Jeb Bush Releases Emails Including Social Security Numbers of Florida Residents

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By T.C. Sottek. Jeb Bush, a rumored 2016 Republican presidential candidate, just decided to publish hundreds of thousands of emails sent to him during his time as governor of Florida. On its face it seems like a great idea in the name of transparency, but there’s one huge problem: neither Bush nor those who facilitated the publication of the records, including the state government, decided to redact potentially sensitive personal information from them.

“In the spirit of transparency, I am posting the emails of my governorship here,” a note on Bush’s website says. “Some are funny; some are serious; some I wrote in frustration.” Some also contain the email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, and social security numbers of Florida residents. The emails are available in Outlook format, and can be searched on the web at Bush’s website.

The Verge did not receive a response from Mr. Bush or his Political Action Committee’s office at the time of publication. (Read more from “Jeb Bush Releases Emails” HERE)

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Will Jeb Bush’s Foreign Policy Lean More Towards His Brother’s or Father’s?

By Patrick O’ Connor. Jeb Bush faces a unique dilemma as he builds a Republican presidential campaign—whether to follow in the foreign-policy footsteps of his father or his brother.

One early indication suggests he is leaning toward his father’s more pragmatic and restrained philosophy. The former Florida governor is considering naming Meghan O’Sullivan as his top foreign-policy aide; several people familiar with the deliberations describe her as the front-runner for the post.

In many ways, the 45-year-old Ms. O’Sullivan, who now teaches at Harvard, bridges the two Bush worlds. She served as deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan for much of George W. Bush ’s second term and was heavily involved in carrying out his Iraq policies. But she wasn’t among the neoconservative advisers who drove the initial decision to invade Iraq, and she is more closely aligned with—and is being promoted by—the kind of pragmatists who dominated George H.W. Bush ’s presidency.

All candidates running for president in 2016 will be asked to articulate what factors would drive them to send U.S. troops into battle. The question would be more delicate for Mr. Bush, should he run, because he would have to navigate the legacies of his father and his brother, whose public image was marred by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Jon Stewart Leaves “The Daily Show” For Unknown Reasons

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Jon Stewart, whose wit defined “The Daily Show” for more than 15 years, will sign off the iconic Comedy Central program later this year.

“In my heart I know it is time for someone else to have that opportunity,” he said on Tuesday night’s show as his studio audience gasped.

Members of the audience yelled “we love you Jon” as he expressed his appreciation for the show’s staff and called hosting it “the honor of my professional life.”

It isn’t clear when Stewart will sign off; his contract expires in September, but he may leave as soon as July, or as late as December, he said.

In a farewell statement, Michelle Ganeless, the president of the channel, called Stewart “a comic genius, generous with his time and talent,” and said the host “will always be a part of the Comedy Central family.” (Read more from “Jon Stewart leaves ‘The Daily Show'” HERE)

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Chief Justice Roy Moore Defies Feds, Urges Alabama’s Judges to Refuse Gay Marriage Licenses

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By Sandhya Somashekhar. On the day that same-sex unions became legal in Alabama, local officials in dozens of counties on Monday defied a federal judge’s decision and refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, casting the state into judicial chaos.

Gay couples were able to get licenses in about a dozen places, including Birmingham, Huntsville and a few other counties where probate judges complied with the judge’s decision. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled early Monday that it would deny Alabama’s request to put the marriages on hold.

But in the majority of counties, officials said they would refuse to license same-sex marriages or stop providing licenses altogether, confronting couples — gay and heterosexual — with locked doors and shuttered windows.

Many of the state’s 68 probate judges mounted their resistance to the federal decision at the urging of the firebrand chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore. He is best known for refusing more than a decade ago to comply with a court order to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the state Supreme Court’s offices.

In Mobile, about 10 gay couples who had expected to be granted licenses first thing in the morning found the marriage-license window closed indefinitely. (Read more about the refusal to marry homosexual couples HERE)

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Alabama’s Largest Paper Mocks Christian Judge: Is Roy Moore a Closeted Homosexual?

