Top tier takes heat: Rubio, others under fire at NH debate

The top tier in the Republican presidential race endured hard-hitting and sustained attacks on the debate stage Saturday night, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in particular getting pelted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for skipping Senate votes and leaning on anti-Obama “talking points” on stage.
The debate in New Hampshire – their last before the state’s upcoming primary – saw the middle-tier candidates scrapping to gain traction, frequently putting the top three finishers in Iowa’s caucuses on defense over their records. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz faced renewed criticism over his campaign’s questionable caucus-night tactics, while billionaire businessman Donald Trump took heat from his old sparring partner Jeb Bush – and even the audience – over a development project.
But it was the clashes between Christie and Rubio that became most heated, and Rubio seemed to struggle at times to push past the tough-talking governor’s critique of his record.
“You have not been involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable, you just simply haven’t,” Christie said. Pointing to a sanctions bill, Christie said Rubio skipped the vote, adding: “That’s not leadership, that’s truancy.”
Rubio fired back that Christie didn’t return to New Jersey during the recent snowstorm until he was pressured. “They had to shame you into going back,” Rubio said.
But Christie seized on a recurring effort by Rubio to look past his GOP rivals by repeating a line about President Obama trying to “change this country.”
“There it is. The memorized 25-second speech,” Christie said, mocking Rubio’s allegedly rehearsed “talking points” on Obama. When Rubio again accused Christie of not wanting to return to New Jersey for the storm, Christie shot back: “Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator – ESP?”
With the polls tightening ahead of Tuesday’s primary, several Republican contenders on stage were looking for a late breakout, and Christie was unquestionably one of them.  Whether his debate-stage attacks can knock Rubio off his stride and hurt his momentum going into Tuesday’s primary remains to be seen. But Christie’s attacks were aimed squarely at questioning Rubio’s experience, an issue that the governors in the race have raised before.
Christie later went after Rubio for backing away from immigration reform legislation he once co-authored, saying he didn’t “fight” for it. Rubio countered that the plan has “no chance of passage” until the American people are convinced illegal immigration is under control.
Cruz, too, was sharply criticized by Ben Carson over representatives of his campaign incorrectly spreading rumors on Iowa caucus night that he was dropping out of the race. It was a rare moment, as the normally non-confrontational Carson detailed the resources that have gone into his White House bid and questioned why Cruz’s team would say he was suddenly leaving the race on the night of the first contest.
“To think that I would just walk away just 10 minutes before the caucus … I mean, who would do something like that?” he said. Carson called the rumors a good example of “certain types of Washington ethics … Washington ethics basically says, if it’s legal, you do what you need to do in order to win.”
Cruz, the Iowa caucus winner, insisted he “knew nothing about” the election night rumors, and again apologized.
“Ben, I’m sorry,” he said.
Trump needled Cruz on the same controversy in his closing remarks, saying of his Iowa victory, “That’s because you got Ben Carson’s votes, by the way.”
Cruz also had an awkward moment toward the end of the debate, when asked by the moderators about his stance on waterboarding. He said it’s “enhanced interrogation” and not technically torture, and he would not bring it back “in any sort of widespread use.” He then paused for several seconds, before resuming to recall legislation he backed prohibiting line officers from employing the technique – and say he’d use whatever “enhanced” methods needed to protect America.
Trump was unequivocal. “I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” he said.
