Poll: See Who Was Voted the Least Effective Secretary of State in 50 Years

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John Kerry has been named by American academics as the least effective secretary of state in the past 50 years, a new survey finds.

The survey, conducted by Foreign Policy Magazine, polled professors at the top 25 foreign policy schools across the country.

Henry Kissinger, who served in the role under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, topped the list, scoring 32.21 percent, which is “extraordinary in such a large field,” according to Washington Post political bloggers Al Kamen and Colby Itkowitz . . .

After Baker come Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton (8.70 percent); George Shultz (5.65 percent); Dean Rusk, who served in the Kennedy-Johnson years, and came in seventh at 3.51 percent; Warren Christopher and Cyrus Vance (1.53 percent); Colin Powell (1.07 percent); Condoleezza Rice (0.46 percent); and Lawrence Eagleburger with only 0.31 percent.

Kerry is “dead last” on this list, Kamen and Itkowitz wrote. He got a total of two votes of the 660 scholars who responded and actually tied with Eagleburger’s 0.31 percent, the magazine lists him at 13th. (Read more about the least effective secretary of state HERE)

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More Students Post Photos of Disgusting School Lunches From Michelle Obama

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She has come under fire for the ‘shortcomings’ of her Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act scheme.

Now, more students and parents have posted photos of Michelle Obama’s ‘measly’ school lunches.

The images, which were all posted on Twitter with the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama, range from a slice of moldy salami in a wrap and a green hotdog to a small portion of salad with a side of cheese.

Photo Credit: Twitter

They come as the School Nutrition Association has called on Congress to amend the First Lady’s school meal restrictions, which have led to ‘1.4million fewer children choosing school lunch each day’ . . .

In the recent batch of photos, one female student tweeted a photo of a slice of moldy salami and another piece of meat in a wrap, with the caption: ‘Had a yummy lunch today guys! Salami and mold. (Read more about the disgusting school lunches HERE)

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IRS Knowingly Hired, Rehired Tax Cheats, Employees With ‘Performance’ Issues

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Photo Credit: Washington Times By Stephen Dinan. The IRS rehired hundreds of employees who had prior records of bad performance at the agency, including 141 former workers who had botched their own tax returns and others who had used their positions to peek at private tax information, the agency’s inspector general said in a report released Thursday.

Five IRS employees were rehired even though the agency knew they had intentionally failed to file their taxes within the last two years, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said. Of the employees with prior problems, nearly 20 percent of them had more problems after they were rehired.

In another instance, an employee who has taken eight weeks of unauthorized vacation and whose previous manager had written a note explicitly stating “do not rehire,” was nonetheless rehired.

“Rehiring prior employees with known conduct and performance issues presents increased risk to the IRS and taxpayers,” Mr. George said.

Most rehired employees don’t have any problems, and the IRS does a good job of weeding out those with criminal records or history of drug use, but the agency doesn’t give much credence to the workers’ rule-breaking during their previous stints at the IRS. (Read more about how the IRS rehired tax cheats HERE)

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IRS Took Cash, Asked Questions Later

By Robert O’ Harrow Jr. The Internal Revenue Service has routinely seized bank accounts from individuals in recent years without proof of criminal wrongdoing — and only then asked the account owners about allegations of suspicious activity.

From 2005 to 2012, the IRS took almost a quarter-billion dollars in more than 2,500 cases, using authorities under federal asset forfeiture law. That’s the finding of a new study by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning civil liberties group. The group’s study, “Seize First, Question Later,” focuses on IRS enforcement of a law that prohibits “structuring,” a type of banking activity intended to launder ill-gotten money or hide the source of funds.

Civil asset forfeiture efforts by local, state and federal authorities have come under fire in recent months. Critics across the political spectrum say that civil seizures are often unfair and an abuse of police power. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Totalitarian Push for Universal Vaccinations Developing, Dems Leading the Way

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Less than one day after a prominent doctor warned that a totalitarian push for universal vaccination might be developing, California Democrat Sens. Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein began calling for exactly what the medical expert feared.

At the same time, California lawmakers are moving to force parents to vaccinate their children – even if the families object to immunizations on religious grounds. A bill taken up by the state’s senate would allow parents to decline the vaccines only if immunizations pose a medical threat to children with conditions such as allergic responses or weak immune systems.

