Huma Abedin Cartoon

Carson suspends presidential campaign

Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson dropped out the 2016 presidential race Friday, days after declaring there was “no political path forward” for his campaign.
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Carson said “I am leaving the campaign trail,” but promised he would remain heavily involved “in saving our nation.”
The announcement was widely expected. On Wednesday Carson sent a message to supporters saying, “I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results” and he did not attend Thursday’s Fox News debate in Detroit.
In Friday's wide-ranging speech, Carson warned against a growing debt, overreaching government social programs and a general breakdown of morals in the country.
“Our pillars of strength are faith and family,” Carson said. “As those things are being eroded, you see what is happening to our nation.”
Carson also announced Friday that he is taking up the role of chairman of “My Faith Votes,” a nonpartisan organization to “inspire and motivate” Christians to vote.
The consummate outsider, Carson enjoyed a surge in the polls last year, at one point becoming competitive with Donald Trump. But his numbers later plunged, and he has not won a single contest; he was solidly in last place in the delegate count following Super Tuesday.
Known for his affable, soft-spoken, and sometimes awkward speaking style, he was an unpredictable presence on the debate stage and at rallies.
Carson entered the political spotlight in 2013 when at the National Prayer Breakfast he tore into the Affordable Care Act just feet away from President Obama, gaining fame among conservatives in the process.
He announced his decision to run for the White House in May from his hometown of Detroit.

Cruz blasts Trump as phony conservative in front of CPAC crowd

Republican presidential candidate Sen.Ted Cruz blasted Donald Trump Friday as a phony conservative who must be stopped before he wins the presidential nomination.
In a speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., Cruz said, “It’s easy to talk about making America great again -- you can even put that on a baseball cap.
“But do you understand the principles that make America great in the first place?”
Cruz said Trump was in no position to answer that question.
Fresh from a bitter Super Tuesday battle and rancorous debate Thursday night, Cruz appeared relaxed in jeans. He took full advantage of Trump’s announcement earlier in the day that he would be skipping the event, which is typically considered a required stop for Republican candidates seeking to woo the conservative base.
Dr. Ben Carson, who spoke after Cruz on Friday, announced he was formally leaving the race. Sen. Marco Rubio was expected  to appear on Saturday, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich spoke earlier on Friday.
Citing rallies in Kansas and Florida, where there are upcoming primary battles, Trump demurred, leaving a hole in the CPAC schedule.
“I think someone told him (Fox News host) Megyn Kelly was going to be here,” Cruz said, joking. “But worse, he was told conservatives were going to be here. Even worse, he was told there would be libertarians here. Even worse, young people were going to be here.”
“I hope none of you have a degree from Trump University,” he said, referring to the lawsuits against Trump’s now defunct online school.
Cruz was only interrupted once by audience members chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” The audience applause was otherwise enthusiastic as Cruz revived a key charge against Trump from Thursday night - that he has been funding and cozying up to Democrats for years.
Referring to the loss of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, Cruz warned that the court is now “one justice away” from the loss of religious liberty and the second amendment right to bear arms.
“Let me be very clear to every man and woman here at CPAC, I will not compromise away your religious liberty. I will not compromise away your second amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Cruz said.
He also poked at Trump, whom he said suggested in a previous debate that the U.S. should be neutral in order to negotiate in the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. “As president I have no intention of being neutral. America will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel.”
Joking on stage with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Cruz also suggested Hillary Clinton should get used to “orange pant suits” in case she's indicted in the ongoing email controversy and that for the first time, a general election debate may be “convened in Leavenworth.”

Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC Donald Trump Cancels Speech at Conservative Conference

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; /ˈsiːpæk/ SEE-pak) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States.

Organizers of a high-profile conservative conference in Washington DC say that Donald Trump has abruptly cancelled his planned appearance tomorrow.
Trump was scheduled to address activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) early Saturday morning.

In a statement, Trump's campaign said he would be campaigning in Kansas Saturday in advance of that state's caucuses.
"The Donald J. Trump for President Campaign has just announced it will be in Witchita, Kanasas for a major rally on Saturday prior to Caucus," the statement read, misspelling the name of both the city and the state where he will appear. "He will also be speaking at the Kansas Caucus and then departing for Orlando, Florida and a crowd of approximately 20,000 people or more. Because of this, he will not be able to speak at CPAC as he has done for many consecutive years."

