Friday, July 31, 2015

Football Cartoon


Trump is top Republican for president

HAMDEN — Donald Trump is the clear leader for the republican nomination in the race for president, but he still trails the Democratic contenders by wide margins, according to a new poll released Thursday morning by Quinnipiac University.
At 20 percent, Trump has a seven point lead over Scott Walker.
Hillary Clinton is the top Democrat with 55 percent, and Bernie Sanders has 13 percent.
In a general election match up of Clinton versus Trump, Clinton would win 48 — 36, the poll says.
If the election were held today, the poll says, Republican voters would choose:
  • Donald Trump 20%
  • Scott Walker 13%
  • Jeb Bush 10%
  • Ben Carson 6%
  • Rand Paul 6%
  • Marco Rubio 6%
  • Mike Huckabee 6%
  • John Kasich 5%
  • Ted Cruz 5%
  • Chris Christie 3%
  • Bobby Jindal 2%
  • Rick Perry 2%
  • Carly Fiorina 1%
  • Lindsey Graham 1%
  • George Pitaki 1%
  • Rick Santorum 1%
  • 13 percent said they didn’t know or they wouldn’t vote.
If the election were held today, the poll says, Democratic voters would choose:
  • Hillary Clinton 55%
  • Bernie Sanders 17%
  • Joe Biden 13%
  • Martin O’Malley 1%
  • Jim Webb 1%
  • 13 percent said they didn’t know or they wouldn’t vote.
It should be noted that Vice President Biden has not declared interest in running for president.

Information in classified Clinton emails came from multiple intelligence agencies, source says

Classified emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server contained information from multiple intelligence agencies in addition to data connected to the 2012 Benghazi attack, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News.
The information came from the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National-Geospatial Agency, as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency, the source said.     
A random sampling of emails by the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General has identified five emails containing classified information. One of the classified emails was released in full by the State Department on its “reading room” public website for Clinton’s emails.
The official responsible for overseeing the government’s security classification system, John Fitzpatrick, told McClatchy Newspapers that while reviewing four years of Clinton’s emails, intelligence agencies grew concerned that State Department officials were not guarding classified information in screening documents for public release.
A congressional source told Fox News that in early July, Patrick Kennedy, the State Department’s undersecretary for management, met with about a dozen staffers on Capitol Hill from the intelligence, homeland security and foreign affairs committees.
In the meeting, Kennedy made the argument that he had checked with CIA and the publicly released email had no classified information, but that the agency was not the originating agency for the intelligence and would have no say over the classification issue, the source said.  
Staffers however questioned why the meeting was held in a classified setting, the source told Fox News, adding that Kennedy carried the email with him in a locked black bag, reserved for classified information.
A CIA spokesperson had no public comment on Thursday to Fox News, while the ODNI referred calls to the inspector general of the intelligence community.

White ex-DC official sues city, claims he was called 'cracker' and fired over race

A former District of Columbia official brought in to help straighten out mismanagement at the Department of Public Works is suing the city, claiming he was harassed, intimidated and then fired for being white. 
The former city worker says he was repeatedly called “cracker” and “white boy” by black members of the department while in the presence of other managers. On his last day on the job as a deputy fleet administrator, Christopher Lyons said he found a sign on his door that said, “Get Out White Boy!”
Lyons is suing the city for wrongful termination, claiming he was the victim of racial discrimination. He also believes he was targeted because he uncovered financial flaws and reported cover-ups. He’s suing his former employers for back pay and then some.
“I am surprised [the racial discrimination] happened at this level of government,” his lawyer Morris Fischer told FoxNews.com. “We’re all Americans. We all have to treat each other the same, and we have to put aside whatever differences we have.”
Lyons was hired on Jan. 17, 2012 as the first -- and at that time, only -- white supervisor for DPW’s Fleet Management Administration. The agency supports municipal operations by finding, fueling and maintaining thousands of D.C. government vehicles.
At a mechanics and managers meeting in March 2012, Lyons claims he was subjected to relentless name-calling. He was referred to regularly as “white boy,” “cracker” and “big white guy” at meetings, he says.
Lyons also said his truck, which he parked in the secure DPW lot, was spat on and damaged by his black colleagues. He claims they took turns throwing paint and trash. When he brought up the incident, he claims the same group of people filed false complaints against Lyons with their union. Those claims, according to court documents, were found “without merit.”
The taunts continued, and Lyons told Bill Howland, the longtime head of the Department of Public Works. But instead of responding to the concerns, court records claim Howland told several of the same workers accused of harassing Lyons that he would fire Lyons. And then he followed through.
On the day he was terminated, Lyons said he walked to his office door and saw a number of derogatory signs written by supervisors and mechanics, including one that said, “Get Out White Boy!”
Howland, who abruptly resigned from his position in June, also allegedly refused to discipline the employees Lyon accused of harassing him because Howland “liked them,” according to court records.
Howland was at his post for 11 years – a lifetime in D.C. terms – and managed to survive four mayoral changes despite a long list of controversial proposals including the 2014 rollout of Supercans, which was initially pitched as a $9 million recycling campaign paid for by earmarked money from the city’s retiree health fund.
Von Trimble, Lyons’ immediate supervisor who is black, also was terminated. Asked about this, Lyons' attorney argued that he and Lyons were close, and the other employees didn't like that. “We contend that Howland was aware of that,” he said.
Fischer and Lyons claim another factor in the termination was Lyons' reporting of mismanagement, including a case involving 100 missing vehicles. The District last week convinced the D.C. Superior Court to dismiss the whistleblower count due to a statute of limitations issue. But Fischer argued that in doing so, the D.C. government "pretty much conceded" there are issues to resolve on the racial discrimination claims.
Officials with the D.C. attorney general and Department of Public Works offices told FoxNews.com they could not comment on pending litigation. However, spokeswoman Linda Grant says, "Department of Public Works is committed to equal employment opportunity and ensuring all employees are treated fairly."
Lyons says that, when asked why he was terminated in August 2012, Howland told him his termination was “not performance related.”
He was only provided with a reason for his dismissal after he filed a complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights. On Jan. 11, 2013, Lyons received a statement that he was let go because his performance level “fell far short of their targets.”