The Saturday night debate, hosted by ABC, was the candidates’ last before the New Hampshire primary. It also marked Trump’s return to the stage – after he sat out the last debate over a dispute with debate host Fox News. But he returned for the face-off in Manchester, N.H., with his front-runner status now in jeopardy, after Cruz bested him in the leadoff Iowa caucuses and Rubio pulled off a strong third-place finish that has given his campaign fresh momentum.
Yet it was former Florida Gov. Bush who put Trump on his heels at Saturday’s debate, in a dispute over eminent domain – the government power to seize property that Trump has supported.
“It’s a necessity for our country,” Trump said.
Bush then accused Trump of using eminent domain to take property from an elderly woman for a project in Atlantic City. After Trump denied it and then accused Bush of trying to be a “tough guy,” Bush asked, “How tough is it to take property from an elderly woman?”
Trump at that point essentially took on the audience, which booed him repeatedly as he then accused them of being Bush’s “donors and special interests.” Trump got the final word, telling Bush that the Canada-to-Texas Keystone pipeline they support is a “private job” that needs eminent domain to be completed. (According to local reports, the New Jersey woman in question ultimately kept her home by fighting the city in court, though she moved out several years ago.)
Despite being jeered by the audience for his “donor” charge, Trump did receive applause for his explanation of his position on health care. He vowed to repeal ObamaCare and replace it, but said, “We’re going to take care of people that are dying on the street.”
Trump, earlier, also defended his “temperament,” challenging criticism from Cruz that Trump would be a trigger-happy commander in chief.
“I actually think I have the best temperament,” Trump said.
Earlier this week, Cruz responded to Trump’s criticism of his Iowa caucus tactics by questioning his temperament and joking that with Trump in charge, Americans could wake up and find he’s “nuked Denmark.”
Trump reminded the audience at Saturday’s debate that he did not back the Iraq war.
“I was the only up here who said don’t go, don’t do it,” Trump said.
He also mocked Cruz, after the senator did not respond directly whether he stands by his words.
“He didn’t answer your question,” Trump noted. “People back down with Trump, and that’s what I like, and that’s what the country is going to like.”
Trump still leads in New Hampshire, but recent polls show Rubio surging in the state, which votes Tuesday.
The debate at St. Anselm College featured the seven top-polling candidates. Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore did not make the cut.
It started with a hiccup, as the moderators appeared to, temporarily, forget to invite Ohio Gov. John Kasich to the stage. He then walked on. Still, Kasich fielded several questions at the debate, challenging his GOP rivals on suggestions they would deport millions of illegal immigrants.
He also talked tough, as other candidates did, about North Korea on the heels of reports that they launched a long-range missile.
“We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans,” Kasich said.
Unlike in Iowa, the battle for the not-Trump vote is crowded and competitive in New Hampshire. Aside from Cruz and Rubio, Kasich and Bush are also polling well in the state. Christie had been running strong as recently as January but has seen his numbers slide in recent weeks.
Cruz, later on in Saturday’s debate, was by turns tough and tender. He reiterated his goal to use “overwhelming air power” to take out the Islamic State. Citing reports about the emergence of a “jihadist university” in ISIS territory, he said that building “should be rubble” but added he’d wait until “freshman orientation” to destroy it.
Later, he told the story of his half-sister Miriam who died of an overdose, speaking about addiction in a state where the problem is at crisis levels.
“This is an absolute epidemic, we need leadership to solve it,” Cruz said.
Fiorina, and even some rival candidates, had lobbied ABC and the Republican National Committee to let her debate Saturday despite the criteria disqualifying her. But ABC stood firm in its decision to stick by criteria announced before Monday’s caucuses, after which three GOP candidates dropped out.

