Republicans make history in Kentucky election

Republicans made history on two fronts in Kentucky Tuesday night – not only did Matt Bevin become the state’s second GOP governor in four decades, but running mate Jenean Hampton became the first African-American ever elected to Kentucky statewide office. 
Hampton’s historic accomplishment winning the lieutenant governor post was initially overshadowed by Bevin’s hard-fought gubernatorial race win over Democratic state Attorney General Jack Conway, an off-year election battle that drew national interest.  
But Hampton’s story is sure to draw more attention.
A Tea Party-aligned politician who like Bevin has not held office before, Hampton is an Air Force veteran who served during Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia. She was born in Detroit, and after her service in the Air Force spent 19 years in the corrugated packaging business.
She and Bevin both entered politics for the first time in the last couple years. Hampton lost a state legislative race in 2014, while Bevin famously lost to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in last year’s primary.
Now, the two will lead Kentucky, expanding the GOP’s hold on power in a state once dominated by Democrats.
"This is the chance for a fresh start, it truly is, and we really need it," Bevin told a packed crowd at The Galt House in Louisville. "I believe this offers us an opportunity to change the tenor of what has become expected in the world of politics."
The off-year election, one of many state and local contests held Tuesday ‎across the country, was seen by some as a test for outsider candidates at a time when several such candidates are seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
Throughout his campaign, Bevin cast himself as an outsider, in both government and politics. The 48-year-old investment manager has never held public office and was shunned by the state's Republican political establishment when he challenged McConnell in 2014.  
The race is yet another rejection of Democratic candidates at the state level. Asked Wednesday whether President Obama feels at all responsible for the erosion in the ranks of Democratic office-holders at the local level, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stressed the president has “strong support for an agenda that has shown tremendous results in terms of allowing our country to recover strongly from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
At the same time, he said the president obviously would like to see Democrats do better in these races.
Bevin's campaign was mostly self-funded, and he preferred to speak to small gatherings of voters instead of courting influential donors.
Conway conceded the race at the Frankfort Convention Center, telling the quiet crowd it was not the result he had hoped for, "but it is the result we respect." He said he called Bevin and wished him well.
Bevin ran an aggressive campaign, often arguing with reporters and even dropping by the state Democratic Party headquarters, twice, to argue with them about their signs criticizing him as dishonest. But it appeared Bevin was able to tap into voters' growing frustration with their government to overcome any concerns they may have had about his temperament. He has promised some sweeping changes, most notably repealing the state's expanded Medicaid program and the state-run health insurance exchange. Those decisions will affect the health insurance of about a half-million people.
Focus will almost immediately shift to the state House elections in 2016, where McConnell has vowed to flex his powerful fundraising muscle to help Republicans to take over the only Southern state legislative body controlled by Democrats.

DOD slammed for millions spent on ‘paid patriotism’ at sporting events

The Defense Department has spent millions paying professional sports teams to honor American soldiers, according to a new congressional report that revealed the extent of what critics call “paid patriotism.” 
Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, who have criticized the military over the practice for months, announced the findings of their review at a press conference Wednesday.
"When events take place on the field that anyone assumes ... is done out of the goodness of their heart, and find out that it is being paid for by the taxpayer, it kind of cheapens everything," Flake told Fox News. "It's just not right."
According to the investigative report, contracts worth $6.8 million since fiscal 2012 included “displays of paid patriotism.” These involve leagues ranging from the NFL to the MLB to the NHL.
The practice was first criticized this past spring, when it was revealed the DOD was paying money to more than a dozen NFL teams to honor soldiers and put on other segments to recognize the military – and in turn help recruitment.
The new Senate report said this included paying for ceremonial first pitches, puck drops and color guard performances, among other events.
Among the expenses were $20,000 to the New York Jets to honor “Hometown Heroes,” and $49,000 to the Milwaukee Brewers for the Wisconsin National Guard to sponsor Sunday performances of “God Bless America.”
While the DOD has moved to stop the practice, McCain and Flake also are pushing an amendment to next year’s defense authorization bill barring taxpayer funding for these tributes. Asked about the push on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said President Obama had no objection to the amendment.
Now, the senators are calling on various sports organizations to donate the taxpayer funds they have accepted to organizations supporting veterans, families, and the Armed Forces.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the NFL is auditing team marketing contracts and said the money would be returned if it was used for patriotic tributes.
According to the Senate report, the Arizona Diamondbacks also were given $40,000 in taxpayer money to spend on the on-field oath ceremony, color-guard demonstrations and more. All told, throughout the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, and MLS, $53 million was spent on marketing and advertising contracts.
“Fans should not be unknowing viewers of a paid-marketing campaign. I am pleased that the Department of Defense has banned paid patriotism and the NFL has called on clubs to stop accepting payment for patriotic salutes,” Flake said in a statement. “Professional sports teams do a lot of good for our military, but paid patriotism on the taxpayers’ dime cheapens true displays of patriotism.”

