Clinton campaign ropes off reporters at New Hampshire parade

Campaign aides for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Saturday roped off reporters from the candidate as she walked and talked with potential voters during a July Fourth parade in New Hampshire, sparking frustration from the press corps and outrage from the state Republican Party.
“Hillary Clinton continues to demonstrate her obvious contempt and disdain for the Granite State’s style of grassroots campaigning,” New Hampshire Republican State Committee Chairman Jennifer Horn said in a statement. “The use of a rope line at a New Hampshire parade is a sad joke and insults the traditions of our first-in-the-nation primary.”
Reporters were reportedly allowed to get close to Clinton but were later herded away by campaign aides concerned about crowd control.
“Spectacle of Clinton as candidate -- press being pulled along with a rope,” tweeted New York Times presidential campaign correspondent Maggie Haberman.
The campaign responded to the outrage, telling CNN: “While the GOP might want to spin a good yarn on this, let’s not get tied up in knots. We wanted to accommodate the press, allow (Clinton) greet voter (sic.) And allow the press to be right there in the parade with her, as opposed to preset locations.”
However, the optics of reporters being corralled along at the event, in Gotham, N.H., did not look good and added to the criticism that Clinton, unlike other 2016 presidential candidates, is shielded from reporters and their questions and as a public figure is cloaked in secrecy. 
“Never underestimate @HillaryClinton’s capacity to fritter away natural advantages with poor judgement,” tweeted Politico politics reporter Glenn Thrush.
Reporters and potential voters are often kept at a distance from presidential candidates at large events by what is called a “rope line.” The event Saturday was also marked by at least one person heckling Clinton about what exactly she did as secretary of state before the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed.
Though Clinton, also a former first lady and U.S. senator, is the clear Democratic front runner, primary challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent, has been drawing large crowds at campaign events in New Hampshire. 
He released the following statement Saturday on the Clinton campaign’s use of a rope line to protect the Democrat frontrunner on a public street at Gorham’s annual Independence Day parade:
“Today, Republican presidential candidates marched in parades across New Hampshire that were open to the public without obstruction from their staff. Their efforts to reach out to voters and engage in retail campaigning stand in sharp contrast to Secretary Clinton’s arrogant and shameful behavior.”

Happy 4th of July Cartoon

The real reason America is exceptional

 

An American Flag flies at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J., Tuesday, June 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

As the first rays of morning light wash over the eastern seaboard -- a flag is unfurled with broad stripes and bright stars.
 A soldier stands guard over sleeping heroes - known only to their Maker.

 

Now Playing The Common Man: A proud American

A resting place for the Common Man.
A farmer in the heartland gathers his crop as golden wheat shimmers in the breeze. A rancher gallops along the Texas Hill Country -- herding his cattle to the stockyards. A river boat captain pilots his boat down the muddy waters of the Mississippi.

We are an uncommon nation established by common men.

A job for the Common Man
In a Tennessee church house a candle flickers -- a preacher prays on bended knee -- asking God to bless our land -- to shed his grace on thee.
A prayer for the Common Man.
When the floodwaters rise and the storm clouds billow -- we stand ready to help -- feeding the hungry -- mending the wounded -- rebuilding homes and lives.
Goodwill for the Common Man.
And in some distant land a soldier stands guard defending our nation -- tending Lady Liberty's flame. They are young men and young women from our big cities and small towns -- willing to sacrifice their lives so that we can be free.
A protector for the Common Man.
We are the sons and daughters of the Common Man.
We are noble people forged by freedom’s fire.
We are an uncommon nation established by common men.
We are proud Americans and this is our fanfare.

Oregon launches program to tax drivers by the mile

David Hastings is a rare American. This long-time hybrid car owner from Oregon wants to pay higher taxes for roads and bridges and says the current 30 cents per gallon state gas tax barely affects him.
"I've been free-loading on the highways for 20 years driving electric cars or hybrid cars, getting at least 40 miles to the gallon. So I haven't been paying my share," Hastings said.
Now, Hastings will pay more thanks to OReGO -- the first pay-by-the-mile program in the U.S. 
Oregon’s Department of Transportation has been working on it for 15 years as a way to eventually replace the gas tax, which has been flat due to an influx of high mileage vehicles and people driving less.
Right now the program is voluntary and being capped at 5,000 participants, but an ODOT official told Fox News the ultimate goal is to make it mandatory and change the way states pay for roads -- forever.
"We're trying to make up for a growing deficit, really, because inflation's eating away at our ability to buy asphalt and rebar and the things we need to maintain the roads," said Tom Fuller of the Oregon Department of Transportation.
According to a national usage fee alliance, 28 states are in various stages of following down the same road. However, there are also privacy concerns. Two of the three OReGO systems track and store a car’s every move.
"To put a GPS monitor in everybody's car, the government already knows too much about us as it is," Jeff Kruse, a Republican lawmaker told Fox News.
Others are raising questions about the cost. Getting the gas tax is cheap, but OReGO vendors will eat up 40 cents of every dollar collected, and for those not used to paying any gas tax, it could be a whole new sticker shock – every month.
Jeff Allen, of “Drive Oregon,” supports the one and a half cent per mile usage fee -- to a point.
"We need to be subsidizing and incentivizing electric cars and not putting more taxes or fees on them, not discouraging people from buying them in any way," Allen said.

Republicans look to deliver blow against ObamaCare tax

Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding ObamaCare subsidies, opponents of the law remain poised to strike a key blow against another component of the health care overhaul in a matter of months. 
Republicans, with help from Democrats, have gained momentum in their long-running effort to repeal the law's controversial 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices. 
The House voted 280-140 to nix the tax, which went into effect in 2013, in June; the debate heads next to the Senate. While Republicans have tried dozens of times to unravel all or parts of the law through repeal legislation, this bill has bipartisan backing -- and, with a potential veto showdown on the horizon, supporters may even have a veto-proof majority. 
"Obviously, we are really heartened by the House vote -- I think more significantly, 46 Democrats joined with the Republicans in the House," said J.C. Scott, head of government relations for the trade group Advanced Medical Technology Association, of AdvaMed, which has been lobbying Congress hard for a repeal. It released surveys detailing the tax's negative impact on its member companies in 2014 and 2015. 
Scott said, "Clearly the congressional spirit is there on a bipartisan basis to get something done by the end of the year" in the Senate. 
"I think the will is there," he said. 

More on this...

