Al Qaeda-affiliated terror group recruitment video purportedly features Trump

Is the Obama Government trying to start another Benghazi video Blame Game?

An Al Qaeda-affiliated terror group based in Somalia released a recruitment video Friday purportedly featuring Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
Al-Shabaab’s video criticizes racism in the U.S. and anti-Muslim rhetoric and specifically targets Trump’s plan to ban all foreign Muslims from entering the U.S, according to SITE Intelligence Group. The presidential contender was shown receiving cheers from the crowds when he announced his plan.
Reuters reported the footage appears between clips of former militant leader Anwar al-Awlaki, saying Muslims in the U.S. would have to choose between fighting the West or leaving for Islamic countries. Al-Awlaki was killed in an American drone strike in 2011.
An Islamist militant organization, al-Kataib Media Foundation, circulated the video on Twitter Friday, according to SITE. The New York Times reported the video was part of a series dedicated to alleged Somali-American extremists from Minnesota and another from Canada who died fighting for the terror group in Somali.
In the video, al-Awlaki said the U.S. was reeling over its “malignant hatred” of Islam. American Muslims were warned of “dark clouds” gathering on their horizons.
“Yesterday, America was a land of slavery, segregation, lynching and Ku Klux Klan, and tomorrow, it will be a land of religious discrimination and concentration camps,” Awlaki said in the video. His statements were recorded prior to his death.
Trump has come under fire for his controversial plan to ban foreign Muslims from entering the country in wake of the terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif. in early December. Trump’s policy has brought upon widespread condemnation from politicians and other presidential candidates.
Trump has insisted the decree was more about security than religion.
During the Democratic debate last month, frontrunner Hillary Clinton claimed the Islamic State was using Trump’s likeness in its terror videos. That theory was debunked after the debate.
Trump called Clinton’s claim “nonsense.”
In the 51-minute Al-Shabaab video, Trump is featured along with white supremacists and white police officers. The video also showed African-American men protesting and in jail, apparently performing Islamic prayer rituals.

  

Obama and Clinton blames video for Benghazi

Drop in oil prices rocks producer states, triggers historic tax hike plan in Alaska

The plunge in oil prices has given a needed break to drivers this holiday season, but it’s causing some real pain in states that rely on oil revenue to fuel their economies and shore up their budgets.
Perhaps nowhere is the impact more pronounced than in Alaska, where Gov. Bill Walker is proposing a raft of new taxes,

Gov. Bill Walker is proposing a raft of new taxes

including the first personal income tax in over three decades, along with budget cuts to offset the damage from the price drop for the oil-reliant state.
“This is a major paradigm shift in how the state of Alaska conducts business,” Walker said in a statement as he announced the plan in December. “That’s because we cannot continue with business as usual and live solely off of our natural resource revenues.”
The price of Brent crude in the United States has fallen below $40 a barrel – more than $30 lower than in May of 2015.
Alaska is a state so reliant on, and accustomed to, big oil revenue that residents share in the profits. In a sign of changing times, Walker’s plan would redirect some of that money to the government itself, making for smaller dividend checks for residents.
According to the Walker administration, the income tax component of the New Sustainable Alaska Plan could generate up to $200 million in revenue a year. Under the plan, the average Alaskan family would pay a rate of roughly 1 percent of their gross income. This would coincide with cuts for everything from obesity-focused education programs to grants for emergency communication.
“Never before has the state faced a deficit so large that we’re draining more than $9 million from savings every day,” Walker said in a statement. “Fortunately those who came before us had the wisdom to set aside money for a rainy day. Well, it’s raining now.”
Given the financial straits of the government, Walker, an independent, has garnered bipartisan support from lawmakers – but still faces reluctance on pursuing an income tax.
In a statement, House Operating Budget Chairman Mark Neuman, a Republican, said Walker “deserves credit for proposing some difficult options for filling our income gap.” Still, he said the plan could use more budget cuts. House Capital Budget Chairman Steve Thompson, also a Republican, echoed that critique and said he doesn’t want residents to pay an income tax “unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Under the plan, taxes on the oil and other industries also would increase, as would alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Alaska is in a more vulnerable position than a big oil state like Texas, which enjoys a more diverse economy.
Chris Bryan, a spokesman for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, told Fox News that while the state is projecting lower oil-and-gas tax revenue, “the state’s diverse economy coupled with a large beginning balance and a conservative budget from the 2015 Texas Legislature should allow the state to absorb this reduction in projected revenues.” He said the government is still predicting economic growth in Texas north of 2 percent for fiscal 2016 and 2017.
Yet in North Dakota, where an oil and gas revolution has transformed the state, the drop in prices also threatens to do significant damage.
A recent Moody’s Analytics study reportedly said the state could be nearing a “full-blown recession,” citing the $27 oil price in North Dakota, the lowest since 2008.
According to a Watchdog.org report, North Dakota’s general fund tax revenue was about $152 million, or 8.9 percent, less than forecasted by lawmakers.
“It doesn’t seem like the revenues are going to rebound in the very near term,” state Sen. Gary Lee, a Republican, told Watchdog.org.
But according to Sheila Peterson, director of the Fiscal Management Division of North Dakota’s Office of Management and Budget, the falling oil prices are not crunching the budget as much as they are in Alaska.
“The only direct oil revenue that goes into our general fund is about $300 million out of a $6 billion budget,” Peterson told Fox News. “We still expect to get the $300 million from direct oil taxes.”
According to North Dakota’s OMB, the oil tax composes only 5 percent of North Dakota’s general fund revenue.
North Dakota runs on a 24-month budget, which will be re-evaluated for updated revenue forecasts by mid-to-late January 2016.
“Although revenues are indeed running below forecast right now, it’s not as though we’ve run out of money,” Peterson said. “Depending on what the next forecast shows, we’ll decide if we need to take action, and if so, what those actions will be.”