US long suspected Pakistan of sheltering late Taliban leader Mullah Omar, report says

U.S. intelligence officials suspected Pakistan of sheltering Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, one of the world's most wanted men, for years before his death, according to a published report.
On Wednesday, Afghan officials announced that they believed Omar had died in a Pakistan hospital sometime in 2013. On Thursday, the Taliban issued a statement confirming the death of the man known as "The Commander of the Faithful", but did not specify when or how he had died. The Taliban statement also specifically claimed that Mullah Omar never left Afghanistan, "even to go to Pakistan or to any other country."
However, the Washington Post, citing diplomatic and intelligence documents, reported that the CIA had a lead on the reclusive Omar's whereabouts several times in 2010 and 2011, always placing him in Pakistan. The suspicions are another example of the complex relationship between the U.S. and one of its key allies in the global war on terror.
One such document cited by the Post quotes then-Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as telling Pakistani officials during a White House strategy review in 2010 "while Pakistan has done a lot to deny safe havens to terrorists ... senior leadership of the Quetta Shura [Council] including Mullah Omar resides between Karachi and Quetta."
Early the next year, the Post reports, then-CIA Director Leon Panetta informed Pakistan's then-President Asif Zardari that the CIA had learned that Omar was being treated at a hospital in the bustling port of Karachi. Zardari's reaction to Panetta's disclosure is not recorded in the Post report. However, the reported presence of Omar in a major city in Pakistan did nothing to assuage suspicions that he was there with at least tacit official approval.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington who was contacted by the Post cited the Taliban statement in dismissing claims that Omar had ever been in Pakistan or that the Islamabad government had knowledge of his presence. However, a former Pakistani official tells the Post that some sections of the government may have wished to keep Mullah Omar's death a secret to preserve Islamabad's ability to influence peace talks between a united Taliban and Kabul. The official also said that Pakistan's powerful ISI intelligence agency told Pakistani leaders that Omar was alive as recently as March of this year.
Despite suspicions about his whereabouts, the search for Mullah Omar always took a backseat to the hunt for Usama bin Laden, who was killed by a team of Navy SEALs in May 2011. U.S. officials tell the Post that to the best of their knowledge, there was never any CIA plan to capture of kill the Taliban leader.
"We were overwhelmingly focused on Al Qaeda, and there were many fewer instances where we had what we thought was halfway-reliable information on the whereabouts of senior members of the Taliban," said Robert Grenier, the former CIA station chief in Pakistan, told the Post. Grenier also said that the ISI intelligence agency proved less adept at tracking down members of the Taliban than apprehending members of Al Qaeda.
The ISI had long been accused by Afghanistan of protecting Mullah Omar, with former President Hamid Karzai making precisely that claim in a 2006 interview with the Associated Press. The ISI does have long links with Islamic militants in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, since at least the 1980s, when it funneled weapons and money to insurgents battling Soviet forces.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Brady Cartoon


Illegal immigrant ordered freed by feds now suspected of murder in Ohio


An illegal immigrant suspected of murdering one woman, wounding another and attempting to rape a 14-year-old girl was released earlier this month by Ohio sheriff's deputies after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents told them not to hold him, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
Juan Emmanuel Razo, 35, was arrested Monday after a shootout with police following a crime spree police say began with the attempted rape of a girl in a park in Painesville, about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland. He later shot a woman in front of her children and murdered a 60-year-old woman in nearby Concord Township, according to police. While Razo is being held on $10 million bond, authorities are trying to explain why he was allowed to remain in the U.S. illegally after local authorities questioned him just three weeks ago.
"I can't set a bond high enough."
- Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti
“I have somebody who we don’t know who he is, why he is in this country, why he is here illegally and why he allegedly committed a murder," Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconetti thundered at Razo's arraignment, noting the suspect has no green card, birth certificate or driver's license.
"I can't set a bond high enough," he continued. "How in the hell do I even know it's him?"
Cicconetti later told Fox News he did not understand how federal authorities could have ordered Razo released on July 7 when local deputies questioned him and contacted Border Protection officials, given that no one could even verify his identity.
"If you are stopped, at that point, whether it be by law enforcement or you make your first court appearance, at that point we have to have some kind of identifier on him," he said.
Deputies who questioned Razo say Border Protection officials told them Razo is from Mexico and in the U.S. illegally, but said they would not pick him up for deportation. Lake County Sheriff Dan Dunlap said at a news conference that deputies released Razo because he hadn't committed a crime at that point.
A Border Protection spokesman did not return telephone messages seeking comment. A spokesman for U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement said in an email that ICE was closely monitoring the case. The email identified Razo as Juan Emmanuel Razo-Ramirez.
A detective said during the arraignment that Razo has confessed to the deadly, one-day crime spree in the quiet Lake Erie town. Police began seeking Razo late Monday morning after the girl described him to police and said he had tried to rape her. Hours later, he allegedly shot a 40-year-old woman in the arm as she walked with her two children along a bike path and an hour after that, a man told park rangers he'd found his wife, 60-year-old Margaret Kostelnik, shot to death in their home near the bike path.
The Lake County coroner said Kostelnik, who was an assistant to the mayor in nearby Willoughby, was shot multiple times.
“People always  say, ‘Oh, she’s the nicest person in the world,’” Willoughby Mayor David Anderson told FoxNews.com. "But Margaret Kostelnik is the nicest person you could ever meet.”
Anderson said he worked with Kostelnik for the 24 years he served as mayor and that her family is deeply entrenched in the 23,000-person community. Her husband has worked as the town’s cemetery sexton for the past 25 years.
“She genuinely cared,” Anderson said.
Willoughby and Concord Township are in Lake County, and Painesville is the county seat.
A public defender entered a not guilty plea for Razo on Tuesday.
Tension between local and federal law enforcement agencies over how to handle illegal immigrants was brought to the forefront after the killing of Kathryn Steinle July 1 on a San Francisco pier. The 32-year-old was allegedly shot by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez who had been deported five times and had a felony record.
Lopez-Sanchez has said he came to San Francisco because he knew local police would not turn him over for deportation because of the city’s sanctuary policy, which has caused Republicans to blame these policies adopted by liberal enclaves nationwide.
Lopez-Sanchez was freed in March on an old marijuana charge even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement had filed a detainer request with San Francisco law enforcement. The city's sheriff's department was criticized for releasing Lopez-Sanchez and not notifying federal immigration authorities.
Lopez-Sanchez pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and weapons charges in the case. His bail was set at $5 million, which means he will stay in jail until the murder trial, where he faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment.

