Hillary Clinton Seen Launching Presidential Bid in April; CPAC Announces Straw Poll Results

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By Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee. Hillary Clinton and her close advisers are telling Democratic donors that she will enter the presidential race sooner than expected, likely in April, a move that would allay uncertainties within her party and allow her to rev up fundraising.

Clinton aides have spoken of the earlier timetable in private meetings, according to people engaged in recent discussions about the presumed Democratic front-runner’s emerging 2016 campaign. Many within her camp have advocated her staying out of the fray until the summer.

Jumping in sooner would help the Democratic field take shape, reassuring party leaders and donors that the former first lady, senator and secretary of state is running. A super PAC loyal to Mrs. Clinton has faced hesitation from donors who don’t want to make big pledges until she is a candidate. Such concerns would evaporate after she announces.

But Mrs. Clinton would become an even larger target for Republicans when she enters the race. She also would be pressed to opine on a raft of thorny issues in the news, including how to combat the military advances of Islamic State militants in the Middle East. (Read more about Hillary Clinton announcing her presidential bid HERE)


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CPAC Announces Official Results of Its 2015 Presidential Straw Poll

By Nick Morpus. As the Conservative Political Action Conference comes to a close, it’s time to announce the results of its annual presidential poll.

Despite recent surges of Governors Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, Senator Rand Paul has won the poll for the third year in a row:

1. Rand Paul 25.7 (31)
2. Scott Walker 21.4 (7)
3. Ted Cruz 11.5 (11)
4. Ben Carson 11.4 (9)
5. Jeb Bush 8.3 (N/A)
6. Rick Santorum 4.3 (7)
7. Marco Rubio 3.7 (6)
8. Donald Trump 3.5 (2)
9. Carly Fiorina 3.0 (N/A)
10. Chris Christie 2.8 (8)
11. Rick Perry 1.1 (3)
12. Bobby Jindal 0.9 (2)
13. Sarah Palin 0.8 (2)
14. Mike Huckabee 0.3 (2)
15. John Bolton 0.3 (N/A)
16. Lindsey Graham 0.1 (N/A)
17. George Pataki 0.1 (N/A)

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Why Didn’t NRA Head Say Anything About Amnesty Danger to Gun Rights at CPAC?

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In his speech Friday before the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre discussed a host of issues impacting gun rights, declaring they all depend on each other. Curiously absent from his speech was any acknowledgment of the danger amnesty for illegal aliens with a “pathway to citizenship” would pose to continued government recognition of the right to keep and bear arms.

That’s because credible polling confirms it would add a massive influx of new Democrat and “gun control”- sympathizing voters to the rolls. And that tracks with warnings issued by Gun Owners of America, curiously alone among national gun rights advocacy groups in sounding an alarm.

GOA has warned that the “pathway” will provide for millions of new anti-gun voters with the electoral clout to undo all hard-won legislative and judicial gains gun owners have enjoyed in recent years. That the administration is working toward that goal is corroborated by what Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, the official behind so-called “executive amnesty,” told the United Conference of Mayors, when he maintained that “the approximately 11 million people who are in the country illegally have ‘earned the right to be citizens.’”

Despite knowing this, and knowing that that one of the supposed “pro-gun Democrats” who betrayed NRA and gun owner support has openly proclaimed immigration “will decide who is in charge of this country for the next 20 or 30 years,” the NRA head talked about all kinds of other issues but didn’t breathe a word about amnesty.

LaPierre talked about threats from Russia and the Islamic State. He talked about the economy and the debt. He talked about pressures not to speak out and the loss of privacy to “Big Brother.” He talked about freedom of speech and freedom of religion. He talked about hackers and identity thieves. He talked about tracking license plates, online health histories, economic fraud, Brian Williams and the untrustworthy media. He talked about a “weaponized IRS” and “politicians … pushing nanny state social schemes.”

The closest LaPierre came to taking on illegal immigration was a reference to “terrorists crossing our borders or embedded within our communities.” But he didn’t say a thing about the electoral polar shift that will take place when the “earned citizenship” plans of Sec. Johnson, who, incidentally, was confirmed by no shortage of Republican A-raters, become a reality.

“[T]o defend firearm freedom, we need more than just firearm freedom,” LaPierre admitted, reinforcing a recent NRA advertising campaign promoting the message that all rights are connected. “One right depends on another. They’re all cut from the same cloth of what it means to be free people.”

