Debate night: The media want a Trump fight, with blood and bruises

The press is full of chatter about what the other candidates could, should, must do to derail the Trump juggernaut at tonight’s CNN debate.
Naturally, the big audience for the second presidential debate offers the other Republicans a prime opportunity to make a lasting impression in this Donald-dominated campaign. So I expect there will be no shortage of canned zingers.
But every candidate on that stage has to be wary of getting into an insult contest with a gut fighter who doesn’t play by the usual rules of political politeness.
It’s all well and good for candidates to talk about creating a “moment,” but that can’t seem artificial or staged, or the attacker will look phony and a tad desperate. Trump’s rivals have to deliver a positive message about themselves while drawing a sharp contrast with the real estate mogul, not just denounce him, as Bobby Jindal did, as a narcissist and egomaniac.
And consider this: If half of the other 10 candidates try to whack Trump, won’t that make him look larger? Won’t that reinforce the narrative that Trump has so shaken the Republican establishment that his opponents are feverishly trying to bring him down?
Trump’s task is far easier: He can uncork his usual lines about the “very, very stupid people” running the government, and jab back at those who challenge him (bad polls, low energy and so on). And—remember the Fox debate—if he gets a detailed question that he doesn’t like, he can take a swipe at the media and the “gotcha” game.
In terms of the media’s focus, it’s going to be Trump vs. Whoever—as long as Whoever is named Carly, Ben or Jeb. The truth is that journalists have lost interest in most of the other candidates, who are mired in single digits (as is Jeb, but he’s still got the money, the Bush name, and the fading aura of the person the pundits thought would be The Man to Beat). That could change, but right now they're eclipsed by Trump.
Carson told me in the interview we aired Sunday on "Media Buzz" that he would not be throwing punches in this campaign, and that he regretted questioning Trump’s faith and felt he needed to apologize. So even though yesterday’s CBS/New York Times poll has him at 23 percent, close behind Trump’s 27 percent, I don’t expect Carson to take him on. The question for the “okay doctor” (in Trump’s words) is how he handles it if The Donald starts denigrating him.
The media are really hoping for a dustup involving Fiorina, whose Super PAC made a clever ad aimed at women, boasting she has earned every wrinkle on her 61-year-old face, after Trump told a Rolling Stone reporter, “Look at that face.” Trump has taken to hitting her as a failed CEO dumped by Hewlett-Packard, but keep in mind that she took him on in the Fox happy-hour debate, even though he wasn’t there.
“Never before in American presidential politics has a candidate who has drawn accusations of sexism and bullying been forced to personally confront the female recipient of his insults on live television,” the New York Times declares. “And with Mrs. Fiorina bragging that she is getting under Mr. Trump’s skin, their showdown is emerging as one of the most intriguing subplots of the second debate.”
And here’s the Wall Street Journal: “After punching her way onto the big stage, Carly Fiorina
is poised to take on her party’s heavyweights in Wednesday’s Republican presidential primary debate, where she will come face-to-face with the candidate who found fault with her face.”
Still, Carly was very restrained in responding to Facegate, telling Megyn Kelly only that she must be getting under Trump’s skin. So don’t expect any pro wrestling.
What’s getting a lot of traction online is Mark Halperin’s Bloomberg analysis of why Trump has a commanding position:
“With Trump, the rules have changed. So far, he has proven to be largely immune from attack, and also a master killer himself, with a unique political arsenal. With a few months to go before voters vote, Trump has squashed the poll numbers and personas of a host of his rivals, without resorting to significant traditional opposition research, paid media, or surrogates. He simply uses Instagram, Twitter, and his virtually unlimited access to the news media to unsheathe his sharp tongue, cutthroat sensibility, and unerring perverse humor. And Trump can shift to kill mode without strain or hesitation.
“From the get-go of his entrance in June, Trump has engaged intuitively in kill-or-be-killed tactics.”
Deadly rhetoric aside, one of the reasons I warned from the beginning that Trump shouldn’t be underestimated is that I saw how his buzzsaw style was sharpened in New York’s tabloid culture. But you can’t just be a Don Rickles figure. Some voters are also drawn to his successful career in real estate and reality TV, and the wealth that enables Trump to thumb his nose at the donor class.
One thing to watch: If Trump uses the debate to raise his recent arguments about overpaid CEOs and taxing hedge-fund millionaires, you’ll know he’s decided to shrug off the not-really-a-conservative attacks and stay on his populist path.

China reportedly compiling 'Facebook' of U.S. government employees

A private industry IT security firm tells Fox News that personal data stolen over the span of several high-profile U.S. cyber breaches is being indexed by China's intelligence service into a massive Facebook-like network.
According to CrowdStrike founder Dmitri Alperovitch, Chinese hackers are using information gained from the breaches of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as well as intrusions into the Anthem and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield health insurance networks, to build a complete profile of federal employees in what the company calls a "Facebook of Everything."
"That can now be used to embarrass you publicly and force you to work for the Chinese government," Alperovitch told Fox News. "It's, in effect, a private version of Facebook with much more detail about your life than even Facebook has that the Chinese now have access to." Current and former intelligence officials echoed the assessment.
As Fox News has reported, the most sensitive information stolen in the OPM breach was lifted from what is known as the Standard Form 86, or SF-86. The 127-page security clearance application is essentially a road map to your life. It contains highly detailed information on everything from where an applicant lived and worked, to personal references, family members, friends and associates, as well as drug history and intimate health information.
What's startling is the fact that virtually all government employees and contractors who hold the top echelon of U.S. security clearances were impacted by the OPM breach, even the Director of the FBI. James Comey joked at an intelligence and national security summit last week that had his SF-86 been stored in a strongly encrypted database "maybe someone wouldn't be reading it today."
According to a law enforcement source close to the OPM investigation, the scope of the data stolen in the breach makes this a "generational problem." Fox News is told that the big worry among those in the Intelligence Community is the possibility that applicants’ associates, friends and family will be impacted. Of particular concern, according to this source, is the likelihood that information on applicants’ children could be leveraged against them down the road.