GOP Rep. Rohrabacher proposes bill authorizing Obama to detain Iranian officials




Rep. Dana Rohrabacher wants President Obama to detain non-diplomatic Iranian government officials in the United States until Tehran releases several Americans being held in that country.
The California Republican introduced the bill Tuesday, following the recent Iran nuclear deal that did not include the release of any American captives in Iran.
The deal, in which Iran agrees to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of billions of dollars in economic sanctions, must be approved by Congress in the coming weeks. The situation has prompted Secretary of State John Kerry and other top administration official to go to Capitol Hill to win support.
“The inexcusable plight of these long-suffering Americans perfectly illustrates the contempt Iran’s ruling mullahs show America in general and the Obama administration specifically,” said Rohrabacher, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee chairman.
At least three Americans are known to be held -- Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, pastor Saeed Abedini and Marine veteran Amir Hekmati. A fourth, Robert Levinson, is reportedly missing in Iran.
Kerry said after the deal was reached early this month that every meeting included discussions about the Americans.
Obama said that getting back the American citizens couldn’t be included in the deal but that his administration is “working every single day to try to get them out, and won’t stop until they’re out and rejoined with their families.”
Rohrabacher’s bill calls for the authorization of the president’s power to detain Iranian officials to expire when the Americans are released.

Court bars anti-abortion group from releasing new videos of Calif. company officials

Why would the court do that?

A temporary restraining order has been issued preventing an anti-abortion group from releasing any video of leaders of a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers. The group is the same one that previously released three covertly shot videos of a Planned Parenthood leader discussing the sale of aborted fetuses for research.
The Los Angeles Superior Court order issued Tuesday prohibits the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of three high-ranking StemExpress officials taken at a restaurant in May. It appears to be the first legal action prohibiting the release of a video from the organization.
The Center for Medical Progress has released three surreptitiously recorded videos to date that have riled anti-abortion activists. The Senate is expected to vote before its August recess on a Republican effort to bar federal aid to Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of the videos' release.
In a statement Wednesday, center leader David Daleiden said StemExpress was using "meritless litigation" to cover up an "illegal baby parts trade."
"The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work," he said.
StemExpress is a Placerville-based company started in 2010 that provides human tissue, blood and other specimens to researchers. Planned Parenthood is one of the company's providers of fetal tissue.
A company spokesman said StemExpress is "grateful its rights have been vindicated in a court of law."
In the first video released by the Center for Medical Progress, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services, describes techniques for obtaining fetal body parts for researchers to activists posing as potential buyers from a human biologics company over lunch. When asked about partnering with Planned Parenthood directly rather than through its affiliates, Nucatola mentioned StemExpress as one company that had approached them.
In another previously released video, a woman identified as a former StemExpress phlebotomist describes drawing blood and dissecting dead fetuses.
"I thought I was going to be just drawing blood, not procuring tissue from aborted fetuses," the employee, Holly O'Donnell, said.
Planned Parenthood's affiliates in fewer than five states provide fetal tissue for researchers, according to the organization. The Center for Medical Progress accuses the group of illegally making a profit from that.
Planned Parenthood has said it only receives reimbursements for costs of providing tissue donated by women and that it has done nothing wrong.
The temporary restraining order issued Tuesday will remain in place until a hearing on Aug. 19.

Swiss bank's donations to Clinton Foundation increased after Hillary intervention in IRS dispute



Donations to the Clinton Foundation by Swiss bank UBS increased tenfold after Hillary Clinton intervened to settle a dispute with the IRS early in her tenure as secretary of state, according to a published report.
According to the Wall Street Journal, total donations by UBS to the foundation grew from less than $60,000 at the end of 2008 to approximately $600,000 by the end of 2014. The Journal reports that the bank also lent $32 million through entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs it launched in association with the foundation, while paying former President Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of corporate question-and-answer sessions with UBS Chief Executive Bob McCann.
Though there is no evidence of wrongdoing, ties between the Clinton Foundation, major corporations and foreign governments have come under increasing scrutiny as Hillary Clinton begins her presidential campaign. The UBS case is unusual in that it shows a top U.S. diplomat intervening on behalf of a major overseas bank in a situation where federal prosecutors and the Justice Department had been the lead entity.
UBS' legal battles with the U.S. government date from 2007, when a whistleblower told the Justice Department that UBS had helped thousands of Americans open secret accounts to avoid U.S. taxes. In 2009, the bank paid a $780 million fine and turned over the names of 250 account holders to U.S. authorities as part of a deferred-prosecution agreement.
However, that same year, the IRS requested that UBS turn over the names of U.S. citizens who owned 52,000 secret accounts worth an estimated $18 billion. The bank maintained that doing so would be a violation of Swiss privacy laws. The Journal reports that UBS enlisted the Swiss government to settle the matter. Clinton, recently sworn in as secretary of state, first met with her Swiss counterpart, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, in March of 2009.
Over the next three months, the Journal reports, the U.S. and Switzerland engaged in a series of complex negotiations. Citing diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks as well as people involved in the case, the Journal reports that the U.S. pressed Switzerland to work for the release of American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was being held by Iran. Another issue Clinton brought up was alleged violations of international sanctions by a Swiss energy-consulting company thought to be providing civilian nuclear technology to Iran. The Swiss embassy represented U.S. interests in Iran, which has not had formal diplomatic relations with Washington since 1979.
After Saberi's release that May, the shutting down of the Swiss energy company's Iran operations that July, and the expressed willingness the Swiss government to accept some low-level detainees from Guantanamo Bay, the Journal reports settlement talks intensified.
Under the terms of the deal, which was announced by Clinton and Calmy-Rey July 31, UBS would turn over information about 4,450 account-holders, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS.
The deal was criticized by members of Clinton's own party in Congress. Then-Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. called the agreement "disappointing."
In recent weeks, Clinton's corporate ties have been harped on by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has made some gains on her in polls of early-voting states.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

What the ? Cartoon


Huckabee Blasts Bush: 'We Need a Churchill, Not a Chamberlain'


