 hours during which they actually did not work at all between 2010-14. The “time and attendance abuse” drained nearly $1.1 million. (Read more from “Watchdog Finds Widespread Fraud at U.S. Census Bureau” HERE)

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Here’s the Recorded Breaking Number of People Who Watched CNN GOP Debate

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Republican presidential candidates pose before the start of a Fox-sponsored forum for lower polling candidates held before the first official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign in ClevelandWednesday’s prime time GOP debate averaged 23.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in CNN’s history . . .

These are NFL-level ratings — affirming that the Donald Trump fueled Republican debate slate is one of the most popular television shows of the year.

For comparison’s sake, CNN’s most-watched presidential primary debate before Wednesday was a Democratic debate on January 31, 2008. It had an average of 8.3 million viewers.

CNN’s most-watched program overall was a special “Larry King Live” episode in 1993. The episode featured Al Gore and Ross Perot debating NAFTA and averaged 16.8 million viewers.

Wednesday’s matchup easily surpassed that total. (Read more from “Here’s the Recorded Breaking Number of People Who Watched CNN GOP Debate” HERE)

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No Hike: Fed Keeps Benchmark Rate Near Zero

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635780239793728506-AP-YellenCiting global economic weakness and financial market turmoil, the Federal Reserve agreed Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero despite the rapidly improving U.S. labor market.

But Fed policymakers’ forecast indicates they still expect to bump up the federal funds rate this year for the first time in nearly a decade, with meetings scheduled for October and December. Their projections, however, show they expect to raise it even more gradually over the long-term than they previously signaled . . .

The decision capped the most dramatic run-up to a Fed meeting in recent memory, with economists split on whether the central bank would raise its key rate, which has been near zero since the 2008 financial crisis and affects borrowing costs for consumers and businesses across the economy.

“An argument can be made for a rise in interest rates at this time,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said at a news conference.But she added, “We want to take more time to evaluate the likely impact on the United States” from the overseas slowdown and market gyrations . . .

In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed said, “Recent global economic and financial developments may restrain economic activity somewhat and are likely to put further downward pressure on inflation in the near-term.” (Read more from “No Hike: Fed Keeps Benchmark Rate Near Zero” HERE)

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‘She Was Alive and Crying!’: Abortion Nurse Quits After Baby Born Alive, Left to Die

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newborn_crying4_810_500_55_s_c1Janet Rogers worked in a hospital that performed abortions. After 30 years, she has come forward with her story . . .

Rogers, [unknowingly] would have a life-changing experience working with one late-term abortion:

One evening a young girl was having a very difficult time. I was there with the doctor. I knew even though the doctor wrote this patient was 15 weeks, she was close to 30 weeks. This happened quite a bit, but no one ever said anything . . .

When she delivered this tiny baby (it looked full term to me) she was actually alive and crying. The doctor said to me, “Put it in the room and close the door. Do not enter til the morning shift.” I immediately took the crying baby and wrapped it up and laid it in a room. I then immediately started calling hospitals around (against the doctor’s wishes) to find someone that would take it. None around would take it cause they said it was not viable. I spent many hours trying. I just wanted to leave this place, but I knew I could not walk out and leave other patients without a charge nurse. Til this day I hear this crying infant in my head.

Despite her desperate efforts to get medical help for the child, the baby girl died. Rogers quit her job, no longer an abortion supporter. (Read more from “‘She Was Alive and Crying!’: Abortion Nurse Quits After Baby Born Alive, Left to Die” HERE)

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Valerie Jarrett Meets With Black Lives Matter Leaders at the White House

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130117_valerie_jarrett_ap_605President Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett met with Black Lives Matter activists yesterday at the White House, the latest sign that the Obama administration is involved with the controversial protest group.

Jarrett met with three organizers for Campaign Zero. DeRay Mckesson, Brittany Packnett, and Johnetta Elzie as well as Phil Agnew of the Dream Defenders and Jamye Wooten, an organizer for Baltimore United for Change were there, according to a senior White House official who confirmed the visit to Buzzfeed . . .

“Great meeting, Brittany. Truly appreciate your leadership!!” Jarrett [said] on Twitter. Packnett has six recorded entries of visiting the complex long before the protests in Ferguson. She also was among the select group of Ferguson activists that met with Obama in December 2014. “I could tell he is taking this very personally,” Packnett explained after the 45 minute meeting with the president in the Oval Office. “He wants to see some clear, thoughtful action come from this.”

She also revealed that Obama sympathized with the movement, thanks to his background as a community organizer in Chicago.

