Cruz surges to 10-point lead in Iowa poll

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has jumped businessman Donald Trump for a big lead in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus, according to a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll released Saturday.
Cruz paces the field with 31 percent support, followed by Trump at 21 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 13 percent.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Texas) places fourth with 10 percent.

The last iteration of the poll, released Oct. 25, showed Carson with 28 percent support in the state, beating Trump out by 9 points, and Cruz with 10 percent support.

Cruz has been aggressively campaigning in the Hawkeye State, picking up key endorsements in the state earlier this week.
Fueling the anti-establishment firebrand’s 22-point ascent is his support among traditional Christian voters in the state.
He carries 45 percent of the evangelical vote in the state, as well as 39 percent of self-described tea partiers.
Twenty percent of all voters also listed Cruz as their second choice in the poll, suggesting he has a lot of untapped support and may not have peaked in the state.
Pollster Frank Luntz told the Register that it’s possible that Cruz “could win Iowa big – very big.”
As he watched his lead slip away in the state, Trump made a series of blunders that may have hastened Cruz’s rise.
The businessman attacked the Register the day before the influential newspaper released the poll, accusing the news outlet of dishonestly covering his presidential campaign.
“You have one of the most dishonest right here in your backyard,” Trump said at a rally in Des Moines on Friday. “The Des Moines Register is the worst. They’re very dishonest.”
He predicted he would not fare well in the poll, lamenting that “every time the Des Moines Register does a poll, I always do badly.”
“It’s my opinion that they don’t do it properly,” he added, suggesting the newspaper may be skewing its results.
As the poll was being released Saturday, Trump told his followers on Twitter not to trust it, pointing to a different poll that showed him up by double digits in Iowa.
Trump still polls well in the state on issues like the economy, illegal immigration and solving problems.
Forty-nine percent said they believe Trump knows how to “get things done,” while only 22 percent said the same of Cruz.
Carson led in the poll as recently as Oct. 23, when he carried 28 percent support in the state.
But amid terrorist attacks and the escalating fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the soft-spoken Carson has struggled to convince voters that he’s the best man to lead the nation during a time of war.
The poll of 400 likely Republican caucus-goers was conducted Dec. 7–10. The margin of error is 4.9 percent.

Trump slams Chief Justice Roberts' record

Chief Justice John Roberts

Donald Trump went on the offensive Saturday attacking Chief Justice John Roberts’ record on the Supreme Court telling supporters he’s “so disappointing”.
During a town hall in Aiken, S.C., the Republican front-runner gave his take on Roberts backing the 6-3 decision in King vs. Burwell earlier this year, which kept subsidies nationwide setup under the Affordable Care act, better known as ObamaCare, in place.
“ObamaCare is going down with or without Justice Roberts, if you know what I mean,” he explained.  “I will tell you this: Justice Roberts really let us down. He really let us down.”
Trump added, “I think he did that because he wanted to be popular within the [D.C.] beltway or something because he did it the first time and should have never done it and that would have killed it.” The New York real estate magnate was speaking to Roberts’ 2012 decision to support upholding the health care law’s individual mandate. 
While the businessman said he respects Roberts as a “great legal scholar,” the chief justice “knows it better than any of us— there was no legal reason,” to support the law in either case.
Other Republican White House hopefuls have echoed similar thoughts on the Supreme Court’s recent rulings.
After the 2015 decision, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said the court was full of “activist judges”. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz went even further in September saying it was a “mistake” to place Roberts on the high court.
Trump did throw his support behind at least one current justice. “Clarence Thomas, we should give him credit, he has been so consistent. He has been very, very strong.”
When pressed on the type of judges he’d appoint if elected, Trump told the crowd he would “want strongly conservative people and great scholars, legal scholars, people who follow and admire and respect our Constitution.”

California Democratic Senate candidate, Rep. Sanchez criticized for Islam remarks

A California congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate was sharply criticized Friday after suggesting that as many as two of 10 Muslims would engage in terrorism to establish a strict Islamic state.
In response, Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez issued a statement saying the estimate did not reflect her views on the Muslim community in America, and most Muslims around the world are committed to peace.
"I believe that Muslim Americans are fully committed to the security and prosperity of our country," the statement said. "I stand with them as my fellow Americans. They are law-abiding citizens who love our country."
The episode marked another political misstep for Sanchez, who earlier this year apologized after a videotape surfaced showing her making a whooping cry in reference to Native Americans that brought her a cascade of reprimands from fellow Democrats.
In an interview with "PoliticKING with Larry King," Sanchez said between 5 percent and 20 percent of Muslims want a strict Islamic state -- or caliphate -- and would use terrorism to impose their views.
They "desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible, and in particular go after what they consider Western norms, our way of life," she told King. "They are willing to use and they do use terrorism, and it is in the name of a very wrong way of looking at Islam."
The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American Islamic-Relations called Sanchez's statement harmful and perplexing.
"Using inaccurate polls that reinforce false stereotypes about the Muslim community, at a time when right-wing bigots are calling for fascist measures against Muslims, is inexcusable," spokesman Haroon Manjlai said.
In her statement, Sanchez, an Orange County resident who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said she was referring to estimates based on limited research, and other data support far lower estimates.
Sanchez is running for the seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Border Patrol catches smuggler using fake agency vehicle

Texas authorities are on high alert after Border Patrol agents caught an alleged smuggler trying to disguise its SUV as one of the agency's vehicles, officials said Friday.

