ISIS militants 'bulldozed' ancient archaeological site, Iraqi ministry says

The Iraqi government claimed Thursday that ISIS militants had "bulldozed" the renowned Nimrud archaeological site in the north of the country.
The country's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement posted on its Facebook page that the terror group continues to "defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity". The statement did not elaborate on the extent of the damage to the site.
Axel Plathe, the director of UNESCO's Iraq office, tweeted that the attack was an "appalling attack on Iraq's heritage", while Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani told the BBC that ISIS was "erasing our history."
The government's claim came days after a video released by ISIS showed militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts kept in a museum in Iraq's northern city of Mosul. Statements made by men in the video described the treasures as symbols of idolatry that should be destroyed.
Experts said the reported destruction of the ancient Assyrian archaeological site located just south of Mosul recalled the Taliban's annihilation of large Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001, experts said.
Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 B.C., partially in present-day Iraq, and became a great regional power. The city, which was destroyed in 612 B.C., is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by the Islamic State group in June.
The late 1980s discovery of treasures in Nimrud's royal tombs was one of the 20th century's most significant archaeological finds. After Iraq was invaded in 2003, archaeologists were relieved when they were found hidden in the country's central Bank — in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water.
Last year, the militants destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet Younis — or Jonah — and the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, two revered ancient shrines in Mosul. They also threatened to destroy Mosul's 850-year old Crooked Minaret, but residents surrounded the structure, preventing the militants from approaching.
Suzanne Bott, the heritage conservation project director for Iraq and Afghanistan in the University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning and Archaeology, worked at Nimrud on and off for two years between 2008 and 2010. She helped stabilize structures and survey Nimrud for the U.S. State Department as part of a joint U.S. military and civilian unit.
She described Nimrud as one of four main Assyrian capital cities that practiced medicine, astrology, agriculture, trade and commerce, and had some of the earliest writings.
"It's really called the cradle of Western civilization, that's why this particular loss is so devastating," Bott said. "What was left on site was stunning in the information it was able to convey about ancient life.
"People have compared it to King Tut's tomb," she said.
Iraq's national museum in Baghdad opened its doors to the public last week for the first time in 12 years in a move Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said was to defy efforts "to destroy the heritage of mankind and Iraq's civilization."
ISIS has imposed a harsh and violent version of Islamic law in the territories it controls and has terrorized religious minorities. It has released gruesome videos online showing the beheading of captives, including captured Western journalists and aid workers.
A U.S.-led coalition has been striking the group since August, and Iraqi forces launched an offensive this week to try to retake the militant-held city of Tikrit, on the main road linking Baghdad to Mosul.
Jack Green, chief curator of the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago and expert on Iraqi art, said Thursday that ISIS seems bent on destroying objects they view as idols representing religions and cultures that don't conform to their beliefs.
"It's the deliberate destruction of a heritage and its images, intended to erase history and the identity of the people of Iraq, whether in the past or the present," Green said. "And it has a major impact on the heritage of the region."
Green noted that in many of these attacks on art, pieces that can be carried away are then sold to fund the IS group, while the larger artifacts and sculptures are destroyed at the site.

Hillary Cartoon

DOJ will not prosecute former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it will not prosecute former Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of an unarmed black 18-year-old, while also releasing a report faulting the city and its law enforcement for racial bias.
In the criminal investigation, federal officials concluded Wilson's actions "do not constitute prosecutable violations under the applicable federal criminal rights statute."
Specifically, the DOJ said there was "no evidence" to disprove Wilson's testimony that he feared for his safety, nor was there reliable evidence that Michael Brown had his hands up when he was shot.
The report said: "Although there are several individuals who have stated that Brown held his hands up in an unambiguous sign of surrender prior to Wilson shooting him dead, their accounts do not support a prosecution of Wilson.‎ As detailed throughout this report, some of those accounts are inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence; some of those accounts are materially inconsistent with that witness's own prior statements with no explanation, credible or otherwise, as to why those accounts changed over time."
The decision in the Aug. 9 shooting had been expected, in part because of the high legal standard needed for a federal civil rights prosecution. Wilson, who has said Brown struck him in the face and reached for his gun during a tussle, also had been cleared by a Missouri grand jury in November and later resigned from the department.
But the DOJ, in its evaluation of the police department itself, said blacks in Ferguson are disproportionately subject to excessive police force, baseless traffic stops and citations for infractions as petty as walking down the middle of the street.
The report also cited "evidence of racial bias" in emails by Ferguson officials. They included one April 2011 email that "depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee"
Attention now turns to Ferguson as the city confronts how to fix racial biases that the federal government says are deeply rooted in the police department, court and jail.
"Now that our investigation has reached its conclusion, it is time for Ferguson’s leaders to take immediate, wholesale and structural corrective action," Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday.
Holder said the Justice Department had two sets of immediate recommendations: increased civilian involvement in police decision-making and police misconduct allegations, and changes to the municipal court system, including modifications to bond amounts and detention procedures, an end to the use of arrest warrants as a means of collecting owed fines and fees, and compliance with due process requirements.
Similar federal investigations of troubled police departments have led to the appointment of independent monitors and mandated overhauls in the most fundamental of police practices. The Justice Department maintains the right to sue a police department if officials balk at making changes, though many investigations resolve the issue with both sides negotiating a blueprint for change known as a consent decree.
"It's quite evident that change is coming down the pike. This is encouraging," said John Gaskin III, a St. Louis community activist. "It's so unfortunate that Michael Brown had to be killed. But in spite of that, I feel justice is coming."
Others said the federal government's findings confirmed what they had long known and should lead to change in the police department leadership.
Brown's killing set off weeks of protests and initiated a national dialogue about police use of force and their relations with minority communities.
The findings of the investigation, which began weeks after Brown's killing last August, were released as Holder prepares to leave his job following a six-year tenure that focused largely on civil rights. The report is based on interviews with police leaders and residents, a review of more than 35,000 pages of police records and analysis of data on stops, searches and arrests.

GOP-led Senate fails to override Obama's Keystone veto, lawmakers say fight not over

The GOP-controlled Senate failed Wednesday to override President Obama’s veto of Keystone XL pipeline legislation but vowed to continue to fight to complete the project.
The vote was 62-37, five votes short of the 67-vote super-majority needed to override a presidential veto. The bill turned back by the president would have approved the controversial pipeline.
“The Senate’s failure to override President Obama’s veto is a defeat for our economy and American workers," Indiana GOP Sen. Dan Coats said after the vote. "Obama and a majority of Senate Democrats have said no to creating new jobs and increasing our energy security. Despite support from the majority of Americans, this important pro-growth project remains in political paralysis.”
But some lawmakers are looking at other ways to muscle the legislation through.
“If we don’t win this battle today, we’ll attach [the legislation] to another bill and win the war,” North Dakota GOP Sen. John Hoeven, a major sponsor of the bill, said before the vote.
Hoeven is considering attaching the Keystone measure to a highway infrastructure bill.
The completion of the Canada-to-Texas pipeline has been a contentious Washington issue for the past six years.
Republicans and other supporters argue the project would create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs and help the United States become less dependent on foreign oil.
Democrats and other opponents say that drilling for the oil in Canada’s tar sands will emit too much greenhouse gas and contribute to global warming.
The Senate passed the legislation Jan. 29 -- just weeks after Republicans officially took control of the chamber from Democrats, who for years had held up the effort.
Obama later vetoed the legislation, making good on his vow that no final decision could be made until the State Department completed its impact studies.
“By vetoing the bipartisan Keystone jobs bill, President Obama sided with [the] moneyed special interests over the middle class,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
But Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., earlier this week told The Hill newspaper that the effort to override the veto was a “ludicrous idea” and rejected the idea of attaching Keystone to the highway legislation.
"First, they hold the homeland security funding bill hostage to immigration,” Boxer said. “Now they want to hold the highway bill hostage to big polluting Canadian special interests.”