Donald Trump put in the hot seat as GOP debate gets dirty 3:47

The conference has long been a destination for Republican presidential candidates as well as other conservative lawmakers and media stars. Presidential hopefuls John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are all slated to participate, and Ben Carson is expected to use his address Friday to speak about his "political future."
The crowd at CPAC may not have been a uniformly friendly one for Trump. The conference this year has already featured appearances by some of the GOP figures with whom Trump has warred, including RNC chairman Reince Priebus and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse.
The abrupt cancellation is not the first time Trump has dropped out of a conservative cattle call at the last minute.
He also cancelled a Heritage Action event in South Carolina earlier this cycle, citing a last minute business deal that needed his attention. He was also uninvited from Erick Erickson's Red State Gathering in August.

Harvard Law School might remove official seal over links to slavery More Political Correct Crap.

A committee recommended Harvard Law School remove its official seal Friday, following months of scrutiny surrounding the symbol that has ties to an 18th-century slave owner.
The committee’s 10-2 recommendation was backed by Dean Martha Minow, but it wasn’t immediately clear when Harvard Corp., one of the university’s governing boards, will make its final decision.
“We believe that if the Law School is to have an official symbol, it must more closely represent the values of the Law School, which the current shield does not," the committee made up of professors, alumni, students and staff wrote in its recommendation.
The shield's meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard Law professor.
"Too many people think the shield has become an impediment," he said. "Too many people see the association with slavery."
The shield, officially adopted in 1937, depicts three bundles of wheat, an image borrowed from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr., under the university's motto "Veritas."
Royall donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard University. His father, Isaac Royall Sr., made much of the family wealth on the backs of slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations and Massachusetts farms.
Minow created the committee after some law school students formed a group called Royall Must Fall to denounce the shield.
"I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard Law School and because it has become a source of division rather than commonality in our community," she wrote to students and alumni.
However, not everyone is agreeing with the decision. One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the current shield was a way to honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth.
They said the current shield should be tied "to a historically sound interpretative narrative about it" and suggested adding the word "Iustitia" — justice in Latin — below the word "Veritas."
According to The Guardian, the decision to remove the shields comes after Harvard University announced it would chance the title “house master,” used to describe the Ivy League’s residential administrators,” and use the term “faculty dean” instead.

GOP, Dem candidates gear up for weekend of primaries, caucuses

Can be Bought :-)

Challengers to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are gearing up for another full weekend of primaries and caucuses across the country.
Saturday caucuses will be held in Kansas, Kentucky, Maine and Nebraska along with a primary in Louisiana. On Sunday, Maine holds a caucus for Democrats, while Republicans duke it out in a primary in Puerto Rico.
On Friday, Trump pulled out of the annual D.C. conservative confab CPAC. Trump had been scheduled to speak at the four-day gathering but said he would be campaigning instead in Kansas and Florida. Florida holds its primaries on March 15.
"Because of this, he will not be able to speak at CPAC as he has done for many consecutive years," the campaign said. "Mr. Trump would like to thank Matt Schlapp and all of the executives at CPAC and looks forward to returning to next year, hopefully as president of the United States."
Schlapp seemed to challenge Trump’s excuse on Friday, telling Fox News that Trump was “uncomfortable” with the format at CPAC.
The CPAC controversy follows a raucous Fox News Republican debate Thursday night in Detroit, where Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich teamed up against Trump in a concerted effort to cast him as a political salesman willing to say anything and take any position to win the nomination.
They hammered him on alleged inconsistences on his policy details and business dealings, including the now-defunct Trump University, which is being sued for scamming students out of thousands of dollars.
Over on the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders is shaping up to be the weekend’s big winner.
Sanders is favored to win the Kansas and Nebraska caucuses.
Clinton’s campaign manager braced supporters for the potential setback in a Wednesday memo that predicted the former secretary of state may lose the caucus states this weekend.
“Sen. Sanders has clear advantages and is investing heavily in two upcoming caucuses (Kansas and Nebraska),” Robby Mook wrote in a memo.
Kansas will hold caucuses for both parties Saturday.  Also on Saturday, Kentucky and Maine will hold their Republican caucuses while Nebraska holds its Democratic caucus. Louisiana holds primaries for both parties.
On Sunday, Maine holds its Democratic caucus, while Puerto Rico has its Republican caucus.