By Tim Graham. The Birmingham News is the largest newspaper in Alabama (even though it only publishes a print edition three times a week now.) That could be in part due to leftist pranks. The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore, has defiantly ordered a halt on gay marriage licenses, prompting News commentator Kyle Whitmire to offer a Readers Poll on Sunday asking “Is Roy Moore a closeted homosexual?”

Liberals apparently love this question, because the poll results are 71 percent yes, 6 percent no, and 22 percent “Maybe, but just that one time in college.” It probably won’t be shocking to note that until he joined the News, Whitmire was a stringer for The New York Times for seven years (2005-12).

Moore, a Baptist married with four children, is best known for insisting on having the Ten Commandments posted in his courtroom, leading to court fights with secularists — and popularity with Alabama voters. (Read more from this story about Chief Justice Roy Moore and his fight against unconstitutional federal acts HERE)

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Judicial Watch Sues, Gets Records for Obamas’ Tax Payer Funded Vacations

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Judicial Watch Obtains Records Revealing Obama’s $1,176,120.90 in Transportation Expenses to Attend Political Fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco:

Lavish fundraiser hosted by Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow marked Obama’s 30th fundraising visit to Los Angeles County, CA.

Judicial Watch: Air Force Documents Show President Obama Ran up $1,539,402.10 in Flight Expenses Alone for Labor Day 2014 Weekend Trips:

After fundraising in Westchester, New York, Obama flew home to ‘spend the night in his own bed’ before returning for a wedding, running up to $295,227.80 in additional expenses.

Obama July Political Fundraising Trips to Denver, New York City Cost Taxpayers $1,159,823.50 in Flight Expenses Alone:

U.S. Department of Air Force Headquarters Air Mobility Command records detail expenditures of $1,159,823.50 by President Obama in flight costs alone for his July 2014 fundraising trips to Denver, Colorado, and New York, New York.

Judicial Watch Obtains Documents: Secret Service Tab for Obama Family 2013 Africa Trip Cost Taxpayers $2,189,727.60 for Lodging, Entertainment, and Security:

The Secret Service entourage accompanying President Obama and his family during their trip to sub-Saharan Africa from June 27 to July 3, 2013, incurred $2,189,727.60 in lodging, entertainment, and security expenses. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Judicial Watch Pursues Records from Michelle Obama’s Spain Trip

By Andrew Spalding. Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the Air Force for records detailing the cost of Michelle Obamas lavish 2010 trip to Spain . . .

The Obamas have done their best to shroud this vacation in mystery. All we know is that in August of 2010, Michelle and one of her daughters jetted off on a “whirlwind tour of Spain,” where they travelled through coastal towns and had lunch with the king and queen. Accompanying Michelle and her daughter were “two friends and four of their daughters, as well as a couple of aides and a couple of advance staff members.”

The White House claims the Obamas “paid their own way” on the trip, but if this were the case, why wouldn’t they release the records? At the very least, taxpayers paid for Michelle’s security, and that would have been quite costly. (Read more about Judicial Watch suing Michelle Obama HERE)

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University Students Vote to Divest, From America

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Photo Credit: The Blaze By Sharona Schwartz. The University of California Student Association passed a resolution Sunday calling for the state university system to divest from the U.S. government.

The resolution was one of two that passed Sunday; the other, authored by pro-Palestinian students, called for the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

The U.S. resolution also called for the UC system to withdraw investments from other countries including Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and Sri Lanka because they engage “in the violation of human rights” and “have violated the universal right ‘to life, liberty and security of person;’ ‘to education;’ to ‘privacy, family [and] home;’ ‘to own property, and … [not to] be arbitrarily deprived of property.”

In this clause, the students attending the state-sponsored university blasted the U.S. for violating the right “to education.”

