GOP Senate Confirms Common Core Crapweasel

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Tonight, a GOP controlled Senate confirmed Common Core advocate and defender, Dr. John King, as Secretary to the Department of Education, the agency which is charged with consolidating control over education policy.

Michelle Malkin rightly pointed out the problem with Dr. King’s nomination yesterday.

But Senator Mike Lee cut straight to the heart of the issue in his Senate floor speech opposing the nomination.

And more to the point, what matters isn’t the jobs that someone has held, but the policies they have advanced.

This, Mr. President, is the problem with Dr. King’s nomination.

Look closely at his record – especially the three and a half years he spent as New York’s education commissioner, where he forced on an unwilling school system unpopular Common Core curriculum and standards, an inflexible testing regime, and a flawed teacher evaluation system.

All of this proves that Dr. King is the standard bearer of No Child Left Behind – the discredited K-12 regime that has become synonymous with dysfunctional education policy in classrooms and households across America.

So which Republicans confirmed this Common Core crapweasel?

Lamar Alexander (TN)

Bill Cassidy (LA)

Thad Cochran (MS)

Susan Collins (ME)

John Cornyn (TX)

Orrin Hatch (UT)

Mitch McConnell (KY)

One thing of interest is that every GOP Senator that voted for the nomination is either retiring or recently was re-elected. Odds are that many GOP Senators supported the nomination, but their vote was not needed for passage. Senators will commonly take turns taking the “tough votes” and the unwritten rule is that if Senator A is outside their election year, then Senator A takes the tough vote so Senator B, who is up election, can get re-elected.

Once Senator B is re-elected, Senator B returns the favor by taking the “tough votes” for Senator A.

The thinking is that voters memory will not span the full six year term of a sitting Senator and this is the precise reason why CR’s Liberty Score is over a six year window to prevent these types of political games.

Even more appalling of those that voted yes are the two figureheads of Republican Leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn, who for 2 years campaigned that the 2014 election was the time for a GOP Senate. Because a GOP Senate could stop Obama and put a check on his power. One of the specific powers and privileges that Mitch McConnell enjoys as Senate Majority Leader is the ability to set the agenda for the floor.

Nothing comes to the floor without his expressed approval. Perhaps its time for other GOP Senators to make their voice heard that they don’t approve of Senator McConnell’s Leadership and a change should be in order.

Voters didn’t vote for Common Core in November, then why is a GOP Senate confirming one of its fiercest defenders? (For more from the author of “GOP Senate Confirms Common Core Crapweasel” please click HERE)

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Banking On a Brokered Convention, Mitt Romney Is Hitting the Campaign Trail With This GOP Candidate

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By Hallie Jackson. Mitt Romney will campaign with John Kasich Monday at two stops in Ohio, NBC News has learned from a source familiar with the plans.

Romney is not expected to endorse the Ohio governor during the campaign swing, the source said, but it will be the first time Romney has campaigned on behalf of a Republican candidate this cycle.

It’s a significant move for the former Republican nominee, who previously recorded campaign telephone “robocalls” for Kasich as well as Marco Rubio.

Earlier this month, at a speech in Utah, Romney lambasted frontrunner Donald Trump as a “fraud” and warned of the dangers to the Republican Party if Trump were the nominee. (Read more from “Mitt Romney Is Hitting the Campaign Trail With This GOP Candidate” HERE)

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Father of Son Murdered by Illegal: Pro-Amnesty John Kasich, Marco Rubio Should Be Tried for ‘Treason’

By Julia Hahn. “How much of this do we have to take?” Dan Golvach asked about the Republican Party’s longstanding refusal to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

Golvach—whose 25-year-old son Spencer was stopped at a traffic light when an illegal alien pulled up next to him and shot him in the head—explains that the reason he now backs Donald Trump for President is because of holidays spent at the cemetery, and the image of his “child’s deflated head in a casket” burned into his mind.

“Losing a child,” Golvach explains, is something one never really gets “acclimated to. I can tell you that it’s a very dark place of despair.”

And your life is ruined. [Golvach pauses] It’s just ruined. Trust me. Everything is damaged. Nothing has the same meaning anymore. There is no real joy in life. You just go through the motions because you’re not suicidal, and you just do things, but your life will never be particularly joyous again … Once this happens you’re going to have a very marginalized life at best. And thank you, United States government. I thought their first mandate was to protect us, but they’re just protecting their donors— and it’s treason.

(Read more from “Father of Son Murdered by Illegal: Pro-Amnesty John Kasich, Marco Rubio Should Be Tried for ‘Treason'” HERE)

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GOP Candidate Makes Shocking Statement When Asked If He’d Support Trump in General Election

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A day after urging Ohio and Florida voters to make stopping Donald Trump their reason for casting ballots, Sen. Marco Rubio indicated he’s distancing himself from the pledge he made to support the eventual GOP nominee., even if it should be Trump.

“I don’t know,” Rubio said Saturday. “I already talked about the fact that I think Hillary Clinton would be terrible for this country, but the fact that you’re even asking me that question … I still at this moment intend to support the Republican nominee, but … it’s getting harder every day.”

