White House Refusing to Reveal Who Attended Obama’s Secret Meeting With Muslim Leaders

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President Obama met with American Muslim leaders [yesterday] afternoon, according to the White House schedule, but so far the administration is unwilling to reveal who attended the meeting, which was closed to the press.

The White House released a readout of the meeting explaining that Obama discussed “a range of domestic and foreign policy issues” including Obamacare, police fairness, anti-Muslim discrimination, and the upcoming Summit on Countering Violence Extremism.

“The President discussed the need to continue countering ISIL and other groups that commit horrific acts of violence, purportedly in the name of Islam,” the readout continued.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest defended the meeting during his daily press briefing, pointing out that it wasn’t “unusual” for the president to meet with “a wide variety of communities from across the country.” (Read more about the meeting with Muslim leaders HERE)

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Jeb Bush: We Need to Dramatically Expand Immigrants Coming to Work (+video)

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By Pam Key. Wednesday at the Detroit Economic Club, former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) said to “create high, sustained economic growth,” we need to “dramatically expand immigrants that are coming to work.”

Bush said, “It seems to me we ought to be strategic about this about how do we create high, sustained economic growth. And that is to shift away from family reunification being almost the sole driver of illegal immigration to narrowing that do what every other country has, spouse and minor children. And dramatically expanding immigrants that are coming to work. A guest worker program to deal in the areas where there are shortages.”

(Read more about Bush saying we need to expand immigrants coming to work HERE)

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Jeb Bush: Opportunity Gap is ‘Defining Issue of Our Time’

By Benjy Sarlin. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called America’s opportunity gap “the defining issue of our time” Wednesday in Detroit, where he delivered one of his first major speeches since announcing in December that he may run for president.

Speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, Bush took aim at the slow pace of economic recovery since the 2008 financial crisis. “More Americans are stuck at their income levels than ever before,” Bush said.

He blamed Washington politicians for not understanding the needs of millions around the country still looking for work. Bush took aim at what he called a federal bureaucracy that creates a “spider web that traps people in perpetual dependence” on government. (Read more from this story HERE)

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When Will Obama Finally Get Angry at Radical Islam?

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By Liz Peek. America wants to know, when is President Obama going to get angry? When is he going to slam his fist on the desk, demand vengeance, put aside his incessant campaigning and call out the Islamic radicals of ISIS as the animals they are?

Interrupted in the course of yet another photo-op on the benefits of ObamaCare, the president looked almost irritated Tuesday to be asked his reaction to the murder of the Jordanian pilot, shown on an Internet video being burned alive by ISIS.

He talked calmly about the “bankrupt ideology” of this “organization,” like he was addressing unhealthy menu choices at a fast food company. Where’s his outrage? (Read more about Obama’s reaction to radical Islam HERE)

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Christian Militia Formed to Fight ISIS in Northern Iraq

By Jack Moore. Thousands of Iraqi Christians have established their own militia and are training to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq.

The Nineveh Plains Protection Units (NPU) has 3,000 Assyrian Christian men registered to be trained, while another 500 are already training for combat. The militia was founded by the Iraqi political party, the Assyrian Democratic Movement.

Another 500 volunteers from the group are already situated in Assyrian villages in northern Iraq, the majority of which were captured by ISIS when they marched across the country last summer. Approximately 30,000 Christians have since fled the Nineveh Plains for fear of falling into the hands of the radical Islamists. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Columbine Massacre Survivor Introducing Bill to End Gun-Free School Zones

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Photo Credit: Townhall Colorado State Rep. Patrick Neville (R-Castle Rock) was a student at Columbine High School in 1999, when two of his classmates brought guns to school and went on a rampage, killing 12 students and one teacher, and injuring another 24. He’s now proposing a bill that would allow people with a permit to carry a concealed weapon on school property.

Currently, thanks to the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, otherwise law-abiding gun owners and concealed-carry permit holders are unable to carry in a school zone. Since the act was passed, nine of the top ten deadliest school shootings have occurred.

“This bill will allow honest law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm for protection if they choose to,” Neville said in a news release. “But most importantly, it will give them the right to be equipped to defend our children from the most dangerous situations.”