“While a small number of children cannot be vaccinated due to an underlying medical condition, we believe there should be no such thing as a philosophical or personal belief exemption, since everyone uses public spaces,” California’s Democrat senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, wrote in a letter to state Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley Wednesday.

“As we have learned in the past month, parents who refuse to vaccinate their children not only put their own family at risk, but they also endanger other families who choose to vaccinate.”

Meanwhile, California state Sen. Ben Allen announced he is co-sponsoring legislation with fellow Democrat Richard Pan to end parents’ rights to exempt their children. Gov. Jerry Brown has signaled his support for the legislation, even though he preserved religious exemptions to state vaccination requirements in 2012. (Read more about the push for universal vaccinations HERE)

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After State University Hired Terrorists Three Times, Legislators Finally Had Enough

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Photo Credit: FlickrAfter the University of Illinois hired convicted terrorists – three times – State Rep. Charles Meier authored House Bill 150 to order public university decision-makers to stop using taxpayer funds to hire convicted terrorists.

So far, the University system has hired, then fired, then rehired, convicted terrorist killer and kidnapper James Kilgore of Symbionese Liberation Army infamy.

After kidnapping heiress Patty Hearst, helping to kill an Oakland, California, school superintendent and taking part in a bank robbery that left a mother of four dead, Kilgore changed his name and got out of the country . . .

UI also hired Bill Ayers, who admitted leading a band of Weather Underground terrorists responsible for the 1970s bombings of the U.S. Capitol, the NYPD, and the Pentagon.

Ayers and the Weather Underground inspired a bomb making spree, which caused the deaths of three of his co-conspirators, who had planned to use their homemade nail bombs to attack a dance for soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He’s now retired from the University. (Read more from “University Hired Terrorists” HERE)

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This Open Letter By Hollywood Leftists Should Worry Hillary Clinton

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By Norvell Rose. If Hillary Clinton is thinking she’ll collect a lot of Hollywood cash for her 2016 campaign coffers, she may want to think again…and start some serious outreach to left-coast lefties who are already looking beyond the former first lady to another potential female candidate.

As writer Robert Laurie points out on Herman Cain’s website, a whole lot of movie and TV stars and entertainment industry luminaries have signed an open letter to Elizabeth Warren, virtually begging the Massachusetts senator to enter the race for president.

Calling themselves “Artists for Warren,” these 90 celebs put their names to the plea for the ultra-liberal lawmaker to “stand up for working families and take on the Wall Street banks and special interests that broke our economy.”

The open letter with the heading “Run Warren Run” refers time and again to “big corporations,” “corporate interests” and the “big banks” aligned with greedy Wall Street fat cats — pleading for a champion “who stands up for the people.”

Of course, one might find it more than a tad ironic that these Hollywood types — many of whom make many times the average wage of the average American — see fit to slam the system that has made them part of the “wealthiest 1%” they so harshly criticize. It would seem these stars want to bring down the kind of capitalism in which they, themselves, thrive. (Read more about the signatures from the Hollywood leftists HERE)

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Top White House Official to Leave to Join Hillary Clinton’s Possible 2016 Run

By Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee. Another top aide to President Barack Obama will be leaving the White House to join Hillary Clinton ’s would-be presidential campaign, people familiar with the matter say, the latest example of the two major camps within the Democratic Party coalescing behind the former Secretary of State’s likely candidacy.

Jennifer Palmieri will leave her job as White House communications director for a comparable role with Mrs. Clinton, these people said.

The move locks in place another top position on Mrs. Clinton’s campaign team, should she choose to run.

Ms. Palmieri has connections to both the Obama and Clinton worlds, having worked in Bill Clinton ’s White House in the 1990s. She is also close to another figure who bridges both the Obama and Clinton worlds: John Podesta.

Mr. Podesta is currently a senior adviser to the president. He is due to leave the White House this month and to later join the Clinton team, perhaps in the role of campaign chairman, people familiar with events have said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Feds Threaten Local Law Enforcement: Support Obama’s Illegal Amnesty or Lose Funding

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism According to a Facebook post by one Colorado sheriff, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is taking a personal interest in making sure authorities across the nation fall in line with the Obama administration’s immigration policy. Scroll down to see the full post.

Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith reported receiving a “very interesting veiled threat” from Johnson, which he said was addressed to “all police chiefs and sheriffs around the country.”

