Egypt investigators '90 percent sure' bomb brought down Russian aircraft, report says

A member of the Egyptian team investigating the deadly crash of a Russian passenger jet in the Sinai Peninsula has been quoted as saying that he and his colleagues are "90 percent sure" the plane was brought down by a bomb. 
Reuters, which reported the unnamed team member's comments, said he had asked not to be named due to "sensitivities."
"The indications and analysis so far of the sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb," the investigator added. His comments are the first reported acknowledgement from anyone connected with the investigation that the Airbus A321-200 was the target of an attack.
Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed on Oct. 31, 23 minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport. All 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacationers returning to their homes, were killed.
Over the course of the past week, U.S. and U.K. investigators, relying on intercepted communications and other intelligence, have suggested that a bomb carried out by Islamist militants was the likely cause of the disaster. However, Russian and Egyptian authorities initially dismissed claims of responsibility by the ISIS terror group before publicly insisted that other possible causes could not be ruled out.

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• What's next for US security if ISIS did down Russian jet?

On Saturday, the day before the Reuters report was published, lead Egyptian investigator Ayman el-Muqadem said it was too soon to draw conclusions about why the plane crashed, claiming that a fuel explosion, metal fatigue in the plane, or overheating lithium batteries may have caused the disaster. He added that debris was found scattered across a 8-mile stretch of desert, indicating the Airbus A321-200 broke up mid-air.
Britain and several airlines have stopped normally scheduled flights to the Red Sea resort city, while Russia has suspended all flights to Egypt because of security concerns. British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond told the BBC on Sunday that if the bomb is confirmed, it will require a potential rethinking of airport security in all areas where the extremist group is active.
Meanwhile, the first of three teams of Russian inspectors was dispatched to the country to examine airport security. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich did not give details on what specific security issues the inspections teams would be examining. Dvorkovich said that 11,000 Russians were flown home from Egypt on Saturday and an even larger number were expected to leave Sunday, according to Russian news agencies.
Egyptian airport and security officials told The Associated Press on Saturday that authorities were questioning airport staff and ground crew who worked on the plane and had placed some employees under surveillance. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Security officials at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport have told The Associated Press that the facility has long had gaps in security, including a key baggage scanning device that often is not functioning and lax searches at an entry gate for food and fuel for the planes. One security official said drugs and weapons slip through security checks at the airport because poorly paid policemen monitoring X-ray machines can be bribed.
A spokesman for Egypt's Aviation Ministry, Mohamed Rahma, dismissed the accounts of inadequate security, saying "Sharm el-Sheikh is one of the safest airports in the world," without elaborating.
Egyptian authorities have bristled at the allegations of lax security, with some blaming an anti-Egypt bias in the foreign media. Those sensitivities were on display Sunday as foreign camera crews were prevented from filming inside the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, along the city's main tourist strip in Naama Bay, or in other public spaces.
Despite strong government denials, the suggestions of a major security breach at Sharm el-Sheikh airport have gained traction among some Egyptians. On Saturday an Associated Press reporter at Cairo airport witnessed several passengers yelling at security personnel to pay more attention to the X-ray scanner, with one man repeatedly shouting, "This is what happened in Sharm!"
In Russia, more than a thousand mourners packed into the landmark St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg for a memorial service for the victims. Attendees lit candles and stood in silence as the cathedral bells rang 224 times to remember each victim.
"We came to the service today with all our family to support the people in our common grief," said Galina Stepanova, 58.
Stepanova said she believed the plane was downed by a bomb, but said that Russia should continue its airstrike campaign against the Islamic State group and other insurgents in Syria.
"We have a rightful cause to help Syria in its fight against terrorism," she said.
Mikhail Vishnyakov, a 42-year-old sales manager who attended the service with his family, said he did not want to rush to conclusions about the cause of the plane crash until the investigation was complete.
"If it was a terrorist act, I don't think it was directed exactly against Russia. It could well be directed against any other plane of any other country. It was for a good reason that other countries began to take their tourists from Egypt," Vishnyakov said.

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Cruz, Huckabee, Jindal preach conservative principles

Passionately professing that the Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage must be overturned and laying out their conservative credentials, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal pulpiteered to over 1,700 conservative Christians in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday for a two-day National Religious Liberties Conference.
Before hearing from the presidential contenders, evangelical families collected name tags, perused a table filled with books like "What does the Bible Say About That: A Biblical Worldview Curriculum for Children" and connected with other like-minded conservatives. In the dimly lit hall, Kevin Sawnson, executive director of Generations, which was hosting the event, set the tone in describing same-sex marriage as a "significant cosmic revolution against almighty God."

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Ted Cruz: Religious liberty is my foundational passion

"Some of our leaders are encouraging civil disobedience. Some of the most significant religious leaders in this country are looking you straight in the eye, and they are telling you, you disobey the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of the supreme law-giver of all this universe, and that is God. Well, friends, this is a wake-up call from the church," Swanson said. "I believe God is telling you are going to be persecuted. Either you are going stand with me or you are coming down with the rest of them."
When Cruz took the stage, he didn't hesitate in diving into how religion and government should be connected.
"Any president that doesn't start the day on his knees isn't fit to be commander in chief," Cruz passionately said.
Jindal pushed forth a similar message -- ardently citing the need for a religious revival in the U.S. He started off his 10 minutes on stage saying that the left is trying to take away First Amendment religious liberty rights. For this reason, Jindal told the room that 2016 will be "the most important election of our lifetime" and moved on to tout his own conservative record.
Huckabee, also diving head on into the social issues, said that same-sex marriage "is not law." He then moved quickly onto abortion, citing one prime question that has yet to be resolved: "Is the unborn child a person? Or just a blob of tissue?" From there, he pressed Republicans to force the left to defend themselves on what he called the right to kill a baby.
But for many in attendance, it was not so much the candidates that they were there to see -- it was, rather, the conference's doctrine that they were there to support.
Asked if a few young men sporting red Cruz stickers were there to see the senator, Johan Gervais, a 25-year-old from Texas, said, "Well, we are here for the religious liberty conference." He had driven to the conference with seven of his evangelical friends and happily noted that Cruz is their senator.
But Cruz was a favorite in the room. "We like him," said Graham Featherston, one of Gervais' fellow roadtrippers from Austin. Featherston is only 15 but said that if he could vote he would vote for Cruz. The group drove over 14 hours to attend the conference and knew a group of four girls who had also made the trek.
Generations, the conference's host, is based in Colorado Springs and decided to host the conference in Iowa because this is its first political convention. It seemed "pivotal" to be in the state that first voices its opinion in the primary process, said one person who works at Generations.
That said, out-of-towners were not an anomaly. Of the 1,700 attendees, only 387 were from Iowa.
Etsu Van Slooten, from Wisconsin, was there with her five children and her husband. Born in Japan, she went to college in the U.S. to study social work and immediately started working at Head Start, the federal program that promotes early childhood education for low-income families. But she soon realized that she needed to change her professions and devote herself more ardently to religion.