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• Data firm claims China storing stolen data from the US

Specifically, cybersecurity experts warn that this stolen information may be used for blackmailing and targeting of applicants’ children.
“To try to get them to reveal some information about their parent’s work and use that, eventually, for espionage activities,” Alperovitch explained to Fox News. “Information that has been collected about them may be used decades later.”
There is much concern among victims over the government’s response to the cyberattack, which left sensitive information on some 21.5 million individuals compromised. An intelligence source close to the OPM investigation tells Fox News that this is not an issue that can be fixed with merely a few years of credit monitoring – referring to the government’s current program that offers victims and their dependents credit and identity theft monitoring services free of charge.
While refusing to delve too far into specifics, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook on Tuesday acknowledged the severity of the lingering vulnerabilities associated with the breach and offered assurances that the government is working vigorously to mend the damage.
“This is going to be a wide-ranging effort on the part of the federal government to try and address this," Cook told reporters at a press briefing.

Probe of Illinois officer's death marked by tension between cops, coroner

The investigation into the death of an Illinois police officer earlier this month has been beset by clashes between the task force looking into the case and the local coroner, reports say.
Late Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that investigators met with the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz last week without Lake County coroner Dr. Thomas Rudd's knowledge. The pathologist, identified as Manny Montez, confirmed to the paper that the meeting took place.
"They called me and told me to be present, so I showed up,” Montez said. “We went over my findings. They had copies of my sketches because I haven’t finalized my [autopsy] report yet."
Fox News first reported last week that two sources close to the case say evidence suggests that Gliniewicz, 52, a 30-year veteran of the Fox Lake, Ill. police force, could have shot himself, despite the original characterization of his death as an execution-style murder by police. Authorities say that while they continue to actively investigate the case as a homicide, they say they aren't ruling out suicide.
Rudd told the Sun-Times that he was "totally confused" when told that the meeting had happened without him. Montez's role is to report his autopsy findings to Rudd, who will make the final determination about the cause of Glieniewicz's death.
Rudd told Fox News last that Gliniewicz died from a “single, devastating” shot to the torso. He said he hasn’t made a ruling in the death and that suicide is a possibility. Earlier Tuesday, Lake County Sheriff's spokesman Christopher Covelli criticized Rudd to reporters, saying that the coroner had released details that could damage the investigation and claimed that Rudd had not told investigators that he would make such statements to the media.
Meanwhile, Fox 32 Chicago reported that authorities are also still waiting for the result of ballistics and DNA tests that could determine both whether Glinieweicz, 52, was shot with his own service weapon and if unknown DNA found at the scene matches anyone in a criminal database.The station also reported that computers belonging to Gliniewicz are being forensically analyzed at a laboratory and his social media presence is also being scrutinized. However, investigators are still waiting for certain websites to comply with requests by law enforcement.
The drama began on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 1 when Gliniewicz radioed in from a remote, marshy area that he was beginning a foot pursuit with three suspects, two white males and one black male. Shortly after that, his radio communication cut off—leaving police with minimal description of the men.
Minutes later, backup officers arrived and discovered Gliniewicz had been shot and killed. An enormous manhunt followed. Police quickly alerted the public to be on the lookout for the three suspects.
Sources tell Fox News two shell casings were found about 100 feet apart from each other near Gliniewicz’s body, which was discovered face down. His hand was in a gun position, the firearm “dropped at his body.”
One bullet hit Gliniewicz in his bulletproof vest. The second and fatal shot struck him underneath his vest, fired in a downward trajectory, near the heart. There was no sign of a struggle or defensive wounds—especially one to save his own life.
Two weeks after the officer’s death there are more questions than answers as police remain tight-lipped. There have been no arrests. There are no witnesses, suspects or concrete leads in the death of the father of four, who was regarded as a pillar of the community and known as “G.I. Joe.”
The FBI, ATF and Homeland Security participated in the investigation along with the Fox Lake Police Department, under the direction of Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko.
The story gained national attention as teams of media crews flooded the quiet town.
In the following days, Filenko hosted a series of news conferences in which he told reporters and the anxious community that nearby traffic cameras and home surveillance systems captured video depicting what appeared to be the three suspects—but it would take time to verify what was on the tapes.
As the unsolved death investigation carried on into the Labor Day weekend, neighbors and tourists in the picturesque “Chain O' Lakes” area took to the streets and blue waters with caution. Three “cop killers” were on the run, but people weren’t quite sure who or what they should be looking for.
The tree-lined streets of the quaint community were lined with blue ribbons and signs in Gliniewicz’s honor. A long line formed at a print shop that was giving out free posters depicting Gliniewicz. A local Motorola company offered a $50,000 reward for a tip and information leading to an arrest.
The following Monday, Gliniewicz was given a ceremonial funeral attended by over 5,000 police officers from around the country. Thousands of mourners stood along the streets and in their yards as the procession of over 1,600 police cars took hours to drive the 18-mile route to the cemetery. Gliniewicz was hailed as a hero, the latest officer to be killed in the line of duty.
The next day, one week after Gliniewicz died, Filenko hosted his final news conference to date in which he told the public the three suspects who were caught on tape, as described in Gliniewicz’s radio call, were cleared. Receipts and affidavits showed they were not the cop killers.
Filenko said investigators still consider the officer’s death a homicide and were analyzing crucial DNA found at the crime scene—which they said does not belong to Gliniewicz. But he would not specify what it was.
As the mystery deepens and theories abound, police insist the investigation will be a “marathon not a sprint.”

