Barack Obama Signs Ted Cruz Iran Diplomat Bill

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Tal Kopan.

Sen. Ted Cruz’s bill to forbid an Iranian diplomat from entering the U.S. got President Barack Obama’s signature Friday, though the president noted he still considers the law “advisory.”

The law spearheaded by the typically polarizing Texas Republican was a rare moment of consensus in D.C.: Obama’s sign-off follows unanimous passage in the Senate and House last week.

The bill would tweak existing law to prohibit entry to the U.S. to anyone who has engaged in terrorist activity against the U.S. or its allies in the past, a move triggered by Iran’s selection of Hamid Aboutalebi, who was involved in the 1979 taking of Americans hostage in Tehran, as its U.N. ambassador.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Trump Donates to Ted Cruz PAC

By Sharon Churcher.

Real estate mogul and entertainment personality Donald Trump gave $5,000 to Sen. Ted Cruz’s leadership PAC in January, according to newly released campaign records.

The Hill reported that Trump’s donation to the tea party-backed Texas Republican — the maximum allowed per election cycle — is the latest indication that the men are becoming political allies.

The relationship between the pair got off to a bumpy start. Last August, Trump said he wasn’t sure whether Cruz could be president because he was born in Canada.

But at a February Republican Party dinner at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, the tycoon called Cruz a “very special guy” and defended his 21-hour filibuster on the Senate floor over Obamacare.

“One of the reasons I like Ted Cruz so much, is that he’s not controversial,” he said, to laughs from the audience.

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Jim DeMint: ‘Big Government Benefits the Rich’

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FRONT COVER-FALLING IN LOVE WITH AMERICA AGAIN-JIM DEMINT_2When the Census Bureau released its most recent ranking of the U.S. communities with the highest median household incomes, seven of the nation’s ten wealthiest counties were in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

In an interview about his new book, Falling in Love With America Again, Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint told CNSNews.com he had a theory that might explain this. “[B]ig government benefits the rich and big business,” he said.

In the book, DeMint describes the cozy, symbiotic relationship that often exists between people working for the federal government and people representing big business.

“In Washington,” DeMint wrote, “it’s a rule of thumb that government staffers charged with overseeing an industry want to go to work for that industry one day, for a huge raise. ‘Cashing in,’ it’s called, or ‘moving to K Street’ (the downtown Washington artery that’s synonymous with the lobbying business).”

Here, from his interview with CNSnews.com, is DeMint’s explanation of how people come to Washington to do public service and end up getting rich:

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Citizens for Joe Miller Releases First Quarter Fundraising Totals

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Joe Miller working the booth in the Kenai today.Citizens for Joe Miller today released its first quarter fundraising totals. The campaign reported contributions more than three times that from the previous quarter, and cash-on-hand increased to nearly $300,000. The total raised for the first quarter was approximately $101,400. No loans have been made to the campaign.  
 
“I am very pleased with the increased financial backing we are seeing as we move toward our campaign launch date next week,” said Miller campaign political director Matt Johnson. “I believe this upward trend will continue. I am confident that Joe’s supporters will provide all the resources we will need to carry the message of liberty and opportunity to the people of Alaska and prevail on Election Day.”
 
In the 2010 primary election, Miller won the Republican Party nomination against the incumbent senator with approximately $300,000. In mid-July of 2010, about a month from Election Day, the senator reported over $2 million on-hand to Miller’s $125,000.

 

 
According to recent public polling, Miller has gained 17 points in a head-to-head match-up against Democrat Senator Mark Begich since last year and now holds the incumbent under 50 percent.
 
“I am excited by the trends we are seeing in terms of financial backing, public polling, endorsements the campaign is picking up, and grassroots enthusiasm Joe is seeing as he travels the state,” said Johnson. “The people of Alaska recognize that Joe is the real deal and when he goes to Washington, he will partner with reformers like Senators Cruz, Lee and Paul to restore the America we love.”  

Boehner Reassures GOP Donors: I’m “Hellbent” on Passing Immigration Reform this Year

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Photo Credit: HotAir

Photo Credit: HotAir

A big gamble if true, but not a crazy one. He’s betting that nothing the GOP does, up to and including amnesty, will enrage grassroots conservatives so much that they’re likely to stay home in protest in November because of it. Anger at ObamaCare trumps all. When the dust settles, after a week or two of talk radio calling Boehner a traitor for passing an immigration bill and vowing to go third party, everyone will swallow hard and decide that they have no choice but to vote for the GOP anyway in the name of stopping O-Care. The redder the Senate turns next year, the greater the odds of repeal in 2017. Although if they’d sell you out on immigration, I’m not sure why you’d think they won’t sell you out on that too when the time comes.

As much as I suspect an immigration deal under these circumstances will inevitably be terrible, I also think Boehner’s bet is a shrewd one. In fact, I’ll place a bet of my own: If they pass something along the lines of the Gang of Eight bill and I end up writing a bunch of posts in October exhorting people to boycott the midterms because of it, some commenters will be calling me a traitor.

