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As Republicans Rush to Defend Trump After Indictment, This RINO Senator Stays Silent

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Republican senators quickly rushed to defend former former President Donald Trump after he was indicted for his handling of classified documents last week — or at least most of them did.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri claimed the indictment put the country’s rule of law at risk. Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said it looked like a banana republic. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said “lady justice has taken off her blindfold.”

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, stayed quiet.

“Jerry Moran won’t say much about anything,” said John Pyle, an Ellis County Republican who led an effort to censure Moran last year for supporting a bipartisan spending bill. “He doesn’t like to get in the middle of any kind of confrontation.” (Read more from “As Republicans Rush to Defend Trump After Indictment, This RINO Senator Stays Silent” HERE)

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7 Top RINO Moments of Betrayal This Week

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One of the excuses for Republicans failing to promote a conservative agenda is that “outside organizations” have unrealistic expectations of what they can accomplish when they are out of power.

That excuse comes to an end in January when Donald Trump is sworn into office with a Republican-controlled House and Senate. However, based on what we’re seeing from the lame-duck session, it is clear that the dearth of conservatism is not due to a lack of power but a lack of will. The alacrity of Republicans to promote mediocre or liberal priorities in a lame-duck session with Obama as president instead of passing a budget CR and getting out of town — so that we can do better things next year — demonstrates that they fundamentally don’t share our values.

To that end, I present a week in review in the form of the top seven RINO moments of betrayal. (Warning: John McCain, R-Ariz. (F, 32%) and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (F, 30%) are the stars of the show.)

1. Sold out to the transgender lobby

GOP leaders negotiated a conference report for the final version of the FY 2017 defense bill (NDAA). The transgender lobby pushed hard to remove a provision protecting defense contractors from Obama’s mandate forcing them to comply with his transgender policies and views on gay marriage or risk losing contracts. John McCain, as the lead Republican negotiator, agreed to take out this provision (the Russell Amendment).

Let’s get this straight: Republicans are passing an NDAA in a lame duck, which is already several months into the fiscal year, instead of waiting until early next year when we have a Republican president who could sign an NDAA with better provisions, protecting religious liberty. Remember, this is an authorization bill — not an appropriations bill — and can wait until February. Then again, the sexual identity movement tells Republicans to jump and they ask, “How high?”

Unfortunately, with leadership presenting members with a false choice of passing a defense bill with bad provisions instead of waiting, conservatives felt compelled to vote for it and so as not to appear they oppose the military. This is what leadership does to conservatives on a daily basis.

2. Jammed through 1,000-page health care spending bill

Who doesn’t want to cure cancer? Under the guise of discovering the cure to cancer, GOP leadership passed an “unpaid-for” $6.3 billion health care spending bill that threw even more money at the HHS, which already spends about $1 trillion a year on health care programs. Once again, conservative members were placed in a tough position between the false choice of either appearing to be against a cure for cancer and some good reforms or creating a lot of wasteful big government programs.

3. Funded Syrian al Qaeda in defense bill

In addition to caving on the transgender provision in the NDAA, Republicans, at the behest of John McCain, extended funding for the training and equipping of Syrian rebels through 2018! Yes, they are extending Obama’s legacy of funding Syrian Islamist groups — who call for the beheading of the troops who are training them — into Trump’s presidency. Again, why not wait until Trump becomes president and disband this harmful program? Because McCain, as you will see in a moment, loves himself some Islamist rebels.

4. Proposed an amendment to protect al Qaeda and Saudi Arabia

Obama is not the only one who mixes up enemies and allies. Just how strong is the support of John McCain and Lindsey Graham for the Syrian Islamist rebels? They proposed an amendment this week to strip out a provision from the Justice Against Sponsors of Terror Act (JASTA), which allows families of terror victims to bring civil claims against governments that fund those terrorist groups responsible.

As Patrick Poole reports, the intent behind their amendment, which comes on the heels of an intense lobbying campaign from Saudi Arabia, is “to immunize countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have funded Sunni terrorist groups in Syria — the Syrian ‘rebel’ effort that both McCain and Graham have publicly supported since 2011.” Meanwhile, as they promote Saudi Arabia and Syrian al Qaeda, McCain and Graham are publicly criticizing domestic policies of Egyptian President al-Sisi in his efforts to clamp down on the Muslim Brotherhood. Who needs Democrats when we have two of the most senior Republicans on foreign policy promoting the same dyslexic Muslim Brotherhood agenda?