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Trump riles up conservative crowd over illegal immigration, sanctuary cities

Kicking off a busy week of campaigning, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump Monday got a sizeable crowd at Dallas’ American Airlines Center riled up over hot-button issues that he says anger conservative voters.
Trump received the most applause for his position on illegal immigration, which many voters in the crowd say the federal government is handling poorly. “It’s a massive problem we have to stop illegal immigration,” he explained. “It’s disgusting what is happening to our country, we are a dumping ground for the rest of the world.”
The crowd erupted when Trump went on the attack over sanctuary cities, in particular, the murder of Kate Steinle allegedly by an illegal immigrant, Francisco Sanchez. “Kate in San Francisco - this magnificent young woman shot in the back by a guy that was sent over here, probably pushed over, who knows but it was an illegal immigrant came over went to San Francisco - we have to end this sanctuary cities.”
Trump told the crowd that a wall would go a long way to contain illegal immigration. “We have to build a wall folks, and a wall works … we are going to have a great border, they are all over the place, we want people to be in our country legally.”
One voter in the crowd, who went by “John” explained to FoxNews.com that his family’s concerns over U.S. immigration policy is a main reason he’s rallying behind Trump.
Trump also went on the attack over American companies like Ford Motor Company opening up operations in Mexico. The U.S. car manufacturer announced earlier this year they would spend $2.5 billion on new engine and transmission plants in Mexico.
“A Ford plant is being built in Mexico for cars and trucks and everything and it’s actually not a bad idea, and they will save a fortune,” he explained.
If elected, Trump explained, he would impose a high tax on those imported cars. Thus, he says, “I would get a call from the head of Ford and I guarantee you after I tell them all no, they will call up and decide to move their plant back to the United States.”

Seattle sued over recycling inspectors keeping tabs on residents' trash

When it comes to garbage, the city of Seattle has launched a waste war. 
Nine full-time solid waste inspectors have been hired as part of a controversial program to check city trash to make sure people are recycling. Additionally, contracted waste haulers have been effectively deputized as trash police, given the authority to tag bins when people fail to recycle and compost enough.
The program is now the subject of a lawsuit, as residents fume over what some call an intrusive government program.
“I understand people have noble goals,” said Keli Carender, who got tagged two weeks in a row, an offense that soon could bring a fine. “But at some point we have to say, you can’t violate my rights to achieve this noble goal.”
Carender is among 14,000 residential and commercial customers this year to get tagged. The sticker warns them that more than 10 percent of their trash content should have been recycled or put into compost bins.
She and several other so-called landfill scofflaws have sued the city, claiming it’s an invasion of their privacy. While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled garbage, once left at the curb, is not protected private property under the 4^th Amendment of the Constitution, residents have additional privacy protections in the Evergreen State.
“The Supreme Court of Washington state went the other direction,” said Ethan Blevins, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation who filed the lawsuit. “[It] said our state Constitution provides better protection, and we believe that people expect that our garbage is going to be protected from prying eyes.”
Blevins cites a ruling in which a criminal conviction was overturned on the grounds that the police found a key piece of evidence in the suspect’s trash without first obtaining a search warrant.
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes issued a defense of the policy in a written response to the lawsuit. He said he believes the policy upholds the state Constitution and civil liberties because, “there is no intention of opening trash bags. Containers are only tagged if the contamination is clearly visible.”
The mandatory composting ordinance calls for fines ranging from $1 to $50 starting Jan. 1. There isn’t an appeals process, because the evidence is hauled away to the landfill.

Obama’s revamped college evaluation site ripped as ‘misleading,’ unnecessary

President Obama has launched a scaled-back college evaluation website that does not include what some in the higher-ed world had feared -- a government rating system of America’s roughly 7,000 colleges and universities.
But the site still has Washington asking questions about why the Department of Education is doing it in the first place.
Among the concerns is why spend taxpayer dollars when such for-profit operations as Barron's, The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report have for years been providing similar information and rankings.
“It’s definitely a government overreach, though less than they had talked about,” Neal McCluskey, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, told FoxNews.com on Monday. “The federal government shouldn’t be involved in assessing whether a college is good or bad.”
He also said underlying problems included little context about such factors as student bodies and suggested the federal government felt compelled to make the assessments given the roughly $150 billion it gives out annually in grants and loans.
Obama said in announcing a draft plan in 2013 that the administration would design a ratings system to judge colleges and universities on affordability and return on investment.
However, the ranking idea immediately encountered a backlash from congressional Republicans, who called it government overreach, and from many in higher education who feared it would be arbitrary and unfair.
Terry Hartle, the American Council on Education's senior vice president for government and public affairs, suggested the project is well intended, considering Americans want more information about the economic returns of going to a particular school.
However, he argued the scorecard has several “weaknesses,” including that it measures only students receiving financial aid, fails to break out the data according to school departments or majors and counts dropouts as wells as graduates.
“I think it’s incomplete and misleading,” Hartle said. “I hope people who look at it don’t read too much into it.”
The Department of Education did not return a request Monday for information about the cost of the project or keeping it updated.
After scrapping the rating idea, the administration announced earlier this summer that the scorecard would instead offer more data to help students and their families make better choices -- and draw their own conclusions.
The scorecard indeed provides innovative information like how much debt students leave with and what percentage can repay their loans.
And it offers the first comprehensive look at after-college earnings for students who attended all types of undergraduate institutions, based on tax records.
"Everyone should be able to find clear, reliable, open data on college affordability and value," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "

Cold War weaponry and modern military hardware: Inside the ISIS arsenal

In January the U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. and coalition airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria destroyed some 184 Humvees, 58 tanks and nearly 700 other vehicles. The number of ISIS military vehicles destroyed may seem significant, but is really just a drop in the bucket compared to the militants' overall firepower.
While specific numbers are difficult to come by, reports suggest that ISIS has a huge fleet of vehicles – including tanks - its possession. Last year, for example, the jihadists captured 2,300 Humvees from Iraqi forces when they captured the city of Mosul, some of which were then converted to armored vehicles.
Unlike traditional nation states ISIS doesn't produce tanks or other weapons in factories, and unlike past insurgent forces that were supported by a nation state ISIS isn't being armed or equipped by a major power either. Yet the group's fleet of vehicles continues to grow. In May ISIS captured U.S.-built equipment, including M1A1 tanks after the group took control of the town of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. The militants’ haul reportedly included about 100 wheeled vehicles and dozens of tracked vehicles.
Related: Historic tanks in pictures
There should be concern that ISIS has become so well armed, experts warn. In addition to modern military hardware, militants have also captured Cold War-era weaponry from Syrian forces. The nation was supported throughout the Cold War by the Soviet Union and built up vast quantities of Warsaw Pact armaments. Today those weapons – everything from AK-47 assault rifles to T-72 main battle tanks – are being utilized by all sides in the ongoing Syrian Civil War.
"Syrian rebel groups probably make the most extensive use of heavy equipment at the moment, thanks largely to battlefield successes," Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa Editor for IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, told FoxNews.com. "But that is also a product of the Syrian military's vast inventory of Soviet-era weapons and equipment, (as well as) its inability to destroy this materiel after it has been captured."
Many of these Syrian rebels likely served in the military at some point and this may provide them with the knowledge to operate and, more importantly, maintain the equipment.

