text:
Posts tagged 'ted cruz'
California Would Disbar Ted Cruz And 18 Attorneys General If It Could
Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/27/california-state-bar-would-disbar-ted-cruz-and-18-attorneys-general-if-it-could/
This is what happens when state bars use disciplinary proceedings to conduct lawfare against political opponents.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and the attorneys general from 17 additional states should all be disbarred, according to the reasoning of the disciplinary complaint the State Bar of California filed Thursday against former Trump campaign attorney John Eastman. That detail is one of many buried in the 35-page, 11-count disciplinary complaint made public yesterday in the latest lawfare attack on attorneys who deigned to represent Donald Trump.
State Bar of California's Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona announced on Thursday the filing of disciplinary charges against Eastman, allegedly arising from Eastman's engagement "in a course of conduct to plan, promote, and assist then-President Trump in executing a strategy, unsupported by facts or law, to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by obstructing the count of electoral votes of certain states." The press release announcing the disciplinary charges further claimed that Eastman "made false and misleading statements regarding purported election fraud," that provoked a crowd into assaulting and breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The 11 charges against Eastman prove troubling throughout, with the State Bar of California proposing to discipline Eastman for presenting legal analyses to his client, Trump, and for speaking publicly on his views about the election, with the bar even attempting to hold Eastman responsible any violence that occurred on Jan. 6. The disciplinary complaint also misrepresents numerous arguments Eastman and others made concerning the 2020 election, falsely equating claims of violations of election law with fraud.
But it is count two of the disciplinary complaint, charging Eastman with "seeking to mislead a court," that exposes the California State Bar as a kangaroo court.
"On or about December 7, 2020, the State of Texas filed a Motion for Leave to File Bill of Complaint in the United States Supreme Court, initiating the lawsuit Texas v. Pennsylvania," begins count two of the complaint against Eastman. The complaint then explains that in that lawsuit, Texas argued the defendant states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin "usurp[ed] their legislatures' authority and unconstitutionally revised their States' election statutes." As a remedy, Texas sought an order from the Supreme Court to "enjoin the use of unlawful election results without review and ratification by the Defendant States' legislatures and remand to the Defendant States' respective legislatures to appoint Presidential Electors in a manner consistent with the Electors Clause."
Eastman, on behalf of then-President Trump, sought to intervene in the Texas v. Pennsylvania case, and in that motion, Eastman "expressly adopted the allegations contained in the Motion for Leave to File Bill of Complaint filed by Texas." In adopting the allegations Texas made, Eastman, according to the California State Bar, "misl[ed] the Supreme Court by an artifice or false statement of fact or law," in violation of California's "Business and Professions Code" that governs attorneys' conduct in the Golden State.
Under the California State Bar's reasoning, then, Texas' attorney general who filed the motion likewise "misled" the U.S. Supreme Court, as did the attorneys general of the 17 other states that supported Texas' motion for leave to file a bill of complaint. So too would have Sen. Ted Cruz, had the Supreme Court agreed to hear the motion, as he had agreed to argue the case on Trump's behalf in that circumstance.
While count two represents but one of the 11 distinct charges levied against Eastman, it most clearly exposes the logical conclusion reached when state bars use disciplinary proceedings to conduct lawfare against political opponents.
To date, the bars have limited themselves to targeting just a few attorneys working for Trump, with the D.C. Bar pursuing Rudy Giuliani and Jeff Clark, in addition to the California State Bar's attack on Eastman. But there is no limiting principle to prevent the bars in other states from pursuing any politician with a law license who happens to represent the wrong person.
That is an extremely dangerous precedent, which is why tomorrow at a press conference called by Eastman's legal team, some big legal names will condemn the move. The hastily called conference is expected to bring together former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III and John Yoo, a current professor of law at the University of California-Berkley, former general counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and former deputy assistant attorney general. Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and former California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, among others, are also expected at the conference.
Whether the legacy media will cover Eastman's detailed response to the State Bar of California's disciplinary complaint or bother to report on his press conference remains to be seen. But if Cruz and the attorneys general impugned by the California State Bar speak out, the corrupt press may not have any choice but to report on the ridiculous theories underlying the disciplinary attacks on Eastman.
attorneys general
JOHN EASTMAN
Ken Paxton
McConnell Wins Senate GOP Leadership Vote After Rick Scott Challenge
By: ARJUN SINGH, CONTRIBUTOR | November 16, 2022
Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2022/11/16/mcconnell-wins-senate-gop-leadership-vote-after-rick-scott-challenge/
Bill Clark/Getty Images
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has been reelected the Leader of the Senate Republican Conference after a last-minute challenge from his colleague, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, on Wednesday. McConnell won the support of 37 members of the conference to continue as leader of the Senate GOP, a role he has held since 2007. He will continue as the Senate Minority Leader in the 118th Congress after Republicans failed to oust Democrats from the Senate majority in this year's midterm elections.
McConnell had been challenged by Sen. Rick Scott, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, for the job after Scott announced on Tuesday, during a luncheon with other GOP Senators, that he would do so. The move, part of a long-running feud between Scott and McConnell, caught many members of the conference by surprise.
Rick Scott spent approximately $200 million of his own money to beat Bill Nelson by approximately 10,000 votes in 2018 & just got defeated 37-10 by McConnell to lead Senate Minority. Trump supported Scott
— Daniel Uhlfelder (@DWUhlfelderLaw) November 16, 2022
The McConnell-Scott feud stems from a dispute over the funding of battleground Senate candidates in this year's midterm election. McConnell's affiliated Super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), raised and spent over $250 million this electoral cycle to elect Republicans, and was the top outside spender (i.e., not contributing directly to candidate committees, but spending independently to influence the race) on Senate elections in the United States. The SLF withdrew funding from Republican Senate candidates in New Hampshire and Arizona, which were widely seen as critical-to-win races for the GOP to gain a majority in the Senate. Both Republican candidates, Blake Masters in Arizona and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, lost to Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Maggie Hassan even as pre-election polls showed them in close races. The SLF also spent significant amounts of money in Alaska, seeking to defend Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a close McConnell ally who was being challenged by Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka in the general election under the state's new Ranked Choice Voting system. Tshibaka and the Alaska Republican Party later criticized the SLF for wasting resources on opposing her candidacy.
McConnell had openly mused that "there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate," in an appearance in Kentucky in August, which was widely reported. He lamented that "candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome," which was interpreted as criticism of former President Donald Trump, who endorsed candidates who won GOP Senate primaries in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada yet, later, lost the general election. Shortly after McConnell's comments, Scott acknowledged in an interview with Politico that he had a "strategic disagreement" with McConnell about funding races, and later implicitly criticized him for "treasonous…trash-talking our Republican candidates" in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner.
Scott's bid to become Senate Republicans' leader had been endorsed by Republican Sens. Mike Braun of Indiana and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, while Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said that he does not support McConnell's continuance in office, though he didn't expressly endorse Scott. Other GOP Senators, such as Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, had called for the vote to be delayed until after Georgia's Senate runoff election.
McConnell and Scott's offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
senate leadership fund
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Ted Cruz Introduces Legislation to Redirect Unspent COVID-Relief Funds to School Security
By HENRY RODGERS, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT | July 22, 2022
Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2022/07/22/ted-cruz-legislation-prevent-school-based-violence-covid-money-randy-weber/
Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation Friday that would use COVID-19 education-related funding to improve the security at schools across the U.S. The legislation, first obtained by the Daily Caller, is titled the Protect Our Children's Schools Act and is a Senate companion to legislation introduced by Republican Texas Rep. Randy Weber. The bill would allow schools to use unspent previously appropriated Federal COVID-19 education-related funding to improve school security. The bill requires the Department of Education to make all un-obligated federal COVID relief funds that are available to the secretary of education for school safety purposes. As of May 2022, states have not spent the majority of their relief funding. Cruz's legislation would try to improve school security in K-12 elementary and secondary schools.
"Far too many atrocities have been committed at schools in Texas and across our nation. Increasing school safety is of paramount importance. The excess and unused monies given to schools to address the coronavirus should be used to keep our kids safe from monsters in their communities, and our bill would make sure local schools can use these funds to address their specific security needs," Cruz told the Daily Caller before introducing the legislation.
"It's teachers and local education officials who know best what their schools need, and how to use funds to keep our kids safe when they go to school," Cruz added. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Roger Williams Calls On Pelosi To Pass School Security Bill, Forget 'Partisan Gun-Control Package')
READ THE BILL HERE:
https://www.scribd.com/embeds/583674164/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-xDR09IqgY4YiX0eQcE5W
"My district knows too well that evil people do evil things, and we know the importance of protecting our children in schools. As we approach a new school year, our children should feel safe and secure when they walk through the doors, and that's why I introduced a commonsense bill to harden schools," Weber told the Daily Caller before Cruz introduced his legislation. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Introduces Legislation To Send Illegal Immigrants To Martha's Vineyard, Other 'Democrat-Led Communities')
"I appreciate Senator Cruz introducing the Senate version of the Protect Our Children's Schools Act," Weber added.
randy weber
u s house of representatives
u s senate
A Would-Be School Invader In Alabama Failed When The Doors Were Locked And Police Weren't Cowards
REPORTED BY: KYLEE ZEMPEL | JUNE 10, 2022
Read more at https://thefederalist.com/2022/06/10/a-would-be-school-invader-in-alabama-failed-when-the-doors-were-locked-and-police-werent-cowards/
Turns out we don't need celebrity lectures and gun control to keep kids safe. We just need locked doors and adults who do their dang jobs.
KYLEE ZEMPEL
VISIT ON TWITTER@KYLEEZEMPEL
While Democrats continue exploiting the Uvalde shooting victims to prattle on about "assault weapons" and so-called "common-sense gun control," another school was attacked on Thursday, but it won't make the headlines. That's because this school — Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden, Alabama — didn't have any victims except the would-be invader, who was shot dead by police after he tried and failed to bust into the building. Here's how it all reportedly went down.
A passerby saw a man "aggressively" trying to get into the school building. When the man was unsuccessful, he tried several other doors, all of which were locked. The responsible observer called to report the man, the school principal put the building on lockdown and called in a police officer who doubles as the school resource officer, and that officer called for backup. If the reports are correct, the chain of command worked smoothly thanks to decisive action and quickly followed protocols. The resource officer reportedly engaged the would-be invader, who then also allegedly attempted to forcefully enter a marked police vehicle and to take the officer's gun. More police officers rushed to the scene to help, and the assailant was shot and killed. According to the city's school superintendent, the schoolchildren who were there "seemed to be unaware the incident occurred."
In other words, a man who "aggressively" tried to break into a school and take the firearm of a police officer was stopped because doors were properly locked and police officers acted bravely and urgently.
Hmm. That's interesting. Because according to President Joe Biden, failed presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, rom-com celebrity Matthew McConaughey, and late-night political scold Jimmy Kimmel, the only way to end the "carnage" of schoolchildren being murdered is to pass anti-gun laws or issue executive orders that radically infringe on the Second Amendment but are slapped with an innocuous "common-sense" qualifier so they don't sound so bad.
Nothing else would do the trick, such people say — despite the fact that the Uvalde killer had no problem passing a background check, entered through an unlocked door, and faced little resistance from law enforcement for a disgustingly long time.
When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz responded to the Uvalde murder with calls for better school security in the form of locked doors and single-point entry, which could have prevented that killing, leftists and the corporate press ridiculed him for focusing on doors. "[S]enator Ted Cruz comes out bravely against doors," scoffed The Atlantic's Molly Jong-Fast on Twitter. "Are they really gonna make it about 'too many doors on the school'? They are, aren't they?" chimed in woke comedian Patton Oswalt.
Meanwhile, nobody on the left wants to talk about the criminal failures of the Uvalde police and the Department of Public Safety. That's in part because if they had done their jobs rather than standing outside like cowards for the better part of an hour, lives undoubtedly would have been spared. It's also because the implication of Democrats disarming responsible citizens is that the only remaining defense will be armed government employees, who may or may not have the courage to actually help anyone.
Thankfully, in Alabama on Thursday, police did have that courage, and lives were saved because of it. But Democrats and their media lapdogs won't speak a word of Walnut Park Elementary because it obliterates their gun "do somethingism."
It turns out we don't need celebrity lectures and sweeping gun control to keep schoolchildren safe. We just need locked doors and adults who do their dang jobs.
Kylee Zempel is an assistant editor at The Federalist. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in Communication Arts/Speech and an A.S. in Criminal Justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religious liberty, and criminal justice. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.
Ted Cruz Slams Racist MSNBC Host, Poses the 1 Question People Have Been Asking
Reported by Landon Mion | May 12, 2021
Read more at https://www.westernjournal.com/ted-cruz-slams-racist-msnbc-host-poses-1-question-people-asking/
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas responded to MSNBC host Joy Reid's racist remarks against him by questioning why the network permitted her to get away with it and saying that comments of the like were leading Hispanics to turn their back on the Democratic Party.
On Tuesday, Reid discussed the Texas senator with guests Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California and NAACP legal counsel Janai Nelson, and made a reference to the movie "Django Unchained" — comparing Cruz to a traitorous house slave in the film for not supporting the For the People Act, which aims at altering voting processes across the country.
Cruz's rebuttal was swift, calling out the host of the MSNBC segment "The Reid Out" for "using overt racial slurs" to make assumptions concerning how Hispanic-Americans should vote.