Former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s passionate defense of Israel has caused a massive puckering among Democrats and Establishment Republicans – including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
“This is about whether we want to stand against tyrants and tyranny,” the former Arkansas governor told me.
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Bush called on Huckabee to “tone down the rhetoric” over President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
Last weekend, Huckabee called the president’s plan idiotic and said that President Obama will ultimately “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”
Bush scolded Huckabee at a campaign stop in Florida.
“I think we need to tone down the rhetoric, for sure,” Bush said.  “The use of that kind of language is just wrong.”
In response, Huckabee defiantly stood his ground – reminding Bush that Iran has vowed to incinerate “all the Jews.”
“You don’t tone down the rhetoric when people are threatening a country off the face of the map,” he told me. “When you have a country that’s openly declaring that it’s going to kill Jews, guess what – you better take it seriously.”
“I take nothing back,” he declared.
Huckabee also took exception to Bush’s suggestion that his comments were hurting the Republican Party.
“This is not the way we’re going to win elections and that’s not how we’re going to solve problems,” Bush said.
“What’s bad for the party is taking a milquetoast attitude toward the Middle East, believing that somehow you can bring appeasement into the world,” Huckabee said. “This is not time for a Chamberlain. This is time for a Churchill. We either stand against evil or we don’t.”
Huckabee rightly pointed out that the Iranians are still holding four Americans hostage – and their citizens are marching in the streets chanting “Death to America.”
And yet the Establishment Republicans seem to think Huckabee’s comments are the problem?
“I think the problem for Republicans is when we’re so weak-kneed that we won’t take a stand against such stuff,” he said.
So there you have it, folks.
On one side you’ve got Gov. Huckabee – standing resolutely in alongside Israel. And on the other side you’ve got President Obama --- and Jeb Bush.

Technician details harvesting fetal parts for Planned Parenthood in latest video


A technician who said she worked for a company that partnered with Planned Parenthood to harvest fetal tissue said there’s “incentive to try and get the hard stuff ‘cause you’re going to get more money,” in the latest undercover video targeting Planned Parenthood.
“For whatever we could procure, they would get a certain percentage,” said Holly O’Donnell, identified as an ex-procurement technician for StemExpress, a Placerville, Calif., company. “The main nurse was always trying to make sure we got our specimens. No one else really cared, but the main nurse did because she knew that Planned Parenthood was getting compensated.”
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: Click to see latest undercover Planned Parenthood video
The new, graphic video from the Center for Medical Progress appears to show technicians using tweezers to pick through aborted fetal tissue for baby parts. After one person in the video picks out a pair of intact kidneys someone off-camera laughs and says, “Five stars!”
O’Donnell said she fainted the first time she was part of this process and was told by someone in the room, “some of us don’t ever get over it.”
“If you can somehow procure a brain or a heart you’re going to get more money than just Chorionic villi or umbilical cord.”
- Holly O'Donnell
O'Donnell said she worked for six months identifying pregnant women at Planned Parenthood who met the standards for fetal tissue orders and then helped to harvest fetal body parts after abortions at Planned Parenthood facilities.
StemExpress “supplies human blood, tissue products, primary cells and other clinical specimens to biomedical researchers around the world,” according to its website.
O’Donnell describes the company a different way.
“StemExpress is a company that hires procurement techs to draw blood and dissect dead fetuses and sell the parts to researchers,” she said. “They’ve partnered with Planned Parenthood and they get part of the money because we pay them to use their facilities. And they get paid from it. They do get some kind of benefit.”
Planned Parenthood has denied selling fetal tissue for a profit, which is against federal law.
“If you can somehow procure a brain or a heart you’re going to get more money than just Chorionic villi or umbilical cord,” O’Donnell said.
The video is the third to be released by the Center for Medical Progress. Like the first two, it contains undercover video of Planned Parenthood officials and associates, but is heavily reliant on an interview with O’Donnell.
Previous videos show Dr. Mary Gatter, a Planned Parenthood medical director in Southern California, meeting with people posing as buyers of fetal specimens. The conversation focuses on how much money the buyers should pay, although Planned Parenthood insists that it only sought to cover its expenses. The videos have brought investigations of Planned Parenthood's policies on aborted fetuses by three Republican-led congressional committees and three states.
Federal law prohibits the commercial sale of fetal tissue, but it allows the not-for-profit donation of tissue if the women who underwent abortions give their consent. Planned Parenthood says the payments discussed in the videos pertain to reimbursement for the costs of procuring the tissue -- which is legal.

House lawmaker files motion to oust Boehner


In a move unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives, a Republican lawmaker filed a motion Tuesday to remove House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, from his post, in another sign of dissatisfaction with Boehner’s leadership by a number of House conservatives.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., filed the resolution -- a “motion to vacate the chair” -- late Tuesday, claiming that he “has endeavored to consolidate power and centralize decision-making, bypassing the majority of the 435 Members of Congress and the people they represent.”
The proposal was referred to a committee stocked with leadership loyalists, and therefore unlikely to emerge.
The motion says that Boehner has caused the power of Congress to atrophy, “thereby making Congress subservient to the Executive and Judicial branches, diminishing the voice of the American People.”
The motion also claims that Boehner has used the power of his office to “punish Members who vote according to their conscience instead of the will of the Speaker.”
Last month, the leadership briefly stripped Meadows of his subcommittee chairmanship over his votes but later relented after conservatives objected.
The resolution could place House Democrats in a difficult, and unusual, position. Democrats would face a dilemma of either voting to help preserve Boehner – with whom they have frequently clashed – or backing House conservatives and gambling on pandemonium by helping to throw Boehner out.
Some GOP members told Fox News that Meadow’s resolution is the best thing that could happen for President Obama, taking attention away from the contentious issues of the Iranian nuclear deal, and the swirling controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood for the August recess.
A senior GOP source told Fox News that the motion would now make the Republican leadership the topic du jour instead of the Iran deal.
Allies of Boehner were quick to condemn Meadow's resolution.
“People are stunned. People are angry that somebody would pull this stunt,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.
"You don't raise any money, you need a way to raise money, you do gimmicks like this," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who is close to Boehner.
However, Meadows told Fox News that he has not raised any money off the issue, and dismissed the concern that it would distract from other issues: "To say we can only have one message is to imply that in our town halls we can have only one question at a time."
"I don’t like being in the limelight," Meadows added. "It is fearful when you have to do this. You have to work up courage."
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., backed Meadows, telling The Associated Press that GOP leadership is "not listening to the American people." Jones complained specifically about leadership not allowing quick votes against same-sex marriage and federal money for Planned Parenthood.
Speaker Boehner was not expected to address the resolution Tuesday.

