Evangelicals split going into SC primary

Donald Trump, a thrice-married multi-billionaire who is not averse to cussing and once said he was pro-choice, has found evangelical Christian support ahead of Saturday’s hotly contested South Carolina primary.
Trump is leading among evangelical Christian voters with 31 percent in the latest Fox News poll, but Sen. Ted Cruz is only eight points behind at 23 percent, with Marco Rubio at 17 percent and Gov. Jeb Bush at 10 percent, reflecting the divisions among evangelical voters.
“I’ve been in politics for a while, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Nate Leupp, co-chair of the Republican Party of Greenville and a self-described evangelical voter. “People are getting upset with each other.”
Cruz, the son of a preacher, was first to pursue the Christian conservative vote in South Carolina. Rafael Cruz, his  father, has been campaigning for him in the state since long before Trump made his first visit, say political watchers on the ground. Cruz’s campaign says he has the endorsement of “over 300 pastors and faith leaders” in South Carolina.
“A lot of people have typically thought the evangelical vote was monolithic in South Carolina,” said Randy Page, public relations director at the conservative Bob Jones University. “Perhaps in some cycles it has been.” Page said he is personally backing Rubio.
But now there seems to be a schism among more traditionalist evangelicals like Leupp who is “stunned” that his peers are supporting a divorcee with “a foul mouth, a lack of morals,” and the more new age, Pentecostal Christians who see Trump as a man who has sinned but can be saved. The former, says Leupp and Page, are sending up their prayers for Cruz and Rubio.
The latter are represented in large part by young evangelicals, and television and megachurch pastors like Mark Burns, pastor of the Greenville, S.C-based Christian Television Network. He’s been on the campaign trail stumping for Trump. He acknowledged that he was heckled at a recent appearance at Bob Jones University when he said Trump was “pro-faith.”
“Bob Jones is (part) of the old establishment, that’s the crowd it draws,” Burns told FoxNews.com. “It doesn’t do what the Pentecostal, new age movement does, which is bring the message of grace.”
Aside from the divide among religious philosophies, Burns says South Carolinians are angry with the government and pre-packaged politicians, and are willing to forgive what they see as Trump's moral transgressions in favor of his “authenticity.”
“He is appealing to evangelicals across the board because he (is) authentic and what you see is what you get,” said Burns.
“Millions of Americans are angry and frustrated with politicians, especially those who come to South Carolina and they know the song and dance and they’re saying they are one of us and when they go back to Washington they are voting for legal abortions and same-sex marriage.”
“Trump is a fighter. He is the one to fight for Christianity and for our conservative values we hold dear.”
Leupp agrees voters are angry and that there are many evangelicals who are willing to overlook their own moral -- and political -- principles to vote for Trump. They point to Republicans who have failed them in Washington and presidential candidates who got the religious conservative backing, and lost, like Mitt Romney in 2012, and John McCain in 2008.
In 2012, white evangelical Christians went for Newt Gingrich in the primaries by 45 percent. Gingrich, a conservative stalwart (despite being married three times), won the state primaries in South Carolina and Georgia before dropping out of the race in May 2012.
Evangelicals want a winner. “They use that to justify their ‘we don’t need a person with a record, it’s time to back a person without a record’” approach,” said Leupp, who was backing Bush but is still undecided. He knows one thing: it’ll be anyone but Trump.
"Trump as a nominee would do more to destroy the conservative movement and the Republican Party than Hillary Clinton would do in four years as president,” he declared. “We need to unify behind someone who can beat Donald Trump.”

