Easter Bunny Cartoon

After bleak week, Pope Francis offers Easter message of hope

Pope Francis was wrapping up a bleak week in Europe by presiding Saturday night over a solemn vigil service and ushering in Easter celebrations with a message of hope.
Francis entered the silent and darkened St. Peter's Basilica with just a single candle guiding him at the start of the Easter Vigil service. As he reached the altar, the basilica's flood lights turned on in a symbolic show of light after the darkness of Jesus' crucifixion.
During the lengthy service, which is due to end just before midnight, Francis is to baptize 12 adults hailing from around the world. A few hours hours later he'll preside over Easter Sunday Mass and offer his annual Easter blessing.
Francis is expected to offer a message of hope following his bleak condemnations on Good Friday and earlier of the attacks by Islamic extremists in Brussels and elsewhere.
During remarks Friday at the Colosseum capping the "Way of the Cross" procession re-enacting Jesus' crucifixion, Francis denounced the "terrorist acts committed by followers of some religions which profane the name of God and which use the holy name to justify their unprecedented violence."
While the pope was at the Colosseum, his chief alms-giver was out on the streets of Rome giving out sleeping bags to the homeless Friday night in a show of papal support for the city's least fortunate.

Even the Man Suing Trump For Age Discrimination is Voting for The Donald

Further proof that Donald Trump is unstoppable. Even Ed Bals, the 81-year-old man suing Trump’s company after he got canned at Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck says he’d vote for Trump.
“The only way I can explain it is I don’t think Mr. Trump knew what happened, because if he did, I wouldn’t have been relieved, he’s that type of person,” Ed Bals told USA Today. “I don’t have a grudge against him.”
Bals sued Trump in federal court in 2014. He was the manager of the upscale men’s locker room at the New Jersey club when he was fired (at the age of 77). Bals now works as a taxi driver. In the lawsuit, he claims each year before he was terminated, he was given a bonus for “exemplary work” and maintained an “excellent friendship with the golf course members.”
So why vote for Trump after all this?

“I’ve voted for all sorts of people, but I feel like the other politicians have all BS’d us and have us upset,” Bals told USA Today. “I’m a traditionalist, and saw WWII, and saw what the country stood for then.”

Bals said he ran into Trump a few times at the club, and admired him for bringing the golf course back from financial turmoil. In the lawsuit, Bals is seeking to get his job back, damages and attorney’s fees. As you’ve heard before, Trump says he doesn’t like to settle. But, maybe, just maybe, on this one. he’ll make an exception.

New FBI Filings Reveal ‘Pending Investigation’ Into Clinton’s E-Mails is Far From Over

A pair of declarations submitted to a federal judge by the FBI late Friday in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Vice News reveal new details about the Bureau’s “pending investigation” into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server (“Clinton Server”) that tend to indicate the matter is far from over.
In December, Vice News filed a FOIA lawsuit against the FBI seeking to obtain information related to the Clinton Server, including:

1.  Any and all emails and other records retrieved from the server, thumb drive, and any other electronic equipment obtained either directly or indirectly from Hillary Clinton (collectively and individually the “Clinton Server”) which has not already been made public; and
…
4. Any and all correspondence between any person within the FBI and any person within the U.S. Department of State regarding, relating to, or referencing the Clinton Server; and

…

Late on Friday, the FBI filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the requested information is exempt from release pursuant to FOIA Exemption 7(A) because the release of records responsive to the requests could reasonably be expected to interfere with an active law enforcement proceeding.  The FBI also filed a pair of declarations in support of its summary judgment motion to provide the Court with a more detailed explanation and justification for the assertion of FOIA Exemption 7(A) to withhold records responsive to Vice’s request.

In the first declaration, David A. Hardy, the chief of the FBI’s FOIA office, states that the FBI has withheld two records responsive to Request #4 that consist of “memoranda from the FBI to the Department of State regarding evidence” and the “purpose of these communications with the Department of State was to solicit assistance in furtherance the FBI’s investigation.”  Furthermore, the “FBI concluded that the disclosure of these records … could reasonably be expected to reveal the nature, scope, and focus of the FBI’s activities in the investigation….”

With respect to Request #1, Hardy does not reveal the specific number of responsive records, rather he simply states that any responsive records are “potential evidence in the FBI investigation, or may provide leads to or context for potential evidence.”  He goes on to state that the premature disclosure of evidence could be reasonably expected to interfere with the pending investigation because it could tip off individuals to the scope of focus of the investigation and allow them to take defensive actions and/or suppress evidence.
In addition to the Hardy Declaration, the FBI also filed a “Classified Declaration” that provides additional details in support of the FOIA exemption which the FBI states they could not provide on the public record without further adversely affecting the ongoing investigation.  The classified declaration will be reviewed by the Court in private and purports to further describe the harm associated with releasing information responsive to Request #1 and Request #4.
The information contained in the FBI’s summary judgment motion and accompanying declarations is important because it indicates that the FBI is still in the process of sorting through and gathering evidence related to the Clinton Server investigation.  The FBI states repeatedly throughout the latest court filings that it is continuing to assess the evidentiary value of “any materials retrieved for the investigation” from the Clinton Server and expresses concern about how the premature disclosure of evidence would adversely impact the pending investigation. Furthermore, the FBI’s response to Request #1 could be interpreted to indicate that the FBI did in fact recover additional materials, including possibly deleted e-mails, from the Clinton Server.

