Conservative Blogger
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sanders: After Clinton’s big win, Super Tuesday, beyond will be 'tough fight'
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders conceded that his campaign was “decimated” by Hillary Clinton's campaign in this weekend’s South Carolina party primary but expressed optimism about keeping alive his White House bid.
“We got decimated, that’s what happened,” the Vermont senator told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “No question, Secretary Clinton won that state and she won it big. … I think it’s going to be a tough fight, (but) I think we can pull it off.”
Clinton beat Sanders 73-to-26 percent, with exit polls showing nine in 10 African-Americans voting for her. The numbers strongly show that Clinton’s recent Nevada Caucus victory, followed by her South Carolina win Saturday, proves she has a southern “firewall” against the insurgent Sanders’ campaign.
In looking for a bright spot in the South Carolina defeat, Sanders said he did well with younger voters, whom he hopes will support him on Super Tuesday, when 11 states hold votes and roughly 880 Democratic delegates are up for grabs.
Sanders, who won the New Hampshire primary, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he thinks he can win in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont and “do really well” in Massachusetts.
"I think we do have a path to victory," he said, adding that California and New York later in the primary season are also potential wins.
But if Sanders loses the African-American vote by similar margins in the upcoming Southern states, like he did in South Carolina, Clinton would likely take a delegate lead difficult for him to overcome.
Sanders said he and his campaign found his lack of support among older African-American voters in South Carolina “pathetic.”
Clinton suggested in her victory speech Saturday night that she’s now shifting her focus to the national election, which unofficially starts after the party convention, this year in July in Philadelphia.
“Tomorrow, this campaign goes national,” she said.
On Sunday, Clinton church-hopped across Memphis, Tenn., to mobilize African-American voters ahead of Tuesday's primaries.
At two churches in the city, Clinton asked worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia.”
She never mentioned GOP front-runner Donald Trump's name, but the comments appeared directed at him, and she seemed to reference his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."
"American has never stopped being great, our task is to make American whole," Clinton said at Greater Imani Cathedral of Faith.
Cruz, Rubio reveal tax info, Cruz hints Trump tied to mob biz
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday pushed the call for front-running GOP rival Donald Trump to release his tax returns, suggesting the IRS documents might show connections to “mafia” businesses, donations to Planned Parenthood and other items that would ruin his White House bid.
“Maybe those business deals are more extensive that reported,” Cruz told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Primary voters deserve to know before the nomination because Hillary Clinton will.”
Cruz, who has released five years of returns and two-page summaries for the past four years, repeated 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s suggestion last week that Trump’s returns could include a “bombshell.”
He said Trump’s real estate ventures reportedly have been tied to mafia-run S&A Construction, "which was owned by 'Fat Tony' Salerno, who is a mobster who is in jail.”
He also suggested on ABC’s “This Week” that the returns might show the billionaire businessman has exaggerated his wealth.
“A lot of media outlets have reported that he doesn't make nearly as much money as he says he does. We don't know. But he's clearly hiding something,” said Cruz, who, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, is Trump’s closest rival going into Super Tuesday -- in which the GOP primary field of five will compete for 595 delegates across 11 states.
Cruz also tried to turn into a tax issue Trump’s support for the help Planned Parenthood provides to women, though the billionaire businessman doesn’t back abortions.
“At every debate, it seems, he praises Planned Parenthood,” Cruz said. “Maybe he's written them a bunch of checks.”
Trump told “Fox News Sunday” that he’s filed “voluminous” paperwork and that information about his income is available in Federal Election Commission filings.
He declined to reveal his gross income or effective tax rate and didn’t respond to a remark that the IRS says he can disclose his records, despite an audit, which Trump has cited for the delay.
“I think it's very unfair,” said Trump, despite making promises to release his tax records. “I've been singled out.”
Rubio, like Cruz, released summary pages of their recent tax filings on Saturday, seeking to capitalize Trump's refusal to release similar information.
Romney released tax records in 2012, and Clinton did last year.
Rubio and Cruz produced the first two pages of their filings to the Internal Revenue Service, which don't include key details about subjects such as their tax deductions.
They have left the door open to releasing more information, with Cruz essentially daring his opponents to go first.
"If Marco wants to release the complete thing for the recent years, I'm happy to do so as well," Cruz said.
Every major party candidate since 1976 has released his full tax returns at some point during the campaign, according to Joseph Thorndike, a tax historian and contributing editor to Tax Notes, an accounting trade publication.
But while Thorndike faulted Trump for backing away from releasing his tax returns, he called partial releases such as those by Rubio and Cruz "fake transparency."
The tax returns released by the two lawmakers, combined with their previously released personal financial disclosures, offer an overview of their financial lives since arriving in the Senate.
Rubio released portions of his 2010 through 2014 returns, adding to 10 years of tax documents he had previously made public.
Since winning election to office in Washington, they show Rubio's income has ranged from $276,059 to $938,963, and he has paid between $46,500 and $254,894 in federal income tax. Most of the income came from a business that collected royalties on two books: Rubio's memoir, "An American Son," and a pre-campaign tract, "American Dreams."
Cruz released portions of his 2011 through 2014 returns. They show he and his wife Heidi brought in an annual average of $1.13 million with large amounts of their income coming from Cruz's work in 2011 and 2012 at the law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, and his wife's work at Goldman Sachs.
Cruz also reported $190,000 in income coming from a book advance from Harper Collins in 2014.
The returns show that Cruz and his wife reported more than $5.2 million in income in those years and paid an average effective tax rate of 37.6 percent.
The summary returns yield few details on either candidate's charitable giving, but they indicate that the Texas senator, who has banked on the support of evangelicals and appealed to voters on matters of faith, hasn't tithed a full 10 percent of his income.