Iran's Revolutionary Guard reportedly behind cyberattacks against White House personnel

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is behind a recent wave of cyberattacks on email and social media accounts of White House personnel that are believed to be connected to the arrest of an Iranian-American businessman last month, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
Siamak Namazi, 40, a Dubai-based businessman who has spent most of his life advocating improved ties between the U.S. and Iran, was arrested in October as he was visiting relatives in Tehran. His detention came after an Internet freedom group said a Washington-based Lebanese citizen, Nizar Zakka, disappeared while on a trip to Tehran in September.
Officials told The Journal Obama administration personnel are among a large group of people who have had their computers hacked in recent weeks, including journalists and academics. Some of the officials hacked include those employees of the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs and its Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
“U.S. officials were among many who were targeted by recent cyberattacks,” an administration official told the newspaper, adding the U.S. is still investigating possible connections to the Namazi case. “U.S. officials believe some of the more recent attacks may be linked to reports of detained dual citizens and others.”
Though President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry had hoped the recent nuclear deal would further cooperation between the two nations, the cyberattacks from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the arrest of Namazi and Zakka’s disappearance have signaled that Iranian hardliners have not toned down their hostile rhetoric toward Washington.
The IRGC has developed a team of hackers, trained by Russia, to focus on different Wall Street banks and Saudi oil companies, U.S. officials say, adding that Iran’s cyberattacks have regularly been a test of U.S. defenses.
“Iran’s threatening behavior will worsen if the administration does not work with Congress to enact stronger measures to pushing back, including ... targeted pressure against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said Friday.
A spokesman at Iran’s United Nationals mission in New York downplayed the attacks, saying Tehran has been falsely accused of committed cybercrimes. However, Namazi supporters fears Iran is working to build an espionage case against him.
Namazi has also been accused of being an apologist for the regime, but apparently had a falling out with hardliners in the Revolutionary Guard who have long been suspicious of him.
The Journal reports the IRGC has repeatedly hacked other Iranian-Americans and people tied to them, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, family members say. During the days surrounding Rezaian, Iran’s security forces gained access to his social media accounts and tried to use them to connect him to their investigation.
Rezaian was convicted of espionage in an Iranian court last month. No sentence has been announced.