Obama to meet Monday with AG Lynch about 'options' to tighten gun laws

President Obama said on Friday he’ll meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch next week to discuss how to use White House powers to reduce gun violence, lamenting that Congress has “done nothing” and declaring he has “unfinished business.”
“I get too many letters from parents and teachers and kids to sit around and do nothing,” said Obama, who will meet with Lynch on Monday, after he returns from his Hawaii family vacation.
Obama directed his White House team a few months ago to explore ways he could reduce gun violence. And he is now expected to focus on using executive actions to tighten regulations on small-scale gun sellers, according to Politico.
Such a change would result in more sellers having to conduct background checks but wouldn’t completely close the so-called “gun show loophole,” which allows for firearm purchases at such venues without a check.
Obama on Friday pointed out his new efforts follow the third anniversary of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, in Newtown, Conn., in which a deranged gunman killed 20 children and six adults.
However, the Obama-driven effort in the aftermath of the massacre failed to get enough support for passage from Senate Democrats and Republicans.
“All across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child, a parent, a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day,” Obama said Friday. “Yet Congress still hasn’t done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families.”
The president’s renewed efforts also follow a recent flurry of gun violence including a June 2015 incident in which nine people were shot inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Charleston, S.C., and a Muslim husband-wife couple last month fatally shooting 14 people during a terror attack at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif.
Politico reported Obama was trying to make changes before his presidency ends in January 2017 and before the 2016 White House race further dominates the news and Americans’ attention.
The president also reportedly plans to tighten the definition of being “engaged in the business” of selling guns and impose tighter rules for reporting guns that get lost or stolen on their way to a buyer.
"President Obama failed to pass his anti-gun agenda though congress because the majority of Americans oppose more gun-control. Now he is doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way, which is defy the will of the people and issue an executive order," said NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker.
"This is nothing more than a political stunt to appease anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg and will do nothing to increase public safety. The plain truth is that President Obama's gun-control agenda will only make it harder for law-aiding citizens to exercise their constitutional right to self-protection. It will not stop criminals."
Existing law states those who sell guns with the “principal objective of livelihood and profit” have to get a dealer’s license through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That means they also have to conduct a background check on buyers no matter where they sell, including online or at a gun show.
In 2014, the ATF proposed that federal officials be notified about lost firearms, but the gun industry successfully argued that voluntary reporting was sufficient.

Lawmakers blast White House delay on Iran sanctions

Leading lawmakers, including supporters of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, rapped the White House for delaying fresh sanctions on Tehran over its missile program, warning that the move would embolden it to further destabilize the Middle East.
The abrupt reversal by the administration came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani publicly ordered his military to dramatically scale up the country’s missile program if the sanctions went ahead.
Senior U.S. officials have told lawmakers the sanctions were delayed because of “evolving diplomatic work” between the White House and the Iranian government.
The administration had notified Congress on Wednesday that it would impose new financial penalties on nearly a dozen companies and individuals for their alleged role in developing Iran’s ballistic missile program, but pulled back later that day.
Top U.S. lawmakers, including White House allies, said they believed failing to respond to Tehran’s two recent ballistic missile tests would diminish the West’s ability to enforce the nuclear agreement reached between global powers and Tehran in July.
“I believe in the power of vigorous enforcement that pushes back on Iran’s bad behavior,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a supporter of the nuclear deal, said Friday. “If we don’t do that, we invite Iran to cheat.”
Iranian state media reported American and Iranian diplomats undertook intensive deliberations in recent days to discuss the sanctions issue.
White House and State Department officials declined to comment on what was discussed with the Iranian side. U.S. officials said Secretary of State John Kerry has been in nearly constant contact with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, in recent days.
Iran’s most powerful political figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly warned that any new sanctions imposed by the U.S., including in relation to Tehran’s missile program, would violate the nuclear agreement.
Critics of the White House accused President Obama of backing down on his promises to take action in the face of Iranian provocations such as missile launches. They drew parallels to Obama’s failure to follow through on threats to launch military strikes on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2013 in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians.
“I fear that pressure from our ‘partners’—or threats from the Iranian government that it will walk away from the deal or threaten the U.S. in other ways—have caused the administration to rethink imposing sanctions for Iran’s violations of the testing ban,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The sanctions would have been the first imposed on Iran since the nuclear agreement was reached in July. U.S. and European officials said that, if imposed, they would test whether Khamenei was serious about backing away from the deal.

Happy New Year 2016

Democrat Martin O'Malley fails to qualify for Ohio's primary ballot

COLUMBUS, Ohio –  Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley failed to qualify for Ohio's primary ballot after falling short of the signatures needed to appear before the state's voters, a spokesman for the state's elections chief said Thursday.
O'Malley needed 1,000 valid signatures to appear on the March 15 primary ballot. The former Maryland governor's campaign submitted 1,175 signatures, but only 772 were deemed valid, said Josh Eck, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
O'Malley's campaign expressed disappointment, though it noted the candidate is on the ballot in 18 other states.
"While this news is disappointing, we are exploring all of our options, and Gov. O'Malley will campaign vigorously in Ohio," spokeswoman Haley Morris said in an emailed statement.
O'Malley is running an underdog bid for his party's nomination against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Both Clinton and Sanders were certified for Ohio's presidential primary ballot, along with a little-known candidate, San Diego businessman Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente.
Clinton already has the support of some key Democratic insiders in Ohio, where she won the 2008 primary over Barack Obama.

