Conservative Blogger
Saturday, April 16, 2016
School superintendent, principal confront moms over 'Jesus Lunch'
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| Principal Stephen Plank |
School administrators in Middleton, Wisconsin have intensified their threats and intimidation of a group of mothers who host a weekly “Jesus Lunch” for students at a park adjacent to Middleton High School.
New video shows school officials physically confronting one of the moms in the park — as one woman’s stunned husband observes from a distance. The moms were undeterred and told school officials they were going to serve lunch regardless of their objections.
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“These ongoing attempts to suppress free speech by school officials are disgraceful,” said Phillip Stamman, an attorney representing the moms. “These mothers devote hours each week to serving the students with free meals and a brief message about Jesus. They should not be bullied or harassed — but praised.”
Stamman said his clients have been repeatedly threatened by school officials - but they refuse to comply with their demands to cease the non-denominational religious gathering.
“These women will not be intimidated,” he told me. “They are wholeheartedly committed to serving the students a free meal while sharing a Christian message.”
I first wrote about the “Jesus Lunch” controversy earlier this week. So allow me to give you a brief primer on the hullabaloo.
Students at Middleton High School are permitted to eat lunch off campus. So go to McDonalds. Others go to Taco Bell. And some students eat at Fireman’s Park, a public park adjacent to the school campus.
In 2014, a group of moms started what would become known as the “Jesus Lunch.” They would prepared home-cooked meals for their children and conclude the lunch with an inspirational Christian message.
Over the years, the “Jesus Lunch” grew into a massive weekly event — with nearly 500 kids voluntarily attending.
But the school district wants to shut down the gathering — and as evidenced by the video — they will do anything to make sure that eventually happens.
“We believe that religious or political events do not have a place in our school or on our campus, except when sponsored by a student group in accordance with our rules, which require prior approval,” the pair wrote in an email sent to parents on April 12.
The district accused the moms of violating all sorts of rules — especially in the area of food preparation. They implied the parents are putting their children in danger by hosting the weekly picnics.
“The policies in question include food handling, visitors to campus, and expectations around student organized events,” the administrators wrote. “We are in no way interested in opposing religious practice in otherwise legal circumstances.”
The district said parents are ignoring “food handling standards.”
“Food of any kind that is served to students must be approved by the school/district to ensure food safety, cleanliness and health,” they wrote. “In addition, many students are subject to food allergies, so additional protocols must be followed to safeguard students with these conditions.”
Principal Stephen Plank even accused the moms of luring students to the park with promises of free food in exchange for a Christian message.
“Many students have conveyed to us their concern about a group offering free food to incentivize participation in a religious event on campus,” he told News8000.com. “The result of which has a divisive impact on our learning community.”
The principal suggested that some students loathe the event so much they become hysterical.
“There are some students that when they know this day is coming, they will leave school early,” he told the news organization. “We have some students that staff will find sitting in the hallway crying.”
His remarks left me incredulous. I thought public schools provided “safe space” so youngsters could be shielded from opinions or concepts they don’t agree with?
The district also believes that the public park is technically a part of the campus. They have a lease agreement with the city that allows them to use the park during school hours. So the district contends the moms and their offspring are technically on school property.
“The parents contend that it is their First Amendment Right to provide free food and hold a religiously oriented event on this property during school hours,” the administrators wrote. “The District believes that we have jurisdiction of this leased property, which is part of our campus.”
The moms believe that even though there is a lease agreement — that doesn’t make the public space off-limits.
“Fireman's Park -- a public park owned by the City of Middleton -- remains accessible to everyone in the public for the purposes of assembly and free speech,” they wrote in a statement. “By law, the lease agreement between the city and the School District of Middleton does not privatize the park. The City of Middleton has sent us a letter this week and acknowledged our rental agreement of the pavilion at Fireman's Park.”
So hence, the standoff — between the goodhearted moms and a bunch of public school administrative bullies who don’t under the concept of free speech or religious liberty.
Sanders gave 4 percent of income to charity in 2014, tax returns show
WASHINGTON – Bernie Sanders released his full 2014 federal tax return Friday, revealing that he mostly lives off a six-figure government salary and donated about 4 percent of his family's income to charitable causes.
Sanders and his wife, Jane, donated $8,350 to charity while reporting an adjusted gross income of about $205,000 that year, according to his tax return. The share of his family's income that went to charity was about half the percentage of income that his primary opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, gave to charitable groups.