"I appreciate MSNBC lecturing me on how people of 'my race' are supposed to vote," Cruz tweeted on Wednesday. "This arrogant condescension is a big reason Hispanic voters are moving right in large numbers.
"Also, why is MSNBC ok with their hosts using overt racial slurs ('Stephen from Django')?"
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=WestJournalism&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1392501208875683845&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fted-cruz-slams-racist-msnbc-host-poses-1-question-people-asking%2F&sessionId=6e43aa6771fcfead5347c9048446eb527afbcd73&siteScreenName=WestJournalism&theme=light&widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&width=550px
Cruz called the For the People Act, officially known as House Resolution 1, "Jim Crow 2.0" — a reference to President Joe Biden's remarks about Georgia's new voting law, which the president called "Jim Crow in the 21st Century."
"Jim Crow laws were bigoted, racist, and disenfranchised millions of people," Cruz said in a Tuesday tweet. "Those laws were drafted by Democrats and implemented by Democrats to keep Democrats in power. Today, Democrats are doing it again. The Corrupt Politicians Act is Jim Crow 2.0."
Reid was highly critical of Cruz and the GOP after his comment, alleging that the Republican Party was attempting voter suppression in his state of Texas.
"Ted Cruz says a lot of stupid things," Reid said Tuesday. "He does a lot of stupid things. But I personally — as a person of color, as a black person — am beyond offended that he would dare use the word 'Jim Crow' when his party is literally a 'Jim Crow' party at this point, trying to suppress the votes of people, including in his home state."
She later called Cruz "Stephen from Django Unchained."
http://"https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=WestJournalism&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1392266135798702084&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fted-cruz-slams-racist-msnbc-host-poses-1-question-people-asking%2F&sessionId=6e43aa6771fcfead5347c9048446eb527afbcd73&siteScreenName=WestJournalism&theme=light&widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&width=550pxRelated:
Reid continued with attacks on the Texas senator, saying that he "could give a d**n about Jim Crow," and that he has "never raised once concern ever in his entire life … about Jim Crow or racism or discrimination."
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive.
Reid suggested Cruz was a traitor to Hispanics and defended HR 1, saying that if it fails to pass, America may never see free and fair elections again.
Republicans, however, have said that the act threatens election integrity and the rights of states.
"The legislation would strip states of their constitutional authority to run elections and allow the federal government to decree what's best," Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said in a Fox News Op-Ed.
"It would ban voter ID laws, which maintain the integrity of elections in my state and a majority of others … To put it simply: states don't need Washington, D.C., to strip them of their authority and impose burdensome requirements to fix problems that do not exist," Moore said.
Reid has made racist comments about Republicans in the past. She has made an "Uncle Tom" reference, alluding to the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel, about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom she called "Uncle Clarence." She has also called Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina the token black person in the Republican Party.
establishment media
voter ID laws
McConnell tries to unify GOP
Reported BY ALEXANDER BOLTON – 09/09/20 06:00 AM EDT
URL of the originating web site: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/515578-mcconnell-tries-to-unify-gop
Friction among Senate Republicans on the next round of coronavirus relief legislation and a suddenly shaky stock market has eroded President Trump's leverage in the ongoing standoff with Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was still searching Tuesday afternoon for 51 Republican votes for a half-trillion-dollar economic relief package that he hopes will put pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to soften their demands.
Meanwhile, the stock markets in the past week have suffered their worst one-day drops since the coronavirus first froze the U.S. economy in March. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 dropped 632 points and 95 points, respectively — more than 2 percent each — while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 465 points, or 4.11 percent.
While the stock markets surged upward through July and August, the start of September has brought a stark shift in sentiment. Coronavirus infections are expected to spike when the fall temperatures drop and there doesn't appear to be a clear path to getting another federal relief package.
"Trump needs a package just because the stock market has been declining. There is a possibility that COVID infections will increase in the fall and we know the economy is a big variable in how people vote," said Darrell West, director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
"Republicans want to protect the Senate and protect the presidency and they're going to need a deal," he said.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Congress during testimony in June that "significant uncertainty" remained in the economy and that "support would be well-placed at this time." The recent big drop in the stock indices is a significant political development because Trump often cites Wall Street to argue that the economy is making a strong recovery.
"The Dow Jones Industrial just closed above 29,000! You are so lucky to have me as your President. With Joe Hiden' it would crash," Trump tweeted exuberantly on Sept. 2, just before the markets started tumbling.
Another relief package passed by Congress, especially one as large as what Pelosi and Schumer want, is expected to give another boost to the markets.
"You live by the sword and you die by the sword. If you're claiming credit when the market is high, you have a problem when the market drops," West said.
One Republican senator who wants a larger relief bill said the market turmoil "ought to" put pressure on the White House and colleagues to agree to more federal aid. But the lawmaker, who requested anonymity to discuss Trump's motives, conceded "I'm having trouble mapping out a scenario one way or another."
Pelosi on Tuesday seized on calls by Fed officials for more fiscal stimulus from Congress as well as divisions among Republicans to press her growing leverage.
"The chairman of the Fed and other Fed leaders around the country have said clearly that we need a stimulus, that we need a boost," she noted in an interview with Bloomberg's "Balance of Power."
At the same time she slammed McConnell's revised relief bill, which is estimated to cost around a half-trillion dollars, as "pathetic." She pointed out it is roughly "half of what [Treasury] Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin has proposed."
"They are not even in agreement. They are in disarray," she said of Republicans.
The Senate Republican bill needs 60 votes to overcome an anticipated Democratic filibuster and pass. It will fall well short of that threshold, but McConnell is hoping to get at least a simple majority in favor of it so he can argue that Democrats are acting as obstructionists.
He said on the Senate floor Tuesday that he will schedule a vote this week and indicated to reporters in the hallway that it would happen Thursday.
"Republicans are making yet another overture," McConnell said.
Conservatives such as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are skeptical about spending hundreds of billions of dollars in more federal aid and are pushing for concessions from the GOP leadership. With all Democrats likely to oppose the Republican bill, McConnell can only afford three defections.
Paul on Tuesday said he would oppose the measure.
"We don't have any money up here. I'm not for borrowing any more money," he said.
Johnson on Tuesday afternoon said he would support the bill after McConnell and Mnuchin agreed to repurpose about $350 billion in funding from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March to new relief measures. He said the revised bill would add only $150 billion to $300 billion to the deficit, though he cautioned the numbers aren't final yet. Johnson said he worked closely with the GOP leadership and Mnuchin to make changes to the measure to make it more appealing to conservatives but didn't know if it would get 51 votes.
"We'll see what all ends up happening. We'll probably have a discussion. There might be some further arm twisting," he said.
Hawley, a rising conservative star, is pressing for a fully refundable tax credit for homeschooling expenses such as books, technology and laboratory equipment. His proposal was not in the bill as of Tuesday afternoon and he remains undecided. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) used his leverage with Republican leaders to gain two years of tax credits for individuals and businesses that donate to nonprofit scholarship funds, a proposal designed to help subsidize private school tuition.
There are also questions as to whether more-moderate Republicans in tough reelection races such as Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Cory Gardner (Colo.) will be satisfied with the smaller price tag for the revised package, and the lack of additional federal aid for state and local governments, other than money set aside for schools.
Without the repurposed federal funding offsetting some of its cost, the package would be in the range of $500 billion to $700 billion, according to Senate GOP aides. The Republican bill, which McConnell unveiled Tuesday, would provide $300 a week in federal unemployment assistance, a second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans, $105 billion to help reopen classrooms and $16 billion in more money for COVID-19 testing.
Cruz says he'll vote for GOP coronavirus bill
McConnell works to lock down GOP votes for coronavirus bill
Failure to win a simple majority vote for a largely symbolic bill would be another setback for the White House and Senate Republicans, who declined to put the $1.1 trillion coronavirus relief proposal they drafted in July on the Senate floor because of divisions within their conference. Plans to vote during the first week of August on proposals to extend federal unemployment assistance and to fund a second round of small-business loans were scrapped after disagreements again broke out among Republican senators.
Democrats, however, have stayed unified behind their own proposal, the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, which the House passed in May, as well as a trimmed-down $2.2 trillion proposal that Pelosi and Schumer offered to White House negotiators in late August.
Pelosi and Schumer on Monday said McConnell's bill was "headed nowhere" and dismissed it as a "political" gesture.
GOP Congressional Members Introduce Constitutional Amendment To Enact Term Limits
Authored By C. Douglas Golden | January 5, 2019 at 2:13pm
URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/gop-introduce-constitutional-amendment-enact-term-limits/
A new bill from two top Republicans would limit most people to 18 years in Congress via a constitutional amendment — something that's bound to have career bureaucrats infuriated.
The amendment, according to CNN, is being introduced in the House and Senate by Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, respectively.
"For too long, members of Congress have abused their power and ignored the will of the American people," Cruz said.
"Term limits on members of Congress offer a solution to the brokenness we see in Washington, D.C. It is long past time for Congress to hold itself accountable. I urge my colleagues to submit this constitutional amendment to the states for speedy ratification."
Cruz had introduced a similar bill in 2017, but failed to gain traction.
The plan would limit House members to three terms of two years each and senators to two terms of six years each. This means that most people would be limited to 18 years in office, and only if they are elected to one office and then the other.
The language makes it technically possible to serve up to slightly less than 22 years if they're appointed or elected to fill less than a half-term.
This, according to Rooney, is closer to what the nation's founders envisioned.
"The founders never envisioned a professional political class," Rooney said during an interview on Fox News Saturday.
"This is a much better way than having these entrenched politicians who are too aligned with special interests over a period of years. I would say 18 years is plenty of time to serve your country in."
Neither Cruz nor Rooney would really be benefiting from the arrangement, should any politician be seen as having benefited personally from term limits. Rooney, 65, was first elected in 2016 and would be eligible to serve in the House until 2022. Cruz, who just won his second term, would be out of Congress in 2024.
It's worth noting, however, that Rooney could possibly take over for Sen. Marco Rubio, who would be term-limited out if he won the Republican nomination. (Lest you think Rubio would be upset about it, consider that he's a co-sponsor of the bill — along with Mike Lee of Utah and David Perdue of Georgia.)
And Cruz, who came to the Senate from a position as Texas' solicitor general, could also technically run for the House if he so chose.
Incidentally, if you think that the bill can't win bipartisan support, consider there was another major Democratic voice calling for term limits this election cycle: Beto O'Rourke, Cruz's opponent.
"People in Texas and across the country recognize that members of Congress often focus on re-election at the expense of addressing the challenges our country faces," O'Rourke said in a piece posted to Medium.
"We see that the longer you serve in Congress, the less connected, the less responsive, the less accountable you can become to the people you represent. And we recognize that imposing term limits on members of Congress — along with getting PAC money out of our politics and putting an end to gerrymandering — will help breathe new life and new ideas into our democracy."
If even Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke can come together on something, maybe Congress can, too.
C. Douglas Golden
More Info Recent Posts
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between America and Southeast Asia and believes in free speech and the Second Amendment.
@CillianZeal
Ted Cruz Fires Epic Counterpunch After Jim Carrey's Latest Haunting Cartoon Hits His Desk
Reported By Ben Marquis | November 6, 2018 at 12:13pm
URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/ted-cruz-fires-epic-counter-punch-jim-carreys-latest-haunting-cartoon-hits-desk/
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is pictured in a file photo from April 2014. Cruz used his well-honed wit to slam a cartoon created by liberal actor Jim Carrey. (Andrew Cline / Shutterstock)
Liberal Hollywood actor Jim Carrey was once beloved by audiences across America for his amazing acting ability in roles that ranged from rather serious to absurdly stupid — but incredibly hilarious — in his many popular movies over the years.
Sadly, Carrey succumbed to "Trump Derangement Syndrome" in 2016 and simply hasn't been the same, trading in his spot in front of a camera for one in front of a canvas as he works out his inner demons through the process of painting what could be described by some as "artwork," typically of the anti-Trump, anti-Republican variety.
The Daily Caller reported on the latest piece of "art" showcased by Carrey on social media, but it was the response he received from the featured subject of his piece — Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is being challenged in the election by Democrat Texas Rep. Robert "Beto" O'Rourke — that truly garnered the attention.
Carrey tweeted, "Go Beto! Go Democrats! Vote like there's no tomorrow. Let's make this Tuesday like the end of every great vampire movie. Pull back the curtains and let the sunshine turn all those bloodsuckers to dust."
Naturally, Carrey's painting portrayed Cruz as a vampire that was shrinking away and shrieking in pain as he burst into flames and disintegrated while O'Rourke pulled back a curtain to bathe his opponent in sunlight.
The likening of Cruz to a vampire was possibly inspired by the admittedly funny comparisons of Cruz with the vampiric Grandpa Munster from the 1960s sitcom "The Munsters," not to mention the leftist belief that Republicans are blood-sucking monsters who hate the living, especially women and children, or something.
For all of the criticisms that Cruz has received — both fairly and unfairly — few could say with a straight face that he doesn't have a great sense of self-deprecating humor or that he is incapable of suffering and replying to harsh insults exceedingly well.
Cruz linked to Carrey's tweet mocking him as a vampire, and wrote, "Hollywood liberals all in for Beto. But (self-described socialist) Jim Carrey made a mistake here: Vampires are dead, and everyone knows the dead vote Democrat…."
And then utter hilarity ensued and was enjoyed by all in the comment section of that tweet, as everyone understood the joke about Democrats using the fraudulent votes of dead people to win close elections. Just kidding … Cruz was ruthlessly mocked and excoriated by humorless liberals who failed to see the point or get the joke of his post.