Reported two-month gap in Clinton emails coincides with escalating Libya violence



A reported two-month gap in emails from Hillary Clinton's private account during 2012 coincides with a period of escalating violence in Libya and the obtaining of a special exemption by her top aide, Huma Abedin, to work for both the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.
The Daily Beast reported late Tuesday that no emails between Clinton and her State Department staff for the months of May and June 2012 are among the estimated 2,000 messages that have been released from the Democratic presidential frontrunner's account.
A State Department spokesman told The Daily Beast that only emails related to the security of U.S. diplomats in Libya or the consulate in Benghazi were turned over to the House select committee investigating the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack. If true, that means neither Clinton nor her staff communicated via e-mail during a period that saw three attacks on international outposts in Benghazi, including one on the consulate itself.
That attack, on June 6, 2012, involved the detonation of an improvised explosive device outside of the consulate, prompting the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli to warn Americans about the "fluid security situation in Libya." Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed along with three others in the Sept. 11 attack, warned his superiors that "Islamic extremism appears to be on the rise in eastern Libya."
Two weeks earlier, on May 22, the International Red Cross office was hit by rocket-propelled grenades. Five days after the consulate bombing, a convoy carrying Britain's ambassador to Libya was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, injuring two bodyguards.
The State Department plans to release Clinton's emails on a regular, monthly basis through January 2016 to comply with an order by a federal judge. The next release is tentatively scheduled for Friday. Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill released a statement saying "More emails are slated to be released by the State Department next week, and we hope that release is as inclusive as possible
The Daily Beast reports that the Benghazi committee has only received one e-mail dating from the two-month period. The message in question was sent in June 2012 by longtime Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and dealt mainly with his business interests in Libya. Security threats to the U.S. diplomatic presence were not mentioned.
Another issue raised by the e-mail gap is the status of Abedin, a longtime aide to Clinton and the wife of former New York congressman and mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. The Daily Beast reports that on June 3, Abedin was granted "special government employee" status, allowing her to remain employed by the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, a consulting firm founded by a Clinton ally, and by Hillary herself. The "special government employee" designation prevented Abedin from being subject to some ethics rules.
On Tuesday, the Daily Beast reported that State Department lawyers identified 68 pages of "potentially responsive" documents in response to a 2013 Freedom of Information Act request by the Associated Press for details about how Abedin obtained her special employee status. That was the first time the department acknowledged having any documentation about Abedin's arrangement.
Meanwhile Tuesday, Republicans on the House Benghazi committee insisted there was no agreement with Clinton over her possible appearance before the panel, despite an announcement by her campaign that she would testify Oct. 22. Federal investigators said last week they have alerted the Justice Department to a potential compromise of classified information arising from Clinton's private email server.
A memo signed by the inspector general of the intelligence community said the IG's office had identified "potentially hundreds of classified emails" among the 30,000 that Clinton had provided to the State Department and that are now being processed for public release. None of the emails was marked as classified at the time they were sent or received, but some should have been handled as such and sent on a secure computer network, according to a letter to congressional oversight committees from I. Charles McCullough III, the inspector general for a collection of executive branch agencies that work on intelligence.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

It Follows Cartoon


EXCLUSIVE: Cruz defends Huckabee, accuses Obama of 'gutter politics'


President Obama and Jeb Bush have drawn the ire of Sen. Ted Cruz after they attacked Gov. Mike Huckabee for his comments about the Iran
nuclear deal. 

Huckabee said the president’s Iran policy would “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”
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The president bristled at what he called a “ridiculous” comment.
“The particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are just part of a general pattern we’ve seen that would be considered ridiculous if it weren’t so sad,” he said.
“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. These are leaders in the Republican Party.”
Cruz rebuffed the president’s slap and said it was “particularly sad today that President Obama chose to engage in gutter politics – attacking Mike Huckabee by name, attacking me – both of us for standing up against this catastrophic deal – rather than defending the merits.”
Cruz told me he “emphatically” stands by Huckabee and his comments.
“Governor Huckabee has been a strong and powerful voice in defense of the Jewish people,” Cruz said. “He is exactly right to highlight the threat that the Obama nuclear deal poses to the nation of Israel. It is a sad day when the president of the United States cannot or will not see this truth.”
Bush, too, lashed out at Huckabee’s assessment of the Obama Administration’s deal with Iran – calling it “just wrong.”
“I think we need to tone down the rhetoric, for sure,” Bush said at a campaign stop in Florida. “The use of that kind of language is just wrong.”
“This is not the way we’re going to win elections and that’s not how we’re going to solve problems,” Bush added. “So it’s an unfortunate remark, I’m not quite sure why he felt compelled to say it.”
Cruz took exception to Bush’s attack on the former Arkansas governor.
“It is not a question of rhetoric,” he said. “It’s a question of speaking the truth.”
He told me that Republican candidates need to stop attacking other Republican candidates.
“Direct your fire to the real threats facing America –
including the threat of an Iran-led by radical theocratic zealots who chant ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’,” he said. 

Clinton, at energy event, won’t take position on Keystone pipeline


Hillary Clinton rebuffed a question Monday about her position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline even as she unveiled new energy proposals, opening the door to jeers from Republicans who accused her of "dodging." 
The Democratic presidential candidate for months has avoided taking a position on the Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, which remains under review at the State Department she once led. But given her entry into the White House race, and a new package of clean-energy ideas being put out by her campaign, Clinton was asked again Monday if she would at last weigh in.
Rather than stake out her stance, Clinton said only that she's "confident" the pipeline's impact on greenhouse gas emissions will be a "major factor" in the State Department's review.
"I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started," Clinton said. "And I think that we have to let it run its course."
She noted that decision would be made by her successor, Secretary of State John Kerry, and President Obama.
With many Republican candidates calling for the pipeline's approval -- and Clinton having faced criticism before for hedging on controversial issues that divide her own party, like this one -- her response Monday was fodder for Republicans.
"Clinton avoided specifics and refused to take a position on important job-creating energy projects like the Keystone Pipeline, reminding voters why they think she's untrustworthy," Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said in a statement.
Jeff Bechdel, spokesman with the conservative America Rising, accused her of "dodging on key issues like the Keystone XL pipeline, just to win an election."
As part of Clinton's energy plan, meanwhile, the Democratic presidential contender on Monday proposed that every home in the United States be powered by renewable sources by 2027.
Her plan calls for the installation of 500 million solar panels over four years.
"We're all going to have to do our part, but that's who we are as Americans. We don't hide from change; we harness it," Clinton said in a video outlining her proposals.
Clinton discussed her clean-energy ideas during a tour of a regional bus station in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday.