The Sanders campaign released the return a day after a heated Democratic presidential debate in New York in which Sanders pledged to release the single return but hesitated to say when he would release additional years of his taxes.
Sanders campaign didn't immediately respond Friday evening to emailed questions seeking additional details about Sanders' charitable giving.
Since 1976, every major party presidential nominee has released full tax returns. So far this year, though, Clinton is the only major-party presidential candidate who has released several years of full tax returns. GOP front-runner Donald Trump hasn't released any of his returns, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have only released partial returns.
Until Friday, Sanders had only released an excerpt from his 2014 tax return. During Thursday's debate, Clinton attacked Sanders for failing to release more.
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Sanders fired back at Clinton, contrasting his modest wealth with Clinton's multimillion-dollar income, a significant portion of which has come in the form of paid speeches to corporate and interest groups.
"I don't want to get anybody very excited. They are very boring tax returns," Sanders said. "No big money from speeches, no major investments. Unfortunately, I remain one of the poorer members of the United States Senate. And that's what that will show."
In 2014, the Clintons donated more than $3 million— nearly 11 percent of their income. Since 2000, the Clintons have given nearly $15 million to charity, tax returns show.
GOP leaders brace for new war of words over delegates ahead of Wyoming contest
CASPER, Wyo. – Wyoming Republicans gathering this weekend to pick 14 delegates they’ll send to the national convention might register as a blip on the presidential race radar – especially with all eyes on Tuesday’s New York primary – but another Ted Cruz win could re-ignite Donald Trump’s flame-throwing attacks against the entire nominating process.
The state will hold a convention Saturday where party members – not ordinary voters – will elect delegates to the national convention. The Wyoming process mirrors that of Colorado, which was engulfed by political controversy after hosting a similar convention last week.
Cruz’s campaign ran circles around the Trump operation there, prompting the primary front-runner to slam the multi-tiered caucus system as “rigged.” Likewise, Cruz is expected to do well in Wyoming, where his campaign has been lining up support for months.
Trump did not actively campaign in either state, while Cruz put in face-time in both – and plans to be in Wyoming Saturday for a last-minute appeal for support.
It’s a point the Cruz operation has stressed as it continues to battle Trump’s complaints about the process, while eyeing another potential headline victory this weekend.
“To me, the ground game is starting early and starting at your most local, smallest enclave,” said Ed Buchanan, Cruz’s Wyoming chairman. Since being tapped by Cruz in February, Buchanan has been drafting activists all across the state. His efforts were bolstered by two days of Cruz campaign stops in Wyoming last August.
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Wyoming party members on Saturday will elect 14 delegates to the national convention.
It comes after a full week of Trump accusing party officials of denying him delegates by changing the rules, allegedly impeding the will of the voters.
“Over one million people have been precluded from voting!” Trump tweeted amid the complaints about the Colorado convention. At least 65,000 Colorado Republicans participated in that process, according to the Colorado GOP.
Referring to both Colorado and Wyoming, senior Trump adviser Alan Cobb said: "Candidates that have allies that are party insiders have advantages in states that have a pyramid process of selecting their delegates. These folks have worked this process for years."
Mindful of potential accusations, Wyoming GOP leaders are ready. Their message: The rules were set long before anyone announced their candidacy.
“Every presidential candidate for the last 40 years has managed this process and has worked through this process and has followed the process that we have in Wyoming,” state GOP Chairman Matt Micheli said in an interview with Fox News. “We are simply following the rules that are in place and that have been in place for a long time.”
State party officials said they have been communicating with every campaign to make sure everyone knows the rules.
“I've given all the campaigns my personal cell phone and told them, if there is anything that they don't have or that they need, to call me directly and I would do everything in my power to make sure that they have that,” Micheli said. “The state party is completely neutral. We want all the candidates to have a fair playing field.”
Republican National Committee chief strategist Sean Spicer issued a similar message in a memo on Friday about the delegate process.
“The rules surrounding the delegate selection have been clearly laid out in every state and territory and while each state is different, each process is easy to understand for those willing to learn it,” he wrote.
Wyoming is traditionally taken for granted because a presumptive nominee is usually on cruise control by the time the state votes. Instead of burdening taxpayers with the financial responsibility of holding an inconsequential primary, the state legislature has embraced a caucus system, paid for exclusively by the parties.
At Republican precinct caucuses, voters elect delegates to county conventions. There, voters select 12 national delegates. They also pick delegates to serve at the upcoming state convention, where attendees will elect 14 more delegates – this weekend – to go to Cleveland.