Unfortunately for Carrey and his Cruz-hating fellow liberals, it is highly unlikely that Cruz will burst into flames and disintegrate when the curtains of the voting booths are opened after Election Day and the ultimate outcome of his race against O'Rourke is revealed.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls in the Texas Senate race show that Cruz holds a fairly comfortable 6-point lead over his challenger, with the four most recent polls in October giving Cruz a lead that ranged from as little as 3 points to as much as 10 points.
In all likelihood, given the manner in which pollsters have historically and routinely oversampled Democrats and independents and undersampled Republicans, Cruz could very well hold a more significant lead over O'Rourke than has been announced by the pollsters.
However, every conservative and Republican and right-leaning independent needs to get out and vote for Cruz on Tuesday to help drive a stake through the heart of the monstrous undead Marxist philosophy that continues to drive the Democratic Party increasingly leftward these days, lest they be allowed to suck out the lifeblood of our nation and economy by gaining control of Congress.
Writer and researcher. Constitutional conservatarian with a strong focus on protecting the Second and First Amendments.
Former Trump Enemy Ted Cruz Pushes 7 Major Trump Victories for Faith, Family and Life
Reported By Joshua Gill | June 7, 2018 at 2:42pm
URL of the original posting site: https://www.westernjournal.com/former-trump-enemy-ted-cruz-pushes-7-major-trump-victories-for-faith-family-and-life/
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas praised the Trump administration Thursday for seven major victories he said it accomplished "for faith, for family — for the values that we share." Cruz made the remarks at the 2018 Road to Majority conference hosted by the Faith & Freedom Coalition.
He lauded the current presidential administration for making significant advances for the protection of religious liberty, individual rights concerning education and family, the defense of the unborn and foreign policy that reversed Obama-era deals.
"Let's start with number one — judges," Cruz said. "Principled, constitutionalist judges."
Cruz mentioned the Trump administration's victory concerning the nation's courts with the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch, as well as the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Colorado bakery case.
"The so-called Colorado Civil Rights Commission demonstrated an antipathy, an animosity to faith that was visceral," Cruz said. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that "you cannot discriminate against religious faith," he added, instead of ruling they must be forced to violate their consciences.
"That is not narrow," Cruz added. "That is a bedrock principle of our First Amendment and of our nation."
"A second victory concerns life," Cruz continued, lauding the Trump administration's "return of the Mexico City rules," which prevented the U.S. from providing foreign aid to fund abortions in other countries.
Other facets of the administration's victory for life, according to Cruz, include the new Health and Human Services rules preventing tax funding for health clinics that provide abortions, as well as the dismissal of the litigation against the Little Sisters of the Poor and the repeal of the "abhorrent so-called contraceptive mandate in Obamacare."
"Here's a really good rule of thumb," Cruz said. "If you're litigating against nuns, you've probably done something wrong. It's a wonderfully reliable checklist."
The third victory for Cruz was the historic tax cut Congress passed in December, which he said provided more money for the majority of American citizens by "cutting taxes on small businesses, cutting taxes on farmers, cutting taxes on families."
Cruz then advocated for the implementation of a flat tax and declared Americans "should abolish the IRS."
The Trump administration scored a fourth victory, according to Cruz, with the repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate. He acknowledged, however, that the repeal of the Affordable Care Act was "the Republican Party's biggest unkept promise" and urged the party to keep fighting for that outcome.
The final three victories Cruz said the Trump administration achieved for the nation and its values were the passage of "school choice" legislation, Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and Trump's "right decision to withdraw from the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal."
"Seven victories and more to come," Cruz said in closing.
A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
After Trump Administration Intervenes, China Frees American Held Since 2015
Reported By Jack Davis | on April 29, 2017 at 12:23pm
URL of the original posting site: http://www.westernjournalism.com/trump-administration-intervenes-china-frees-american-held-since-2015/
A Houston woman detained by China in 2015 arrived back in the United States on Friday after the Trump administration negotiated for her release.
Phan Phan-Gillis, also knows as Sandy Phan-Gillis, had been charged as a spy, a claim she and her family denied. Although the Obama administration protested that charge in 2015, she was held until this week.
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old woman was tried and pronounced guilty, then deported to the United States on Friday without having to serve the three-year term to which she was sentenced.
The Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights organization, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had added his influence to the effort to free her.
"Negotiations to secure the release of Ms. Phan-Gillis intensified during Secretary Tillerson's visit to Beijing in March," the group said in a statement, adding that the Trump White House helped the State Department "in bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion."
Jeff Kamm, who founded Dui Hua, said the overtures President Donald Trump has made to Chinese leaders to improve relations between the two nations were a contributing factor in the release of Phan-Gillis.
"If U.S.-China relations were not going as well as they are right now, I think this outcome would have been different," she said.
Her release was welcomed in her native Texas.
"I'm relieved that Sandy Phan-Gillis has been released and will soon be reunited with her loved ones in Houston," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "The unlawful detention of an American citizen for more than two years with little to no explanation by Chinese authorities is shameful and unacceptable."
"I applaud the State Department and thank President Trump for his leadership in securing Sandy's release," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who also criticized China for detaining her in the first place.
"It should be noted that Sandy's purpose in visiting China two years ago was to strengthen commercial and cultural exchanges on behalf of the city of Houston. The Chinese government — cynically and to the astonishment of many — perceived this cultural bridge-builder as a threat. Sandy was unjustly deprived of her liberty for two years, time during which she was denied basic legal protections and her loved ones lacked accurate information about her condition," Cruz said.
Jeff Gillis said his wife arrived in Los Angeles on Friday.
"Many of Sandy's friends and family members have been crying tears of joy throughout the day," he said in an email.
"Sandy was not allowed to speak with her lawyers for well over a year," Gillis said, adding, "China State Security used torture to force Sandy to make a false confession."
McConnell: If GOP unites, we will win
Authored By Alexander Bolton and Bob Cusack | 01/31/17 | 06:00 AM EST
URL of the original posting site: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/317001-mcconnell-if-gop-unites-we-will-win
McConnell: If GOP unites, we will win / © Greg Nash
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a clear and simple message for his party: Success depends on unity.
In an interview with The Hill, the Senate majority leader said he has told his GOP colleagues not to expect any help from Democrats on an array of legislative priorities.
In contrast to past years, when McConnell had to face down rebellions from conservative colleagues — most notably Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) — the entire Senate GOP conference appears to be on the same page. How long that lasts remains uncertain, however.
"The only way you can achieve success in an environment like now, where there's not much bipartisanship, is for us to have our act together and to work out our differences among ourselves," McConnell said Friday.
During former President Obama's administration, McConnell said he had to contend with "individuals" in the Senate and House who "just really enjoy the publicity associated with doing something the vast majority of Republicans didn't agree with, and it was a great headline producer."
After a highly unusual and charged election year, McConnell is looking forward to making new laws in 2017. Against the odds, McConnell preserved his GOP majority in November and now has a willing partner in the White House. The relationship between President Trump and McConnell was tenuous at best throughout 2016. But times have changed. McConnell, who refused to answer questions about Trump in the fall, last week compared him to President Andrew Jackson, the nation's first populist commander in chief.
Ten Senate Democrats are running for reelection in 2018 in states that Trump won last year. McConnell is expecting that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer(D-N.Y.) will pull out all the stops to keep them from defecting on big votes.
"We're not anticipating much Democratic cooperation here," he said with a laugh.
He says most Democrats are "not interested" in working with the GOP on legislation to repeal and replace parts of ObamaCare and to overhaul the tax code. As a result, Republicans are looking to pass those bills on party-line votes under a special budgetary process that protects them from filibusters.
"When you're taking that path, you better have your people all lined up, because if you can't get your own guys together, particularly in the Senate, you can't get where you want to go," he said.
Republicans have control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time in a decade, and they know they have a limited amount of time to enact major legislative initiatives such as comprehensive tax reform, which was last accomplished in 1986. At that time, Democrats and Republicans worked together to revamp the tax code. McConnell, who was a backbencher back then, said such a bipartisan endeavor is just not possible now — it's "a different era."
Despite the high stakes and the pressure, McConnell seemed comfortable and at ease throughout The Hill's interview. He stayed on message and calmly dodged questions about policies Republicans have not yet decided on.
McConnell in 2015 became majority leader, his dream job ever since he worked as a junior aide to late Sen. Marlow Cook (R-Ky.).
The Senate electoral map looks quite good for Republicans, who have only eight seats up for reelection in 2018, while Democrats will have to defend 25.
But McConnell, 74, says anything can happen, chuckling over the brimming confidence of Democratic colleagues last year who thought they were a lock to win back the upper chamber. Before the election, media outlets were publishing profiles of Schumer, assuming he would be the next Senate majority leader.
"I sat here and observed on a daily basis my soon-to-be counterpart, Sen. Schumer, giving interviews on his agenda, measuring the curtains," he recalled with a wry smile.
McConnell, who has a reputation as one of the shrewdest tacticians on Capitol Hill but sometimes draws criticism even from GOP colleagues for being too focused on politics, says he's now entirely focused on governing.
"Rather than becoming consumed about what might happen in 2018, we need to try to succeed," he said.
McConnell, an institutionalist who reveres the Senate, said Republicans don't work for Trump. He pointedly noted that the Senate decides its own rules when asked about pressure from the White House to strip senators of the power to filibuster Supreme Court nominees.
Over the years, conservative groups have taken shots at McConnell on a variety of issues. But they have no complaints about his decision to not vote on Merrick Garland, Obama's 2016 Supreme Court nominee. Now, late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat will be filled with a conservative. Trump is scheduled to announce his pick on Tuesday (UPDATE: Tonight).
Trump and McConnell are both dealmakers, but they don't see eye-to-eye on trade, Russian sanctions and other matters. What's more important than their differences, McConnell said, is their shared desire to cut tax rates, simplify the tax code and reverse what he calls the "rampage" of overregulation under Obama. He says regulatory excess is the chief culprit responsible for the nation's tepid economic recovery and scoffs at the Democratic narrative that frames Obama as a savior who turned around a national economy severely damaged by former President George W. Bush's mismanagement.
"Obama didn't have a single year of 3 percent growth, and the statute of limitations on blaming Bush ran out a long time ago," he said.
Unlike Trump, McConnell rarely talks publicly about the stock market. But it has gone up because of Trump's victory, McConnell said.
"Everybody I know who watches the market thinks the reason it has been booming is the expectation of regulatory relief and tax reform," he said.
As partisan as the atmosphere is in Washington, McConnell knows that he'll still need centrist Democrats to join him for the 115th Congress to be a success. He says that Republicans cannot entirely replace ObamaCare under reconciliation — the special budget process that empowers the majority party to enact legislation with only 51 votes. Some healthcare reforms, such as allowing companies to sell insurance across state lines or other policy changes that have a negligible budgetary impact must be adopted with 60 votes. That means winning over centrists such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who are up for reelection next year.
"[Red-state Democrats] will be necessary," he concedes.
After spending the past two years playing defense, when Republicans had to defend 24 Senate seats in the 2016 election cycle, McConnell — an avid sports fan — is eager to play offense.
"I'm assuming that each of them will be calculating whether it's to their advantage to be cooperative or not," he said of the 10 Democrats up for reelection in pro-Trump states.
"I'm hoping that frequently they will conclude that it's actually good for them to be helpful to us," he said.
Heidi Heitkamp
Cruz, DeSantis push for congressional term limits
Authored By Jordain Carney – 01/03/17
URL of the original posting site: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/312571-cruz-desantis-push-for-congressional-term-limits
Cruz, DeSantis push for congressional term limits / © Getty Images
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) are pushing for an amendment to the Constitution to place term limits on lawmakers, arguing the move will help overhaul Washington.
"The American people resoundingly agreed on Election Day, and President-elect Donald Trump has committed to putting government back to work for the American people," Cruz said in a statement on Tuesday. "It is well past time to put an end to the cronyism and deceit that has transformed Washington into a graveyard of good intentions."
Under an amendment the two GOP lawmakers filed on Tuesday, House members would be allowed to serve three two-year terms and senators would be able to serve two six-year terms.
DeSantis added that the measure would be a "first step toward reforming Capitol Hill."
GOP Sens. Deb Fischer (Neb.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Mike Lee (Utah) and David Perdue (Ga.) are backing the proposal. Cruz and DeSantis previously pledged in a Washington Post op-ed to introduce the measure this year.
According to the resolution, any congressional term before the amendment becomes law wouldn't be taken into account when determining if a lawmaker can run for reelection or not. Trump backed term limits during his White House run, but the measure could face an uphill battle in Congress.
Neither House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who has said he supports term limits, nor Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signaled it could come up for a vote. McConnell appeared to shut down Trump's push after the election, telling reporters, "We have term limits — they're called elections."
In addition to clearing Congress, the Cruz-DeSantis proposal would also need to be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures before going into effect.
Deb Fischer
Republican voters coming home to Trump
Authored By Niall Stanage and Jonathan Swan November 3, 2016
URL of the original posting site: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/governor-races/304090-republican-voters-coming-home-to-trump
Republican voters are finally coming home to Donald Trump after months of flagging support threatened to put the White House out of reach.
Trump's candidacy has been deeply divisive within Republican ranks, drawing fire from senior officeholders such as Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), past presidential nominees including Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and numerous conservative pundits.