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Jeb Bush knocks White House for "aggressive stance against" religious freedom

"I felt like I was helping people go to hell," Van Slooten said. "I wanted to work for something that makes a difference for a human being. So I went back to mission work for something that would give light."
Pushing her stroller, Van Slooten said that she, like many others at the conference, was a homeschooler.
Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz's father, took to the stage later in the evening for about an hour and made a pitch to the homeschooling families in the room, telling them that the government does not want parents helping kids with their homework because it brainwashes them.
Talking to reporters after his speech, the younger Cruz specifically addressed the relationship between him and his father, an immigrant from Cuba who he considers his hero.
"He is someone who I have admired my entire life because he knows what he believes and he stands up and tells the truth," Cruz said. "What a blessing to be a child of an immigrant who fled oppression. It makes you realize just how precious and fragile liberty is."
Huckabee said religious liberty should be applied to all religious perspectives.
"We should protect the rights of an atheist, to believe that there is no God, as much as we should protect the rights that I have to believe that Jesus Christ is God," Huckabee told reporters.
Cruz and his father pressed home the need for voting momentum and action, urging people to get out and vote.
"If another 10 million evangelical Christians vote in 2016 and simply vote our values, we won't be up at 3 in the morning wondering what happened in Ohio and Florida," Cruz said. "They'll call the election at 8:35 p.m. because Christians would have turned this country around."
His father also urgently pressed evangelicals to get to the polls in order to fight back against "Christians being singled out."
"God didn't put Obama in power. We did! By sitting on our rear ends," the elder Cruz said. "Make sure everyone understands that voting is our civic responsibility."
Before leaving the stage, after almost an hourlong speech, he made the pitch that his son was the best choice. He described him as a leader, a fighter and the "man of the hour."
"Rafael for vice president!" an audience member shrieked as he walked off the stage.

Pentagon to release Guantanamo detainee relocation plan, as Obama pressed ahead with closure

The Pentagon is expected to release a plan next week on President Obama’s years-long effort to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center that suggests a Colorado prison dubbed “the Alcatraz of the Rockies” as one suitable site to relocate expected life-long detainees, Obama administration officials say.
Obama made a campaign promise in his 2008 White House bid to close the facility, arguing the move would be in the United States’ best financial, national security and foreign policy interests and in the name of justice -- considering some of the detainees have been held for nearly nine years without trial or sentencing.
However, critics of the promise, including many Republicans, fear transferring detainees to the U.S. mainland as part of an overall closure plan poses too much of a homeland security risk. They also say the president has yet to submit a closure plan and have been critical of the administration recently allowing some known terrorists to return to the Middle East.
The Florence, Colo., prison is among seven U.S. facilities in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina being considered.
The Pentagon plan represents a last-gasp effort by the administration to convince staunch opponents in Congress that dangerous detainees who can't be transferred safely to other countries should be housed in a U.S.-based prison.
The United States opened the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to get suspected terrorists off the battlefield.
Congressional Republicans have been able to stop Obama from closing the facility by imposing financial and other restrictions.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said this week that the administration is trying “very hard” to transfer 53 more detainees, among the 112 remaining, before the end of the year.
The rest are either facing trial by military commission or the government has determined that they are too dangerous to release but are not facing charges.
Any decision to select a U.S. facility would require congressional approval -- something U.S. lawmakers say is unlikely. However, Earnest also suggested that Obama has not ruled out the possibility of using an executive order to close the facility.
The Pentagon plan makes no recommendations on which of the seven sites is preferred and provides no rankings, according to administration officials.
A Pentagon assessment team reviewed the sites in recent months and detailed their advantages and disadvantages. They include locations, costs for renovations and construction, the ability to house troops and hold military commission hearings, and health care facilities.
Colorado's Centennial Correctional Facility has advantages that could outweigh its disadvantages, according to officials. But no details were available and no conclusions have been reached. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Florence, Colo., facility already holds convicted terrorists, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Zacarias Moussaoui, one of the conspirators of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
To approve a transfer, Defense Secretary Ash Carter must conclude that the detainees will not return to terrorism or the battlefield upon release and that there is a host country willing to take them and guarantee they will secure them.
Arizona Sen. John McCain is among the congressional Republicans who have asked for an administration plan for the shutdown of Guantanamo. And the Pentagon's assessment team visits over the last few months were part of the effort to provide options for the relocation of Guantanamo detainees.
"I've asked for six and a half years for this administration to come forward with a plan -- a plan that we could implement in order to close Guantanamo. They have never come forward with one and it would have to be approved by Congress," McCain said this week.
The facilities reviewed by the assessment team were the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks and Midwest Joint Regional Corrections Facility at Leavenworth, Kansas; the Consolidated Naval Brig, Charleston, South Carolina; the Federal Correctional Complex, which includes the medium, maximum and supermax facilities in Florence, Colorado; and the Colorado State Penitentiary II in Canon City, Colorado, also known as the Centennial Correctional Facility.
Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner made clear this week that he opposes any move to relocate detainees to his state.
"I will not sit idly by while the president uses political promises to imperil the people of Colorado by moving enemy combatants from Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, to my state of Colorado," he said at a Capitol Hill news conference.
He also expressed concerns about the potential impact of such a move on the state’s judicial system and concerns about detainees potentially have to transported from the rural facility to downtown Denver to the federal courthouse for a hearing.
McCain and others have said that an executive order to shutter Guantanamo would face fierce opposition, including efforts to reverse the decision through funding mechanisms.
The prison at Guantanamo presents a particularly confrontational replay of that strategy. Obama would likely have to argue that the restrictions imposed by Congress are unconstitutional, though he has abided by them for years. The dispute could set off a late-term legal battle with Republicans in Congress over executive power, potentially in the height of a presidential campaign.

Donald Trump Hosts ‘SNL,’ But Larry David Wins the Bounty

Donald Trump elicited just the reaction you would expect from his “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig: Polarizing.

Reaction ranged widely on Twitter, from some saying the episode was a resurgence for the show this season, to others positing the sketches were so bad the writers must have been conspiring to sabotage Trump’s campaign.

One clear winner of the evening was Larry David, who not only returned to play Bernie Sanders but also stands to earn $5,000 for shouting that Trump was a racist while the presidential candidate was on stage. That moment was in itself a riff on one protest group’s offer of $5,000 to anyone who heckled Trump.