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File photo - Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)

There is a growing concern that these weapons have allowed groups to operate more like an actual army than merely as insurgents. This has enabled them to take and actually hold ground. ISIS has not only tanks but towed field guns and artillery pieces, which allow the group to conduct shelling against Iraqi military targets from a great distance; as well as fixed anti-aircraft guns and even shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weapons. Each of these presents serious problems. While the fixed anti-aircraft guns threaten coalition aircraft, shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weapons could take down a commercial airliner.
"Rocket-fired grenades and shoulder-launched missiles have long been available in black markets in the Middle East and Africa, but this higher-end stuff is coming from other sources," Seth Jones, director of international security and defense policy center at the RAND Corp. told FoxNews.com. "This really shows that conventional weapons are a reason for concern. In many ways we're largely past the stage of nuclear proliferation unless it was provided by a state, and that isn't likely to happen. However, these anti-aircraft weapon systems of all sizes are still a reason for concern."
Armored vehicles are increasingly a problem as well, and one factor is that tanks – especially Soviet era ones – aren't that difficult to maintain and are difficult to destroy.
"Modest investment in an old tank can become a successful weapons platform," David Willey, curator of The Tank Museum in the U.K., told FoxNews.com. "Today's modern anti-tank weapons now cost as much as what an old tank costs on the black market, so it makes destroying a tank an expensive proposition."
Related: High-tech military gear
The cost factor is largely because western doctrine in destroying a tank is far different to the likely tactics of a rebel force. "There is the cost of flying a combat aircraft and its weapons system," Robert Farley, assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, told FoxNews.com.
Rebel groups might just as easily use a gasoline bomb – much like the Finnish-devised "Molotov Cocktail" of World War II – or other IED (improvised explosive device) added Farley. It may be rare that such improvised weapons could truly take out a tank but it would certainly put the crew at risk, especially if they are not locked inside the tank.
ISIS and other rebel groups, have largely, not attempted their own aerial sorties, despite the fact that combat aircraft from Iraq and Syria have also been captured.
"There are number of reasons why ISIS hasn't taken to the sky, even as there are reports that they do have people who could fly," Farley told FoxNews.com. "In the case of Iraq there are Sunni pilots who are likely fighting with ISIS, and the group even likely has maintenance crews who could prepare the planes for flight."
However, there are logistics to overcome, including the lack of proper fuel, not to mention spare parts. There is also the fact that a single plane can only do so much.
"You drive a tank down the road, and if it breaks you still have a tank that you can repair and the crew, which can still fight," Farley added. "If you put a vintage Soviet Mig21 in the air and it crashes it doesn't make a lot of sense."
The final equation for why ISIS aircraft remains grounded is likely a psychological, according to Farley, "ISIS knows that there are American fighter jocks who want nothing more than to put an ISIS flag on the cockpit and have a combat air kill. It is quick death for anyone who gets into an ISIS plane."
In fact, ISIS is just one of several group that have built up powerful arsenals that include weapons that were typically only fielded by major powers.
"The extent to which non-government forces use heavy weapons typically depends on the level of external support they receive, the local availability of such equipment, and their ability to maintain it," Binnie told FoxNews.com. “The Polisario Front [in Western Sahara] has numerous Soviet-era armored vehicles thanks to Algerian support rather than victories over the Moroccan military.”
Related: 11 stunning F-22 fighter jet images
Other nations such as Libya and Iran have been the alleged suppliers of weapons to groups such as Al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Since the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi large quantities of weapons have flown out of Libya and across the region. This included not only Gaddafi's vast caches of convention weapons but also small arms and other weapons intended to be used by the Libyan rebels. Now some of these weapons are reportedly in the hands of Al Qaeda-linked militants and other radicalized groups.
"It is certainly unhelpful to the west that a range of rebel groups in Africa, the Middle East and as far away as South East Asia have acquired everything from small arms to tanks," added Rand Corp.’s Jones. "It has facilitated their ability to achieve their objectives and there isn't enough emphasis that this access to weapons has given rise to rebel groups."
Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al-Shabaab and other groups certainly could have gotten weapons on the black market, but the lack of stable governments in Libya and Syria have made it easier for these groups to get armed – and with weapons past insurgents might have only dreamt of possessing.
"The collapse of the Libyan military in 2011 has allowed many of the militias in that country to obtain heavy equipment," added Binnie. "The same is true in Iraq after the military collapse in 2014, although the ISIS struggles to keep that equipment operational due to coalition airstrikes and probably a lack of spares and familiarity with U.S. equipment."
While the ISIS arsenal remains an ongoing concern for the U.S. and its allies in Operation Inherent Resolve, other shadows of the Cold War remain visible in the Middle East. The Pentagon, for example, has been warily eyeing a Russian military buildup in Syria as Moscow protects its interests in the civil-war ravaged country.

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Insider vs. Outsider Matchup Finds Clinton, Trump Near Even

 

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump run essentially evenly among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup for president in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, testament to the strength of party loyalty as well as to Trump’s anti-establishment profile and anti-immigration views.

The hypothetical contest stands at 46-43 percent, Clinton-Trump, a gap that's within the survey's margin of sampling error. That compares to a clear Clinton lead among all adults, 51-39 percent, indicating her broad support in groups that are less apt to be registered to vote, such as young adults and racial and ethnic minorities.

See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

The close result in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, says as much about partisanship as it does about the candidates. Registered voters divide 45-40 percent between identifying themselves as Democrats, or leaning that way, vs. Republicans or GOP leaners. And 82 percent of leaned Democrats say they’d support Clinton, while 76 percent of leaned Republicans say they'd back Trump, were they the party nominees.

