Ted Cruz: I’m Running for President [+video]

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TCCBy Hunter Walker. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) launched his presidential campaign shortly after midnight on Monday with a brief message and video he posted on Twitter.

“I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support!” Cruz wrote in his tweet.

[Hear what Sen. Ted Cruz’s father has to say about his son’s run in this exclusive interview:]

Cruz has long been expected to throw his hat into the presidential race. His announcement made him the first major candidate to officially begin a campaign.

Cruz’s 30-second video features shots of nature, people riding motorcycles through the desert, children playing baseball and reciting the pledge of allegiance, multiple American flags, and a church. It closes with a shot of Cruz waving. (Read more from “Ted Cruz: I’m Running for President” HERE)


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Ted Cruz Plans to Announce Official Presidential Bid Later Today

By Theodore Schleifer. Sen. Ted Cruz plans to announce [later today] that he will run for president of the United States, according to his senior advisers, accelerating his already rapid three-year rise from a tea party insurgent in Texas into a divisive political force in Washington.

Cruz, scheduled to speak Monday at a convocation ceremony at Liberty University in Virginia, will not form an exploratory committee but rather launch a presidential bid outright, said advisers with direct knowledge of his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made yet. They say he is done exploring and is now ready to become the first Republican presidential candidate.


Over the course of the primary campaign, Cruz will aim to raise between $40 million and $50 million, according to advisers, and dominate with the same tea party voters who supported his underdog senate campaign in 2012. But the key to victory, Cruz advisers believe, is to be the second choice of enough voters in the party’s libertarian and social conservative wings to cobble together a coalition to defeat the chosen candidate of the Republican establishment.

The firebrand Texan may have few Senate colleagues who will back his White House bid, but his appeal to his party’s base who vote disproportionately in Republican primaries could make him competitive in Iowa and beyond.

Yet critics of Cruz argue that he will have trouble raising high-dollar donations from traditional contributors, will land few endorsements from the nation’s political establishment and be unable to escape comparisons to President Barack Obama, who also ran for president in his first Senate term. And if he advances to a general election, Cruz trails likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton solidly in early public opinion polls. (Read more from “Ted Cruz to Announce 2016 Presidential Bid on Monday” HERE)

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US Congressman Introduces Bill in Response to Military Oath Deleting “God”

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Photo Credit: Opposing Views

Photo Credit: Opposing Views

U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson introduced a bill that would make it illegal for any branch of the military to change its oaths unless approved by Congress.

Johnson said he wrote the legislation in response to a 2013 decision made by U.S. Air Force Academy to make the phrase, “so help me God,” an optional part of its oath.

Before the change, the cadet honor oath was, “We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God.”

Since 1984, cadets must recite the code when they first join basic training. Cadets are required to take the oath once every year, said Air Force Academy spokesman Maj. Brus Vidal.

U.S. Air Force Academy leaders said they decided to make the phrase optional after receiving a complaint for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that advocates for religious freedom within the U.S. military. (Read more from “US Congressman Introduces Bill in Response to a Change in a Military Oath” HERE)

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Starbucks Ends ‘Race Together’ Coffee Cup Campaign, but Now Announces it will Open Shops in Slums

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lady with cupStarbucks went from pulling the shots on its controversial “Race Together” campaign to pulling the plug on it after only a week.

Coffee mogul Howard Schultz announced the global corporation’s plan to take its baristas out of the race and diversity campaign that included writing “Race Together” on cups, a decision that was apparently part of its plan from the beginning, a memo stated.

Baristas will no longer be writing “Race Together” on cups starting Sunday.
The bold initiative involved slapping stickers on coffee cups, but it drew criticism for being opportunistic in the wake of Ferguson and even inappropriate for a barista to task such a conversation while making coffee.

“While there has been criticism of the initiative — and I know this hasn’t been easy for any of you — let me assure you that we didn’t expect universal praise,” CEO Schultz stated. “We leaned in because we believed that starting this dialogue is what matters most.”

The company has no intention of stopping its initiative, as it announced forums to come and the hiring of 10,000 employees from diverse backgrounds to man new coffee shops in disadvantaged urban communities. (Read more from “Starbucks Ends ‘Race Together’ Coffee Cup Campaign” HERE)

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Obama Golfs as Yemen Collapses, the Same Nation the Traitor-in-Chief Called a “Success” Just 6 Months Ago

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YemenBy Fox News. The U.S. has removed all remaining personnel from Yemen as Shiite rebels controlling the country’s capital called for others to join its battle against government forces.