US ambassador to South Korea injured in knife attack

The U.S. ambassador to South Korea was slashed by a man screaming demands for Korean unification Thursday morning in Seoul, and was hospitalized with wounds to his face and wrist.
Media images showed a stunned-looking Mark W. Lippert examining his blood-covered left hand and holding his right hand over a cut on the right side of his face, his pink tie splattered with blood. The attack occurred at a performing arts center in downtown Seoul where Lippert was about to give a lecture on the prospects for peace on the divided Korean peninsula.
The U.S. Embassy said Lippert was in stable condition after surgery at a Seoul hospital.
In a televised briefing, Chung Nam-sik of the Severance Hospital said 80 stitches were needed to close the facial wound, which was just over 4 inches long and just over 1 inch deep. He added the cut did not affect Lippert's nerves or salivary gland.
Chung said the knife also penetrated through Lippert's left arm and damaged the nerves connected to his pinkie and tendons connected to his thumb. Lippert will need to be treated at the hospital for the next three or four days and may experience sensory problems in his left hand for several months, Chung said.
YTN TV reported that the suspect — identified by police as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong — screamed during the attack, "South and North Korea should be reunified." The comments touch on a deep political divide in South Korea over the still-fresh legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which is still technically ongoing because it ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Some South Koreans blame the presence of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South as a deterrent to the North for the continuing split of the Korean Peninsula along the world's most heavily armed border -- a view North Korea's propaganda machine regularly pushes in state media.
Witnesses said the attack happened suddenly. A knife-wielding man ran screaming up to Lippert as soup was being served for the breakfast meeting and began slashing, said Kim Young-man, spokesman for the group hosting the breakfast, the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation. A separate, unidentified witness told local media that as Lippert stood up for a handshake, the suspect wrestled the ambassador to the ground and slashed him with a knife.
Yonhap TV showed men in suits and ties piled on top of the attacker, who was dressed in a modern version of the traditional Korean hanbok, and Lippert later being rushed to a police car with a handkerchief pressed to his cheek. The suspect also shouted anti-war slogans after he was detained, police said, later adding that the knife was around 10 inches long.

Hillary Clinton says she's asked State Department to make emails public

Hillary Clinton said late Wednesday that she had asked the State Department to make thousands of her emails available to the public, her first public response to a furor that followed the revelation that she used a private e-mail account for her correspondence while Secretary of State.
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf released a statement early Thursday saying, "The State Department will review for public release the emails provided by Secretary Clinton to the Department, using a normal process that guides such releases. We will undertake this review as quickly as possible; given the sheer volume of the document set, this review will take some time to complete
Clinton's message came hours after the House select committee investigating the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya subpoenaed her personal emails. The committee also also sent letters to Internet companies informing them of "their legal obligation to protect all relevant documents."
The controversy began Monday after The New York Times reported that Clinton had never had an official government e-mail account for conducting official business. The practice is a potential violation of federal law, and has also raised questions of why Clinton went to such lengths to keep her messages off government servers.
The Times reported that members of the Benghazi committee initially discovered that Clinton had used a private e-mail account during her tenure at Foggy Bottom. The paper also said that Clinton had turned over 55,000 messages that had been selected by her advisers to the State Department in response to a records request. Clinton's Twitter post appeared to refer to those messages, about 300 of which are related to the Benghazi attack.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that the server Clinton used to store her emails had been traced to an Internet service registered to the Clintons' home address in Chappaqua, N.Y. That maneuver would have given additional legal opportunities to block government or private subpoenas in criminal, administrative or civil cases because her lawyers could object in court before being forced to turn over any emails.
Meanwhile, the AP said it was considering legal action under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act against the State Department for failing to turn over some emails covering Clinton's tenure as the nation's top diplomat after waiting more than one year. The department has never suggested that it doesn't possess all Clinton's emails.
The controversy has also raised new questions about Clinton's credibility as a presidential candidate. Though she has not formally declared her intention to run, Clinton is widely considered to be the clear front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
Clinton still has not described her motivation for using a private email account -- hdr22(at)clintonemail.com, which traced back to her own private email server registered under an apparent pseudonym -- for official State Department business. However, a Clinton aide told Fox News she was not bucking the system, and in fact was keeping with what former secretaries of state had done, including Colin Powell. The aide stressed that Clinton quickly responded to the request from the department for her emails, following updated guidance from the government's central records office.
The White House has deferred the question of whether any laws were broken to the State Department. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday it was "clear that Secretary Clinton's team has gone to great lengths" to collect and turn over emails and said Clinton's actions seemed consistent with the Federal Records Act.
But he also reiterated that the administration gave "very specific guidance" that employees should use official accounts when conducting government business, which Clinton did not do. Earnest later clarified that "when there are situations where personal email accounts are used, it is important for those records to be preserved, consistent with the Federal Records Act."

Quds force leader, commanding Iraqi forces against ISIS, alarms Washington

The enemy of your enemy is your enemy.

Twice designated a terrorist by the United States government, considered responsible for up to 20 percent of American casualties in the Iraq war, Major General Qasem Suleimani, the legendary Iranian spymaster and leader of the Quds Force – the elite special operations wing of the hardline Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – is now stirring alarm in Washington for doing something the Obama administration would ordinarily cheer: taking the fight to ISIS in Iraq.
Photographs circulating on social media show Suleimani operating alongside senior Iraqi officials in the theater in and around Tikrit, the Sunni ancestral home of Saddam Hussein that is located almost equidistant between Mosul, the ISIS-controlled city 120 miles to the north, and Baghdad, the capital of the Iraqi government 100 miles to the south.
The presence of Suleimani at the forefront of Iraqi forces’efforts to reclaim Tikrit from ISIS control underscores both the expanding influence of Iran on the central Iraqi government and the increasingly critical role that Shi’ite militiamen, thought to be operating under Quds command, are playing in the Iraqi fight against ISIS. Neither development brings pleasure to senior U.S. officials or lawmakers in Congress.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., raised the issue of the Iranians with President Obama’s new defense secretary during a House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. “I know we're keeping our distance physically from them in Baghdad,” Frelinghuysen said. “Have we ceded most of the governance of Iraq to Iranians?...And will the military operations that are undergoing, which we are watching, divide the country and require us in some ways to spend more of our resources?”
“I absolutely share your concern about the role of Iran in Iraq and the wider region,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the panel.
Among those concerns is a fear about what may happen if and when ISIS fighters surrender or flee Tikrit, which is presently said to be encircled and witnessing combat. Of the advancing forces, two-thirds are believed to be Shi’ite militiamen loyal to Iran, with the remainder belonging to Iraqi security forces, and officials worry that the Shi’ite troops may seek to avenge ISIS’ massacre of 1,700 Iraqi troops, almost all Shi’ites from nearby Camp Speicher, last June.
“The killings that were perpetrated in the time after we left Iraq would never be forgotten,” Frelinghuysen said.
“I completely agree with you,” Carter replied. “And sectarianism is one of the things that concerns me very much. And of course, it's the root of the Iranian presence in Iraq.”
“We're watching carefully,” added U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared alongside Carter at the hearing. “If this becomes an excuse to ethnic cleanse, then our campaign has a problem and we're going to have to make a campaign adjustment.”
An additional reason the battle for Tikrit bears close watching at the Pentagon is because it may serve as an indicator of how well the Iraqi forces and their Shi’ite comrades can perform when the larger contest for Mosul is engaged. Analysts who have examined recent Iranian casualty reports said the data show the Islamic regime deploying more rank-and-file troops to Syria, but higher-level commanders to Iraq, to oversee the Shi’ite militia groups.
Ali Alfoneh, an Iranian-born scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, cast the involvement of the Quds Force in the ISIS conflict as reflecting a larger trend in Iranian society: its slow transformation from a radical Islamic theocracy to a military dictatorship, with the IRGC assuming ever greater powers.
“This is an organization which has engaged in spreading sectarian terror in Iraq. And now, this is the force that the Iraqi government has turned to for help in order to liberate Tikrit from Islamic State terrorists,” Alfoneh told Fox News. “In other words, we have one terrorist organization which is helping the Iraqi government get rid of another terrorist organization.”
Such tangled lines of authority and influence are exactly what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had in mind on Tuesday, when he told a joint meeting of Congress: “When it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.”