DOJ would allow Apple to keep or destroy software to help FBI hack iPhone

The White House appears to be willing to compromise with Apple in its fight with the tech giant to comply with a federal court order to provide “reasonable technical assistance” in the government’s investigation of the locked iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino gunmen.
The Obama administration told a magistrate judge Friday it would be willing to allow Apple to retain possession of and later destroy specialized software it was ordered to create to help federal authorities hack into the encrypted iPhone belong to Syed Rizwan Farook.
 "Apple may maintain custody of the software, destroy it after its purpose under the order has been served, refuse to disseminate it outside of Apple and make clear to the world that it does not apply to other devices or users without lawful court orders," the Justice Department told Judge Sheri Pym. "No one outside Apple would have access to the software required by the order unless Apple itself chose to share it."
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Apple to help the FBI hack into the phone used by Farook, who along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed people in December.
Although the judge instructed Apple to create the software for the FBI, she said it could be loaded onto the phone at an Apple facility. The Justice Department made explicit Friday that Apple could retain custody of the software at all times.
That's a good "compromise position" because "they're giving all the power to Apple," Jason Healey, a former director on cyber policy at the White House, told the Associated Press.
"They're telling Apple, 'You hold the software, we're not asking you to put a backdoor in the encryption, we just want to be able to brute force this thing,'" Healey said. "If the precedent is this, that they deliver the phone to Apple and Apple does it, I think that's a pretty good precedent that can't be done en masse on the next thousand iPhones."
Specifically, the government wants Apple to bypass a self-destruct feature that erases the phone's data after too many unsuccessful attempts to guess the passcode. Apple has helped the government before in this and previous cases, but this time Apple CEO Tim Cook said no and Apple is appealing the order.
The Justice Department filed a motion earlier Friday to compel Apple to comply with the court order.
"Apple has attempted to design and market its products to allow technology, rather than the law, to control access to data which has been found by this Court to be warranted for an important investigation. Despite its efforts, Apple nonetheless retains the technical ability to comply with the order, and so should be required to obey it," the motion states.
While the judge on the case says the government is only asking for help unlocking one, single iPhone, Apple says the case is much bigger than that and sets a dangerous precedent. Cook says the company doesn't have a system to bypass the self-destruct one.

Trump jumps into iPhone security row, calls for boycott of Apple products

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has called for a boycott of Apple products until the tech giant complies with a judge’s order to help hack the phone of a shooter in the deadly San Bernardino terror attack.
Apple announced Wednesday that the company will fight a federal magistrate's order to help the Obama administration break into an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in last December's attack that killed 14 people.
Related: Apple ups the ante in Silicon Valley's encryption battle with government
“I like the idea of ‘boycott Apple’ until such time as they give that information, I think that’s a great idea,” Trump said, during a rally at Pawley’s Island, S.C.
“First of all, the phone is not even owned by this young thug that killed all these people – the phone’s owned by the government,” he said, aiming a jab at the Apple CEO. “Tim Cook is looking to do a big number, probably to show how liberal he is.”
Related: Why Apple's security battle with the FBI is a PR masterstroke
Citing Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks, Reuters reports that Trump does not use an iPhone.
Social media giants Facebook and Twitter have backed Apple in its dispute with the FBI, as has Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Experts have also lauded Apple’s move as a PR masterstroke.
Related: John McAfee vows he can break iPhone encryption, promises to eat his shoe on live TV if he can't
This not the first time that Trump has weighed in on technology issues. Last year he surprised his rivals during a debate when he suggested clamping down on Internet connectivity as a way to limit ISIS’ ability to recruit and raise funds online.

Vatican Wall Cartoon

Trump punches back against Pope just before crucial primary: Who does that?