Shortly afterward, the political action committee that offered the money, Deport Racism, indicated that David would be in line to receive the reward.

Before the start of the show, hundreds of protesters marched from Trump headquarters to 30 Rockefeller Center, where the show is taped, and held signs such as “racismisntfunny” as well as effigies of the candidate. Many Latino groups, including the National Hispanic Media Coalition, called on NBC to drop Trump, as did the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The Democratic National Committee released a statement before the show even began, saying that his appearance was “no laughing matter given his offensive rhetoric and the tone of his campaign.”

Trump wasn’t the first presidential candidate to host the show. Al Sharpton had the gig in 2003, as he was running for the Democratic nomination. George McGovern hosted in 1984, just after ending his presidential campaign that year.

Stuart Stevens, senior strategist for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and a screenwriter, tweeted, “Was any politician ever better off after SNL? I don’t get why they keep doing it?”

Carson says West Point story, others about his past are bias, amount to 'witch hunt'

Soft-spoken GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday lashed out at the news media for recent stories about his long-ago past, saying they are bias and amount to a “witch hunt.”

Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, has indeed faced intense media scrutiny over the past couple of weeks as he moves to the front of some national primary polls.

Over the past several days, Politico published a story questioning whether Carson, a first-time candidate, receiving a scholarship offer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

And CNN reported finding no support for Carson's oft-repeated claim that he tried to stab a close friend as a teenager. Citing privacy concerns, his campaign has refused to name the person involved.

"I think what … these kinds of things show, is there is a desperation on behalf of some to try to find a way to tarnish me," Carson said Friday night during a news conference outside West Palm Beach, Fla.

He also said such efforts will only strengthen him among supporters, who “understand this is a witch hunt.”

In an intense exchanged with reporters during the news conference, Carson argued President Obama didn't receive the same level of scrutiny in his 2008 White House bid.

“In fact, I remember just the opposite,” he said.

Carson cited Obama’s relationships with Frank Marshall Davis, who had ties to the Communist Party, and Bill Ayers, a college professor who in the 1970s led the radical left group the Weather Underground.

He also asked reporters why they haven’t tried to unseal Obama’s under-graduate records.

“Why are you guys not interested in why his records are sealed?” Carson asked.

Carson has developed a passionate following based in part on his inspirational personal story and devotion to Christian values. The only African-American in the Republican 2016 class, he grew up in inner-city Detroit and often speaks about his childhood brushes with violence and poverty.

Following the Politico story that was published Friday, the Carson campaign sought to clarify the candidate’s story about his interest in attending West Point in his breakout book, "Gifted Hands," in which he outlines his participation with the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, commonly known as ROTC, while in high school.

"I was offered a full scholarship to West Point," Carson wrote in the 1996 book. "I didn't refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn't where I saw myself going. As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn't really tempted."

Campaign spokesman Doug Watts said Carson was "the top ROTC student in the city of Detroit" and "was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC supervisors."

"They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it, but in the end did not seek admission," Watts said.

Students who are granted admission to West Point are not awarded scholarships. Instead, they are said to earn appointments to the military academy, which come with tuition, room and board and expenses paid, in exchange for five years of service in the Army after graduation.

A West Point spokesman on Friday said the academy "cannot confirm whether anyone during that time period was nominated to West Point if they chose not to pursue completion of the application process."

At the Friday news conference, Carson said, "It was an offer to me. It was specifically made." He said he could not recall specifically who made the offer. "It's almost 50 years ago. I bet you don't remember all the people you talked to 50 years ago," he said.

Pressed further by reporters, Carson said: "What about the West Point thing is false? What is false about it?" Asking if he had made a mistake in recounting the story, he said, "I don't think so. I think it is perfectly clear. I think there are people who want to make it into a mistake. I'm not going to say it is a mistake, so forget about it."

Hours earlier, Carson had told Fox News in an interview, "I guess it could have been more clarified. I told it as I understood it."

In a post Wednesday on his Facebook page, Carson wrote that "every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience." About half had been elected members of colonial assemblies, and Watts acknowledged the error to The Washington Post.

On another topic, Carson has said the great pyramids of Egypt were built by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain, although the accepted science says that they were tombs for pharaohs.

Trump takes center stage on 'Saturday Night Live'

Donald Trump returned to “Saturday Night Live” this weekend to poke fun at his persona and take another swipe at longtime nemesis Rosie O’Donnell.
“She said some things about me that were hurtful and untrue,” he jabbed in the show’s opening monologue.  “I said some things about her that were mean, but completely accurate.”
Trump — only the second active presidential candidate to host the sketch comedy series (Rev. Al Sharpton was first in 2003) — was greeted with rousing applause inside Studio 8H.
“People think I am controversial, but the truth is, I am nice guy,” he told the crowd.
The outspoken billionaire kicked off the show by appearing side-by-side with two of his most famous dopplegangers, Taran Killam and Darrell Hammond. ”They don't have my talent, my money or especially my good looks,” he quipped.
But the evening’s best line came from “Seinfeld” creator Larry David, who yelled out “You’re a racist” from off-camera.
When Trump, feigning surprise, asked what was going on, David cracked, "I heard if I yelled that, they'd give me five thousand dollars."
Prior to the broadcast, several hundred protesters congregated outside NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, hoping to convince the network to keep the real estate mogul off its airwaves.
Los Angeles-based activist Luke Montgomery even promised to compensate anyone who disrupted the live telecast.
Trump — one of the leaders for the GOP nomination — appeared in more than half of the evening’s sketches, including a fake 2018 cabinet meeting in which ISIS has been defeated, “Apprentice” villain Omorosa is Secretary of State and the Mexican president arrives with a check to pay for the wall at the U.S. border.
In 40 seasons, only eight politicians have been tapped to host “SNL.”  Trump first hosted the show back in 2004, before he sought public office.
The show draws much of it comedy from politics and has become a popular stop for candidates looking to show a less business-like side of their personalities.
Hillary Clinton attempted to soften her image by turning up as “Val the bartender” in a skit on the program’s season premiere episode in October.
Sarah Palin’s visit in 2008, in which she appeared opposite look-alike (and former-cast member) Tina Fey, drew a record 17 million views.
Trump’s appearance is expected to register even higher when overnight ratings are released later Sunday.