Gabbard quits DNC to back Sanders, after criticizing small debate schedule
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard resigned Sunday as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee to support presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The Hawaii Democrat told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she trusts the Vermont senator to consider the consequences of any military action.
"I think it’s most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment," Gabbard said.
Her announcement follows months of discord with committee members, including Chairman Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Gabbard has been critical of the committee’s small debate schedule, which critics say is designed to protect Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Wasserman Schultz on Sunday issued a statement accepting the resignation that in part stated Gabbard is “a role model who embodies the American ideal that anyone can dream big and make a difference."
Gabbard, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a military veteran who served in Iraq, also has been critical of President Obama’s strategy for stopping the Islamic State.
She has called for a more comprehensive approach and has criticized the president for not saying the group is engaged in “Islamic terrorism.”
Rubio, Cruz and Clinton aim attacks at Trump following KKK endorsement
Presidential candidates from both parities turned their rhetorical fire against Republican front-runner Donald Trump Sunday, with his GOP rivals attempting to claw back into the race and Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton tuning up for a possible general election run.
Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz stepped up their personal and policy-based barrage against Trump Sunday, warning that the real estate mogul's nomination would be catastrophic for the Republican Party in November and beyond.
"We're about to lose the conservative movement to someone who's not a conservative and (lose) the party of Lincoln and Reagan to a con artist," Rubio told "Fox News Sunday".
Trump fired back, beginning his “Fox News Sunday” interview with an extended, uninterrupted attack on Rubio, calling him a political “lightweight” and “little,” adding that the first-term senator "couldn't get elected dogcatcher."
Meanwhile, Cruz warned the "Trump train" could become "unstoppable" if he rolls to big victories in this week's Super Tuesday primaries. Cruz cast Trump as a carbon copy of Clinton and suggested that not even Trump "knows what he would do" as president.
“The only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump is mine,” said the Texas senator, arguing that 65 percent of GOP voters don’t support Trump. “The only way to beat Donald Trump is to stand behind our campaign on Super Tuesday."
Cruz later became upset over continued questions by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace about the integrity of his campaign, following allegations about so-called dirty tricks that resulted in the forced resignation of spokesman Rick Tyler. Cruz accused Wallace of using Trump opposition research to frame questions and ended the interview in silence.
Later Sunday, Rubio mocked Trump's physical characteristics in addition to his policy positions, telling a heavily college-age crowd of around 3,000 at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. that Trump "has these small hands."
"You know what they say about a man with small hands," Rubio said as the crowd laughed. "You can't trust them."
Rubio also mocked Trump for his complexion, as he has before, accusing him of having a bad "spray tan."
"Donald is not going to make America great," said Rubio, again drawing cheers and laughter. "He's going to make America orange!"
In the wake of Trump's endorsement this week by retired Ku Klux Klan Grand wizard David Duke, Cruz suggested on “Fox News Sunday” that a hate group supporting Trump was making recorded calls – known as “robo-calls” -- telling potential voters not to pick a Cuban candidate. Cruz and Rubio are both of Cuban descent.
In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union", Trump was repeatedly asked about Duke's support, finally saying, "Just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. Did he endorse me, or what's going on?”
During a campaign event in northern Virginia, Rubio "refused" to repudiate Duke -- "a well known white supremacist racist" -- despite being asked repeatedly.
"We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Rubio said. "Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable."
Trump reportedly knew Duke in 2000 and cited him, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani when explaining why he stopped considering a presidential run under the Reform Party.
"The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep," Trump said, according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Democratic frontrunner Clinton, fresh off a convincing victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary, all-but-ignored Bernie Sanders, her rival for the nomination, and turned her attention to the Republican field.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
On A Different Note.
Denver Broncos quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning reportedly will announce his retirement within the next week.
Manning, who turns 40 next month, is not expected to continue his illustrious football career with another team as the Broncos look to move on by focusing their attention to backup Brock Osweiler, two sources told The Denver Post.
The plan to complete Manning’s retirement decision was set in motion when he met with Broncos executive John Elway this past week, the Post reported.
The former No. 1 overall pick is coming off a Super Bowl win with the Broncos earlier this month. Denver defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-10. Manning was 13-of-23 passing with 141 yards and an interception in the game. Linebacker Von Miller won Super Bowl MVP.
Manning is arguably one of the greatest regular-season quarterbacks of all-time. He has amassed 71,940 passing yards and 539 touchdown passes in his 18-year career between the Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts -- both of which are NFL records.
He also won the Associated Press MVP award five times, including one in 2013 with Denver.
The Broncos acquired the future Hall of Fame quarterback after the 2011 season. Manning missed all of that season recovering from neck surgery. When the Colts decided to move on from Manning in favor of Andrew Luck, the free agent then chose to sign with Denver.
Forty-five wins and a Super Bowl championship later, it looks like Manning will ride off into the sunset with his head held high despite being named in a Title IX lawsuit against the University of Tennessee and his alleged link to HGH in an Al-Jazeera America report.
If Manning decides to turn around and decide against retirement, the Broncos are expected to move on from him. Fox Sports reported are not counting and his $19 million salary on the books for salary cap purposes.
Cruz, Rubio release tax filings to 'pressure' Trump and other candidates
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz released summary pages of their recent tax filings on Saturday, seeking to capitalize on GOP front-runner Donald Trump's refusal to release similar information.
Despite making promises to release his tax records, Trump has balked at doing so, saying he won't disclose the filings until the IRS finishes auditing his returns.
"We're putting these out today to put pressure on Trump and the other candidates to release theirs," said Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant.