The State Department said in a statement it is removing personnel due to the “deteriorating security situation” in the country. The State Department also said it will continue to engage the Yemeni people and international community to support the country’s political transition.

Earlier Saturday, Yemeni security and military officials said that U.S. troops and Special Forces commandos were evacuating from an air base in southern Yemen. The air base was believed to have at least 100 American troops stationed there. (Read more from “Yemen Collapses” HERE)


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US Special Ops Forces Scramble out of Yemen, Weapons Missing, and Obama Was Doing What?

By Tom Tillison. As U.S. special operations forces scrambled Saturday to evacuate the Al Anad air base in southern Yemen after al-Qaida fighters seized the nearby city of al-Houta, their commander in chief enjoyed an afternoon of leisure.


Yes, this is the same Middle Eastern country that President Obama touted as a “success” in the war on terror just six months ago . . .

Nevertheless, Obama spent part of the day Saturday watching the Princeton women’s basketball team in the NCAA tournament — his niece plays for the Tigers.

And since the weather was being cooperative for March, the president squeezed in a round of golf, too. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski Helping Obama Fund Solyndra 2.0

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Murkowski & ObamaTwo Republican senators are looking to increase government spending on various energy programs, but conservatives accuse them of stifling the free market’s efforts to address energy concerns and effectively helping President Obama pass his climate change agenda.

In a recent piece for Conservative Review, FreedomWorks Senior Fellow Tom Borelli highlights the efforts of Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to increase funding for the Department of Energy through the current appropriations process.

Alexander is focused on federal assistance to develop more nuclear power, which Borelli said is now at a competitive disadvantage as a result of plunging natural gas prices . . .

According to Borelli’s reporting, Sen. Murkowski’s energy priorities include more money for the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and for the department’s loan guarantee program. Borelli said her position doesn’t come as a surprise, either.

“Lisa Murkowski, back in 2013 she had something called ‘Energy 20/20: A Vision for America’s Energy Future,’” he said. “What she wanted to do was grow the energy research budget.” (Read more from “Lisa Murkowski Helping Fund Solyndra 2.0?” HERE)

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‘Islamic State Hacking Division’ Posts Kill List With Purported Addresses of U.S. Military Members

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Calling for their beheadings, a self-proclaimed arm of the Islamic State published a list of addresses purportedly belonging to approximately 100 members of the U.S. military late Friday night.

Identifying themselves as the “Islamic State Hacking Division,” the group claimed to have obtained the personal information of military personnel from compromised military servers, databases and emails.

“[W]e have decided to leak 100 addresses so that our brothers residing in America can deal with you,” the group warned.

Photo Credit: Screen Grab

Photo Credit: Screen Grab

“Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe,” the “Islamic State Hacking Division” added.

In the online document, names and photos accompanied addresses purporting to belong to the military personnel. An informal review of the information by TheBlaze appeared to show matches between some names, photos and listed addresses. (Read more from “‘Islamic State Hacking Division’ Posts Kill List With Purported Addresses of U.S. Military Members” HERE)

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Sun Setting on Daylight Saving Time? States Consider Alternative to Clock-Changing ‘Hassle’

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Daylight savingsLawmakers in 10 states have proposed legislation challenging what, for many, is a twice-a-year headache, and one they just endured again earlier this month. The new bills would mostly have states pick a time … and stay on that time.

“Every time you have the spring forward or fall back, you get in the coffee shops, churches and everybody’s complaining about it and all of a sudden it dawned on me it is kind of a hassle,” said Texas state Rep. Dan Flynn, who proposed a bill that would place the entire state of Texas on central standard time year-round.

Beginning in 1966, every state in the country except Arizona and Hawaii started adjusting their clocks under the Uniform Act that permanently established daylight saving time nationwide. . .

But the practice has been scrutinized since its inception. . .

Proponents of scrapping daylight saving time say it’s generally unnecessary, disturbs sleep patterns and has recently become even more complicated. In 1986, Congress extended daylight saving from a six- to seven-month period and extended it again in 2005 to eight months — mid-March to mid-November. (Read more from “Sun Setting on Daylight Saving Time? States Consider Alternative to Clock-Changing ‘Hassle'” HERE)

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12-Year-Old Girl Accused of Trying to Poison Mother for This Bizzare Reason

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iphoneeBy Emily Shapiro. A 12-year-old Colorado girl has been detained for allegedly trying to kill her mother twice by poisoning her drinks with bleach, after her mother took away her iPhone, police said.