Politically Correct Morons Cartoon

'Slap in the face!': University drops pledge, flag from Veteran's Day service

Patriotic students are infuriated after the Pledge of Allegiance and the Presentation of Colors were removed from Seattle Pacific University’s Veteran’s Day chapel over fears they might offend people.
The university’s Military and Veteran Support Club was outraged by the chaplain’s decision. They called it a “slap in the face” of every soldier who fought, sacrificed and died for our freedoms.
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SPU is a Christian university of the Free Methodist tradition – but the student population includes a diverse group of denominations – including some that ascribe to pacifism.
“The organizers decided not to include the pledge of allegiance and the presentation of colors during the November 10^th chapel, given that there are diversity of views on campus whether such elements should be part of a Christian worship service,” read a statement from the university to Q13 Fox.

“By removing the presentation of the flag and the pledge of allegiance, SPU would not only disrespect students from the military and intelligence community on campus, but also eliminate any reference to the values and freedoms that make it possible for University Ministries to assemble at a chapel in the first place,” student Sarah Martin said.

University Chaplain Bo Lim had originally included both the pledge and the presentation of colors – but reversed his decision over concerns from a handful of students and faculty.
“If the purpose of the service was in part, an opportunity for the entire SPU community to grow in solidarity and support for our military community, I believe including the pledge and flag would work counter to that,” he wrote in an email obtained by Fox News and first reported by The College Fix.
Chaplain Lim pointed out that a large number of the faculty are from Anabaptist traditions.
“This Christian tradition is pacifist, and would object to Christians serving in the military, holding military Christian services, and having military or political symbols in church sanctuaries,” he wrote.
He went on to write in a lengthy letter than he would rather have people focused on supporting the veterans rather than whether or not there was a flag present in the chapel.
“Perhaps some of you have come from communities where there wasn’t a diversity of views on Christians serving in the military, the flag or the pledge,” he wrote. “But such is not SPU.”
Tell that to the Military and Veteran Support Club.
“As several veterans have already noted, their friends did not die for our country so that Americans could be ashamed of or made uncomfortable by their own flag,” they wrote in a Facebook message. https://www.facebook.com/spumvsc/
Sarah Martin, 21, founded the group when she was a freshman. She was also on the original planning committee for the Veteran’s Day Chapel.
“The pledge and the presentation of colors were in our original plans and then they took them out,” she told me.
Miss Martin wrote a powerful message urging the chaplain to reconsider his decision.
“By removing the presentation of the flag and the pledge of allegiance, SPU would not only disrespect students from the military and intelligence community on campus, but also eliminate any reference to the values and freedoms that make it possible for University Ministries to assemble at a chapel in the first place,” she wrote. “Furthermore, you are stripping the chapel of a deeper meaning that glorifies God.”
She went on to lecture the university’s chaplain that pledging and presenting does not mean they are worshipping the flag.
“I believe that eliminating the pledge will rob Christians of the opportunity to give God the glory for the blessings of our freedoms, which were preserved by our veterans and are symbolized by our flag,” she added.
Miss Martin told me in a telephone interview that she’s perplexed over their reasoning to remove the flag and pledge.
“It’s called the Veteran’s Day Chapel,” she said. “No one is forced to participate. No one is forcing them to stand and place their hand over their heart and recite the pledge.”
She said her phone lines have been flooded with students who took offense about the accusations they were not being sensitive to diversity.
“We want them to bring back the flag as they originally planned to do,” she said. “It’s a Veteran’s Day Chapel and if someone is uncomfortable with the flag, it is unlikely they would go to the chapel in the first place.”
Amen, Miss Martin. Preach!

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.

Carson campaign pushes back at published report questioning candidate's West Point claim

Ben Carson's presidential campaign pushed back Friday at a published report questioning a seminal moment in the personal narrative of the Republican candidate -- that the top U.S. general in the Vietnam War had been so impressed during a dinner with the young Carson that he was guaranteed a "full scholarship" to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Academy officials, responding to the POLITICO report Friday, confirmed that there is no record of Carson ever applying to the elite military academy, much less gaining entrance or a scholarship offer.
But in Carson's 1996 memoir "Gifted Hands," he appears to tell a different story: that the young Carson, a 17-year-old top ROTC officer from Detroit, had dined with Gen. William Westmoreland, who was a fresh out of his command in Vietnam, in 1969. He said he was immediately offered a full scholarship by West Point. He has said in the retelling of the story that that he turned down the supposed offer because he wanted to be a doctor. He later graduated from Yale University in 1973.
A West Point spokesperson told POLITICO that that it was "certainly possible" that Carson spoke with the general, and the four-star may have even encouraged the teenager to apply, but the school has a rigorous entry process that would not have allowed Westmoreland to guarantee anyone entry. Furthermore, there are no "full scholarships" to the academy.
According to Westmoreland's schedule, he wasn't even in Detroit at the time.

More on this...

• Jeb Bush: I trust Ben Carson

• Carson's storied past questioned: A media hit-job?

Carson's campaign responded Friday saying that Carson did meet with Westmoreland, and West Point officials told him he could get in based on his high school grades and performance in the ROTC. But in the end, he did not seek the application.
"There are 'Service Connected' nominations for stellar High School ROTC appointments," said campaign manager Barry Bennett. "Again he was the top ROTC student in Detroit.  I would argue strongly that an Appointment is indeed an amazing full scholarship. Having ran several Congressional Offices I am very familiar with the Nomination process."
"Again though his Senior Commander was in touch with West Point and told Dr. Carson he could get in,  Dr. Carson did not seek admission."
The campaign later took issue with POLITICO's allegation that the campaign admitted the claim was false, calling the charge  "irresponsible... an outright lie."
Republican strategists who spoke with FoxNews.com following the revelations Friday said this could be more than just a hiccup for the Carson campaign. The candidate's backstory has come under increased scrutiny as he enjoys the top slot in many of the latest primary polls.
"When you're not a politician and you don't have a voting record, and you are running on your own narrative (like Carson) .. then this is all fair game," said media strategist Pete Snyder.
"I think people realize that people who run for office tend to embellish, but they don't take kindly to fabrication of military service or West Point applications," he added. "This is dangerous ground for Ben Carson."

Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline bid

President Obama announced Friday that he has rejected Canadian energy giant TransCanada's application to build the Keystone XL pipeline, saying that the pipeline was not in the U.S. national interest.
"The State Department has decided the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the interests of the United States. I agree with that decision," Obama said at a White House press conference.
The announcement caps a 7-year saga that has become one of the biggest environmental flashpoints of Obama’s presidency. It comes just days after the State Department refused to agree to TransCanada’s request to suspend the review process on the controversial project, which has seen enormous opposition from environmental groups.
Killing the pipeline allows Obama to claim aggressive action on the environment. That could strengthen his hand as world leaders prepare to finalize a major global climate pact next month in Paris that Obama hopes will be a crowning jewel for his legacy.
Alberta-based TransCanada first applied for Keystone permits in September 2008 -- shortly before Obama was elected. As envisioned, Keystone would snake from Canada's tar sands through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, then connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to specialized refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

More on this...

