Jeb Bush: Trump needs Republican challenger in 2020

Former 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush is seen above. (Getty Images) (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)

Jeb Bush believes a Republican should challenge President Trump for the nomination in 2020 — slamming the president's "dangerous" policies on trade and other issues.
In the latest salvo between the two former rivals, Bush, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, made the comments Saturday during an interview with ex-Obama adviser David Axelrod.
“I think someone should run just because Republicans ought to be given a choice,” Bush said on CNN's "The Axe Files."  “It’s hard to beat a sitting president, but to have a conversation about what it is to be a conservative, I think it’s important.”
Bush, whose father George. H.W. Bush was the 41st president of the United States and his brother, George W. Bush, was the 43rd, reportedly added that Republican voters should be given more of a choice between different ideologies.
"And our country needs to have competing ideologies that people -- that are dynamic, that focus on the world we're in and the world we're moving toward rather than revert back to a nostalgic time," he said on CNN, seeming to take aim at Trump's "Make America Great Again" 2016 slogan.
Bush elaborated about his disagreements with Trump during the interview.
"We haven't had a major crisis to deal with, but this unilateralism or going-alone-ism I think is really dangerous," Bush said of Trump's foreign policy moves, according to The Hill.
"Our friends no longer believe they can trust the United States and our enemies, in many cases, feel emboldened by this approach," he reportedly added. "I think it defies the...bipartisan kind of consensus on foreign policy that has, by and large, kept America safe."
According to The Hill, Bush also critiqued Trump's ability to handle the more symbolic aspects of running the country, such as responding during moments of crisis.
However, he did praise Trump's tax policy, regulatory changes and judicial nominations.
“You can honestly say he’s done good things in terms of policy and applaud them,” Bush said. “I think the symbolic, you know the kingly duties of the presidency, that’s where he falls short, and it’s important.”
The interview is the latest in a series of back-and-forth jabs between the two men.
Bush blasted Trump in September 2018 as a bad role model for young children, telling the Detroit Free Press: “He is not my role model as it relates to values I would share with my children and grandchildren.”
During a June 2018 interview with CNBC, Bush criticized Trump for going negative, saying that candidates must be civil with one another.
"The kind of campaign [Trump] ran would have never been successful a decade ago or in the age of [Ronald] Reagan and Bush, for example," said Bush.
The ends don't justify the means, Bush said, referring to the way Trump goes negative. "It's not worth disparaging people."
Bush told Axelrod that Republicans need to "offer a compelling alternative" to Democratic ideas rather than just calling their ideas "bad."
So far, the only person to hint at challenging Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who formed an exploratory committee in February.

AOC, Cory Booker Stupid Remarks Cartoons

Secretary of State Pompeo announces sanctions on anyone requesting ICC probes

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:06 AM PT — Friday, March 15, 2019

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced new restrictions regarding probes from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
On Friday at the State Department, Pompeo said he would revoke visas for anyone responsible for for an ICC investigation of U.S. personnel.
The U.S. secretary of state said, “if you are requesting an ICC investigation of U.S. personnel in connection with a situation in Afghanistan, you cannot assume you will get a visa to enter the U.S.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department, Friday, March 15, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Pompeo went on to say, “this includes persons who take or have taken action to request or further section an investigation — these visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue ally personnel, including Israelis , without ally’s consent.
The head of State said he hopes to convince the ICC to change course in Afghanistan from taking action inconsistent with U.S. views.

Old CNN website was source of unvetted 'random' info used by author of anti-Trump dossier, docs reveal

From Russia with Love?

Former British spy Christopher Steele confessed that he used an unverified report submitted to a CNN website, where “random individuals” can post information, for his salacious anti-Trump dossier.
Steele made the awkward revelation during a deposition last year in a case involving Russian entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev, who claims his companies Webzilla and XBT Holdings were defamed by Steele after the dossier was published by BuzzFeed.
Steele was asked during the deposition how he verified allegations about Gubarev's companies and whether he found “anything of relevance concerning Webzilla,” according to the newly released transcripts of the deposition.
“We did. It was an article I have got here which was posted on July 28, 2009, on something called CNN iReport,” Steele said.
But CNN iReport, which appears to be no longer active -- though archives remain accessible online -- states that it’s a “user-generated site” and warns that “the stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post.”

“The stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post.”
— CNN iReport disclaimer 

Even the site’s banner included the slogan “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.”

Former British spy Christopher Steele confessed that he used an unverified report submitted to a CNN website, where “random individuals” can post information, for his salacious anti-Trump dossier.