5. Thom Tillis threw a tantrum over criminal justice reform

Imagine being a Republican now as we look forward to the opportunity of controlling all branches of government. There is an endless list of conservative priorities to push on social, fiscal, and national security issues, right? Well, for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-K Street), his hill to die on his promoting jail break.

This week, he threatened to retire from the Senate in 2020 unless Republicans pass criminal justice “reform.” So as a member of the Judiciary Committee, with the opportunity to focus on immigration and election fraud, which are helping create a permanent Democrat majority, he instead focuses on Soros’ number one priority: help grow the Democrat voter base?! This is a man whose priorities are already dyslexic, as he sided with the transgender lobby over his own state party. His threat to retire should actually come as welcome news to conservatives. Unfortunately, his threat is likely as real as the threat from Hollywood actors to leave the country when Trump becomes president.

6. Lindsey Graham just can’t divorce himself from amnesty

Lindsey Graham has long peddled the open borders electoral myth: Republicans cannot win elections without embracing amnesty. This election completely repudiated that premise and proved conclusively that just the opposite is true. So what is Graham’s first priority for 2017? He plans to introduce another Dream Act amnesty designed to preserve Obama’s executive amnesty! At a time when more and more young, illegal immigrants are flooding our southern border, induced precisely by these very promises of amnesty, Lindsey wants to pour gasoline on the fire.

Meanwhile, there are new reports that illegal immigrants are more successful than ever at evading apprehension at the border and that unaccompanied minors are draining our federal health care funds. Thanks Lindsey! You are just what the doctor ordered.

7. Orrin Hatch might violate his pledge and run again

Facing a competitive primary in 2012, old-bull establishment hack Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (F, 33%) pledged that this would be his final — and most conservative — term in the Senate. Well, it has been his most liberal, and he is now indicating he will break his pledge and run for another term in 2018. If re-elected, he will be 90 years-old at the end of his term. Then again, the growing fumes of more power will always get in the way of doing the right thing, turning the House of Lords into a retirement home.

With friends like these … (For more from the author of “7 Top RINO Moments of Betrayal This Week” please click HERE)

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Republicans Must Continue to Break the Status Quo

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If the past is prologue, the future of the new Republican majority may be short-lived. The GOP’s rapid return to minority status need not be, but it must learn the lessons of its past.

The numbers speak for themselves. Over the last century, the Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress 56 years to the Republicans 26. Overall, the Democrats have held at least one chamber of Congress for 74 of the past 100 years.

Looking back over the history of the Republican Party, the shining moments (and longest times in leadership) have come when it boldly took up the banner of reform rather than holding up the white flag of resignation to the status quo. During these times, the GOP faced and addressed the nation’s challenges so directly and correctly that the American people rewarded it with the opportunity to lead for years, and even decades, at a time.

Formed in 1850s, the Republican Party took on the issue of slavery, when the other two parties of the day—Democrats and Whigs—would not. The GOP succeeded not only in its initial goal of blocking the growth of slavery, but went on to preside over its ultimate demise within a little over a decade of the Party’s genesis. The majority of Americans responded to this leadership by granting Republicans control of Congress (and the Presidency with two exceptions) for the rest of the 1800s and into the early 1900s.

After losing its way briefly during the 1910s, the Republican Party grabbed on to the reform banner once again and regained control of Congress in 1919. The GOP proceeded to pass the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, and implemented policies to get the post World War I recession bound economy moving again. They cut taxes to a top rate of 25 percent and slashed the war-fattened federal budget in half. The economy roared back creating one of the greatest periods of expansion in American history with unemployment dropping from nearly 12 percent to essentially full employment. The federal government ran surpluses throughout the 1920s, and the Republicans stayed at the helm of leadership for its longest run in the past 100 years.

By the end of the decade, poor lending policies and rampant over-speculation in the stock market precipitated the crash of 1929 and subsequent Great Depression. The GOP response, unlike a decade before, was to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans (from 25 to 63 percent) and grow the size of the federal budget by over 40 percent.

The Democrats retook control of Congress and the Presidency in the elections of 1931 and ’33. They can always do big government better: i.e. promise, tax and spend more. FDR and the new Congress launched the New Deal with predictable results. Over a six-year period, the National Debt doubled while unemployment remained at a stubborn 17 percent.