Cruz, meanwhile, speculated that there could be "a number of bombshells" in Trump's tax returns, from exaggerations about the celebrity businessman's earnings to "significant contributions to Planned Parenthood."
The two candidates now pressing Trump have not released their complete tax returns, as Mitt Romney did in 2012 and Hillary Clinton did last year. Both Rubio and Cruz produced the first two pages of their filings to the Internal Revenue Service, which don't include key details about subjects such as their tax deductions.
Both Cruz and Rubio have left the door open to releasing more information, with Cruz essentially daring his opponents to go first.
"If Marco wants to release the complete thing for the recent years, I'm happy to do so as well," Cruz said. But he reserved his sharpest comments for Trump, calling the front-runner's delay "unprecedented in presidential politics."
Every major party candidate since 1976 has released his full tax returns at some point during the campaign, according to Joseph Thorndike, a tax historian and contributing editor to Tax Notes, an accounting trade publication.
But while Thorndike faulted Trump for backing away from releasing his tax returns, he called partial releases such as those by Rubio and Cruz "fake transparency."
"If you're going to release your tax return, you need to release your tax return," he said, calling such disclosure a rite of passage for candidates.
The tax returns released by the two lawmakers, combined with their previously released personal financial disclosures, offer an overview of their financial lives since arriving in the Senate.
Rubio released portions of his 2010 through 2014 returns on Saturday, adding to 10 years of tax documents he had previously made public.
Since winning election to office in Washington, they show Rubio's income has ranged from $276,059 to $938,963, and he has paid between $46,500 and $254,894 in federal income tax. Most of the income came from a business that collected royalties on two books: Rubio's memoir, "An American Son," and a pre-campaign tract, "American Dreams."
In 2012, Rubio's most lucrative year, his effective tax rate topped out at a little more than 31 percent. But by 2014, the family's income dropped to $335,963, an amount on which the Rubio and his wife Jeanette paid a 24 percent tax rate. Rubio's earnings that year were padded by cashing out $68,241 from his retirement savings.
Cruz released portions of his 2011 through 2014 returns. They show he and his wife Heidi brought in an annual average of $1,131,792, with large portions of their income coming from Cruz's work in 2011 and 2012 at the law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, and his wife's work at Goldman Sachs. Cruz also reported $190,000 in income coming from a book advance from Harper Collins in 2014.
The returns show that Cruz and his wife reported more than $5.2 million in income in those years and paid an average effective tax rate of 37.6 percent.
The summary returns yield few details on either candidate's charitable giving, but they indicate that the Texas senator, who has banked on the support of evangelicals and appealed to voters on matters of faith, hasn't tithed a full 10 percent of his income.
"All of us are on a faith journey, and I will readily admit that I have not been as faithful in this aspect of my walk as I should have been," Cruz told the Christian Broadcasting Network in January.
Man claiming to be Marine says Clinton tried to 'cover' up Benghazi, removed from campaign rally
A man was removed Friday by police officers from a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in South Carolina, after raising questions with husband and former President Bill Clinton about his wife’s role in the Benghazi terror attacks.
“Four (Americans) were killed, and your wife is trying to cover it up,” said the protester, who said he’s a Marine sergeant and eight-year, active-duty veteran.
Hillary Clinton was secretary of state during the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attacks on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
Families of the victims say Clinton told them in the immediate aftermath of the attacks that they were inspired by an online, anti-Islamic video. Clinton’s emails show she knew within hours of the attacks that they were terror related.
“I heard you,” Bill Clinton said at the rally in Bluffton, S.C., in an effort to respond to the protestor, over cheer and boos and before sheriff deputies removed him. “You listen to me now.”
Clinton is the Democratic frontrunner in the race, leading primary challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by double digits in national polls and in South Carolina, which on Saturday is holding its Democratic primary.
However, polls show voters still have deep concerns about Clinton's trustworthiness over such issues as Benghazi and her uses as secretary of state of a private email server for official correspondence.
Emails from Stevens in the months before that attacks show that the State Department, which Clinton ran from 2011 to 2013, didn’t response to his request for better security at the outpost.
Clinton needs “to take responsibility for dropping the ball,” the Marine told the Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette outside the venue, after being removed. “The fact that she is not in prison now is mind-blowing.”
Clinton pays tribute to black victims – ignores officers killed in line of duty
 | |
| Wonder what the cops were thinking when they had to provide bodyguards for this two faced politician? |
The Democratic presidential candidate paused during her speech in Columbia, S.C., to honor the five women, who also campaigned with her across South Carolina before Saturday’s primary.
“They all lost children, which is almost unimaginable, yet they have not been broken or embittered,” Clinton said, adding that they have turned their “mourning into a movement.”
She recited the names of Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; and the three others.
But she did not mention the rash of police fatalities. So far this year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 10 officers have been shot and killed, representing a 900 percent increase in firearms-related officer deaths compared with this time last year.
Most recently, Cpl. Nate Carrigan was fatally shot while serving an eviction notice in Colorado. And on Saturday, three officers reportedly were shot and wounded in Prince William County, Va., outside the nation’s capital.
Recently, six law enforcement officers were killed by gunfire in a period of a single week. Memorial Fund CEO Craig W. Floyd said at the time he “cannot recall any time in recent years” he’s seen so many killed in such a short span of time, calling it a “very troubling trend.” Traffic-related and other officer deaths are down so far this year, but shooting deaths have raised alarm in the law enforcement community.
Yet any mention of the “troubling trend” has been virtually absent on the Democratic campaign trail – which contrasts with the Democratic candidates’ often fiery language on police brutality against African Americans.
Both Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been talking more about these issues, as well as racial injustice in housing, the job market, the prison system and other areas.