They’re also all the proper concern of NRA, regardless of what “single issue” apologists claim either out of ignorance or when trying to deflect from what they know to be a failing. That’s because NRA’s bylaws, which are not optional, require directors and paid staff to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States [and] promote public safety, law and order, and the national defense.”

That would be the same Constitution established with the express purpose and mandate to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

“So take our country back from the liars, the cheats, the press and political elites who want to take away our ability to define our own destiny,” LaPierre concluded, never once acknowledging that others may be trying to define that destiny for us while NRA is not lifting a finger to stop it, and is instead actively empowering those taking away our control.

Without knowing why, all we can do is speculate. Perhaps LaPierre has some special knowledge that contradicts all information that’s been made public to date, and he knows amnesty will not produce the feared results. If so, it seems bewildering — if not inexcusable — that he doesn’t share such knowledge, instead of exhibiting continued deliberate indifference and a directed NRA Media blackout. Only candid assurances backed by credible and provable reasons will allay these concerns and put to rest conjecture that money and access may be the underlying reasons behind his silence.

Unfortunately, the incentive to do that does not appear competitive with keeping on doing what he’s doing. (Read more about LaPierre’s failure to address amnesty danger at CPAC HERE; from Examiner.com. Reprinted by permission of author)

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Stinging Rebuke to the Establishment: 52 House GOP Defy Boehner, Kill Amnesty-DHS Funding Bill

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Photo Credit: APThe Republican-controlled House unexpectedly rejected short-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, increasing the prospect of a partial shutdown at midnight of an agency with major anti-terrorism responsibilities.

The vote was 224-203 against the measure, as 52 Republicans defected on the leadership-backed legislation to fund DHS for three weeks. . .

You can view the final roll call vote, including who all voted for the bill, here. . .

The dispute stems from funding for President Barack Obama’s executive immigration action. The president’s first immigration directive, in 2012, lifted the threat of deportation from many immigrants brought to the country illegally as youngsters. Another order last fall applied to millions more who are in the United States unlawfully.

Referring to the immigration action, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said of the GOP leadership-backed DHS funding bill, “It does not make any difference whether the funding is for three weeks, three months or a full fiscal year. If it’s illegal, it’s illegal.” (Read more from “House GOP Defy Boehner” HERE)

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UPDATE: Stopgap One Week DHS Funding Bill Passed by House

By Todd Beamon. The House of Representatives passed legislation late Friday to fund the Homeland Security Department for one week with just two hours before a midnight deadline, but Rep. Matt Salmon was not one of those who supported the measure.

“Passing bills that do nothing but kick the can down the road is something that has become commonplace in Washington,” the Arizona Republican said after the vote. “I pledge to continue this fight in one week, so we can responsibly fund the Department of Homeland Security without funding the president’s unconstitutional actions.”

GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, however, voted for the measure because “we do not want to send the message to our enemies that we’re going to close down Homeland Security.

“We do want to send the message that we are going to be diligent — and we’re going to make sure that when we do the job, the job is done right,” she told Newsmax.

The two Republicans were on opposite sides of a 357-60 vote in the House on a one-week stopgap spending bill to fund Homeland Security. The move came with just hours to spare before a midnight deadline that would have shut down portions of the agency. (Read more from this story HERE)

Laura Ingraham Rips Apart Bush Family Before Jeb’s Speech at CPAC; Later, Jeb Bush Booed

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One of America’s most prominent conservative commentators took the stage at a massive gathering of Republican voters — and used the platform to tear down a GOP frontrunner.

“How many of you guys are skeptical of another Bush term?” Laura Ingraham asked the crowd at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference Friday morning, eliciting cheers from her audience.

She spent the next 20 minutes tearing apart the “elites” that she said have propelled former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to the forefront of the Republicans’ 2016 presidential pool.

“Why don’t we just call it quits, Jeb and Hillary [Clinton] can run on the same ticket,” Ingraham said, rattling off the similarities between the Democratic frontrunner and Bush.

Saying the candidates agree on everything from Common Core to widespread surveillance, Ingraham proposed a slogan for the bipartisan ticket: “Clush 2016: What difference does it make?” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Jeb Bush Booed at CPAC

When Fox News’ Sean Hannity took the stage at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference, he had a question for the audience: “Who are you excited about?”

. . . At the mention of Dr. Ben Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and dark horse candidate Carly Fiorina, the audience clapped.