New California law allows police to seize guns without notice

One of the most controversial new laws of 2016 will go into effect Friday in California, where the state will allow judges to seize guns from even law-abiding citizens if they are judged to be a risk to themselves or other people.
The legislation, introduced after Elliot Rodger killed six people in the Isla Vista massacre, near Santa Barbara, will allow authorities to seize a person's weapon for 21 days if a judge decides the potential for violence exists.
The law, known as the “gun violence restraining order” will allow family members and law enforcement to request an order from a judge to have guns removed from those seen as a danger.
Under the new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, a restraining order could be issued without prior knowledge of the person, KPCC reported. Therefore, a judge could technically issue the order without ever hearing from the person in question.
State Democrats introduced the law in 2014, saying that police were not able to seize weapons from shooter Rodger, despite concern from his mother that he was making violent threats.
"In the case of the Isla Vista shooter, Elliot Rodger, his mother was noticing that he was becoming more agitated and making these threats of violence, but there was little she could do and little the police could do," said Democratic Assembly member Nancy Skinner of Berkeley, who introduced the bill along with fellow Democrat Das Williams, Reuters reported.
Critics say the controversial law infringes upon the Second Amendment. “We don’t need another law to solve this problem,” Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, told The Associated Press. “We think this just misses the mark and may create a situation where law-abiding gun owners are put in jeopardy.”
It isn’t the only gun control law going into effect in the state. Another will tighten a ban on firearms in and around schools – which even applies to most people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons.
Meanwhile, California, the most populous state, also will introduce a new ban on firearms in and around schools. Under the new law, the prohibition will apply even to most people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons generally.

Top Carson campaign staffers resign

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s campaign was shaken up Thursday by the resignation of three of his most senior staffers -- as the former neurosurgeon sees a drop in poll numbers and is raking in more donations than his GOP rivals.

Communications Director Doug Watts told Fox News in a statement that he and campaign manager Barry Bennett had resigned from the campaign.
"Barry Bennett and I have resigned from the Carson campaign effective immediately,” Watts said. “We respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top-tier status.”
Carson Press Secretary Deana Bass later confirmed deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen has also resigned.

The resignations come just after the Carson camp announcedthat they had brought in $23 million in donations in the fourth quarter, surpassing all other Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who had brought in $20 million.
“Having just announced raising $23m(illion) for the 4th Q(uarter), more than any other Republican candidate, and passing 1 million contributions and over 600 K unique donors since March, we are proud of our efforts for Dr. Carson and we wish him and his campaign the best of luck,” Watts said.
Carson surged into second place in the polls in the middle of 2015, and was at one point briefly tied with front-runner Donald Trump, but has since seen his numbers slide. The latest Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Carson has slipped to fourth place, behind Trump, Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
A December Fox News Poll showed a similar drop in fortunes, with the former neurosurgeon dropping to 9 percent, from a high of 23 percent in the fall.
The campaign announced later Thursday that retired Major General Bob Dees will become the campaign chairman, while Ed Brookover who formerly served as senior strategist will serve as campaign manager.
"As we enter a new phase of the campaign cycle, it is necessary to invigorate my campaign with a strategy that more aggressively shares my vision and world-view with the American people. I commend Barry Bennett and Doug Watts for their efforts to help me share my vision for America," Carson said in a statement.

State Department releases over 3,000 Clinton emails on New Year's Eve

Hillary Clinton tops list of worst ethics violators of 2015

 

 

