U.S. Special Forces Not Ready to Integrate Women, Report Finds

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At a time when U.S. special operations are devising plans for the mission of accepting women into the male domains of SEALs, Green Berets and Army Rangers, the terrorist-fighting community is facing a looming readiness problem.

The new challenge is tucked inside President Obama’s 2017 defense budget. It states that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and its 69,000 personnel are up against “training challenges” and is seeing “minor impacts to the forces’ ability to accomplish missions” that could grow worse.

Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs face some limits on training due to cutbacks in fleet and training range operations, according to a budget overview document sent to Congress last week.

As this happens, SOCOM is looking at a spring deadline to begin tryouts for integrating women into teams where 85 percent of men oppose the move, according to a Pentagon-sponsored survey by the Rand Corp. Nearly 90 percent say that blending the sexes will lead to lowered physical standards for missions in which high endurance and brute strength are vital. Some male warriors are so opposed that Rand scholars labeled them “extreme.”

Special operations forces are deploying at one of the most frequent rotations in history during the war on terror, begun Sept. 11, 2001. After conducting hundreds of manhunts in Iraq against al Qaeda, they are back in that country preparing for raids on the Islamic State terrorist army. (Read more from “U.S. Special Forces Not Ready to Integrate Women, Report Finds” HERE)

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Students Stand on, Flip off American Flag in Class

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Officials at a Pennsylvania high school are on the defensive after two students took pictures of themselves proudly desecrating the American flag in class.

Johnstown parents want to know how it was possible for students at Richland Township High School to stand on the American flag during school hours, brag about it by raising a middle finger to the camera, and then share it on social-media platforms.

“After you teach your students the history of America and everything that flag represents, feel free to offer them the option to move to any other country in the world that they feel would fit their needs. I know over 30,000 Navy veterans that would probably be happy to provide them with a one way ticket,” Marie Ellsworth wrote on the school’s Facebook page on Sunday.

“Disgusting. Insulting to those who gave their life for our country. Spoiled brats. Welcome them to go to another country,” said Sharon Fetterman Fiala . . .

“The message this picture sends is not justification to punish the students so the school needs to tread very carefully here,” ACLU of Pennsylvania legal director Witold Walczak told the NBC affiliate. He said it would “probably” be feasible to punish the students for vandalizing school property. (Read more from “Students Stand on, Flip off American Flag in Class” HERE)

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Ted Cruz’s Father Just Sent out a Major Warning to Christians

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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution begins, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” and Americans throughout history have interpreted this as a guarantee of freedom of religion.

However, as WND has documented, the Obama administration has stealthily replaced the term “freedom of religion” with “freedom of worship” in official pronouncements.

Pastor Rafael Cruz, the father of GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and author of the new book, “A Time for Action: Empowering the Faithful to Reclaim America,” warns that this subtle shift in language would be devastating for America if the policy and practice come to follow the words.

“Most Christians don’t realize the danger of freedom of worship,” Cruz said during a recent appearance on “Hagee Hotline” with pastor Matthew Hagee. “Freedom of worship is not the same as freedom of religion. Every Communist country around the world has freedom of worship. What freedom of worship means is you can worship inside a house of worship.”

Cruz explained even in his native Cuba a person can share the gospel inside a church. There may be spies present to ensure no one speaks out against the government, but congregants nevertheless have the freedom to go to church and worship their God. (Read more from “Ted Cruz’s Father Just Sent out a Major Warning to Christians” HERE)

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Mother of Columbine Killer Said She Never Realized Her Son Was Troubled

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Nearly 17 years after Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris murdered 13 people in a slaughter at Colorado’s Columbine High School, Klebold’s mother offered insight into her son’s behavior leading up to the attack.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer that aired Friday, Sue Klebold said she was like many parents who believe they would know if something were wrong with their child.

“Before Columbine happened, I would have been one of those parents,” Klebold told Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview. “I think we like to believe that our love and our understanding is protective, and that ‘if anything were wrong with my kids, I would know,’ but I didn’t know, and I wasn’t able to stop him from hurting other people. I wasn’t able to stop his hurting himself and it’s very hard to live with that.”

On April 20, 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and began a murderous rampage that left 12 students and 1 teacher dead. The two, who were part of what they called the “Trench Coat Mafia,” carried weapons and homemade bombs in addition to their guns, which they used to kill themselves after the slaughter.