Keep Your Doctor Cartoon

Searing DOJ report says Ferguson PD routinely violated rights of African-Americans

The Ferguson Police Department routinely violated the constitutional rights of the local African-American population in the Missouri city for years, the Department of Justice has found in a searing report.
The investigation, launched after the August shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, found that the department violated the Fourth Amendment in instances such as making traffic stops without reasonable suspicion and making arrests without probable cause.
The report provides direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and court workers, and details a criminal justice system that through the issuance of petty citations for infractions such as walking in the middle of the street, prioritizes generating revenue from fines over public safety.
The practice hits poor people especially hard, sometimes leading to jail time when they can't pay, the report says, and has contributed to a cynicism about the police on the part of citizens.
The official release of the report could come as early as Wednesday. The details were provided to Fox News on Tuesday by law enforcement officials familiar with the department's findings.
The Justice Department alleges that the discrimination was triggered at least partly by racial bias and stereotypes about African-Americans, a violation of the 14th Amendment. The report details a November 2008 email on an official Ferguson municipal account which joked that President Obama would not be president for long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years?”
From 2012 to 2014, the report found, African-Americans comprised 85 percent of people pulled over for a traffic stop; 90 percent of those given citations; and 93 percent of arrests.
Also, African-American drivers were more than twice as likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white drivers, but that those black drivers were 26 percent less likely to be found to be holding contraband.
The report also accuses the Ferguson police of using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and that 88 percent of those cases involved African-Americans.
Overall, blacks make up 67 percent of Ferguson's population.
The Justice Department began the civil rights investigation following the August killing of Brown, which set off weeks of protests. A separate report to be issued soon is expected to clear the officer, Darren Wilson, of federal civil rights charges.
The department has conducted roughly 20 broad civil rights investigations of police departments during the six-year tenure of Attorney General Eric Holder, including Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey and Albuquerque. Most such investigations end with police departments agreeing to change their practices.
Justice Department officials were in St. Louis on Tuesday to brief Ferguson leaders about the findings, a city official said.
Several messages seeking comment from Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and Mayor James Knowles III were not returned. A secretary for Jackson said he is not doing media interviews.
Scott Holste, a spokesman for Gov. Jay Nixon, declined comment, saying he has not seen the report.
Ben Crump, the attorney for the Brown family, said that if the reports about the findings are true, they "confirm what Michael Brown's family has believed all along, and that is that the tragic killing of an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager was part of a systemic pattern of inappropriate policing of African-American citizens in the Ferguson community."

Clinton teases possible 2016 campaign at abortion group's gala

WASHINGTON –  Hillary Clinton on Tuesday credited women with making a difference at all levels of government, asking an audience of female Democrats, "Don't you someday want to see a woman president?"
On the cusp of a second presidential campaign, the former secretary of state previewed some of the economic themes that could animate an upcoming race, pointing to an economy that too often fails to address the challenges faced by families and working mothers.
"We have to get our economy to reflect the realities of 21st century America, and we're not doing that," Clinton said at the 30th anniversary gala of EMILY's List, an organization that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights. "We're not doing that when the hard work of men and women across our country is not rewarded with rising wages, but CEO pay goes up and up no matter what."
Clinton's 30-minute address was punctuated by references to her future. She noted that during one's life, "you get a chance to make millions of decisions. Some of them are big, like 'Do you run for office?'"
Looking out at the ballroom of female Democrats, Clinton asked if they were hopeful of seeing more women running for local offices like school board member, governor, mayor and member of Congress. "I suppose it's only fair to say, 'Don't you someday want to see a woman president?'" she asked, generating loud applause.
Clinton steered clear of questions that emerged Tuesday about her use of a personal email account instead of a government-issued email address during her time as secretary of state. Republicans seized on the disclosures, accusing her of violating a law intended to archive official government documents. GOP officials have also amplified reports that the Clinton Foundation accepted donations from foreign governments ahead of an expected Clinton campaign.
"It speaks volumes that Hillary Clinton will gladly attend fancy galas yet continue to hide from the American people," said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Allison Moore. She said voters deserved to know "why she only used private email while serving as secretary of state at the same time the Clinton Foundation accepted donations from foreign governments who were lobbying her State Department."
In her speech, Clinton accused Republicans of fostering policies promoting "trickle-down economics" but noted that both parties have spoken of ways to boost wages for middle-class workers. "We welcome them to come with their ideas and we will match them," Clinton said of the Republicans. "That's what elections should be about. Elections should be a contest of ideas."
The prospect of a Clinton campaign was invoked repeatedly by political leaders who have worked with the fundraising powerhouse, whose name is an acronym for "Early money is like yeast." The organization has a strong track record in Democratic politics, electing more than 100 women to the U.S. House, 19 to the Senate, 10 governors and more than 500 state and local officials.
"She's more than an idol," said Stephanie Schriock, EMILY's List's president, describing Clinton. "She's an inspiration — and a leader whose talents we desperately need."
The event brought to the stage Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the group's first endorsed candidate who recently announced her retirement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely wounded in a deadly 2011 shooting during a political event at a Tucson, Arizona, shopping mall.
Giffords said female leaders deliver results, in places like city hall, state houses, governor's mansions and Congress, "and maybe soon, in the White House."
The organization has helped lay the groundwork for a potential Clinton campaign, holding events to promote the possibility of electing the nation's first female president and commissioning polling.
Ellen Malcolm, the founder of EMILY's List, pointed to Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign as the first step, bringing the audience to their feet when she identified 2016 as the "time to shatter that glass ceiling and put a woman in the White House." Clinton, seated in the audience, laughed and clapped along with the crowd.
"Hillary, you heard us," Malcolm said. "Just give us the word and we'll be right at your side."