The Republicans offered very little by way of an alternative vision for nearly 50 years. Then came Ronald Reagan. With unemployment, inflation and interest rates all in double-digits and the economy stagnant in the early 80s, he turned the orthodoxy of decades on its head pronouncing, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem.” His prescription: 1) Cut taxes back to nearly 1920s levels, 2) Get rid of burdensome regulations, 3) Limit the growth of federal spending.

Reagan’s long coattails carried the GOP to control of the Senate for the first time since the 1950s and brought enough new members into the House that the Reagan Revolution could go forward. The economy soared to unprecedented heights growing an entire third larger, while creating 17 million new jobs, doubling tax revenue to the Treasury, and dropping the unemployment rate to five percent.

What the Reagan Revolution began in the 1980s, the Republican Revolution carried forward in the 90s. Keeping promises made in theContract with America, the GOP passed tax cuts for working families and those who invested in the economy, welfare reform (establishing a work requirement) and limited the growth of federal spending to its lowest levels since World War II. The economy soared to even greater heights, with unemployment dropping to under 4 percent, while the federal government ran consecutive surpluses for the first time since the 1950s. The American people rewarded the GOP with control of Congress from the latter half of 90s and into the early 2000’s.

By the 2000s, the Republican Party had gone Washington. It is true the GOP enacted pro-growth tax cuts (and revenues rose to record levels), but it also increased spending more than any Congress since the 1970s. Only half of the nearly 100 percent increase in discretionary spending related to defense/security. Overall federal spending went from approximately $2 trillion in 2001 to $3 trillion per year by 2009.

Once again if the name of the game is big government, the Democrats can always do it better and took back control of Congress and the Presidency in the elections of ’06 and ’08 and gave us $1 trillion+ deficits and ObamaCare.

A majority of the American electorate have now rejected big government and given the GOP control of the Senate and the largest majority in the House since the 1920s. All eyes are now on the Republican Party. The challenges our nation faces require a bold, reform agenda: 1) Deficits still hover at a half a trillion dollars; 2) Federal entitlements in their current configuration will bankrupt the nation; 3) ObamaCare is causing inestimable harm to the nation’s healthcare system; 4) A complex tax regime pegs the United States at the highest corporate taxes in the world; and 5) Real unemployment is still in double-digits.

Will the Republican Party take up the banner of reformation and boldly face the issues of the day or wave the white flag of resignation to the status quo? The answer to this question offers the best glimpse into how long the American people will give it the privilege to lead.

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Is Alaska Republican Party Platform Being Hijacked?

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photo credit: donkeyhoteyAnchorage, AK – Restoring Liberty received word last week of an effort underway to convene a series of closed-door invitation-only meetings intended to rewrite the Alaska Republican Party Platform in order to make it “reasonable-sounding to the average voter.”

Multiple conservative leaders in Anchorage have voiced concern over the secret meetings they believe are designed to purge the platform of social conservative values.

New information lends the appearance of a coordinated effort with acting State Chair Peter Goldberg and RNC representative Mike Shirley who were carbon copied on an email outlining the agenda for the “platform workshops.”

Such a move is sure to raise tensions ahead of the Juneau Convention scheduled for early May.

Many are already upset that the left-leaning State Central Committee voted to hold the State Convention off the road system for the second time in the last four years, presumably to block participation from more conservative areas of the state. The trip to Juneau is cost prohibitive for many.

The 2008 and 2012 Conventions on the road system ended poorly for party boss Randy Ruedrich and his “moderate” friends. After narrowly escaping majority opposition led by Joe Miller and former Governor Sarah Palin who sought to remove him as party chair in 2008, Ruedrich shut down the 2012 Convention prematurely in order to avert a rules change that would have done exactly that.

A subsequent reconvene granted at the parliamentarian’s insistence that the party comply with Robert’s Rules was also shut down when the former party chair took to the public airwaves and the press to discourage participation in order to block a quorum.

Coming on the heels of media reports linking US Senate candidate Dan Sullivan to a left-leaning cabal of outside billionaires seeking to remake the Republican Party by offering amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and pushing the door open for acceptance of gay marriage, more traditional Republicans are understandably nervous.

In the email forwarded to Restoring Liberty, failed 2012 party chair candidate Bruce Schulte opined that “our platform should not be an Albatross hung around the neck of every Republican regardless of the office they seek or the makeup of their constituency.”