Abedin Clinton Cartoon

FBI investigating if Clinton aides shared passwords to access classified info

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI is investigating whether computer passwords were shared among Hillary Clinton's close aides to determine how sensitive intelligence "jumped the gap" between the classified systems and Clinton's unsecured personal server, according to an intelligence source familiar with the probe.
The source emphasized to Fox News that “if [Clinton] was allowing other people to use her passwords, that is a big problem.” The Foreign Service Officers Manual prohibits the sharing of passwords.
Such passwords are required to access each State Department network. This includes the network for highly classified intelligence -- known as SCI or Sensitive Compartmented Information -- and the unclassified system, known as SBU or Sensitive But Unclassified, according to former State Department employees.
Fox News was told there are several potential scenarios for how classified information got onto Clinton’s server:

• Reading intelligence reports or briefings, and then summarizing the findings in emails sent on Clinton's unsecured personal server.
• Accessing the classified intelligence computer network, and then lifting sections by typing them verbatim into a device such as an iPad or BlackBerry.
• Taking pictures of a computer screen to capture the intelligence.  
• Using a thumb drive or disk to physically move the intelligence, but this would require access to a data center. It’s unclear whether Clinton’s former IT specialist Bryan Pagliano, who as first reported by The Washington Post has reached an immunity deal with the Justice Department, or others had sufficient administrator privileges to physically transfer data. 

Most of these scenarios would require a password. And all of these practices would be strictly prohibited under non-disclosure agreements signed by Clinton and others, and federal law.
It remains unclear who had access to which computers and devices used by Clinton while she was secretary of state and where exactly they were located at the time of the email correspondence. Clinton signed her NDA agreement on Jan. 22, 2009 shortly before she was sworn in as secretary of state.
The intelligence source said the ongoing FBI investigation is progressing in "fits and starts" but bureau agents have refined a list of individuals who will be questioned about their direct handling of the emails, with a focus on how classified information jumped the gap between classified systems and briefings to Clinton's unsecured personal email account used for government business.
Fox News was told the agents involved are “not political appointees but top notch agents with decades of experience.”
A separate source said the list of individuals is relatively small -- about a dozen, among them Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, who was described as "pivotal" because he forwarded so many emails to Clinton. His exchanges, now deemed to contain highly classified information, included one email which referred to human spying, or "HCS-O," and included former Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
As Fox News first reported last year, two emails -- one sent by Abedin that included classified information about the 2011 movement of Libyan troops during the revolution, and a second sent by Sullivan that contained law enforcement information about the FBI investigation in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack – kick-started the FBI probe.
Testifying to Congress Tuesday about encryption, FBI Director James Comey also was asked about the Clinton investigation. He responded that he is “very close personally” to the case “to ensure that we have the resources we need including people and technology and that it's done the way the FBI tries to do all of its work: independently, competently and promptly. That's our goal and I'm confident it's being done that way."
Earlier this week when she was asked if Clinton has been interviewed by the FBI, Attorney General Loretta Lynch insisted to Fox News’ Bret Baier “that no one outside of DOJ has been briefed on this or any other case. That’s not our policy and it has not happened in this matter.”
Fox News also has learned the State Department cannot touch the security clearance of top aides connected to the case without contacting the FBI, because agents plan to directly question individuals about their handling of the emails containing classified information, and they will need active clearances to be questioned.
While it is standard practice to suspend a security clearance pending the outcome of an investigation, Fox News reported Monday that  Clinton’s chief of staff at State, Cheryl Mills, who is also an attorney, maintains her top secret clearance. Mills was involved in the decisions as to which emails to keep and which to delete from the server.
At a press briefing Monday, Fox News pressed the State Department on whether this represented a double standard, or whether the clearances are in place at the direction of the FBI.
“This issue is under several reviews and investigations. I won't speak for other agencies that may be involved in reviews and investigations,” spokesman John Kirby said. “Clearly we are going to cooperate to the degree that we need to."
Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