Now, as Republicans face up to the specter of a Hillary Clinton presidency, Trump's numbers are on the rise. But polling experts caution that he is still a few points shy of where he needs to be.David Winston, a GOP pollster, noted that Romney in 2012 received 93 percent support from voters who identified as Republican, according to exit polls. In most current polls, Trump is a notch lower.
Image added by WhatDidYouSay.org
"He was pretty consistently — up to a couple of weeks ago — clearly underperforming," Winston said of Trump. "One of the things you've seen is that he has slowly got back to somewhere between 85 and 90 percent [of Republican voters]. But he's still a bit short."
Winston said there had been several factors working in Trump's favor of late. He said some party loyalists had finally completed the process of "working through the fact that they were unhappy he was the nominee." Trump has also been relatively disciplined on the campaign trail recently, while Clinton has been pushed onto the defensive by a surprise FBI statement about newly discovered emails.
Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, acknowledged that the GOP nominee had not persuaded all Republican voters but said he has made progress.
"Reverting to type would assume some normal behavior, and we are not seeing that," Murray said. "But you have seen Trump picking up some support from certain segments of the electorate that tend to vote for Republicans — such as white, working-class women, where Hillary Clinton remains stronger than average [for a Democrat] but Trump has been able to gain."
Polling data underlines the point.
Two of the main tracking polls, from ABC News/Washington Post and IBD/TIPP, saw Trump moving up within the past couple of weeks. The first IBD tracking poll appeared on Oct. 19 and showed Trump receiving the support of 82 percent of Republicans. That figure had climbed to 88 percent by Wednesday. The ABC News/Washington Post tracker first appeared on Oct. 23, giving Trump 83 percent GOP support. He is now up to 88 percent in the same poll.
Similar dynamics are also seen at the state level. Marist College polls of Florida, conducted for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, show Trump's Republican support rising from 76 percent in August to 86 percent one month ago to 88 percent in the most recent survey, conducted just before Clinton was hit with the FBI announcement. In Marist's polling of North Carolina, he rose through those same dates from 80 percent to 86 percent to 89 percent.
There are other factors to Trump's rise among Republicans, insiders say. Key among them is the contribution made by his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence
Pence, with his unimpeachable conservative credentials, has one job above all others: To bring wayward Republicans into the fold.
Marc Short, a senior adviser to the VP nominee, told The Hill that a speech Pence delivered about ObamaCare in Philadelphia Tuesday was as much about ObamaCare as it was about "using ObamaCare as a vehicle to make the appeal for Republicans to come home."
"Donald Trump has obviously struck a chord with a lot of Americans and has won an enormous amount of independent support — particularly among blue-collar workers and people who are fed up with Washington," Short said.
"But we're still working to consolidate the Republican Party," he added. "Mike is uniquely positioned. … He has a lot of friendships and associations and is able to uniquely make the appeal as to why this election cycle is so important and why it's important for Republicans to come home."
Some of Pence's private efforts appear to be bearing fruit. Republican members of Congress expressed greater comfort for the ticket after Pence visited them on Capitol Hill in early September. Even when Pence didn't immediately succeed in securing Republican endorsements, he surely did no harm. Pence privately asked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to endorse Trump, according to a source familiar with their Capitol Hill meeting in September. And while Cruz declined to endorse Trump following the meeting, Pence took some comfort when the Texan eventually came out for Trump. Cruz will appear on the campaign trail with Pence on Thursday in Michigan and Iowa, making his first appearances on behalf of the Republican ticket.
Liam Donovan, a former aide to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that recent polls notwithstanding, Trump's "greatest challenge" has been his inability to consolidate self-identified Republicans.
"At some level the base naturally wants to come home, but Trump's mouth keeps getting in the way," Donovan said. "When the polling looks good it's because he is performing like previous nominees — no more, no less."
Donovan said Trump gains with hesitant Republicans only when he campaigns with discipline.
Offering Trump some unsolicited advice, Donovan said, "Put away the Android Twitter app. Let the news cycle consume your opponent instead of trying to seize back the spotlight."
Months After Nasty Primary Fight, Ted Cruz Endorses Donald Trump
Authored by Alex Pappas, Political Reporter, 09/23/2016
URL of the original posting site: http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/23/months-after-nasty-primary-fight-ted-cruz-endorses-donald-trump/URL of the original posting siU
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks with rival Ted Cruz during a commercial break in the midst of the Republican presidential candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri ∧
Months after their nasty GOP primary fight, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday officially announced that he will vote Donald Trump for president.
"After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on election day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump," Cruz wrote on Facebook on Friday afternoon.
Trump reacted to the news in a statement, saying: "I am greatly honored by the endorsement of Senator Cruz. We have fought the battle and he was a tough and brilliant opponent. I look forward to working with him for many years to come in order to make America great again."
Cruz, who it is believed would like to run for president again, was booed in July during the Republican National Convention when he declined to endorse Trump. Instead, he told delegates to "vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket whom you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution."
The contest between Cruz and Trump got particularly nasty towards the end: Trump routinely referred to his rival as "Lyin' Ted." Cruz famously referred to Trump as a "sniveling coward."
In a lengthy post explaining his decision, Cruz said that "like many other voters, I have struggled to determine the right course of action in this general election."
"I've made this decision for two reasons," Cruz wrote. "First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word. Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that's why I have always been #NeverHillary."
He added: "A year ago, I pledged to endorse the Republican nominee, and I am honoring that commitment. And if you don't want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for him."
The Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, an organization that backed Cruz over Trump in the primary but endorsed Trump this week, said it "commends" Cruz for "listening to the grassroots activists and Republican voters who nominated Donald Trump in order to shake up the Washington Establishment and its stranglehold over our politics."
"It is clear Ted Cruz has examined his principles, considered the choice at hand and has decided to lead by example in endorsing Donald Trump as the man who will repeal Obamacare, balance our budget, and ensure the Supreme Court protects our most cherished rights over Hillary Clinton, who will represent another four years of the failed Obama Administration," said the group's chairwoman, Jenny Beth Martin.
Speak Of The Devils
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/05/04/lucifer-in-the-flesh/#jOPjAW61jVZXMXUE.99
Boehner called Ted Cruz Lucifer in the flesh , but speaks fondly of Obama and Hillary?
Lucifer in the Flesh / Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2016.
More A.F. Branco cartoons at Patriot Update here.
A.F. Branco Coffee Table Book <—- Order Here!
John Boenher
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/05/03/cruz-fiorina-2016
Is Cruz choosing Fiorina in a last ditch effort to stay in the race and trump up Trump?
Cruz Fiorina 2016 / Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2016.
More A.F. Branco Cartoons at Net Right Daily.
Ann Coulter Letter: A Slow-Talker And A Homeless Guy Walk Into A Bar…
Commentary by Ann Coulter | Wednesday Apr 27, 2016
URL of the original posting site: http://humanevents.com/2016/04/27/a-slow-talker-and-a-homeless-guy-walk-into-a-bar/?utm_source=coulterdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump said during a CNN Town Hall that he won't support the eventual Republican nominee, if it isn't him. Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich were more vague with their answers. (March 30)
Apparently, John Kasich and Ted Cruz are at their most appealing when no one is paying attention to them, which, conveniently, is most of the time.
After Cruz won cranky Wisconsin last month — only the fourth actual election he's won — voters decided to give him a second look. But two seconds after people said, "OK, let's give this guy a try," he cratered. You might say a little of Ted Cruz goes a long way. Voters can't stand Cruz any more than his Senate colleagues can.
Listening to Cruz always makes me feel like I have Asperger's. He speaks so slowly, my mind wanders between words. As Trump said, there's a 10-second intermission between sentences. I want to order Cruz's speeches as Amazon Audibles, just so I can speed them up and see what he's saying
The guy did go to Harvard Law School, so I keep waiting for the flashes of brilliance, but they never come. Cruz is completely incapable of extemporaneous wit.
Now that Cruz has been mathematically eliminated, he's adding Carly Fiorina to the ticket. She's not his "running mate," but his "limping mate." It's an all-around lemon-eating contest.
Voters quickly moved on from Cruz and tried Kasich. But he turned out to be the spitting image of a homeless man. He's got the slouch, the facial tics, and a strange way of bouncing his head and looking around that makes you want to cross the street to avoid him. It looks like he cuts his own hair, and his suits are Ralph Nader cast-offs. He wolfs down food like a street person, has a hair-trigger temper, and rants about religion in a way that only he can understand.
Kasich is constantly proclaiming that illegals are "made in the image of God," and denounces the idea of enforcing federal immigration laws, saying: "I don't think it's right; I don't think it's humane."
When asked about his decision to expand Medicaid under Obamacare — projected to cost federal taxpayers $50 billion in the first decade — he said: "Now, when you die and get to the, get to the, uh, to the meeting with St. Peter … he's going to ask you what you did for the poor. Better have a good answer."
He lectured a crowd of fiscal conservatives on his Obamacare expansion, saying, "Now, I don't know whether you ever read Matthew 25, but I commend it to you, the end of it, about do you feed the homeless and do you clothe the poor." He also attributed the law to Chief Justice John Roberts and said, "It's my money, OK?"
Voters thought they were getting a less attractive version of Mitt Romney with Kasich, but it turns out they're getting a more televangelist version of Ted Cruz.
They're also getting a less warm and personable version of Hillary Clinton. Last week, Kasich lashed out at a reporter who asked a perfectly appropriate question, going from boring campaign boilerplate to irritated browbeating in about one second flat. As much as I enjoy watching reporters being berated, this was deranged.
Kasich: Listen, at the end of the day I think the Republican Party wants to pick somebody who actually can win in the fall."
Reporter: But if you've only won Ohio?
Kasich: "Can I finish?"
Reporter: "If you answer the ques–"
Kasich: "I'm answering the question the way I want to answer it. You want to answer it?" (Snatches voice recorder from reporter's hand.) "Here, let me ask you. What do you think?
When giving a speech to Ohio EPA workers a few years ago, Kasich suddenly went off topic and began shouting about a police officer who had given him a ticket three years earlier. "Have you ever been stopped by a police officer that's an idiot?" he began. He proceeded to tell the riveting story of his traffic violation to the EPA administrators, yelling about "this idiot! … He's an IDIOT!"
Based on the dashcam video immediately released by the police, Kasich had been in the wrong, and the officer — you know, "the IDIOT" — was perfectly polite about it.
With Trump it's exactly the opposite. The more people see of him, the more they like him. The usual pattern is: Trump says something perfectly sensible, the media lie about it, then voters find out the truth and like him more and the media less.
Ironically, it's Kasich who has been complaining the loudest about the alleged billions of dollars of "free media" Trump has been getting. It turns out not getting "free media" was a godsend for Kasich and Cruz.
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/04/21/gope-for-hillary/#OOvDVWkajoAl7cMi.99
GOPe for Hillary – Many in the GOP would rather see a Hillary victory than see either Trump or Cruz in the White House.
GOPe for Hillary / Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2015.
WOW: Sarah Palin Just Issued MAJOR Warning if Election is Stolen
URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/wow-sarah-palin-just-issued-major-warning-if-election-is-stolen
Do you think majority of Americans agree with Sarah Palin's statements?
Voters will "rise up" in opposition if Republican power brokers try to take the presidential nomination away from Donald Trump or Ted Cruz at the GOP convention this summer, Sarah Palin said Thursday in a wide-ranging interview.
The 2008 vice presidential nominee told The Associated Press that GOP voters have the right to decide the party's nominee and will rebel if House Speaker Paul Ryan or some other "white knight" is chosen at a contested convention. Ryan said this week he will not seek or accept the nomination.
Palin said voters know better than to be fooled by party leaders.
"How dare they?" Palin asked, denouncing "arrogant political operatives who underestimate the wisdom of the people."
If party leaders try to intervene at the July convention, "we will rise up and say our vote does count, our activism does count," she said.
Palin said she is not convinced by pledges from party leaders that the GOP nominee will be chosen from among those running for president. "There are some snakes in there," she said of party leaders. "I've had to deal with the political machinery my whole career."
Palin said she plans to attend the convention in Cleveland, but she conceded that she may have to "invite myself to the party." "I can't see any of them inviting me," she said of party leaders. "I think they are afraid of what I would say."
Palin, who has endorsed Trump, said she is confident he will win the GOP nomination, but said she can support Cruz if he emerges as the nominee. She said she backs Trump because he is "so reasonable and so full of common sense and knows that for America to be great again we have to develop our natural resources" such as oil and natural gas.
GOP Convention
Republican power brokers
Ann Coulter Letter: Ted Cruz: Tracy Flick With A D*ck
URL of the original posting site: http://humanevents.com/2016/04/13/ted-cruz-tracy-flick-with-a-dck/?utm_source=coulterdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
Before we begin, can we stop referring to Wisconsin as "Midwestern nice"? That's all we've heard since Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump there: Wisconsinites are just so nice, they couldn't abide Trump's rough style.
Does anyone remember the whole taking over the capitol thing? How they nearly recalled a sitting governor a few years ago? Remember the protesters fighting with cops, rounds of arrests in the rotunda, the drum circles and chanting? How about the midnight raids on citizens for supporting the "Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill"?
Wisconsin is a lot of things, but "nice" is not one of them. "Soviet" is more like it. It was always a bad state for Trump because there are virtually no immigrants in Wisconsin, and peevish Wisconsinites refused to believe the rest of the country about the cultural mores we're bringing in. (Like slavery! NBC, San Diego, April 9, 2016: "Feds Rescue Trafficking Victim Locked in San Diego Home.")