Border Patrol agents caught a smuggler driving a Chevy Tahoe that was painted to look like one of the agency’s vehicle, according to KRGV-TV. Vehicles are usually painted to act as delivery or telecommunications trucks to try and fool agents, but it’s unusual to see a Border Patrol vehicle to be copied.
Border Patrol in Laredo found 12 people stuffed in the back of the imposter vehicle. Agents knew the vehicle was a fake as soon as they found it.
“There’s no fender, there’s no ground effect on any of our vehicles, Omar Zamora, an agent with the Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley sector, told KRGV-TV. “They’re actually pretty bare and about as high as we get the vehicle, because we do go off road.”
Zamora said any agent would’ve recognized the SUV.
“In the 18 years that I’ve been in the Border Patrol, we’ve seen UPS, FedEx trucks, Time Warner trucks, any kind of clones. Any business you can think of. The smugglers are trying to clone it to avoid law enforcement detection,” Zamora added.
Zamora said the numbers and codes on each unit means something and was confident a clone couldn’t conceal a crime in the region.
Border Patrol said this is the first cloned unit in recent memory in the Laredo area and has urged the public to call law enforcement if they see something suspicious.

ACLU Cartoon

Colorado ACLU official resigns after suggesting Trump supporters be shot

Loring Wirbel

 

 The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado said on Friday it had accepted the resignation of a co-chair who came under criticism for a Facebook post that said people who insist on voting for Donald Trump should be told they will be shot.

Loring Wirbel, who served as co-chair of the Colorado Springs chapter of the ACLU, also compared Trump, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Wirbel's Facebook comments were reported by the conservative website "The Daily Caller" and caught the ire of Trump supporters and members of the Republican Party in Colorado.
"The thing is, we have to really reach out to those who might consider voting for Trump and say, 'This is Goebbels. This is the final solution. If you are voting for him I will have to shoot you before election day'," Wirbel wrote of Facebook, according to the Daily Caller.
"They’re not going to listen to reason, so when justice is gone, there’s always force," the post read.
The comments could no longer be found on Wirbel's personal Facebook page.
Daniel Cole, executive director of the El Paso County Republican Party, called for Wirbel to be replaced at the ACLU, saying the comments were irresponsible and especially insensitive coming two weeks after of a gunman killed three people and wounded nine at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.
"It's beyond belief that he would think it was acceptable to post something like that," Cole told the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs.
Wirbel said the comments were not meant to be taken seriously.
"They are taking that stuff out of context. It's smear politics," he told the newspaper.
The ACLU said in a statement on Friday it had accepted Wirbel's resignation and did not condone the sentiments.

 

 

Carson threatens to leave Republican Party

Carson threatens to leave GOP: I won't be part of deception

Presidential hopeful Ben Carson threatened Friday to leave the Republican Party.   
The retired neurosurgeon lashed out Friday morning at reports of a recent closed-door meeting of Republican establishment leaders focused on deep divisions within the GOP electorate, particularly the continued strength of billionaire businessman Donald Trump.
The Washington Post reported that the group, including Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, discussed the possibility of a "brokered national convention" if there isn't a clear winner in the party's months long primary election season.   
"If this was the beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party," Carson said  in a statement that referenced Trump's repeated threats to leave the GOP if treated "unfairly."   
"I pray that the report in the Post this morning was incorrect," Carson added. "If it is correct, every voter who is standing for change must know they are being betrayed. I won't stand for it."
The Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to questions about the meeting and Carson's threat.   
A third-party run by Carson or Trump would be a nightmare scenario for the GOP. While Carson is slipping in recent polls, an independent bid that siphoned even a few percentage points away from the party's nominee could make it all but impossible for the Republican nominee to win the general election.   
Spokesman Doug Watts said Carson was appalled at reports suggesting that Republican leaders were trying to manipulate the party's presidential nominating process. He acknowledged that Carson, like Trump and the rest of Republican field, signed a pledge not to launch a third-party bid.   
"The pledge isn't meaningless," Watts said. "But he signed the pledge based on everybody playing by the rules."

Trump's name, image removed at Dubai development amid uproar

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates –  The image and name of American presidential hopeful Donald Trump was gone on Friday from parts of a Dubai golf course and housing development amid the uproar over his comments about banning Muslims from traveling to the United States.
A billboard showing Trump golfing had been at the Damac Properties' Akoya development, as well as an image of Trump's daughter Ivanka. All that remained Friday was the brown background, though another billboard declaring the development "The Beverly Hills of Dubai" remained.
Also, pieces of letters that appeared to spell out Trump's name had been pulled down from a stone wall, the letters left lying on the sandy ground.
Damac Properties declined to comment. It earlier said it "would not comment further on Mr. Trump's personal or political agenda, nor comment on the internal American political debate scene."
Trump has for years looked to do business in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf and the emirate of Dubai. But some of his rhetoric about Islam on the campaign trail -- including his call to monitor mosques and his proposal this week to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S. -- has led to increased wariness in the Arab world.
Earlier this week, Dubai-based Landmark Group pulled all Trump home decor products at its 180 Lifestyle stores over his comments.

1 billion dollar weapons deal from Obama, think about it ???