He is sponsoring the bill with his father, Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton. The family is known for its support for fewer gun restrictions . . .

According to polls, while roughly half of Coloradans are okay with the idea of teachers being armed, they’re divided as to if this is the best strategy to protect students. Thirty-eight percent of Coloradans feel metal detectors are the best way to protect schools, while 30 percent prefer arming teachers and 21 percent want stricter gun control laws. (Read more about the bill the Columbine Massacre survivor is introducing HERE)

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Death of the 1st Amendment: Oregon Bakers Who Refused to Bake Homosexual Wedding Cake Found Guilty

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Photo Credit: Family Research Council Make them bake cake! That’s the verdict of an administrative judge in the case of Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein. The couple, who became the brave face of America’s religious liberty clash, were informed yesterday by the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries that in the battle over marriage, their First Amendment rights no longer counted.

In the first of what will almost certainly be several rulings, the Kleins were found guilty of violating state law for politely declining an order for a same-sex “wedding” cake. As part of his 52-page order, Judge Alan McCullough claims that “requiring them to provide a wedding cake for Complainants does not constitute compelled speech.” Aaron Klein disagrees. “First Amendment, Constitution. Freedom of religion. I’m free to exercise my religion however I see fit. If I’m told to make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, I feel that I’m violating my beliefs. I don’t think I should have to do that.”

Unfortunately for the parents of five, wedding vendors like them may soon have no choice. In the free market, the courts no longer seem to recognize the right to believe what you want. Owners of small businesses like Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Arlene’s Flowers, Simply Elegant Wedding Planning, Hands On Originals, and others are seen as nothing more than tools of the government to think and believe as the state sees fit. If they refuse, as Aaron and Melissa have done, Oregon is threatening to bring the full weight of the government to bear.

A hearing on March 10 will decide exactly how much the Kleins’ courage will cost them. As much as $200,000 could be at stake for a family who’s already been forced to close their shop and scrape together the money they need to make up for that lost income. Anna Harmon, one of the Kleins’ three attorneys, said that although the judge tossed out every claim but one, it’s still a tough loss. “Americans should not have to choose between adhering to their faith or closing their business, but that is what this decision means… The judge ruled wrongly that the Kleins’ right not to design and create a work of art celebrating an event which violates the tenets of their religion is not protected by the Oregon or Federal Constitutions. This is a dangerous result for religious liberty and rights of conscience in Oregon…” (Read more about the suit about the Oregon bakers HERE)

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Top Islamic Authority Calls for Crucifying, Chopping Off Limbs of ISIS Terrorists

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Photo Credit: The Blaze
The institution widely regarded as the premier learning center for Sunni Islam called to brutally punish Islamic State members after the release of the video apparently showing a captive Jordanian pilot being burned alive, an act it described as contrary to the Muslim religion.

The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayib issued a statement following the burning alive of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh saying the brutal act “requires the punishment mentioned in the Koran for these corrupt oppressors who fight against God and his prophet: killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs,” Agence France-Presse reported.

The head of the Cairo-based institution expressed his “strong dismay at this cowardly act” and referred to the Islamic State as a “satanic, terrorist” organization.

Muslim clerics have emphasized that burning someone to death is considered despicable by the Islamic faith.

Islamic State extremists released a video Tuesday that appeared to show the Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage. (Read more about what the top Islamic authority said HERE)

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Teacher Kicks, Slaps and Berates First Grader for Insane Reason

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Photo Credit: The Advocate
A first-grade teacher in St. Francisville resigned this week amid an investigation into allegations she berated, kicked and slapped a student during a lunch break at Bains Lower Elementary School.

West Feliciana Parish sheriff’s deputies issued an arrest warrant for the teacher, Chanel M. Lemelle, on Thursday on a count of cruelty to juveniles after a number of people told deputies that Lemelle struck the student inside the school’s cafeteria on Jan. 23. The incident also was captured by surveillance cameras . . .

A sheriff’s deputy who reviewed camera footage of the incident wrote in a report that as the student walked by Chanel Lemelle in the cafeteria, she could be seen kicking him in the rear. The video also showed her slapping the boy on the back of the head, the deputy wrote . . .