The resolution pointed specifically to U.S. military drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen which it asserted have “killed over 2,400 people … many of them civilians.” It also lambasted the U.S. government for overseeing the “highest rate of imprisonment in the world” in which law enforcement “disproportionately” target minorities, calling the system the “Prison Industrial Complex.” It criticized the detention and deportation of “undocumented immigrants” and the government’s sale of weapons overseas. The resolution also attacked the University of California for accepting funding from the Defense Department to conduct research projects. (Read more about the university students vote HERE)

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University Spends $16k on Campaign to Warn Students to Watch What They Say

By Samantha Audia. Dozens of posters plastered across the University of Michigan caution students not to say things that might hurt others’ feelings, part of a new “Inclusive Language Campaign” at the state’s flagship public university that cost $16,000 to implement.

Words declared unacceptable through the campaign include “crazy,” “insane,” “retarded,” “gay,” “tranny,” “gypped,” “illegal alien,” “fag,” “ghetto” and “raghead.” Phrases such as “I want to die” and “that test raped me” are also verboten.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told The College Fix in an email the campaign aims to “address campus climate by helping individuals understand that their words can impact someone and to encourage individuals to commit to creating a positive campus community.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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High School Student Wins Case Against Atheists Trying to Alter the Pledge of Allegiance

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail A high school senior has won her case over atheists to keep ‘under God’ in the pledge of allegiance.

Samantha Jones from Highland Regional High School in Blackwood, New Jersey, has defeated efforts by the American Humanist Association to remove the phrase, insisting it is a student’s right to read the pledge in its entirety.

A judge in Monmouth County threw out the latest attempt to have the phrase banished from the pledge because it did not violate the state’s constitution.

The teenager described America as a country of many beliefs and claimed everyone, including atheists, are protected by ‘one nation under God.’

In a statement released Friday, she said: ‘I’m so grateful the court decided that kids like me shouldn’t be silenced just because some people object to timeless American values.’ (Read more about the atheists trying to alter the pledge of allegiance HERE)

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Arizona Sheriff Calls Out Obama, Insists Our Borders are Not “More Secure Than Ever”

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism By Heather Laskin. For all of President Obama’s talk of the border being safer than ever, Pinal County, Ariz., Sheriff Paul Babeu provided some evidence to the contrary when he spoke before the House Judiciary Committee on the issue of illegal immigration Tuesday.

Babeu, America’s 2011 “Sheriff of the Year” and an Iraq War veteran, testified before the committee that between 88,000 and 123,000 illegal aliens are apprehended at the Tucson Sector, one of nine border-patrol zones along the U.S.-Mexico border, each year. The Tucson Sector covers most of the state of Arizona from the New Mexico state line to the Yuma County line — a total of 262 border miles.

Between 17 and 30 percent of those apprehended have a criminal record in the U.S. “This clearly shows that the border is not more secure than ever,” Babeu said.

He also detailed how 30 to 50 illegal alien criminals are released into Pinal County every day. “These are the people that everybody, including the president, said are the bad actors,” he said. Many of those released have criminal records that include rape, manslaughter, child molestation, financial crimes, armed robbery, and assault against law enforcement.

Babeu said he has asked the federal government for more information regarding those individuals and their criminal histories, but the government refuses to give it to him. “I, as the sheriff, who swore an oath to protect the people of my county, should have a right to that information,” Babeu declared.

He stressed to committee members that the situation is so lawless in some areas of Pinal County — the number one pass through county in America for drug and human smuggling — that it often feels like a war-zone on American soil. (Read more about what Arizona sheriff said HERE)

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Two US Veterans Disappear in Mexico

By KRGV. The family of two missing veterans in Matamoros is desperate for any word of their safety.

Ernesto and Jesus Garcia were reported missing in Mexico after they did not return home on Monday. The brothers from Brownsville were visiting their grandmother.

Family said they were staying in the south-west side of the city, about 20 minutes south of Brownsville.

The family said this was a trip the brothers made often. Every few months, they would visit their family in Matamoros and check-in on their grandmother.

This trip was different because the two decided to drive home to the U.S. in the middle of the night. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Here are the Three Most Conservative States in the US

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By Frank Newport. Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana are the most right-leaning states in the union, with between 46% and 49% of residents in each identifying as politically conservative. Massachusetts, Vermont and Hawaii are the most left-leaning, with 30% of residents in each of those states identifying as liberal.

