President Cartoon

Fox News poll: Voters say Obama should stay off 2014 campaign trail

We’re about four months out from the 2014 midterm elections. Yet, if they were held today -- which is how the question is posed to registered voters in the Fox News national poll -- 43 percent would support the Democratic candidate in their House district and 41 percent the Republican. 
A month ago the vote was tied at 42 percent apiece. In early June, Republicans had a four-point edge, while Democrats were up by three points in May. 
CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
You get the picture: there’s lots of uncertainty and bouncing around. It’s just too soon to tell if there’s going to be a wave election, even though some political junkies can’t help from speculating about it. 
One thing that has been consistent for the last several months is the greater level interest in the upcoming elections among Republicans -- and that holds true again in the new poll. By a 14-point margin, more Republicans (70 percent) than Democrats (56 percent) are extremely or very interested in the election. Last month Republicans were more interested by 12 points. 
Among just those interested voters, this month’s generic ballot results show the Republican candidate with a seven-point edge over the Democrat (47-40 percent). A month ago it was an 11-point advantage for the GOP among interested voters (June 21-23).
At this point in the cycle four years ago, the Republican candidate had an 11-point advantage over the Democratic candidate on the generic ballot among all registered voters and President Obama’s job rating stood at 43 approve vs. 50 disapprove (July 27-28, 2010).
The Republican candidate was up by seven points among registered voters on the final Fox News poll before the 2010 midterms (46-39 percent). The Republicans went on to gain 63 seats in the U.S. House. At that time Obama’s job rating was 41 percent approve and 50 percent disapprove (Oct. 26-28, 2010). 
“The Republicans have the upper hand at this point, although it’s a little weaker than in 2010,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who jointly conducts the poll with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “Their main problem is that there are far fewer vulnerable Democratic seats to pick off this time around.” 
The president’s current job rating is 42 approve - 52 disapprove. 
The new poll re-asked a question from 2010 to test the president’s influence: if you were running for office as a Democratic candidate this year, would you want President Obama to campaign for you? While 41 percent of voters say yes, over half -- 57 percent -- say no, they wouldn’t want Obama on the campaign trail with them. 
In 2010 the results were much more balanced: 48 percent wanted the president to campaign for them, while 50 percent wanted him to stay home. 
Among Democrats, four years ago fully 82 percent wanted Obama to campaign on their behalf. That’s down to 69 percent in the new poll, a drop of 13 points. 
Among independents, 38 percent wanted Obama’s help in 2010 and 32 percent would take it today.
Meanwhile, almost everyone remains unhappy with current lawmakers: just 13 percent of voters approve of the job Congress is doing, while 79 percent disapprove. 
Hating on Congress is something large numbers of Democrats (74 percent disapprove), independents (82 percent) and Republicans (83 percent) are in agreement on. 
Approval of Congress has been below 20 percent for the last three years. 
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,057 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from July 20-22, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Illegal immigrants protest outside White House, with little fear of repercussions

Dismantling America.

Illegal immigrant demonstrators were protesting outside the White House on Monday – but don’t expect America’s immigration officers to intervene.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official indicated that even if the protesters end up getting arrested by D.C. police, they’d have to be serious criminals for ICE to get involved.
“Unless the individuals meet ICE’s enforcement priorities, it’s unlikely that the agency would get involved in the case,” the official told FoxNews.com.
Under a policy that’s been in effect for several years, ICE focuses deportation mostly on serious criminals and – in some cases -- those caught in the act of crossing the border. The agency prioritizes deportation for felons, repeat offenders, gang members and others with a serious criminal record. But the agency largely gives a pass to other undocumented residents.
This is why illegal immigrant activists can protest outside the White House without worrying too much about ICE.  
They did so at lunchtime on Monday, marching across Lafayette Park to the White House and advocating a reprieve for illegal immigrant parents who brought their children to the U.S. – and whose children have benefited from a separate reprieve issued in 2012 by the Department of Homeland Security.
According to The Washington Times, illegal immigrant protesters also planned to demonstrate outside the White House on Monday afternoon, to call on immigration groups to boycott any administration meetings until illegal immigrants are included in those talks.

