News/Politics 2-23-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Here’s the big story the liberal media is focused on.

From TheNYPost  “Rudy Giuliani doubled down on his claims that President Obama doesn’t “love America” in an interview with The Post Friday — claiming the commander-in-chief has been influenced by communists since his youth.

“From the time he was 9 years old, he was influenced by Frank Marshall Davis, who was a communist,” Giuliani said. The ex-mayor added that Obama’s grandfather introduced him to Davis, a writer and labor activist.

Giuliani also said another bad influence on Obama was Saul Alinsky, a community organizer whom the ex-mayor called a “socialist.””

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2. The only reason they’re focused on that is so it’s easier to ignore this one.

From TheFreeBeacon  “Donating large sums of money to the Bill, Hillary, & Chelsea Clinton Foundation is one of the many fun ways a corporation, billionaire, or foreign government can curry favor with the Clinton dynasty.

While the media was busy obsessively hyperventilating over Rudy Giulian’s comments about President Obama’s lack of love for America, the Wall Street Journal reported that, during her time as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton helped promote the interest of large U.S. corporations, many of which have donated larges sums of money to the Clinton Foundation:

Among recent secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton was one of the most aggressive global cheerleaders for American companies, pushing governments to sign deals and change policies to the advantage of corporate giants such as General Electric Co. , Exxon Mobil Corp. , Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co.

At the same time, those companies were among the many that gave to the Clinton family’s global foundation set up by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. At least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her tenure donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of public and foundation disclosures.”

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More here, from TheMiamiHerald  “More than 40 percent of the top donors to the Clinton family foundation are based in foreign countries, which could lead to conflict-of-interest questions for Hillary Clinton as she prepares to launch her campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

The charity that now bears Hillary Clinton’s name along with her husband and daughter has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments, businesses, individuals and nongovernment organizations around the globe, according to an analysis of 10 years of contributions by McClatchy. Many of them gave as recently as 2014.

The governments of Saudi Arabia and Norway each contributed $10 million to $25 million.

Mohammed Al-Amoudi, a billionaire businessman who lives in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, retired German race car driver Michael Schumacher, and Denis O’Brien, the Irish chairman of Digicel phone company, each donated between $5 million and $10 million.”

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3. So the Obama conference on extremists, which refused to mention Islam, the ideology behind the largest group of extremists, was opened at least one day with a muslim prayer. They might have the first day too, but we don’t know for sure because the press wasn’t allowed in. How nice.

From CNSNews  “A Muslim prayer was recited at the start of the second day of the White House summit on “Countering Violent Extremism,” but no other religious text was presented during the portion of the event that was open to the press.

Imam Sheikh Sa’ad Musse Roble, president of the World Peace Organization in Minneapolis, Minn., recited a “verse from the Quran” following remarks by Obama administration officials and Democratic members of Congress.”

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4. Such childish behavior is unbecoming a president, but just what we’ve come to expect from Barry.

From APNews  ” In what is becoming an increasingly nasty grudge match, the White House is mulling ways to undercut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world.

There are limits. Administration officials have discarded the idea of President Barack Obama himself giving an Iran-related address to rebut the two speeches Netanyahu is to deliver during his early March visit. But other options remain on the table.

Among them: a presidential interview with a prominent journalist known for coverage of the rift between Obama and Netanyahu, multiple Sunday show television appearances by senior national security aides and a pointed snub of America’s leading pro-Israel lobby, which is holding its annual meeting while Netanyahu is in Washington, according to the officials.

The administration has already ruled out meetings between Netanyahu and Obama, saying it would be inappropriate for the two to meet so close to Israel’s March 17 elections. But the White House is now doubling down on a cold-shoulder strategy, including dispatching Cabinet members out of the country and sending a lower-ranking official than normal to represent the administration at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the officials said.”

Yeah, an interview with one of your lap-dogs, that’ll show ’em… 🙄

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5. The Obama admin wants an emergency order to continue pushing his illegal amnesty program.

From TheHill  “The Obama administration will seek an emergency court order to move forward with President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

Officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) plan to seek what is known as an emergency stay that would essentially undo a Texas-based federal judge’s injunction from earlier this week. If the stay is granted, the government could restart a pair of executive programs that will shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said DOJ will file for the stay by “Monday at the latest.”

The emergency stay had been sought by immigrant rights advocates, who want to get the programs up and running as soon as possible while the appeals process plays out.”

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News/Politics 6-3-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

UPDATE

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg has died.

From NorthJersey.com

“Frank R. Lautenberg, who rose from a poor Paterson boyhood to become a multimillionaire businessman and New Jersey’s longest-serving U.S. senator, died  Monday at 89 of viral pneumonia, his office said.

The oldest member of the Senate and its last World War II veteran, Lautenberg had struggled with health problems since late last year, when he missed several weeks of votes because of what he said was flu and bronchitis.

The death of Lautenberg, a Democrat, creates a vacancy that Republican Gov. Christie will fill. The appointee would serve until a new senator is elected to a full six-year term in 2014.”

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Eric Holder’s problems continue to multiply. I think it’s only a matter of time now. It’s not if he resigns or is removed, but when. From FoxNews

“The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Sunday his panel is  investigating remarks Attorney General Eric Holder made under oath regarding the  Justice Department accessing a Fox News reporter’s phone logs and emails.