Witnesses told the investigator that Chanel Lemelle forced the student to sit at a lunch table by himself while his classmates went through the food line in the cafeteria. After all his classmates got food, Chanel Lemelle allowed the student to get food, the witnesses said.

But when the student returned, Chanel Lemelle allegedly took one of his tacos and told the student “he only needed one taco,” a deputy wrote in the report. (Read more from “Teacher Assaults, Berates First Grader” HERE)

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Parents Furious After Biology Quiz Question on Abortion

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A local biology teacher’s multiple choice question about abortion is upsetting students’ parents.

Edmond Santa Fe High School officials confirmed Tuesday several biology teachers at the school gave their students a “non graded exercise” – a discussion starter – on human genetic disorders.

“You’ve found out that the child you (or your wife) carries has the gene for dwarfism. A new therapy exists that may repair this gene before the child is born. What do you do?” the first question on the exercise asks.

A. Allow the child to be born with the gene, and we will accept the child as is.
B. Attempt the new therapy to repair the gene.
C. Terminate Pregnancy . . .

“This is not a subject I want my child discussing in class,” one person said. “Ethics and beliefs are for home, not school.” (Read more about the disgusting biology quiz question HERE)

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Creationist Leader Slams Cruise Ship Super Bowl Commercial for Promoting Mindless Evolution (+video)

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As usual, Super Bowl commercials caught a fair bit of attention this year, though there was one spot in particular for Carnival Cruise Lines that sparked an evolution debate after catching the attention of creationist leader Ken Ham, founder of the Answers in Genesis ministry, who accused the company of “blatantly using evolution” to advertise its cruises during the big game.

The commercial, which featured a portion of one of President John F. Kennedy’s speeches from 1962, focused on peoples’ supposedly inherent connection to the sea. Images of ships and the ocean were shown as Kennedy’s voiceover described a connection between human beings and water.

“I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it’s because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it’s because we all came from the sea,” Kennedy said. “And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came.”

It was these words that led Ham to critique the company for purportedly promoting evolution, as he was heavily critical of the supposed themes presented in the spot.

“Don’t you just feel this ‘personal connection?’ After all, your ancestor came out of the sea and evolved by natural processes to produce you. Don’t you feel the connection?” Ham wrote on his Answers in Genesis blog. “Don’t you just want to go on one of their cruises so you can stand on the deck of a big cruise ship, look at the sea, and contemplate your accidental beginnings — and perhaps worship the sea, because it gave birth to you!” (Read more about what the creationist leader said HERE)

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The Bruce Jenner Story That Went From Gossip to News

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For the last few years, there have been rumors and anonymously sourced tabloid items suggesting that Bruce Jenner, the former Olympic champion and somewhat comically befuddled patriarchal figure on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” was transitioning from male to female.

The various clues — the growing of his hair into ponytail length, the apparent shaving down of his Adam’s apple, the brightly colored polish on his fingernails — were gleefully reported by gossip websites and some of the more fact-challenged tabloid magazines. One of them, In Touch, even went so far as to superimpose a picture of Mr. Jenner’s head onto the body of the actress Stephanie Beacham, adding red lipstick to his mouth in an attempt to feminize his appearance and better reflect the headline, “Bruce’s Story: My Life as a Woman.”

But, for the most part, the so-called mainstream press has steered clear of this story . . .

Last week, US Weekly put the Jenner news on its cover, with the headline, “Finally, the Truth,” and People magazine is now reaching newsstands with a cover article on Mr. Jenner, headlined, “He Is Finally Happy.” Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that Diane Sawyer of ABC News has lined up an interview with Mr. Jenner for May, shortly before a documentary series about the former athlete’s transformational process is expected to start airing . . .

Mr. Jenner’s mother gave an interview to The National Enquirer this week, saying that she could not be prouder of her son. Kim Kardashian, on “Entertainment Tonight” last week to promote her T-Mobile Super Bowl ad, was thrown a curveball when interviewers asked about what was going on with Bruce. She said that he was the “happiest” she has ever seen him. (Read more about the Bruce Jenner story HERE)

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