But the clear winners were Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both of whose name’s elicited massive cheers.

A few candidates, on the other hand, were shunned by the CPAC crowd.

At the mention of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the clapping of supporters was drowned out by the boos of those opposed. (Read more from “Jeb Bush Booed at CPAC” HERE)

Anti-Corruption Gubernatorial Candidate Found Dead After Scheduling Interview About GOP Head

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Missouri’s auditor, who fatally shot himself in an apparent suicide, had vowed to take down the state’s most powerful politicians and donors, including his fellow Republicans, when he launched an anti-corruption campaign for governor last month. . .

Announcing his candidacy last month, Schweich had vowed to bring a never-before-seen “level of intensity, tenacity, transparency, and rigor” in a quest to root out “rampant corruption in Jefferson City” . . .

He took specific aim at the state’s top political donor, retired investment mogul Rex Sinquefield, who largely bankrolled the campaign of his GOP gubernatorial rival Catherine Hanaway, a former state House speaker and federal prosecutor.

Schweich said the $900,000 Hanaway accepted from her “billionaire patron” made her “bought and paid for” by Sinquefield, who employs an “army of mercenaries” to exert his influence over elected officials.

“Nothing is too dishonest for them, and apparently nothing is too petty for them, either,” Schweich said last month. “It’s corrupt, and there’s a lot more corruption going on in that camp that we’ll be talking about in the days to come.” (Read more from “Gubernatorial Candidate Found Dead” HERE)

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Gubernatorial Candidate’s Death an “Apparent Suicide,” Leaves Behind Wife, Children

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich, who had recently launched a Republican campaign for governor, fatally shot himself Thursday in what police described as an “apparent suicide,” minutes after inviting reporters to his suburban St. Louis home for an interview.

Schweich’s death stunned many of Missouri’s top elected officials, who described him as a “brilliant” and “devoted” public servant with an “unblemished record” in office. Just 13 minutes before police got an emergency call from his home, Schweich had a phone conversation with The Associated Press about his plans to go public that afternoon with allegations that the head of the Missouri Republican Party had made anti-Semitic comments about him.

The state GOP chairman denied doing so in an interview later Thursday. (Read more from this story HERE)

Federal Government Starving California Farmers of Water, Driving Families into Bankruptcy

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By Jim Carlton. California farmers face being cut off from federal water imports for the second straight year, in an unprecedented move likely to worsen crop losses in the nation’s biggest agricultural state. . .

Farmers, meanwhile, say they will have to continue to fallow fields and take other cost-cutting measures as they try to wait out a drought they say has been worsened by federal regulatory restrictions on how water is allocated. . .

In 2014, the state’s agriculture economy lost more than $2.2 billion and more than 17,000 jobs as farmers fallowed nearly a half million acres of fields, according to estimates last year by the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. Barring an unforeseen deluge, the losses this year are expected to be “a bit more” than that, said Jay Lund, the center’s director. . .

One of the hardest hit areas again will likely be the Westlands Water District in the southern part of the Central Valley, which gets all of its imported water supplies from the Central Valley Project. After 220,000 of the district’s 614,000 acres were fallowed last year, spokeswoman Gayle Holman said “expect the same or more” for the current year. (Read more from “Feds Starving California Farmers of Water” HERE).

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Wildlife Refuges, Endangered Species Get Federal Water before California Farmers

By FENIT NIRAPPIL. When planning deliveries, the federal government has mandatory obligations to farms and communities holding senior water rights, including the city of Sacramento, and wildlife refuges protected by federal law to restore fish habitats, said Ron Milligan, a Central Valley Project operations manager.

Agriculture ends up bearing much of federal water cuts during dry periods. Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley only received 10 percent of their requested amounts in 2009 and 20 percent in 2013. Two consecutive years of no allocations is unprecedented.

Farmers are instead turning to storage supplies and pumping from largely unregulated groundwater wells that are quickly being depleted.

Paul Betancourt spent $40,000 to renovate wells on his 765-acre west Fresno County farm, where his family grows cotton, almonds, wheat and onions. He can keep watering his crops this year but says groundwater isn’t a long-term solution . . .