As Supreme Court takes up ObamaCare, GOP offers alternatives, Dems warn of 'massive damage’

Congressional Republicans are proposing long and short-term alternatives to ObamaCare as the Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments Wednesday in a case that has the potential to unravel the health care law.
The plaintiffs, four Virginia residents, argue that Americans who bought insurance through the federal ObamaCare exchange are not entitled to subsidies because the law says only those who bought policies in state exchanges are eligible.
At least 5.5 million Americans last year bought insurance on the federal exchange and received the subsidies.
Both sides in the case -- known as King v. Burwell -- generally agree that if the high court decides that millions of recipients are no longer eligible, they likely will no longer be able to afford insurance under ObamaCare and exit the system.
However, whether their departure would topple the entire health care law remains a matter of debate ahead of the expected high court ruling by June.
Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said nullifying the subsidies would cause "massive damage to our health care system" and that the administration would have no way to fix it.
The administration and Democrats who enacted the 2010 law over unanimous GOP opposition also largely back studies showing the number of people who would loses the subsidies, in the form of tax credits, is as high as 7.5 million.
And a recent analysis by the health care firm Avalere found that those who would lose their subsidies as a result of the court ruling would have their premiums increase an average 225 percent.
Ed Haislmaier, a health care policy expert with the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, on Tuesday predicated some fallout, or “dislocation’ but not to such an extent.
“Is the sky going to fall?” he asked. “No, but it’s probably going to rain in some places.”
Several top Capitol Hill Republicans have in the past few days announced pending, short-term alternatives if the court invalidates the subsidies for residents of the 34 states that use the federal ObamaCare exchange, not their own.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said last week that his plan will set the stage for a “more permanent fix” but did not provide specifics.
On Sunday, Hatch was joined by fellow GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Barrasso of Wyoming in a Washington Post opinion piece saying they have a plan.
“We would provide financial assistance to help Americans keep the coverage they picked,” the senators wrote. "It would be unfair to allow families to lose their coverage, particularly in the middle of the year."
However, they also provided no specifics on how to pay for the lost subsidies -- estimated at $36.1 billion.
Most of the 34 states in question are GOP-run and represented in Congress by Republicans.
On Tuesday, an opinion offering by Reps. John Kline, R-Minn., Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Fred Upton, R-Mich., appeared in The Wall Street Journal also presenting alternatives - but in more detail.
“No family should pay for this administration’s overreach,” the congressmen, chairmen, respectively, of the House committees on Education and Workforce, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce wrote.
“That is why House Republicans have formed a working group to propose a way out for the affected states if the court rules against the administration.”
The congressmen said their ObamaCare “off-ramp” will in part allow states to opt out of coverage requirements that are driving up costs, let Americans buy the policies they want and make insurers compete for customers, rather than force Americans to buy a government-approved health plan “under the threat of IRS fines.”

State Department says Netanyahu twisted Kerry's words in speech to Congress

Dems Trying to make him into the Bad Guy?

The State Department accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of taking congressional testimony by Secretary of State John Kerry out of context in Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of Congress Tuesday.
In a statement released early Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki quoted in full an article written on the website FactCheck.org that claimed certain remarks made by Netanyahu about Iran's nuclear program "misrepresented what Kerry had said" in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Feb. 25.
In his address, Netanyahu said Kerry had disclosed that Iran could "legitimately posses" 190,000 centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium by the time a deal designed to restrict Iran's nuclear capability for a decade would expire. The Israeli leader, who referred to Kerry as "my long-time friend" in his speech, said that amount of centrifuges could put Iran "weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons and this with full international legitimacy."
However, the FactCheck.org article circulated by Psaki noted that Kerry had only said that a peaceful nuclear power program could use that same number of centrifuges.
"[I]f you have a civilian power plant that’s producing power legitimately and not a threat to proliferation, you could have as many as 190,000 or more centrifuges," Kerry told committee members.
Later in his speech, Netanyahu described the proposed agreement as one that "doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb; it paves Iran's path to the bomb.
"So why would anyone make this deal?" the prime minister asked. "Because they hope that Iran will change for the better in the coming years, or they believe that the alternative to this deal is worse? Well, I disagree."
The State Department statement was the latest salvo in an ongoing war of words that marked the run-up to Netanyahu's address and climaxed with harsh criticism for the Israeli leader from congressional Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who branded the speech an "insult to the intelligence of the United States."
President Obama himself told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he didn't watch Netanyahu's address but read the transcript and it contained "nothing new." Obama claimed the prime minister did not offer any "viable alternatives" to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
As Netanyahu spoke Tuesday, Kerry was holding a three-hour negotiating session with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Swiss resort of Montreux in hopes of completing an international framework agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program. However, in that same Feb. 25 hearing, Kerry said Netanyahu "may have a judgment that just may not be correct here" in initially opposing an interim agreement reached this past November.
Negotiators from the so-called P5+1 countries, a group which includes the U.S., Britain, Russia, China, Germany, and France, are scrambling to meet a March 31 deadline to finalize the framework of a permanent deal, with a July deadline for a final agreement.
During his speech, Netanyahu urged negotiators to keep pressuring with economic sanctions because Tehran needs the deal most.
"Now, if Iran threatens to walk away from the table — and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff," Netanyahu said. "They'll be back, because they need the deal a lot more than you do."
In a sign that Netanyahu's speech was resonating outside the chamber of the House of Representatives, Zarif decried comments that President Barack Obama made on Monday — as part of an administration-wide effort to push back on the Israeli's criticism — in which he said that Iran would have to suspend its nuclear activities for at least a decade as part of any final agreement.
Zarif, in a statement quoted by Iran's official news agency IRNA, said Obama's remarks were "unacceptable and threatening," aimed at attracting U.S. public opinion while reacting to Netanyahu "and other extremist opponents of the talks."
For his part, Kerry told reporters Tuesday that both sides were "working away, productively."

Iran Cartoon

Hillary 5.0: Why rebranding Clinton for 2016 race may be impossible

Obama Jr.

If, as The Washington Post recently reported, a new attempt by “marketing wizards” to “rebrand” Hillary Clinton is “focused on developing imaginative ways to let ‘Hillary be Hillary,’” then Mrs. Clinton and her presumed 2016 presidential campaign are in deep trouble.
That’s because when “Hillary is Hillary,” all kinds of contradictions and causes for mistrust arise.
The Washington Post wrote that, “Clinton’s words suggest that her 2016 campaign will stress economic fairness.” But consider Mrs. Clinton’s words, in a “thought leadership” lecture at UCLA. Mrs. Clinton said, “Businesses have taken advantage of unpaid internships to an extent that it is blocking the opportunities for young people to move on into paid employment.”

When “Hillary is Hillary,” all kinds of contradictions and causes for mistrust arise.

