Kushner meets with leaders of Jordan, Israel on first day of Mideast tour to unveil peace plan

Jared Kushner met with the leaders of Jordan and Israel on Wednesday to outline the administration's Mideast peace plan on the first day of a five-country tour through the region.
Kushner first discussed the “Deal of the Century,” a plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, with  King Abdullah II in Jordan before heading to Israel for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The administration has been working on the plan for two years.

​​​​​​​White House adviser Jared Kushner listens during a proclamation signing with President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House in Washington, March 25, 2019. (Associated Press)

After the meeting in Jordan, Abdullah reiterated “the need to achieve just, comprehensive and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution," Jordan's state news service said, according to Al Arabiya.
It’s not clear if the plan calls for a two-state solution, and it fails to address Israeli occupation, according to Al Arabiya.
U.S. Ambassador David Friedman, who attended the Kushner-Netanyahu meeting, said the U.S. believes in “Palestinian autonomy,” according to The Post.
Kushner will leave on Thursday for Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
The Trump administration has invited Arab leaders to a peace summit at Camp David in September to further discuss the plan.
Israeli officials were involved in planning the summit but Netanyahu does not plan to attend.

Doug Schoen: Second Democratic debate -- Two big winners, two big losers and one big, unanswered question

Former Vice President Joe Biden dominated the debate stage and weathered the attacks of nine opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday night, emerging the clear winner and standing by his promise not be “overly polite.”
In possibly the most contentious Democratic primary debate thus far, frontrunners Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris of California sparred with each other and the other candidates over the issues of health care, immigration, race relations and climate change.
Following Harris’ and Biden’s heated exchange over busing to achieve school integration in the first debate, Biden was far more aggressive than in his previous debate performance in responding to attacks from every candidate on stage.
The former vice president delivered his message compellingly and convincingly. Even during his less strong moments, Biden remained the focal point of the conversation, speaking for over 21 minutes – more than any other candidate on stage.
On health care, in particular, Biden displaying his in-depth policy knowledge while also rebutting repeated attacks from Harris. Biden gave a strong defense of his pragmatic plan to strengthen ObamaCare, while the confusion and lack of clarity around Harris’ plan hindered her position.

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Biden also successfully took aim at what he has called Harris’ “have it every which way approach.”
Health care “is the single most important issue facing the public,” Biden said to Harris. “To be very blunt ... you can't beat President Trump with doubletalk on this plan.”
Darkhorse candidate New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio focused his efforts on attacking Biden directly, particularly during the discussions over immigration and race relations. But the attacks failed to create the searing moment that de Blasio had hoped for and did not seem to damage Biden in any meaningful way.
On another front, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii scored points against Harris while addressing criminal justice reform and race. Gabbard took aim at the racial implications of Harris’ tough-on-crime record as a California attorney general, leaving Harris without a rebuttal on an issue that the senator commanded during the last debate.

Despite Biden’s strong performance and solid frontrunner status, it is clear that the party has seismically shifted away from the centrist Democratic Party of the 1990’s, making his path to the nomination far from certain.

Gabbard told Harris: “When you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people's lives, you did not and worse yet in the case of those who are on death row, you blocked evidence from being revealed that would have freed them until you were forced to do so.”
“There's no excuse for that and the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology,” Gabbard added.
At best, Harris met expectations but fell short of being the focal point of the night as she was at the debate last month.
The only substantive losers were minor candidates such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Both have consistently polled at or below the 2 percent threshold and did not get the debate moment that they likely needed to enhance their candidacies in order to qualify for the next round of debates.
Although businessman Andrew Yang did not have a resounding debate moment, the universal-basic-income advocate will likely still secure a spot in the fall debates due to the strength of his grassroots support.
Moreover, despite Biden’s strong performance and solid frontrunner status, it is clear that the party has seismically shifted away from the centrist Democratic Party of the 1990’s, making his path to the nomination far from certain.
Though Biden controlled this debate in many ways, his two leading opponents were absent from the stage of the CNN debate in Detroit. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both competing for the support of the far left, debated Tuesday night.
Under attack for being too moderate, Biden delivered a powerful response when asked how he can appeal to progressives in the Democratic Party. He drew on his past success in winning elections and scoring major achievements in governing during his long career and emphasized his clear appeal to Midwest and working-class voters.
“I was asked to manage an $87 billion plan that would be spent in a total of 18 months that revived this state and many others … and it kept us out of a depression,” Biden said, referring to his work as vice president to help the auto industry and the country as a whole climb out of the Great Recession shortly after he took office with former President Barack Obama.
Biden said he led the economic recovery effort with just a fraction of 1 percent waste or fraud, “and our administration pushed bailing General Motors out saving tens of thousands of jobs here in this state.”
Ultimately, the strength of Biden’s performance made it clear that he is prepared to combine the policy knowledge and experience necessary to take on President Trump and potentially win in November 2020. He clearly remains the candidate who will be tough to beat for the Democratic presidential nomination.

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AOC says Palestinians 'have no choice but to riot' against Israel

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agreed that Israel is “criminal” in its treatment of Palestinians, whom she said have no other choice but to “riot” against the Jewish state.
The New York Democrat made her remarks during an appearance on the hip-hop program “Ebro in the Morning” with Ebro Darden, where they touched on a variety of issues concerning the freshman congresswoman.
The host asserted that “corrupt” governments in Israel, the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia were “all working in concert.”
“How do you have white supremacist Jews?” Ebro asked. “How do you have people like Stephen Miller? How do you have these individuals who are legit aligning with racism and white supremacy, but they're Jewish? And it's something that most people can't wrap their brains around. But it's a real thing.”