Finally, the fact that the FBI filed a “Classified Declaration” in support of its summary judgment motion tends to indicate that even more classified material exists on the Clinton Server than the over 2,000 classified e-mails we already know about.  In fact, LawNewz asked former federal prosecutor Bill Thomas to clarify the significance of the “Classified Declaration” and he said, not only is the “information being submitted to the court classified, but its really more than that, it is information that if revealed there exists ‘reasonable danger that compulsion of the evidence will expose military matters which, in the interest of national security, should not be divulged.'”

At the end of the day, this all makes Clinton’s defiant refusal to even address Jorge Ramos’ question about a potential indictment at the March 9 Democratic debate look even more like wishful thinking.  Clinton and her supporters may not want to hear it, but this e-mail issue isn’t going away anytime soon.

Sanders projected to win Washington, Alaska, Hawaii Democratic presidential caucuses

Sen. Bernie Sanders was projected to win the Alaska, Washington and Hawaii Democratic presidential caucuses -- victories he hopes will spark a Western states comeback and help him cut into frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s substantial lead.
The Associated Press projected Sanders the winner of the Alaska and Washington contests Saturday, while the results of Hawaii's presidential contest weren't announced until early Sunday morning.
"We knew things were going to improve as we headed west," Sanders said at a rally in Madison, Wis. "We are making significant inroads in ... Clinton's lead ... We have a path toward victory."
Clinton leads by roughly 300 pledged delegates, with 142 up for grabs Saturday. Washington had the biggest prize, 101 delegates, followed by Hawaii with 25 and Alaska with 16.
Sanders, a democratic socialist, on Saturday acknowledged his struggles in recent contests across the South, with its strong conservative voting bloc. But he remained optimistic about upcoming contests in the more liberal West including those in Oregon and California, which alone offers 546 delegates.
The next Democratic and Republican primaries are April 5 in Wisconsin.

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Sanders is popular among younger and more progressive Americans but continues to struggle to connect with Hispanic and African-American voters.
He will win at least nine delegates in Alaska. And all of them are elected to the state Democratic convention, not the party's national nominating convention in July in Philadelphia.
Going into Saturday, Clinton had a 1,223-to-920 lead on Sanders in so-called pledged delegates, who are bound to candidates by their states' elections.

Data curated by InsideGov

It takes 2,383 delegates to clinch the nomination.
Sanders was expected to do well in Washington, considering residents of Seattle, the biggest city in the Pacific Northwest, are among the most liberal in the country and major campaign contributors.
He drew more than 10,000 supporters to a rally Friday evening at Safeco Field in Seattle. And by Saturday afternoon, the state appeared to be having a record voter turnout, which has helped keep alive Sanders’ insurgent campaign.
In Spokane, a huge line of caucus attendees had already snaked around a high school parking by Saturday morning.
"I think one of the biggest things is free tuition for students and getting big money out of politics," said Savannah Dills, 24, a college student who supports Sanders. "He's not paid for by billionaires."
Top Sanders adviser Ted Devine recently told FoxNews.com that he was optimistic about the campaign cutting Clinton’s lead this weekend to under 300 delegates “with a couple of thousands more delegates to go.”
Most of the Washington’s Democratic leadership had endorsed Clinton, including Gov. Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.
Still, Sanders entered Saturday’s contests optimistic after winning more delegate than Clinton in three contests earlier this week -- nearly 20 in the Idaho and Utah caucuses, despite losing the marquee Arizona primary to the former secretary of state.
Sanders has done significantly better in caucus contests, now winning nine of the last 11.
Most of his 14 primary-season wins have been in states with largely white populations and in the caucus contests, which tend to attract the most active liberal Democrats.
Yet Sanders still needs a dramatic surge to catch Clinton or even hold her under the number needed to clinch the nomination, despite the optimism and fundraising numbers, which also include collecting more than $140 million from 2 million donors.
Clinton did not hold a public event after the Alaska and Washington results were announced.
While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a string of losses for Clinton would highlight her persistent vulnerabilities, including concerns about her trustworthiness and weak support among younger voters.
Clinton’s delegate advantage, before Saturday, increases to 1,692-to-949 once the superdelegates, or party officials who can back either candidate, are included.
Based on that count, Sanders still needs to win 58 percent of the remaining delegates from primaries and caucuses to have a majority of those delegates by June's end.
His bar is even higher when the party officials are considered. He needs to win more than 67 percent of the remaining delegates overall -- from primaries, caucuses and the ranks of uncommitted superdelegates -- to prevail.
Because Democrats allocate their delegates on a proportional basis, meaning that the popular vote loser can still pick up a share, his Saturday victories netted Sanders a gain of at least 27 delegates to at least five for Clinton.
Clinton has been looking past the primary contests and aiming at potential Republican challengers. In interviews, rallies and speeches this week, she largely focused on Tuesday's deadly attacks in Brussels, casting GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as unqualified to deal with complicated international threats.
Her campaign sees the April 19 contest in New York as an important one, not just because of the rich delegate prize but because losing to Sanders in a state she represented in the Senate would be a psychological blow. She hopes to lock up an even larger share of delegates in five Northeastern contests a week later.