The State Department on Thursday released over 3,000 of Hillary Clinton's personal emails from her time as Secretary of State, marking the last of the major document dumps of the year.
Still, the agency said Thursday that it will fall short of the mandate to release 82 percent of Clinton’s total emails by the end of 2015, blaming the holiday schedule and the sheer number of documents involved.
“We have worked diligently to come as close to the goal as possible, but with the large number of documents involved and the holiday schedule we have not met the goal this month,” the State Department said in a statement. “To narrow that gap, the State Department will make another production of former Secretary Clinton’s email sometime next week.”
The latest batch of 3,105 emails includes 275 documents upgraded to "classified" since they landed in the former Secretary's personal inbox. That brings the total number of classified docs found in the emails to 1,274. A State Department official told Fox News on Thursday that two of those emails were upgraded to "secret," while most of the others were upgraded to "confidential."
The newly released emails reveal Clinton and one of her closest aides, Jake Sullivan, had an exchange in September 2010 that showed considerable confusion over her email practices.
"I'm never sure which of my emails you receive, so pls let me know if you receive this one and on which address you did," she wrote to Sullivan on a Sunday morning.
A few hours later Sullivan responded: "I have just received this email on my personal account, which I check much less frequently than my State Department account. I have not received any emails from you on my State account in recent days — for example, I did not get the email you sent to me and (Assistant
Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeff) Feltman on the Egyptian custody case. Something is very wrong with the connection there."
Sullivan added, "I suppose a near-term fix is to just send messages to this account — my personal account — and I will check it more frequently."
Clinton also cited trouble with her BlackBerry in January 2012, according to one of her emails. "Sorry for the delay in responding," she wrote to Jamie Rubin, a diplomat and journalist, saying her BlackBerry was having "a nervous breakdown on my dime!"
In another exchange, Billionaire George Soros, a major donor to liberal causes, confided to a former Clinton aide that he made the wrong choice in supporting Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries over Clinton.
Soros told Neera Tanden during a dinner sponsored by Democracy Alliance, a liberal group, that he "regretted his decision in the primary — he likes to admit mistakes when he makes them and that was one of them," Tanden told Clinton in a May 2012 email. "He then extolled his work with you from your time as First Lady on."
Tanden also said Soros had been "impressed that he can always call/meet" with Clinton on policy issues but he hadn't yet met with Obama. Soros has been a major donor to Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton Democratic super PAC.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus seized upon the news of the upgraded emails as another reason the 2016 presidential candidate couldn't be taken at her word.
"With more than 1,250 emails containing classified information now uncovered, Hillary Clinton's decision to put secrecy over national security by exclusively operating off of a secret email server looks even more reckless," he said in a statement on Thursday.
"When this scandal first broke, Hillary Clinton assured the American people there was no classified material on her unsecure server, a claim which has since been debunked on a monthly basis with each court-ordered release. With an expanded FBI investigation underway and new details emerging about the conflicts of interest her server was designed to conceal, Hillary Clinton has shown she lacks the character and judgement to be president during this critical time for our country."
The State Department, however, reminded that the classifications were retroactive. "The information we upgraded today was not marked classified at the time the emails were sent," the official said.
By court order, the State Department is required to release as many of her emails as they can in a single installment on the last weekday of every month. It released over 7,000 on Nov. 30.
The State Department also said in its statement that most of the documents will have incomplete data fields on the FOIA website, citing “an effort to process and post as many documents as possible.” This means that many of the documents will not have full completed fields for “Subject,” “To,” or “From.” The statement says that that data will be added in January.
Clinton has been under fire through much of 2015 about her use of a private, unsecured email server as secretary of state, specifically over the security of her server, and her incomplete retention of her emails. Clinton claims that she has turned over all work-related emails and has only deleted private or personal emails. She also claims that she never sent or received emails marked classified.
The State Department has released installments of her emails every month since May.
The last batch in November, contains 328 emails deemed to have classified information. According to the State Department, that brought the total number with classified information to 999. The emails also covered the tumultuous period before and after the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi terror attacks. On the night of the attacks, the communications show Clinton notifying top advisers of confirmation from the Libyans that then-Ambassador Chris Stevens had died.
The final installment is expected just before the Iowa caucuses in February.

bill clinton cartoon

Donald Trump blasts Bill Clinton as 'one of the great abusers of the world'

Donald Trump launched new attacks against Bill and Hillary Clinton Wednesday as the war of words between both campaigns heated up.
The GOP hopeful told about 2,000 supporters in Hilton Head Island, S.C. that he was forced to fight back against the Clinton camp after the Democratic frontrunner accused him of displaying a "penchant for sexism."
Trump blasted the former president, saying, "And [Hillary] wants to accuse me of things. And the husband's one of the great abusers of the world. Give me a break. Give me a break. Give me a break."
"She came out saying [Trump] has a ‘penchant for sexism’… now she is playing with that card,” Trump explained. "I had no choice, but I had to mention her husband's situation," a reference to Bill Clinton’s previous extramarital relationships.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Bill Clinton's past is in play during the election.
“Hillary brought up the whole thing with [calling Trump] sexist," he said. "She’s got a major problem [that] happens to be right in her own house. We'll go after the ex-president … it’ll come out well for us”.
Trump also acknowledged that his own personal "indiscretions" — including an affair with Marla Maples, who later became his second wife — were fair game.
The Clintons and the Trumps had been on friendly terms for years. The Clintons attended Trump's wedding to his third wife, Melania, and the couples' daughters, Ivanka and Chelsea, are friends. Trump came to Bill Clinton's defense when the Monica Lewinsky scandal was unfolding, calling efforts to impeach him "nonsense."
But in recent days, the rival campaigns have become increasingly hostile.
Trump first stirred controversy during a Michigan rally on Dec. 21, when he claimed Clinton got "schlonged" in the 2008 Iowa caucuses by Barack Obama. Clinton made her "penchant for sexism" claim in response to the real estate mogul's statement, but Trump said his remark was not meant to be vulgar.
Clinton's deputy communications director Christina Reynolds said Monday that Clinton "won't be bullied" by Trump and plans to "stand up to him, as she has from the beginning of his campaign" when he insults women and other groups.

In an effort to shape Clinton's image with the electorate Wednesday, Trump called the former secretary of state "low-energy", a label he has previously reserved for former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
He went further suggesting "no women" want to vote for Clinton in 2016. This drew loud cheers from the crowd.
”She won't win," said Trump, who added that he would "love, love having a woman president " — just not Hillary Clinton, whom he described as "horrible" and hard to listen to.
"I just have to turn off the television so many times. She just gives me a headache," he said.
Clinton leads Trump 46.3 percent to 41.3 percent in the latest Real Clear Politics average of recent polls.
Trump has predicted that a general election matchup with Clinton could lead to one of the largest voter turnouts in recent history.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Push for convention to amend Constitution energized by Rubio backing