• Sen. Barrasso: 'No end in sight' for ObamaCare costs

Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wants to see action on the repeal by the end of 2015, his office told FoxNews.com. 
A bill introduced in January by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has five Democratic co-sponsors, including the two liberal Democratic senators from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, as well as Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. 
The push has enjoyed bipartisan support from the beginning from lawmakers who think the tax has cost the country thousands of jobs in the medical device industry and is drying up resources for private research and development. 
"Both Republicans and Democrats understand how bad this tax really is and we owe it to the American people to ensure the development of life saving medical devices are not plagued by high costs that will, ultimately, be passed on to patients," Hatch said in January. 
The tax is supposed to help pay for ObamaCare, bringing upwards of $30 billion into the program over 10 years. It applies to all gross company sales of non-retail medical devices and supplies, from X-Ray equipment and MRI machines to bandages and surgical tools. Because it is a 2.3 percent tax on gross sales, the percentage it takes out of profits is much larger. 
The repeal push once had even liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on board when the Democrat-led Senate passed a non-binding budget amendment dealing with the issue in 2013. "When Congress taxes the sale of a specific product through an excise tax, as the Affordable Care Act does with medical devices, it too often disproportionately impacts the small companies with the narrowest financial margins and the broadest innovated potential," she said in 2013. 
It is not clear whether she is supporting Hatch's latest bill, given she has been a strong supporter of ObamaCare overall. 
But the number of Democrats who voted for repeal in the House, coupled with the support Democrats have shown for repeal in two previous non-binding budget resolutions in the Senate, indicate the latest bill at least has enough support to pass Congress. McConnell's office said pro-repeal lawmakers also believe they have enough votes in both chambers to override a veto, which the White House has threatened. 
Repealing the tax, the White House said in June, would amount to a "large tax break to profitable corporations." 
"This excise tax is one of several designed so that industries that gain from the coverage expansion will help offset the cost of that expansion," said the Office of Management and Budget in a statement. "Its repeal would take away a funding source for financial assistance that is working to improve [health care] coverage and affordability and would increase the Federal deficit by $24.4 billion over 10 years." 
Supporters of the tax say there is no real evidence it is killing more than 30,000 jobs, as claimed by the AdvaMed survey, or that it will ultimately shift jobs overseas. The Washington Post's Fact Checker gave these claims two "pinocchios" in 2014 and three on June 30 after reviewing them. 
The paper said the impact of the tax on companies is actually smaller -- closer to 1.5 percent -- because companies can claim a deduction on their federal income taxes. 
Fact Checker also pointed to a Congressional Research Service study that found the impact of the tax on jobs and R&D negligible, and pointed to another survey of medical device companies by the Emergo Group that found that nearly 57 percent said they did not make any significant staff cuts due to the tax, compared with 14 percent who did. 
When asked if the tax was squeezing funds for R&D, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters in January, "I don't think there's any reason why that medical device tax would in any way limit the kind of innovation that the president believes could revolutionize health care."

Government's hold on power hangs in balance no matter what Greeks decide, analysts say

Analysts say no matter what the Greeks decide in Sunday’s referendum vote, the government’s hold on power is more uncertain than its prime minister suggests.
Prime Minister Alex Tsipras is calling on voters to deliver a resounding “no” in the popular vote that he believes will give him strong leverage in his negotiations with creditors to swing a softer bailout agreement for Greece, which has been ravaged by years of austerity, recession and poverty.
A win for the No campaign could allow Tsipras to get a stronger grip on power. However, analysts don’t think that could be the case.
They say a “no” note could still plunge Tsipras’ position into uncertainty if negotiations drag on with creditors who see such the outcome as a Greek snub of the euro. Without a quick deal, banks could stay closed to keep their reserves from running dry.
"A deteriorating import-dependent economy will provoke a rapid decline in public support for the government and fresh elections may become inevitable, but this will take time," said Dimitri Sotiropoulos, political science professor at the University of Athens.
A vote for the Yes campaign could case Tsipras’ public mandate in doubt and force him to broaden his coalition government, political analyst George Sertzis said. The never government may have Syriza at its core, but the cabinet’s composition could change to include “respected personalities who can be recruited to fill that role.”
The radical left Syriza emerged from the political fringes in January as Greek voters sought an alternatives to what they saw as a bankrupt political establishment they blame for opening the door to half a decade of punishing salary and pension rollbacks, steep job cuts and hefty taxes.
Just a few years ago, the country's two main political forces, the right-wing New Democracy and the socialist PASOK parties, commanded some 80 percent of the vote between them. Now, with many Greeks seeing them as kowtowing to the lenders' diktats, their support was dwindled.
Tsipras' youth, unorthodox style and pledges to fight the good fight for the country's poorest endeared him to many and persuaded some that he could take on the institutional behemoths that decide the economic fate of entire nations.
However, the lack of results in Greek talks have diminished the government’s credibility in the eyes of Europe’s power circles.
"This government doesn't trust the institutions of the EU and the IMF, and those institutions trust the Greek government even less," said Sotiropoulos.
Tsipras’ gambit appears to rest on whether he can clinch a deal quickly so that banks can reopen and get money flowing to businesses once more. Tsipras told private TV station Antenna Thursday that he sees a deal emerging with lenders “within 48 hours” after the referendum.
His finance minister, Yianis Varoufakis, told Ireland's RTE radio Friday that an agreement with creditors "is more or less done" and that European officials had put forward "very decent proposals" this week.
The European Union and International Monetary Fund are unlikely to cave in on demands for tough austerity measures, notes Sotiropoulos.
The creditors may offer a vague pledge to consider restructuring Greece’s crushing debt, but that won’t likely happen until the government faithfully implements the terms of the deal for at least 12 to 18 months, said Sotiropoulos.
A 'no' win would be a Pyrrhic victory for the Greek government. You can't survive on Pyrrhic victories because you need funds to keep the country running," he said.
Sefertzis said Tsipras' political decline may come much faster even with a referendum "no" in his pocket as he would have little time to get to keep the country from economic collapse.
With the economy fledgling, Tsirpras’ hold on power would be a “matter of days rather than weeks,” said Sefertzis.
The latest opinion polls put the No and Yes camps in a dead heat as divisions have emerged even within the Greek government. A lawmaker from its right-wing junior coalition partner was kicked out for backing a "yes" vote.
Writing in the liberal daily "Ta Nea," pollster Elias Nikolakopoulos said any predictions about the outcome on Sunday "are exceedingly precarious" because party allegiances in this vote are fluid.
Speaking on Ireland's RTE radio, Varoufakis even suggested that a "yes" win is possible, albeit by a narrow margin. But even then, he insisted his party would come out "stronger and united."
"Syriza will remain the only credible party in the parliament, our young leader will remain the only credible leader of this nation," Varoufakis said.
There may be credence to that. Sotiropoulos said in case of a "yes" win, Syriza could remain part of any new national unity government given its large support.
He said it would make sense for Greece's creditors to compensate the country if a "yes" vote prevails by easing austerity, earmarking more developments funds and finding ways to alleviate the debt burden without necessarily resorting to write-offs.

Man arrested in connection with San Francisco killing had been deported several times, officials say

Bad things happen when Democrats run the government. Here is one example of liberals at work.