Some communities and endangered wildlife that rely on federal water will receive some water but still suffer cuts. Urban areas, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento area, will receive a quarter of typical water allotments but could receive more if public health is threatened. (Read more from this story HERE)

Franklin Graham Claims Washington DC Infiltrated by Muslims [+video]

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Photo Credit: APBy Tracy Walsh. The Rev. Franklin Graham warned Fox News viewers on Thursday night that governments in the West, “especially in Washington,” have been “infiltrated by Muslims.”

Graham, the son of the evangelist preacher Rev. Billy Graham and president of the group named after him, was responding to a question from Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s about why the world “will not unite to stop” the Islamic State terrorist group. . .

“One of the problems we have in the West is that our governments, especially in Washington, has been infiltrated by Muslims who are advising the White House, who I think are part of the problem,” Graham said. “And we see this also in Western Europe. They have gotten into the halls of power.”

(Read more from “DC Infiltrated by Muslims” HERE)
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Pentagon Decides Not to Attack ISIS

By Nancy Youssef. The U.S. military’s goal to retake Iraq’s second largest city from the self-proclaimed Islamic State has been pushed back several months at least, defense officials told The Daily Beast. That’s a major shift for the Pentagon, which recently announced that the first major ground offensive in the war against ISIS could come in the next few weeks.

Defense officials once hoped that Iraqi troops could move into Mosul by the Spring and reclaim the city from ISIS. Now, those officials say, Fall is more realistic. And even that date was tenuous.

“It is an Iraqi decision but we don’t want to do anything until they are ready and can win decisively,” a military official explained to the Daily Beast. “They cannot now.”

It’s another sign that the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS isn’t going nearly as smoothly as the American government had hoped. At the Pentagon Friday, Defense Department spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby shied away from any kind of timeline, saying: “I can’t put a date certain…nor say April is out.” (Read more from this story HERE)

Republican Helping Push Bill to Give Obama’s AG Power to Block Gun Sales

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Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPABy Pete Kasperowicz. More than two dozen Democrats in the House and Senate — and one Republican — want to give the U.S. attorney general the power to block the sale of guns and explosives to known terrorists, and also to anyone who is “appropriately suspected” of being a terrorist.

The Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act was introduced this week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). They say it makes no sense that people on the terrorist watch list are prohibited from boarding airplanes in the United States, but are still free to buy guns and explosives.

“Federal law already prohibits nine categories of dangerous persons from purchasing or possessing firearms, including the mentally ill and criminals,” said King. “Yet, after almost 14 years, we still allow suspected terrorists the ability to purchase firearms. It’s time for common sense to prevail before it’s too late.”

Feinstein and King noted that according to GAO, people on the terrorist watch list who tried to buy a weapon in 2013 and 2014 were successful about 93 percent of the time.

But it seems unlikely that a GOP-led House and Senate will agree to give the attorney general the power to stop gun sales, especially with President Barack Obama still in office for the next two years. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Anti-Gun Republican: “I’ve Had It with This Self-Righteous, Delusional Wing of the GOP”

By Josh Feldman. Republican Congressman Peter King said today that he’s incredibly frustrated with the “self-righteous, delusional” wing of his party that may shut down the Department of Homeland Security because they’re “obsessed” with stopping President Obama‘s immigration action. King appeared on MSNBC’s online platform Shift to tell Luke Russert that while he also has serious problems with the immigration action too, the GOP shouldn’t be playing politics on a life-or-death issue like this.

King said (hours earlier, before the initial failed House vote tonight on DHS funding) conservatives are fighting a losing battle and “putting people’s lives at risk” for an issue where they gain nothing. He explained that in conference, he said, “I’ve head it with this self-righteous, delusional wing of the party.” (Read more from this story HERE)

In Face of Massive Backlash, Google Reverses Anti-Porn Policy

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Apparently Google bloggers like to post porn. A lot.

Just three days after saying sexually explicit material would be banned from public Blogger forum sites, Google is backing down. Faced with “a ton of feedback,” Google said Friday that it instead will “step up enforcement” against commercial and illegal porn. . .

On Tuesday, Google warned Bloggers that effective March 23 any site hosting nude pictures would be switched to private mode — only available to the authors and invited viewers. That ban came the same day that social forum and news site Reddit said it would remove explicit photos, videos and links if the person pictured hadn’t consented to the image being posted.