• State Department defends Keystone pipeline rejection

Democrats and environmental groups latched onto Keystone as emblematic of the type of dirty fossil fuels that must be phased out. Environmentalists chained themselves to construction equipment and the White House fence in protest.
But Republicans, Canadian politicians and the energy industry touted what they said were profound economic benefits -- thousands of U.S. construction jobs and billions injected into the economy. They argued transporting crude by pipeline would be safer than alternatives like rail, and charged Obama with hypocrisy for complaining about the lack of investment in U.S. infrastructure while obstructing an $8 billion project.

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Jan 10, 2015: Activists hold a rally against government approval of the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline, in front of the White House in Washington. (Reuters)

Obama dismissed the claims that Keystone would be a major job creator.
“If Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this is not the way to do it,” he said, before calling for a bipartisan infrastructure plan that he says would make a more significant impact on job creation.
Republicans called the decision disappointing.
"President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline is a huge mistake, and is the latest reminder that this administration continues to prioritize the demands of radical environmentalists over America's energy security," said. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum condemned the decision in a tweet.
“It [is] ironic that after delaying construction for more than seven years – postponing the jobs, revenues and other benefits that would result from the project – the president now finds it pressing to make a decision just as the company is asking for a pause to resolve any concerns," Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. said in a statement.
Some Democrats, such as Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., praised the decision as a positive step in protecting the environment.
"I want to thank the Obama Administration for protecting the health of the American people and the health of the planet by rejecting the ill-advised Keystone tar sands pipeline, which would have brought the filthiest oil known to humankind into our country in large amounts,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said.
Meanwhile 2016 hopeful Bernie Sanders called support for the pipeline "insane."
"It is insane for anyone to be supporting the excavation and transportation of some of the dirtiest fuel on earth. As someone who has led the opposition to the Keystone pipeline from Day 1, I strongly applaud the president’s decision to kill this project once and for all,” Sanders said.

 

 

Hillary Clinton signed non-disclosure agreement to protect classified info while secretary of state

On January 22nd, 2009, Hillary Clinton signed a Non-Disclosure agreement, or NDA, where she agreed to protect highly classified information, and a failure to do so could result in criminal prosecution.
"I have been advised that any breach of this Agreement may result in my termination of my access to SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) and removal from a position of special confidence,"  the NDA reads.
"I have been advised that any authorized disclosure of SCI by me may constitute violations of United States criminal laws, including provisions of Sections 793, 794, 798 and 952, Title 18 United States Code..."  These are provisions of the Espionage Act, and as Fox recently reported, 18 USC 793 subsection (f) is of special interest to the FBI investigation as it includes "gross negligence" in the handling of national defense information.
The NDA was first obtained through a federal lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, or CEI, which says on its website that it is a "...non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty."
The NDA signed by Mrs. Clinton as Secretary of State is significant because the State Department has never publicly acknowledged that she signed documents, confirming she was "advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling" of top secret material was a punishable offense.  
The use of a private server for government business, on its face, is a clear violation of the NDA agreement.
The NDA goes on to say -- "I have been advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling of SCI by me could cause irreparable injury to the United States or be used to advantage by foreign nationals."
This summer the intelligence community's inspector general or ICIG reviewed a random sample from Clinton's server used for government business. The rules are straight forward:  the agencies that obtain the intelligence have final say on classification matters, and the affected agencies confirmed to the ICIG that four emails contained classified information that did not originate with the State Department.  Two of the emails contained Top Secret/SCI material -- the most highly classified. "Sensitive Compartmented" material has limited access, and requires security clearance holders to sign additional paper work, "to be read in, and off" the project. This second NDA is designed to reinforce how important it is to protect the information as well as sources and methods.
On Friday, based on anonymous sourcing, Politico reported that "the U.S. intelligence community has retreated from claims that two emails in Hillary Clinton’s private account contained top-secret information,"
A spokeswoman for the ICIG, Andrea. G. Williams, told Fox the classification had not changed, and no formal notification had been received by her office.  The State Department requested a second review of the emails by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who oversees the 17 agencies. A statement was expected Friday from the ODNI, that no such determination had been made and the review was ongoing.
The Clinton campaign seemed quick to seize on the Politico report, in light of the now public NDAs.   A second NDA for classified information, not specific to special programs, signed by Mrs. Clinton also became public.
Clinton aides had countered the NDA by referring to the Politico report.
The NDAs played a significant role in the prosecution of former CIA Director David Petraeus for wrongly providing highly classified information to his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell.  Petraeus, like Clinton, signed NDAs and a statement of fact filed in his case with the federal court stated that his "criminal conduct" was based on violations of the NDAs signed with the Defense Department and CIA.

Candidates ramp up attacks on Rubio’s finances -- but will it work?