The man arrested in connection with the seemingly random killing of a woman who was out for a stroll with her father along the San Francisco waterfront is an illegal immigrant who previously had been deported five times, federal immigration officials say. 
Further, Immigration and Customs Enforcement says San Francisco had him in their custody earlier this year but failed to notify ICE when he was released. 
"DHS records indicate ICE lodged an immigration detainer on the subject at that time, requesting notification prior to his release so ICE officers could make arrangements to take custody. The detainer was not honored," ICE said in a statement Friday afternoon. 
Kathryn Steinle was killed Wednesday evening at Pier 14 -- one of the busiest tourist destinations in the city. 
Police said Thursday they arrested Francisco Sanchez in the shooting an hour after it occurred. 
On Friday, ICE revealed their records indicate the individual has been previously deported five times, most recently in 2009, and is from Mexico. 

More on this...

• California woman shot and killed on San Francisco waterfront

Related Image

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This undated photo released by the San Francisco Police Department shows Francisco Sanchez. (AP)

"His criminal history includes seven prior felony convictions, four involving narcotics charges," ICE said in a statement. 
ICE briefly had him in their custody in March after he had served his latest sentence for "felony re-entry," but turned him over to San Francisco police on an outstanding drug warrant. At this time, ICE issued the detainer -- effectively asking that he be turned back over to ICE when San Francisco was finished with him. 
But ICE was not notified. The incident is sure to renew criticism of San Francisco's sanctuary city policies. 
"Here's a jurisdiction that's not even honoring our detainer for someone who clearly is an egregious offender," an ICE official told FoxNews.com. 
ICE has since lodged another immigration detainer against the individual, though it's unclear whether San Francisco will cooperate. 
A representative with the police department has not yet responded to a request for comment from FoxNews.com. 
Police Sgt. Michael Andraychak earlier said witnesses snapped photos of Sanchez immediately after the shooting and the images helped police make the arrest. 
Liz Sullivan told the San Francisco Chronicle that her 32-year-old daughter turned to her father after she was shot and said she didn't feel well before collapsing. 
"She just kept saying, 'Dad, help me, help me,'" Sullivan said. Her father reportedly tried to do CPR before she was rushed to the hospital. 
The immigration detainer issued against the suspect earlier this year would have initiated the process of removing him from the U.S. once again. 
"ICE places detainers on aliens arrested on criminal charges to ensure dangerous criminals are not released from prisons or jails into our communities," ICE said in the statement. "The agency remains committed to working collaboratively with its law enforcement partners to ensure the public's safety."

Character Cartoon

Christian bakers fined $135,000 for refusing to make wedding cake for lesbians

The owners of a mom and pop bakery have just learned there is a significant price to pay for following their religious beliefs.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes By Melissa, have been ordered to pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple after they refused to bake them a wedding cake in 2013.
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The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) awarded $60,000 to Laurel Bowman-Cryer and $75,000 in damages to Rachel Bowman-Cryer for “emotional suffering.” 
“This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage,” the final order read. “It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal.”
According to the BOLI, the lesbian couple suffered great angst. One of the women “felt depressed and questioned whether there was something inherently wrong with the sexual orientation she was born with.” They said she had “difficulty controlling her emotions and cried a lot.”
The other woman “experienced extreme anger, outrage, embarrassment, exhaustion, frustration, intense sorrow and shame” simply because the Kleins refused to provide them with a wedding cake.
Jeez. That must have been one heck of a cake.
It sounds as if the state of Oregon is sending a stern warning to Christian business owners like the Kleins.
“Within Oregon’s public accommodations law is the basic principle of human decency that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, has the freedom to fully participate in society,” the ruling states. “The ability to enter public places, to shop and dine, to move about unfettered by bigotry.”
Does The Bureau of Labor and Industry truly believe that Christians who want to follow the teachings of their faith are bigots?
It certainly seems to me the only entity guilty of unfettered bigotry is the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry.
Since the day they turned away the lesbian couple’s business, the Kleins have suffered greatly. Their business was subjected to boycotts and pickets. LGBT activists and their supporters threatened any wedding vendor that did business with Sweet Cakes By Melissa.
Mrs. Klein told me her five children were subjected to death threats -- death threats for simply refusing to participate in a same-sex wedding.  That doesn’t sound very tolerant to me.
Eventually, the bullying became so severe the family had to shut down their retail store and Mr. Klein had to take a job picking up garbage. Today, Mrs. Klein continues to make cakes in her home.
“We were just running our business the best we could – following the Lord’s example,” she said. “I’m just blown away by the ruling. They are punishing us for not participating in the wedding.”
Mr. Klein said he plans on appealing the ruling and had harsh words for BOLI Commissioner Brad Avakian.
“This man has no power over me,” Klein said. “He seems to think he can tell me to be quiet. That doesn’t sit well with me and I refuse to comply.”
Mr. Klein accused the BOLI of ordering him to not speak publicly about the case – an order he said is unconstitutional.
“When my constitutional freedoms have been violated by the state I’m going to speak out,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”
Regardless, the Klein case has demonstrated once again that gay rights trump religious liberty. Other Christian business owners should pay close attention.
The Kleins had a choice. They could obey the government or they could obey God. They chose God – and now they must pay the price.

IT boss ‘blown away’ that IRS backup tapes in Lerner case erased, watchdog says

The chief technology officer at the IRS was "blown away" after learning backup tapes that likely contained messages to and from controversial ex-official Lois Lerner were destroyed, according to an internal government watchdog report. 
The 1,600-page report, prepared by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, examined the agency's handling of Lerner's missing emails and apparent computer crash. Lerner is the former official at the heart of the scandal over IRS targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups, but lawmakers were told last year that some of her electronic communications had been lost. 
The effort to recover those files has seemingly been marked by a string of blunders. Inspector General J. Russell George first told lawmakers last week that 422 backup tapes were "magnetically erased" around March 4, 2014, meaning thousands of emails might never be recovered. 
The IG report, which is not expected to be made public but has been viewed by Fox News, does not point to any deliberate cover-up. The report says investigators found "no evidence that the IRS and its employees purposely erased the tapes in order to conceal" some of the emails in question. 
However, the report demonstrates the IRS did a sloppy job retaining documents despite a House Ways and Means Committee directive to do so. 
Late Thursday Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, responded to the report, saying, “After spending more than $20 million and three years investigating, the Inspector General’s conclusions remain the same:  there is no evidence to substantiate Republican claims of political motivation, White House involvement, or intentional destruction of evidence.  It’s time to stop this political witch hunt and focus on investigations that impact American’s lives."

More on this...