Another misconception sweeping the nation is that when state Republican parties disregard the voters and give all their delegates to Cruz, they are merely following THE RULES, and Trump is an idiot for not knowing THE RULES.
That's what the Colorado GOP did, what the Tennessee and Louisiana parties are trying to do — and what many other states may do, all under the careful tutelage of Tracy Flick Cruz.
I keep asking someone to send me a copy of THE RULES that direct state parties to ignore the voters and pick their own slate of delegates, but no one can cite such a rule. So I read through "The Rules of the Republican Party" myself — and guess what? There's no rule instructing state parties to ignore the voters!
To the contrary, the rules were recently rewritten so that delegate selection would "reflect the results of statewide presidential preference elections," according to a statement by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. (The nerds will tell us, that's "legislative history," not THE RULES.)
Apparently, what people mean by THE RULES is that there is no RNC rule specifically prohibiting a state party from giving all the delegates to a single nominee, even if that is demonstrably at odds with the will of the voters.
The state parties are given a lot of discretion, so Cruz harasses and cajoles the local party until it awards all the state's delegates to him. Trump keeps winning elections, and Cruz keeps winning sneaky procedural victories.
Until Cruz won a primary in mean-as-a-snake Wisconsin, he hadn't won a single primary — i.e., an "election" — outside of his home state, a sister state and a state where Trump didn't campaign. In fact, until cantankerous Wisconsin, the only primary where Cruz managed to surpass 34 percent of the vote was his home state of Texas — where he got 43.8 percent.
(Contrary to lies you read in The New York Times, Trump has not complained about any of those races. And you know why? Because they were elections, not corrupt backroom maneuvering. Hey – does anyone know if the general election is won by influence-peddling with tiny groups of insiders or is it by winning elections?)
It's as if Cruz and Trump are playing different sports: Trump keeps belting home runs, while Cruz is berating the umpire until he calls a balk, then prances to home base, telling everyone he hit a grand slam.
True, there's no rule explicitly disallowing a state party from rigging the delegate selection. There's also no rule explicitly disallowing a state party from giving all its delegates to Kim Kardashian.
By that logic, THE RULES also say that a majority of Supreme Court justices can discover a right to abortion, gay marriage or free unicorn rides in the Constitution. There's nothing stopping them, because, as a procedural matter, they get the last word. Those are THE RULES. (And THE RULES "have been known" for centuries!)
But that's very different from saying, See, here it is in black and white: "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
There's no way to appeal a Supreme Court ruling, just as there's no way to prohibit a state party from doing whatever it wants. But I wouldn't go around boasting, "It's THE RULES!" No, you found a procedural loophole.
A blog post attacking Trump-supporter Larry Lindsey claimed it was Lindsey's own damn fault that he wasn't allowed to participate in the Colorado convention last weekend. Remember, this comes from a post defending what the state GOP did:
"Early on in the saga, Lindsey wrote, 'This year, I decided that as important as this election is to the future of our nation, that I needed to be involved in the Colorado Caucus. I attended the Douglas County Assembly, and then the County Caucus and was elected as a delegate.'
"OK, hold up right there. Lindsey would have had to first attend a precinct caucus before a county assembly …"
AHA! We've got you, Larry! Please — get a life. Exactly how many assemblies and caucuses was Larry required to attend? Do you need to read more to know what a weaselly nerd Cruz is?
Cruz is Tracy Flick in "Election." He believes he deserves to win, God chose him to win — and if he starts to lose, well, then he'll cheat. Victory goes to the pushy.
Dear Lord Jesus, I do not often speak with you and ask for things, but now, I really must insist that you help me win the election tomorrow because I deserve it and Donald Trump doesn't, as you well know.
Imagine what nightmare a Cruz presidency would be! This is now the second time Cruz has forced me to research something his supporters were lying about — the last time was on Cruz's alleged eligibility to be president, despite being born in Canada. (He's not a "natural born citizen," but I enjoyed reading all those Supreme Court opinions!)
Instead of fun stuff like building a wall, bringing manufacturing home and getting tired of winning so much, we'll have to keep reading through centuries of British common law and RNC rulebooks until, out of exhaustion, we give in, and let Cruz run for student council president.
BREAKING: Colorado GOP Chief ADMITS His State's Voting System Is …
URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2016/04/breaking-colorado-gop-chief-admits-his-states-voting-system-is
Colorado's GOP Chief just admitted something that is going to make a lot of people very upset. If you're a Republican living in Colorado, are you going to fight against the latest primary decision?
Colorado's top Republican Party boss has admitted his state's voting system is flawed but hit back at Donald Trump for blasting it as a 'dirty system' and a 'total fix.'
Steve House aired his views on the controversy in a letter to an angry GOP activist furious after the state's delegates were all awarded to Ted Cruz.
The controversial and complicated appointment system saw a small circle of party activists choose a slate of 34 delegates – all Cruz loyalists – rather than throwing the process open to a general vote among GOP members.
House admitted he 'doesn't like' the appointment system but said it is in no way 'manipulated or underhanded.'
In a spirited exchange, he also said the party shouldn't shy away from doing whatever is necessary to win the White House, adding that Republicans should 'go ahead and burn the party down if that's what it takes.'
'What happened over the weekend was simple and had no manipulation or underhanded process in it. The Cruz campaign worked harder than anyone else over a longer period of time, using the process that we have to create a victory for him', House said in the letter.
'I will support whoever wins without hesitation but blaming other people when you don't get what you want is only relevant if you did the work honestly and someone manipulated the process. That didn't happen here.
'I think people are upset right now because they either don't like the process or don't understand it. I am one of the people who doesn't like it…. We should have a presidential primary here but the legislature eliminated it in 2002 because it costs to much and that is a limited government move. Up until this year no one cared.'
Trump's camp blasted the result that pushes the GOP further in the direction of a contested national convention.
Read more:Daily Mail
no primary
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/04/04/contested-convention/#WF7YxEoMfB5jh5u4.99
A Contested Convention is exactly what the GOP establishment is looking forward to.
Contested Convention / Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2016.
TED NUGENT: Posts THIS About Trump On Facebook And MELTS The Internet
URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/ted-nugent-posts-this-about-trump-on-facebook-and-melts-the-internet
Does Trump trump them all? See what Ted Nugent has to say about it.
Ted Nugent via Facebook:
At this time I do not endorse Donald Trump anymore than I endorse Ted Cruz as I admire both gentlemen. But these points are SO damn special!
Obama is against Trump
The Media is against Trump
The establishment Democrats are against Trump
The establishment Republicans are against Trump
The Pope is against Trump
The UN is against Trump
The EU is against Trump
China is against Trump
Mexico is against Trump
Soros is against Trump
Black Lives Matter is against Trump
MoveOn. Org is against Trump
Koch Bro's are against Trump
Hateful, racist, violent Liberals are against Trump
Cher says she will leave the country
Mylie Cyrus says she will leave the country
Whoopi says she will leave the country
Rosie says she will leave the country
Al Sharpton says he will leave the country
Gov. Brown says California will build a wall
Sounds like the kinda president the US needs!
hate groups against Trump
Political Bull
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/03/30/political-bull/#1wTMkYiQshzWO8sK.99
National Enquirer has become a political bull in the 2016 election and a Trump supporter. Best to Take their Cruz affair allegations with a yhuge grain of salt.
National Enquirer / Cartoon by A.F. Branco.
Cruz affair alligations
Doanld Trump
OUCH: Does THIS Thomas Jefferson Quote Apply To Cruz AND Trump?
URL of the original posting site: http://clashdaily.com/2016/03/ouch-does-this-thomas-jefferson-quote-apply-to-cruz-and-trump
Thomas Jefferson knew exactly what would happen to anyone wanting to hold public office. Do you think this applies to all men or just Trump or Cruz?
Ann Coulter Letter: Voters Deliver Subtle Message: Die Donor Scum
Commentary by Ann Coulter | Wednesday Mar 16, 2016
To the extent it's still standing after yesterday, the Stop Trump movement is comforting itself with the world's biggest lie: that John Kasich is the embodiment of the Republican Party, while Donald Trump is the bastard stepchild.
It's exactly the opposite.
It is no longer a question of what the party wants. The voters — remember them? — keep showering Trump and Cruz with Ceausescu-like percentages. The combined vote for Trump and Cruz is a ringing chorus of what this party wants: a wall, deportation, less immigration and no job-killing trade deals.
In other words, what the party wants is the diametric opposite of what the donor and consultant class wants. One would have to search the history books to find a party establishment so emphatically rejected by the voters as today's Republican Party has been.
Trump and Cruz don't agree on everything — Cruz is more interventionist on foreign policy, and Trump is more aggressive on bringing manufacturing home. But there's not much daylight between them on the crucial issue of whether to dissolve America's borders . By now, they both say build a wall, reduce immigration and protect American jobs.
In other words, Trump and Cruz have totally rejected the Bush/Ryan/Rubio/Fox News/WSJ/RNC establishment position on immigration.
After Mitt Romney lost an election he should have won in 2012, the Republican National Committee convened a group of experts to determine what went wrong, producing what it called an "autopsy." It was an autopsy because, you see, the party was dead. And the people who did the autopsy were the ones who killed it.
Have you ever heard of an autopsy being performed by the murderers?
The murderers' main recommendation was that Republicans "embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform" — i.e., amnesty. "If we do not," the autopsy continued, "our party's appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only."
God forbid the party respond to its core constituencies! Instead, the report bristled with advice on winning the Hispanic vote. The GOP was supposed to run Hispanic candidates, hire Hispanic spokesmen, demand yet more Hispanic immigration and correct its "tone."
It looked like our report got mixed up with the Democratic National Committee's report in the copier room. At least it was printed in English.
They put all this in their computer and out spit the perfect solution: MARCO RUBIO! Like all ideas developed by focus groups ("New Coke"), how could it possibly fail?
"On issues like immigration," the report instructed, "the RNC needs to carefully craft a tone that takes into consideration the unique perspective of the Hispanic community." How'd they like the front-runner's announcement speech about Mexican rapists and drug dealers? Off-message?
But Trump immediately leapt to the top of the polls and never stopped soaring.
Only Ted Cruz was smart enough — or hated the Republican establishment enough — to adopt Trump's pro-American immigration policies. Now the only question for voters is, which one is more electable: a Holy Roller preacher, or a brash alpha male billionaire?
They've crushed the rest of the field — winning large majorities of Hispanics along the way, incidentally. Between them, Trump and Cruz have won 77 percent of the delegates (1,067). The donor-approved, mass immigration advocates, John Kasich and the (late, lamented) Marco Rubio, have 23 percent (313).
Rubio was the apotheosis of the Republican leadership's proposal for national suicide — or the "Growth and Opportunity Project," as the autopsy was officially titled. He was handpicked for the presidency six years ago.
He got to Washington and promptly set about pushing an amnesty bill faster than you could say, "My dad was a bartender." In the darkest days of the nation's history, Rubio's bill actually passed the U.S. Senate. (One of the many hints that voters don't want amnesty was that the bill was blocked in the House, not by any major media opposition — despite media cheerleading, in fact — but by the people, rising up in a blind rage.)
But still, Rubio was the golden boy among GOP consultants, donors and their hired help, elected Republicans. He had unlimited money, resources, establishment support, conservative media cheerleaders and his own cable news channel.
His presidential bid was supported by 14 Republican governors, 22 Republican senators and more than two dozen Republican representatives, Washington think tanks, lobbyists, the Chamber of Commerce, Chipotle and Taco Bell. Time magazine put him on its cover as "Republican Savior."
And on Tuesday, he lost his own state in a landslide. Rubio lost every single county in Florida to Trump but one. He went 1 for 66 in a state where he is not only a U.S. senator, but also a former house speaker. He outspent Trump by about 500 percent and still lost his home state by 20 points.
Never was there a more perfectly kicked field goal — with Rubio as the pigskin. He was hiked and kicked right through the goalposts.
Gov. John Kasich is as awful on immigration as Rubio, but he's so boring, no one can ever remember anything he says. He opposes deporting illegal aliens because that's not "the kind of values that we believe in." ("We" being "the Democratic Party.") He bleats that illegals are "made in the image of the Lord," which would require America to admit everyone in the world — provided they can pass the rigorous background check of being human.
On Tuesday night, Kasich barely won his own state, making him 1 for 29 in GOP primaries. The one and only primary he's won is in the state where he's the sitting governor. He was endorsed by his opponent, Marco Rubio. He's campaigned almost nowhere else.
And yet Kasich came in less than 10 points ahead of a New York real estate developer — half of Trump's margin of victory over Rubio in Rubio's home state. Adjusting for the home state advantage, that's a humiliating defeat.
How many more GOP stars will die for mass immigration? So far, there's Eric Cantor, Nikki Haley, Trey Gowdy, Ben Sasse, Paul Ryan, Fox News — 14 governors, 22 senators and two dozen representatives.
With increasing desperation, the media claim that 63 percent of voters don't want Trump based on votes cast for any other candidate in a 12-man race. What the delegate count shows is a resounding rejection of the immigration policies being pushed by the party leadership.
The establishment laughed at us. They wanted our votes, but then ignored us. They lied to us about opposing amnesty while repeatedly conspiring to pass it.
Now we're going into the presidential election with our 80 percent thunderous will of the people against immigration. I'm not sure someone who is more preacher than president is the most electable expression of that will, but whether Trump or Cruz, make no mistake about what the will is.