The woman first felt sick on March 2, after drinking a smoothie, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. While she noticed the smell of bleach from her glass, the woman assumed her daughter hadn’t rinsed it properly, according to the sheriff’s office.

Then a few days later, the mother again recognized the smell of bleach coming from something she was going to drink and she confronted the pre-teen, the sheriff’s office said. The girl allegedly told her she wanted to kill her because she took away her iPhone, according to the sheriff’s office.

The girl had allegedly poured bleach into her mother’s water carafe, the sheriff’s office said. (Read more from “12-Year-Old Girl Accused of Trying to Poison Mother for This Bizzare Reason” HERE)

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Are Smartphones Making Our Children Mentally Ill?

By Peter Stanford. Julie Lynn Evans has been a child psychotherapist for 25 years, working in hospitals, schools and with families, and she says she has never been so busy.


“In the 1990s, I would have had one or two attempted suicides a year – mainly teenaged girls taking overdoses, the things that don’t get reported. Now, I could have as many as four a month.”

And it’s not, she notes, simply a question of her reputation as both a practitioner and a writer drawing so many people to the door of her cosy consulting rooms in west London where we meet. “If I try to refer people on, everyone else is choc-a-bloc too. We are all saying the same thing. There has been an explosion in numbers in mental health problems amongst youngsters” . . .

“Something is clearly happening,” she says, “because I am seeing the evidence in the numbers of depressive, anorexic, cutting children who come to see me. And it always has something to do with the computer, the Internet and the smartphone.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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New York Post: Aliens Killed Kennedy and Other Wild Tales of UFOs and Presidents

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KENNEDYLittle-known fact: The late comedian Jackie Gleason was good friends with President Richard Nixon. Even weirder? Both men were obsessed with UFOs.

This new book by Larry Holcombe — who’s been studying UFOs for 50 years — does make some wild and thinly substantiated claims. But it’s too fun to pass up.

To wit: Gleason’s ex-wife told Esquire magazine that one night, after a day spent golfing, Nixon “showed up at Gleason’s home and whisked him away to Homestead Air Force Base, where they entered a hanger in a high-security area.” There, the two men supposedly gazed upon the wreckage of a UFO and its dead alien cargo. Holcombe, a clear believer, breaks down every rumor about UFO visitation and the government’s “involvement” in it.

There are many stories of sightings by high-level people, and it’s no secret that the government has looked into many of these reports over the years.

In October 1969, outside of a Lions Club meeting in Leary, Ga., Holcombe writes that Jimmy Carter and some fellow club members “noticed a strange light in the western sky.” (Read more from “New York Post: Aliens Killed Kennedy! And Other Wild Tales of UFOs vs. The USA” HERE)

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Israel: Beware of Obama; His Promise to Transform America was too Modest

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US-POLITICS-OBAMA-FILMBy Michael Goodwin. First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet.

He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast.

Now he’s coming for Israel.

Barack Obama’s promise to transform America was too modest. He is transforming the whole world before our eyes. Do you see it yet?

Against the backdrop of the tsunami of trouble he has unleashed, Obama’s pledge to “reassess” America’s relationship with Israel cannot be taken lightly. Already paving the way for an Iranian nuke, he is hinting he’ll also let the other anti-Semites at Turtle Bay have their way. That could mean American support for punitive Security Council resolutions or for Palestinian statehood initiatives. It could mean both, or something worse. (Read more from “Israel: Beware of Obama” HERE)

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Massive Sinkholes Break Open as Dead Sea Shrivels

By Molly Hunter. There are more than 3,000 sinkholes on the banks of the Dead Sea — and they’re multiplying exponentially, according to environmentalists, as the body of water dries up.


“It’s nature’s revenge,” said Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli Director at EcoPeace Middle East, an organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to protect their shared environmental heritage.

“These sinkholes are a direct result of the inappropriate mismanagement of water resources in the region.”

More than 1,400 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on land. The first sinkhole was spotted in the 1980s. By 1990, there were 40, and 15 years later new chasms are breaking open every day.

“They could develop overnight. Or over time,” Bromberg said. “Making them unpredictable. And very dangerous.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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