Obamacare & Hollywood Cartoon

Lawmakers sound alarm over failing ObamaCare co-ops

Congressional lawmakers are raising alarm over the rapid collapse of several so-called ObamaCare "co-ops" -- government-backed alternative health plans -- that are failing, leaving tens of thousands of customers scrambling for coverage, and billions in taxpayer-funded startup loans at risk. 
To date, nearly half of the 23 co-ops established under the Affordable Care Act have gone or are expected to go under by the end of the year. The latest to be barred from selling insurance on the official marketplace is in Arizona.
In a letter to the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., pressed the Obama administration for answers on what is being done to address the crisis -- and recoup some of the federal taxpayer loan money that has gone to the failing start-ups.
The senators said nearly 870,000 people nationwide have enrolled in the co-ops, and noted they originally were intended to boost competition and provide more affordable options.
"The CO-OPs are not living up to these expectations," they wrote. "To date, eleven ACA CO-Ops -- in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Nevada, Tennessee, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah -- have collapsed.
"As a result, hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their health insurance plans and will have to scramble to find new plans, most likely with higher premiums and deductibles."
Asked about the letter, an HHS spokeswoman stressed that the start-ups "face a number of challenges, from building a provider network to pricing premiums in a new market, and unfortunately, not all will succeed." She said in a statement that when regulators make the decision to close a co-op, "we work with local officials to do everything possible to make sure consumers stay covered."
HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell last week said the administration is looking at ways to help the remaining co-ops.
The co-ops -- or Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans -- were created within ObamaCare as a compromise for liberals unable to secure the creation of a government-run insurance program. Under the plan, taxpayers provided $2.4 billion in loans to set up the nonprofit co-ops as alternatives to major insurers.
The loans were used as start-up money and as reserve funds to meet solvency standards set by state regulators -- but, the alternative insurers have struggled to get off the ground. An inspector general audit released over the summer found that in 2014, only one -- Maine's -- of the 23 made money that year. And it found half of them lagged far behind their enrollment projections.
Over the last several months, many of those co-ops have failed.
In Arizona, the state Department of Insurance last week filed an order against Meritus Health Partners and Meritus Mutual Health Partners, as CMS removed it from the insurance marketplace. The co-op's ability to write and renew policies was in turn suspended, meaning roughly 59,000 Arizonans covered by Meritus now have to find new coverage during open enrollment, which started Sunday.
A similar situation is playing out in New York, where state and federal authorities say the shutdown of Health Republic Insurance of New York should accelerate after they found it is in worse financial shape than they knew when it was ordered to stop writing new policies a month ago.
New York's Department of Financial Services initially said coverage for about 100,000 individuals should continue through Dec. 31. Now it says it's in consumers' best interest to end policies Nov. 30. The department says the same applies to Health Republic's small group plans, which covered 101,500 people.
The issue flared at a hearing Tuesday before the House Ways and Means Committee.
"Only in Washington would a group of bureaucrats think they knew how to micromanage `competition' instead of letting consumers and markets do what they do best," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who chairs the health subcommittee.
But Mandy Cohen, chief operating officer with CMS, told lawmakers that co-ops have played an important role in fostering competition and choice in the law's health insurance markets, now in their third year.
"There have been successful co-ops which have provided consumers in their states an additional choice of health insurance and have improved competition," Cohen said in written testimony. "And there also have been Co-ops that for a number of reasons have faced compliance, technical, operational, or financial difficulties."
Aside from concerns over the future of other co-ops, Hatch and Alexander questioned what could be done to recoup taxpayer loans. They voiced concerns that federal officials might be allowing "creative accounting" by the co-ops to make them look more profitable than they actually are.
They asked CMS to provide information on possible "remedies for the recovery of funds from terminated co-ops," on "enhanced oversight" for the insurers, and on other details.
Hatch is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; Alexander is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
According to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the 11 co-ops in question represent a total cost to taxpayers of $1.1 billion.

‘Ben can’t do the job’: Trump rips Carson after latest poll

Donald Trump, after holding back at last week's debate, challenged Ben Carson's fitness for office on Tuesday, saying "Ben can't do the job." 
He blasted Carson after a second poll showed the retired neurosurgeon taking the lead over Trump nationally. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Carson leading Trump, 29-23 percent, among GOP primary voters. Asked about the findings on Fox News, Trump said he doesn't know what it is about Carson that's attracting a following.
"I like Ben, but Ben can't do the job, I mean there's no question about it," Trump said. "He's not going to be able to negotiate with China. It's not his thing ... It's not in his wheelhouse, he's never done it before, and I don't think it's, you know, meant for him."
Trump went on to call Carson "very weak on immigration" and called his position on Medicare the "end of his campaign."
Trump asserted that Carson wants to end Medicare -- though Carson recently told "Fox News Sunday" that's no longer the case. Carson said he changed his mind after talking to a lot of economists.
"That was the old plan," Carson recently "Fox News Sunday," saying he now prefers so-called health savings accounts as an alternative to Medicare.

More on this...

• Donald Trump sounds off about Republican debate reforms

The same WSJ/NBC poll also showed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz surging, with 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Further, it showed 77 percent of Republicans saying they would at least consider supporting Carson -- 17 points higher than for Trump.
Though Trump is back to attacking Carson, both candidates are effectively outsiders in a race still heavily populated by current and former senators and governors. Carson, defending his appeal in a recent interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," said the government was set up for "citizen statesmen, not for career politicians."
Carson has mostly avoided criticizing any other candidates, at debates and off-stage.
Trump, too, avoided sparring with Carson at last week's debate in Colorado. The candidates instead ended up banding together, during and after the debate, to criticize the CNBC moderators -- and, in the last couple days, seek changes in the debate process.
That push, though, remains in flux. More than a dozen campaigns met in suburban Washington on Sunday, a meeting that produced a draft letter to debate host networks seeking assurances on a range of topics -- including assurances that candidates would be allowed to give opening and closing statements.
But Trump has since thrown a wrench into that push by saying the campaign would continue to "negotiate directly" with networks on debate criteria.  Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina also have not signed onto the new push, though other campaigns are reviewing the letter. The push for changes is not expected to affect the upcoming Nov. 10 GOP debate, hosted by Fox Business Network.
Trump, meanwhile, on Tuesday was promoting a new book titled "Crippled America."
The book speaks directly to voters, making the case that Trump has the experience and business savvy to accomplish things that traditional, all-talk, no-action politicians can't. It comes as Trump is continuing to adjust to a new phase of the campaign in which the once undisputed front-runner is now facing heightened competition from a number of his GOP rivals.
"This book is designed to give the reader a better understanding of me and my ideas for our future," Trump writes. "I'm a really nice guy, but I'm also passionate and determined to make our country great again."
While two recent national polls have shown Carson leading Trump, the billionaire businessman continues to lead -- by double digits -- in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire.
Note: Of course take this with a grain of salt as this report came from fox news!