When asked whether the former British spy understood how the website actually worked, he confessed that “I do not have any particular knowledge of that” and noted he didn’t understand at the time that the site has “no connection to any CNN reporters.”
“Do you understand that CNN iReports are or were nothing more than any random individuals’ assertions on the Internet?” an examiner asked Steele.
He replied: “No, I obviously presume that if it is on a CNN site that it may has [sic] some kind of CNN status. Albeit that it may be an independent person posting on the site.”

“No, I obviously presume that if it is on a CNN site that it may has [sic] some kind of CNN status. Albeit that it may be an independent person posting on the site.”
— Christopher Steele

According to the archive copy of the iReports site, the website specifically notes that none of the users who submit content can be described as working for CNN.
“Being an iReport.com user and creating and uploading content to iReport.com does not mean that you work for CNN, and you should never represent yourself as working for CNN,” the site’s FAQ section read.
 
The dossier authored by Steele alleged that Gubarev's companies “used botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct 'alerting operations' against the Democratic Party leadership” and that Gubarev himself played a “significant” part in the operation while “under duress” from the Russian security agency FSB.
The latest revelation of using unconfirmed sources put the dossier’s legitimacy further into question, especially since the FBI extensively relied on the dossier in its warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in seeking to surveil Trump aide Carter Page.
Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, were hired by Glenn Simpson's U.S. based company, Fusion GPS, to work on the dossier and promote its contents to journalists. Fusion GPS received $1.8 million via the law firm Perkins Coie, with the money paid by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman prove to be the ultimate ‘lawnmower parents’

The latest college cheating scandal has already caught more than 50 adults red-handed, including coaches, test administrators, CEOs and Hollywood celebrities – not to mention embarrassing the heck out of elite universities like Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, USC and UCLA.
That academic cheating goes on isn’t exactly breaking news. Awhile back The Educational Testing Service and Ad Council even launched a campaign to discourage it with the tagline, “Cheating is a personal foul.” With “increased competitiveness for admission into universities and graduate schools,” The Academic Cheating Fact Sheet said, cheating is “seen by many students as a means to a profitable end.”
But what if your parents are wealthy and do the cheating for you by paying for higher test scores like “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman – who paid $15,000 disguised as a charitable donation so their daughter could take part in the college entrance-exam cheating scam, according to court documents.
Or what if they scheme to invent athletic achievements to get you into a top school, like “Fuller House” actress Lori Loughlin, who is accused of agreeing to pay $500,000 in bribes to have her two daughters designated as recruits for the University of Southern California crew team despite that fact that neither child participated in the sport.
You don’t even have to work to get that top SAT score or the position of crew captain. It’s purchased for you, like a new iPhone. Just ring it up on Mastercard…ka-ching.
All looks “profitable” – until you get caught by the Department of Justice.
But would your kids really want you to do that for them? Why not ask them and use this as a natural “teachable moment” to highlight the importance of true self-worth and the value of hard work?
Just throw this out at the dinner table: “I’d love your opinion on something. I just saw a shocking news story about some really rich people who paid a lot of money to get their kids into the right college. We’re not rich, but I’m wondering: If we were and I did that for the two of you, how would you feel about it?”
Wait for it. If you have two kids, their responses will predictably be as different as night and day.
Kid 1: “I’d be upset and hurt. You don’t believe in me very much, do you? I mean, you paid somebody because you didn’t think I could get in myself by studying and working hard.”
Kid 2 shrugs: “If I could get into a big school like that as a done deal, without sweating over an application or a test, cool! What’s bad about that?”
Kid 1 fires back: “You didn’t get into the school, Dumbo. Mom got you into it by paying somebody. You telling me you’d feel good about that?”
Kid 2: (Silence).
Kid 1: “And you’d get caught, because you’re stupid. Even if you didn’t, you could never keep up with the work at a college you didn’t deserve to get in.”
Look at that. With no lecture from you, your older son has just solidified his belief in the self-reward of working hard, and your younger daughter got a wake-up call about the real world.

No one feels truly good about undeserved rewards being handed to them (especially if lies are involved). That’s why I always tell parents, “You never do your kids any favor by snow-plowing their roads in life.” No one can buy you self-respect. You have to earn it yourself.

Simply stated, no one feels truly good about undeserved rewards being handed to them (especially if lies are involved). That’s why I always tell parents, “You never do your kids any favor by snow-plowing their roads in life.”
No one can buy you self-respect. You have to earn it yourself.
If you were one of those two actress moms, imagine explaining what you did to your daughter(s) over the dinner table: “Honey, I thought you weren’t smart enough/talented enough to get into that school, so I was just trying to help…”
Then imagine your daughter’s expression as she realizes: Not only will I be denied admission to the school I bragged about getting in to my friends, but my academic track record is ruined for life.
As I wrote in a previous op-ed, parents if you think you’re doing those things for your kid, take a good look in the mirror. You’re selfish. All those things you’re doing…well, you’re not really doing them for your kid. You’re doing them for you, because the thought of your kid being unhappy, struggling, failing, and not being able to compete with their peers drives you crazy.
But here’s the irony. Doing anything for your kid that he could do for himself actually accomplishes the opposite of what you truly want. It ruins your child’s chance for success in life because it weakens their resolve, kills their resilience, tears down their self-concept, and diminishes their desire to do anything in life on their own.
Now that’ll put a major cramp in a parent-child relationship.