Clinton said Saturday the five mothers who campaigned with her were “brought together by tragedy” in losing their children.
Martin, a black teenager, was killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, in a case that revived the national debate over racial profiling.
Garner died in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by a New York City police officer. He had been confronted out of suspicion he was selling loose cigarettes.
Clinton also paid tribute to Lucia McBath, mother of teenager Jordan Davis, who was killed by a Florida man in 2012 after a confrontation over loud music playing in his car; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre, who was killed by a then-Milwaukee police officer in 2014 after a struggle; and Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, found hanged in a Texas jail cell in 2015.
Clinton cruises to victory in South Carolina primary
 |
| Who else they got to vote for, a commie? |
Hillary Clinton cruised Saturday to an easy victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary, taking back the momentum from Bernie Sanders heading into Super Tuesday – though Sanders will keep his foothold in the race as he continues to rack up delegates and contributions.
The Democratic front-runner won largely on the strength of her support from black voters – her so-called “firewall” that, in the end, held up.
Exit polls showed nearly nine in 10 black voters supported Clinton in the Palmetto State, and she hopes that bloc will carry her over her rival as the race heads deeper into the South. With a Nevada and South Carolina win now under her belt, Clinton is working hard to shake off her big loss to Sanders earlier this month in New Hampshire.
“Tomorrow, this campaign goes national,” Clinton declared at her victory rally in Columbia, S.C.
As cheering supporters shouted “Hillary! Hillary!” she said: “We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We’re not taking anything, and we’re not taking anyone, for granted.”
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was beating Sanders in South Carolina by a resounding 73-26 percent.
SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY RESULTS
But the Vermont senator, anticipating a loss Saturday, already had started campaigning in Super Tuesday states, and his campaign still predicts he’ll split the vote with Clinton next week.
“This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it's on to Super Tuesday,” Sanders said in a statement. “Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now.”
Clinton visited Alabama earlier Saturday but by the evening was back in South Carolina for her victory party.
Sanders, though, spent Saturday speaking to about 10,000 people at a Formula One racetrack near Austin, Texas, skipping South Carolina. He then was heading to Minnesota.
Roughly a dozen states hold contests on Tuesday, with delegates on the line in 11 of them. In South Carolina and other states, delegates are awarded proportionally, so Sanders is able to add to his delegate total even when he loses.
As on the Republican side, Texas will be considered a huge prize on Tuesday, but Sanders also is looking to potentially more friendly territory in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state.
Clinton is looking to win by large margins in Southern states, seven of which vote this coming Tuesday.
At one point in her victory speech Saturday, Clinton seemed to be trying to look past Sanders, rhetorically taking on Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
“Despite what you hear, we don’t need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great,” she said. “But we do need to make America whole again.”
Meanwhile, her victory in South Carolina had a redemptive quality for Clinton, who suffered a significant loss there to Barack Obama in 2008. Her husband, President Bill Clinton, was viewed by some as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender -- Obama. This time, black leaders and officials largely gravitated toward her campaign ahead of the vote, though Sanders was able to pick up some support from influential black leaders.
Earlier in the day, the Vermont senator’s wife, Jane Sanders, said that her husband’s campaign is looking to Super Tuesday when "I think we'll split the vote."
She also said: "It's a 50-state election, and we're feeling very confident, actually."
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Clinton commands dominant lead ahead of Saturday's South Carolina primary
The Democratic presidential race moves to South Carolina on Saturday, where Hillary Clinton is hoping to expand her winning streak against rival Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Multiple polls show Clinton with a dominant lead going into the first-in-the-South contest.
Clinton played up her allegiance to President Obama at a rally Thursday, and pledged to continue fighting for tougher gun laws -- an argument that resonates with black voters wielding influence in Saturday’s primary.
"I'm really proud to stand with President Obama, and I'm really proud to stand with the progress he's made," she said in Kingstree, South Carolina. "I need your help, starting with this primary on Saturday."
Clinton also pledged to “take on the gun lobby” in office, and slammed Sanders for having voted against some gun restrictions during his congressional career.
"We need to close the gun show loophole, the online loophole and what is called the Charleston loophole, which my opponent supported, which means that at the end of three days, whether the background check is done or not you get the gun," Clinton said.
"That's what the killer here in Charleston did."
Sanders spent Thursday making stops in the Great Lakes region – visiting several states that hold early March primaries.
Alabama passes law barring cities and towns from increasing minimum wage
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed a bill Thursday barring cities and towns from setting their own minimum wage just as Birmingham was set to raise it to $10.10.
The legislation’s passage came after the Birmingham City Council voted to increase the city’s minimum wage, according to AL.com.
The block drew criticism from Birmingham council leader Jonathan Austin who said “we will continue to work together to stand and fight for our citizens.”
“It’s certainly is unfortunate, if it stands up, it is a loss for those who deserve to earn a livable wage in the city of Birmingham, and, for that matter, the state of Alabama,” Austin said. “But the state obviously disagrees.”
Bentley signed the bill less than an hour after it was passed, AL.com reported.
Alabama has no state minimum wage and has used the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour since 2009 when it was last raised. The Guardian noted that a full-time employee who works for the entire year will only earn $15,080 per year.
State senator Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, argued Thursday that an increased minimum wage would stall economic development in the state. He claims business owners contacted him and asked him if they would have to close up shop because of a possible increased minimum wage, according to The Guardian.
“We want businesses to expand and create more jobs – not cut entry-level jobs because of a patchwork of local minimum wages causes operating costs to rise. Our actions today will create predictability and consistency for Alabama’s economy, which benefits everyone,” Waggoner said.
