Trump calls former President George W. Bush 'a disaster'

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took a swipe at former President George W. Bush Tuesday night on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier,”  saying he had been a “disaster” and entering the Iraq War was “one of the worst decisions ever made.”
In a sit-down interview with Baier, the front-running GOP candidate also said he thought eminent domain, the right of the government or a builder to take away property from its owner for compensation, was “wonderful.”
Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul, suggested property owners shouldn’t hold out in situations where a factory or other job-creation project is proposed and discredited the charge eminent domain meant the government simply grabbed Americans’ homes and other properties.
“Most of the time it’s more money,” said Trump, who also criticized a major critic of the tactic, the influential fiscal conservative group Club for Growth.
When Baier asked Trump if he stood by a statement he made 2007 and 2008 saying he would impeach Bush for getting into the Iraq War, Trump replied, “I think he was a disaster and I think it was one of the worst decisions ever made. (He) has totally destabilized the Middle East. If you had Saddam Hussein, you wouldn’t have the problems you have right now.”
Trump insisted that he is the “most militarist” candidate in the 2016 presidential field but stood behind his recently-stated position that the United States should allow Russia to continue airstrikes in Syria that are hitting Islamic State fighters.
“If somebody wants to go hit ISIS, that’s OK with me,” said Trump, whose campaign has been criticized for too much showmanship and too little specifics on foreign and domestic policy.
Trump also expressed frustration with the constant questions from reporters about whether he’ll stay in the 2016 race, despite leading the GOP field in essentially every poll since early summer.
“That’s dishonest reporting,” he said. “I’m not going to get out of the races. … I’m having a great time. I want to make America great again.”

Justice Department to release 6,000 inmates from federal prisons beginning Oct. 30

The Justice Department will release some 6,000 inmates from federal prisons beginning at the end of the month as part of new sentencing guidelines for drug crimes established last year, a federal law enforcement official confirmed Tuesday to Fox News.
The new drug sentencing guidelines from U.S. Sentencing Commission, which are intended to reduce penalties on certain nonviolent drug offenders, also applies to any future offenders.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission decided in July 2014 that close to 50,000 federal inmates locked up on drug charges would be eligible for reduced sentences. The new sentencing guidelines took effect on Nov. 1, 2014.
The commission’s action is separate from an effort by President Obama to grant clemency to certain nonviolent drug offenders, The Washington Post first reported Tuesday.
The timeframe for release by the Bureau of Prisons is Oct. 30 through Nov. 2, an official told Fox News.
The agency was given one year to prepare for the release of these inmates, which will be one of the largest one-time releases of federal prisoners ever, according to a federal law enforcement official.
While “a majority” of the inmates granted release will be transferred to halfway houses and, in certain cases, drug rehabilitation centers, approximately one-third will be handed over to ICE to face possible deportation, according to an official.
The individuals released at the end of the month will also face a normal probationary period and supervised release.
Under the new guidelines, inmates who were deemed eligible under the new rules could apply for release, according to a law enforcement official.
Each case was then reviewed by a federal judge in the district in which the inmate’s case was tried in order to determine whether it would be beneficial to public safety to grant the prisoner early release.
“Even with the Sentencing Commission’s reductions, drug offenders will have served substantial prison sentences. Moreover, these reductions are not automatic,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said in a statement. “Under the Commission's directive, Federal judges are required to carefully consider public safety in deciding whether to reduce an inmate’s sentence."

FBI probe of Hillary Clinton emails expands to second tech company

The FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email has now expanded to include obtaining data from a second tech company, which is fully cooperating with the FBI probe that has threatened Clinton’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Fox News has learned.
A source familiar with the investigation told Fox that the FBI contacted Connecticut-based Datto, Inc. in September and asked them to preserve all data they had which may be connected to Clinton. Datto was hired to help back up data in May 2013 by Platte River Networks, the Colorado-based tech company that managed Clinton’s server and has already been cooperating with the FBI investigation.
The cooperation of a second tech company raises new questions about whether the FBI is now obtaining any of the emails that Clinton says she and her attorneys deemed to be personal and deleted, as Republican critics have demanded to know if any of those emails were really work-related emails that should have been turned over to the State Department along with other federal records.
Datto's cooperation also raises more questions about whether anyone at the company, where employees do not have security clearances, had access to classified information that was in Clinton’s server. The source familiar with the investigation said that like all major tech companies on the front lines, Datto has faced cyberattacks, another subject of great interest to the FBI in its probe of Clinton’s server.
The FBI investigation gathered new steam this past Friday when officials at Datto received written consent from both Platte River and Clinton’s camp to turn over relevant data to the FBI, a process that is now underway as Clinton struggles in the polls just days before the first Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.
However, the source familiar with the investigation stressed it’s not clear whether Datto has in its possession all of Clinton’s personal and officials created while she was Secretary of State -- or new emails or other data created after she left office.