• Tea Party reaction to latest Lerner email revelation

According to the report, IRS Chief Technology Officer Terry Milholland told the IG office he was "blown away" after learning the tapes had been demagnetized -- a process known as "degaussing." This was done at the IRS's IT center in Martinsburg, W.Va. Those tapes are believed to have contained Lerner emails that "were responsive to Congressional demands and subpoenas," the report says. 
"Backup tapes were destroyed as a result of IRS management," the report says, noting officials failed to appropriately follow a May 2013 directive from Milholland concerning record preservation. 
The report further states that the IRS "did not fully identify as a source or perform recovery attempts for email" associated with Lerner. It says that as many as "23,000 to 24,000 email messages may not have been provided to Congress." 
Beginning in the summer of 2011, according to the report, there was an effort by the IRS to recover the failed hard drive belonging to Lerner. 
A July 19, 2011, email from Carl Froehlich, who headed the service's "Agency Wide Shared Services" division, to Lerner declared that "Lillie Wilburn" was on the case. Wilburn is the IRS's program manager of network services for IT in Atlanta. 
"It may be too late - don't send them off to the hard drive cemetery," Lerner wrote to the IRS' IT department on July 20. 
On Aug. 5, 2011, Wilburn wrote to Lerner: "Unfortunately the news is not good. The sectors of the hard drive were bad which made your data [unrecoverable]. I am very sorry. Everyone tried their best." 
Lerner then replied: "Thanks for trying. It really do appreciate the effort. Sometimes stuff just happens." 
Before leaving the agency, Lerner led the division that came under fire for allegedly singling out conservative groups for additional scrutiny as they sought nonprofit status.

Kentucky clerk sued for not issuing same-sex marriage licenses

Four Kentucky couples are suing a clerk who is refusing to issue gay-marriage licenses – or any marriage licenses for that matter – following a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court giving same-sex marriage couples the legal right to marry.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed a federal lawsuit against Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis Thursday on behalf of two homosexual and two heterosexual couples, all of whom were turned down when they tried to get marriage licenses from Davis’ office this week.
Davis has said that her religious beliefs prevented her from complying with the Supreme Court decision, so she decided not to issue marriage licenses to any type of couple – straight or gay.
Davis is among a handful of judges and clerks across the South who have defied the Court’s order, maintaining that the right to “religious freedom” protects them from having to comply.
The Decatur County, Tennessee clerk and two office employees resigned Thursday due to their opposition to same-sex marriage, County Commissioner David Boroughs told The Jackson Sun.
However, in Alabama, all counties appeared to be complying with the Supreme Court ruling as of Thursday, lawyers representing gay couples told The Associated Press.
In Louisiana, where most parish clerks had been issuing same-sex marriage licenses since Monday, the state Office of Vital Records, which issues the licenses in New Orleans, didn't begin doing so until Thursday.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling last Friday, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear ordered all clerks to fall in line. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway followed up with a warning that failing to do so might open them up to civil liability.
Officials have also warned defiant clerks could be risking criminal charges. Warren County Attorney Ann Milliken, president of the Kentucky County Attorneys Association, president of the Kentucky County Attorney’s Association, said clerks could be charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
Some Kentucky clerks who at first resisted issuing same-sex marriage licenses changed course this week aand agreed to sign them. However, Davis and a few others stood firm, despite the protests outside her Morehead office earlier this week.
She pledged to never issue a marriage license to a gay couple.
"It's a deep-rooted conviction; my conscience won't allow me to do that," Davis said Tuesday. "It goes against everything I hold dear, everything sacred in my life."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Ashland, requests and injunction ordering Davis to begin issuing licenses. IT alleges that her policy is unconstitutional and asks for punitive damages for violating the four couples’ rights.
April Miller and Karen Roberts, a couple for 11 years who live in Morehead, told The Associated Press that they asked for a license Tuesday and were told to try another county.
Another gay couple, L. Aaron Skaggs and Barry Spartman, called the Rowan County clerk's office Tuesday and asked to apply for a license. An employee on the phone said, "Don't bother coming down here," according to the lawsuit, and told them the clerk was refusing to issue licenses.
Two opposite-sex couples also tried to get licenses and were told by staff that none would be issued, the lawsuit alleges.
The clerks have argued that if they issue a license to no one, they cannot be accused of discrimination. Kentucky state law allows adult couples seeking marriage licenses to get them from any county. If a marriage involves minors, however, they must get their license in the county where they live.
The four couples who filed suit say that because they live, work, vote and pay taxes in Rowan County, they have a right to file for a marriage license there.
In the lawsuit, ACLU legal director William Sharp wrote that Davis' religious conviction "is not a compelling, important or legitimate government interest."
One of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, Laura Landenwich, wrote that Davis "has the absolute right to believe whatever she wants about God, faith, and religion, but as a government official who swore an oath to uphold the law, she cannot pick and choose who she is going to serve, or which duties her office will perform based on her religious beliefs."

Trump bump: Why his media war against offended corporations is boosting him

The first time I interviewed Donald Trump, back in 1987, he said this:
“When I go up to New Hampshire -- I'm not running for president, by the way -- I get the best crowd, the best of everything in terms of reception.
“The politicians go up and get a moderate audience. I go up, and they're scalping tickets. You heard that? They're scalping tickets. Why? Because people don't want to be ripped off, and this country is being ripped off. I think if I ran, I'd win.”
He has been honing this act for a long time.
Many pundits—some of them the same wiseguys who thought Trump would sink like a stone—are saying that he’s taken a beating over the last week. After all, NBC, Univision, Macy’s and Serta have all cut ties with him over his comments on Mexican immigrants.
Many people obviously found those comments offensive. But in purely political terms, this is helping Trump.
For one thing, he has dominated the campaign news cycle for a week, drawing more attention than all the other candidates combined. He has driven home his message with a spate of cable news interviews. (And—subtle plug here—The Donald will be talking about these issues Sunday on “Media Buzz.”)
Here’s what the media elite misses, and why he’s surged into second place in Fox and CNN polls. Trump portrays himself as a fighter, and that resonates with many voters. Trump casts himself as a straight talker, and voters like that. Trump markets himself as a non-politician in an era when the public is fed up with pols. He’s seen as tough on illegal immigration, which doesn’t hurt in a Republican primary.
The bombastic billionaire also strikes a populist note by going to war with big corporations.
And this just in: President Obama, in Tennessee, called for a smart legal immigration system “that doesn’t separate families but does focus on making sure that people who are dangerous, people who are, you know, gang-bangers, who are criminals that we’re deporting as quickly as possible.”
Gang-bangers? Trump’s version was more inelegant, but if the president is worried about Mexican gang-bangers, doesn’t it suggest the businessman had a point?
By now, most politicians would have softened or papered over the remarks about Mexican immigrants including such miscreants as rapists. But Trump has doubled and tripled down. He’s denounced NBC, sued Univision for $500 million and urged customers to boycott Macy’s. This dovetails nicely with his refrain about politicians being “all talk and no action.”
Meanwhile, the press has been prodding Trump’s Republican rivals to take him on. “His outlandish rhetoric and skill at occupying the national spotlight are also proving to be dangerously toxic for the GOP brand, which remains in the rehabilitation stage after losing the 2012 presidential race,” says a front-page Washington Post story.  
CBS’s Nancy Cordes said Republican leaders “worry” that Trump’s rising polls “will just embolden him and further alienate the critical Hispanic vote.”
But why is this a Republican problem? Yes, the party has well-documented difficulties with Hispanic voters, but Trump is hardly an establishment Republican. He might be causing himself problems with Latinos, but why would that rub off on, for example, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? The media often demand that all party members respond to one Republican’s controversial comments in a way that you rarely see with Democrats.
Still, some GOPers realized they could ride this wave. George Pataki, perhaps to remind people he’s running, called Trump’s comments “unacceptable.”
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said “I think those are horrible things to say about anyone and any culture.”
Hillary hit Trump, but without naming him, while Jeb Bush limited himself to “I don’t agree with him. I think he’s wrong.”
The point is, they’re all responding to Donald Trump. And for the moment, he’s the guy driving the campaign narrative.