Palin GOES OFF in defense of Trump supporters; slams Cruz for 'holier-than-thou narcissism'
March 11, 2016 | Frieda Powers
URL of the original posting site: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2016/03/11/palin-goes-off-in-defense-of-trump-supporters-slams-cruz-for-holier-than-thou-narcissism-315596
Sarah Palin came to the defense of Donald Trump supporters and condemning Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz for insulting them.
Cruz's comments that voters who favor Trump have "relatively low information" and are "not that engaged" earned him a scathing response from Palin who went off in a Facebook post on Thursday. The Texas senator's "insinuation" that Trump's supporters are "Wayyyyyy Beneath" him "reeks of all the reasons America knows 'the status quo has got to go,'" Palin said in the post.
Calling Cruz's comments "downright nasty," Palin then turned the GOP candidate's words on himself asserting that Trump voters ARE low information when it comes to knowing about Cruz.
The former Alaska governor slammed Cruz by systematically asking where voters could get information on his ability to unify and lead, and asking him "how it helps make America great again by arrogantly disenfranchising this Primary season's majority voters who are fed-up, inspired, optimistic, and engaged?"
"How does it help unify the party or the nation when that holier-than-thou narcissism manifests itself through negative, biting, deceptive tactics," asked Palin, who endorsed Trump in January.
Palin suggested that the information on Cruz is "nonexistent" while Trump's "energized, positive campaign" has broken previous Republican voter turnout records.
"Any info, Ted, on where you think that 'disengaged' momentum will take us?" Palin asked at the close of the post.
Sara Palin
Favored Son
Friday. March 04, 2016
URL of original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/03/04/rubio-cruz/#ktBMZzbdFeIlq4hg.99
GOP favors third place Rubio over 2nd place Cruz in the Super Tuesday outcome.
Rubio Cruz / Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2016.
Super Tuesday Primary results
E Tu Lindsey?
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/03/01/e-tu-lindsey/#hg3BJoQeirwysHbX.99
E Tu Lindsey Graham said "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you".
E TU Lindsey / Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2016.
More A.F.Branco Cartoons at Net Right Daily.
Sen. Lindsey Graham
Up for Grabs
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/02/03/gop-candidates/#mSe2LoSIoXovzSgS.99
Looking for true Reagan Conservative GOP candidates. Is there such a thing as one.
Political Cartoon by A.F.Branco ©2015
Dr. Ben Carson
Mrco Rubio
Sword in the Stone
The Reagan Conservative
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/01/28/trump-vs-cruz/#dpjwtw0qcET5XkZZ.99
Trump vs Cruz has the conservative vote torn.
Hillary BFF
URL of the original posting site: http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/01/27/hillary-bff/#hliIL34YoEDqGwzl.99
Hillary BFF – In spite of her claiming to be the champion for women's rights she loves to take donations from so called friends in foreign countries who have no women's rights.
Cartoon by A.F.Branco ©2016.
illegal donations
Islamic Terrorist
Ann Coulter Letter: "We're All Ruth Bader Ginsburg Now"
Commentary by Ann Coulter | Wednesday Jan 13, 2016
URL of the original posting site: http://humanevents.com/2016/01/13/were-all-ruth-bader-ginsburg-now
If Ted Cruz is a "natural born citizen," eligible to be president, what was all the fuss about Obama being born in Kenya? No one disputed that Obama's mother was a U.S. Citizen.
Cruz was born in Canada to an American citizen mother and an alien father. If he's eligible to be president, then so was Obama — even if he'd been born in Kenya.
As with most constitutional arguments, whether or not Cruz is a "natural born citizen" under the Constitution apparently comes down to whether you support Cruz for president. (Or, for liberals, whether you think U.S. citizenship is a worthless thing that ought to be extended to every person on the planet.)
Forgetting how corrupt constitutional analysis had become, I briefly believed lawyers who assured me that Cruz was a "natural born citizen," eligible to run for president, and "corrected" myself in a single tweet three years ago. That tweet's made quite a stir!
But the Constitution is the Constitution, and Cruz is not a "natural born citizen." (Never let the kids at Kinko's do your legal research.)
I said so long before Trump declared for president, back when Cruz was still my guy — as lovingly captured on tape last April by the Obama birthers (www.birtherreport.com/2015/04/shocker-anti-birther…
The Constitution says: "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
The phrase "natural born" is a legal term of art that goes back to Calvin's Case, in the British Court of Common Pleas, reported in 1608 by Lord Coke. The question before the court was whether Calvin — a Scot — could own land in England, a right permitted only to English subjects.
The court ruled that because Calvin was born after the king of Scotland had added England to his realm, Calvin was born to the king of both realms and had all the rights of an Englishman.
It was the king on whose soil he was born and to whom he owed his allegiance — not his Scottish blood — that determined his rights.
Not everyone born on the king's soil would be "natural born." Calvin's Case expressly notes that the children of aliens who were not obedient to the king could never be "natural" subjects, despite being "born upon his soil." (Sorry, anchor babies.) However, they still qualified for food stamps, Section 8 housing and Medicaid.
Relying on English common law for the meaning of "natural born," the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that "the acquisition of citizenship by being born abroad of American parents" was left to Congress "in the exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution to establish an uniform rule of naturalization." (U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898); Rogers v. Bellei (1971); Zivotofsky v. Kerry (2015), Justice Thomas, concurring.)
A child born to American parents outside of U.S. territory may be a citizen the moment he is born — but only by "naturalization," i.e., by laws passed by Congress. If Congress has to write a law to make you a citizen, you're not "natural born."
Because Cruz's citizenship comes from the law, not the Constitution, as late as 1934, he would not have had "any conceivable claim to United States citizenship. For more than a century and a half, no statute was of assistance. Maternal citizenship afforded no benefit" — as the Supreme Court put it in Rogers v. Bellei (1971).
That would make no sense if Cruz were a "natural born citizen" under the Constitution. But as the Bellei Court said: "Persons not born in the United States acquire citizenship by birth only as provided by Acts of Congress." (There's an exception for the children of ambassadors, but Cruz wasn't that.)
So Cruz was born a citizen — under our naturalization laws — but is not a "natural born citizen" — under our Constitution.
I keep reading the arguments in favor of Cruz being a "natural born citizen," but don't see any history, any Blackstone Commentaries, any common law or Supreme Court cases.
One frequently cited article in the Harvard Law Review cites the fact that the "U.S. Senate unanimously agreed that Senator McCain was eligible for the presidency."
Sen. McCain probably was natural born — but only because he was born on a U.S. military base to a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy, and thus is analogous to the ambassador's child described in Calvin's Case. (Sorry, McCain haters — oh wait! That's me!)
But a Senate resolution — even one passed "unanimously"! — is utterly irrelevant. As Justice Antonin Scalia has said, the court's job is to ascertain "objective law," not determine "some kind of social consensus," which I believe is the job of the judges on "American Idol." (On the other hand, if Congress has the power to define constitutional terms, how about a resolution declaring that The New York Times is not "speech"?)
Mostly, the Cruz partisans confuse being born a citizen with being a "natural born citizen." This is constitutional illiteracy. "Natural born" is a legal term of art. A retired judge who plays a lot of tennis is an active judge, but not an "active judge" in legal terminology.
The best argument for Cruz being a natural born citizen is that in 1790, the first Congress passed a law that provided: "The children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens."
Except the problem is, neither that Congress, nor any Congress for the next 200 years or so, actually treated them like natural born citizens.
As the Supreme Court said in Bellei, a case about the citizenship of a man born in Italy to a native-born American mother and an Italian father: "It is evident that Congress felt itself possessed of the power to grant citizenship to the foreign born and at the same time to impose qualifications and conditions for that citizenship."
The most plausible interpretation of the 1790 statute is that Congress was saying the rights of naturalized citizens born abroad are the same as the rights of the natural born — except the part about not being natural born.
Does that sound odd? It happens to be exactly what the Supreme Court said in Schneider v. Rusk (1964): "We start from the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity, and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the 'natural born' citizen is eligible to be president. (Article II, Section 1)"
Unless we're all Ruth Bader Ginsburg now, and interpret the Constitution to mean whatever we want it to mean, Cruz is not a "natural born citizen."
Take it like a man, Ted — and maybe President Trump will make you attorney general.
France Plans To Shut Down Up To 160 Muslim Mosques
By: Michael Qazvini December 2, 2015
URL of the original posting site: http://www.dailywire.com/news/1544/france-plans-shut-down-160-muslim-mosques-michael-qazvini?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=120215-news&utm_campaign=benshapiro
AP Photo/Francois Walschaerts
In the wake of the Islamic terrorist attack in Paris, France plans on shutting down up to to 160 mosques in the next few months. French President Francois Hollande announced a state of emergency after the attacks, bolstering security measures across the country. Authorities argue that the mosques pose a threat to national security, operating as hubs of radicalism.
"According to official figures and our discussions with the interior ministry, between 100 and 160 more mosques will be closed because they are run illegally without proper licenses, they preach hatred, or use takfiri [threats against apostates] speech," French-Islamic bureaucratic state mediator and Muslim prison chaplain Hassan El Alaoui told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. "This kind of speech shouldn't even be allowed in Islamic countries, let alone secure countries like France."
Despite assuming a security-conscious posture, the Islamic leader still stubbornly refused to acknowledge the glaring fact that the terrorists that attacked Paris were driven by religious motivations. "Those terrorists are a bunch of thieves and drug dealers that wore religious clothing. The whole issue is not about Muslims, but about terrorists. It's an issue of security for everyone," snapped El Alaoui.
El Alaoui apologist rhetoric taps into leftist PC culture, excusing and defending an ideology at the expense of human life. Both President Obama and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton have espoused the same cowardly semantics to avoid linking Islam and terrorism.
"Those terrorists are a bunch of thieves and drug dealers that wore religious clothing. The whole issue is not about Muslims, but about terrorists."
Islamic bureaucratic state mediator and Muslim prison chaplain Hassan El Alaoui
Obama is "an apologist for radical Islamic terrorists," stated Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly. "Why don't we see the president of the United States demonstrating that same courage just to speak the truth about the face of evil we're facing right now?"
Francois Hollande
Cruz: 'It's offensive' that 'amnesty' opponents are labeled anti-immigrant
By Jonathan Swan – 11/10/15
URL of the original posting site: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/259775-cruz-its-offensive-people-who-are-anti-amnesty-are-labeled-anti-immigrant
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says he finds it "offensive" that people call him anti-immigrant for being a foe of "amnesty."
"For those of us who believe that people ought to come to this country legally and that we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant," Cruz told a cheering, whistling crowd in Milwaukee, Wis., at the Republican presidential debate Tuesday night.
"It's offensive," Cruz said.
"The Democrats are laughing. Because if Republicans join Democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose."
Opponents of programs that would give people who entered the country illegally the ability to get legal status or even citizenship call such policies "amnesty."
The Texas senator — who is surging in recent polls and is increasingly seen as a serious contender for the GOP nomination — said the media would put a different slant on the immigration debate if white-collar workers rather than poor people were pouring across the border.
"I understand that when mainstream media covers immigration it doesn't often see it as an economic issue," he said.
But the politics of immigration "would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande," Cruz added.
"Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press."
The Republican crowd cheered and laughed.
"Then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation," Cruz continued.
Cruz, who is trying to rival billionaire Donald Trump for his hard-line stance on border security, suggested that no other sovereign nation would be as lax as the United States is.
"Try going illegally into another country," Cruz said. "Try going to China, or Japan. Try going into Mexico. See what they do.'
"Every sovereign nation secures its borders," he added.
"And it is not compassionate to say we are not going to enforce the law and we are going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women."
Here's How Ted Cruz Handled Interviewer's Question About Ben Carson's Statement on Idea of Muslim President
Sep. 21, 2015 8:53am by Jason Howerton
URI of the original posting site: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/09/21/heres-how-ted-cruz-handled-interviewers-question-about-ben-carsons-statement-on-idea-of-muslim-president
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declined to support Ben Carson's recent claim that he would not "advocate" for a Muslim president, instead citing the U.S. Constitution.
"You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am a constitutionalist," Cruz said during an interview on Iowa public television on Sunday.
The Texas Republican also seemed disinterested in debating the faith of President Barack Obama, which again became a topic of conversation after a man accused the president of being a Muslim at a Donald Trump rally.
"The president's faith is between him and God," Cruz said. "What I'm going to focus on is his public policy record."
When asked about the potential of thousands of refugees settling in the U.S., Cruz said Muslim refugees could pose a terrorist threat.
He added that "Christians are a very different circumstance because Christians are being persecuted, they are being persecuted directly for their faith and the Obama administration has abandoned Middle East Christians."
(H/T: Mediaite)
Isalm
Kim Davis released from jail, ordered not to interfere with same-sex marriage licenses
By David Weigel, Abby Phillip and Sarah Larimer September 8, 2015
URL of the original posting site: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/09/08/judge-orders-kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-released-from-jail/?tid=sm_tw
GRAYSON, Ky. — Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has been released from jail, five days after she was held in contempt by a federal judge amid an escalating standoff over marriage licenses. Davis was jailed at the Carter County Detention Center on Thursday after she refused to issue licenses to same-sex couples. The following day, her deputies began issuing the documents in her absence. As a condition of her release on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Davis not to interfere with the issuing of marriage licenses by her office.
"She will not violate her conscience," Davis' attorney Mat Staver said outside the jail. "Her conscience remains as clear today as it was when she first walked into these jail cells, and it will remain clear into the future."