Within the correspondence, Smith explained, was a promise that “local and state public safety agencies would not receive federal grants they were counting on” if legislators do not endorse the DHS funding bill Obama supports

After Obama’s executive action regarding immigration – a move that erases the threat of deportation for millions of illegals currently in the U.S. – was issued late last year, Republicans in Congress have characterized the order as a back door amnesty. Smith reports that the administration is now attempting to co-opt law enforcement agencies to plead Obama’s case before local lawmakers under threat of severe budget cuts.

“Let me get this straight,” he wrote in the Facebook post, “—the president believes he has the authority to nullify federal laws that don’t serve his personal agenda, but if Congress dares to exercise it’s [sic] responsibility of controlling the purse strings, he will willingly hold public safety grants hostage just to get his way?” (Read more about “Feds Threaten Local Law Enforcement” HERE)

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After a Drudge Report Poll, it’s Clear Who People Want for 2016 GOP Presidential Candidate

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By Jason Howerton. After more than 315,000 votes were cast in an online poll on the Drudge Report, the undisputed frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker . . .

The other dozen possible candidates included, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Huckabee, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rick Santorum, Donald Trump, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Photo Credit: The Blaze

(Read more about the poll winner for the 2016 GOP presidential candidate HERE)
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Scott Walker Working to Harness Worldwide Donor Network for 2016 Run

By Matea Gold. It was not yet 8 a.m. on a recent Sunday morning, but a crowd of heavyweight GOP donors was gathered on the back patio of Carl and Jimmy Westcott’s desert vacation home to hear from Scott Walker.

The eager reception for the Wisconsin governor and likely presidential candidate — who picked up a $100,000 check on the spot from one person at the Indian Wells, Calif., event — was repeated as he hopscotched across the country last week in the first fundraising tour for his new political committee.

In the intense jockeying to win the 2016 money primary, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are moving aggressively to lock down financial backers nationwide. On their heels is Walker, who has a 50-state network of wealthy contributors and small donors far more expansive than might be expected for a Midwestern governor and former Milwaukee county executive.

Walker’s thick donor file is the byproduct of a contentious effort to recall the governor in 2012 after he pushed through a law curtailing collective-bargaining rights for many public employees. (Read more from this story HERE)

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White House Refusing to Reveal Who Attended Obama’s Secret Meeting With Muslim Leaders

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President Obama met with American Muslim leaders [yesterday] afternoon, according to the White House schedule, but so far the administration is unwilling to reveal who attended the meeting, which was closed to the press.

The White House released a readout of the meeting explaining that Obama discussed “a range of domestic and foreign policy issues” including Obamacare, police fairness, anti-Muslim discrimination, and the upcoming Summit on Countering Violence Extremism.

“The President discussed the need to continue countering ISIL and other groups that commit horrific acts of violence, purportedly in the name of Islam,” the readout continued.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest defended the meeting during his daily press briefing, pointing out that it wasn’t “unusual” for the president to meet with “a wide variety of communities from across the country.” (Read more about the meeting with Muslim leaders HERE)

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Columbine Massacre Survivor Introducing Bill to End Gun-Free School Zones

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Photo Credit: Townhall Colorado State Rep. Patrick Neville (R-Castle Rock) was a student at Columbine High School in 1999, when two of his classmates brought guns to school and went on a rampage, killing 12 students and one teacher, and injuring another 24. He’s now proposing a bill that would allow people with a permit to carry a concealed weapon on school property.

Currently, thanks to the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, otherwise law-abiding gun owners and concealed-carry permit holders are unable to carry in a school zone. Since the act was passed, nine of the top ten deadliest school shootings have occurred.

“This bill will allow honest law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm for protection if they choose to,” Neville said in a news release. “But most importantly, it will give them the right to be equipped to defend our children from the most dangerous situations.”

He is sponsoring the bill with his father, Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton. The family is known for its support for fewer gun restrictions . . .

According to polls, while roughly half of Coloradans are okay with the idea of teachers being armed, they’re divided as to if this is the best strategy to protect students. Thirty-eight percent of Coloradans feel metal detectors are the best way to protect schools, while 30 percent prefer arming teachers and 21 percent want stricter gun control laws. (Read more about the bill the Columbine Massacre survivor is introducing HERE)

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