GOP lawmakers introduce bill to give union members say in political donations


Republican lawmakers took a first step Monday toward trying to fundamentally change the way unions operate, introducing legislation that would restrict how they spend campaign money -- and could keep cash away from Democratic candidates in 2016. 
Their complaint: Unions are taking advantage of dues-paying members and sending their money to Democratic candidates whether members like it or not.
The Employee Rights Act, introduced Monday by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah., and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., would allow union members to tell their bosses they don't want their share of dues going to certain candidates or causes, without fear of retaliation.
It also would seek to stop intimidation tactics by requiring secret ballots for employee elections regarding issues like unionizing or striking.
Any bid to restrict union political donations could have a big impact on Democrats, who get the lion's share of union campaign money. According to the Center for Union Facts, unions in 2012 contributed nearly $90 million to Democratic Party and aligned organizations.
"Forty percent of the union members are Republicans, yet virtually 100 percent of money that they've raised, and it's considerable money, goes to elect Democrats," Hatch told Fox News.
But now, some Democratic strategists are accusing Republicans of ignoring the needs of hardworking union members, and instead just trying to re-route sizable campaign contributions.
"Democrats have been supported for years by working people and the unions, and that's why Republicans want to bring this up," strategist Chuck Rocha said. "They want to take that money out -- the only real money left on the left side. There's a few big left donors, but we don't have a Sheldon Adelson."

Planned Parenthood ‘sponsors’ deny funding organization amid hidden camera controversy



Planned Parenthood once boasted a list of sponsors that read like a who's who of the Fortune 100, but now some of the biggest companies say they never gave money to the embattled organization.
Coca-Cola, Ford and Xerox are all among the companies listed in a roster of corporate sponsors claimed by Planned Parenthood, but representatives for the companies said they either never donated to the organization or had not in years. Planned Parenthood, which is now reeling from the release of two undercover videos in which top officials alluded to selling fetus parts, had published the company names on the website of its Washington, DC, chapter. The list was part of an appeal to employees who the site said could double their donations with the help of their employers.
“Double the size of your gift. Does your employer match charitable contributions? If so, please contact your Human Resources Department for more information about how your gift may be matched,” read a line from the web page. “A partial list of companies with Corporate Matching Gift Programs includes: AT&T, Alcoa, American Express, Avon Products, Black & Decker, Circuit City, Citibank, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Fidelity Investments, Ford Motor Company, Gannett, James River Corporation, Merck & Company, Microsoft Corporation, Motorola, Phillip Morris, T. Rowe Price, Prudential Insurance, Safeco Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Sunoco, Vanguard Group, Verizon, Washington Post Company, White & Case.”

“When a non-profit gets into controversy, global brands have to revisit their relationship no matter how small.”
- John Tantillo, marketing and branding expert
The page was taken down after Coca-Cola, Xerox and Ford Motor Company demanded their names be removed.
Planned Parenthood's financing has come under scrutiny in the wake of the video sting, which was carried out by the Center for Medical Progress. In the videos, Planned Parenthood officials were recorded talking to people posing as medical researchers about providing aborted fetal organs for research. Critics say the videos show Planned Parenthood is illegally harvesting and selling organs, although the organization's president, Cecile Richards, claims the group has done nothing illegal and is being smeared.
News that the organization may have misrepresented sponsorships prompted fresh criticism from the Center for Medical Progress.
"[This is] more evidence that there is big money in Planned Parenthood's abortion business," said Executive Director David Daleiden.
Several companies said they should never have been included among Planned Parenthood donors.
“We have never been a donor to Planned Parenthood,” a spokeswoman for Ford Motor Company told FoxNews.com. “And we haven’t matched employee contributions since 2005.”
Officials for Coca-Cola and Xerox did not immediately return requests for comment, but both issued statements saying they were not donors.
While the list on the Washington chapter's website was taken down, another list of companies that match employee gifts appears on Planned Parenthood’s national website, and includes Allstate, AT&T, Kraft Foods and Nike.
Officials for Planned Parenthood did not return repeated requests for comment.
Branding experts say that many non-profit groups will embellish their corporate backing as a selling point for donations.
“Coca-Cola may have sponsored one event, but that does not mean that they are a corporate sponsor,” John Tantillo, a New York-based marketing and branding expert, told FoxNews.com. “What you often do is embellish to make a strong selling point.”
Corporations, for their part, take into careful account how their relationships with non-profits like Planned Parenthood might look to the consumer.
“Brands have to be careful not alienate their clients,” he said. “When a non-profit gets into controversy, global brands have to revisit their relationship no matter how small.”
Some companies have done the opposite and said that they have and continue to support Planned Parenthood.
According to statements to the Daily Signal, global brands like Clorox, Levi Strauss and Verizon said they proudly match employee contributions to the non-profit.
“As part of our annual giving campaign at Clorox, the company provides employees the opportunity to make contributions to nonprofit organizations of their choice, which are matched through The Clorox Company Foundation,” read a statement from Clorox. “While the foundation does not select these organizations, we recognize that Clorox employees choose to support many different causes they care about. For perspective, year-to-date, approximately $2,000 in foundation matching funds have been directed toward Planned Parenthood. Last year, The Clorox Company Foundation donated more than $4 million in total to many nonprofit organizations.”
Planned Parenthood’s donor list was not the only thing that was scrutinized last week. On Friday, another report surfaced on the Daily Caller that Deborah Nucatola, who appeared on the first video released by the Center for Medical Progress and appeared to be discussing the sale of fetal tissue, was earning a six-figure income as an outside contractor even while drawing a salary from Planned Parenthood.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Hillary Jail? Cartoon


Huckabee says Iran nuclear deal 'marching the Israelis to the door of the oven'


GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is sticking with his controversial criticism of the Iran nuclear deal as "marching the Israelis to the door of the oven," a reference to the Holocaust.
The former Arkansas governor made the tweet Sunday, a day after first making the comparison when denouncing President Barack Obama for his role in the agreement reached by the United States and other world powers.
Responding, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Huckabee's statement was "grossly irresponsible" and called on him to apologize.
But a Huckabee spokeswoman said Sunday his comments reflect a longstanding position that "the Iran deal is a bad deal, bad for America and bad for Israel." Huckabee's tweet called on Congress to reject the nuclear deal.
"This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history," Huckabee said in an interview with Breitbart News broadcast on Sirius/XM radio Saturday. "He's so naive he would trust the Iranians and he would take the Israelis and basically march them to the door of the oven."
Huckabee said that "this Iran deal should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans."
"We forget Iranians have never kept a deal in 36 years under the ayatollah. There's no reason to think they will suddenly start doing it."
Huckabee said of the deal: "I read the entire thing. We gave away the whole farm. It's got to be stopped."
Huckabee's comments come as the GOP presidential candidates struggle to break through with 16 presidential candidates already in the GOP field, and one of those, New York businessman Donald Trump, getting more attention than most.