“How do you have white supremacist Jews? How do you have people like Stephen Miller? How do you have these individuals who are legit aligning with racism and white supremacy, but they're Jewish?
— Ebro Darden, host of “Ebro in the Morning” 

He added: “And what's going on with Israel and Palestine, while it's very, very, deep, it is very, very, criminal, and it is very, very unjust.”
But rather than push back against the claims, Ocasio-Cortez agreed with them, saying “Absolutely” and adding that “I think, too, where we're at as a country when it comes to Israel-Palestine is very much a generational issue.”
She said the right-wing unfairly accuses her of anti-Semitism when she’s actually just being critical of the Israeli government.
“Criticizing the occupation doesn't make you anti-Israel, frankly. It doesn't mean that you are against the existence of a nation,” she said. “It means that you believe in human rights, and it's about making sure that Palestinian human rights are equal to Israeli human rights, and there are a lot of troubling things happening there.”
Ocasio-Cortez went on to say that Palestinians also have no other choice but to resort to violence as they are “marginalized.”

"I believe that injustice is a threat to the safety of all people, because once you have a group that is marginalized and marginalized and marginalized—once someone doesn't have access to clean water, they have no choice but to riot, right?"
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“Jewish people have been persecuted throughout all of human history, but I don't think that by marginalizing Palestinians, you create safety,” she said.
“I believe that injustice is a threat to the safety of all people, because once you have a group that is marginalized and marginalized and marginalized — once someone doesn't have access to clean water, they have no choice but to riot, right? And it doesn't have to be that way.”
The Democrat’s remarks come at a time she and her fellow progressive freshman colleagues are being accused of anti-Semitism for embracing the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Two other Democrats, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, have recently compared boycotts of Nazi Germany to the boycott of Israel.

Dem governor's elections board appointee resigns over sex joke told at convention

Bob Cordle

A lengthy joke about cows, sex and women apparently turned out to be no laughing matter in North Carolina this week. It has prompted the resignation of the chairman of the state’s elections board.
Bob Cordle reportedly told the joke Monday before hundreds of elections officials from across the state, many of whom were women. On Tuesday he submitted his resignation to Gov. Roy Cooper, who appointed him earlier this year. Both Cordle and Cooper are Democrats.
"I sincerely apologize to those who heard my joke at the elections conference on Monday and all those affected by my words," he wrote.
He had said he believed the joke drew “a big laugh” when he told it, Raleigh’s WRAL-TV reported.
Cordle is the third state elections chairman to resign in North Carolina since December, the News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
After word spread that Cordle had told the joke, a blogger posted a version of the joke in a post titled, “How Did Bob Cordle Get To Be Chair of the NC State Board of Elections?”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at the governor's mansion in Raleigh, N.C., Dec. 19, 2018. (Associated Press)

North Carolina’s elections board has faced a string of controversies in recent months, according to the News & Observer.
Last December, then-Chairman Andy Penry resigned over a string of social media posts, including some that took shots at President Trump.
Cooper appointed Josh Malcolm to replace Penry, but Malcolm opted against rejoining the board after allegations of election fraud in a U.S. House race led to a power struggle between Cooper and Republican leaders in the state General Assembly, the newspaper reported.
Then Cooper appointed Cordle in February.
After Cordle resigned, the spokesman for the state Republican Party blasted Cooper.
“For a career politician who spent more than 30 years in state government, @RoyCooperNC continues to prove he has no idea what he’s doing,” Jeff Hauser wrote on Twitter.

Trump campaign calls president debate night’s big winner

President Trump’s campaign claimed victory on Tuesday after some of the top 2020 Democrats faced off on CNN in a debate that showed a major divide among some candidates on how far left to take the country.
“Same radical Democrats,” the statement from Trump’s campaign, read. “Same big government socialist message. Same winner of tonight’s debate: President Donald Trump.”
Trump has been making an effort to attempt to overshadow early Democratic debates. Last month, he mocked NBC News for technical issues during its debate and posted a satirical video showing him appearing at the debate to “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne.
The Democratic debate on Tuesday did not result in a clear winner, although longshot political outsider Marianne Williamson was the night’s most “Googled” candidate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., were pulled into what was essentially a two-and-a-half-hour fight with their more moderate rivals.
The result was the party's divide on full display, with the center-left (and lower-polling) contenders fiercely arguing that policies like "Medicare-for-all" and the Green New Deal.
Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche, Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

Detroit residents to Lawrence Jones: Politicians make promises before elections, then disappear

Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones traveled to Detroit, home of this week's Democratic presidential debates, to hear directly from residents how they view the performance of local politicians.
Several of those residents, in interviews aired Tuesday on "Hannity," told Jones they rarely see lawmakers in the flesh.
"The leaders here, do you think they are representing the community effectively?" Jones asked one woman who was on the front porch of her home.
"Who are they?" the woman responded. She told Jones she doesn't see them in her neighborhood very often.
Another woman told Jones that politicians and candidates often "talk a good game" during campaign season but do little once elected.
"It's hard when it comes up to campaign time to select someone," she said.
She added that crime and general conditions in the area make her want to leave her neighborhood despite having lived there for decades.
"I feel bad," she said.
"I want to go," she said. "I've been here 66 years and I want to go."
The first woman Jones spoke with concurred.
"It's time to go, there's nothing here," she said.
Recounting his trip to host Sean Hannity, Jones said that he and his crew left the neighborhood for a while after conducting interviews, then returned to find the quiet street a homicide scene.
"It's a depressing state here," he said.
"There has to be an opening for conservatives and Republicans to go into these communities," Jones said. "I don't think these people care about party at this point, they just want someone to fix their pain."
Additionally, one resident Jones interviewed told him the recurrence of crime has affected her children's sleeping habits.
"My kids say, 'You all hear the gunfire?' and jump on the floor and that's where they slept -- they refused to get back in bed because they heard gunfire back there," she said.

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