What the fawning mainstream media has missed is that the Clinton Global Initiative (part of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation), in conducting its business, has taken advantage of unpaid interns, as the interns themselves testify.
Here are some of the comments from CGI interns from the website Glassdoor, which screens and then allows current and former employees to anonymously review their workplaces and managements.
“It is hypocritical that a non-profit that supports economic growth does not pay their interns and treat[s] them terribly.”
“No opportunities for advancement.”
“It is also unpaid, meaning the intern pool is filled with mostly well off folks, creating some tension among the intern pool.”
To be fair -- which Mrs. Clinton isn’t, while she hypocritically condemns corporations for doing exactly what she or “Clinton Inc.” does—the unpaid intern comments about CGI include positive remarks, such as this:
“Since the opportunity is unpaid, they compensate by offering a ton of networking and professional development opportunities!”
Back when she was a U.S. senator, Mrs. Clinton not only joined many of her Democratic and Republican colleagues in using unpaid interns, but, as The Washington Free Beacon revealed, between 2002-2008 “women working for her in the U.S. Senate were paid 72 cents for each dollar paid to men.” Also, “During those years, the median annual salary for a woman working in Clinton’s office was $15,708.38 less than the median salary for a man.”
Commenting on those pay disparities, Rosie Perez, a co-host on ABC’s The View said, “I have to be honest that, you know, I love Hillary and I was shocked. I was shocked. I was like, oh, no, this doesn't look good. This does not look good.”
In fact, there are legitimate explanations for unpaid internships and for pay differences between men and women. The trade-offs for unpaid internships often include experience and networking opportunities. And, as many studies have shown, wage gaps between men and women are largely accounted for by factors such as women choosing to work fewer hours, time taken off to have children or care for them, differences in education, and willingness to work at risky or high-pressure jobs.
But you won’t hear Mrs. Clinton speaking about that. It would ruin her “unfairness” demagoguery. Meantime, speaking of unfairness and compensation, Mrs. Clinton and her “rebranders” are grappling with a rash of conflict of interest, cronyism and questionable use issues surrounding Mrs. Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.
As Fox News reported, “The Clinton Foundation was on the defensive…after disclosing that it had accepted millions of dollars from several foreign governments while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, including one donation that violated the foundation's ethics agreement with the Obama administration.” And, as The Washington Examiner wrote, “The New York Times editorial board, which can hardly be described as right-leaning, wrote that the foundation needed to ‘reassure the public that the foundation will not become a vehicle for insiders’ favoritism, should [Hillary] run for and win the White House.’”
The New York Times has also written that Mrs. Clinton’s “advisers say she can be expected to weave gender into matters of economic fairness and opportunity.” This will come in different forms: pushing the “barrier breaking” narrative of electing her as the first American woman president, but softening her hard-edged image with “frequent references to being a mother and grandmother,” and “present[ing] herself as a sensitive candidate capable of nurturing the nation at a difficult time.”
The real test of Mrs. Clinton’s “rebranding” is a test of authenticity. After decades in the public spotlight, will the “new, improved, rebranded” Hillary Clinton seem authentic or will her repackaging be transparent as just her latest image reinvention in her quest for power? Will voters buy what The Washington Post headlined “The making of Hillary 5.0” as real or merely political role-playing that serves her ambition but does not serve the best interests of America?
Indeed, when a “truth and trust” test is applied to “the making of Hillary 5.0,” the most relevant question may be a variation on one Mrs. Clinton used in her testimony about Benghazi: “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

Hillary Clinton's use of private email address while Secretary of State draws scrutiny

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a personal e-mail account to exclusively conduct official business during her time at the State Department, a move that raises questions about access to the full archive of her correspondence, as well as the possibility that she violated federal law requiring official messages to be retained for the record.
The existence of the account was discovered by the House select committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and was first reported by The New York Times.
Clinton did not even have a government e-mail address during her tenure as America's top diplomat, which lasted from 2009 to 2013, and The Times reports that her aides took no action to preserve her emails on department servers, as required by the Federal Records Act.
Instead, the paper reports, Clinton's advisers selected which of her emails to turn over to the State Department for archival purposes after going through tens of thousands of pages of correspondence. The department said late Monday that it had received 55,000 pages of Clinton's emails as part of a request made to previous secretaries of state to turn over any official documents they may have had in their possession.
It is not clear how many total emails from that period were in Clinton's personal account, nor is it clear how Clinton's advisers decided which emails to hand over to the State Department.
Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman, told The Times that the former Secretary of State expected that emails to State Department officials would be preserved. The fate of emails to foreign leaders, private citizens, and non-State Department officials is unclear.
"The State Department has long had access to a wide array of Secretary Clinton’s records -- including emails between her and Department officials with state.gov accounts," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told Fox News late Monday. Harf added that the department turned over about 300 emails to the Benghazi select committee, and noted that Clinton's successor as Secretary of State, John Kerry, "is the first ... to rely primarily on a state.gov e-mail account."
Records officials interviewed by The Times expressed grave concern over Clinton's practice, saying it represents a severe ethical breach and noting that personal e-mail accounts are far less secure than official ones.
Jason Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives, told the paper he found it "very difficult to conceive of a scenario — short of nuclear winter — where an agency would be justified in allowing its cabinet-level head officer to solely use a private e-mail communications channel for the conduct of government business." Baron added that the use of private e-mail accounts is meant to be reserved only for emergencies, such as when a department's server is not working or compromised.
However, The Times reports that the imposition of penalties for not complying with federal record-keeping requirements are rare because the National Archives has so few enforcement mechanisms.
The report has drawn heavy criticism from Republicans, including at least one potential challenger in the 2016 presidential race. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who released 250,000 emails from his gubernatorial tenure this past December, tweeted about the contrast between his disclosures and Clinton's secrecy. 

Chicago credit downgrade hangs over Emanuel's mayoral runoff race

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s already struggling reelection bid has suffered another potential hit, with a fresh credit downgrade giving political ammunition to his runoff rival.
Moody's Investors Service last week downgraded the city’s credit rating, citing $20 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. The agency lowered the rating on $8.3 billion in general obligation debt to near junk bond status and issued a cautious forecast about the city’s longer-term financial future.
The news comes as Emanuel, a former chief of staff to President Obama, heads into a runoff for a second term, after failing to get 50 percent in the Feb. 24 election. He faces Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who finished second in the four-man race.
"The Moody's downgrade is yet another sign that Emanuel's financial priorities are simply wrong," said Garcia campaign manager Andrew Sharp. "It's time for change."
The credit-rating downgrade, from a Baa1 to Baa2, means that Chicago, the country’s third-largest city, will have to pay more to borrow money in the future.
Chicago has the worst-funded pension system of any major U.S. city, with the roughly $20 billion hole spread across four accounts.
Legislation approved last year seeks to eliminate a $9.4 billion shortfall in two of those pension systems by cutting benefits and increasing contributions for both the city and employees.
But Emanuel's pension overhaul is being challenged in the courts by retirees and public labor unions, which contributed to Moody’s also issuing the cautious outlook.
"Regardless of outcome of the legal challenges to pension reforms, we expect Chicago's unfunded pension liabilities -- and the costs of servicing those liabilities -- to continue to grow, placing significant strain on the city's financial operations," Moody's said.
Emanuel and Garcia, a fellow Democrat, are headed for an April 7 runoff.
Democratic strategist Philip Molfese said Monday he doesn’t think the downgrade will have a big impact on the race because voters are more interested in deciding which candidate presents the best opportunity to achieve the goal of having a "world-class city."
“It’s two Chicagos,” he said. “This race is fundamentally about becoming a world-class city and the path to that in which people don’t get left behind.”
Molfese pointed out that Garcia is considered a grassroots candidate, compared with Emanuel “who might be seen as somebody who looks to experts.”
But either way, he said, Chicago leaders have to hastily continue to reduce violent crime “because obviously the rate is not fast enough for anybody.”
The Emanuel campaign is trying to downplay the Moody’s report, saying other ratings services have reaffirmed Chicago's bond rating and citing Emanuel's moves "in righting the city's fiscal ship."
"The action by Moody's underscores the need to have a mayor who is willing to take on our challenges and level with Chicagoans, not try to distract them with empty rhetoric," said Emanuel campaign spokesman Steve Mayberry.
City Treasurer Kurt Summers said Emanuel has made significant progress in addressing the pension challenges without unfairly burdening taxpayers.
Moody's said action is needed to stop the debt from growing. The agency said commitments to increasing tax revenue or cutting costs could also prompt it to boost Chicago's rating.
However, Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, told the Chicago Tribune it was difficult to see how the next administration would manage the crisis "without significant new revenue or dramatic reductions in city services."
"Decades of pension underfunding, failure of the General Assembly to provide pension reform, and the city of Chicago's years of reliance on debt to fund operations have put the city in this financial position," he said.