Gay Cartoon :)

Donald Trump and Macy’s end relationship, retailer will ‘phase-out’ menswear line

NEW YORK –  It’s been a tough week for Donald Trump. First, the presidential candidate was dumped by NBC following statements he made about Mexican immigrants during his presidential announcement, and now mega-retailer Macy’s has announced it’s done with the Donald. But there is some lingering uncertainty over who dumped whom.
Macy’s told FOX411 dropping the mogul was its idea.
"We have no tolerance for discrimination in any form,” the retailer wrote in a statement. “We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico. We do not believe the disparaging characterizations portray an accurate picture of the many Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Latinos who have made so many valuable contributions to the success of our nation. In light of statements made by Donald Trump, which are inconsistent with Macy’s values, we have decided to discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump and will phase-out the Trump menswear collection, which has been sold at Macy’s since 2004.”
But Trump insists the decision to end the relationship was his.
“I have decided to terminate my relationship with Macy’s because of the pressure being put on them by outside sources,” he said in a statement sent to FOX411.
The pressure Trump seemed to refer to came in the form of an online petition imploring Macy’s to drop Trump, which garnered more than 700,000 signatures.

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Trump stated that if he launches a new product line, it will be solely comprised of made-in-America items.
“While selling Trump ties and shirts at Macy’s is a small business in terms of dollar volume, my principles are far more important and therefore much more valuable. I have never been happy about the fact that the ties and shirts are made in China, and should I start a new product line somewhere in the future, I would insist that they are made in America. Quite frankly, I was never satisfied with manufacturing my product in China, but because of what they’ve done in terms of devaluing their currency, it is very hard for other companies to compete and make such apparel in the United States. These are the kinds of issues I am committed to addressing.”
Trump reiterated that he is only committed to his presidential run, not the brands he’s had business relationships with up until this week.
“I have also continually stated that I am not beholden to anyone and this includes NBC and Macy’s. Clearly, NBC and Macy’s support illegal immigration, which is totally detrimental to the fabric of our once great country. Both Macy’s and NBC totally caved at the first sight of potential difficulty with special interest groups who are nothing more than professional agitators, who are not looking out for the people they purport to represent, but only for themselves. It is people like this that are actually running our country because our leaders are weak and ineffective.”

US reportedly blocks Arab allies' attempts to deliver weapons to Kurds fighting ISIS

The U.S. has reportedly blocked any attempts by Middle East allies to fly weapons to the Kurds fighting the Islamic State in Iraq.
The Telegraph reports that U.S. allies say President Obama and other Western leaders, including Britain’s David Cameron, aren’t showing leadership over the escalating ISIS crisis in Iraq, Syria and throughout the Middle East.
These allies are now willing to “go it alone” in giving heavy weaponry to the Kurds, even if it means defying Iraq and the U.S. who want all weapons to be funneled through Baghdad, according to the newspaper.
High level officials from Gulf and other states have told The Telegraph that plans to persuade Obama to arm the Kurds directly have failed. The Senate voted down an amendment for the U.S. to bypass Baghdad and send weapons to the Kurdish fighters.
The officials told the paper they are looking for ways to bypass U.S. permission to give the Kurdish fighters weapons.
“If the Americans and the West are not prepared to do anything serious about defeating ISIL, then we will have to find new ways of dealing with the threat,” a senior Arab government official told The Telegraph. “With ISIL making ground all the time we simply cannot afford to wait for Washington to wake up to the enormity of the threat we face.”
The Peshmerga have gotten support from the Kurds to drive the Islamic State back from Erbil. However, they are doing so with makeshift weapons. The Telegraph says weapons have been bought by a number of countries throughout Europe to aid the Kurds, but U.S. commanders are blocking the arms transfers.
The Kurds also have said that the main part of their plight is that Iraqi forces have abandoned so many weapons in the face of ISIS’ attacks, they are now fighting American-made weaponry with Soviet-style equipment.
The paper reports that at least one Arab nation is considering arming the Peshmerga without U.S. permission.
Other Gulf nations have been visibly irritated by the lack of direction from the U.S. in the fight, according to the paper. Other members of the coalition have identified clear militant targets but then have been blocked by U.S. vetoes from engaging them.
One Gulf leader went as far as saying, “there is simply no strategic approach.”
As the U.S. and Britain mull whether to take the next step in the war against ISIS, the terror group continues to commits acts of savagery. A new report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that more than 3,000 people have been killed at the hands of ISIS since its emergence last summer.
ISIS has also ramped up his violence after calls for more attacks during Ramadan. On June 30, 11 workers from al-Miadin endured live crucifixion and were forced to wear signs saying "70 lashes and to be crucified for 1 day for breaking the fast in Ramadan."
The Islamic State was also responsible for an attack on Egyptian army checkpoints that left at least 64 soldiers said, according to country officials.