Critics may think Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has some explaining to do over an old Republican Party-issued charge card with a load of his personal expenses on it, but whether this rises to the level of “scandal,” is still up for debate.  
It’s more like a tempest in a teapot, argue campaign strategists who spoke with FoxNews.com on Friday.
“If this is all (the other campaigns) are coming at him with, then he is going to be in good shape,” offered Republican media analyst Pete Snyder.
This week, Donald Trump raised the question of Rubio’s finances in a scrum with the press, calling out his old “credit card” with the Florida GOP specifically.
“All you have to do is look at his credit card. I mean, he is a disaster with his credit cards,” Trump said during a news conference in New York. “And I’ll tell you what: I love Florida. I’m in Florida all the time, and for years I’ve been hearing that his credit cards are a disaster.”
Trump is referring to claims that Rubio charged thousands of dollars worth of personal expenses on his Republican Party-issued American Express card during the time he was a GOP leader in the Florida House of Representatives from 2005 to 2009. The party released detailed records of his expenses from 2007 to 2009 years ago, but there remains a gap in what he expenses he might have put on the party’s tab in 2005 and 2006. His campaign has promised to release those records in the coming weeks, according to The Washington Post.
For his part, Rubio has told the press that the party “never paid a single personal expense of mine,” noting that since it was an American Express card, he was required to pay the balance of his personal charges back each month.
“If there was a personal expense, I paid it. If it was a Party expense, the Party paid it. Now I recognize in hindsight I would do it different to avoid confusion. But the Republican Party never paid a single personal expense of mine,” he told Good Morning America Nov. 4.
Those charges, according to the Tampa Bay Times, which reviewed the available records in 2010, ranged from meals and beverages to “supplies” at the local Apple store and a lumber company. Rubio was questioned in 2010 about the $1,000 charge to fix his family’s minivan -- he said it had been damaged at a political event. He was also asked about charging travel expenses for a family reunion on the card -- he explained he paid with the American Express by accident.
In total, records show he made $16,052 in personal charges.
The Florida Ethics Commission, looking into his expenses in 2012, found no cause to charge him with a violation, but one inspector had strong words. "The level of negligence exhibited by Respondent's confusion between the (Republican Party of Florida) American Express card and his personal MasterCard, together with his failure to recognize the error when reviewing the months' statements, and his signature on the reimbursement requests, is disturbing," the commission’s prosecutor wrote.
It is not entirely clear whether Rubio’s spending ways were sanctioned by the party or not. As the Washington Post’s Fact Checker points out, the Florida GOP has made conflicting statements over the years. On one hand, party spokesman Katy Gordon told the Tampa Bay paper in 2010 that, "the RPOF American Express card is a corporate card and is meant to be used for business expenses" and not personal expenses, but a month later, she seemed to dial back, saying that personal expenses were expected to be “paid through a reimbursement, or in some cases directly to American Express."
Which is exactly what Rubio did, he claimed this week, lashing out at Trump in the process. “I find ironic,” he said to Fox Friday morning,  “Donald Trump had four bankruptcies in his businesses … who is he to talk to anyone about finances?”
Former Republican Rep. Joe Scarborough, who also served in the Florida state house, said Friday that there were no “clear lines” in the way Republican leaders were spending taxpayer money and the party’s money in Florida in those days. Lawmakers were investigated, and at least one of his friends went to jail. However, he doesn’t think the Rubio story has legs in 2015.
“I’ve been hearing since 2010 that the other shoe was going to fall,” Scarborough said in regards to Rubio’s charge card. “If the other shoe is even going to fall, I have to say this is the longest five-year step I’ve ever seen in my life. There is a lot of smoke but you never really find the fire.”
That doesn’t mean that Rubio should ignore his critics, says Craig Shirley, conservative strategist and Reagan biographer.
“It will hurt him if he allows it to hurt him,” Shirley told FoxNews.com. “Questions about your finances are inevitable. So if he allows it to define him that is a problem. If he changes the subject and mounts a counter offensive, it won’t become an issue.”
GOP strategist Mark Corallo says short of Rubio spending the party’s money on luxuries, or worse, not repaying it, he doesn’t think the voters will care much. If anything, they may empathize with Rubio as another American debt holder.
“This is just typical political opposition research stuff,” said Corallo. “And it’s being dumped early enough that it won’t have much chance of hurting his chances of winning the nomination.”

Obamacare Premiums Cartoon

Fox News Poll: Voters approve of Obama plans in Syria, Afghanistan

A 54-percent majority of American voters approves of President Obama’s decision to send a small number of U.S. troops to Syria to help in the fight against the Islamic extremist group ISIS. 
That’s according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.
In addition, by a 49-38 percent margin, voters approve of Obama’s decision to delay withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
Last week, Obama announced he was sending about 50 Special Operations forces to Syria, marking the first time U.S. boots will be on the ground there to fight ISIS.  That decision came on the heels of the president reversing himself on leaving U.S. troops in Afghanistan and delaying withdrawal until after 2016.
Voter support for these military actions is buoyed by a higher level of bi-partisanship than is the norm for the administration’s policies.
Majorities of Democrats approve of Obama’s actions:  62 percent on Syria and 59 percent on Afghanistan.  Among Republicans, nearly half favor both sending troops to Syria (48 percent) and leaving troops in Afghanistan (45 percent).
Overall, 45 percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 50 percent disapprove.  Last month, it was 42-53 percent (October 10-12, 2015).
Here, partisanship is on full display: 84 percent of Democrats approve of Obama’s job performance, while 86 percent of Republicans disapprove.
Approval of Obama has been mostly steady for the last two years -- and voters have almost always been more likely to disapprove than approve of his job performance during that time.  His approval hit a record low 38 percent in September 2014.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,230 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from November 1-3, 2015. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.

GOP candidate line-up announced for Fox Business Network/WSJ debate

Fox Business Network on Thursday announced the candidate line-up for the Nov. 10 Republican presidential debates.
The candidates qualifying for the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET debate are:
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; former HP CEO Carly Fiorina; Ohio Gov. John Kasich; and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
The candidates qualifying for the earlier, 7 p.m. ET debate are:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
The criteria were different than for past debates. In a change, Christie and Huckabee ‎did not qualify for the prime-time event, while former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham did not qualify for either; neither did ex-Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.
Christie brushed it off on Twitter, saying: "It doesn't matter the stage, give me a podium and I'll be there to talk about real issues."
To qualify for the prime-time debate, a candidate had to score 2.5 percent or higher in an average of the four most recent national polls. Candidates scoring under that had to receive at least 1 percent support in at least one of the four most recent national polls to qualify for the 7 p.m. debate.
The four polls used were conducted by: Fox News; Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP; Quinnipiac University; and The Wall Street Journal/NBC News.
The candidates head into the next debate at a time when Trump and Carson are battling for the lead in most polls.
While several recent state and national surveys have shown Carson climbing into the top spot, the latest Fox News poll released Wednesday showed Trump with the edge, 26-23 percent.
The next tier in that poll included just two candidates: Cruz and Rubio, with 11 percent each.
Bush, Huckabee, Kasich and Paul registered with 4 percent.
Pataki called debate organizers' reliance on national polls "a disservice to voters everywhere" and "a clear boost to the worship of celebrity over accomplishment and ideas."
"The voters — not networks driven by ratings or national polls that are statistically irrelevant — should decide our next president," he said after Fox Business Network announced the lineup.
The Fox Business Network debate, presented in partnership with The Wall Street Journal, will focus on jobs, taxes and the economy, as well as other issues. It will be held at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee, Wis.
FBN and Fox News Channel announced Thursday that cable and satellite providers have joined to make the debate available to all their subscribers.
DIRECTV, Suddenlink, Mediacom, Frontier, Wide Open West, and Cable One, and some National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) companies, plan to “unbundle” FBN so all subscribers can watch it during the debate. The debate can also be viewed at FoxBusiness.com and FoxNews.com.
The two debates start at 7 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET.
The race of late has been marked by sparring among Trump and several other candidates. Earlier this week, he challenged Carson over his readiness for office, saying “Ben can’t do the job.”
Overnight, Carson posted a lengthy defense on Facebook in response to those questioning his political inexperience.
"You are absolutely right -- I have no political experience," Carson wrote. "The current Members of Congress have a combined 8,700 years of political experience. Are we sure political experience is what we need."
He, instead, pointed to his lifetime of experience in medicine and other fields, and drew a sharp contrast between that and Trump’s business experience. In a rare jab at a primary rival, the retired pediatric neurosurgeon said he wouldn't trade his experience treating children for "Trump's money."
Trump and Rubio also have sparred in recent days, as Rubio has surged past former front-runner Bush in the polls. Trump has described Rubio’s handling of his personal finances and credit cards as a “disaster.”
Rubio, who faced ethics questions as Florida’s House speaker for using his state GOP charge card for personal reasons, has always maintained he repaid his personal expenses. Rubio answered Trump’s criticism by saying his rival “always gets weird when his poll numbers get a little down.”