It also outlined a list of objectives for the re-write: including, to “make the platform more inclusive of different perspectives [and] demographics . . . more positive . . . Alaska-centric . . . [and] to avoid alienating too many people.”

Attachments were provided to guide the process, inclusive of Republican platforms from Alaska, Utah and New Mexico, as well as those of the Alaska Democrat and Libertarian platforms.

Restoring Liberty was not invited, nor are we privy to who was blind copied on the email.

Gang of 8 Senators Join With Multinational Corporations to Target Tea Party House Members Opposing Amnesty

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Photo Credit: APBy John Bresnahan, Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer. Big Business, Senate Republicans and Democrats backing immigration reform have a target in their crosshairs: House Republicans.

Senators like John McCain (R-Ariz), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with tech giants such as Microsoft, Google and Intel, and pro reform groups like FWD.us to discuss a coordinated campaign to target more than 100 House Republicans on reforming the nation’s immigration laws when they are at home in their districts over the next month, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

Graham suggested getting people to target Republicans at town hall meetings. Schumer said he wanted pastors giving sermons about the need for immigration reform.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), his former House colleague, should bring a negotiated immigration compromise to the floor even if it doesn’t have the support of the majority of Republicans, according to sources present.

McCain urged the group to push for the Senate bill by discussing its component parts — but not mentioning the overall bill. Read more from this story HERE.

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Amnesty Bill Will Put Citizens in Direct Competition With Illegal Aliens for Student Loans, Other Federal Benefits

By Aaron Klein. American citizens may soon find themselves competing with illegal aliens to secure government student loans and federal work-study assistance.

A WND review of the Senate’s immigration reform bill finds the legislation allows illegal aliens who are granted provisional status and who initially entered the United States before reaching 16 years of age to secure both federal student loans and federal work-study programs.

The provisional citizens would still need to meet the academic requirements necessary to obtain the aid.

The discovery is contrary to claims by proponents of the immigration reform bill who have repeatedly insisted the newly legalized residents will not be eligible for public funds.

The student financial assistance is not the only public benefits allowable under the legislation. Read more from this story HERE.

RINO Rove Calls a Libertarian Republican “Liberal” (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller GOP strategist Karl Rove was caught on tape blasting Michigan Rep. Justin Amash as the “most liberal Republican.”

“The most liberal Republican is Justin Amash of Michigan. Far more liberal than any other Republican,” said Rove, who served as deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush.

The man dubbed “Bush’s Brain” in a New York Times bestseller blamed Amash’s libertarian leanings for this distinction.

“And why? Because he is a 100 percent, purist libertarian,” Rove said, “and if it’s not entirely perfect, ‘I’m voting with [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi.”

Rove actually made the remarks at the Aspen Ideas Festival in late June, but journalist Andrew Kirell tweeted out the video Monday. It was subsequently picked by a libertarian blog and local media in Michigan.

Read more from this story HERE.

Amnesty-Backers Bring Bush Out of Retirement to Push for Bill

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Photo Credit: Reuters Bush says immigration reform ‘complex,’ optimistic Congress can fix ‘broken system’

By Fox News. Former President George W. Bush expressed optimism Sunday that Congress will pass immigration reform legislation, expressing disappointment that his attempt failed but suggesting the timing is now right to “fix a broken system.”

Bush, out of office since 2009, expressed understanding about why the White House and both parties in Congress have wrangled over the issue point-by-point while the rest of America waits for them to resolve the issue of roughly 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

“Sometimes, it takes time for some of these complex issues to evolve, the 67-year-old Republican said in an interview for ABC’s “This Week.” “And it looks like immigration has a chance to pass.”

Bush said immigration reform is very difficult to pass because it has “a lot of moving parts” and the legislative process “can be ugly.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APChair of House Homeland Security Committee: Senate bill throws ‘candy’ at border

By Kevin Cirilli. The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said on Sunday the Senate immigration plan just threw “a bunch of candy” at the border in order to gain votes.

“What the Senate just passed was, again, a bunch of candy thrown down there — a bunch of assets thrown down there to gain votes but without a methodical, smart border approach. We want a smart border and smart immigration plan, something that makes sense,” Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” Read more from this story HERE.