That said, Trump also is tapping factors including discontent with the political system, anti-immigration attitudes and dissatisfaction with the Obama administration. He leads Clinton by a broad 64-25 percent among registered voters who prefer a candidate from outside the political establishment and by 49-38 percent among those who strongly distrust politicians.
Trump also leads Clinton by 73-14 percent among those who favor his controversial views on immigration, 74-13 percent among those who disapprove of President Obama’s job performance, 68-22 percent among political conservatives and 52-36 percent among whites, a broadly pro-GOP group in recent years. (They favored Mitt Romney over Obama by 20 percentage points in 2012.) Among evangelical white Protestants, a core GOP group, Trump leads Clinton by 67-22 percent.
This analysis is the first slice of a new ABC/Post poll on the 2016 election. More detailed results on the primaries, views of candidate attributes and attitudes about the political system overall will be released Monday morning.
There are some important provisos in evaluating these results. Early polls are not predictive. They seek to measure preferences if the election were today, but the election is not today, and if it were, voters would have had a full campaign’s worth of information on which to base their choices – including whether to vote in the first place. Campaigns clearly do matter; front-runners have failed in past elections and single-digit candidates have surged to victory. Polls at this stage, then, are best used to understand attitude formation, not eventual election choices.
Statistical analysis shows which factors best predict Clinton vs. Trump preferences, holding all else equal. The biggest by far is whether or not registered voters support Trump’s positions on immigration. That’s followed by partisanship, preferring experience vs. a political outsider, ideology, race and gender.

Groups

Notably, in the general election matchup, Trump leads by 52-37 percent among men, while Clinton leads by 55-34 percent among women. Fifty-three percent of women in this survey say they're Democrats or lean that way, compared with 36 percent of men.
The results produce a vast 36-point gender gap -– Trump +15 points among men, Clinton +21 among women. The average in general election exit polls since 1976 has been 13 points; the biggest was 22 points in the Gore-Bush contest of 2000. The Clinton-Trump gender gap is more than twice as big as the Clinton-Jeb Bush gender gap in an ABC/Post poll in July, presumably reflecting Trump's controversial remarks about women.
Clinton's support among women is based on her overwhelming backing from college-educated women, 68-20 percent. By contrast, Trump leads Clinton by a broad 55-34 percent among men who aren't college graduates. He runs about evenly with Clinton among women without a college degree and among men who've graduated from college.
The education gap, like the gender gap, is outsized. In exit polls since 1980, there has been little difference in candidate support among those with a college degree vs. non-graduates, an average of just 2 points; the biggest gap was 11 points in 1996, when Bill Clinton's support was higher among non-grads (+14 points) than among college graduates (+3 points). In the Clinton-Trump matchup, there's a vast 35-point gap; it's 57-31 percent, Clinton-Trump, among those with a college degree, vs. 49-40 percent, Trump-Clinton, among those without one. Indeed, even among college-educated leaned Republicans, Trump’s support slips to 67 percent, vs. 80 percent among those without a degree.
This reflects a challenge in Trump's support profile; while he does much better with less-educated registered voters, they're less likely actually to vote.
At the same time, Trump has a 20-point lead over Clinton among senior citizens, 55-35 percent, while Clinton has an even broader advantage among adults under 30, 63-27 percent. In this case it's Trump’s group that has a higher propensity to vote.
Clinton also does vastly better than Trump among nonwhites, 72-19 percent; they’re a core Democratic group and a growing share of the electorate. And there's a strong regional effect, with much better results for Clinton in the Northeast and West, with Trump ahead in the Midwest and South. Again, it's largely partisanship that leads the way.

Methodology

This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Sept. 7-10, 2015, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, including 821 registered voters. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points for the full sample and 4.0 for registered voters, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 33-22-35 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents, among all adults, and 34-25-33 percent among registered voters.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt-SRBI of New York, N.Y. See details on the survey’s methodology here.

Congress now turns to spending bill to keep government open, avoiding shutdown over Planned Parenthood

With the Iran nuclear deal debate essentially over, Congress now turns to several other pressing issues, particularly agreeing on a temporary spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1.
Leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress have vowed to avoid an unpopular government shutdown. But the party’s most conservative caucus could still create problems, especially if members attempt to link the spending bill to de-funding Planned Parenthood.
With Congress being officially in session just a handful of days before the potential shutdown deadline, GOP leaders haven't said how they will handle conservatives' demands while also rounding up enough votes to prevent a shutdown.
Conservatives’ longstanding opposition to Planned Parenthood and abortion was re-ignited this summer by the release of secretly recorded videos showing group officials offhandedly discussing how they sometimes provide tissue from aborted fetuses for medical researchers.
So efforts to de-fund the group will likely help the Republicans Party secure votes from its base in the 2016 presidential election cycle. But more moderate and independent voters would likely blame Republicans for a shutdown, as they have in the past.
Such a bill probably would pass the GOP-run House. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recently acknowledged that he lacks the votes in his chamber and said President Obama would veto it anyway.
The public mostly blamed Republicans in 2013 when a partial shutdown lasted 16 days after they tried dismantling Obama's health care law in exchange for keeping agencies open.
"Having charged up the hill once and been shot down, why would you want to do that again?" said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., an ally of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "I'm pretty convinced we're not going to shut down the government."
Planned Parenthood gets more than $500 million in federal and state funds annually, virtually none of which can be used for abortions, and says it's done nothing wrong. 
Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., has collected 31 signatures from conservative lawmakers pledging to oppose any bill funding government if it includes money for Planned Parenthood.
And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a presidential contender, is circulating a comparable letter. Many of the other GOP presidential contenders are also urging Congress to slash Planned Parenthood's funds.
But GOP aides say Cruz has won little support among Senate Republicans. 
Congressional leaders' immediate problem is Mulvaney. If his group of 31 holds and Boehner wants to pass a bill preventing a shutdown and funding Planned Parenthood, he'd need Democratic votes.
Boehner needed and got Democratic backing to end the 2013 shutdown and a brief closure this year of the Homeland Security Department in an immigration fight with Obama.
But no leader likes to rely on the other party to pass crucial legislation.
Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said the speaker "is focused on ensuring that our team is exposing Planned Parenthood's barbaric methods to the world, saving more babies" and that he "is not going anywhere."
It's unclear if an effort to remove Boehner would succeed, but it would be embarrassing.
Instead of a fall shutdown, GOP leaders will likely seek to temporarily finance government and perhaps set up a Christmas showdown over 2016 spending and Planned Parenthood.
Meanwhile, the House plans votes next week on bills by Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., halting Planned Parenthood's federal funds for a year and by Franks protecting infants born alive during abortions. Both would likely pass the House but face long Senate odds.
The Senate is expected to vote this month on a measure by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a presidential hopeful, barring most late-term abortions. It faces likely defeat.
A vote on another bill cutting off Planned Parenthood's money could come later this year.
Though Obama has enough votes to secure the Iran deal, some Republicans are vowing to continue to block the effort.
Other pending issues before Congress include how to avoid sequester, the automatic budget cuts that are the result of a hard-fought deal Obama signed in 2011 and that hit the Defense Department the hardest.
Members will also try to increase the government's borrowing authority and avoid a first-ever federal default; extend roughly 50 tax breaks; pass a defense policy bill that Obama has threatened to veto; renew the Federal Aviation Administration's authority to spend money and finally pass a long-term highway funding bill.
Congress was working under a late-October deadline for transportation.
However, the Transportation Department said earlier this month that the Highway Trust Fund has enough money to pay for projects into next year.