Alabama Democrats have said the federal minimum wage is too low for the working poor with families to survive on.
“Somebody has to recognize that we have a working-poor class of people that are not just in Birmingham,” state senator Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, said. She added that she is sponsoring a new bill that will make the minimum wage in all of Alabama $10.10.
“We don’t move until we’re forced to move. For once, I’d like for this legislative body to be the leader.”
Birmingham, the state’s largest city, is home to 212,237 residents and its per capita income was about $19,650 between 2009 and 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2014, Oklahoma also passed a bill keeping cities from raising their minimum wage. Arizona passed a similar law in 2013, but it was overturned last June.
Christie endorses Trump for president
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday endorsed businessman Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president, becoming the New York billionaire’s most noteworthy endorsement to date.
The endorsement was announced at a news conference in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We don’t need any more of these Washington, D.C. acts," Christie said."We don’t need Washington politicians to come in and fix it."
Christie said no other candidate is better prepared to provide the United States with strong leadership both at home and around the world. He also said that no other Republican candidate is a more formidable challenger to Hillary Clinton.
“I can guarantee you that the one person that Bill and Hillary don’t want to see on that stage in November is Donald Trump,” Christie said.
Christie's endorsement comes the day after a heated Republican debate where both Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz attacked Trump.
Both Rubio and Cruz fought hard to throw Trump off his stride as the field charges into the all-important Super Tuesday contests. Rubio, in particular, was unrelenting in keeping the pressure on Trump Thursday night, going so far as to claim if Trump hadn’t inherited money he’d be “selling watches in Manhattan.”
Christie attacked Rubio at the final Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary, tripping up Rubio in a moment that likely contributed to his poor performance in the state's primary. Christie accused him of parroting the same talking points repeatedly and said a president should be able to think on his feet.
Trump says Rubio is a "desperate guy" and said, "I don't think he's of presidential caliber." The announcement comes days before the pivotal Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses.
“I will lend my support between now and November in every way possible,” Christie said.
Christie said he was not offered any position by Trump and intends to serve out the remainder of his governorship in New Jersey and eventually work in the private sector with the hopes of one day making more money than his wife, who works as an investment banker.
A senior adviser to Rubio is interpreting Christie's endorsement as a remedy to what he calls the billionaire's inability to articulate his policy plans, explain why he won't release his tax returns and defend his past financial dealings.
Todd Harris told reporters traveling with the Florida senator that, "Donald Trump can't put a coherent noun and verb together to explain any of these things, so he had to bring in someone like Chris Christie to try to do it for him. And Chris Christie has got his work cut out for him."
Clinton, for her part, said she is eager to debate any Republican on economics and health care policy.
Campaigning Friday at Atlanta City Hall, Clinton talked about the job growth that took place during the administrations of her husband and President Obama.
She compared that to "trickle-down economics" of Republican administrations. And she mocked Republicans for voting repeatedly in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
She says "they never really tell you what they're going to put in its place," because "they know we won't like it."
In fresh attacks, Rubio takes on Trump, tries to hold onto post-debate bounce
Fresh from a tag team attack on front-runner Donald Trump, primary opponents Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz spent Friday hoping to use new debate momentum to cut into Trump’s commanding lead ahead of the Super Tuesday contests.
Rubio, in particular, ramped up the rhetoric Friday, calling Trump a “con artist” in numerous live appearances and poking fun at the billionaire candidate’s tweet misspellings and behavior at Thursday’s raucous debate.
In an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News' "Special Report," he accused Trump of being a "con man" at least three times and also called him "a clown," adding, "it's time to take the mask off this guy."
He also predicted that if Trump were to be nominated to head the GOP ticket, "the Republican party would split apart...he's a dream for the Democrats."
Earlier, in a fundraising letter to to supporters Thursday, Rubio said, “In last night's debate, America saw firsthand that Donald Trump can't even talk about, let alone do anything about, the dire problems facing our nation."
“Donald Trump is a con artist trying to hijack the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and he cannot be our nominee.”
Cruz took to Twitter on Friday, also mocking Trump’s debate performance -- particularly on the issue of ObamaCare -- and pointing out that while he was in the Senate wrestling over illegal immigration, Trump was “firing @dennisrodman on TV,” referring to the ex-NBA star’s participation on Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice.”
In a gaggle with reporters that afternoon, he stressed that he is in a better position than Rubio to beat Trump.
"(I am) the only candidate that has beat Donald Trump and can beat Donald Trump," he said, assuring "we will come out of Super Tuesday seeing a meaningful difference in the delegation allocation. He proceeded to blast Trump on reports that his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach has a reputation for passing over American workers for foreign visa holders.
Cruz later described Trump as very close ideologically to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
"Donald Trump, like Hillary Clinton, is a rich New York liberal," Cruz told Fox News' Sean Hannity.
For his part, Trump sought to trump any debate bounce the two senators were enjoying by rolling out an endorsement from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Trump then spoke at a rally in Texas, where he took multiple jabs at Rubio’s age (“He looks like a little boy”) his ears, what he said was his make-up job at the debate, and his sweat glands (“I thought he just came out of a swimming pool”).
Trump also took to Twitter Friday morning and labeled Rubio a “lightweight” who “lacks the temperament to be president.”
Rubio then took to the stage to point out that Trump had misspelled “lightweight” and “choker” in his tweets. “He calls me a little boy … he’d be the oldest president of the United States,” he said while the audience in Oklahoma City cheered. He was introduced to the stage by Sen. James Inofe, R-OK., who endorsed Rubio in January.
Cruz announced that he will be appearing with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck in Little Rock, Ark., on Saturday.
The next contest for the Republican nomination are the coveted Super Tuesday contests on March 1, with 595 delegates up for grabs from nearly a dozen states.