Netanyahu ready to take Iran case to Congress in controversial speech

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday will make his case to Congress – and the American people – for why a pending nuclear agreement with Iran would risk his country’s security, in a controversial address that is drawing immense interest.
House Speaker John Boehner’s office, which invited the Israeli leader to give the address, says the demand for tickets is the highest for any such event since Boehner took over.
“The demand for tickets – from both Republicans and Democrats – is unprecedented, and has far outweighed their availability,” Boehner spokesman Mike Steel said.
Though some Democrats are sitting out the speech in protest, demand for tickets is still so high that both the House and Senate have set up alternative viewing locations, according to Boehner’s office.
However no member of the administration was expected to be present.
When asked if Daniel Shapiro, the American ambassador to Israel, would attend Netanyahu's speech, a State Department official told Fox News, "No member of the administration is attending."
On Monday, Netanyahu warned in a speech to The American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington that a potential nuclear deal with Iran "could threaten the survival of Israel."
As he kicked off a contentious visit to the United States meant to build the case against such an agreement, the Israeli leader underscored the dangers he said are posed by Iran, which he called the world's "foremost sponsor of state terrorism."
"Iran envelops the entire world with its tentacles of terror," he said, displaying a map showing various connections between Iran and terror groups. He warned Iran could pursue Israel's destruction if it obtained a nuclear weapon.
"We must not let that happen," Netanyahu said.
Both the Obama and Netanyahu administrations, as a matter of policy, agree that Iran must not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon. But the Israeli leader has concerns that the framework of the current diplomatic talks could lead to an ineffective deal.
President Obama, speaking in an interview Monday night with Reuters on the eve of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, acknowledged the shared goal, then added Netanyahu “thinks that the best way to do that is either through doubling down on more sanctions or through military action, ensuring that Iran has absolutely no enrichment capabilities whatsoever…
“What we've said from the start is by organizing a strong sanctions regime, what we can do is bring Iran to the table.”
He added, “there’s no good reason for us not to let the negotiations play themselves out.”
Despite Obama saying he believed Netanyahu was “sincere about his concerns with respect to Iran,” the Israeli leader’s address to Congress on Tuesday has become the source of immense tension between the two governments.
The speech was arranged at the invitation of Boehner, but without the president’s involvement.
Some Democrats plan to boycott that speech, and Obama has no plans to meet with the prime minister -- although the White House insists this is out of a desire not to appear to be influencing upcoming Israeli elections.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Fox News on Monday this is the "worst" he's ever seen the U.S.-Israel relationship. He claimed critics are acting "in such a hysterical fashion" because they're concerned Netanyahu will make a "compelling argument" against the pending Iran agreement.
Netanyahu, though, stressed Monday that the alliance is "stronger than ever" despite the current disagreement, as he gently mocked the recent media coverage.
"Never has so much been written about a speech that hasn't been given," he said. Netanyahu also said he meant no "disrespect" to Obama or his office in agreeing to address Congress. He said he "deeply" appreciates all Obama has done for Israel and did not intend to "inject Israel into the American partisan debate."
But he said he had a "moral obligation" to speak up about the dangers Israel faces, and stressed that these dangers are, for his country, a matter of "survival."
The prime minister's address was bracketed by speeches from two senior U.S. officials: U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
Power, who spoke Monday morning, tried to ease tensions and offer assurances of the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship. She said that partnership "transcends politics" and always will.
She also stressed that diplomacy with Iran is the "preferred route" but the U.S. will keep its security commitments.
Rice, speaking Monday night, said the U.S. was seeking a deal that would cut off "every single pathway" Iran has to producing a nuclear weapon,” adding that Obama keeps all options on the table for blocking Tehran's pursuit of a bomb and declaring that "a bad deal is worse than no deal."
Still, Rice warned against holding out for "unachievable" outcomes, such as getting Iran to fully end domestic enrichment.
"As desirable as that would be, it is neither realistic or achievable," she said. "If that is our goal, our partners will abandon us."
Netanyahu considers unacceptable any deal that does not entirely end Iran's nuclear program. But Obama is willing to leave some nuclear activity intact, backed by safeguards that Iran is not trying to develop a weapon. Iran insists its program is solely for peaceful energy and medical research.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday afternoon again touted the U.S.-Israel bond, and stressed that options remain on the table -- including a military option -- if Iran does not comply with any nuclear agreement.
He continued to give the chances for a deal a "50-50" shot, citing lingering questions over whether Iran's political leadership would sign off on one.

Internet Reg. Cartoon

Walker: 'My view has changed' on immigration reform

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a presumptive 2016 Republican presidential candidate, says he has changed his immigration stance and no longer backs comprehensive reform that would allow illegal immigrants to be penalized but remain in the country.
“My view has changed,” Walker said in a “Fox News Sunday” interview taped Friday. “I’m flat out saying it.”
Walker in 2013 said a plan in which illegal immigrants can become United States citizens by first paying penalties and enduring a waiting period “makes sense.”
However, he is now saying such a plan is tantamount to amnesty, amid criticism that he has flip-flopped on that issue and others -- including right-to-work legislation in his home state.
“I don’t believe in amnesty,” said Walker, who finished second Saturday in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll for potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. “We need to secure the border. We ultimately need to put in place a system that works -- a legal immigration system that works.”
Walker also is among the 25 Republican governors who have joined in a lawsuit challenging the president’s 2014 executive action that defers deportation for millions of illegal immigrants.
After calling the right-to-work bill in the Wisconsin Legislature a “distraction” during his 2014 re-election season, Walker now touts the GOP-backed plan, which essentially stops unions from collecting dues from non-union workers.
On Sunday, Walker said that “now is the perfect time” for the bill to be passed and for him to sign it.
Walker also attempted to further clarify comments he made Thursday during his speech at CPAC, the country’s largest annual gathering of conservative activists, in which he seemed to compare the Islamic State and union-backed protesters he has faced.
“I'm not comparing those two entities,” Walker said. “What I meant was, it was about … the leadership we provided under extremely difficult circumstances, arguably, the most difficult of any governor in the country, and maybe in recent times. To me, I apply that to saying if I were to run and if I were to win and be commander in chief, I believe that kind of leadership is what's necessary to take on radical Islamic terrorism.”

DOJ Clears Zimmerman: Holder's political pandering comes to predictable end

Eric Holder’s political pandering has finally come to a predictable end. The outgoing attorney general will not bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin. Was there ever a doubt?
There was never a scintilla of evidence that the confrontation had anything to do with race or civil rights. But that did not stop Holder from abiding the racial hysteria ginned up by the Reverend Al Sharpton crowd. Nor did it stop President Obama from injecting race into a race-less case.

It seems inescapable that Holder chose to demagogue a tragic case to appease civil rights vocalists and burnish his liberal bona fides. If so, he elevated racial politics over the integrity of the law.