The top 10 most conservative states in 2014 are very similar to the top 10 in 2013, with the exception of Louisiana, which was not in the top 10 list in 2013, but replaced Wyoming in the top 10 this year.

The list of the top 10 most conservative states is also similar to what it was in 2008, the first year Gallup tracked ideology daily. Mississippi was the most conservative state in 2008 and remains the most conservative in 2014, with 49% of residents identifying as conservative in both years. Three states — Louisiana, Oklahoma and Montana — were not in the top 10 list in 2008 but are in 2014, while South Dakota, Wyoming and Texas dropped out of the top 10 list over the past seven years.

Eight of the top 10 most liberal states in 2014 were on the top 10 list 2013. The other two — Connecticut and Maryland — replaced Delaware and Maine, which appeared in the top 10 in 2013. The only two states in the top 10 most liberal list this year that were not in the top 10 in 2008 are Maryland and New Jersey, and in that year, they came in ranked just below the top 10.

These results are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews throughout 2014 with 177,034 U.S. adults. Gallup asks Americans if they describe their political views as very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal or very liberal. The results shown combine the two conservative and the two liberal categories. (Read more about the conservative states in the US HERE)

[Editor’s note: According to Gallup’s poll, Alaska is 21 spots from the bottom, ranking behind states like Indiana, Iowa, Virginia, Kansas and two dozen other states.]

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Tyrannical Judicial Rule Continues: Alabama Set to Be 37th State to Allow Same-Sex Couples Can Legally Marry

By Associated Press. Alabama is set Monday to become the 37th state where gays can legally wed.

An order by a federal judge that overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is to take effect Monday. The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on Alabama’s request to stay the decision, hours before courthouses were to open. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Revealed: What Obama Gave to Al Sharpton After Mandela Funeral

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When the Rev. Al Sharpton couldn’t make it to Nelson Mandela ’s funeral in South Africa, President Barack Obama brought him back a little souvenir.

The memento, a program from the funeral, hangs on a wall in Mr. Sharpton’s nondescript offices above Midtown Manhattan.

“To Rev. Sharpton,” Mr. Obama wrote. “A fellow warrior for justice!”

Much has been made of Mr. Sharpton’s reinvention, the remaking of a local, sometimes divisive activist into a polished insider with a national TV show and a direct line to the White House.

Yet, at home in New York City, as tensions simmered last year over race, police conduct, and the deaths of Eric Garner and police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, Mr. Sharpton’s new role has been tested. (Read more about what Obama gave Al Sharpton HERE)

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Social Media Blasting Texas Lawmaker After She Asks Muslims to Pledge Allegiance to US

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism Freshman Republican state representative Molly White recently wrote a Facebook post asking American Muslim visitors to her office to pledge allegiance to the United States, and now she is getting blasted on social media for it.

The Texas lawmaker wrote on Facebook Thursday:

Today is Texas Muslim Capital [sic] Day in Austin. The House is in recess until Monday. Most Members including myself are back in District. I did leave an Israeli flag on the reception desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws. We will see how long they stay in my office . . .

CAIR sent a letter to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus asking whether Rep. White had engaged in an ethics violation by asking American Muslims coming into her office to renounce terrorism and pledge allegiance to the US. The letter reads:

Our ethics question is: Has Rep. White violated any House rules in creating such an internal office policy that is selectively being enforced to discriminate against certain religious minorities trying to meet with her or her staff? Are House members prohibited from making constituents take oaths before meeting with their elected representatives or House staff? . . .

Fatima Ahmed wrote on Facebook:

You can’t seriously be this clueless. Not very ‘Christian’ of you. We should organize a group to come visit you and shower you with love in return for your hate. That’s would Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) would do. But what would you know about that. #Islamophobia #Bigotry #MollyWhite #TAKEONHATE. . .

White stood by her statement. . .

(Read more about the Texas lawmaker getting blasted on social media HERE)

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