Human Shields

Michelle Obama complains about money's influence on politics, then asks for 'fat check'

First lady Michelle Obama is complaining on the fundraising circuit about the evils of money in politics -- while also asking Democratic Party supporters to “write a big fat check” before the November elections.
“So, yeah, there’s too much money in politics,” Obama said during a fundraiser Thursday in her hometown of Chicago. “There are special interests that have too much influence.”
However, she quickly pivoted and urged attendees at least twice to write a hefty check.
“There is something you can do right now today to make a difference and that is to write a big, fat check. I kid you not,” she told the crowd of about 150 at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago. “I’m going to be honest with you. That’s what we need you to do right now. We need you to write the biggest, fattest check that you can possibly write.”
Beyond helping Democrats win in the fall midterms, the money is needed to help President Obama make progress on his political agenda in the final two years of his presidency amid relentless Republican opposition.
“It’s gotten so bad, they’re even trying to block the work that I do on childhood obesity, and that’s really saying something,” the first lady said. “I mean, for most folks in this country, making sure our kids get decent nutrition shouldn’t be that controversial.”
She continued asking for fall elections money by saying: “Writing those checks is the single most impactful thing you can do right now. When you dig deep, when you max out, that translates into staff hired and offices opened and ads running where they need to run.
“You need to dig deep and you need to get everyone you know out to vote this November.”
Tickets for the event started at $500 a person and scaled upward to special donations of $10,000 and $20,000 per couple.

UN Security Council calls for 'immediate and unconditional' Gaza cease-fire

The U.N. Security Council ratified a draft statement early Monday calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. 
The council adopted the presidential statement as Muslims begin celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The statement calls for both Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas "to accept and fully implement the humanitarian cease-fire into the Eid period and beyond." It said this would allow for the delivery of urgently needed assistance. 
The statement also called on both sides to begin to "engage in efforts to achieve a durable and fully respected cease-fire," based on a proposal previously put forward by Egypt. Hamas has rejected previous Egyptian proposals for a truce in the region and insisted that any cease-fire agreement must include the lifting of a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. 
The resolution was drafted by Jordan, the Arab League's representative on the Security Council. The text "expresses grave concern regarding the deterioration in the situation as a result of the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties," though it does not call for the Israeli military to pull out of the territory. 
Rwanda, the current council president, announced agreement Sunday night on the presidential statement and the immediate, rare emergency meeting. Presidential statements become part of the council's official record and must be approved at a council meeting. They are a step below Security Council resolutions, but unlike resolutions they require approval of all 15 members.
The Security Council is often deeply divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues, with the United States, Israel's most important ally, often blocking or using its veto on statements and resolutions pressed by the Palestinians and their supporters.
Jordan's deputy U.N. ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud said the presidential statement was the first Security Council document on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since January 2009, when the council called for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza after another conflict with Hamas.
The Gaza health ministry claims the 20-day war has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, though it is unclear how many are civilians. Israel has lost 43 soldiers, as well as two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, according to the Israeli military.
The Palestinians and the Israelis both criticized the statement adopted by the council.
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the council should have adopted a strong and legally binding resolution a long time ago demanding an immediate halt to Israel's "aggression," providing the Palestinian people with protection and lifting the siege in the Gaza Strip so goods and people can move freely.
Nonetheless, Mansour expressed hope that Israel will "honor and respect" a new humanitarian cease-fire which the Palestinians hope will last "for a long time" so all outstanding issues can be addressed, especially the siege.
"You cannot keep 1.8 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in this huge prison," he told reporters. "That is a recipe for disaster, It is inhumane, and it has to be stopped and it has to be lifted."
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said the presidential statement didn't mention Hamas or the firing of rockets into Israel or Israel's right to defend itself.
He sidestepped several questions on whether Israel would accept a new humanitarian cease-fire, but stressed that it had agreed to five cease-fires since the conflict began.
"Every single time the international community called for a cease-fire, we ceased and Hamas fired," he said.
Prosor directed his statement to countries that give money to the Palestinians in Gaza, saying, "Your tax dollars are not being used towards education, civil services or development -- they are being used to develop a terrorist stronghold."
The statement calls for "full respect" for international humanitarian law and reiterates "the need to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians and their protection."
The statement also commends efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to achieve a cease-fire. Ban is scheduled to address U.N. correspondents on Monday morning on his mission.
In the longer term, the statement urges the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace "with secure and recognized borders."