Never mind that a Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman last year of any culpability, finding that he acted purely in self-defense. Never mind that not a single witness testified that race was a factor. Forget that even the prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments that race played no role.
It didn’t matter to Holder that the FBI concluded more than two years ago that “there is no evidence the shooting was driven by racial bias or animus.”
None of that deterred Holder from reviving, after the verdict, his much publicized pursuit of a racially motivated crime where none existed. Let the grandstanding begin, facts be damned.
Any lawyer could tell you that what Holder was peddling amounted to pure fiction. But why?
It seems inescapable that Holder chose to demagogue a tragic case to appease civil rights vocalists and burnish his liberal bona fides. If so, he elevated racial politics over the integrity of the law.
Which is beyond shame. It is an abuse of power.

Democrats, Republicans accuse each other of trying to spin Netanyahu visit to their political advantage

The controversy over Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming congressional address intensified Sunday with Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of injecting too much politics into the event.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Netanyahu was welcome to speak in the United States and that the administration did not want the event "turned into some great political football."
Kerry made his remarks in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” that was broadcast before he left for more talks in Switzerland toward a long-term, multi-nation deal to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
Netanyahu is set to arrive in Washington late Sunday and will press his opposition to a diplomatic accommodation of Iran's program in a speech Tuesday to Congress.
The prime minister says he is making the address out of concern for Israel's security.
House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu last month, without consulting the White House, to give a joint address to Congress.
The invitation was considered a diplomatic no-no and further exposed tensions between Israel and the United States.
Netanyahu’s acceptance further angered the White House and Democrats, who were forced to choose between showing support for Israel and backing the president.
Boehner, R-Ohio, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the White House has "attacked" him and Netanyahu over the issue.
“It has been, frankly, remarkable to me, the extent to which, over the last five or six weeks, the White House has attacked the prime minister, attacked me, for wanting to hear from one of our closest allies," Boehner said.
He defended his decision to extend the invitation, saying Netanyahu can talk about Iran’s nuclear threat better than anyone.
“And the United States Congress wants to hear from him,” he continued. “And so do the American people."
He also said the demand for seats in the House to hear the speech has been huge, despite some Democrats vowing to skip the event.
The White House has said it will not meet with Netanyahu while he is in a reelection effort with a March 17 vote.
Whether Vice President Biden will attend the event remains unclear.
However, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told CBS that she plans to attend the event but won’t “jump up and down” like other members might.
She also took issue with Netanyahu saying he will be an emissary of the Jewish people, telling CNN’s “State of the Union” that he “doesn't speak for me on this."
Kerry’s remarks were a step back from Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, last week described the timing and partisan manner of Netanyahu's visit as "destructive" for the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
He also said that he talked to Netanyahu as recently as Saturday and argued that Israel is safer as a result of the short-term nuclear pact that world powers and Iran reached in late 2013.
Officials have described the U.S., Europe, Russia and China as considering a compromise that would see Iran's nuclear activities severely curtailed for at least a decade, with the restrictions and U.S. and Western economic penalties eased in the final years of a deal.
"Our hope is that diplomacy can work,” Kerry said. “And I believe, given our success of the interim agreement, we deserve the benefit of the doubt to find out whether or not we can get a similarly good agreement with respect to the future."
Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Senate is pushing for a final say in the deal and wants to impose tougher sanctions on Iran should Tehran back out of a final agreement.
“The idea that Congress would sit on the sidelines and watch John Kerry, Susan Rice and Barack Obama negotiate with the Iranians … is just mind-boggling,” South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News’ “American's News Headquarters." “And I don't think we're going to let that happen.”
Graham also said six Democratic senators appear willing to side with Republicans on the issue.
Netanyahu also planned to speak Monday at the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.
He considers unacceptable any deal that does not entirely end Iran's nuclear program. But Obama is willing to leave some nuclear activity intact, backed by safeguards that Iran is not trying to develop a weapon. Iran insists its program is solely for peaceful energy and medical research purposes.

Iraqi forces reportedly begin attack to recapture Tikrit from ISIS

 Iraqi forces backed by Shiite and Sunni fighters have begun an offensive to recapture the northern town of Tikrit from ISIS militants, state TV reported Monday.
Al-Iraqiya television said that the forces were attacking the city, backed by artillery and airstrikes by Iraqi fighter jets. It reported that militants were dislodged from some areas outside the city, but gave no details.
Tikrit, some 80 miles north of Baghdad, fell into the hands of ISIS last summer along with the country's second-largest city of Mosul, and other areas in its Sunni heartland. The city, which has an estimated population of around 260,000 people, may be best known as the hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Any operation to take Mosul likely would require Iraq to seize Tikrit first, as the town sits on the main road from Baghdad.
News of the offensive came hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on Sunni tribal fighters to abandon ISIS, warning that Tikrit "will soon return to its people."
Al-Abadi offered the Sunnis what he called "the last chance", and promised them a pardon during a news conference in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. His office said he arrived in Samarra to "supervise the operation to liberate Tikrit from the terrorist gangs."
"I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities," al-Abadi said.
The Iraqi military previously launched an operation in late June to try to wrest back control of Tikrit, but that quickly stalled. Other planned offensives by Iraq's military, which collapsed under the initial ISIS blitz, also have failed to make up ground, though soldiers have taken back the nearby refinery town of Beiji, backed by airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition.
Al-Abadi's comments appear to be targeting former members of Iraq's outlawed Baath party, loyalists to Saddam Hussein, who joined ISIS during its offensive, as well as other Sunnis who were dissatisfied with Baghdad's Shiite-led government. The premier likely hopes to peel away some support from the terror group, especially as Iraqis grow increasingly horrified by the extremists' mass killings and other atrocities.
In February alone, violence across Iraq killed at least 1,100 Iraqis, including more than 600 civilians, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq said Sunday. Last year was the deadliest in Iraq since its 2006-2007 sectarian bloodshed, with a total of 12,282 people killed and 23,126 wounded, according to the U.N.

Stand Behind Israel.

Internet Cartoon

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington to address Congress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Washington on Sunday to press his case against an emerging deal on Iran's nuclear program in a contentious address to the U.S. Congress, which he said he is delivering out of concern for Israel's security.
The address has caused an uproar that has exposed tensions between Israel and its most important ally, the United States. In accepting a Republican invitation to address Congress, Netanyahu angered the White House, which was not consulted with in advance of the invite, as well as Democrats who were forced to choose between showing support for Israel and backing their president.
Netanyahu plans to express his disapproval over a potential deal between Iran and world powers that he says falls short of preventing Tehran from having the ability to make an atomic bomb. A preliminary deadline is late this month.
"I feel deep and genuine concern for the security of all the people of Israel," Netanyahu told reporters on the tarmac, his wife by his side, before boarding his flight. "I will do everything in my ability to secure our future."
He called the trip a "crucial and even historic mission" and said he feels like "an emissary" of all citizens of Israel and the Jewish people.
Tuesday's speech to Congress has touched off a wave of criticism in Israel, where Netanyahu is seeking re-election on March 17.
His main challenger, Isaac Herzog, had demanded he cancel the speech. The former head of Israel's Mossad spy agency has called the address pointless and counterproductive. Netanyahu has long been a vocal critic of Iran, and his position is already well-known.
Stopping Iran from building a nuclear bomb has become a defining challenge for both President Barack Obama and Netanyahu, yet they have approached the issue differently.
Netanyahu considers unacceptable any deal that doesn't end Iran's nuclear program entirely. Obama appears to be willing to leave some nuclear activity intact, backed by safeguards that Iran is not trying to develop a weapon.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Venezuela to shrink US Embassy staff, require Americans to apply for tourist visas