November preview? Turnout surging in Republican primaries – and sinking for Democrats

No matter the internal strife over Donald Trump’s presidential bid, the intensely competitive Republican primary contest is bringing a booming number of voters to the polls – while Democratic turnout plunges, raising questions about whether these trends will last through November. 
For the Republicans, turnout has been higher than in 2008 across every state to vote so far this year. In Virginia and Texas, turnout was 100 percent higher.
Meanwhile, Democratic turnout was down in every state that has held a primary and caucus except Colorado. In some states -- including Nevada, Tennessee and Texas -- it dropped more than 30 percent. Overall, voter turnout from the Super Tuesday states was 66 percent higher for the Republicans, and 31 percent lower for the Democrats.
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What gives?
For one, analysts say there’s a sense of excitement on the Republican side that just isn’t there in the comparatively lackluster battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
“Boring old Hillary versus Bernie just didn’t seem to captivate people’s imagination here,” said Tom Whalen, professor of politics at Boston University in Massachusetts.
The 2016 Democratic race also isn’t coming close to fueling the kind of enthusiasm seen in 2008, when Clinton’s epic battle against Barack Obama drove record primary turnout. This time, the Republican contest is the showstopper – and the Trump factor cannot be understated.
In Whalen’s state, 20,000 Democrats left the party and either went independent or switched to the Republican Party to vote in Tuesday’s primary.
Trump won Massachusetts overwhelmingly – and Whalen said the excitement levels on the Democratic side just can’t compare. The question for the Democratic Party is whether the sagging turnout is a temporary phase – and, if Clinton wins the nomination, whether she has what it takes to energize Dems for the big fight this fall.
“On the Democratic side, all of [Clinton’s] experience and credentials are working  against her in this environment, and she is just not inspiring the kind of intense support that that Barack Obama did [in 2008] -- or like Trump is doing,” former Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein said.
Bill Scher, a senior writer for the liberal Campaign for America’s Future, suggests the reason Democratic numbers appear low is because in 2008 Obama was the phenom, and he was locked in a tight race with Clinton that went on all the way to June.
“There isn’t the sense of drama” among the Dems, certainly not the kind that is playing on the GOP side, he said.
For all the debate about whether Sanders would lead a successful party insurgency against Hillary, “the Nevada caucus took a lot of wind out of the Sanders’ juggernaut,” said Scher.
Scher acknowledged that in his home state of Massachusetts, thousands of people chose to vote in the Republican Party and many stayed home, cooling their heels until the general election.
However, “I would be very cautious in assuming what happens in a primary automatically tells you what is going to happen in the general,” he said, pointing to polls that have Clinton beating Trump, albeit by a slim margin, in a head-to-head match-up.
That’s where the Trump energy is going to matter the most, say experts. He is bringing new voters to the Republican contests and across the demographics, particularly among blue-collar, lower-income voters who have expressed an anger with the government and seeking a political outsider for the White House.
“He’s the reason why there’s a boost at the polls,” said Whalen.
“That makes him a pretty formidable figure. He’s going to be a big threat [in the general].”
But as GOPAC Chairman Dave Avella points out, four in 10 voters in Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia said they would be dissatisfied if Trump were the GOP nominee, which suggests there was something else driving people to the polls last Tuesday.
“The record turnout in the Republican primary speaks to the intensity the Republicans have to get past Obama’s tenure as well as the number of voters rallying to the candidates’ messages,” he told FoxNews.com.
“A lot of that would certainly be Mr. Trump’s message bringing people into the Republican primary voting process, but so are the messages of Senators Cruz and Rubio, and Governor Kasich. Maybe not to the same level, but they are.”
There are other, less glamorous reasons for the spike in turnout: typically primary and caucus turnout is higher for the party that is out of the White House. In 2008, Democrats not only had Barack Obama, but it was the year they were vying to take back the presidency for the first time since 2000.
Further, the 103 percent increase in GOP turnout in Texas and 50 percent increase in Vermont may be skewed -- neither state participated in Super Tuesday in 2008 and in fact their contests were scheduled much later, when it was clear John McCain would be the nominee.
Come the general election, Whalen expects “record turnout.”
Whether that will be on either side or from both parties will remain to be seen, said Gerstein. “It will depend on how many people who are cynical and turned off by Washington, versus people who will come out against Trump,” he said. “Is the anti-establishment vote going to be stronger than the anti-Trump vote? This is going to be the real test of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Can they turn that antipathy, even disgust into votes for her?”