Satanic Temple unveils goat-headed statue in Detroit


A crowd of several hundred gathered Saturday night to see Detroit’s newest resident: A 9-foot, 2,000-pound statue of a goat-headed occult idol named Baphomet.
The Satanic Temple unveiled the bronze figure to an estimated 700 attendees at an undisclosed location. The group’s initial venue canceled after local religious groups protested.
The group’s approach to secrecy with the second venue led to little opposition on Saturday, Director of the Detroit Satanic Temple chapter and national spokeswoman Jex Blackmore told Fox News.
“Protesters arrived for a short time at our first ticketing location, but retreated after only about 30 minutes,” Blackmore said. “One woman attempted to block the event entrance and was removed by the police in cooperation with the building's owner. “
Guests were washed in red light shining down from the rafters at the venue as “dark punk” bands played and DJs performed from a stage located beneath a lighted, upside-down crucifix. Satanic Temple officials delivered speeches and a pair of shirtless men held candles on either side of the statue, prior to its unveiling.
Despite the dark pageantry, however, the Temple says its concept of Lucifer is as a literary figure. “The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people,” the group’s website states.
The statue will now be stored out of public view until the Temple can find it a permanent home. The group hopes to display it at the Arkansas State Capitol, next to a monument of the Ten Commandments.

Senate takes rare Sunday votes, but real drama is GOP leaders' rebuke of Cruz


The Senate held a rare Sunday session to cast key votes, but the real drama was several of the chamber’s senior Republicans chastising fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz for criticizing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas each rose to counter a stunning floor speech Cruz gave on Friday accusing McConnell, R-Ky., of lying.
Cruz, from Texas and a 2016 presidential candidate, was never mentioned by name but was clearly the focus of the senators’ remarks.
"Squabbling and sanctimony may be tolerated in other venues and perhaps on the campaign trail, but they have no place among colleagues in the United States Senate," said Hatch, the Senate's president pro tempore.
Cruz then defended himself for making the accusation that McConnell had lied when he denied striking a deal to allow the vote to revive the Export-Import Bank.
"Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility," he said while also acknowledging that he agreed with Hatch's calls for civility and that he was "not happy" about giving the floor speech Friday.
The drama preceded the upper chamber defeating a procedural vote to repeal ObamaCare and taking a step toward reviving the federal Export-Import Bank, both amendments on a must-pass highway bill.
Cruz also reiterated his complaint about McConnell.
"No member of this body has disputed that promise was made and that promise was broken," he said.
Cruz's floor speech Friday had brought nearly unheard-of drama and discord to the Senate floor. But the responses to it were just as remarkable, as senior Republicans united to defend an institution they revere and take down a junior colleague of their own party whom the appear to think has gone from being an occasional nuisance to a threat to the Senate's ability to function with order.
Another one of the votes Sunday defeated Cruz’s attempt to overturn a ruling made Friday that blocked him from offering an amendment related to Iran.
McConnell has said that given support for the Export-Import Bank, no "special deal" was needed to bring it to a vote.
The little-known bank is a federal agency that helps foreign customers to buy U.S. goods. Conservatives oppose it as corporate welfare and are trying to end it. They won an early round, when congressional inaction allowed the bank to expire June 30 for the first time in 81 years.
But on Sunday, senators voted, 67-26, to advance legislation  to revive the bank across a procedural hurdle, making it likely that it will be added to the highway bill.
The bill was introduced by GOP Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk and North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. A vote on final passage could come as early Monday.
On a separate vote, the legislation to repeal ObamaCare failed to advance over a procedural hurdle. Sixty votes were needed but the total was 49-43.
The action came as the Senate tries to complete work on the highway bill ahead of a July 31 deadline. If Congress doesn't act by then, states will lose money for highway and transit projects in the middle of the summer construction season.
With the Export-Import Bank likely added, the highway legislation faces an uncertain future in the House, where there's strong opposition to the bank as well as to the underlying highway measure.
The Senate's version of the highway bill sets policy and authorizes transportation programs for six years.
The House has passed a five-month extension of transportation programs without the Export-Import Bank included, and House leaders of both parties are reluctant to take up the Senate's version.
Complicating matters, Congress is entering its final days of legislative work before its annual August vacation, raising the prospect of unpredictable last-minute maneuvers to resolve the disputes on the highway bill and the Export-Import Bank.

Judge orders Obama administration to release illegal immigrants from 'deplorable' facilities


A federal judge in California has ruled that hundreds of illegal immigrant women and children in U.S. holding facilities should be released, another apparent setback for President Obama’s immigration policy, according to The Los Angeles Times.
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee said Friday that the conditions in which the detainees are being held are “deplorable” and violate parts of an 18-year-old court settlement that put restrictions on the detention of migrant children.
The ruling also raises questions about what the administration will do with the estimated 1,700 parents and children at three detention facilities, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania.
Last year, tens of thousands of women and unaccompanied minors from Central America arrived at the Southwest border, with many believing a rumor that unaccompanied children and single parents with at least one child would be allowed to stay.
More than 68,000 of them were apprehended and detained while officials decided whether they had a right to stay.
Many were being released and told to appear at immigration offices until the administration eventually opened new detention centers.
Gee said in her ruling that children in the two Texas facilities had been held in substandard conditions and gave the administration until Aug. 3 to respond.
“We are disappointed with the court's decision and are reviewing it in consultation with the Department of Justice,” Marsha Catron, press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a prepared statement given to The Times.
Many of the Central Americans who crossed the Southwest border illegally last summer said they were fleeing poverty and escalating gang violence.
The Texas facilities are run by private companies, while the one in Pennsylvania is run by a county government.
In February, a federal judge blocked Obama's 2012 executive action to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from being deported.
And a federal appeals court in New Orleans refused three months later to allow the program to go forward, denying an administration request to lift the lower court decision.
Gee’s decision is also seen as a victory for the immigrant rights lawyers who brought the case.
The ruling upholds a tentative decision Gee made in April and comes a week after the two sides told her that they failed to reach a new settlement agreement as she had requested.
The 1997 settlement bars immigrant children from being held in unlicensed, secure facilities. Gee found that settlement covered all children in the custody of federal immigration officials, even those being held with a parent.
The Justice Department had argued it was necessary to modify the settlement and use detention to try to deter more immigrants from coming to the border after last year's surge. The department also said it was an important way to keep families together while their immigration cases were being reviewed, but the judge rejected that argument in her decision.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