Government Tax Cartoon

Housing, jobs in high-tax Connecticut could take hit in wake of GE move

The downfall of America, greedy Government?

General Electric’s big move to Boston this summer could mean much more than leaving an empty corporate campus behind.
Residents and small business owners in the tony town of Fairfield, Conn. – home to GE’s global headquarters for more than four decades – are bracing themselves for the collateral damage after the company announced last month it would be moving to Massachusetts and taking 800 jobs, millions in grants and opportunities for expansion with them.
But that’s not even the half of it.
The trickle-down devastation triggered by GE’s move is predicted to spare no sector. The real estate market is expected to suffer as residents pick up and leave for better job prospects. Small businesses and infrastructure projects also could start to see setbacks in the near future, as the high taxes blamed in part for GE's move remain.
“Probably half of the higher-end homes that used to house the GE executives will sit either unsold or foreclosed because no one else living in the area can afford them at their current price,” Christopher Mills, president of C. Mills & Associates, which manages real estate portfolios nationwide, told FoxNews.com.
While there is a slight possibility a large company could swoop in and save the city, the odds aren’t in Fairfield’s favor.
“[It’s] not likely to happen because the same tax and legislative hindrances that chased GE out will keep other companies away,” he said. “Those hindrances are what have to be removed to prevent a localized depression.”
GE, which has a market value of nearly $290 billion, made good on threats to leave Connecticut following two of the largest corporate tax hikes in the state’s history in 2011 and 2015.
Massachusetts – often referred to as “Taxachusetts” -- ranks 25^th in a 2016 Tax Foundation survey of positive tax climates in the U.S. Connecticut, though, comes in a distant 44^th. Connecticut’s corporate income tax rate stands at 7.5 percent but bigger companies have to pay more in corporate tax liability.
GE likely paid 9 percent due to surcharges on growth income. They’ll pay 8 percent in Massachusetts, Jared Walczak, a policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, told Reuters.
Connecticut also has several corporate tax structures that are less favorable than other states, including rules that could put more of GE’s global sales within the state’s tax grasp. “Given the cost of corporate relocation, I suspect that GE anticipates substantial tax savings from the move,” Walczak said.
Republican state lawmakers slammed Gov. Dannel Malloy and the Democratic-led legislature for driving away one of the state’s largest employers.
“This is proof positive that the Democrat majority’s fiscal plans are failures,” Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Leonard Fasano said in a statement, blaming the state’s tax policies and warning “many more businesses” could follow in GE’s footsteps.
The hikes and bipartisan bickering about the state’s long-term economic goals could hurt the state permanently. “Nothing is so hostile to business as uncertainty,” Fred Carstensen, an economics professor at the University of Connecticut, wrote in the Hartford Business Journal. “Connecticut, it seems, has become the state of uncertainty.”
Malloy tried to downplay the impact of a GE move on the state but admitted, “Taken as a whole, there is no denying that Connecticut has had more good days than days like today.”
GE, which has a global workforce of more than 350,000 and ranks eighth on the Fortune 500, will be the largest publicly traded company based in Massachusetts.
David Lewis, president of Operations Inc., a human resources consulting company based in Connecticut, said “a move like this is a seismic event” for Fairfield. The move casts doubt and sends a message about whether the county is a viable place to do business, he told FoxNews.com.
GE’s move, coupled with a threat by banking heavyweight UBS to leave nearby Stamford, Conn., raised real concern with residents who are worried what a mass corporate exodus could mean for the state. Connecticut – specifically Stamford -- has had the bad luck of housing the U.S. headquarters of two European banks that have been slammed following a series of debt crises. Prior to the financial crisis, RBS and UBS each set up large offices with huge trading floors in Stamford. UBS, whose arrival in Stamford helped spur redevelopment in the area, has since relocated staff to Manhattan, while RBS has slashed its staff.
“The state has had a problem with the way it has treated business overall for the last 10 years,” Lewis said. “A lot of anti-business policies have raised the question whether the state is pro-business or not.”
In a separate interview with WNPR, he said Fairfield would have a difficult time staying relevant following GE’s move.
"Why would anyone pick Fairfield County to move their business?" Lewis said. "We have a high cost of living. We have a traffic issue that makes commuting into the county a challenge. ... Then there is the state government, who has a track record of passing mountains of anti-government legislation."
Chris Raveis, president of residential sales at William Raveis, Massachusetts LLC, told FoxNews.com that GE’s decision to leave Connecticut delivered a powerful psychological blow to the entire area that will be felt for years.
“I think everybody wants to be optimistic, but at this point, they are very discouraged,” he said, adding that reversing the damage could take some time.
Peter Gioia, an economist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, told the Hartford Courant, the “absolute, intense psychological impact” of GE’s move should not be minimalized.
He added that the company’s exit is “a glaring black eye for economic development.”

Obama rips 'doom and despair' Republicans on economy, defends oil tax

Obama is desperate to bring down America before he leaves office.

Hours after the Democratic presidential candidates went toe-to-toe on the debate stage in New Hampshire, President Obama used the bully pulpit Friday to take a shot at Republicans for spreading “doom and despair” on the economy – touting new jobs data while defending a proposed oil tax critics say will undermine any economic progress.
The new data, while reflecting a slowdown in job growth, nevertheless showed the unemployment rate dipping to 4.9 percent.
In remarks at the White House Friday, Obama said the U.S. now has the "strongest, most durable economy in the world." He also took a swipe at Republicans.
“I know that’s still inconvenient for Republican stump speeches," he said, before accusing them of embarking on a “doom and despair” tour in New Hampshire.
“Evidence, facts are on our side,” Obama said.
Obama’s remarks come a day before Republican 2016 candidates line up in New Hampshire for another debate, during which the economy is likely to be discussed at length.
Obama, meanwhile, defended his controversial proposal for a $10-per-barrel tax on oil companies in order to fund clean transport technology.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has called the forthcoming budget proposal part of an "out of touch" agenda and warned the proposed tax would raise energy prices, "hurting poor Americans the most."
Obama countered that with gas prices so low, the impact would be minimal.
“It’s right to do it now when gas prices are really low," he said.
Critics claim the levy would be passed on to consumers, something White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest effectively conceded on Friday. He said he“would not be surprised if they did pass that along” to consumers.
The 4.9 percent unemployment in January is the lowest it’s been under President Obama and came after the Labor Department announced employers added 151,000 jobs last month.