“He offered us a lot of encouragement with his background as a community organizer, and told us that even incremental changes were progress,” she told reporters after the meeting. “He didn’t want us to get discouraged. He said, ‘Keep speaking truth to power.’” (Read more from “Valerie Jarrett Meets With Black Lives Matter Leaders at the White House” HERE)

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Trump Was Right — in Book, Jeb Credits His Wife for His Immigration Views

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President Bush Is Sworn In For A Second TermIn the first two sentences of Jeb Bush’s book, “Immigration Wars,” the former Florida governor credits his wife Columba with shaping his views on immigration.

That might come as a surprise to some voters, after Bush demanded that Donald Trump apologize Wednesday night for making the same point.

Bush was asked during CNN’s Republican primary debate what he thought about Trump’s statement to CNN in July: “If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico.”

Bush, whose wife was born and raised in Mexico, demanded an apology from the real estate mogul.

Despite Bush’s apparent irritation, in the opening lines of his 2013 book, “Immigration Wars,” he admitted that his wife Columba had in fact shaped his views on immigration. (Read more from “Trump Was Right — in Book, Jeb Credits His Wife for His Immigration Views” HERE)

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Ann Coulter Sparks Outrage Over ‘Anti-Semitic’ Tweet, Rant About Jews

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Ann CoulterAnn Coulter is being blasted as a bigoted “idiot” after she shocked social media users late Wednesday with a tweet that many are calling anti-Semitic.

The rightwing pundit went on a Twitter tirade during the Republican presidential candidate debate, accusing participants of kowtowing to special interests when she wrote: “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?”

The tweet, which was shared nearly 2,000 times, prompted criticism from hundreds of people, including actor and comedian Seth Rogen . . .

The sharp-tongued commentator told her nearly 660,000 followers on Twitter that she was instead calling out the GOP “panderers” for repeatedly reiterating their support for Israel during the debate.

“I like the Jews, I like fetuses, I like Reagan. Didn’t need to hear applause lines about them all night,” she tweeted. “Cruz, Huckabee Rubio all mentioned ISRAEL in their response to: ‘What will AMERICA look like after you are president.'” (Read more from “Ann Coulter Sparks Outrage Over ‘Anti-Semitic’ Tweet, Rant About Jews” HERE)

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Mysterious Iridescent ‘End of Times’ Cloud Phenomenon Spotted in Costa Rica [+video]

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ht_crazy_cloud_lb_150917_12x5_1600An iridescent, multi-hued cloud phenomenon was recently spotted in Costa Rica skies, and residents were left awestruck and mystified.

The spectacle in the sky was reported this past Tuesday afternoon in numerous cities including, San Jose, Parrita, Pavas, Escazu and Hatillo. Coincidentally, the sighting occurred on the country’s Independence Day.

Many witnesses took to social media to post photos and video of the luminous cloud formation, with some even noting that it looked like an “end of times” scene.

Resident Joey Petit told ABC News today that he and his family were at the playground in Escazu for an Independence Day festival when his 11-year-old son, Ariel Joseph Petit first noticed the strange cloud.

“He immediately grabbed the camera and started taking video and photos,” he said. “We were just so amazed. We had no idea what it was and we’d never seen anything like it.” (Read more from “Mysterious Iridescent ‘End of Times’ Cloud Phenomenon Spotted in Costa Rica” HERE)

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White House Campaign Urges Legal Immigrants to Become (Voting) Citizens

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us-immigration-legal-immigrants-citizenshipWhite House officials announced the start of a nationwide campaign on Thursday to encourage legal immigrants to become American citizens, which could add millions of voters to the electorate in time for the presidential election next year.

With about 8.8 million legal residents in the country who are eligible to become citizens, White House officials said they were trying to make it easier to complete the final steps to citizenship.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency in charge of naturalizations, will offer practice tests on cellphones for the civics exam that immigrants must pass, but which many find daunting, and will hold preparatory workshops in rural areas. Applicants will also be able to pay the fee, still a hefty $680, with a credit card.

The White House is working with regional immigrant groups to organize more than 70 citizenship workshops and about 200 naturalization ceremonies in the coming week alone. Four citizenship ambassadors have been named, including Fernando Valenzuela, the Mexican-born former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who recently became an American citizen after many years in the United States.

Also in the works are local initiatives to make immigrants feel more welcome, and a revision of Justice Department regulations that would make it easier for people who want to help immigrants naturalize to obtain credentials to provide basic volunteer legal assistance. (Read more from “White House Campaign Urges Legal Immigrants to Become (Voting) Citizens” HERE)

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