More on this...

• Clinton campaign crisis: Will scandals sink Hillary?

• Is Hillary Clinton politicizing the gun control debate?

The confusion comes from the fact that Datto was hired by Platte River and not the Clinton team, so the company had no idea it was backing up data for Clinton until August of this year when company officials read news reports about Platte River having the high-profile contract.
Once Datto officials realized this summer that they had been backing up some of Clinton’s data which was now the subject of an FBI probe, one company official recalled, “there was a collective lump in our throats” and they sought to cooperate fully.
Datto’s involvement was first revealed by Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is investigating the security of Clinton’s server, and sent a letter to the company this week seeking more information.
Aides to Johnson have privately expressed interest in emails among Platte River officials about whether there was a record of a “directive to cut the backup” of Clinton’s data.
In August, Johnson wrote, an employee at Platte River voiced suspicions over searching for an email from Clinton Executive Service Corp. directing such a reduction in data being stored in October or November 2014 and then again around February, advising Platte River to save only emails sent during the most recent 30 days.
“Starting to think this whole thing really is covering up some shaddy [sic] [expletive],” the Platte River employee wrote.
When employees at Platte River discovered that Clinton’s private sever was syncing with an offsite Datto server, one Platte River employee wrote in an email, “this is a problem.”
The source familiar with the investigation stressed there was no conversation between employees of Datto and Platte River about covering up any data. Though the source noted that this summer Platte River employees were “surprised” to learn that the Clinton data was being backed up in an offsite cloud, which wasa more extensive backup than Platte River officials had anticipated. As a result, officials at Datto took steps in August to make sure the Clinton data was being preserved because they did not want to run into a legal problem.
Michael Fass, general counsel at Datto, would only comment on the company’s general decision to cooperate with the FBI probe.
“With the consent of our client and their end user, and consistent with our policies regarding data privacy, Datto is working with the FBI to provide data with its investigation,” Fass told Fox in an emailed statement that referenced Platte River as well as Clinton.
Fass added in the emailed statement late Tuesday, “Also, we received a letter from the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Government Affairs Committee just last night and we are in the process of responding to it. Datto is a data protection and business continuity company that provides backup data storage to thousands of Managed Service Providers, including Platte River Networks. Datto has no role in monitoring the content or source of data storied by MSP clients such as Platte River.”

Cruz Cartoon

School cancels 'America Day'

Patriotic teenagers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming showed up to class Wednesday waving American flags in defiance of educators who canceled “America Day” over fears it might upset students who don’t consider themselves to be American.
Administrators at Jackson Hole High School pulled the plug on “America Day” – citing concerns that celebrating the USA would alienate some of their young people, the Jackson Hole Daily reported.
Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch – a must-read for conservatives!
Activities Director Mike Hansen said that a number of students did not feel American and felt “targeted and singled out by this day.”

I wish I could say what happened in Jackson Hole was an anomaly. However, there are many other public schools engaged in similar anti-American behavior.