Marco Rubio is getting behind a state-based effort to amend the Constitution with term limits and other restrictions on the federal government -- energizing the movement as the Republican presidential candidates try to woo Tea Party-aligned voters. 
The Florida senator joins a handful of other GOP candidates in backing the push, an against-the-odds campaign being waged by conservative advocacy groups and state lawmakers. He went all in at a campaign stop Tuesday in Iowa, where caucus-goers will decide the first-in-the-nation nominating contest in roughly four weeks.
“My first day in office I will announce I am a supporter,” said Rubio, after months of expressing tepid support.
In doing so, he is lending his name to a grassroots movement seeking what is essentially a national convention to amend the Constitution. Various groups have various goals, but Rubio specifically supports using the process to impose a congressional balanced-budget amendment and place term limits on Supreme Court justices and members of Congress.
He vowed if elected to “put the weight of the presidency” behind the effort.
Americans frustrated with what they consider Washington morass, insularity and gridlock point out that Article V of the Constitution says Congress must call a convention when two-thirds of state legislatures file an “application.”
The minimum 34 states appear to have given some measure of support. But the effort has been delayed for years over such issues as rules for a convention and how the petitions were approved and worded to meet varying agendas.
Rubio -- in third place in most national polls behind front-runner Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz -- is not the first 2016 GOP White House contender to champion the effort.
Fellow candidates including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson have also expressed some level of interest or support.
But the backing of a top-tier candidate like Rubio appears to have ignited some in the GOP base.
“I’ve never been more excited about our prospects for achieving real governmental reform as I am right now,” Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Convention of States Project and president of Citizens for Self-Governance, said Wednesday.
“It is gratifying when a national-level leader like Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledges that it is imperative for the citizens to act to take power away from Washington, D.C., and return it to the people.”
Kasich is arguably the GOP candidate at the forefront of the effort. And as a fiscal conservative, he wants to use the effort expressly to force Washington to pass balanced budgets.
Though Rubio appeared Tuesday on stage to endorse the idea, he had expressed concerns earlier about state delegates uniting at a convention to rewrite the Constitution, which could jeopardize closely held First and Second Amendment rights.
After the rally, he also suggested that Congress doesn't have the will to impose term limits or pass a balanced budget amendment. As for how a convention might play out, he told reporters his campaign is “looking” at the specifics.
Concerns about rewriting the Constitution are not unfounded.
The Constitutional Convention, held in Philadelphia in 1787, was purportedly to revise the Articles of Confederation. But the roughly four-month-long meeting resulted in George Washington and other organizers drafting the Constitution.
Rubio also said he’s following the lead of former Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn, who joined the effort after retiring last year from Congress.
“Marco Rubio knows that the answers to American’s lack of confidence in Washington can only be fixed through an Article V,” Coburn said in a statement. “He also knows that Washington will not fix itself.”

Brawl breaks out in GOP race, below the Trump tier

A nasty battle has broken out in the Republican presidential field, and it doesn’t involve Donald Trump.
As the calendar draws closer to the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, the second tier of GOP candidates – along with the super PACs supporting them – are unloading on each other in a blitz of ads, videos, tweets, stump speeches and interviews. The acrimony is at a level until now unseen, in a race dominated by vitriolic squabbles between Trump and whichever candidate of the moment displeases him.
Now, with Trump training his focus on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, the rest of the pack is fighting to rise above. The latest round involves Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
The super PAC backing Bush is out with a new ad blasting Rubio for missing a Senate meeting after the Paris terror attacks – and another contrasting Bush’s gubernatorial record against those of Christie and Kasich.
“Politics first, that’s the Rubio way,” the first ad says, slamming Rubio for fundraising while missing meetings and hearings on the Hill.
Rubio has long battled criticism of his attendance record in the Senate. In 2015, he has missed about 35 percent of roll call votes, according to GovTrack.us. That's more than any of the other senators running for president.
“Dude, show up to work,” Christie told a crowd in Iowa Tuesday, ribbing Rubio for missing a spending bill vote.
Rubio, speaking with Fox News, defended his missed votes on Wednesday. He said Washington is “completely broken” and “more than half the things that happen in Washington are just for show or for talk.”
As for Christie, he said, “He’s never in New Jersey. He’s gone half the time.”
On Tuesday, Rubio also fired back against the pro-Bush ad, charging that Bush is getting “increasingly negative in his attacks.”
Right to Rise USA, the pro-Jeb Bush super PAC, is spending $1.4 million on the ad buy which begins airing this week in the Hawkeye State.
While these fights are playing out in Iowa, many of these candidates are fighting even harder for New Hampshire.
Right now, Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are jockeying for the lead in Iowa, with the rest of the field far behind. But while Trump also leads in New Hampshire, five candidates – Rubio, Christie, Cruz, Kasich and Bush – are tangled up in a close race below him in that state. Candidates like Christie and Kasich especially, who have struggled to gain traction elsewhere, are banking on a breakout performance in New Hampshire to gain momentum in the race.
This could explain why Kasich’s campaign and its aligned super PAC are firing back hard at Bush.
In response to the latest ad, Kasich press secretary Rob Nichols said: “The latest ad from Jeb’s team forgot to check the box for ‘Which governor is living in the past because he has no new ideas for fixing anything?’ You only attack those you fear and who’s beating you, so this latest attack by Jeb on Gov. Kasich only reaffirms the governor’s strength in New Hampshire. It’s actually flattering.”
The Kasich campaign also put out a cheeky video casting Bush as out of touch with the times.
“Jeb loves the good ole’ days,” the video declares, before showing vintage footage of things like Sony’s Betamax and the “Macarena,” the 1994 hit by Los Del Rio.