Not so fast? Lawmakers poised to fight Obama on Cuba ambassador pick, embargo

WASHINGTON –  Declaring “this is what change looks like,” President Obama announced an agreement Wednesday to reestablish economic ties with Cuba and re-open embassies in each other’s capitals.
But the historic step will also touch off a new round of battles with Congress. To complete the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, the Obama administration still needs to get lawmakers on board to confirm an ambassador, sign off on spending millions on a U.S. embassy in Havana and soften sanctions against the communist country that has a long history of human rights violations.
That's no easy task.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo, a policy analyst on Latin America at the Cato Institute, said the Obama administration has exhausted its executive authority in its Cuba push, which included restoring diplomatic ties and removing it from the terror-sponsor list.
“Lifting the outstanding elements of the embargo and travel ban is a prerogative of Congress,” Hidalgo said.
He added, “As it is, it looks unlikely that a bill in that regard will reach Obama’s desk for the remainder of his term.”
In the near-term, a fight over a yet-to-be-named ambassador is already brewing. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has repeatedly said he does not support restoring ties with the Castro regime over its detainment of dissidents, and threatened Wednesday to hold up the nomination of an ambassador.
“It is important for the United States to continue being a beacon of freedom for the Cuban people,” he said in a written statement. “I intend to work with my colleagues to block the administration’s efforts to pursue diplomatic relations with Cuba and name an ambassador to Havana until substantive progress is made on these important issues.”
Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said that opening a U.S. Embassy in Cuba misses the mark and “will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping.”
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland,  said even though opening the embassies was part of a “common sense approach to Cuba,” the U.S. must be cautious. He called on Cuba to admit to being out of step with the international community on human rights. He also said Cuba must stop its “arrests and detention of dissidents” and said “genuine political pluralism is long overdue.”
If the Senate does successfully hold up the nomination of an ambassador, it would slow the process but not stop the reopening of the embassy, which is set to happen July 20. The embassy would be headed by a "mission chief" instead of "ambassador." The duties, however, would be largely similar, William LeoGrande, a professor of government at the American University School of Public Affairs and a former staff member of the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee, told Fox News Latino.
LeoGrande, author of “Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana,” also called the announcement a “major step” toward normalizing relations between the two long-time adversaries.
The U.S. had imposed sanctions and then broke off diplomatic relations entirely with Fidel Castro’s communist regime in the early 1960s.
In the decades that followed, the U.S. actively tried to either overthrow the Cuban government or isolate the island altogether through tough economic sanctions first put in place by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
President George W. Bush’s administration increased travel restrictions and tightened the embargo with Cuba, but when Obama took office in 2009 he loosened them. Obama took it even further in 2011 when he undid even more Bush-era restrictions, which led to Americans being able to communicate more freely with friends and loved ones in Cuba as well as travel there for educational and religious purposes.
Obama has long argued that freezing out Cuba, a communist island 90 miles off the coast of Florida, has been ineffective.
Since the 1970s, the U.S. and Cuba have operated diplomatic missions -- called interest sections -- in each other’s capitals. The missions are technically under the protection of Switzerland but don’t enjoy the same status as embassies. Fox News is told the new U.S. embassy would be located in that building in Havana.
Obama has not yet said whom he will nominate as ambassador.
The short list, according to The Hill and Foreign Policy, includes diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis, chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, and former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., an early champion of relaxing sanctions on Cuba.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest predicted Wednesday there is strong bipartisan support in Congress for lifting the 54-year-old embargo on Cuba.
But GOP leaders panned the developments. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the Obama administration handed Fidel and Raul Castro “a lifetime dream of legitimacy without getting a thing” for the Cuban people who have been oppressed by a brutal communist dictatorship. The top GOP House lawmaker said in a written statement that relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is running for a 2016 presidential bid, said Obama’s decision to reopen the embassy further legitimizes the “brutal” Castro regime and has more to do with cementing Obama’s own presidential legacy than creating real change.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who participated in delegations to Cuba in the past seven months, heralded the announcement as a path to progress.
“Reopening embassies lays the foundation for a new, more productive relationship with Cuba that can support and advance key American priorities – including human rights, counter-narcotics cooperation, business opportunities for American companies, migration, family unification, and cultural and faith-based exchanges,” she said in a written statement.

Congressional pressure building on Obama as Iran talks drag out

The Obama administration's decision to send Iranian nuclear talks into overtime is triggering a backlash on Capitol Hill, as congressional Republicans warn Tehran is exploiting the situation and moving the goalposts.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called on the administration to "press pause" on the discussions, after negotiators announced they would miss the June 30 deadline and extend talks another week.
"President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry should use the opportunity to pause negotiations, take a step back and re-examine the point of the talks in the first place," McConnell wrote in an op-ed for Politico.
He and other GOP lawmakers worry the administration's negotiating position is weakening, giving more ground to the Iranians by the day.
Some also are fuming over a comment Monday by an anonymous administration official. The official was quoted suggesting international inspectors shouldn't have access to "every military site" in Iran, "because the United States of America wouldn't allow anybody to get into every military site."
This triggered accusations the administration was wrongly comparing the U.S. to Iran, and trying to hold them to the same standards.
"With the Iranian nuclear negotiations in a critical phase, this statement should alarm us all," Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement. "There is no place in this negotiation for moral equivalence. That thinking was wrong in the Cold War, and it is wrong today. Iran is not like any other nation, least of all the United States. Iran has a proven record of cheating on its nuclear program."  
A key disagreement between the so-called P5+1 negotiators and Iran is over how much access inspectors would have to Iranian nuclear sites, as Iranian officials try to bar inspectors from military sites. McCain and Graham, as well as McConnell, said it's imperative that inspectors have complete access.
"The standard needs to be 'go anywhere, anytime' -- not go 'some places, sometimes,'" House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said in a statement.
President Obama seemed to agree that robust inspections are critical, when he addressed the nuclear talks during a press conference on Tuesday. He told reporters he would "walk away" from negotiations if a bad deal is in the works, and cited the need for comprehensive inspections.
"The question is whether he will actually enforce this red line," McCain and Graham said.
Another lingering question is over the timeline for talks themselves.
Obama administration officials said Tuesday they were now working toward a July 7 deadline. But Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Wednesday, "We did not set any deadline."
Congress does have some leverage. Under recently passed legislation, lawmakers would have between 30 and 60 days -- depending on when it's submitted -- to review an agreement before sanctions could be eased. With enough votes, Congress could also scuttle any sanctions relief.
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. agency that would monitor any nuclear agreement was traveling to Tehran to meet with President Hassan Rouhani and other senior officials on Thursday.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano reportedly said he wants to "accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear program, including clarification of possible military dimensions."
Obama's Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are willing to give the talks more time.
"Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is a vitally important national security priority in the Middle East and negotiating a good deal remains our best avenue to do so," Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. "This is our opportunity to block all of Iran's paths to a nuclear weapon while avoiding military action.  As such, we must let the process play out."