“I want people to be aware that things can seem awfully right when things are terribly, terribly wrong,” she said. (Read more from “Mother of Columbine Killer Said She Never Realized Her Son Was Troubled” HERE)

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You’ll Never Guess Who Starred in One of Ted Cruz’s Most Recent (Now Removed) Campaign Ads

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Amy Lindsay, the actress featured in films such as “Kinky Sex Club,” “Milf,” “Carnal Wishes” and “Sex Sent Me to the ER” stars in Sen. Ted Cruz ‘s latest campaign ad entitled “Conservatives Anonymous.”

“Maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time,” Lindsay says in the ad.

Seconds before this story was published, the Cruz campaign removed the ad from YouTube . . .

Cruz’s campaign told The Daily Caller that it is removing and replacing the ad, and that it would not have included her in the ad had it known of her past.

“The actress responded to an open casting call,” Cruz campaign national press secretary Catherine Frazier told TheDC. “She passed her audition and got the job. Unfortunately, she was not vetted by the casting company. Had the campaign known of her full filmography, we obviously would not have let her appear in the ad. The campaign is taking the ad down and will replace it with a different commercial.” (Read more from “You’ll Never Guess Who Starred in One of Ted Cruz’s Most Recent (Now Removed) Campaign Ads” HERE)

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Christian Conservatives Pivotal in the South, and Feeling Under Siege

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Inside the Sunshine Coin Laundry near the Piggly Wiggly supermarket, Lagretta Ellington removed her family’s clothes from one of the large dryers and began to neatly fold them on a nearby table.

The air was moist and smelled of detergent. The floor was concrete. Her views of the presidential race were anything but. She was unsettled, and distrustful. The candidates just seemed like entertainers . . .

In the South, now the pivotal battlefield of the 2016 presidential campaign, faith and politics walk the aisle together. And while Christians have always dominated American politics – Bernie Sanders this week became the first non-Christian ever to win a presidential primary in U.S. history – conservative Christians feel under siege.

Marriage is being redefined, and they’re being forced to go along. A new health care law mandates free contraception, even if it violates their core beliefs. Even the greeting “Merry Christmas” feels under assault.

Their anxiety and anger help explain the rise of Republican outsider candidates such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (“Any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be commander in chief”) and even billionaire Donald Trump (“If I’m president, you’re going to see ‘Merry Christmas’ in department stores, believe me”), perhaps the unlikeliest of vessels for such support. (Read more from “Christian Conservatives Pivotal in the South, and Feeling Under Siege” HERE)

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Chelsea Clinton Reveals the Disgusting Reason Why She Left Baptist Church

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Chelsea Clinton said she left the Southern Baptist Convention at the tender age of six, because a Sunday school teacher taught her that abortion is a sin.

The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton told interviewers she finds it “insulting” when people doubt her family’s devotion to God because of their strong support for abortion-on-demand and other policies traditionally condemned by Christianity.

“I find it quite insulting sometimes when people say to my mom, my dad or me…that they question our faith,” Chelsea, who is now 35, told PageSix.com.

“I was raised in a Methodist church, and I left the Baptist church before my dad did, because I didn’t know why they were talking to me about abortion when I was six in Sunday school,” she said. “That’s a true story” . . .

As the daughter of the governor of Arkansas, Chelsea Clinton was confirmed at First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, which she attended with her mother. Bill Clinton attended Immanuel Baptist Church on his own. (Read more from “Chelsea Clinton Reveals the Disgusting Reason Why She Left Baptist Church” HERE)

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Washington State Republicans Join Democrats to Uphold Transgender Bathroom Bill

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A bill to reverse a public accommodations law that allows transgender people to use opposite-sex bathrooms and locker rooms was blocked in the state Senate – in part thanks to three Republicans who voted with the minority Democrats.

The law took effect earlier this year and drew a backlash from Republicans concerned about men pretending to be transgender in order to harass and assault women. The GOP has a slim majority in the state Senate, but the three Republicans gave Democrats a 25-24 victory.

The sponsor of the repeal bill, Sen. Doug Ericksen, told his colleagues that business owners are helpless under the existing law to protect women from assailants. “Under this rule, practically, what can he do to be able to protect his members that are uncomfortable?” he asked, according to The Associated Press.