Maybe Donald Trump was bored by boxing with Cruz, Rubio and Jeb and decided to punch up.
Maybe it was a heavenly gift that enabled Trump to hijack the news cycle once again.
Maybe it’s that the Pope landed the first blow.
Whatever the case, the Republican presidential front-runner is now engaged in a war of words with the leader of the Catholic Church.
I was stunned by this turn of events, which instantly blew other political stories off the media radar. Let’s put it this way: Suddenly, there’s not that much chatter about Nikki Haley endorsing Marco Rubio.
My initial reaction was to ask a question that’s been repeatedly raised since Trump got into the race. Has he finally, this time, gone too far?
Who picks a fight with the pontiff two days before a South Carolina primary in which you’ve got a big lead?
But it’s a little more complicated than that.
When Pope Francis visited America last fall, some conservatives objected to the way he injected himself into U.S. politics with what they view as left-of-center views on climate change, divorce and abortion. While the Pope also made comments that lean to the conservative side, he is identified with a message of tolerance as summed up in his response to a question about gays: “Who am I to judge?”
He is, apparently, willing to judge Donald Trump.
The stage was set when the Pope visited the Mexican side of the U.S. border and what he called a humanitarian crisis. When a Reuters reporter on the flight back to the Vatican asked about Trump, the pontiff declined to say whether Americans should vote for him, but added:
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel.”
The Pope said he would give Trump the benefit of the doubt until he saw what the billionaire has said. “I say only that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.”
Trump did not turn the other cheek.
In a statement that he read in South Carolina, Trump said:
“If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president because this would not have happened.”
Blaming disparaging remarks by the Mexican government, Trump said: “The Pope only heard one side of the story - he didn’t see the crime, the drug trafficking and the negative economic impact the current policies have on the United States.”
And then there was this: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian.”
Let’s just say Trump didn’t tone down his comments in taking on the world’s most famous religious leader. He stuck to his mantra of hitting back harder whenever he is hit.
On the other hand, Pope Francis did take a pretty hard shot in suggesting that Trump is “not Christian.” He could have taken issue with the candidate’s stance on immigration, or lack of charity toward the less fortunate, without challenging his religion—one of the strongest things a pope can say.
Since the other leading Republican candidates have similar policies on protecting the border, one could infer that Francis, who got along well with President Obama, has a particular dislike for Trump.
The worst interpretation for Trump: He alienated some Catholic voters (who are in a minority in South Carolina), and perhaps raised questions among evangelicals, among whom he is leading Ted Cruz in the state--although some may not be fans of the Vatican. Trump seems disrespectful in squaring off against a moral leader.
The best interpretation for Trump: He showed strength by not backing down, even against a pope. He reinforced his signature stance about building a wall at Mexico’s expense. And he stomped on any news that Rubio, Cruz or Bush might make in the closing days.
How will this play out in Saturday’s voting? Only heaven knows.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. 

Fox News Poll: Trump still leads national race for GOP nomination

Donald Trump continues to dominate the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new Fox News national poll of registered voters.
Trump leads with 36 percent among self-identified GOP primary voters.  Ted Cruz captures 19 percent and Marco Rubio receives 15 percent.
CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
Jeb Bush and Ben Carson get nine percent a piece, and John Kasich gets eight percent.
The poll, released Thursday, was conducted Monday through Wednesday evenings -- after a heated Republican debate Saturday in South Carolina (and also after Valentine’s Day Sunday).
Trump’s success is due to his ability to make in-roads with core elements of the GOP base.