California governor ordered state workers to research oil drilling on family land

SAN FRANCISCO –  Gov. Jerry Brown last year directed state oil and gas regulators to research, map and report back on any mining and oil drilling potential and history at the Brown family's private land in Northern California.
After a phone call from the governor and follow-up requests from his aides, senior staffers in the state's oil and gas regulatory agency over at least two days produced a 51-page historical report and geological assessment, plus a personalized satellite-imaged geological and oil and gas drilling map for the area around Brown's family ranchland near the town of Williams.
Ultimately, the regulators told the governor, prospects were "very low" for any commercial drilling or mining at the 2,700-acre property, which has been in Brown's family for more than a century.
Through the state's open records law, The Associated Press obtained the research that state regulators carried out for Brown, and the emails among senior oil and gas regulators scrambling to fulfill the governor's request.
Brown spokesman Evan Westrup declined to discuss the work for the governor, referring the AP to California's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. That agency said the work was a legal and proper use of public resources -- and no more than the general public would get. But oil industry experts said they could not recall a similar example of anyone getting that kind of state work done for private property.
Brown's request points to the complex way that the governor, an internationally known advocate of renewable energy, approaches oil and gas issues in his own state. While spearheading ambitious programs to curb the use of climate-changing fossil fuels, Brown also has sought to spur oil production in California, the country's No. 3 oil-producing state.
Nine days after Brown appointed Steve Bohlen to lead the state oil and gas regulatory division, the governor called him with his research request.
Brown wanted to find out about the "geology, past oil and gas activity, potential for future oil and gas activity in the vicinity of his long-time family ranch," Bohlen related in an email to senior agency staffers that same day, June 11, 2014. Bohlen set noon the next day as a target for getting the research done for delivery to Brown.
After Brown's initial call, his aides called back within hours to ask regulators to look at what minerals might lie under the Brown ranch and also emailed to make sure the regulators were doing a map for the governor.
In an email to the AP, an attorney for the oil and gas agency, Graham St. Michel, said Brown had been compiling documents that "shed light on the fauna, flora, rock formations and geology of the area where his great-grandparents ... first homesteaded in the 1870s."
California law bars elected officials from using public employees or other public resources for personal purposes, with limited exceptions for things like occasional personal calls from work phones.
Regulators say the personal work they did for Brown was legal and appropriate.
"We field similar requests for public, historical information ... and responding is one of the division's public service responsibilities," said Don Drysdale, a spokesman for the oil and gas agency.
Drysdale said the satellite-imaged geological and drilling map prepared by the state for Brown's land took a "few hours."
Regulators and Brown's office declined to provide examples of any similar geological assessments and maps that oil gas regulators had done for anyone else who was curious about any oil and gas potential of their private land. The AP has filed a public records request for them.
Petroleum-industry professionals contacted by the AP said they never heard of regulators carrying out and compiling that kind of research, analysis and mapping for private individuals. The AP told the oil-industry professionals only that state regulators did the work for a state official.
Assessing a private property's oil and gas and mineral potential is not something that state regulators typically do, one oil industry executive said. "There's no evaluation. That's not a service they provide at all," said Rick Peace, president of a Bakersfield, California, company that helps manage oil exploration and production.
Roland Bain, a petroleum geologist based in Northern California, said he was struck by the report's "beautiful map." It was labeled "Oil and Gas Potential In West Colusa County," and the PDF said "JB--Ranch."
"Anyone calling in for help is not going to get that," Bain said. "The division of oil and gas has never been in a position to give you detailed geological mapping."
Historical oilfield records that made up much of the documents are available to the public, and ordinary people can get them by searching on the agency's website, or by visiting one of the agency's offices, which charge for photocopies, Peace noted.
But, as for regulators preparing and compiling assessments, reports and maps for someone's private purposes, "I've never heard of that," said Jean Pledger, a Bakersfield oil and gas attorney.
Typically, landowners find out their land has unrealized oil and gas potential only if oil industry agents scout out the property and approach the owners, said Sacramento-based oil and gas attorney James Day.
Alternatively, individuals can hire an independent petroleum geologist at $200 to $400 an hour, Day said.
Drysdale of the oil and gas division said state law allows state officials to access public records on the same basis as any member of the public.
Jessica Levinson, a governance expert and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said that if state regulators had done that kind of work before for private landowners, they should be able to provide examples.
Of Brown's request, Levinson said, "if no other private individual is able to avail himself of this opportunity, and it's clearly just for personal gain instead of public benefit, then it's clearly problematic."
Brown told the Sacramento Bee in 2013 that he and his family owned a controlling interest in the acreage near Williams and that he planned to put a house on the property. The state research done on the ranch was first disclosed in a lawsuit by attorney Patricia Oliver on behalf of a group of Kern County farmers who allege the Brown administration worked with the oil industry to circumvent laws meant to protect groundwater from contamination.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has faulted state oil and gas regulators for failing to enforce federal laws meant to prevent oilfield pollution of the state's reserves of water for drinking and irrigation. Last month, Bohlen blamed his "dramatically understaffed" labor force for the state's failures to enforce those federal codes.