Friday, February 26, 2016
Israel blasts Iran's new cash-for-terrorists scheme aimed at rewarding families of 'martyrs'
Iran’s new cash-incentive plan for “martyrs” who strike in Jerusalem is proof the Islamic Republic intends to spend billions reaped in the recent nuclear deal on terrorism, Israeli officials told FoxNews.com Thursday.
Already identified as the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, Iran will now pay the equivalent of $7,000 "to every family of a martyr of the intifada in Jerusalem,” Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon said Wednesday at a news conference in Beirut. What’s more, Tehran will pay $30,000 to the family of any terrorist whose home gets bulldozed by Israel, a tactic the Jewish state has employed in the West Bank to deter attacks.
“Iran continues to sow terror throughout the world and is fueling the flames of Palestinian terror and incitement.”“This demonstrates again Iran’s role in encouraging terror,” Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry told FoxNews.com. “Following the nuclear agreement, Iran continues being a major player in international terror."
- Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to UN
The Iranian diplomat, Mohammad Fathali, giddily unveiled the new scheme to benefit the families of terrorists involved in the ongoing uprising in Jerusalem, which began on Sept. 13, 2015. So far, 32 Israelis and one Palestinian have been murdered, and 357 people injured. The latest figures issued by Israel show 188 stabbings, 75 shootings and 39 vehicle attacks. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed during the same period by Israeli security forces and armed members of the Israeli public, with most reportedly shot while carrying out attacks.
Related Image
Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Fatahali, (center), makes announcement at press conference in Beirut.
(Screenshot/TheAlgemeiner)
Attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians and military personnel continue to take place on a near-daily basis, and with no condemnation from either the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority or the Hamas government in Gaza. On the contrary, attackers are routinely referred to as “martyrs” in Palestinian state media, and many have had streets and public buildings named in their honor.
Paying stipends to the families of terrorists killed attacking Israelis was pioneered by Saddam Hussein. The former Iraqi dictator told a TV audience in March 2002 he would pay $25,000 to the families of deceased Palestinian suicide bombers. Less than a week later, a Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up in Jerusalem’s Moment Café, killing 11 Israelis and seriously wounding 16 more. Just three months later, the mother of the suicide bomber received a check from Hussein, as promised, for $25,000.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, yesterday urged the international community to speak out against Iran’s latest plan.
“Iran continues to sow terror throughout the world and is fueling the flames of Palestinian terror and incitement,” Danon wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. “If the UN is really interested in bringing calm to our region, they must cut off the flow of Iranian financial support of terrorism."
Also on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned that Iran intends to sponsor terror on the streets of Europe and the United States.
"The Iranian regime, through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps, is building a complex terror infrastructure, including [sleeper] cells that are stockpiling arms, intelligence and operatives, and are ready to act on order, including in Europe and America," Ya’alon said.
The U.S.-brokered agreement between six world powers and Iran, finalized earlier this year, gave Tehran access to an estimated $100 billion of previously frozen funds in exchange for Iran pledging to drop its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Israel has already charged Iran is shipping more weaponry to its Lebanon-based proxy army, Hezbollah, which is believed to have thousands of missiles – both short and medium range – aimed at the Jewish state.
Big debate? Nah… It’s still a Trump world and the other candidates are just living in it
Thursday night in Houston we met the Marco Rubio who was meant to be the most electable candidate in the Republican field.
He was sharp, articulate, cutting, passionate and bold. And he’s been all those things before. Indeed, he was either the winner or had the second best showing as compared to Trump in the first few debates for exactly these reasons.
But what was different on Thursday night was that Rubio showed real backbone. He knew that fresh off second place finishes he needed to make the case that not only is Donald Trump is unhinged, unprincipled and has no concrete plans, but also that he is much better equipped to be president than Ted Cruz, his chief rival.
Cruz was certainly marginalized Thursday night. As arguably the best debater on the stage, he made very few comments that anyone will remember by the weekend. His strongest points came early on when he called Trump out for not really caring about illegal immigration since he hires illegal immigrants to build his properties and that we can’t trust Trump to nominate traditional constitutionalists to the Supreme Court because he’s supported key Democratic figures like the Clintons, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in the past. He was also strong in his defense of Israel, drawing a start contrast with Trump who has said that he would try to be neutral in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
But Cruz was an afterthought Thursday evening compared to Rubio. The Florida senator relentlessly hit Trump on his inconsistencies and hypocrisy. “If Trump builds the wall [on the Mexican border] like he built Trump Tower, he'll be using illegal immigrants,” might very well be the best line of the debate and one of Rubio’s strongest points. He continually encouraged viewers to Google “Donald Trump polish workers.” Viewers who took him up on it were led to articles on Trump’s practice of hiring illegal immigrants. Rubio also pushed Trump to define his health care plan and accused him of repeating himself – “America will win again” specifically – over and over again.
And Rubio didn’t do well by just attacking Trump. His defense of limited government, free enterprise and a strong national defense as the guiding principles of the conservative movement that he wants to be the standard bearer of was spirited and downright presidential.
Furthermore, Rubio remains the most convincing commander-in-chief the GOP is offering. He knows his stuff and has clear plans to address all the major issues we’re facing including, but not limited to, fighting Islamic terrorism, handling North Korea and China as well as how we should be striking a balance between privacy and national security.
That said, it’s my belief that while Rubio took advantage of his last chance to attack Trump before Super Tuesday – and that he did it very well – it won’t be enough to change the alignment of the candidates. Trump had a decent night. It wasn’t his best performance, but what’s growing increasingly clear is that it doesn’t really matter.