Fox News National Poll of Republican Voters | InsideGov

For example, white evangelical Christians voting in the GOP primary favor Trump (28 percent) and Cruz (26 percent) over Rubio (15 percent) and Carson (15 percent).
Cruz has a slim one-point edge over Trump among those who identify as “very” conservative (29-28 percent).  Another 16 percent back Rubio.
Men (40 percent) are more likely than women (32 percent) to make Trump their first choice.  Still, he’s the favorite for each.
Nearly six in 10 Republicans want the next president to be someone from outside the political establishment -- and those voters go heavily for Trump (55 percent vs. 15 percent for Cruz and 11 percent Carson).
Meanwhile, Trump is the candidate Republican voters trust to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Thirty-nine percent would put Trump in the room with Putin -- that’s more than double the 18 percent who say Cruz. Fourteen percent say Rubio and 10 percent Bush.
For those pundits who thought the Republican faithful would fall back in line when faced with the possibility of Trump making Supreme Court appointments, consider this: Trump ties Cruz as the candidate GOP primary voters think would do the best job handling nominations to the high court (26 percent each).
Taking into consideration that this is an election year, 62 percent of all voters say it is the responsibility of current leaders, President Obama and the Senate, to act to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Scalia’s recent death.  Compare that to 34 percent who think the president shouldn’t get to nominate someone for a life-time appointment this late in his term.
Despite Trump’s strengths in the primary race, he’s the weakest of the GOP candidates in hypothetical matchups against Clinton.  Rubio (+4) and Kasich (+3) perform best against Clinton.  Cruz and Bush each top Clinton by just one point.
Trump trails the Democrat by five points: Clinton 47 percent vs. Trump 42 percent. Sanders trounces Trump by 53-38 percent.
By a slim 49-48 percent, Republicans think Trump “has the temperament” to serve effectively as president, while voters overall say he doesn’t by 67-30.
Republicans say by 62-31 percent that Rubio “has the toughness” to serve effectively.  By comparison, most voters aren’t so sure:  43 percent say he does, while 46 percent disagree.
Is Cruz likeable enough to do the job?  By two-to-one most Republicans say he has the “personality” to serve effectively as president (65-30).  Overall, voters are more likely to say no (44 percent yes vs. 49 percent no).
Who could kids look up to in the White House?  GOP primary voters think Carson (26 percent) is the best role model for children today, while nearly half say Trump is the worst (49 percent).

Pollpourri
The president is on television -- a lot.  Voters say they would “most dread” watching Trump (40 percent) and Clinton (31 percent) on television for the next four years.  Democrats are more likely to say Trump (56 percent) than Republicans are to say Clinton (50 percent).
Independents? They would dread watching Trump the most (40 percent), followed by Clinton (27 percent).
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,031 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from February 15-17, 2016.  The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters, and 4.5 points for the Republican primary voter sample (404).

Trump endorsed Iraq invasion in 2002 radio interview

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tepidly endorsed invading Iraq in September 2002, contradicting his earlier insistence that he opposed the war before the March 2003 invasion.
Trump was asked about a possible war with Iraq during a five-minute phone interview with radio host Howard Stern on Sept. 11, 2002. In between Trump's recollections of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center and his thoughts on rebuilding the Twin Towers, Stern asked the billionaire real estate developer, "Are you for invading Iraq?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Trump responded. "You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly," an apparent reference to the Gulf War. A month after the interview, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.
The audio was first reported late Thursday by Buzzfeed News.
For months, Trump has cited his opposition to the Iraq War as evidence of his foreign policy judgement. When asked about the statement during a CNN town hall in South Carolina Thursday, Trump initially said he did not remember making the statement, but added, "I could have said that. Nobody asked me- I wasn't a politician. It was probably the first time anybody asked me that question.
"By the time the war started, I was against it," Trump added. "And shortly thereafter, I was really against it."
In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity Thursday, Trump restated his opposition to the war, saying "We attacked Iraq, but Iraq didn’t knock down the World Trade Center." Trump also said that he would declassify the entire 9/11 Commission Report, telling Hannity "When that’s open, I think you’ll find out that Saudi Arabia had a lot to do with the ripping down of the World Trade Center."

The Iraq War issue first flared up in Saturday's Republican debate, when Trump clashed with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush over Middle East policy.
Trump repeatedly slammed former President George W. Bush, Jeb's brother, saying his administration "lied" about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction. At Thursday's town hall, Trump refused to say whether he stood by that charge.

Trump also invoked the 9/11 attacks in response to Jeb Bush's claim that his brother kept the U.S. safe, saying "The World Trade Center came down … That’s not keeping us safe."
During the town hall, Trump also eased off comments he had made earlier in the day about Pope Francis. Returning to Rome from a five-day trip to Mexico, Francis had said that Trump's pledge to build a wall along the entire length of the border and expel millions of illegal immigrants was "not Christian".
Trump, a Presbyterian, initially responded by saying, "For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian, and as president I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened."
However, on Thursday night, Trump said "I don't like fighting with the Pope, actually. I don't think this is a fight. I think he said something much softer than was originally reported by the media. I think that he heard one side of the story, which is probably by the Mexican government."