Iran Cartoon

Bush releases trove of personal tax returns, made $7.36 million in 2013

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush made $7.36 million in 2013, according to copies of personal tax returns he released Tuesday.
The reported amount as well as income, expenses and other financial information from 33 previous years of personal tax returns was made available on his campaign website.
The former Florida governor, since first considering a run in December 2014, has attempted to make “the spirit of transparency” a central part of his campaign, including the release in February of 280,000 emails from his two terms running the state.
“Some of them were funny, some serious, some a little embarrassing,” Bush said Tuesday about the emails. “But I put them all out because I wanted people to have a window into my leadership style and be able to see for themselves how I handled the issues facing our state.
“Today’s release comes in the same spirit. … This release will show voters how I earned a living over the past three decades and how much of that living I had to give back to Uncle Sam. (Spoiler Alert: A LOT).”
The 1,150 pages of documents show Bush’s effective tax rate over the years was 36 percent and that he has received about $1.1 million per year for speeches since leaving office in 2007.
He made the least amount of money in 1987 -- $29,624.
Bush said he also released the documents to prove “we have a tax code that stifles growth and opportunity” and to make his case for a fairer tax code to “get more money back in your pocket and less in the federal kitty.”
Until now, former Senator Majority Leader Bob Dole held the record for such disclosures, having released 30 years of tax returns, but that was 20 years ago. Since then, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain R-Ariz., each released two years of tax returns, while President Obama released seven years of returns.
Such efforts also suggest an attempt by Bush to contrast himself with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who's under fire for using a private email server and account for government communications when secretary of state from 2009 to 20013.
The release also came on the same day New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- under the shadow of the political-retribution scandal known as Bridgegate during his administration -- announced his 2016 White House bid.
Bush said that in 1981, after working on the Reagan-Bush presidential campaign, he and his wife moved to Miami, where he made roughly $42,000 and he became a partner in a commercial real estate venture with entrepreneur Armando Codina.
He left Codina/Bush in 1997 before becoming governor. Bush made the allotted salary while in office and reported additional income from investments. However, he declined to take the state pension -- $28,730 annually that he would have started getting this year.
After leaving the governor’s office, Bush started a new company, Jeb Bush and Associates, then joined with his son, Jeb Jr., and three other partners in establishing Britton Hill, a capital investments firm separate from the family consulting business.
Bush also was hired as a senior adviser to Barclays to advise clients on global economic issues.
From 2007-2014, Bush and his wife, Columba, donated $739,000 to charity, in addition to helping raise millions for family literacy and to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.

Trump files $500M lawsuit against Univision over Miss USA cancellation

Republican presidential candidate and business mogul Donald Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision Tuesday in response to the broadcaster’s decision to cut ties with him and the Miss Universe pageant over remarks he made about Mexican immigration.
The Spanish language station made the decision to terminate the contract with the Miss Universe Organization, and not to air the July 12 Miss USA contest, after comments Trump made in a June 16 campaign speech in which he said Mexico brings drug dealers, criminals and rapists into America.
Trump’s spokesman, in announcing the lawsuit, branded Univision’s move “a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation’s presidency.”
On Fox News' 'The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday, Trump stood by his views, citing a report by Fusion (owned by Univision) that he said shows 80 percent of Central American women and girls are raped crossing into the U.S.
"I love Mexican people," Trump said. "I also respect Mexico, but Mexico is doing a tremendous number against the United States."
Trump also blasted Univision for what he said was abandoning the women involved in Miss USA, and he pledged that the show would go on.
"We have 50 of the most lovely women you have ever seen right now in Louisiana, and they have been abandoned by NBC and abandoned by Univision and I'm going to work it out so that that show goes on," Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

Eurozone finance ministers to weigh latest Greece aid proposal

ATHENS, Greece –  Eurozone finance ministers were set to weigh Greece's latest proposal for aid Wednesday, hours after the country's international bailout expired without a deal, cutting it off from vital financing and deepening fears over whether it will be able to remain in the eurozone.
With its failure to repay the roughly 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the International Monetary Fund, Greece became the first developed country to fall into arrears on payments to the fund. The last country to do so was Zimbabwe in 2001.
Wednesday's teleconference of eurozone finance ministers was to take place after the ministers said late Tuesday there was no way they could reach a deal to extend the bailout for Greece before the midnight deadline.
"It would be crazy to extend the program," Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the eurozone finance ministers' body known as the eurogroup, said late Tuesday. "So that cannot happen and will not happen."
As Greece's leaders pushed new terms for a possible third bailout, they also struggled to cope with the consequences of shutting banks and the stock market this week.
Long lines formed as 1,000 bank branches around the country were ordered by the government to reopen Wednesday to help desperate pensioners without ATM cards cash up to 120 euros ($134) from their retirement checks. The elderly have been hit particularly hard, with tens of thousands of pensions unpaid as of Tuesday afternoon.
The expiration of the international bailout followed a tense weekend during which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced he would put a deal proposal by Greece's international creditors to a referendum on Sunday and urged a "No" vote.
The move increased fears the country could soon fall out of the euro currency bloc and Greeks rushed to pull money out of ATMs, leading the government to shutter its banks Monday and impose restrictions on banking transactions for at least a week. Greeks are now limited to ATM withdrawals of 60 euros ($67) a day and cannot send money abroad or make international payments without special permission.
But in a surprise move late Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis hinted that the government might be open to calling off the popular vote, saying it was a political decision.
The government decided on the referendum, he said on state television, "and it can make a decision on something else." It was unclear, however, how that would be possible as Parliament has already voted for the referendum to go ahead.
With its economy teetering on the brink, Greece suffered its second sovereign downgrade in as many days Tuesday when the Fitch ratings agency lowered it further into junk status, to just one notch above the level where it considers default inevitable.
The agency said the breakdown of negotiations "has significantly increased the risk that Greece will not be able to honor its debt obligations in the coming months, including bonds held by the private sector."
Fitch said it now considered a default on privately-held debt "probable."
On international markets, shares in Japan and Hong Kong rose slightly Wednesday as investors watched to see the next step after Greece fell into arrears on its payment to the IMF.
"International markets appear to have found a level where they are happy to sit and wait on the next developments in the Greek debt crisis. Greece's failure to meet the deadline on its IMF payment looks to have been fully anticipated by markets. Barring unknowns, the next critical event for markets will be the outcome of Sunday's referendum," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said in a commentary.
Greece's financial crisis reached a critical stage after the left-wing-led Greek government, elected in January on a promise to bring an end to the hated austerity measures that it blames for an acute economic recession, failed to agree on a package of spending cuts and reforms demanded by creditors in exchange for access to the remaining 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in rescue loans.
Hopes for an 11th-hour deal were raised when the Greek side announced it had submitted a new proposal Tuesday afternoon, and the eurozone's 19 finance ministers held a teleconference to discuss it.
But those hopes were quickly dashed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she ruled out further negotiations with Greece before Sunday's popular vote on whether to accept creditors' demands for budget reforms.
"Before the planned referendum is carried out, we will not negotiate over anything new," the dpa news agency quoted Merkel as saying.
Greece's latest offer involved a proposal to tap Europe's bailout fund — the so-called European Stability Mechanism, a pot of money set up after Greece's rescue programs to help countries in need.
Tsipras' office said the proposal was "for the full coverage of (Greece's) financing needs with the simultaneous restructuring of the debt." It did not provide details.
Dijsselbloem said the finance ministers would "study that request as we should" and that they would hold another conference call Wednesday.
Dragasakis, the Greek deputy prime minister, said the country's new proposal "narrows the differences further."
"We are making an additional effort," he said. "There are six points where this effort can be made. I don't want to get into specifics. But it includes pensions and labor issues."
European officials and Greek opposition parties have been adamant that a "No" vote on Sunday will mean Greece will leave the euro and possibly even the EU.
The government says this is scaremongering, and that a rejection of creditor demands will mean the country is in a better negotiating position.
In Athens, more than 10,000 "Yes" vote supporters gathered outside parliament despite a thunderstorm, chanting "Europe! Europe!"
Most huddled under umbrellas, including Athens resident Sofia Matthaiou.
"I don't know if we'll get a deal. But we have to press them to see reason," she said, referring to the government. "The creditors need to water down their positions too."
The protest came a day after thousands of government supporters advocating a "No" vote held a similar demonstration.
On Monday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made a new offer to Greece. Under that proposal, Tsipras would need to accept the creditors' proposal that was on the table last weekend. He would also have to change his position on Sunday's referendum.
Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the offer would also involve unspecified discussions on Athens's massive debt load of over 300 billion euros, or around 180 percent of GDP. The Greek side has long called for debt relief, saying its mountainous debt is unsustainable.
A Greek government official said Tsipras had spoken earlier in the day with Juncker, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and European Parliament president Martin Schulz.
Meanwhile, missing the IMF payment means Greece is cut off from new loans from the organization. And with its bailout program expiring, Greece will lose access to more than 16 billion euros ($18 billion) in financial support it has not yet tapped.