Cowboys and the Giants.

The Dallas Cowboys had a dramatic, intense win in the closing seconds over the New York Giants, and were greeted by Dez Bryant hopping around on one foot outside the locker room to congratulate them. As it turns out, all Bryant will be doing for a while is cheerleading.

Bryant, by far the team's best weapon for quarterback Tony Romo, suffered a broken bone in his foot according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Jones said Bryant is going to miss four-to-six weeks, Yahoo's Charles Robinson reported.

Bryant kept it positive after the game, giving praise to quarterback Tony Romo, who wears No. 9 and led a last-minute, game-winning drive.

Robinson also reported that rookie defensive end Randy Gregory has a high ankle sprain that will keep him out four-to-six weeks.
Bryant's loss in particular is a big blow to a team that has Super Bowl hopes. Terrance Williams becomes the Cowboys' top receiver, though that's a big step up for him. The Cowboys will have to lean even more heavily on their run game, which got just 80 yards on 23 attempts in its first game without DeMarco Murray.

The Cowboys effectively chose Bryant over Murray this offseason, because elite receivers like Bryant are hard to find. Bryant signed a five-year, $70 million deal this offseason after Dallas gave him the franchise tag.

Bryant had 56 touchdowns in his first five seasons, and the Cowboys can't replace his production. But they'll have to figure it out until sometime in October when Bryant can return.

Germany institutes border controls along Austria frontier in effort to cope with refugee surge

Look and Sound Familiar?

Germany announced Sunday that it was reintroducing document checks along its border with Austria and temporarily halted trains between the two countries in a bid to limit the influx of refugees from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to Europe's largest economy.
The checks were leading to traffic jams on highways at the border Monday morning. Authorities in Bavaria said there was a roughly 2-mile backup Monday on the A8 highway at Bad Reichenhall, near the Austrian city of Salzburg, news agency dpa reported. Regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported a nearly 4-mile jam on the A3 highway near Passau.
A spokeswoman for Germany's national railway told the Associated Press early Monday that it has resumed train services from Austria after authorities ordered a temporary halt on Sunday evening. However, the main Salzburg-Munich line initially remained closed between the Austrian city of Salzburg and the German border town of Freilassing because there were people on the track.
In all, service was suspended for approximately 12 hours.
Germany has been the final destination for many refugees, who have either traveled overland, via Turkey and the Balkans; or braved the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Italy or Greece. The German government has estimated it would receive up to 800,000 refugees this year and has indicated it could take hundreds of thousands more per year indefinitely.
Germany and Austria agreed over a week ago to let in thousands of refugees who had gathered in Hungary, saying it was a one-time measure to ease an emergency. Still, the influx has continued.

More on this...

• Thousands of refugees heading to Europe despite heavy rain

However, Sunday's actions appear to show that even Germany is at risk of being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers trying to enter the country. On Saturday, 13,000 people crossed into Germany from Austria, and another 3,000 crossed the border Sunday morning before the border checks were implemented.
In introducing the measures Sunday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said: "The aim of these measures is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country ... The great willingness to help that Germany has shown in recent weeks - by full-time employees and especially by the many thousands of volunteers - must not be overstrained."
Overnight Sunday, Sky News reported that German border police seized 18 cars from eight different countries at the border crossing near the Bavarian town of Passau. Thirty suspected people traffickers were detained and 60 refugees taken to a nearby holding center.
Six of the vehicles were registered in Germany, five from Sweden, one from the Netherlands, one from Hungary, two from France, one from Poland, one from Austria and one from Bulgaria.
In Munich, the main point of entry into Germany from Austria, city officials said their capacity to house the newcomers arriving from Hungary via Austria is being stretched to the limit. Federal police spokesman Simon Hegewald said more than 700 people fleeing their homelands have arrived at the city's main station on Sunday morning after a total of 12,200 refugees came to the city on Sunday.
In response to Germany's decision, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka ordered more police to the Austrian-Czech border ""to ensure that laws and rules inside the Schengen zone are not violated."
The "Schengen zone' refers to the Schengen Agreement, which calls for the abolition of internal borders and the introduction of a single external E.U. border. The agreement also stipulates that those wishing to seek asylum should do so in the country where they first enter the E.U., contrary to the wishes of the refugees heading to Germany and Austria via other E.U. nations.
However, the treaty also provides for its suspension for reasons of "public policy or national security".
European Union interior ministers were due to meet in Brussels Monday for emergency talks in an effort to narrow a yawning divide over how to share responsibility for thousands of refugees arriving daily and ease the burden on frontline states. E.U. president Jean-Claude Juncker called last week for members of the 28-nation bloc to resettle 160,000 refugees over the next two years. The ministers were expected confirm the distribution of an initial 40,000 refugees, but this scheme was conceived in May and some nations still do not plan to take in their share before year's end.