Hillary misleading about email probe during debate, former FBI agents say

This is how she really feels about the FBI probe.

Hillary Clinton used misleading language in Thursday night’s Democratic debate to describe the ongoing FBI investigation into her use of a private email server to conduct official government business while she was secretary of state, according to former senior FBI agents.
In the New Hampshire debate with Senator Bernie Sanders, which aired on MSNBC, Clinton told moderator Chuck Todd that nothing would come of the FBI probe, “I am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested.  It is being carried out.”
Not true says Steve Pomerantz, who spent 28 years at the FBI, and rose from field investigative special agent to the rank of assistant director, the third highest position in the Bureau.
“They (the FBI) do not do security reviews,” Pomerantz said. “What they primarily do and what they are clearly doing in this instance is a criminal investigation.”
Pomerantz emphasized to Fox News, “There is no mechanism for her to be briefed and to have information about the conduct, the substance, the direction or the result of any FBI investigation.”
Separately, an intelligence source familiar with the two prongs of the ongoing FBI probe, stressed to Fox that the criminal and national security elements remain “inseparable.”  The source, not authorized to speak on the record,  characterized Clinton’s statement “as a typical Clinton diversion… and what is she going to say, “I’m 95 percent sure that I am going to get away with it?”
Fox recently learned that one of the FBI's senior agents responsible for counterintelligence matters, Charles H. Kable IV, is working the Clinton case, another indicator the intelligence source said that the FBI probe is “extremely serious, and the A-team is handling.”
Kable, known as "Sandy," was appointed special agent in charge of the counterintelligence division at the Washington field office by Director James Comey in December.
He had recently served as the chief of the counterespionage section at FBI headquarters.  In that capacity, a bureau press releases says the 15-year, well-respected FBI veteran, "provided leadership and oversight to the field offices engaged in espionage, economic espionage, and insider threat investigations."
While his responsibilities are not publicly known, Kable was described to Fox as "tough and no-nonsense FBI." The intelligence source said analysts and agents are exploring whether the mishandling of classified information was "intentional" and who may have benefited.
A spokeswoman for the FBI took Fox's questions, but said they would not be providing comment on Kable’s role or the FBI case.
In 2009, Kable led investigations against known and suspected Chinese intelligence officers in the U.S.  In January, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, told the Hugh Hewitt radio show that "the odds are pretty high" that then-Secretary of State Clinton's personal email server was hacked by Iran, China and Russia.
A separate source told Fox, "it is no less of a violation of espionage statutes if any material was classified secret or top secret....All the statute requires is national defense information or NDI,” adding "this is way past accidental spillage…(it) is being investigated as intentional mishandling…in this kind of high profile investigation, the most damaging information takes primacy.”
Investigations into the compromise of classified information include damage assessments.  In the recent case of former CIA Director David Petraeus, the damage was deemed to be limited, discreet, and knowable because the highly classified information was shared with his biographer, who also had a security clearance.
In Hillary Clinton's case, if the private server was compromised by a third party, the extent of the damage maybe unknowable.
The hacker "Guccifer" compromised Clinton’s adviser Sydney Blumenthal's aol account, and he copied the email exchanges sent to Clinton.  The Romanian hacker, whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar, has an extradition hearing February 17, and in an interview, indicated he would welcome extradition to the U.S.
The amount of classified information, now including 22 top secret emails the State Department withheld from public release last week, stands at more than 15-hundred.
At the State Department briefing Thursday, spokesman John Kirby was asked by Fox News chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge whether Clinton, as well as aides Huma Abedin, and Cheryl Mills, completed the required classified training that includes the proper storage, handling, and identification of classified information.
"Everybody here is trained in how to handle sensitive information. Sometimes that takes place in in-person briefings and I can't comment any further,"  Kirby said.  Asked it was documented, Kirby said he had nothing more to offer, but did confirm Clinton, Abedin, Mills were not exempt from the strict rules that apply to State Department personnel.
Fox: “So they would not be an exception?”
Kirby: “Everybody that works at the State Department gets trained in how to handle sensitive information.  Sometimes that's done in- person briefings.”
This is important because, on its face, this seems to undercut Clinton's claim she had no way to know it was classified because the emails were not marked.  Personnel are briefed on what constitutes classified  information and its proper handling.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch sought the records documenting the classification training, but in a letter dated January 22, 2016, exactly seven years after Clinton signed her Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to serve as Secretary of State, the government watchdog was told "no responsive records" could be found.