More so than with any other candidate, Trump’s voters make up their minds early. They are committed to him and after big wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, Trump has shown that his base will turn out to vote for him even though they’re largely from groups that don’t typically vote in primaries (lower income, high school educated). And with leads in every Super Tuesday state except for Texas where Cruz is slightly ahead, there’s no reason to think that Thursday night’s debate changes the trajectory.
As for Carson and Kasich, the debate in Houston showed that they really are running peripheral candidacies and there isn’t much reason to go on.
Kasich would still have a good case to be a vice presidential choice without eating up votes that could go to Rubio. And it’s not altogether clear what’s motivating Carson to carry on.
All this is to say that it’s a Trump world and the rest of the candidates are just living in it. We better get used to it.
Rubio pounds Trump at Houston debate. Cruz, Kasich, Carson left on the sidelines
Some credit Aesop and his “Fox and the Lion” fable with first coining the phrase: “familiarity breeds contempt.”
I’m guessing you didn’t know that they held Republican presidential debates back in Ancient Greece.
A better Aesop fable in honor of Thursday night’s gathering in Houston, the tenth such GOP debate dating back to August?
It’s not “The Trumpeter Taken Captive.” If you tuned in to Thursday night’s debate hoping to see Donald Trump get his comeuppance: close, but not quite.
A better choice: “The Frightened Hares,” given the Republican establishment’s growing panic over the very real prospect of Trump actually winning the party’s nomination.
A few observations:
Did Trump Lose Ground? In a word: no.
Let me amend that: not with the people who believe Trump’s word is gospel – and the other candidates are Judases.
From the time he first latched on to illegal immigration and changed the dynamics of this race, it’s been clear that Trump knows how to speak to the fed-up side of the GOP electorate – more so than any other candidate still alive in the race.
The base-thumping approach was on full display in Houston. Trump took swipes at debate moderators (“I don’t believe anything Telemundo says” … “Very few people listen to your [show]”, he told talk radio’s Hugh Hewitt). Trump promised to add 10 feet to his border wall when told former Mexican President Vicente Fox said his country wouldn’t pay for it. He said he’s trim back government (no more Common Core) and crack down on fraud and waste. Trump generally stood his ground and pushed back when pushed by the moderators or attacked by his fellow debaters – and that was often.
The establishment hates the man’s style and antics, but the one-third-plus of the primary electorate that’s propelled Trump to the front of the multi-candidate pack – and won’t be leaving him anytime soon – adores the show. Which is why Trump likely will fare well on Super Tuesday, despite spending a great deal of time on the defensive and on the bad side of some pretty nasty put-downs.
Rubio Going After Trump. I was in Washington, D.C., earlier this week, listening to well-heeled Republicans carp that none of the candidates had torn into Trump. Which is kind of ironic, given that there’s nothing stopping individuals of means from doing the job (look no further than the Ricketts family of Chicago Cubs’ fame).
Rubio must have heard the griping, as he went right after Trump on the get-go. It began with allegations of Trump hiring foreign workers for his Palm Beach estate. After that: construction labor forces, Trump-signature products manufactured overseas, the lawsuit over the entity formerly known as Trump University. And on it went, throughout the night.
Rubio’s use of “Now he’s repeating himself”, after having the same words drilled into him in New Hampshire by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: the best sound bite of the evening.
This tactic will get Rubio a lot of air time between now and Super Tuesday. It’s also a second-guesser’s delight, as the cling-free Trump has been the Teflon Don of this field.
On Bruising – And Not Much Cruz-ing. “Consistent. Conservative. Trusted.” That's the Texas senator’s campaign slogan.
But on Thursday night, Cruz seemed consistently missing from the action. Part of it had to do with Rubio and Trump noisily locking horns. But having to ask Wolf Blitzer for a chance to weigh in on Obamacare? It seemed . . . well, kind of weak for a debate champ on his home Texas turf.
Cruz did have a strong moment when given the chance to talk about the Supreme Court – not a surprise, as that’s the constitutionalist’s sweet spot. But it wasn’t until 90 minutes into the debate that he really got into it with Trump over taxes and who’s better qualified to question Hillary Clinton’s ethics come the fall.
If Thursday night was closing the deal in Tuesday’s Texas primary, Cruz failed at the task.
What About Kasich and Carson? In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, one of the great rock anthems of the 1960’s, runs slightly over 17 minutes. That’s about the same stretches of silence from Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
To be fair, both gentlemen brought this on themselves – just as they have in previous debates.
Kasich has fashioned himself as the take-the-upper-road guy in the GOP field – he won’t butt in on any crosstalk.
Carson decided months ago that he’d speak only when spoken to. Yes, the retired neurosurgeon had a valid complaint when he pointed out to Hewitt that he was left out of the tax-reform discussion. And he scored the other big sound bite of the night, underscoring the fact that he was going unnoticed amidst the food fight: “Can someone attack me, please?”
But that’s been Carson’s stage problem all along: he refuses to accept that debating is not a passive undertaking — sometimes the gifted hands have to do some shoving.
A final thought:
Presidential campaigns and their debates are a lot like criminal trials – long, drawn-out proceedings, trying to keep order in the court, a little perjury tossed in here and there, and way too many lawyers offering way too much in the way of tortured logic.
At this point, with only two scheduled GOP debates remaining (March 3 in Michigan; March 10 in Florida), the Republican field should be approaching its closing arguments.
Instead, what went down in Houston felt more like jury selection for the non-Trump candidates as they continue search for a sympathetic jury of their peers (ok, maybe I need to stop watching “The People vs. O.J.”).