Rubio cited the protests Friday in Chicago, which shut down a planned Trump rally and became violent. He blamed Tump’s language for creating the political environment in which America is “careening toward chaos and anarchy.”

“We settle our differences in this country at the ballot box, not with guns or bayonets or violence,” Rubio said. “You wonder if we’re headed in a different direction today where we’re no longer capable of having differences of opinion but in fact now protests become a license to take up violence and take on your opponents physically.”

Although Rubio invoked the Chicago protests on Saturday, he had made it clear Friday that stopping Trump was his real campaign goal. (Read more from “GOP Candidate Makes Shocking Statement When Asked If He’d Support Trump in General Election” HERE)

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Second State Employee Refuses GOP Questions on Clinton Server

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A State Department staffer who oversaw security and technology issues for Hillary Clinton is refusing to answer Senate investigators’ questions about the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server — marking the second time an ex-State employee has declined to talk to lawmakers.

John Bentel, a now-retired State employee who managed IT security issues for the top echelon at the department, declined to be interviewed by GOP staff on the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The chairmen of both committees, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), are now threatening to consider other ways to compel him to discuss the matter . . .

Bentel’s lawyer, Randy Turk of Baker Botts in Washington, did not reply to a request for comment, but the recent letter notes that Bentel told House Benghazi investigators last year he did not recall the server matter, according to the Senate letter. And in email correspondence between the panel and Bentel’s laywer, which was reviewed by POLITICO, Turk lamented that Bentel had already talked to the House Benghazi panel “about precisely what the committtees’ letter states is the subject of their investigation.” (Read more from “Second State Employee Refuses GOP Questions on Clinton Server” HERE)

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National Uproar Over Obama’s Homosexual Ambassador and His ‘Husband’

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A little over two years after Obama campaign bundler and LGBT advocate James “Wally” Brewster arrived in the Dominican Republic, accompanied by his spouse, Bob Satawake, to assume his duties as U.S. ambassador, calls are growing in the conservative country for his recall.

Church leaders, politicians and education officials in the Caribbean island nation are clamoring for his removal, and a petition was lodged with the White House this week accusing him of promoting an “LGBT agenda inconsistent with the Christian cultural values and tradition of the Dominican Republic.”

…Dominican Teachers Association president Eduardo Hidalgo asked the country’s education ministry to bar Brewster from visiting public or private schools with Satawake, saying the rights of children should be protected. . .

Pelegrin Castillo, presidential candidate for the center-right National Progressive Force (FNP) party, was quoted as saying that under the guise of defending the rights of minorities Brewster “has a business agenda to convert Santo Domingo into the Caribbean’s gay paradise.”

On the left, the United Left Movement (MIU), in a statement marked by anti-U.S. rhetoric, accused Brewster of using his office as “convenient camouflage” to promote his personal agenda, and accused USAID of meddling in the country’s internal affairs. MIU secretary-general Miguel Mejia said the ambassador deserved to be declared persona non grata. (Read more from “National Uproar Over Obama’s Homosexual Ambassador and His ‘Husband'” HERE)

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Poll: Rubio Drops to Third in Florida, Days Before Big Tuesday Primaries

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By Fox News. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio has dropped to third place just days ahead of a crucial primary in his home state of Florida, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday.

The primary, among five Tuesday, is essentially a must-win for Rubio, who significantly trails front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the delegate count. And Rubio’s drop in the poll appears to be another indication that his campaign might soon come to an end.

On Sunday, he continued to criticize the violence at Trump rallies, saying the candidate and protestors share the blame.

“You have a leading contender for president telling people in his audience, ‘Go ahead and punch someone in the face. I’ll pay your legal bills,’ ” Rubio said in Florida. “That’s wrong if our kids did it. That is disastrous if a president does it.” He has also acknowledged that some of the protestors appeared to be paid. (Read more from “Poll: Rubio Drops to Third in Florida, Days Before Big Tuesday Primaries” HERE)

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Rubio Wins District of Columbia’s GOP Convention

By NBC Washington. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida narrowly won the District of Columbia’s Republican convention on Saturday, seizing his third primary-season victory as a critical contest looms in his home state.

The small band of establishment-friendly Republican voters in the nation’s capital also offered a rebuke to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who failed to win a single delegate. Rubio got 37 percent of the vote and won 10 delegates, and the runner-up, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, won nine delegates with 36 percent of the vote.

Trump was third and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was fourth, but neither met the minimum threshold to earn delegates.

Earlier this month, Rubio won the GOP caucuses in Minnesota and the party’s primary in Puerto Rico, but he’s still a distant third in the overall delegate count behind Trump and Cruz. (Read more from “Rubio Wins District of Columbia’s GOP Convention” HERE)

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After Trump Cancels Chicago Rally, Ted Cruz Immediately Blames Chaos on SHOCKING Factor

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In comments that had him called a “despicable opportunist” by conservative Ann Coulter, Sen. Ted Cruz said Republican presidential rival Donald Trump bears some of the blame for the organized protests that disrupted a planned Trump rally Friday and led to the cancellation of the Chicago event.