Mourners to pay respects to late Justice Scalia at Supreme Court

Why is the WH not explaining Obama skipping Scalia funeral?

Thousands of mourners, from President Barack Obama to ordinary tourists, will pay their final respects to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Friday as his casket lies in repose in the high court's Great Hall.
Court officials said Scalia's casket would be carried into the hall at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time for a private ceremony including family, friends and justices. The public will be admitted between 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The justice's former law clerks will take turns standing vigil by their former boss throughout the day and night in a tradition most recently observed after the 2005 death of former Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
The casket will rest on the Lincoln Catafalque, the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln's coffin rested in the Capitol rotunda in 1865. A 2007 portrait of Scalia by artist Nelson Shanks will be displayed nearby.

Obama and his wife Michelle planned to pay their respects at the court on Friday, while Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden were to attend Scalia's funeral Mass on Saturday.
The funeral Mass open to family and friends will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Burial plans have not been released.

In a departure from tradition, the court's current and former justices won't be lining the marble steps outside the court as the casket is carried through the main entrance. They will instead be waiting inside. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg did not explain the reason for the change.

Scalia's sudden death complicated an already tumultuous election year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a replacement should not be named until the next president takes office. Obama pledged to pick a replacement "in due time" and challenged Republicans to hold a vote on his nominee.

Scalia was found dead on Saturday in his room at a remote Texas hunting resort. The 79-year-old jurist was appointed to the court in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.

He is survived by his wife, Maureen, nine children and 36 grandchildren.

Muslim Man Cartoon

Muslim man files lawsuit against Oklahoma gun range for refusing him service

A Muslim man, who is also a U.S. Army reservist, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the owners of an Oklahoma gun range after they allegedly told him to leave when he identified himself as a Muslim.
Raja’ee Fatihah’s lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Muskogee against the owners of Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gun Range in the town of Oktaha.
A sign posted on the business declared the range a "Muslim-free" establishment, and is similar to signs that have been placed at businesses in Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky and New York, said Brady Henderson, legal director for the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit.
"Whether the sign in question says 'no Muslims' or whether it says 'no coloreds' or whether it says 'no women' or 'no Christians' or 'no Buddhists' ... it is just as un-American and fundamentally it is just as wrong," Henderson said.
Fatihah is a board member with the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Oklahoma chapter. He said he went to the gun range after learning about the signage. He said the owners of the gun range were warm and welcoming until he told them he was a Muslim.
"At that point, they started treating me with suspicion," Fatihah said.
The lawsuit also alleges that the owners asked Fatihah if he was there to murder them, The Oklahoman reported.
Robert Muise, with the American Freedom Law Center, is representing Chad and Nicole Neal – the owners of the gun range – in the case. Muise said Fatihah was denied service because he was being belligerent, not because of his religion. Muise also said the sign declaring the shop a “Muslim-free” business is protected free speech. Fatihah denies he acted belligerently.
"The only thing the law prohibits is if somebody denies services strictly on the basis of religion, and that didn't happen here," Muise said.
Muise previously represented a Florida gun shop owner in a similar case.
Claims of discrimination by business owners against Muslims have been reported in numerous states, and formal complaints have been filed with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding incidents in Arkansas, Florida and New Hampshire, said CAIR's national director, Ibrahim Hooper.
"It's one of those issues that's tied to the overall rise of anti-Muslim bigotry in our society," Hooper said.
A similar lawsuit was filed by CAIR last year against a gun shop in Florida, but that case was dismissed by a federal judge who determined CAIR could not prove its members were harmed by the store's Muslim-free policy, Henderson said.