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vows Israel will do 'whatever is necessary' in fight with Hamas

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/27/israel-resumes-gaza-offensive-after-rocket-attacks/

Mexican prison ordeal saps Marine Sgt. Tahmooressi's life savings

Click to see video.

7/27/14    

While Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi was living on a base and eating MREs in Afghanistan and earning a battlefield promotion, his paychecks from Uncle Sam were piling up in the bank.

He dreamed of returning to Weston, Fla., when his second tour of duty ended and buying a new truck, maybe getting a place of his own. At 26, and with a modest nest egg waiting, he had a future back home.

Now Tahmooressi languishes in a Mexican prison, plagued by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And the $65,000 he saved in the service of his nation is gone, according to his mother.

"He has already lost all of his life savings."- Jill Tahmooressi, mother of Marine imprisoned in Mexico

"He has already lost all of his life savings," his mother, Jill Tahmooressi, said. "When this is all over he will have nothing and will be facing an enormous debt."

Tahmooressi has been held since March 31, when he accidentally drove into Mexico at the San Ysidro, Calif., Port of Entry late March 31, after becoming disoriented from poorly lit street signs and being in a position on the road unable to make a last ditch U-turn. He was carrying all of his possessions, including three registered guns – legal in the U.S., but not in Mexico.

If convicted, he faces up to 21 years in prison. But even if he is set free, he will have nothing, his mother fears.

"He's been in jail for three months just for making a wrong turn and now he is broke," Jill Tahmooressi said. "He will walk out of jail a broke man."

Most of the money has been spent on attorneys, Jill Tahmooressi said. The Marine is now represented by Fernando Benitez, a legal star known for defending the mayor of Tijuana on weapons and corruption charges. While the family is confident in Benitez, two prior attorneys did little but send bills, according to Jill Tahmooressi.

She said their first lawyer, Alejandro Osuna, cost her son a prepaid retainer in excess of $10,000, although she declined to be more specific. Osuna was fired after he allegedly suggested Tahmooressi tell a judge at an April 28 hearing that he had never been to Mexico before his arrest, which was not true.

A second attorney, Lamberto Jesus Esquer Dabdoub, charged him $10,000 up front and didn't do anything prior to his firing eight days later because of lack of confidence by the family. Neither attorney ever submitted a shred of evidence to the federal court on Tahmooressi's behalf.

Benitez has yet to submit a bill, but given the case could stretch out for as long as two years, the Tahmooressi family is braced for expenses that could exceed $100,000.

The family of Jon Hammar, another Florida Marine caught at the border with a weapon he declared, told Jill Tahmooressi that in the four months he was in prison before his release in 2012, his legal fees alone exceeded $90,000.

Jill Tahmooressi said her son is shouldering the bulk of the expenses but she is not without her own financial burdens with the case. A nursing director at Miami Children's Hospital in Florida, she said she has already laid out more than $6,000 for travel to be with her son. The time she is taking from work is unpaid.

Jill Tahmooressi said she hasn't sought help because "economically, all of America has been hurting for so long." But three weeks ago, with the help of a California law firm that has been advising her, she established a charitable trust through Campaign Solutions in Washington. The name of the site to make donations for Andrew's defense is www.andrewfreedomfund.com.

But whether kind sympathizers chip in or the Tahmooressis have to go deeper into debt, the distraught mom said she would do whatever it took.

“I will pay any cost, including sacrificing our family home if need be, to pay the bills to Mexico associated with Andrew's release back to the states,” Jill Tahmooressi said.

For all you Obama Lovers, He hasn't lifted a finger to help!