White House says Turkey has right to defend itself after Kurdish attacks


The White House said late Saturday Turkey has the right to defend itself against terror attacks by Kurdish rebels, after bombing Kurds in northern Iraq.
For months, Turkey had been reluctant to join the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State terror group despite gain made by the group on Turkey’s doorstep. Now, Turkish warplanes are directly striking ISIS locations, which started Saturday in Syria and continued with a bombing run against Kurds in northern Iraq.
The strikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, muddle the U.S.-led right against ISIS. The U.S. has relied on Syrian Kurds affiliated with the PKK to carry out attacks against ISIS militants.
National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey strongly condemned the recent terrorist attacks by the PKK, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group, and said the PKK should renounce terrorism and resume talks with Ankara.
"We urge de-escalation by both sides and encourage everyone to remain committed to the peaceful ‘solution process’ to bring about a just and sustainable peace for all Turkish citizens,” said Pentagon spokesman James Brindle.
Turkish jets hit shelters and storage facilities belonging to the PKK in seven areas in northern Iraq, including Mount Quandil where the group’s headquarters are located, authorities said. It was Turkey’s first aerial raid in northern Iraq against the PKK since Turkey brokered peace talks with the Kurds in 2012. The PKK declared a cease-fire in 2013.
Turkey’s recent shift in policy toward the fight against ISIS also comes amid a closer cooperation between Iran and the U.S. following the recent nuclear agreement. An analyst told The Associated Press the agreement threatened to lessen Turkey’s strategic importance, prompting it to cooperate with the U.S.-led strikes against the extremists.
Turkey conducted raids on the Islamic State following a suicide-bombing by the terror group, which killed 32 people, and an ISIS attack on Turkish forces, which killed a soldier. IT also declared that it had reached an agreement with Washington to open up its southern air bases to coalition aircract, giving itself a front-line role in the fight.
A senior Obama administration official said there was no connection between the move to deepen U.S.-Turkish cooperation against IS and the airstrikes that Turkey is currently carrying out against the PKK. The official wasn't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.
Fadi Hakura, a Turkey analyst at the Chatham House in London, said Turkish leaders feared that increased cooperation between Tehran and Washington in the battle against ISIS could sideline Turkey from U.S. calculations, providing impetus to allow U.S. fighter jets to use Turkish air bases near the Syrian border.
In addition, Islamic State has grown substantially more powerful in the last year, and controls a wider swath of the Turkey-Syria border, leading Turkish intelligence to change its assessment so that it now views the militant group as an imminent threat to Turkish security, said Hakura.
"The use of the Turkish air base is extremely important," he said. "Before, the U.S. had to traverse 1,000 miles to target IS in Syria. Now it will be much less, so naturally the air campaign will be far more intense and far more effective."
The attacks against PKK positions in Iraq comes amid signs of trouble in the peace process, with Turkey accusing the Kurdish rebels of not keeping a pledge to withdraw armed fighters from Turkey’s territory and to disarm. Turkey is also concerned that Kurdish gains in Iraq and in Syria could encourage its own minority to seek independence.
Tensions between Turkey and the Kurds have flared in days following the ISIS bombing in Suruc on Monday. Kurdish groups have blamed the government for not doing enough to combat ISIS. On Wednesday, the PKK claimed responsibility for killing two policemen in the Kurdish majority city of Sanliurfa.
The PKK said the strikes spelled the end of the peace process aimed to end three decades of conflict in Turkey's mainly-Kurdish southeast that has killed tens of thousands of people.
"Turkey has basically ended the cease-fire," Zagros Hiwa, a PKK spokesman, told The Associated Press.
Turkey's pro-Kurdish party, the People's Democratic Party, also said the strikes amounted to an end of the two-year-old truce. It called on the government to end the bombing campaign and resume a dialogue with the Kurds.
While conducting raids, Turkey has simultaneously been clamping down on suspected IS and PKK militants and other groups inside the country. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday nearly 600 suspects were detained in two days of raids in 22 provinces.
"Turkey's operations will, if needed, continue until the terror organizations' command centers, all locations where they plan (attacks) against Turkey and all depots used to store arms to be used against Turkey are destroyed," Davutoglu said.
On Friday, three F-16 jets struck Islamic State targets that included two command centers and a gathering point near the Turkish border in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine Islamic State militants were killed in the raids. The extremists have yet to comment on the strikes.
The Syrian government has so far refrained from commenting on Turkish strikes inside Syrian territory, but Syria's main political opposition group, which is backed by Ankara, welcomed Turkey's move.

Naked Tree Huggers Mount Eucalyptus Trees


There's only one thing worse than a tree-hugger -- and that's a nude tree-hugger.
About 75 folks at the University of California, Berkeley disrobed over the weekend and mounted eucalyptus trees.
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All part of a protest directed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- they say the trees pose a fire hazard and need to come down.
“This is a war on trees,” wildlife activist Jack Gescheidt told Campus Reform.
The demonstration was organized by a group Gescheidt founded -- The Tree Spirit Project. Their mission is “to raise awareness of the critical role trees play in our lives, both globally and personally.”
And part of their schtick is to commune with nature while frolicking buck naked in the wilderness.
The federal government doesn’t seem to be swayed by the protest.
BerkeleySide.com reports that FEMA provided $5.7 million for California to remove the trees as part of a fire hazard abatement in Claremont Canyon.
That region was devastated by a deadly fire in 1991. Twenty-five people were killed, 150 injured and more than 3,300 homes were incinerated.
But Gescheidt doesn’t believe trees cause forest fires.
“The claim about trees being flammable is nonsense,” he told Campus Reform. “All living trees and forests are fire resistant.”
So how does he roast marshmallows without a campfire? Maybe he uses tofu and wheatgrass. I hear that stuff is pretty combustible.
Reaction to the nude protest was muted. One critic said the protesters were “about as hot as you’d expect.”
I heard about a guy from Yazoo City, Miss., who was into that tree hugging malarkey. He dropped his drawers and high-tailed it up an oak tree covered in kudzu.
There was one problem, though. That poor fellow couldn't tell the difference between kudzu and poison ivy.
It proves my theory that there are just some things you should not do if you're buck naked -- like shimmy up a tree -- or fry bacon.

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