“America Day” was part of a homecoming tradition at the high school. Students would show up to class either waving American flags or wearing red, white and blue clothing.
“Many different students could have felt singled out,” Hansen told the newspaper. “We’re trying to be inclusive and safe, make everyone feel welcome.”
Principal Scott Crisp echoed those concerns, telling the newspaper that they wanted the homecoming activities to “bring our students together holistically as a student body.”
You’d expect that kind of academic hog wash in Berkeley, California – but Jackson Hole, Wyoming?
The newspaper reported that a number of juniors and seniors protested “political correctness” by showing up to school wrapped in American flags.
And at least one Son of Liberty flew Old Glory from his diesel truck – which I’m sure drew the ire of environmentalists.
“It’s homecoming week and our school administration thought it was too ‘offensive’ to have an America Pride Day,” parent Ted Dawson wrote on Facebook. “Where have we gone so wrong! I don’t care what race or religion you are, you live here, benefit from the schools, enjoy tax benefits or whatever – your (sic) an American or at least you better be.”
One wing nut liberal actually thought the school’s decision to cancel America Day was appropriate.
“Unchecked nationalism is not a great thing and has historically resulted in gross atrocities here and elsewhere,” the unnamed woman wrote on Facebook.
I wish I could say what happened in Jackson Hole was an anomaly. However, there are many other public schools engaged in similar anti-American behavior.
There was a school system in Tennessee that banned the American flag. There was a school district in Massachusetts that banned a day to celebrate the Land of the Free. And there was a California school district that prohibited American flag t-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.
The New York Post called Jackson Hole’s anti-American activities a “pathetic and perverse ban on patriotism.”
“The right response would’ve been to explain to those teens that they are Americans – as entitled to take pride in this nation and its flag as kids whose forebears have been here for generations,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote.
There was a time when immigrants came to America because they loved freedom. They loved this land of opportunity. They wanted a better life for their children. But I’m afraid those days may be long gone.
And I suspect we would be a much better country if we gave all the America-haters the heave-ho.
As we say back home in Tennessee, don’t let the screen door hit ya where the Good Lord done split ya.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Boehner sets House leadership vote for Oct. 29, Chaffetz gets feisty

Retiring House Speaker John Boehner said Monday that the vote for the next speaker would be held Oct. 29 and balloting for all other positions would be delayed until after that in light of the fact Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is among the top candidates to succeed him.
In other words, no decision on who might replace McCarthy will be made until after it’s known if he's successful in his campaign to become the next speaker, especially in light of what appears to be a strong challenge from firebrand Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who officially announced his bid on “Fox News Sunday.”
Chaffetz made his bid after McCarthy’s comments last week about the special Benghazi Committee that Democrats say proved the panel was a political front created to pummel the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
Over the past two days, Chaffetz has heightened his rhetoric about why he wants the House’s top post and about being a better candidate than McCarthy.
“There will be a realization that we had better put up a fresh face,” Chaffetz told Fox News on Monday.
To win, McCarthy, Chaffetz and Florida GOP Rep. Dan Webster, the third party challenger, will need 218 of the 246 Republican House votes.
However, the roughly two dozen of the House’s most conservative members who were largely behind Boehner’s Sept. 25 resignation, are not expected to fully support a member of Boehner’s leadership team, like McCarthy.
Chaffetz, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, on Sunday said McCarthy had a “math problem.”
On Monday, he said McCarthy's vote count is “dwindling … not growing.”
Chaffetz also suggested he was a better communicator than McCarthy.
“I'm very Margaret Thatcher that way,” he said. “We need to win the vote in the public first. … I didn't wake up and say, ‘Yeah, this was going to be cool.’ ”
Boehner said he made his decisions after consulting with colleagues and that the new speaker will establish the date for these additional leadership elections.
“This new process will ensure House Republicans have a strong, unified team to lead our conference and focus on the American people’s priorities,” he said.