“It’s fair to say we’re investigating the conflict in his remarks, those  remarks were made under oath,” Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told “Fox  News Sunday.””

“Goodlatte said the committee has sent Holder a letter asking him to explain why  his remarks before Congress in May seem to conflict with the language of an  affidavit he signed in 2010 asking a judge to give investigators access to Fox  reporter James Rosen’s communications and movement within State Department  headquarters.”

InvestorsBusinessDaily points out the ongoing and repeated lies from the AG.

“Before he lied to Congress while under oath about what he knew about targeting  reporters, he lied about Fast and Furious. As early as the New Black Panthers  case, Eric Holder had a problem with the truth.”

“That the House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Attorney General  Eric Holder lied under oath during his May 15 testimony on Department of Justice  (DOJ) surveillance of reporters comes as no surprise. People have forgotten  about the New Black Panther case, perhaps the most clear-cut case of voter  suppression and intimidation ever. On Election Day 2008, New Black Panther Party  members in military garb were videotaped intimidating voters outside a  Philadelphia polling place.”

“Holder lied: A July 2010 memo shows Michael Walther, head of the National Drug  Intelligence Center, told Holder that straw buyers in Fast and Furious “are  responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to the  Mexican drug trafficking cartels.””

Some in the White House wish he’d resign too. From HotAir

“If the Obama White House wants to send up smoke signals, it almost always turns to one outlet — the New York Times.  That’s what makes their profile today of embattled Attorney General Eric Holder so compelling.  Ostensibly, the profile positions Holder as taking arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, hoping to end them.  However, anonymous sources with connections to the West Wing make it clear that momentum is growing at the White House to end the heartache already:

Over the course of four and a half years, no other member of President Obama’s cabinet has been at the center of so many polarizing episodes or the target of so much criticism. While the White House publicly backed Mr. Holder as he tried to smooth over the latest uproar amid new speculation about his future, some in the West Wing privately tell associates they wish he would step down, viewing him as politically maladroit. But the latest attacks may stiffen the administration’s resistance in the near term to a change for fear of emboldening critics.”

“The White House views the attacks on Mr. Holder as a “political agenda” and “would not hasten the departure of someone who’s competent and runs the department and is a friend because there’s a drumbeat,” said William M. Daley, a former White House chief of staff under Mr. Obama. “Whoever Barack Obama puts in there, these people will try to drumbeat him out of there, no matter what.”

But that does not mitigate the frustration of some presidential aides.”

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Meanwhile, more lies exposed in the IRS scandal. From TheDailyMail

“Interviews with IRS employees have  established that the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Internal Revenue  Service was engaged in targeting tea party groups and other conservative  organizations for unfair levels of scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt  status.

Rep. Darrel lssa, chairman of powerful House  Committee of Oversight and Government Reform, made that startling announcement  on CNN Sunday morning.

‘As late as last week,’ he said, ‘the [Obama]  administration was still trying to say the [IRS targeting scandal] was from a  few rogue agents in Cincinnati, when in fact the indication is that they were  directly being ordered from Washington.”

More here from ConservativeIntel.com

And the transcripts of the interviews are here, from OversightHouse.gov

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This was posted in the comments yesterday, and I didn’t want you to miss it. A fun little comparison video for you.

With a HAT TIP! to Donna J. 🙂

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Tony Blair is pointing out some inconvenient truths. Also From TheDailyMail

“The former Prime Minister addresses the  shocking killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich by going further than he – or  any front-rank British politician – has gone before over the issue of Muslim  radicalism.

Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, he departs  from the usual argument that Islam is a peaceful religion that should not be  tainted by the actions of a few extremists.”

“Instead, Mr Blair urges governments to ‘be  honest’ and admit that the problem is more widespread.”

“‘We have to put it on the table and be honest  about it. Of course there are Christian extremists and Jewish, Buddhist and  Hindu ones. But I am afraid this strain is not the province of a few extremists.  It has at its heart a view about religion and about the interaction between  religion and politics that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies.’ He adds: ‘At the extreme end of the spectrum are terrorists, but the world view goes deeper and wider than it is comfortable for  us to admit. So by and large we don’t admit it.’”

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And one last piece, from the “Vote Fraud is a Myth” file.  From HotAir

“Democrats like to claim that concern over ballot fraud is just paranoid conspiracy-theory rubbish.  It might be a little more difficult to make that case after Miami-Dade investigators busted a ring of Democrats for attempting to push hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests in the 2012 election  – a ring that reached the inner circle of at least one Democratic Congressman, and perhaps two:

Congressman Joe Garcia’s chief of staff abruptly resigned Friday after being implicated in a sophisticated scheme to manipulate last year’s primary elections by submitting hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests.

Friday afternoon, Garcia said he had asked Jeffrey Garcia, no relation, for his resignation after the chief of staff — also the congressman’s top political strategist — took responsibility for the plot. Hours earlier, law enforcement investigators raided the homes of another of Joe Garcia’s employees and a former campaign aide in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.

Garcia didn’t just work to defeat Rivera, who had ethics issues that made his re-election dicey at best.  He also worked to defeat Allen West, who lost by less than 2,000 votes and who complained about voter fraud at the time:

Hmmmmmm…………

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