“It's a system that encourages people to be engaged and to be involved,” Micheli said. “It works.
Thus far, the system has favored Cruz, who netted nine pledged delegates at Wyoming’s county conventions last month. Trump gained only one. Marco Rubio, still in the race at the time, also secured a delegate. Another was elected unpledged.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, banking on a brokered convention, is not expected to fare well in Wyoming. But his campaign will still be meeting with delegates in hopes they can convince them to eventually vote for Kasich beyond a first ballot in Cleveland.
“We’ve done things quietly ahead of coming here … that put us in a good position,” Kasich senior aide Merle Madrid said.
Cruz will address Wyoming Republicans at the convention Saturday.
Late Thursday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin dropped her plans to address the convention on Trump’s behalf. The campaign cited a scheduling issue and hopes to replace her with another Trump surrogate.
Kasich will dispatch Idaho Gov. Butch Otter to represent his campaign.
ABSCAM agents to FBI chief: Bureau's 'reputation' on the line in Clinton probe
Former FBI agents who worked the notorious 1970s sting operation known as ABSCAM have written FBI Director James Comey to warn that nothing less than the bureau's "reputation" is on the line as the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices enters a critical phase.
The agents, in a March 16 letter obtained by Fox News, offered their support for Comey and the agents working the email case. But the letter cautioned the outcome would have long-lasting implications.
"Decisions must be made on facts alone. Much is at stake here -- people's trust in the Bureau for years to come, as well as the Bureau's reputation among our allies, partners, and friends as the greatest law enforcement agency in the world,” wrote John F. Good, president of the Long Island Chapter of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.
Good told Fox News a half-dozen FBI agents who worked the 1978 ABSCAM investigation – which targeted sitting members of Congress -- belong to the chapter. The ABSCAM investigation included more than 30 political figures, with six House members and one U.S. senator ultimately convicted of crimes. The investigation was depicted in the 2013 Golden Globe-winning movie "American Hustle," in which Bradley Cooper played an agent based on Good and others.
Good, 79, told Fox News by phone that the Clinton email case boils down to whether the U.S. is a nation of laws, where all citizens are equal under the law, or there is a different set of rules for the powerful. He said the ABSCAM agents thought it was important to show support for the bureau’s work in the email probe since they know what it feels like to face intense public scrutiny.
Good, though, said the pressure the ABSCAM agents faced 40 years ago pales in comparison to what Comey and the agents are dealing with today regarding the Democratic presidential front-runner and her aides.
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Obama, meanwhile, repeatedly vowed there would be no political influence in the case.
Good said that at the outset of ABSCAM, then-FBI Director William Webster had their backs and told them, "The future of the FBI rests on this case."
He said the same holds true today, but added that the retired agents are concerned Comey may not have the same level of support from the Justice Department, where Attorney General Loretta Lynch will make the decision on whether a prosecution is pursued.
"It does not appear that the same relationship between the FBI and DOJ exists today on the case," he told Fox News.
Then-FBI agent Good was a central player in ABSCAM. A native of the Bronx, and son of an FBI agent, he was known for his expertise navigating the tricky business of selecting and developing informants. In 1977, Good had been working on an ongoing inquiry into payoffs to officials in Suffolk County, N.Y., during a sewer project but the pressure from the bureau was to develop bigger and more major cases.
Related Image
FILE: FBI informant Mel Weinberg arrives at federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Nov. 17, 1980. (AP Photo)
(1980 AP)
Now 91 and living in Florida, Weinberg told Fox News that "the country is going to pot. Today's politicians are too smart, the money is greater and they all learned from ABSCAM."
Friday, April 15, 2016
It's All Your Money: VA let costly equipment sit unused for months
In the two years since reports about long wait times at the Phoenix VA Health Care System leading to patients’ deaths, federal investigators ultimately found 20 instances where people may have died from deficient care or delayed access to care.
Now, it is the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, in Tucson, that has attracted unwanted scrutiny. The system, which employs over 2,500 health care professionals and support staff, bills itself as “a national model of clinical and organizational excellence,” in part based on its promise to deliver “efficient” care to its patients.
Yet in a report issued in February, the inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs found the organizational efficiency of the Southern Arizona facility sorely lacking. Auditors found that in late 2014, the hospital arranged to lease some 360 pieces of urology equipment, only to let the machinery sit, idle and unused, for over four months – at a cost to taxpayers of $217,000.
“[Southern Arizona] delayed using the urology equipment because of inadequate acquisition planning and coordination with its support services,” the inspectors found. “The lack of coordination occurred, in part, because [Southern Arizona] had not established policies and procedures to ensure support services staff review leased equipment requests during acquisition planning.”