In an online post Friday, Google’s Blogger said longtime users thought it was unfair to suddenly change the policy. The company also was swayed by users who say posting sexually explicit content is part of expressing their identities. (Read more from “Google Reverse Anti-Porn Policy” HERE)

School Prepares to Terminate Teacher for Facebook Post Opposing Common Core Curriculum

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Deborah Vailes has been teaching junior high in Louisiana’s Rapides Parish School District for the past twelve years. She is passionate about helping special needs children become better readers. Little did she know that an early morning post critical of the Common Core Curriculum on her personal Facebook page would lead to disciplinary action, suppression of her right to free speech, retaliation from school officials, and possible loss of her job.

As a result, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, [yesterday] morning, filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on behalf of Deborah Vailes against the Rapides Parish School District and the principal of Pineville Junior High School, Dr. Dana Nolan.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commenting on the reason for the lawsuit, stated: “Public school students have become ‘guinea pigs’ in a vast untested educational experiment dictated by the Federal Government. Our Constitution never envisioned federal control over education. But sadly, most states have voluntarily abdicated their responsibilities over education for federal dollars. Their decision will prove disastrous, not only for public education, but also for the freedom guaranteed by our Constitution. Debbie Vailes’ uncompromising love for her students prompted her to speak out. And her voice should not be silenced by a tyrannical principal.”

Facts

On September 23, 2014, at approximately by 5:58 AM, Debora Vailes re-posted on her personal Facebook page a photograph of a little girl crying because of the shortcomings of Common Core. Later that day, her school principal, Dr. Dana Nolan, after discovering the post, gave Deborah Vailes her first written reprimand and ordered her to refrain from expressing any opinion about public education on social media and to remove her anti-Common Core post from the social media site – ASAP. (The school district refers to written reprimands as a “documented conferences.”) Dr. Nolan further informed Deborah that she could not to discuss her opinion in public – on any social media or any public forum.

Two days later, Dr. Nolan held a mandatory faculty meeting of the Pineville Junior high school. She informed the faculty at the meeting that Deborah Vailes was reprimanded due to posting a negative opinion about Common Core on Facebook. Dr. Nolan warned the faculty not to share their personal opinions or speak-out in any way. After hearing about the Principal’s gag order, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, issued an executive order that teachers were to be afforded the same constitutional guarantees afforded to all citizens. However, his executive order did not deter the Defendant, Dr. Nolan, from continuing her vendetta against Deborah Vailes.

Before Vailes posted her Facebook criticism of Common Core, she had a stellar personnel record; she had never received a reprimand. Since her public criticism, she has received three additional written reprimands. School administrators are now constantly visiting her class, when before her criticism of Common Core, such visits were rare. Dr. Nolan has stripped Debbie Vailes of her responsibilities, and placed her in a job category which, according to Vailes’ colleagues, will be eliminated at the end of the school year resulting in her termination.

TMLC Senior Trial Counsel Erin Mersino and Alexandria, Louisiana attorney, Theodore D. Vicknair are representing Deborah Vailes. Mersino stated “Accepting employment in the public sector does not mean a total loss of First Amendment freedom. Public employees may readily comment on matters of public concern, such as the Common Core Curriculum, and do so free from any retaliation from their employer. What the School District and Principal are doing to Debbie Vailes is blatantly wrong.”

Click here to read TMLC’s entire Complaint

Difficulties with Common Core State Standards

Common Core State Standards (“Common Core”) are national standards in education promoted and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers together established Common Core as a set of academic standards to be used in common across all states. These standards replace the existing state standards in the applicable academic areas.

Although Common Core has been adopted by 43 states (including Louisiana), its implementation has caused an uproar from caring parents, grandparents and educators alike. According to an October 2014 Gallup poll, 62% of teachers are frustrated with the Common Core State Standards.

Adding to the frustration is the fact that the Common Core Standards were untested prior to their implementation. They were implemented without any prior research being conducted on their efficacy, resulting in standards that at best reflect guesswork. Many child development experts have decried even the creation of the standards without input from classroom teachers or early childhood professionals.

Compounding the anger over the standards themselves was the overwhelming emphasis on standardized testing. The Common Core State Standards require so much testing, that teachers can only teach to the test.

Moreover, Common Core’s method for teaching math over-complicates and adds numerous seemingly illogical steps to solving math problems.

Many parents and teachers have also expressed concern over the English Standards set by the Common Core. The reading selections considered to be representative examples of what students should be reading, feature incest, rape and drug use, as well as far left political viewpoints. (Read more about the Common Core Curriculum HERE)

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