Ocasio-Cortez's 'unfavorable' rating skyrockets, with most people viewing her negatively: poll

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s unfavorable rating has spiked after just months in Congress, with most of the public viewing her negatively rather than favorably, a new poll shows.
The New York Democrat shot to fame amid the party’s lurch to the left and embracement of socialist policies such as the Green New Deal, yet the more people learned about the 29-year-old freshman congresswoman, the more they were turned off by her.
A Gallup poll released Friday shows that Ocasio-Cortez's unfavorable rating has risen by 15 points since last September, when she had yet to win the general election, increasing from 26 percent to 41 percent of the American adults polled.
She has also managed to increase her favorability rating, but only by 7 points. About 31 percent of surveyed people view her favorably, compared to 24 percent in September.
Since September, Ocasio-Cortez became more widely recognized across the country, with half of the respondents saying they have never heard of her before. Now only a fifth of surveyed people says they aren’t familiar with the self-described Democratic socialist.
The poll notes that Ocasio-Cortez’s name recognition is growing compared to that of other politicians at the same point in their careers in Congress. More surveyed people know the New York Democrat than they knew Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz as freshmen.
Overall, the results suggest that Ocasio-Cortez may be a polarizing figure. Most of her support is galvanized around younger, more diverse Democrat-leaning groups, while most of her opposition is composed of Republicans and more conservative Democrat-leaning groups.
Nearly three-quarters of Republican respondents say they view her negatively, with only 5 percent having a positive view. Among the Democrats, 56 percent of respondents had a favorable view of Ocasio-Cortez, compared to only 15 percent of the Democrats polled who don’t support her.
She’s also favored by adults 18 to 34, people of color and women. Yet she’s facing a favorability deficit among men (-24), whites (-24), and adults 55 or older (-22).
Among self-described independents, she has a negative net rating of 5 percent.

Fusion GPS Cartoons

Russian tech firm used in hacking of Democrats, McCain's associate disseminated Steele dossier, unsealed documents show

Documents newly unsealed Thursday in a case involving a Russian entrepreneur and anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele reveal that a tech company owned by the Russian was used to hack Democratic Party leaders.
Aleksej Gubarev, a businessman who runs companies across the world, claims his organizations Webzilla and XBT Holdings were defamed by Steele after the unverified dossier was published by BuzzFeed on Jan. 10, 2017.
The dossier alleged that Gubarev's companies “used botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct 'alerting operations' against the Democratic Party leadership.” The dossier also suggested that Gubarev played a “significant” part in the operation while “under duress” from the Russian security agency FSB.
But the unsealed documents on Thursday include a forensic analysis report by a former top cyber expert in the FBI’s cybercrime division that concludes that Gubarev’s companies were indeed used by Russian operatives in an effort to hack Democratic Party leaders, the New York Times reported.
The report notes that the businessman’s companies were often used by criminal groups and Russian agents to carry out various operations, including an attack on Ukraine’s power grid in 2015.
Yet while the report links Gubarev’s companies to Russia’s larger efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, it doesn’t claim that the businessman or his executives actually participated in the hacking operations.
“I have no evidence of them actually sitting behind a keyboard,” Anthony Ferrante, the report’s lead author, said in a deposition, according to the Times.
Gubarev denied the involvement in the hack, while his lawyers tried to ensure the report would be kept under seal and inaccessible to the public and the media, but the judge last December refused the request and ordered the documents unsealed.
Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, were hired by Glenn Simpson's U.S. based company, Fusion GPS, to work on the dossier and promote its contents to journalists. Fusion GPS received $1.8 million via the law firm Perkins Coie, with the money paid by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
A transcript of a court deposition unsealed Thursday also reveals that an associate of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was in contact with multiple journalists and government officials in an effort to disseminate the dossier.
David Kramer, a former State Department official, said in a Dec. 13, 2017, deposition that the dossier was provided to journalists at McClatchy, NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed and CNN’s Carl Bernstein, according to the Daily Caller.
The report by Steele was also shared with State Department official Victoria Nuland, Obama National Security Counsel official Celeste Wallander and Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
Kramer said that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson suggested he would use McCain to pass the dossier around.
“I think they felt a senior Republican was better to be the recipient of this rather than a Democrat because if it were a Democrat, I think that the view was that it would have been dismissed as a political attack,” Kramer said, according to the outlet.