US reportedly preparing fresh sanctions over Iran ballistic missile program

The U.S. is preparing to impose financial sanctions on Iran for the first time since this past summer's agreement on Tehran's nuclear program, according to a published report. 
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported that the sanctions would be aimed at companies and individuals in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong for their alleged role in developing Iran's ballistic missile program.
The sanctions would forbid U.S. or foreign nationals from conducting business with the blacklisted firms, as well as freeze any assets the companies or individuals hold inside the American financial system.
The Wall Street Journal reports that part of the justification for the sanctions is ongoing ties between Iran and North Korea, including the alleged purchase of components from a North Korean firm and the dispatching of Iranian technicians to North Korea since 2013 to develop a rocket booster.
According to the Journal, if the Treasury Department goes through with the sanctions, it would do so in the face of defiance from Iran, which claims that any new sanctions would be viewed by the country's supreme leader as a violation of the nuclear deal. For its part, the Treasury says it retains the right to punish Iranian entities allegedly involved in missile development, international terrorism, and human rights abuses.
A senior U.S. official told the Associated Press that Congress is being informed about deliberations over whether to impose sanctions.
The report on the planned sanctions comes one day after U.S. defense officials slammed Tehran for conducting what it called a "highly provocative" rocket test near two U.S. warships last week in the Strait of Hormuz.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, responded to Saturday's incident with renewed criticism of the nuclear agreement.
"A rush to sanctions relief threatens to embolden an increasingly aggressive Iranian regime that has no intention of normalizing relations with the West or of retreating from a malign policy intended to destabilize the Middle East," McCain said in a statement released Wednesday.
In the months since the deal was agreed to this past July, Iran has conducted missile tests criticized by the U.S., as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base.
Iran has claimed its ballistic missile program is for defense purposes only and doesn't violate international law.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe Cartoon

Former NY Gov. George Pataki announces he will end 2016 GOP presidential bid

Former New York Gov. George Pataki announced late Tuesday he is suspending his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination
"While tonight is the end of my journey for the White House as I suspend my campaign for president, I am confident we can elect the right person. Someone who will bring us together and who understands that politicians including the president must be the people’s servant and not their master," Pataki said in a video announcing his decision. "I know the best of America is still ahead of us."
 
Pataki, who led New York through the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, failed to gain traction in a crowded field of candidates during an election season that has so far favored outsiders like billionaire businessman Donald Trump.
"If we're truly going to make America great again, we need to elect a president who will do three things: Confront and defeat radical Islam, shrink the size of Washington, and unite us again in our belief in this great country," Pataki said.
GOP presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Tex Cruz said in a statement Tuesday night he was "grateful" for Pataki's service to New York, particularly while serving as Governor on Sept. 11th.
"He brought experience and knowledge to the race for the Republican nomination, and as a result, helped prepare our eventual nominee to win in November and take back the White House," Cruz said.
Bruce Breton, a local elected official and member of Pataki's New Hampshire steering committee, told the Associated Press that Pataki called him Tuesday afternoon to say he'd be exiting the race. Breton said Pataki's campaign struggled to raise money and garner media attention.
"He said he couldn't get any traction. He worked hard, it's just a different type of year," Breton said.
Pataki had hung his hopes on doing well in early-voting New Hampshire, but he has barely registered in state or national polls.
He also never made it onto a main GOP debate stage.
In November, Pataki told USA Today that he would drop out if another candidate who could unite the party emerged.
"If someone emerged who I believe could unite the party and lead the country and win the election, then there's no need to run," he said.
Pataki announced his candidacy by video in May.
"America has a big decision to make about who we're going to be and what we're going to stand for. The system is broken," he said then. "The question is no longer about what our government should do, but what we should do about our government, about our divided union, about our uncertain future."

Va. lawmaker wants to defund Gov. McAuliffe's armed guards over gun dispute

A Virginia state senator has thrown down the gauntlet with Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a brewing battle over gun rights -- pushing to defund the governor’s armed bodyguards unless he revokes an order that banned firearms in most state buildings. 
“It’s easy for someone who is surrounded by armed state policemen to tell someone else they can’t carry a weapon to protect themselves,” Republican state Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr. told FoxNews.com.
“It’s just equal treatment, that’s all I’m saying.”
McAuliffe signed Executive Order 50 in October that says “open carry of firearms shall be prohibited in offices occupied by executive branch agencies, unless held by law enforcement, authorized security, or military personnel authorized to carry firearms in accordance with their duties.” He also called for new regulations to extend that to concealed weapons.
In response, Carrico drafted a budget amendment that would strip the funding for the governor’s armed protection unit.
Republican lawmakers, including Carrico, also are working on legislation that would counteract a separate decision from the state's attorney general.
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced last week that the state would no longer recognize concealed carry permits from 25 states. He claimed those states had looser rules, and called the decision a “common-sense step” to make Virginia safer, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
The GOP legislation being drafted would require Virginia to recognize concealed carry permits from all states.
“I’m not a seasoned politician, I’m just an individual who cares about my constituents,” Carrico said. "I spent 15 years as a state trooper protecting their rights, and I am very concerned about the liberal left going after these constitutional rights and it concerns me that we have people who are in the position Governor McAuliffe is in, and using his executive powers to take those away.”
McAuliffe’s office responded sharply to Carrico’s move, calling it a “reactionary temper tantrum.”
“Reactionary temper tantrums may play well on right-wing blogs, but they don’t make anyone safer,” McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy told FoxNews.com. “Governor McAuliffe has worked with local, state and federal law enforcement officials to keep guns out of dangerous hands by better enforcing Virginia gun’s safety laws, a common refrain of gun advocates.”
Coy went on to say that Carrico’s attitude is an example of the lack of willingness from Republicans to work with the governor on issues related to gun safety.
“As a gun owner himself, the governor is ready to work with the General Assembly on common sense steps like universal background checks. Unfortunately, Mr. Carrico’s quote is a good representation of the interest he and his colleagues have shown in productive work on this serious issue so far,” Coy said.
Carrico, however, remained unmoved.
“I may not have a lot of power, but I'm going to use the power I have to protect constitutional rights of individuals in my district. These are the people I represent, the 230,000 I represent, I’m going to fight for them regardless if you’re President Obama or Governor McAuliffe. The one thing they’ll tell you is I’m not afraid to fight.”