"She loves God, she loves people, she loves her work, and she will not betray any of those three," Staver added.
A large crowd had gathered outside of the jail ahead of a planned rally Tuesday afternoon. Davis did not speak, but when asked whether it was "worth it," she smiled and nodded her head: yes.
Kim Davis. (Carter County Detention Center via AP)
Five of the six clerks who work under Davis swore under oath that they could comply with the court's order to issue marriage licenses. In a status report filed to Bunning's court Tuesday, the couples who had filed suit against Davis after she first denied them marriage licenses said they were able to obtain them.
[Ted Cruz travels to Kentucky to support Kim Davis]
In Tuesday's order, Bunning said he is satisfied that the county clerk's office is now complying with the court's ruling. He also ordered that Davis "shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples" in Rowan County. If she does interfere, Bunning wrote, the court will consider "appropriate sanctions."
The news of the judge's order was slow to spread outside the Carter County Detention Center, where hundreds gathered for a 3 p.m. rally where Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee would speak. Some had gathered as early as 8 a.m. and had driven from as far away as Texas.
Following the new order from Bunning, Huckabee arrived at the jail to visit with Davis, who was elected as a Democrat. Republican presidential contender and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also appeared outside of the detention center. After her release, Huckabee praised Davis for being willing to go to jail in order to maintain the "clarity of her conscience."
"I feel that she has shown more courage than most any politicians I know and most any pastor that I know," Huckabee said. "We stand with Kim today with gratitude and appreciation."
In a statement to The Washington Post, the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on behalf of several gay couples, said it achieved what it set out to do by suing Davis. "The goal was to get Ms. Davis to issue licenses, and to stop imposing her religious beliefs on the citizens she was elected to serve," attorney Dan J. Canon told The Post in an e-mail. "That goal has been achieved, for now." He added: "We are hopeful that Ms. Davis will comply with the Court's orders and let her deputies continue to do their jobs."
The licenses issued Friday were altered to remove Davis's name. They now say they are issued in the office of "Rowan County, Rowan County County Clerk." But an attorney for Davis argued last week that without Davis's approval as county clerk, the licenses are invalid. "They are not worth the paper they're written on," Mat Staver said on Friday.
[Legally, 'God's authority' is a tough issue]
The five clerks who complied with the court's order to issue marriage licenses have now been ordered to file additional status reports to the court every 14 days.
In a statement, LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign said Davis has "no legal basis" to refuse to comply with the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision which legalized same-sex marriage. "The overwhelming majority of public officials across this country are following the law, and history will not judge her kindly," said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. "It's far past time for this needless ordeal to end."
Earlier on Tuesday, Davis's attorneys had filed a document petitioning a U.S. Circuit Court to overrule Bunning's contempt order.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian who opposes same-sex marriage, has argued that she is exercising her religious freedom by refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. She has also sought a "remedy" from state officials that would exempt her from the mandate that all Kentucky county clerks issue marriage licenses in the state.
[Ky. clerk's attorney: New marriage licenses 'not worth the paper they're written on']
Outside of the jail, her supporters cheered, waved American flags, carried crosses and signs. "If this goes through, if the Supreme Court continues to override society and what the majority thinks, then all you've got left is tyrannical authority," said Leonard Stone, 65, a Christian minister from Wolf County, Ky. "She should be released. That's simple. The Supreme Court doesn't have the right to write laws. She's in there unconstitutionally."
[He has guts': David Bunning, the same-sex marriage decision's unlikely enforcer]
David Bunning
issue marriage licenses
LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign
same sex marraige
Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision
U.S. District Judge David Bunning
HILLARY DOES A DEFIANT CRUZ-LIKE TATTOO POSTER: This Will Make You Wince
URL of the original posting site: http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/hillary-does-a-defiant-cruz-like-tattoo-poster-this-will-make-you-wince
Oh, gross Hillary!
Hillary is taking on a new look for her campaign, we think it fits her better. What about you?
Here is Ted's original:
Share if you think Hillary's campaign slogan should be 'Hillary for Prison 2016′
H/T: Clash Daily
The First Official Post-GOP Debate Poll Is In – And the Winner Is…
By Katie LaPotin
URL of the original posting site: http://www.ijreview.com/2015/08/389250-first-official-post-gop-debate-poll-winner/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=list-share
Republican presidential candidates arrive on stage for the Republican presidential debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. From left are: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; real estate magnate Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday, businessman Donald Trump's attacks on Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly have had no impact on his place at the top of the GOP primary polls. Not only does Trump remain atop the 17-candidate presidential field, with 24% of Republican primary voters behind him, but the real estate tycoon also comes out as the winner of the debate among respondents participating in the online survey:
At the same time, there seems to be little room for Trump's image to change. One-third of Republican primary voters had a more favorable impression of him after the debate, while the same number reported gaining a more negative image or having their opinion of him stay the same as it was pre-debate.
Trailing Trump in second place was former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who saw his support drop five points to 12% after the debate. No other candidate earned more than 8% in the online poll, which was conducted between Thursday night and Sunday:
Image Credit: Screenshot
Several candidates did see a boost in their favorability ratings as a result of their strong debate performances, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Only Kentucky Senator Rand Paul saw his image suffer as a result of Thursday night's debate, with one in five voters developing a negative opinion of him as a result of his performance.
Despite Trump's current lead in the polls, the survey found that he fares no better than other Republicans against Democrat Hillary Clinton. The former Secretary of State would best Trump, 43% to 29%, in a general election head-to-head match-up.
The poll also found that Clinton would beat Bush, Rubio and Cruz by similar margins.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush
Florida Senator Marco Rubio
former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
FOX NEWS Republican Debate
neurosurgeon Ben Carson
Texas Senator Ted Cruz
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
Nancy Reagan invites 16 candidates to CNN GOP presidential debate
GOP presidential candidates from left, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and John Kasich take the stage for the first Republican presidential debate, Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
By Kelly Cohen • 8/11/15
URL of he original posting site: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nancy-reagan-invites-16-candidates-to-cnn-gop-presidential-debate/article/2569991#.Vcnp6q8JbTk.twitter
Former first lady Nancy Reagan is inviting 16 Republican candidates to participate in the CNN/Reagan Library presidential debate. Candidates must achieve an average of at least 1 percent of support in three national presidential polls before Sept. 10 to be included in the Sept. 16 debate at the Air Force One Pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
The top 10 contenders who made it into the first GOP debate last week on Fox News — Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, John Kasich — have all been invited, as well as six of the seven candidates who participated in the earlier debate: Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore has not yet been invited.
The CNN event will be broken into two back-to-back debates with two groups of candidates. CNN's Jake Tapper will moderate both debate groups.
"Debates are a crucial part of the election process, and I'm thrilled that so many qualified candidates have the opportunity to be heard at the Reagan Presidential Library," Reagan, the widow of late President Ronald Reagan, said in a press release.
(h/t CNN)
Former first lady Nancy Reagan
GOP debate l
Lindsey Graham and George Pataki. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore
Sept. 16 debate
What Obama just did is UNFORGIVABLE. (Hint: it's 7 letters)
Written by Allen West on August 5, 2015
URL of the original posting site: http://allenbwest.com/2015/08/what-obama-just-did-is-unforgivable-hint-its-7-letters
If there is one thing absolutely true about the liberal progressive left, it is the fact that they hate the truth, and will doggedly attack anyone using it against them.
We are watching the left do its darndest to defend the indefensible, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — always beware when politicians use the word "comprehensive" — which is the official name of the Iranian nuclear agreement. Funny thing, it says "joint," but the Iranians are telling the Americans we cannot take part in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspections — and it has been revealed that there are secret side deals between the IAEA and Iran. The Iranian emissary to the IAEA stated that the terms will not be disclosed to any other country — so much for "joint."
And the left is all in an apoplectic uproar because Senator Ted Cruz called out President Obama on the Iranian deal. As reported by Politico, "According to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran is essentially financing terrorism. And he's not backing down after the president called his comments "outrageous."
"If this deal is consummated, it will make the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism," Cruz said during a round table [last] Tuesday. "Billions of dollars under control of this administration will flow into the hands of jihadists who will use that money to murder Americans, to murder Israelis, to murder Europeans."
What I find "outrageous" is that President Barack Obama would refer to Senator Cruz's assertion as "outrageous". So what DO you call it when you are the president of America and you threaten a veto against the U.S. Congress if it does not consent to the JCPOA that releases billions of dollars to the world's number one state sponsor of Islamic terrorism?
I know, we just have to sit back and allow the Emperor — who truly has no clothes — do whatever he wishes, including funding a militant Islamic theocratic regime that chants "Death to America?" I know, all my leftist supporters believe Iran and the ayatollahs are just kidding.
And why take the word of Senator Cruz, or even someone like myself who has been in Iraq and Afghanistan and knows the terrorist support and influences of Iran? Nah, my assessment is worthless in light of Barack Obama and all his vast experience in Middle East community organizing.
However, what about the word of someone who has intimate knowledge of the terrorist activity and support of Iran against our men and women in the Middle East? Now, in full disclosure, the person to whom I am referring was once a Commanding Officer of mine in the 4th Infantry Division when I was an Artillery Battalion commander.
As written in the Weekly Standard by Lieutenant General Michael Barbero (US Army, Retired), "One man was responsible for the deaths or injuries of thousands of American soldiers in Iraq. That same man is responsible for sowing sectarian conflict today in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. And yet, in the nuclear deal with Iran, this man, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, Major General Qassem Suleimani, will have sanctions lifted against him. Indeed, he will receive a large infusion of cash to wreak more havoc and terror.
Having served in Iraq, having experienced first-hand his proxy operations against American forces, and having lost men to Gen. Suleimani's terror operations, I find this offensive. Preventing a nuclear Iran is a critical national security objective. We should seize any real chance of achieving this goal diplomatically. Whether the agreement negotiated in Vienna, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will keep nuclear weapons out of Iranian hands is a question that should be vigorously debated.
But it is appalling that we would agree to lift sanctions on a known terrorist in pursuit of this nuclear deal. President Obama claims to be under no illusions about the Iranian regime and its murderous activities. Even in defending the JCPOA, he has admitted that, "we'll still have problems with Iran's sponsorship of terrorism: its funding of proxies like Hezbollah that threaten Israel and threaten the region, the destabilizing activities that they're engaging in, including in places like Yemen." Behind all these problems stands one organization, and behind that organization, one man. Within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force is responsible for special operations, including training, arming, and giving instructions to the terrorists, insurgents, and proxies that Iran uses to spread chaos across the Middle East. The head of the Quds Force is Major General Qassem Suleimani.
Shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Quds Force mobilized and trained Shiite militias within Iraq for the purpose of killing Americans. This proxy campaign against United States forces was abetted by a particularly lethal weapon: explosively formed projectiles (EFPs). A form of roadside bomb with a sophisticated triggering mechanism and the ability to penetrate American armor, EFPs were estimated to account for 20 percent of U.S. deaths. And they came from only one place. "We knew where all the factories were in Iran." General Stanley McChrystal, then head of the Joint Special Operations Command, told the New Yorker. "The E.F.P.s killed hundreds of Americans."
I've spoken about the EFPs previously in interviews and on this website. So I must ask, what part of President Barack Obama financing Islamic terrorism do you NOT understand? What is confusing about what LTG Barbero just stated? If anyone knows, LTG Barbero does, because he served 46 months over three combat tours in Iraq, including serving as the senior operations officer in Iraq during the surge. And LTG Barbero also served as the Commanding General of JIEDDO (Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization). So if there's anyone who knows the IEDs and from whence they come, it is my former Assistant Division Commander, LTG Barbero. Then again, why listen to him, especially when you have General Valerie Jarrett and all her vast experience in combat operations and the Iranian influence — the country of her birth.
If you want to draw a parallel, consider the Iranian Quds force the same as the Nazi SS during World War II. They are just that vicious and murderous, devoid of any sense of humanity. This is the organization which will be the recipient of Obama's billions of dollars of goodwill. And please, again, do not give me the surrender monkey song about the only other alternative is war. Guess what Einsteins? Iran and the Quds force have been at war with America, and as LTG Barbero states, 20 percent of US deaths in Iraq came at the hands of Iran — chances are thousands were maimed.
So to all the liberal progressive leftists, take your unrighteous indignation elsewhere. Senator Ted Cruz was correct in his assertion and I know that facts and truth are to liberal progressives as sunlight is to vampires. However, it is time we stop trying to create some fantasy world surrounding this abhorrent acquiescence called the JCPOA.
Barack Obama has signed an agreement with the same folks responsible for the deaths and maiming of Americans. Iran has continued to state that nothing changes in their relationship and position towards the United States. Perhaps those inane Hollywood talking heads who were mouthpieces for Obama and this Iranian agreement should visit one of the families who lost their loved ones to an Iranian EFP. Look into the eyes of the children who lost a mom or dad and tell them, we need to release billions of dollars to the crazed clerics in black robes.
You want to know what is truly "outrageous?" The fact that the President of the United States is more concerned about his insidious and delusional legacy than honoring the men and women who carry the scars or lost their lives because of Iran. Yes, he is content to allow this to happen.
The U.S .Code refers to actions of aiding and abetting the enemy, as well as providing material support and comfort…releasing billions of dollars in unfrozen assets to Iran is in complete violation of U.S. Code. Iran is the enemy and Obama is financing the enemy. I know what that's called. Do you?