GOP reportedly asks IRS to audit Clinton charity's finances

The Republican National Committee reportedly has asked the IRS to audit the finances of one of the Clinton family's charities following its refusal to re-file tax forms even after acknowledging errors in reporting donations from foreign governments.
Reuters reported the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) said this week that it had decided against re-filing so-called Form 990s because the errors "had no impact" on the total amount of income it reported to the IRS. The charity claimed that the total amount of income was correct, but the breakdown of government and private funding was not. As a result, CHAI spokeswoman Maura Daley said the organization "does not believe a re-filing is necessary."
In April, Reuters reported that the CHAI had failed to note grants from foreign governments separately from total revenue on its Form 990s in 2012 and 2013. At the time, the organization said it would re-file the documents for both years. It had previously re-filed returns from 2010 and 2011 for over-reporting the amount received in government grants by over $100 million.
The Clinton Foundation also said it would re-file its Form 990s after wrongly reporting that it had received no money from foreign governments on its tax returns for 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Reuters reported, citing tax experts, that it was unusual for a charity to make such large mistakes several years in a row. An IRS spokesman told the news agency that charities should re-file a Form 990 if it becomes aware of an error.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus requested the audit Tuesday in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

More on this...

• Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders increasing

"The American people deserve to know whether the largest philanthropic arm of the Clinton Foundation continues to misreport the funds it receives from foreign governments, and whether this might lead to the potential for further conflicts of interest," Priebus wrote.
The Clinton Foundation and its affiliated charities have come under increased scrutiny as Hillary Clinton has cemented her status as the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. She resigned from the foundation's board earlier this year ahead of announcing her candidacy, but her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea remain directors.
Republicans and ethicists have repeatedly criticized the foundation for being less than forthcoming with its ties to foreign governments, especially during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. Earlier this year, the charities admitted that they had not fully complied with an ethics agreement limiting donations from foreign governments that the Obama administration insisted Clinton agree to before becoming secretary of state.

San Francisco sheriff loses re-election bid amid 'sanctuary city' controversy

Embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi convincingly lost his bid for re-election Tuesday after spending months in the national spotlight as the face of his city's controversial "sanctuary city" policy on illegal immigration.
Mirkarimi, 54, was defeated by Vicki Hennessy, a former sheriff's official who had the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the sheriff deputies association. With 42 percent of precincts reporting, Henessy had received 63 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Mirkarimi.
Mirkarimi and his office received heavy criticism after Mexican illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle on San Francisco's waterfront July 1. Sanchez had been released from Mirkarimi's jail in March even though federal immigration officials had requested that he be detained for possible deportation.
San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, passing an ordinance that bans city officials from enforcing immigration laws or asking about immigration status unless required by law or court order. A follow-up ordinance in 2013 allows detention only under a court order targeting violent felons. Last month, San Francisco's board of supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to maintain the city's sanctuary status.
San Francisco and other cities and counties have routinely ignored requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officals to keep people in custody. The jurisdictions say they can't hold arrestees beyond their scheduled release dates without probable cause.
Hennessy has previously said the sheriff's order barring the San Francisco jail from cooperating with immigration officials is misguided. There are cases, she said, when federal immigration officials should be notified that the jail is about to release an inmate who is in the country illegally.
Since Steinle's death, Mirakimi's oversight of the department had been plagued by other high-profile mishaps and controversies. He had his driver's license briefly suspended for failing to properly report a minor accident while driving a department-issued car, and he also flunked a marksmanship test.
Before those two incidents, a drug gang leader escaped from jail, and guards were accused of staging and gambling on inmate fights.
In November 2014, Mirkarimi was forced to apologize for the bungled search for a San Francisco General Hospital patient whose body was found in a stairwell weeks after she wandered from her room. The sheriff is in charge of the hospital's security, but deputies didn't search the building until nine days after her disappearance. The city paid the patient's family $3 million to settle a lawsuit.