Trump deflects Fox questions, rivals fail to capitalize in Detroit

Donald Trump began the Republican debate here in Detroit by deflecting two hardball questions and one attack.
Trump the insult machine was absent. In his place was a more seasoned politician taking a somewhat higher road.
Trump briefly responded to a litany of Mitt Romney attacks, quoted by Chris Wallace—bullying, greed, misogyny—by quickly calling him a failed candidate and pivoting to trade. He again disavowed David Duke and the KKK without challenging the question.
And when Marco Rubio reprised his “small hands” jibe at Trump, The Donald retracted his “lightweight” label for the senator, defended his hands and became the first presidential candidate in history to refer to the size of his package. (Though moments later, when Marco Rubio hit him for inherited money and making clothing abroad, Trump said that “this little guy has lied so much about my record” and then kept calling him “Little Marco.”)
Trump’s goal coming into the Fox News debate, as the overwhelming front-runner, had to be to emerge with only minor scratches that would not undermine that status. And since he skipped the last Fox debate in Iowa, many media outlets, from Drudge to the New York Times, billed it as a rematch between Trump and Megyn Kelly. (She said hi, he said nice to see you, and they moved on to a question about that off-the-record New York Times discussion of immigration.)
Ted Cruz hit Trump as not being a real conservative and tried to tie him to government “corruption” because of his past support of Democrats. John Kasich said “you all wrote me off.” And the overall tone was less bitingly personal—and the combat less raucous—than in the out-of-control CNN debate. Perhaps each candidate realized he had gone too far. Plus, the Fox moderators controlled the agenda and the pacing through carefully pointed questions, such as when Wallace pressed Trump on his budget math using graphics. He has learned to pivot from uncomfortable questions back to his packaged points.
Trump’s game plan was to stay on the high road but Rubio got under his skin early and he was back to “Little Marco.” He didn’t have great answers on the budget math but largely emerged unscathed, especially on the Romney and KKK questions.
Cruz’s effort to tie Trump to government “corruption” by citing his past support of Democrats fell flat and broke no new ground. He was solid and confident as usual, but not as strong a presence here as in most of the previous debates. He made no mistakes but kept getting bogged down in poll questions, which enabled Trump to cite his superior numbers.
Rubio was again the most aggressive on the stage, but his slams against Trump seemed recycled. He jumped in when Kelly asked about Trump’s off-the-record discussion of immigration with the New York Times, with the senator asking the billionaire to authorize release of the tape. Trump said a little “give and take” on issues was fine, and said his respect for the pledge of “off the record” prevented him from making the editorial board session public.
Rubio never really scored a direct punch or created a moment as he did in the last debate.
Kasich tried to avoid the squabbles, drawing cheers when he spoke of making government work, but as a result he often seemed like an afterthought.
The high point of the debate was Trump’s handling of a video montage presented by Kelly. The clips showed the front-runner changing his position on Afghanistan, Syrian refugees and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Trump calmly conceded that he had changed his positions, based, he said, on new information.
Kelly quickly got to the nub of the matter: Does Trump have a core?
Trump, unruffled, said that he does but that a politician has to show a certain degree of flexibility.
There was a lengthy back and forth about allegations involving Trump University, which kept him on the defensive but the details about affidavits and refunds were hard for the audience to follow.
Overall, it was a spirited and substantive debate. But I expected more blood on the floor.
Bottom line: Nothing that happened here in the Fox Theater altered the situation in which the Republican establishment is still desperately trying to derail the Trump express.
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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.