The 150-minute debate in Houston underscored how the situation is driving mainstream Republicans nuts. Trump gets attacked all night long – in the process, giving Hillary Clinton’s oppo team writer’s cramp as it races to jot down the many vulnerabilities – yet he seems impervious to attacks personal, professional and policy-wise.
That Trump 757? It’s more like a white Bronco.
And no one can figure how to get it off the freeway.
Rubio, Cruz tag-team Trump at fiery GOP debate
Marco Rubio, joined at times by Ted Cruz, launched a battery of attacks against Donald Trump at a rowdy Republican debate Thursday, assailing his business record and even trying to turn the tables on the primary front-runner after he teased the senator over his infamous debate “meltdown” earlier this month.
Both Rubio and Cruz fought hard to throw Trump off his stride as the field charges into the all-important Super Tuesday contests. Rubio, in particular, was unrelenting in keeping the pressure on Trump Thursday night, going so far as to claim if Trump hadn’t inherited money he’d be “selling watches in Manhattan.”
“I took one-million and I turned it into 10 billion dollars,” Trump countered.
The front-runner stood his ground and cast the attacks as a desperate attempt to take down No. 1, at one point mocking Cruz’s criticism by saying, “Swing for the fences.” In an unruly debate where the moderators often lost control, Trump responded to many of the attacks with his trademark barrage of insults.
“This guy’s a choke artist. And this guy’s a liar,” he said, pointing to Rubio and then Cruz.
Rubio got some of the biggest applause of the night, though, for his response when Trump mocked him for repeating himself on stage weeks ago against then-candidate Chris Christie.
Rubio said Trump was doing the same thing as he described his plan to remove “lines around the states” to increase competition among health insurers.
“Now he’s repeating himself,” Rubio said.
Trump said he watched Rubio “repeat himself five times four weeks ago.” But Rubio swiftly shot back, “I saw you repeat yourself five times five seconds ago.”
At the CNN-Telemundo debate in Houston, Trump continued to tout his polling successes, and claimed he’s growing the Republican Party.
“We are building a new Republican Party. A lot of new people are coming in,” Trump said.
But his Senate candidate rivals did all they could to raise questions for the American people about Trump’s record as they head into Super Tuesday and try to prevent him from locking down the nomination next month.
Rubio mocked Trump’s past company bankruptcy filings. Cruz suggested Trump had something to hide in his still-unreleased tax returns (though Trump indicated he’d release them after his audit is over).
And both candidates cited the ongoing fraud case against the former Trump University, as well as decades-old allegations that he hired illegal immigrants from Poland for a project in New York.
“I‘m the only one on the stage that’s hired people. You haven’t hired anybody,” Trump told Rubio, calling his allegation on illegal immigrant hiring “wrong.”
But Rubio stood by it, and Cruz backed him up. Rubio later said Trump “lied about the Polish workers.”
“Thirty-eight years ago,” Trump said.
“I guess there’s a statute of limitations on lies,” Rubio said.
According to press reports from more than 25 years ago on the case, Trump at the time claimed he didn’t knowingly hire undocumented workers. As for the fraud case, Trump downplayed it and said he’d eventually win.
The chaotic battle Thursday among the top three candidates often sidelined the other two, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
The fighting even prompted Carson to plead at one point, “Could somebody attack me, please?”
Carson’s most-memorable, and strangest, line may have been when he said of vetting a Supreme Court nominee that he would look at the “fruit salad of their life.”
Kasich cast himself as the best candidate to take on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“Executive experience really matters,” said the only governor remaining in the race.
Immigration was a top topic, as most the candidates talked tough on border security in Texas, the biggest delegate prize in next week’s contests.
Trump, for his part, doubled down on his promise to build a U.S.-Mexico wall if elected, responding to comments by former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who said Mexico will not pay for the “f------ wall.”
Trump said at the debate, “I will, and the wall just got 10 feet taller, believe me.”
Rubio again used the issue to bring up the illegal hiring case. “If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he’ll be using illegal immigrant labor,” he said.
“Such a cute sound bite,” Trump responded.
Cruz also went after Trump, when the front-runner said Cruz should be “ashamed” for failing to get any support from his fellow GOP senators.
“If you want to be liked in Washington, that’s not a good attribute for a president,” Cruz said.
He, too, challenged Trump’s record on immigration.
“Anyone who cared about illegal immigration wouldn’t be hiring illegal immigrants,” Cruz said.
And Cruz challenged Trump when he claimed he doesn’t want “socialized medicine” but would also not allow people to “die on the streets.”
“So the government pays everyone’s health care,” Cruz said.
“Call it what you want,” Trump later said.
The debate in Houston was their last before more than a dozen states hold contests on Tuesday, when nearly half of the delegates needed to win the nomination are on the line. Anything close to a sweep by Trump would be devastating for the other remaining contenders.
The front-runner’s momentum has only intensified this month with three straight primary and caucus wins, and he’s threatening to knock down his rivals, one by one, in each of their home states in March.
Kasich’s campaign, despite performing poorly in the South Carolina and Nevada contests, issued a defiant call earlier Thursday for Rubio to drop out – citing his shaky numbers in his home state. The state is considered a must win for the Florida senator, but a new Quinnipiac University poll showed Trump leading Rubio 44-28 percent among primary voters there.
Though the insults and put-downs rendered foreign policy discussions few and far between Thursday night, Trump also took heat for saying he doesn’t want to take “big sides” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because he wants to be able to negotiate a deal.
Cruz accused him of wanting to stay “neutral” and Rubio said it’s not a deal “when you’re dealing with terrorists. “
“Marco is not a negotiator,” Trump said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Tit for Tat ? ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the an...
-
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more th...
-
What's the role of government? To one award-winning academic, it's discrimination according to race. On February 9th, Mic...