” … in any campaign responsibility starts at the top,” said Cruz, after saying violence has no place in political contests. “Any candidate…is responsible for the culture of the campaign. And when you have a campaign that disrespects the voters, when you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, when you have a campaign that is facing allegations of physical violence against members of the press, you create an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse.”

“I think a campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment,” Cruz added. “When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face. The predicable consequence of that is that it escalates. And today is unlikely to be the last such instance. That is not how our politics should occur.”

Many of those who read Cruz’s comments on TheBlaze disagreed.

“Really Ted? Then why didn’t you say this when the rumors were flying that your campaign said Carson was dropping out of the race and to vote for Ted? Why didn’t you say this when the fraudulent mailer/report cards were mailed out in two separate states? Why didn’t you say this when the video that was edited incorrectly to make Rubio look like a heretic and instead you fired your campaign manager?” wrote Narroway. (Read more from “After Trump Cancels Chicago Rally, Ted Cruz Immediately Blames Chaos on SHOCKING Factor” HERE)

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34 Dead, 125 Wounded in Turkey Explosion

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A car bomb blew up near an Ankara bus stop on Sunday, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 others, according to the Turkish health minister.

At least one or two of the dead were perpetrators of the attack, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said, according to Reuters, and at least 19 of the wounded were in serious condition.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would use its right to self-defense to prevent future attacks and called for national unity.

“Our people should not worry,” Erdogan said. “The struggle against terrorism will for certain end in success and terrorism will be brought to its knees.”

The Turkish interior minister told Reuters those responsible for the explosion would be named Monday, when an investigation into the blast was completed. (Read more from “34 Dead, 125 Wounded in Turkey Explosion” HERE)

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7-Eleven Customer Shoots, Kills Hatchet-Wielding Attacker

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By Catherine E. Shoichet and Carma Hassan. A customer drinking coffee at a Seattle 7-Eleven Sunday morning drew a pistol and shot dead a hatchet-wielding man who went after him and the store clerk, authorities said.

Investigators haven’t yet identified the suspect, who’s believed to be in his 40s and was wearing a mask when he entered the store early Sunday, the King County Sheriff’s Office said.

“The suspect did not make any statements but swung the hatchet at the customer and then went behind the counter and attacked the clerk,” the sheriff’s office said. (Read more from “7-Eleven Customer Shoots, Kills Hatchet-Wielding Attacker” HERE)

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Hatchet-Swinging Attacker Shot and Killed by Customer at 7-11

By Lucas Combos. A customer with a concealed carry permit shot and killed a masked man wielding a hatchet inside a convenience store Sunday morning, according to investigators.

The King County Sheriff’s Office was called to a 7-Eleven on 8th Avenue South, near White Center, at 5:45 a.m.

The store clerk says the masked man entered the store and immediately started swinging a hatchet toward a customer — then he turned his sights on the clerk.

Witnesses told deputies the attacker remained silent during the entire ordeal.

The clerk suffered minor injuries to his stomach, but before more damage could be done, the customer fired his pistol and hit the suspect. (Read more from “Hatchet-Swinging Attacker Shot and Killed by Customer at 7-11” HERE)

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INSIDE HILLARY’S EMAIL SERVER: The Entire Criminal Enterprise Known as the Clinton Foundation Laid Bare

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It’s a well-established fact that by setting up her private email server in the basement of her New York home, Secretary Clinton was able to avoid accountability through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strassel penned an important op-ed last night that takes a closer look at the other reason Clinton set up a non-governmental email: the Clinton Foundation. By using one private email account, Clinton was free to conduct both State Department and Clinton Foundation business—often overlapping—on the same email account. The same is likely true for close aide Huma Abedin, who in fact worked simultaneously for the State Department and the Clinton Foundation (oh, and for Clinton in a private capacity and the Clinton-tied Teneo Consulting).

Here are just a few of the reasons behind Clinton’s private server:

Lost in the classified kerfuffle is the other, lately ignored but still potent, scandal: the Clinton Foundation, and the unethical mixing of Mrs. Clinton’s public work and her personal fundraising/speech-giving/favor-doing. The more evidence that comes out, the more it looks as if that server was set up to provide an off-the-grid means for those two worlds to interact….

…Foundation cash after Russian mining approvals. More than a dozen speeches by Bill to corporations and governments with business pending before Hillary’s State Department. Dozens more donations to the foundation from companies that were lobbying the State Department. Checks to the foundation from a Swiss bank after Secretary of State Clinton solved its IRS problem. An email to Ms. Abedin, while she was at State, asking for help winning a presidential appointment for a Clinton Foundation donor.

What else? Plenty, surely. The Clinton Foundation existed in recent years to serve as an unofficial PAC for Mrs. Clinton’s expected presidential run. And Mrs. Clinton’s job at State was designed to serve the same end. Of course the business of the two was intertwined. And here’s to betting the server was maintained to facilitate that intertwinement.

This could explain mounting reports that a Hillary Grand Jury has been impaneled. (For more from the author of “INSIDE HILLARY’S EMAIL SERVER: The Entire Criminal Enterprise Known as the Clinton Foundation Laid Bare” please click HERE)

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