America's Morals

 Before

 

After

Gitmo Cartoon

Bid to shut Guantanamo roils Pentagon, White House, Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's struggling quest to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is mired in state and federal politics. Frustrated White House and Pentagon officials are blaming each other for the slow progress releasing approved detainees and finding a new prison to house those still held.

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Defense Secretary Ash Carter is facing criticism from some administration officials who complain that he has not approved enough transfers, even though 52 Guantanamo detainees are eligible. Carter's predecessor, Chuck Hagel, was forced from the Pentagon job in part because the White House felt he was not moving quickly enough to send detainees to other countries.

Two officials said the White House is frustrated because President Barack Obama discussed the issue with Carter when he was hired this year to lead the Defense Department, and they believed Carter was on board with the White House's plans to act faster.

Other U.S. officials note that Carter has approved some transfers and is pushing his staff to move quickly to get more to his desk. But many other proposed transfers are slogging through the bureaucracy, under review by a long list of defense, military, intelligence and other administration offices. The transfers cannot be approved unless officials believe the detainees will not return to terrorism or the battlefield upon release and that there is a host country willing to take them.

During his two years as Pentagon chief, Hagel approved 44 detainee transfers. Carter, in his first seven months, has transferred six.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook issued a statement Saturday saying that Carter shares Obama's commitment to closing the detention facility ?responsibly and has been working "deliberately and diligently" on a comprehensive plan.

"Working with our interagency partners and Congress, his top priority has been and will continue to be the safety and security of the American people," Cook said.
Obama has promised to close the facility since he was a presidential candidate in 2008. He said it ran counter to American values to keep people in prison, many without criminal charges or due process.

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FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2015 file photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks during a news conferenc …

Opponents have argued the detainees are essentially prisoners of war.
From a peak of 680 prisoners, 116 remain. Finding acceptable places for them has been an intractable problem.

"Finding a solution for these individuals involves complicated negotiations with international partners, extensive consultations with the leaders of the national security and legal organizations and final approval by me," Carter told reporters.

A key player in the process is Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dempsey, who spent more than three years as a commander in Iraq, continues to be very cautious in his recommendations for transfers. His opinions carry a lot of weight.
According to U.S. officials familiar with the process, Carter recently notified Congress of two transfers, and has four whose files are ready to go to Capitol Hill, likely later this month. Congress has 30 days to review the transfers before they are made public.
A number of U.S. officials familiar with the ongoing discussions spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the subject publicly.
The movement of detainees is only part of the challenge. A greater hurdle will be finding a U.S.-based prison to house the 64 detainees considered too dangerous to be sent to another country. Congress has opposed any effort to bring detainees to America, so Obama's long-stated goal of closing Guantanamo before he leaves office in January 2017 is more likely to die on the steps of Capitol Hill.

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FILE - In this May 31, 2009 pool-file photo reviewed by the U.S. military and shot through a window, …

Aware of those objections, the White House last month stalled Pentagon efforts to send a plan to Congress outlining several U.S. prisons that could be upgraded and used for the detainees. Early drafts of the plan included some rough estimates of the costs and the time needed for renovations.
U.S. officials said the administration was worried that sending the plan to Congress could affect the crucial vote on the Iran nuclear deal by infuriating lawmakers who do not want the detainees moved to the U.S. or who adamantly oppose having them in a prison in their state or district. The resolution of disapproval of the Iran deal failed in the Senate, handing Obama a victory on that issue.
Three to five civilian facilities are being eyed as potential sites, officials said. A Pentagon team has gone to military facilities in South Carolina and Kansas to develop better estimates of construction and other changes that would be needed to house the detainees as well as conduct military commission trials for those accused of war crimes.
The visits to the Navy Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina, and the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas triggered immediate outrage from lawmakers and governors there.
Republican Govs. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas have threatened to sue the administration if detainees are brought to either state.

Both the House and Senate have pending legislation that would maintain prohibitions on transferring detainees to U.S. facilities. The Senate legislation allows the restrictions to be lifted if the White House submits a plan to close the facility and it's approved by Congress.

GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has made it known he would consider a comprehensive plan to close Guantanamo, but said it must include answers to a number of tough legal and policy questions, including whether detainees held in the U.S. would have additional rights.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has opposed using the Charleston brig because it is in a populated area.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has said flatly that, "Not on my watch will any terrorist be placed in Kansas."

Carter has acknowledged the challenge of getting a U.S. facility approved by Congress, but has insisted that some lawmakers have indicated a willingness to consider a plan.

"This would be a good thing to do if — if we can all come together behind a plan to do it," Carter told reporters. "Our responsibility is to provide them with a plan that they can consider that is a responsible one."

Carly Fiorina fires back at Donald Trump as feud heats up before GOP debate

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina turned the tables on Donald Trump after he said her face makes her unelectable.

Rather than sidestep the putdown, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO cleverly turned it into an asset, encouraging a National Federation of Republican Women audience to do exactly what Trump commanded: “Look at that face!”

“Ladies, look at this face. This is the face of a 61-year-old woman. I am proud of every year and every wrinkle,” Fiorina said to roaring applause, kicking off her speech Friday night. “And look at all of your faces. The face of leadership … in our party, the party of women’s suffrage.”

Fiorina, the only woman running for the GOP nomination, has been rising in the polls and made the cut for the next primetime Republican debate Wednesday; her campaign picked up momentum after a strong performance in the party’s first JV debate.

At the Reagan Library in California, the former businesswoman will face off against a slew of career politicians and two other outsiders making waves: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Trump.

The real estate magnate turned reality TV star lobbed his insult turned alley-oop while being interviewed for a Rolling Stone article that was published Wednesday. 

"Look at that face!” Trump said while watching Fiorina on TV. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?! … I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”

Later that night, Fiorina responded in a conversation with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, another woman with whom Trump has feuded.

“Well, I think those comments speak for themselves,” she said. “And all of the many, many, many thousands of voters out there that are helping me climb in the polls, yes, they’re very serious.”

Fiorina suggested her rising polls numbers might be worrying Trump. One thing is certain: Both of their poll numbers should be troubling for their competition — dyed-in-the-wool Washington insiders.

“Seventy-five percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt,” she said during the National Federation of Republican Women speech. “Eighty-two percent of the American people now think we have a professional political class that is so focused with the preservation of its own power, privilege and position that it has forgotten who it is there to serve.”