Officials at Southern Arizona said they “concur with the findings” of the inspector general’s office. “We acknowledge that there was a delay in introducing the equipment into the procedural environment,” hospital executives said in a written response included in the final report. “The person who ordered the equipment retired suddenly, and therefore the normal coordination did not occur in a timely fashion.”
The toll of this wasteful spending extended beyond financial impact. As the auditors noted, Southern Arizona also “missed the opportunity to provide veterans services using endoscopic urology equipment with improved visualization.”
That diminution in the care afforded our veterans, while difficult to quantify or gauge, is magnified in the wake of the earlier problems recorded at the Phoenix VA health system – and feeds into a broad perception that our brave women and women in uniform are not being treated appropriately when they leave the armed forces. An Associated Press report last fall found close to 900,000 veterans had health care requests pending at that time.
“It's certainly money that could have been used to get veterans appointments faster, said Carlos Fuentes, senior legislative associate at the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, about the $217,000 wasted by the Southern Arizona facility. “You have veterans waiting on care, so this could have been put to better use.”
A review of Southern Arizona’s website found the facility advertising for various open positions where the salaries involved provide some idea of what else could have been purchased with that sum. For example, until April 5, the institution was conducting a search for a physician who could serve as its chief of staff, someone whose duties would include "ensuring high quality and cost effective care." That individual’s annual salary was identified as $150,000 to $300,000 – right in the range of the cost associated with the unused urology equipment.
Likewise, Southern Arizona last week closed out its search for a pharmacist; given the minimum starting salary of $105,515, the money spent on the idle urology equipment could instead have purchased the services of two pharmacists for a year’s time. And ongoing right now is the institution’s search for a registered nurse, whose minimum starting salary – $56,292 – could almost pay for the services of four registered nurses for a year’s time.
“In a private marketplace, your boss would immediately say to you, ‘Look at this: You wasted $200,000 by not even knowing you had equipment over here in a closet," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., whose office flagged the inspector general’s findings as part of an ongoing project that Paul calls The Waste Report. “But government doesn't have the profit motive; so they work very slowly.”
Fox News Poll: Trump widens lead in GOP race, Clinton-Sanders tightens
Donald Trump jumps to an 18-point lead over Ted Cruz this week with record high support for the Republican nomination.
Trump tops Cruz by 45-27 percent among GOP primary voters in a new Fox News national poll on the 2016 election. John Kasich comes in third with 25 percent.
Three weeks ago, the mogul was up by three over Cruz: 41-38 percent, with Kasich at 17 percent (March 20-22, 2016).
Forty-five percent is a new high for Trump. The previous high was last month’s 41 percent.
CLICK TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
Trump’s best numbers come from GOP voters without a college degree (54 percent) and those who describe themselves as “very” conservative (50 percent).
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
The shift comes from women. Clinton’s support has declined 11 points among women, while support for Sanders is up by nine. Support among men mostly held steady -- and it’s in Sanders’ favor: 57-37 percent.
Kasich does best against Democrats, Trump worst
Kasich, who is in third both in polling and the delegate count, likes to tell folks on the campaign trail that most polls show he’s the only Republican who can win in November.
That holds true in these new potential matchups.
Kasich is up by nine points over Clinton (49 vs. 40 percent), while she’s the one who tops Trump (+7 points) and Cruz (+1 point).
The Ohio governor also does best against Sanders. The Vermont senator trounces Trump (+14 points) and Cruz (+12 points). Against Kasich, he’s up by just four points.
Still, when voters are asked which Republican candidate has the best chance to defeat Clinton, they pick Trump first (42 percent), followed by Cruz (24 percent) and Kasich (20 percent). GOP primary voters are even more bullish on Trump: 58 percent say he has the best odds, while 21 percent say Cruz and 16 percent Kasich.
"When it comes to electability, the disconnect between what Republicans think and what the polling data show is astounding," says Daron Shaw, Republican pollster who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. "Close to three times as many think Trump has the best chance against the Democrats despite the fact he's down seven points to Clinton while Kasich is up nine."
Pollpourri
Voters see two nomination battles of strikingly different character. Eight in 10 say the Republican campaign is “rude and disrespectful” (80 percent), while most think the Democratic side is “polite and respectful” (64 percent).
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,021 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from April 11-13, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters, and 4.5 points for both the Democratic (450) and Republican primary voter samples (419).
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