Iranian rocket passes within 1,500 yards of US aircraft carrier

Iranian rockets passed within 1,500 yards of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz last week, a senior defense official confirmed Tuesday to Fox News.
Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said in a statement to the Associated Press early Wednesday that Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval vessels fired "several unguided rockets" after giving only 23 minutes' notice over maritime radio that a live-fire exercise would be carried out. The incident was first reported by NBC News.
Raines described the Iranian fleet's actions as "highly provocative".
"Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law," the spokesman said.
While the United States has complained previously about other Iranian war games and maneuvers there, Saturday's incident comes after a series of weapons tests and other moves by Tehran following this past summer's nuclear deal.
In the time since, Iran has conducted missile tests criticized by the U.S., as well as aired footage on state television of an underground missile base. Iran also sank a replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier in February near the strait. It seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and later released it in May after earlier surrounding U.S.-flagged cargo ship transiting the strait.
Iranian media and officials did not immediately discuss the tests Wednesday.
In addition to the Truman, the destroyer USS Bulkeley and French frigate FS Provence were in the area, as was commercial sea traffic.

A U.S. military official told The Hill newspaper that the Iranian ships approached the Truman and other vessels before announcing it was setting the live-fire exercise in motion and requesting nearby vessels to keep clear.
Minutes later, the Iranians repeated the warning and the rockets were launched. It was not immediately clear how many projectiles were fired. The Hill reported the ships departed the area after the launches.
Officials said the rockets traveled in a direction taking them away from the Truman and other shipping traffic in the strait, which conncts the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea and is the route for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.
The Truman recently arrived in the Persian Gulf to provide a launching point for airstrikes against the ISIS terror group in Iraq and Syria. It replaces the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which departed the Middle East this past October. The French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle is also in the Gulf to perform similar functions.
The Strait of Hormuz is only about 21 miles wide at its narrowest point between Iran and Oman. Ships traversing the chokepoint have even less room to maneuver. The shipping lane in either direction is only 2 miles wide, with a 2-mile buffer zone between them.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Gulf. It conducts anti-piracy patrols in the greater Gulf and serves as a regional counterbalance to Iran.

While the U.S. didn't retaliate to Saturday's rocket test, the Strait of Hormuz has been the scene of a battle between the two countries' navies. On April 18, 1988, the U.S. attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sunk or damaged six of its vessels, including two naval frigates, in Operation Praying Mantis. That came after the near-sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine.

A few months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard. The shoot-down of the jet came shortly after the U.S. vessel reported coming under fire from Iranian speedboats.

US spying on Israel reportedly ensnares members of Congress

The National Security Agency's effort to eavesdrop on communications between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his aides reportedly also captured private conversations involving U.S. lawmakers and members of American Jewish groups.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the NSA's monitoring of such exchanges raised fears that the Obama administration would be accused of spying on Congress, with one official calling it an "oh, s--- moment".
According to the paper, the enhanced monitoring of Netanyahu began, with the assent of lawmakers from both parties, late in Obama's first term out of concerns that the Israeli leader would pursue a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
The sweeping up of conversations between Israeli officials and U.S. lawmakers began in earnest earlier this year, ahead of a March visit to Capitol Hill by Netanyahu to speak out against the developing Iran nuclear deal, and continued through this past September, when the deadline for Congress to block the deal passed.
The Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported that Netanyahu's office repeatedly attempted to learn details about changes in U.S. positions during the sensitive nuclear talks. Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Ron Derner, was described as coaching unnamed Jewish- American groups to press members of Congress, especially Democrats, to oppose the deal.
A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington described the U.S. claims as "total nonsense."
The White House, reportedly wary of the political fallout if the spying on Netanyahu was to become public, allowed the NSA to determine what conversations should be disclosed to Obama administration officials and what should be kept secret. The Journal reported that the NSA removed the names of U.S. lawmakers from the intelligence reports it shared, and also redacted any criticism of the Obama administration.
The Journal also reported that Obama left Netanyahu off a list of world leaders who would be exempt from NSA activities after the president vowed to curtail eavesdropping on friendly heads of state in January 2014.
Among the world leaders who made the so-called "protected" list was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and most leaders of NATO nations, with the notable exception of Turkey.