Fiorina also went after former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and criticized the Democratic Party for — from her perspective — treating women as a special interest group rather than the majority of the country.

“I personally am so tired of hearing about women’s issues. Every issue is a woman’s issue,” she said. “We care about health care. We care about national security, education, about debts and deficits. Yes, we care about the character of our nation.”

Report: Iran finds 'unexpectedly high' uranium reserve after Dems seal nuke deal for Obama

It'd that a miracle? Iran just happens to find uranium right after the big dummy makes a deal with them.

Iran has reportedly found an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium, following assessments that the country is running low on the nuclear raw material and just days after President Obama essentially secured an international nuclear deal with the country's leaders.
The discovery was reported first by Reuters and based on comments made by Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi to the state news agency IRNA.
"I cannot announce (the level of) Iran's uranium mine reserves," Salehi was quoted as saying. "The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves."
The international deal with Iran, largely brokered by the Obama administration, slows the country’s nuclear development for nearly a decade in exchange for the lifting of billions of dollars worth of crippling economic sanctions.
World leaders think Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon, despite Tehran’s denial.
However, Iran under the deal will still be able to pursue a nuclear-development program, for which the uranium could be used.
The remarks by Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, could not be found Saturday morning on the IRNA website. But another story had him as saying the deal -- reached in July and officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- will not slow the pace of Iran’s nuclear program.
“The official said the restrictions which the JCPOA entails are by no means the ones which would restrict Iran in its nuclear activities,” reads one line in the story.
Several other news-gathering agencies have either picked up the Reuters’ story or cited it in their own version.
That Obama would win congressional approval of the deal became apparent in recent weeks, but not without a fight from the GOP-controlled Congress and other critics including conservative groups and pro-Israel organizations.
However, the president worked all summer to garner support from Senate Democrat, who on Thursday block chamber Republicans from disapproving of the deal and from forcing Obama to resort to a presidential veto to win approval for what will likely be considered his biggest foreign policy achievement.
Salehi reportedly said uranium exploration had covered almost two-thirds of Iran and would be complete in the next four years.
Uranium can be used for energy production and scientific purposes but is also a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.
Some Western analysts have previously said that Iran was close to exhausting its supply of yellowcake -- or raw uranium -- and that mining it domestically was not cost-efficient, according to Reuters.
A report published in 2013 by U.S. think-tanks Carnegie Endowment and the Federation of American Scientists said the scarcity and low quality of Iran's uranium resources compelled it "to rely on external sources of natural and processed uranium,” the wire service also reported.
Iran has repeatedly denied overseas media reports that it has tried to import uranium from countries like Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe.

Donald Trump, Rand Paul feud reaches new level

The rhetoric between Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., is heating up on the campaign trail ahead of the next GOP debate.

At a Saturday rally in Boone, Iowa, Trump blasted Paul as being an “ineffective guy” and weak on immigration and national security issues. He claims Paul is attacking him because his polls numbers remain quite low and he needs media attention.

Trump currently stands at nearly 30 percent compared to Paul’s two percent, according to the latest Real Clear Politics average polling.

During his speech, Trump blasted critics who say he’s picking fights with his fellow Republicans and pointed to primary voters who prefer his “aggressive tone and tremendous energy."

The latest feud began Thursday when Paul, referring to Trump, said “I don’t really think there’s anything conservative about him and I think he’s selling us a bill of goods. And so I think we need to be very careful that we don’t succumb to celebrity and all of the sudden get a fake conservative that turns out to be a big government Republican.”

Later Saturday, Trump again blasted Paul on social media. “Lightweight Senator Rand Paul should focus on trying to get elected in Kentucky--- a great state which is embarrassed by him,” said the businessman in a tweet.

In another Twitter post, he took a personal dig at Paul, saying he doesn’t compare to his father, former congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. “I truly understood the appeal of Ron Paul, but his son, Rand Paul, didn't get the right gene,” he said.

Since Trump announced his White House run in June, both candidates have spared over policy and personality.

Earlier this month, Paul said Trump “is a disaster. I think he will hurt the country and will lose in a land slide.”

At a New Hampshire rally in August, Trump told supporters a story about him playing golf with Paul. “So I'm actually a good golfer. I killed him, OK? I killed him. If I didn't, I wouldn't say it, but I killed him.”

Black Lives and Obama Cartoon

Black Lives Matter leader lands Yale teaching gig

Un friggin Believable.

One of the newest teachers at the vaunted Yale University burnished his Ivy League resume in the Black Lives Matter movement.
DeRay McKesson will be teaching a one-credit course this fall as a guest lecturer at Yale Divinity School, according to higher education blog Campus Reform. The outspoken activist will be joining U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and the Rev. Nancy Taylor, whose Old South Church in Boston is located near the site of the 2013 marathon bombing, to teach a special three-section course as part of a new leadership program. The young activist will teach the first section of the course, entitled "Transformational Leadership in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.”
McKesson is the only guest lecturer who is not an alumnus of Yale Divinity School.
A syllabus for the course describes the credentials of McKesson, 30.  
“A young leader of the Black Lives Matter Movement, DeRay McKesson will present case studies about the work of organizing, public advocacy, civil disobedience, and social change, through both Leadership of Presence, and Leadership in the Social Media.”
Readings for the course includes Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book “Between the World and Me,” a Huffington Post article titled “How The Black Lives Matter Movement Changed the Church,” the book “Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfilled Hopes for Racial Reform by author Derrick Bell,” Leah Gunning Francis’ book “Ferguson & Faith: Sparking Leadership and Awakening Community,” and a New York Times article titled “Our Demand Is Simple: Stop Killing Us.”
According to Campus Reform, McKesson last worked in the Minneapolis public school system as a human resources administrator. According to his LinkedIn profile, his only teaching experience was between May 2007 and June 2009, when he was a middle school math teacher.
The special course is being administered through the YDS’ Transformational Leadership for Church and Society program, each of the one-credit courses will be taught by a different guest lecturer and is funded through a $120,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.
Each of the three 12-hour courses will take place over an intensive two-day class period, rather than spanning the course of the semester.