Cheney: Snowden a Traitor; Palin: Snowden not the Problem (+videos)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

‘Snowden is not the problem’ Palin says

By Breanna Deutsch and Sarah Harvard. Sarah Palin energized a group of social conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference Saturday, blasting the Obama Administration’s apparent lawlessness, calling the current state of America “Orwellian,” and urging the United States to stay out of Syria’s chaotic and brutal civil war.

In comments to the Daily Caller, the 2008 candidate for vice president also declined to join many of her fellow Republicans in condemning National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, saying the real problem was the government’s violation of Americans’ rights…

Palin appeared confident and comfortable on stage while inveighing against the NSA tracking American citizens’ phone calls, noting that domestic spying had not prevented the Boston Marathon bombings.

“Our government spied on every one of your phone calls, but they couldn’t find two pot-smoking deadbeat Bostonians with a hotline to terrorist central in Chechnya,” said the Alaska Republican, “And it’s built an apparatus to sneak into all of the good guy’s communications, but whoopsie daisy, it missed the Fort Hood mass murder of our troops despite this Islamic terrorist declaring his ideology in numerous army counseling sessions and even on his own business cards.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Cheney calls Edward Snowden ‘traitor,’ says Rand Paul wrong about surveillance

By Katie McHugh. Former Vice President Dick Cheney declared National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden ”a traitor” and questioned whether Snowden acted alone or coordinated with the Chinese government as a spy on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this weekend. The prominent hawk also pushed back against Sen. Rand Paul’s concerns about Americans’ constitutional rights.

“I’m deeply suspicious obviously because he went to China,” Cheney told host Chris Wallace. ”That’s not a place where you ordinarily want to go if you’re interested in freedom and liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.”

Cheney feared Snowden would release additional documents that could inflict harm on the U.S. while aiding China. Read more from this story HERE.

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Liberal Media (a/k/a “Establishment Media”) Continues to Hammer Snowden

In the below video, liberal Bob Schieffer on CBS’s Face the Nation strongly criticizes Snowden. Next, listen to reporter Glenn Greenwald – who broke the Snowden story – as he highlights the press’s hypocrisy on this issue.

Chris Christie the Most-Favored Republican – Among Democrats!

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

According to a newly released Gallup poll, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the most-favored Republican recent newsmaker and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the least-favored–among Democratic respondents.

The poll sought to measure the favorable/unfavorable sentiments toward five Republicans Gallup believes may run for president in 2016.

Conducted June 1-4. the survey asked: [P]lease say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people–or if you have never heard of them.” It then listed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Among Democrats, Christie had the most favorable responses. Fifty-four percent of Democrats said they had a favorable view of Christie, compared to 21 percent who had a favorable view of Rubio, 17 percent who had a favorable view of Ryan, 16 percent who had a favorable view of Paul, and 11 percent who had a favorable view of Cruz.

Read more from this story HERE.

Mark Levin Goes Off on Pro-Amnesty RINO’s Including Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, Others (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

By Jeff Poor. On his Friday radio show, conservative talker Mark Levin challenged support from for this current of immigration reform coming from prominent Republicans, particularly Jeb Bush and Karl Rove.

Levin, author of “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America,” began his attack by arguing some members of the Republican Party make policy gestures without mentioning the U.S. Constitution.

“It amazes me how few Republicans in elected office actually talk about the Constitution,” Levin said. “They have no more respect for it, no more concern about its boundaries and limits than the left. That’s why I say they’re neo-statist.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Marco Rubio: We need to legalize immigrants so they can pay for border security

By Byron York. Why is it necessary to legalize the roughly 11 million currently-illegal immigrants in the U.S. before newly enhanced border security and internal enforcement measures are in place? Sen. Marco Rubio, the leading Republican on the Senate’s Gang of Eight, says part of the reason is that the federal government can’t afford to secure the border on its own and needs financial help from the immigrants themselves, in the form of fines paid when they are legalized.

Rubio made the statement during a radio interview after he voted against an amendment from Republican Sen. Charles Grassley that would have put off legalization until after the border is secure — a position supported by majorities of voters across the political spectrum. Host Andrea Tantaros asked Rubio why he opposed something that was important “to so many in the Republican party?”

Rubio’s first reason was that the U.S. has no other choice than to legalize the 11 million. Enhancing security first would take an estimated four years, and Rubio declared, “We cannot wait another four years with 11 million people living in this country illegally without knowing who they are or why they’re here.” Read more from this story HERE.