Hillary Clinton attacks Benghazi committee in new TV ad

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton used House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's words against the House Select Committee on Benghazi in a new 30-second TV advertisement. 
The 30-second commercial, entitled "Admit", is part of a new national cable TV ad buy that starts Tuesday. The ad features McCarthy telling Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview last week, "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her [poll] numbers today?"
After McCarthy's remarks, a voiceover narration says, "The Republicans have spent millions attacking Hillary because she’s fighting for everything they oppose ... from affordable health care ... to equal pay, she’ll never stop fighting for you and the Republicans know it."
Emily Schillinger, a spokeswoman for House Speaker John Boehner said in response to the ad, "This is a classic Clinton attempt to distract from her record of putting classified information at risk and jeopardizing our national security, all of which the FBI is investigating."
McCarthy, who has put himself forward to replace the departing Boehner as Speaker, later backed off his initial remarks, saying he "never meant to imply" the Benghazi committee's investigation was politically motivated.
Earlier Monday, Clinton said that if she were president, she would have done everything in her power to shut down the investigation.
"Look at the situation they chose to exploit, to go after me for political reasons: the death of four Americans in Benghazi," Clinton told NBC's "Today" in an interview before a town hall appearance in New Hampshire. "This committee was set up, as they have admitted, for the purpose of making a partisan, political issue out of the deaths of four Americans."
Clinton has previously stopped short of joining some of her fellow Democrats in calling for the committee to be disbanded. She is scheduled to testify before the committee on Oct. 22. She told NBC she was looking forward to her appearance "to explain everything we've done, everything that I asked to happen."
Clinton's comments came as Democrats on the Benghazi panel released a partial transcript of a closed-door interview with Clinton's former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, in response to what they called selective and inaccurate Republican leaks.
Release of the transcript is "the only way to adequately correct the public record," the Democrats said in a letter to the panel's chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. They said they would release the full transcript in five days, in order to give Gowdy time to identify any specific information in the transcript he believes should be withheld from the American people.
A spokesman for Gowdy said the committee has not released transcripts from witness interviews in order to "gather all facts" and avoid tainting the recollections of future witnesses.
"By selectively leaking" parts of the transcript from Mills' daylong interview last month, "Democrats have shown their nakedly political motivation, willingness to violate the letter and spirit of House rules and their desire to defend Secretary Clinton without regard for the integrity of the investigation," Gowdy's spokesman, Jamal Ware, said.

Workers remove Ten Commandments monument from Oklahoma Capitol grounds

Workers began removing a Ten Commandments monument from the grounds of the Oklahoma Capitol late Monday in accordance with a court order.
The Daily Oklahoman reported that the six-foot high monument would be reinstalled outside the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank.
A contractor hired by the state began removing the monument shortly after 10:30 p.m. local time The works comes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision in June that the display violates a state constitutional prohibition on the use of public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion."
The state is paying the contractor about $4,700 to remove the monument and take it to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs' offices a few blocks away, Office of Management and Enterprise Services spokesman John Estus told the Associated Press.
The Daily Oklahoman reported that the private contractor was hired to move the 4,800-pound monument out of concern that state workers could not safely do the job without damaging or destroying it.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had increased security around the monument earlier Monday, and barriers were erected to keep visitors from getting close to it. Estus said the decision to remove the monument under the cover of darkness was made to avoid disturbing workers at the Capitol and to keep protesters from demonstrating while heavy equipment was being used to detach the two-ton monument from its base.
"We wanted it to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and doing it at night gave us the best opportunity to do that," Estus said. "The Highway Patrol was also very concerned that having it in the middle of the day could lead to having demonstrations of some kind."
Originally authorized by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2009, the privately funded monument has been a lightning rod for controversy since it was erected in 2012, prompting a lawsuit from Bruce Prescott, a Baptist minister from Norman who complained it violated the state constitution.
"Frankly, I'm glad we finally got the governor and attorney general to agree to let the monument be moved to private property, which is where I believe it's most appropriate," Prescott said Monday. "I'm not opposed to the Ten Commandments. The first sermon I ever preached was on the Ten Commandments. I'm just opposed to it being on public property."
Its placement at the Capitol prompted requests from several groups to have their own monuments installed, including a satanic church in New York that wanted to erect a 7-foot-tall statue that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard. A Hindu leader in Nevada, an animal rights group and the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster also made requests.
The original monument was smashed into pieces last year when someone drove a car across the Capitol lawn and crashed into it. A 29-year-old man who was arrested the next day was admitted to a hospital for mental health treatment, and formal charges were never filed. A new monument was erected in January.
Former state Rep. Mike Reynolds, a Republican who voted to authorize the monument, was one of just a handful of supporters who watched as the monument was removed Monday night.
"This is a historical event," Reynolds said. "Now we know we have to change the Constitution. It would be good to get rid of some of the Supreme Court justices, too."
Several conservative legislators have promised to introduce a resolution when the Legislature convenes in February to send to a public vote an amendment that would remove the article of the constitution that prevents the use of public money or property for religious purposes.