Republicans push for Fiorina to be included in ABC debate

In Iowa, Cruz placed first. Fiorina came in seventh place.

Is Fiorina not being included in the ABC debate because being a female she's better then the other men that are also not being asked to the debate?

Republicans are calling on ABC News to change its criteria for Saturday’s GOP debate in New Hampshire, complaining that rules announced before the Iowa caucuses are set to block Carly Fiorina from the stage. 
ABC announced Thursday that the former HP CEO, as well as former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, did not make the cut for the upcoming debate. But the decision was based on criteria unveiled before three GOP candidates dropped out of the race following the Iowa contest.
The ABC rules were meant in part to narrow the debate stage crowd, for the first time eliminating the undercard event. But with the other undercard debaters now out of the picture, some of Fiorina's fellow candidates are joining her in pressuring ABC and the party to change the rules and make room for her.
“With 9 Republicans left, I call on the RNC to get rid of arbitrary requirements for debates. Americans deserve to hear from every candidate,” retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson tweeted Thursday.
Saturday night’s lineup includes: Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Carson and Cruz, as well as former presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have all called for a criteria change to get Fiorina on the stage.
Romney and Gingrich argued that Fiorina outperformed Christie and Kasich on Monday and should be allowed to debate.
“Don’t exclude only woman,” Romney tweeted.
So far, the network isn’t budging. And Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer, while saying the decision rests with the networks, said the criteria "is what it is."
Spicer called Fiorina a "great candidate," but suggested it would be unfair to retroactively change debate criteria.
Fiorina and her campaign have pushed back aggressively against being kept off the debate stage.
“The people who should be frustrated, actually more than frustrated are the people of Iowa and New Hampshire,” Fiorina said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Friday.
The network, in criteria set before the caucuses, said there were three different ways candidates could make it onto the stage for the debate. First, a candidate could place among the top three in the Iowa caucuses. A candidate could also qualify by ranking among the top six in an average of New Hampshire GOP presidential polls. Third, a candidate could qualify by ranking among the top six in an average of national GOP presidential polls recognized by ABC.
Three Republican candidates called it quits this week after poor showings in the Iowa caucuses. They include: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
In Iowa, Cruz placed first. Fiorina came in seventh place.
Calls to ABC News for comment were not immediately returned.

Oil Tax Cartoon

Obama to call for $10-per-barrel oil tax to fund clean transport

President Obama will propose a $10 fee for every barrel of oil to be paid by oil companies in order to fund clean energy transport system, the White House announced Thursday -- although Republicans were quick to declare the plan "dead on arrival" in Congress.
The fee would be phased in over five years and would provide $20 billion per year for traffic reduction, investment in transit systems and other modes of transport such as high-speed rail, the White House said. It would also offer $10 billion to encourage investment in clean transport at the regional level.
Obama is expected to formalize the proposal Tuesday when he releases his final budget request to Congress. However, the proposal immediately faced resistance from Republicans.
"Once again, the president expects hardworking consumers to pay for his out of touch climate agenda,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement, arguing it would lead to higher energy prices and hurt poor Americans.
Ryan went on to describe Obama’s plan as “dead on arrival” in Congress.
“The good news is this plan is little more than an election-year distraction. As this lame-duck president knows, it's dead on arrival in Congress, because House Republicans are committed to affordable American energy and a strong U.S. economy," Ryan said.
The White House claims the added cost of gasoline would incentivize the private sector to reduce the reliance on oil and to increase investment in clean energy technology.
The plan also saw opposition from advocates for the oil industry, who warned it would only harm consumers.
“The White House thinks Americans are not paying enough for gasoline, so they have proposed a new tax that could raise the cost of gasoline by 25 cents a gallon, harm consumers that are enjoying low energy prices, destroy American jobs and reverse America’s emergence as a global energy leader,” API President and CEO Jack Gerard:
“On his way out of office, President Obama has now proposed making the United States less competitive.” Gerard said.