Speaker John Boehner and other senior House Republicans are telling donors and industry groups that they aim to pass immigration legislation this year, despite the reluctance of many Republicans to tackle the divisive issue before the November elections.

Many lawmakers and activists have assumed the issue was off the table in an election year. But Mr. Boehner said at a Las Vegas fundraiser last month he was “hellbent on getting this done this year,” according to two people in the room…

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‘Ridiculous’: Administration Punts On Keystone, Obama Faces Dem Revolt

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

By Fox News.

The Obama administration once again has punted on a final decision for the Keystone XL pipeline, announcing ahead of the holiday weekend it is extending a key review period indefinitely — a move that could push off a determination until after the midterm elections.

Republicans, as well as red-state Democrats who want the proposed Canada-to-Texas pipeline approved, slammed the administration for the delay. Democrats even threatened to find ways to go around the president to get the project approved.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that this well over five year long process is continuing for an undetermined amount of time,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said in a statement.

Republican Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry called the decision “shameful,” noting that another spring construction season will come and go without the project.

The administration had been in the middle of a 90-day review period for federal agencies assessing an environmental study from the State Department.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

A San Francisco Billionaire Just Bought Obama and Delayed the Keystone XL Pipeline

By Soopermexican.

While the media is obsessed with the Koch brothers this campaign season, a billionaire hedge fund manager from San Francisco just bought off the White House to the tune of $100 million in order to delay the Keystone XL pipeline decision.

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Classifies Phone Numbers, Street Addresses of Website Visitors as ‘Public Information’

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque

The White House’s new website privacy policy, released Friday, identifies phone numbers and street addresses of people who send the president questions on Whitehouse.gov as “public information.”

“Information you choose to share with the White House (directly and via third party sites) may be treated as public information,” according to the new White House policy, which assures that information provided to Whitehouse.gov will not be sold, but does not make the same assurance about information provided on the White House Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus pages.

On the “Contact the White House” page’s question-and-comment submission form, required fields include first name, last name, email, phone number, and street address with city, state, and postal code.

Read more from this story HERE.

Princeton Concludes What Kind of Government America Really Has, and It’s Not a Democracy

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Photo Credit: PolicyMic

Photo Credit: PolicyMic

The news: A new scientific study from Princeton researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page has finally put some science behind the recently popular argument that the United States isn’t a democracy any more. And they’ve found that in fact, America is basically an oligarchy.

An oligarchy is a system where power is effectively wielded by a small number of individuals defined by their status called oligarchs. Members of the oligarchy are the rich, the well connected and the politically powerful, as well as particularly well placed individuals in institutions like banking and finance or the military.

For their study, Gilens and Page compiled data from roughly 1,800 different policy initiatives in the years between 1981 and 2002. They then compared those policy changes with the expressed opinion of the United State public. Comparing the preferences of the average American at the 50th percentile of income to what those Americans at the 90th percentile preferred, as well as the opinions of major lobbying or business groups, the researchers found out that the government followed the directives set forth by the latter two much more often.

It’s beyond alarming. As Gilens and Page write, “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.” In other words, their statistics say your opinion literally does not matter.

Read more from this story HERE.

Teen Suspended for Asking Miss America to Prom

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Photo Credit: Nick Lisi / AP

Photo Credit: Nick Lisi / AP

A Pennsylvania high school student is in hot water for asking Miss America to prom during a question and answer session at school.

Eighteen-year-old Patrick Farves said he received three days of in-school suspension Thursday because he asked Nina Davuluri to prom.

The senior at Central York High School stood up and popped the prom question, then walked to the stage with a plastic flower. Davuluri just laughed and the students cheered.

Read more from this story HERE.

Abortion Survivor Wows Crowd With Speech on Forgiveness, Value of Human Life

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

An 18-year old abortion survivor brought a packed Convention for Life in Dublin to its feet with a moving and inspiring testimony on forgiveness and the value of every human life. (Video at bottom).

Josiah Presley, originally from South Korea but now living in Oklahoma, said that when he first found out that his mother had wanted to abort him he was devastated and felt deep hurt and anger towards his birth parents.

However, he said, the power of God’s love meant he realised that he was “important to God and that every child was important to God” and this led him to forgive his parents whom he said he would like to meet some day.

“I wonder if they ever think about me,” he said. “I would like to tell them why I have forgiven them”.

He explained that he may have been one of twins and that the abortionist most likely did not realise one baby had survived the curettage abortion, which has left Josiah with a disabled arm.

Read more from this story HERE.

South Korean Ferry Captain Arrested; Divers Find Bodies Inside Sunken Ship

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The captain of a South Korean ferry carrying 475 passengers that sank on Wednesday, killing 28 and leaving 270 missing, was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need — three of whom were found lifeless in the sunken ship by a diver.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin Yonhap said 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok and the crew members were detained early Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

The captain was arrested amid reports that an inexperienced crew member may have been at the ship’s control when it overturned, and survivors’ claims that the crew did not act swiftly enough to evacuate its mostly high school-student passengers.

Lee faces five charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Prosecutors and police said Friday they had asked a court to issue arrest warrants for the captain and two other crewmembers.

Read more from this story HERE.