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro announced Saturday the country will restrict the activities of U.S. diplomats, shrink the size of the U.S. Embassy staff and require Americans to apply for visas if they want to visit.
Maduro said at a protest against imperialism that “gringo” meddling had forced him to adopt the series of limitations that also includes requiring U.S. diplomats to seek approval from the Foreign Ministry before conducting meetings.
The new tourist visa requirement was imposed for national security reasons after authorities had detained several Americans, including a U.S. pilot, who allegedly were involved in espionage, Maduro said.
About an American pilot possibly being held in Venezuela, a State Department official told Fox News “we are still looking into it.”
Venezuela released four missionaries from North Dakota earlier Saturday. They were detained for several days for unknown reasons. Venezuela banned them from the country for two years.
Maduro also addressed President Obama directly Saturday, saying the U.S. president has "arrogantly" refused to engage in conciliatory talks. 
"I'm very sorry, Mr. President, that you have gone down this dead end," he during a speech that all Venezuelan television and radio stations were required to carry.
Venezuela plans to charge Americans the same tourist visa fees that the U.S. charges Venezuelans. The payment will have to be made in dollars. Maduro said he welcomes all comers.
A senior administration official in Washington said the U.S. government had not received any communications from Venezuela and couldn't comment yet on the new restrictions, which come after the U.S. recently imposed a travel ban on a list of top Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations.
The official also again rejected Maduro's claims that the U.S. is plotting against Venezuela.
"We are aware of reports that President Maduro repeated a number of inflammatory statements about the United States during a televised political rally today. The continued allegations that the United States is involved in efforts to destabilize the Venezuelan government are baseless and false," said the official.
Earlier in the day, Venezuelans participated in two different protests. One rally called for the attention to a crackdown on government opponents and another showed support for the socialist administration.
Government supporters marched to the presidential palace to express their rejection of imperialism and commemorate the 26th anniversary of a convulsion of violence in Caracas widely seen by government backers as evidence of the brutality of pre-socialist administrations.
Opposition activists, meanwhile, gathered to denounce the arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma earlier this month and the death on Tuesday of a teenager who was shot during an anti-government protest.

Colleges using coffers for financial aid to illegal immigrants stirs debate on immigration reform

Several U.S. colleges are giving financial aid directly to students who are young illegal immigrants, extending the debate about helping people in the United States illegally at the expense of Americans who are in need of similar opportunities.
Such opportunities have opened up since President Obama's 2012 executive action that deferred deportation to millions of young people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. However, they still are largely ineligible for state or federal student aid.
New York University -- which receives federal, state and city money -- says the aid given to illegal immigrants is not at the expense of American students.
“This is not taking away from anybody,” MJ Knoll-Finn, an N.Y.U. admissions officer, told The New York Times, which first reported the story. “This is a formalized way of making sure these students know they’re welcome.”
However, others disagree.
"This policy not only encourages new illegal immigration, but comes at the expense of the college dreams of young Americans," Stephen Miller, spokesman for Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on immigration and the national interest, told FoxNews.com on Saturday.
Steven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Times that such funding has a "zero-sum aspect to it."
"The fact is, there is not an unlimited pot of money to help needy students or high-achieving low-income students. And there is a certain one-for-one, a crowding-out effect," he said.
NYU received at least $310 million in federal money in 2012, in addition to state and city grants, according to the school’s website.
In addition, school President John Sexton has put the NYU community’s support behind a budget proposal by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to give financial aid to illegal immigrants.
“Expanding educational opportunities for immigrant youth not only helps individual students,” Sexton wrote Cuomo in a Feb. 7 letter. “It helps entire communities, states and the nation as a whole.”
The New York legislature on Thursday pass a so-called DREAM Act, which would make illegal immigrants eligible for state tuition breaks and college savings plan. But the measure will face strong opposition from state Senate Republicans in the budget negotiations.
The battle is similar to those in Washington and across the county.
Congressional Republicans nearly shut down the Department of Homeland Security this week by trying to tie a funding bill to efforts to roll back Obama’s executive actions on immigration.
Congress late Friday passed a last-minute bill, signed by the president, to fund the agency. But the funding is for just seven days, and the battle will resume next week.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Texas earlier this month temporarily halted the executive actions. The judge declined a Justice Department request to lift the stay by Wednesday. He is expected by Monday to make a decision on the request, but the administration will likely attempt to take the issue to a federal appeals court.
Other colleges reportedly acknowledge that the financial aid for illegal immigrant students comes from the same coffers that help American students but argue that diversity is always an admissions’ challenge and that illegal immigrant students bring a unique perspective to the campus community.
Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania is among the other colleges that are giving financial aid to illegal immigrant students.
President Daniel R. Porterfield said the school has been offering more of such aid as a result of the 2012 executive action, known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
“It now gives those students the legal right to be more out of the shadows than they had been when they were simply undocumented,” he told The Times.
Illegal immigrants in some states, including California and Texas, are eligible for state financial-aid programs. And more than a dozen reportedly allow illegal immigrant students who have attended public high schools to pay in-state college tuition.

Reports of possible deal on DHS funding reignites chatter about Boehner ouster

Multiple reports that House Speaker John Boehner has cut a deal to pass a long-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security without ties to rolling back President Obama’s executive action on immigration has reignited rumblings about a Boehner coup.
The deal was purportedly struck as the House agreed late Friday night to fund the agency for seven days to avoid a partial shutdown.
At least one congressional aide said the deal between Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was to get enough Democratic votes in the Republican-led chamber to avoid the shutdown at midnight Friday, in exchange for Boehner’s promise to allow a vote next week on a long-term funding bill “clean” of the immigration issue.
Boehner spokesman Mike Steel told Fox News that such a deal doesn’t exist. Pelosi’s office has neither confirmed nor denied such a deal.
The calls for Boehner’s ouster appear to be coming mostly from the 50-plus, most-conservative members who formed the new Freedom Caucus. And they appear to be growing more restless.
The number of House Republicans who voted Friday night against the 7-day funding for DHS was 55, compared to 52 who voted against the failed 3-week funding bill earlier in the evening.
The party’s most conservative wing tried unsuccessfully in January, at the start of the 114th Congress, to replace Boehner.
A dozen House Republicans either voted for somebody else or didn’t cast a vote.
Ousting a House speaker is unprecedented. Electing a House speaker and thus trying to remove one is a “privileged” effort in the lower chamber. Privileged resolutions can skip to the front of the legislative line and not be sidetracked by leadership.
Jefferson’s Manual, crafted by Thomas Jefferson and still used today as one of the main sources for House operations, says the following:
“A Speaker may be removed at the will of the House and a Speaker pro tempore appointed.”
But it’s unclear how that process happens since no speaker has ever faced a challenge in the middle of the Congress.
Boehner opponents could write a “privileged” resolution declaring that the speakership is vacant. The House would then vote on that motion or possibly vote to table or kill it.
The closest the House ever got to this scenario came during the failed coup attempt in July 1997 on House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
They tried to bring forth such a privileged “vacancy” resolution, but the coup fizzled after Gingrich learned of it and those who tried it realized they didn’t have the votes.