General Stanley McChrystal
General Valerie Jarrett
head of the Joint Special Operations Command
IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
Iranian deal
JIEDDO (Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization)
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
Liberls
Lieutenant General Michael Barbero (US Army
Major General Qassem Suleimani
Quds Force
Retired)
Senator Cruz
sponsorship of terrorism
Fact Check: Is Obama a State Sponsor of Terrorism?
July 27, 2015 Authored by Daniel Greenfield
URL of the original posting site: http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/259596/fact-check-obama-state-sponsor-terrorism-daniel-greenfield
Obama made headlines by complaining that Republicans are being mean to him over the Iran deal.
"We've had a sitting senator call John Kerry 'Pontius Pilate.' We've had a sitting senator who also happens to be running for president suggest that I'm the leading state sponsor of terrorism," Obama said, referring to Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas, respectively. "These are leaders in the Republican Party."
But, the president said, when he is attacked, the people who were outraged on McCain's behalf "are pretty quiet."
Let's look at the facts. Here's what Ted Cruz said.
"If this deal goes through the Obama administration becomes the leading financier of terrorism against Americans in the world. I've heard this referred to before as the "Jihadist Stimulus Bill."
Is Iran a state sponsor of terrorism? Obama has admitted that it is.
"Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism," Obama told Asharq al-Awsat.
Will the billions of dollars that Iran receives be used to sponsor terror? The Supreme Leader of Iran has stated that it will.
Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei gave a particularly inflammatory speech just days after the deal, stating that the Islamic Republic's policies toward the US have not changed.
"We will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon," he continued, referring to the Iranian terror axis in the Middle East. "Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant US will not change."
Secretary of State John Kerry has admitted that it will.
"Now, with respect to the money, I can't tell you that some — you know, some amount of money might not find its way to some effort."
And that's out of $140 billion. Some money out of that is a whole lot.
1. Obama admitted Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism
2. Kerry admitted that sanctions relief will be used to sponsor terrorism
So in fact Obama's policies will lead to a huge sum of money flowing into a regime that he has admitted is a state sponsor of terrorism and which his Secretary of State has admitted will be used to sponsor terrorism.
Ted Cruz is clearly correct.
Obama can whine about the "tone" and the "rhetoric", but it's hypocritical for a guy whose proxies were accusing Republicans in the Senate of being the #47Traitors of complaining about the tone of the attacks over Iran.
Secreatary of State John Kerry
Washington Post warns Dems: What happens when President Cruz uses Obama's unilateral precedent?
Posted at 8:31 am on November 18, 2014 by Ed Morrissey
URL of Original Posting Site: http://hotair.com/archives/2014/11/18/wapo-warns-obama-what-happens-when-president-cruz-uses-your-unilateral-precedent/
The Washington Post's dystopian fantasy provides a certain amount of amusement, since anyone who follows Ted Cruz for any length of time would know that this approach would be antithetical to his concept of constitutional government and the rule of law. It's still useful as both a way to take the temperature of the center-left as it becomes more frightened of its allies than its opponents, and a measure of the split developing on that side of the political spectrum as Barack Obama becomes unmoored from constitutional checks on power:
DEMOCRATS URGING President Obama to "go big" in his executive order on immigration might pause to consider the following scenario:
It is 2017. Newly elected President Ted Cruz (R) insists he has won a mandate to repeal Obamacare. The Senate, narrowly back in Democratic hands, disagrees. Mr. Cruz instructs the Internal Revenue Service not to collect a fine from anyone who opts out of the individual mandate to buy health insurance, thereby neutering a key element of the program. It is a matter of prosecutorial discretion, Mr. Cruz explains; tax cheats are defrauding the government of billions, and he wants the IRS to concentrate on them. Of course, he is willing to modify his order as soon as Congress agrees to fix what he considers a "broken" health system.
That is not a perfect analogy to Mr. Obama's proposed action on immigration. But it captures the unilateral spirit that Mr. Obama seems to have embraced since Republicans swept to victory in the midterm elections. He is vowing to go it alone on immigration. On Iran, he is reportedly designing an agreement that he need not bring to Congress. He already has gone that route on climate change with China.
The issue isn't Obama's upcoming abuse of power as much as it is that the next Republican will abuse it in the same way. The Post's editorial board supports Obama's position on immigration reform, as they state in the editorial, and they're probably not all that unhappy with the agreement with China. They are not usually fans of Obama's foreign policy and resistance to accountability, but otherwise support the current administration's policies, and usually its approach.
That much is apparent in the rest of the editorial. It treats the lack of bipartisanship as something that is a more recent development in the Obama administration, and Barack Obama as someone naturally inclined toward bipartisanship with his statement three years ago to immigration activists that he had to work through Congress to achieve reform. That, however, was an excuse Obama gave to shrug off an uncomfortable truth: Obama could have gotten immigration reform passed easily in the first two years of his presidency. That had a significant amount of support among Republican caucuses, especially in the Senate, and Obama could have gotten that bipartisan agreement on his terms, thanks to Democratic control of Congress.
How did Obama use those two years? He rammed through three Democratic legislative projects that the GOP vehemently opposed: Dodd-Frank, ObamaCare, and the stimulus bill with the supposed "shovel-ready jobs" that Obama later admitted never existed. Democrats locked the GOP out of the crafting of the stimulus bill; when Republican leaders complained to Obama, he replied, "I won." That was in February 2009, just days after taking office. The track record of Democratic triumphalism on ObamaCare speaks for itself, except for the parts where Jonathan Gruber now speaks for it a lot more honestly than Democrats ever did. Gruber proves that the rank and file Democrats that the Post attempts to warn here are pretty comfortable with the ends-justify-the-means approach, at least until it becomes obvious.
Yes, Democrats should worry about what Republicans might do with precedents for abuse of power, but it's doubtful that they care at this point. It would have been far more useful if the Washington Post's editorial board had concerned itself from the beginning about precedents on executive authority and unilateralism when it came to policies the Post liked more than their concern over Republicans who opposed them.
Hate is the Force that Gives the Left Meaning
http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/02/hate-force-gives-left-meaning/#xAVEDjOlf5vMMJaD.99
Daniel Greenfield 10 hours ago
The American left has never had it this good. It has never had two terms of an unabashed and uncompromising leftist in the White House dedicated to its agenda functioning as a dictator without the military uniform, making and unmaking laws at a whim, siccing the IRS and Federal prosecutors on political enemies and transforming the country at a breathtaking pace.
Obama is what generations of the left have dreamed of and worked toward. This is the flicker of hope they kept alive after JFK's assassination, the Nixon years, Carter's collapse and the long stretch of Reaganomics. This is what Bill Clinton robbed them of prematurely by gauging his actions against the polls instead of blasting full steam ahead regardless of what the public wanted.
The left finally has its Un-American tyranny. So why is it so angry?
Watch MSNBC or browse any left-wing site and you see a level of anger that would make you think that Al Gore had just conceded or Nixon had just won reelection. There's more anger in the privileged circles of the left than in the political rearguard of the Tea Party.
That anger trickles from the top down. Obama's interview with Bill O'Reilly was yet another opportunity for the most powerful man in the country to blame a vast right wing conspiracy. A day doesn't pass without another email from Obama, his wife, Sandra Fluke or Joe Biden warning that without another five or ten dollar contribution, the "right" will take over America.
The left has unchallenged control over the government, academia and the entertainment industry and yet it talks as if the country is 5 seconds away from Sarah Palin marching into Washington D.C. at the head of an army of Duck Dynasty fans to outlaw abortion.
The apocalyptic political paranoia and the uncontrolled outbursts of rage haven't changed much since 2003. Ten years later, the ideologues in power still act as if George W. Bush is serving out his fourth term. Every day on MSNBC, a stew of conspiracy theories about oil companies, Israel, the Koch Brothers, Wal-Mart and Karl Rove leaves a slimy trail across the television screen.
On the internet, manufactured outrage has become the only progressive stock in trade. Did Jerry Seinfeld say that he values humor over racial quotas? He's a racist. Did an ESPN magazine out a compulsive liar who also happened to be pretending to be a woman? Lock him up. Did Mike Huckabee say something that could be misinterpreted with enough ellipses and out of context "Twitterized" quotes? Before you know it, he's a sexist pig.
Pageviews are the obvious profit motive behind all this and yet it says something deeply disturbing about a progressive readership that eats up hate and doesn't react to anything positive. The rash of fake hate crimes feeds into that same perverse need for an enemy to hate and fight. The left used to pretend that it wanted to do something positive. But now that it has the power, it can't stop searching for someone to hate instead.
The left is more comfortable being angry than being anything else; it finds it easier to rally the troops against something than for something so that even its triumphs only lead to more anger. The MSNBC tweet about an interracial Cheerios commercial was revealing of a deeper problem within the left. It was assumed that the MSNBC audience wouldn't care about an interracial ad unless it could somehow pretend to "spite" the right by watching it.
Obama's awkward stumble from cause to cause, letting the old Bush policies run on Autoplay unless a crusade kicks in, as it eventually did on gay marriage and illegal immigration, is indicative of the problem with the left's governing style. As with an interracial Cheerios commercial, it cares less about gay marriage or legalizing illegal aliens than it does about stirring up conflict.
Like an overgrown teenager for whom music or clothes aren't about enjoying life or expressing an identity, but about upsetting and offending his or her parents, the left needs the negative validation of the right to be secure in its bad choices. Without that negative feedback to affirm its rebellion, its pet causes no longer seem all that compelling or meaningful.
That is another reason why the left began neglecting some of its bread and butter issues after Obama won. Aside from the need to protect its own man, it wasn't really all that interested in closing Gitmo, gay marriage or opposing the War in Iraq. The things it wants to do are never as important to it as its obsessive need to feel that it is fighting against the right.
For all the Obama Worship, the left is more united by hatred for Sarah Palin or Ted Cruz or any other conservative villain of the month than by its support for its own leaders. It derives its identity more from the things that it is against, the middle class, the country, the businessman, the white male, than from the things that it is for. The left's sense of self is strongest when it is attacking, not when it is inspiring, when it is destroying, not when it is building.
Deprived of an external enemy, its ideologues carve out narrow orthodoxies and denounce each other for violating them. When the right and the center have been purged, the purges of the left begin and don't end until there is nothing left except one tyrant-guru and his terrified minions. Or until some outside force throws a pot of cold water on the quarreling and shrieking acolytes brawling over minor points of doctrine.
The small scale bloodsport documented in the outward reaches of feminism by The Nation in its article "Feminism's Toxic Twitter Wars" as transgender rights activists denounce Eve Ensler for excluding them by using the word "Vagina" and black feminists denounce white feminists for ignoring their concerns. This is what the left begins doing when it has free time on its hands. It doesn't stop fighting. Instead its wars become pettier power struggles over points of doctrine.
When all enemies to the right have been eliminated, the left doesn't find peace. Its ideology is a weapon, its gurus are egomaniacs and its followers joined to fight. When it wins in an arena, whether it's academia or entertainment, the winners begins warring against each other proving that even in an ideological vacuum, its ideology remains a destructive force whose followers would rather denounce and destroy, than educate and enlighten.
As a victorious parasite writes its own obituary, a successful left is a threat to its own existence and the only thing saving the left from the violent disintegration into its own insanity is the right.
Hating the right is the only thing that keeps the left together. When it doesn't have Nixon to kick around anymore, it dissolves into a wet puddle of goo. If it didn't have Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Mitt Romney and every other figure who took his turn starring in their grim theater of the Two Minutes Hate, it would revert back to the petty infighting of a thousand minor eccentric causes.
The left needs to believe in a vast right-wing conspiracy. It needs the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, Evangelical Christians, AIPAC, oil companies, defense contractors and every other element of its conspiracy theories to keep its gurus and followers focused on the "real" threat instead of purging each other for tone policing, insufficient privilege checking and any other outrage of the week.
Like the Salafists shooting and shelling each other in Syria, the ranks of the left are filled with dogmatic and intolerant fanatics whose only goal in life is the absolute victory of their point of view. Their mutual fanaticism and aggrieved sense of victimhood gives them more in common with each other and that very commonality is the source of their mutual hatred. Only they can understand each other well enough to truly want to kill each other as no outsider possibly can.
Hate is the force that gives the left meaning. It isn't hope that animates its leaders and thinkers, but the darker side of human nature that calls on them to destroy and to kill. That dark side is why the left's victories end in tragedies, why the red flags are painted with blood and when its followers have run out of enemies to kill, they turn on each other and destroy their own movements with firing squads, gulags and guillotines.
The left finds its identity not in its utopian visions, but in the things and people it wishes to destroy. Only by knowing what they hate, do its followers know who they are.
About Daniel Greenfield
&lt;img alt=" src='http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/9f2012912322acd56f592e08e8cd5416?s=68&amp;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D68&amp;r=G’ class='avatar avatar-68 photo' height='68' width='68' />
My name is Daniel Greenfield. I am a blogger and columnist born in Israel and living in New York City. I am a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a contributing editor at Family Security Matters. My original biweekly column appears at Front Page Magazine and my blog articles regularly appear at Family Security Matters, the Jewish Press, Times of Israel, Act for America and Right Side News, as well as daily at the Canada Free Press and a number of other outlets. I have a column titled Western Front at Israel National News and my op eds have also appeared in the New York Sun, the Jewish Press and at FOX Nation.
View all posts by Daniel Greenfield →
Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/02/hate-force-gives-left-meaning/#xAVEDjOlf5vMMJaD.99
defense contractors
Eve Ensler
Koch Brothers
Left Wing
Obama Worship