cake for gay wedding cartoon

New Iran sanctions fight looms in 2016

Despite President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran that provides a gradual easing of decades of crippling economic sanctions, senators are fighting to renew a vital law that would preserve the sanctions option should Iran renege on its end of the bargain.
The Hill reports that senators plan to move soon on a proposal to extend what’s known as the Iran Sanctions Act, which is set to expire next year. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, told the newspaper his colleagues have floated the possibility of tackling the issue in January or February.
But the debate could put the Obama administration in a tough spot.
Iran already is on high alert over any U.S. moves that could be perceived as a violation of the nuclear agreement – which trades sanctions relief for steps to roll back Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran surely would howl at any congressional attempts to keep broad sanctions legislation in force, even if specific sanctions are being lifted. But U.S. lawmakers say it’s vital for the U.S. to retain the leverage to re-trigger those sanctions if Iran cheats – and that would mean extending the sanctions law.  
In a letter earlier this month to President Obama, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. – who along with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., introduced the Iran Sanctions Relief Oversight Act of 2015 -- warned that Iran will “continue to test the limits of international order.”
Their bill would extend the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 for another decade.  In the letter to Obama, Menendez said that “lending” his support to the legislation would be a “good start.”
While facing congressional pressure to get tough on Iran, the Obama administration is working on a separate track to assuage Iran’s concerns over a separate set of visa restrictions approved by Congress.
That controversy stems from tightened security requirements for America’s visa waiver program, which allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without visas. Under changes in the newly signed spending bill, people from those countries who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan in the past five years must now obtain visas to enter the U.S.
Top Tehran officials complained the changes violate the terms of the nuclear deal, which says the U.S. and other world powers will refrain from any policy intended to adversely affect normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran.
In response, Secretary of State John Kerry assured the Iranian government that the changes will not interfere with the implementation of the nuclear deal, and suggested the administration could simply bypass the rules for Iran. 
Kerry’s letter drew a rebuke from GOP lawmakers who accused the administration of trying to “placate” the regime.
Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties have approached the administration with concerns about Iran’s compliance in the wake of Iran firing a medium-range ballistic missile in October, in apparent violation of U.N. sanctions. Iran also reportedly launched another ballistic missile in November.
Cardin and 20 other Democratic senators voiced concern about those tests – and the lack of action from the U.N. Security Council -- in a letter to Obama on Dec. 17.

Low-polling GOP candidates insist there’s time for a turn-around

The GOP presidential field that rolled into the 2016 election cycle like a crowded bus already has dropped a few passengers, but the remaining 13 appear committed to staying on board at least through the next debates and the first two contests.
Just three of them have double-digit numbers in an average of national polls, with front-runner Donald Trump gobbling up more than a third of primary support. On the other end, candidates such as Rick Santorum and George Pataki have failed to garner even 1 percent.
Though Santorum has never been among the 2016 front-runners and did not compete in any of the five prime-time debates, he indicated Monday he’s thinking back to his 2012 performance – when he won the Iowa caucuses – as he approaches the same contest on Feb. 1.  
“I feel like I did four years ago,” the former Pennsylvania senator told FoxNews.com. “We’re headed to Iowa tomorrow to make contact with as many people as we can. … I don’t think that many people have made up their minds. We’re at a point now where serious people are going to make decisions about serious candidates.”
Santorum also said he’s on all the state ballots, has a solid national organization and a “good slate of delegates” across the country.
“I feel better about this year than I did at this time for 2012,” he said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is in a similar situation -- having won Iowa in his 2008 presidential bid. But this time Huckabee, a social conservative like Santorum, is polling at about 2 percent, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
“Not one person in all of America has even voted,” Huckabee said Sunday, amid speculation over whether he and other low-polling candidates might drop out before the Iowa caucuses – or even the next GOP debate, set for Jan. 14 and hosted by Fox Business Network.
Huckabee, too, drew some inspiration from Santorum’s 2012 Iowa finish.
“Santorum won. He was in … sixth place out of the seven candidates, five days out from the caucuses,” he told “Fox News Sunday,” while pointing out that he still has campaign operations in all 99 Iowa counties. “This idea that this is all sewed up or fixed, I've been in that state enough to know it's just not quite like that yet.”
Still, Huckabee and many other candidates are essentially caught in the Trump vortex -- continuing to cede poll numbers to the media-savvy billionaire businessman, which forces them into the lesser-watched, second-tier debates, erodes their name recognition and diminishes fundraising power.  
The criteria for who gets onto the main stage in the upcoming FBN debate is based on national polls as well as polls in Iowa and in New Hampshire, which on Feb. 9 holds the second primary of the cycle.
The debate, sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, will be in South Carolina’s North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center and will focus on economic, domestic and international policy issues.
The prime-time debate will feature candidates who by Jan. 11 place in the top six in national polls or in the top five in Iowa or New Hampshire polls.
The remaining candidates will be invited to the early debate.
Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who has been in all of the televised, main-stage debates but continues to drop in the polls, says he will not participate if forced into the early Fox Business debate.  
GOP candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich suggested Sunday that his strategy is to have a respectable showing in Iowa, where social conservatives do well, then finish high in New Hampshire, where voters are more closely aligned to his moderate positions.
“I have to do well enough there,” he told ABC News. “And I think I will … catch fire. And if I catch fire, I think the sky is the limit.”
Poor showings in both or either of the first two primaries can doom a campaign.
Trump insists he’ll fight to the finish.
"I will never leave the race," he declared to The Washington Post earlier this month.
Trump is closely followed in the polls by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who leads slightly in Iowa, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
Both appear to have enough voter support and money to extend their campaigns well beyond New Hampshire, which is followed by the South Carolina and Nevada contests and then a swing across the South, where Cruz appears to be plotting a surge.
Cruz has about $65 million in campaign and outside money, compared with Rubio who has about $33 million in combined funds, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was the early GOP favorite, now has roughly 4 percent in the national RealClearPolitics average. However, he leads the entire 2016 presidential field in fundraising -- $103 million in campaign money and $24.8 million in outside money, the OpenSecrets site shows.