Obama faces Dem fury over newly released trade deal

President Obama faced deep skepticism from fellow Democrats over the hard-fought Pacific Rim trade deal after it was released early Thursday morning, with critics calling it a "job-killing" agreement as the administration argued it's an economic win. 
The Trans Pacific Partnership, after spending months under wraps, was posted online Thursday morning. The debate over the deal has cut across party lines, with Obama enjoying some support from Republicans yet facing fierce resistance from congressional Democrats.
Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., said Thursday the deal may be "worse than we thought," predicting the agreement would lead to American job losses and calling on lawmakers to stop the deal.
The text of the agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries including Japan and Mexico runs to 30 chapters and hundreds of pages. It is dense in its detail, laying out plans for the handling of trade in everything from zinc dust to railway sleepers and live eels.
The documents show the pact reached Oct. 5 in Atlanta after several years of talks is full of lofty goals. Negotiators agreed to promote environmental sustainability, respect the rights and needs of indigenous peoples, and temper protections for drug patents with safeguards for public health and access to medicines.
It also emphasizes the intention of the trading bloc to abide by earlier commitments made under the World Trade Organization and other international treaties.
But critics see abundant potential for the agreement to expose more American workers to low-wage competition, giving multinational corporations excessive power.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., echoed Edwards in saying "it appears that the agreement is even worse than expected, and the auto industry is among the biggest losers."
She specifically complained, in a statement, about the "lack of any meaningful protections against currency manipulation," predicting that would continue to threaten U.S. jobs.
New House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., meanwhile, said he was reserving judgment. "But I remain hopeful that our negotiators reached an agreement that the House can support because a successful TPP would mean more good jobs for American workers and greater U.S. influence in the world," he said.
The early reaction sets the stage for an intense debate likely to drag well into next year.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday urged Congress to act, saying "there's no reason it should take a year to get that done."
Under a trade law passed earlier this year, President Obama must give the public time to review the text before he signs the agreement and turns it over to Congress for approval.
Obama on Thursday  formally notified Congress of his intent to sign the deal. When it comes to them, lawmakers can't add amendments. They must simply vote yes or no. Congress is likely to take up the issue next year in the heat of the presidential election campaign.
Among the political complications for Obama is that Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton already has said she's against it.
If all 12 countries have not ratified the agreement within two years, provisions allow for it to take effect if six countries comprising 85 percent of the GDP of the bloc have signed. That means U.S. ratification as the world's biggest economy is essential.
Apart from the U.S., Japan and Mexico, countries in the trade pact are New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Peru, Canada, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The White House says the deal eliminates more than 18,000 taxes that countries impose on U.S. exports. The agreement also calls for labor protections such as ensuring that workers in member countries have the right to form unions.
Those opposed to the deal contend it will force American workers to compete even more directly than they do now with workers in low-wage countries such as Vietnam.
They also complain that the agreement goes beyond traditional trade issues such as tariffs and import quotas and includes giveaways to powerful business lobbies.

Democratic Mayor Annise Parker Cartoon

Democratic Mayor Annise Parker

Fox News Poll: GOP nomination race coming into focus, Trump holds edge

Is the race for the Republican nomination finally shaking out?  Four candidates get double-digit backing -- and then there’s a steep drop-off to the rest of the field. 
The latest Fox News national poll on the 2016 election finds that Donald Trump has the edge, as GOP primary voters by wide margins identify him as the best candidate on the economy, as well as the one most likely to beat presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.  The poll also finds Ben Carson remains within striking distance of Trump.
CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
Here are the numbers:  Trump has the backing of 26 percent of Republican primary voters and is closely followed by Carson at 23 percent.  The next tier includes two first-term Cuban-American senators: Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio at 11 percent each.  Those four capture the support of 7 in 10 primary voters (71 percent).
From there, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, and Rand Paul receive 4 percent each.
Carly Fiorina garners 3 percent, down from 5 percent last month and 9 percent in September.

More on this...

• Is the Jeb campaign hitting the 'reset' button?

• Ted Cruz: Momentum following debate has been astonishing

The poll, released Wednesday, is one of two national telephone polls conducted entirely since the October 28 CNBC Republican debate.
Since mid-October, support for Kasich is up 3 percentage points, Trump and Rubio are up 2 points, and Cruz is up 1 point.  Carson has held steady while Bush has dropped by 4 points.
Chris Christie has 2 percent now, up from 1 percent last month.
Men (31 percent) are more likely than women (21 percent) to support Trump.  The top choice among women GOP primary voters is Carson at 25 percent.
The favorites among white evangelical Christians include Carson (33 percent), Trump (23 percent) and Cruz (12 percent).  Those three are also the top picks among the Tea Party movement, although in a different order: Trump (26 percent), Cruz (24 percent) and Carson (19 percent).
When each primary voter’s first and second-choice preferences are added together, Carson (43 percent) has the edge over Trump (41 percent).
Trump supporters go for Carson (36 percent), Rubio (10 percent), Bush (9 percent), and Cruz (9 percent) as their second-choice picks.
Turning to the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton outdistances Bernie Sanders by a 56-31 percent margin.
Previous Fox News polls included several Democratic contenders who are now out of the running, most notably Vice President Joe Biden.  Even so, we can compare the new results to how things stood before the first Democratic debate and Clinton’s Capitol Hill testimony on Benghazi. Clinton’s current 25-point margin over Sanders is mostly unchanged from last month when she had a 26-point lead without Biden in the race.
The next Republican presidential debate will be hosted by Fox Business Network and The Wall Street Journal on November 10 in Milwaukee and will focus on the economy.
Views on the economy remain ugly, yet they have improved compared to four years ago.  While only 21 percent rate the economy positively (1 percent “excellent” and 20 percent “good”), that’s up from a 5 percent positive rating in December 2011.  Most voters -- 79 percent -- still say the economy is in “only fair” (44 percent) or “poor” shape (35 percent).
Thinking only about economic issues, voters prioritize government spending (36 percent) and jobs (28 percent) over income inequality (16 percent) and taxes (6 percent).
More GOP primary voters say economic issues (38 percent) will be most important in deciding their vote for the nomination than say national security (26 percent), immigration (15 percent) or social issues (7 percent).
And that helps Trump.  No other candidate comes close to the real estate mogul’s 42 percent rating when primary voters are asked who is most qualified to handle the economy.  The next closest is Cruz at 10 percent, while 9 percent say Carson, 7 percent Rubio, and 5 percent each for Bush and Kasich.  Fiorina, a former CEO, garners just 3 percent.
There’s much less consensus on which candidate is most qualified to be commander-in-chief,  yet Trump still has the edge: 19 percent pick him, while 17 percent say Carson, 13 percent Cruz, 10 percent Rubio and 9 percent Bush.
But who can WIN?  Twice as many Republican primary voters say Trump (37 percent) is the one most likely to beat Clinton than Carson (18 percent).  Another 11 percent say Rubio has the best odds.  All other candidates are in the single digits on electability.

Pollpourri
By a 55-34 percent margin, voters think Clinton would win a one-on-one debate with Fiorina, the only female Republican candidate.  Women say Clinton would prevail by 60-30 percent.  Democrats (86 percent) are far more likely to say Clinton would win than Republicans are to pick Fiorina (62 percent).
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,230 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from November 1-3, 2015. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters, and 4 points for Democratic primary voters and 4.5 points for Republican primary voters.

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.