Blumenthal gave diplomatic advice to Hillary Clinton as early as 2009, emails show

Controversial aide Sidney Blumenthal was sending then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton advice on sensitive diplomatic matters much earlier than previously known, even as the White House was blocking him from becoming a part of her staff, according to emails released late Tuesday by the State Department.
The emails, which make up the first in a number of document dumps of Clinton’s private email server, from which she controversially conducted official State Department business, also show that Clinton paid special interest to the attempt to hire Blumenthal.
Blumenthal served as a senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton between 1997 and 2001, but was reportedly prohibited by the Obama administration from taking a job with Clinton's State Department team.
However, in an email dated November 5, 2009, Blumenthal sent Clinton an email titled “Agenda with Merkel,” Blumenthal encouraged Clinton to develop the Transatlantic Economic Council, which he said “now languishes.” Noting that it was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s major initiative when Germany held the EU Presidency in 2007, Blumenthal advised that “raising Merkel’s project and reinvigorating it would undoubtedly be well received.”
Emails previously released by the State Department and the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack showed that Blumenthal forwarded intelligence information to then-Secretary Clinton about Libya around the time of the attack that killed four Americans. Clinton then asked that his insight be circulated amongst the staff.
The 2009 email shows that Clinton was receiving advice from the controversial confidant much earlier than had been previously believed.
Additionally, a conversation between Clinton and her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills on June 22, 2009 shows Clinton’s interest in getting Blumenthal hired. In response to an unrelated matter, Clinton writes to Mills: “Good. What is latest re: Sid Blumenthal.”
In response Mills writes “Will see – he is doing the paperwork.”
The confidant’s role with Clinton became clearer in a June 2009 email. Blumenthal passed an email along to Clinton from then-UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and spoke of her helping him with “Adams” in a meeting with Martin McGuiness of Northern Island. Adams is apparently referring to Gerry Adams.
“Shaun briefed me that Gordon will be meeting with Martin McGuiness together on Wednesday and may want your help with Adams. I said that he and Gordon should let me know before Wednesday and may want your help with Adams. I said that he and Gordon should let me know before Wednesday whether your involvement is essential and what they request.”
Blumenthal gave more of his input before Clinton's 2009 speech to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York. Blumenthal told Clinton her speech must have "a distinctive and authoritative voice."
"The speech must be crafted with a sense of real time and cannot be delivered out of sync with it," he wrote. "Slogans can become shopworm, especially those that lack analytical, historical and descriptive power."
Blumenthal also gave tips for policy on Afghanistan.
“Hillary: FYI,” the message read. “I found this one of the most sensible and informed brief articles on Afghanistan.” Patrick Cockburn, of the London Independent, is one of the best informed on-the-ground journalists. He was almost always correct on Iraq.”
In a statement late Tuesday night, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called the latest e-mail findings "troubling."
"Administration officials knew more than previously disclosed, Sidney Blumenthal was involved with more than just providing Libya off-the-books intelligence, and State Department officials were possibly fundraising on government accounts," the statement said. "These emails however are just the tip of the iceberg and we will never get full disclosure until Hillary Clinton releases her secret server for an independent investigation."
The revelations come at an awkward time for Clinton, now a presidential candidate, who had repeatedly sought to distance herself from Blumenthal, saying his advice on Libya and other issues was “unsolicited.”
The emails, covering March through December of that year, were posted online Tuesday evening, as part of a court mandate that the agency release batches of Clinton's private correspondence from her time as secretary of state every 30 days starting June 30.
Clinton's emails have become a major issue in her early presidential campaign, as Republicans accuse her of using a private account rather than the standard government address to avoid public scrutiny of her correspondence. As the controversy has continued, Clinton has seen ratings of her character and trustworthiness drop in polling.
The monthly releases all but guarantee a slow drip of revelations from the emails throughout Clinton's primary campaign, complicating her efforts to put the issue to rest. The goal is for the department to publicly unveil 55,000 pages of her emails by Jan. 29, 2016 -- just three days before Iowa caucus-goers will cast the first votes in the Democratic primary contest. Clinton has said she wants the department to release the emails as soon as possible.
"There's been nothing but nearly nonstop work on this" since the last group of emails was released, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday at briefing in which he acknowledged the inconvenient timing. "You have to understand the enormity of the task here. It is a lot of stuff to go through."
Clinton turned her emails over to the State Department last year, nearly two years after leaving the Obama administration. She has said she got rid of about 30,000 emails she deemed exclusively personal. Only she and perhaps a small circle of advisers know the content of the discarded communications.
Though Clinton has said her home system included "numerous safeguards," it's not clear if it used encryption software to communicate securely with government email services. That would have protected her communications from the prying eyes of foreign spies or hackers.
Separately, the State Department on Tuesday provided more than 3,600 pages of documents to the Republican-led House committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, including emails of Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at the time, and former Clinton aides Mills and Jake Sullivan.
In a letter to the committee, the department said "to the extent the materials produced relate to your inquiry, we do not believe they change the fundamental facts of the attacks on Benghazi."
Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the assaults on the diplomatic facility in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. Several investigations have faulted security at the facility, but found that the CIA and military acted properly in responding. One Republican-led House probe asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration officials in its report last year.
The House committee will hold a public business meeting next week to vote on whether to release the transcript of Blumenthal's deposition. Blumenthal testified behind closed doors for more than eight hours earlier this month, and Democrats have been pressing the panel to release the full transcript.