Sen. Cyrus Habib argued that the transgender law protects “a civil right to be included,” and Sen. Pramila Jayapal said, “There have been no sex offenders that have been posing as transgender people to get into bathrooms.”

Some Republicans took issue with how the law was implemented – not via the legislature or a ballot referendum, but through the state’s Human Rights Commission. Senate Commerce and Labor Committee Chairman Michael Baumgartner, who held hearings on Ericksen’s bill, said he “certainly was disappointed in the rule because it definitely put people at risk” and criticized the commission for involving itself. (Read more from “Washington State Republicans Join Democrats to Uphold Transgender Bathroom Bill” HERE)

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Past Their Prime? Health, Age Could Become Campaign Trail Issue for 2016 Candidates

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They say 70 is the new 50 – but the fact that three of the top White House candidates would tie or break the record for oldest president-elect in American history could make health and age a campaign issue for them this year.

It’s an uncomfortable topic, and one that trailed then-71-year-old John McCain when he ran against the youthful Barack Obama, then 47, in 2008.

The generation gap could be even wider this year, though, as Gen Xers like Ted Cruz, 45, and Marco Rubio, 44, compete against Donald Trump, 69, on the Republican side – and Bernie Sanders, 74, battles Hillary Clinton, 68, on the Democratic side.

If one of the Democrats faces off against a much younger Republican, the dynamics from 2008 could repeat themselves – only with the parties reversed . . .

Critics thought Ronald Reagan, the oldest candidate to be elected president at age 69, was too old when he ran for re-election in 1984. He ultimately was able to deflect that suggestion — and win — with debate quips like, “I will not make age an issue … I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” referring to Democratic opponent, Walter Mondale, then 56. (Read more from “Past Their Prime? Health, Age Could Become Campaign Trail Issue for 2016 Candidates” HERE)

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Hillary’s Henchwomen Have a Dirty Secret

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By Michael Goodwin. Over years, New Hampshire earned its reputation for upending conventional wisdom, but the 2016 campaign is also leaving another legacy. When Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem tried to shame and bully young women into supporting Hillary Clinton, they inadvertently revealed a dirty secret of the left’s fixation on gender, race and ethnicity.

They demonstrated that hiding behind the gauzy appeals to make history is a willingness to use brass knuckles to achieve conformity. In their warped vision, biology trumps individuality, and those who don’t agree are traitors to their gender.

That’s not just unappealing, it’s also un-American. Our democracy is energized and more representative when no vote is taken for granted.

The demands for conformity by Clinton’s henchwomen mirror the anti-free-speech movements on college campuses, but are striking because they came from a former secretary of state and a feminist icon, both of whom struggled against demeaning stereotypes in their own careers. They now ape the sexists they fought. (Read more from “Hillary’s Henchwomen Have a Dirty Secret” HERE)

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Hillary Clinton’s Woman Problem

By Ellie Hartleb. Bernie Sanders has captured the hearts of Millennial voters with his inspirational and emotional promise to bring the nation “a future to believe in.” Although 74-year-old Sanders is a lifelong politician, his off-the-beaten-path campaign and perpetually disheveled aesthetic seem to be just the fresh (if wrinkled) face many young Democrats are looking for.

That’s even true of the women, and particularly young women. Sanders won women under 30 by about 6 to 1 over Hillary Clinton in Iowa. He nearly matched that Tuesday in New Hampshire and, even more sobering for Clinton, nearly seven in 10 women under 45 chose Sanders. Overall, Sanders won 53% of the female vote in New Hampshire to Clinton’s 46% — a reversal from Iowa, where she carried women, and one that could reflect a troubling trend for her campaign.

Clinton has painted herself as a glass-shattering feminist icon, so these numbers might seem surprising. But considering Sanders’ overwhelming support from Millennial voters who are enchanted by policy proposals that are simply good for young people, it’s no wonder younger women in particular are turning away from Clinton in favor of more radical change.

Born after the Cold War, Millennials don’t feel the sting when Sanders refers to himself as a democratic socialist. In fact, they look on in admiration as he proclaims a dire need for a “political revolution,” chock full of social and economic domestic reforms. His core platforms — universal health care, tuition-free public colleges, a crackdown on irresponsible spending and redistribution of wealth — are all thrilling prospects for a debt-ridden generation who are wary of career politicians and tired of slow progress under the Obama administration. (Read more from “Hillary Clinton’s Woman Problem” HERE)

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