Monday Afternoon - The Front Page Cover

 The Front Page Cover 
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
 
Featuring:
Hilly’s Ungainly Glide
Peggy Noonan
 
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
 Drone Killed American Hostage and nObama Barely Apologizes  
In January, the U.S. drone program killed three American citizens in Pakistan, one of them Maryland doctor and al-Qaida hostage Warren Weinstein. After piecing together drone footage and intercepted jihadi communications, U.S. officials concluded that a "signature strike" killed hostages Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian. A signature strike is a drone attack where the CIA doesn't know exactly who is on the ground, yet they take action based on suspicious activity.
          Officially, Barack nObama apologized. "As president and as commander in chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni," he said. "I profoundly regret what happened." But then nObama spokesman Josh Earnest and the CIA undermined the executive's apology by insisting nObama didn't sign off on this particular strike. What a stark contrast to nObama's obnoxious victory laps after Navy SEALs dispatched Osama bin Laden.
          The other two Americans killed in January strikes were al-Qaida jihadists — one of them the first American convicted of treason since World War II. Yet because the strike killed hostages it raises questions about nObama's management of the U.S. drone program itself — his signature counter-terrorism strategy. That said, it's an effective tool that's far more precise than conventional World War II bombing raids or coating Vietnam forests with Agent Orange, though as long as jihadis hide among civilians, avoiding civilian casualties will be difficult. And nObama isn't doing nearly so well at it as he claims. More...  -The Patriot Post  
 Did the IRS Intentionally Provoke Customer Service Woes?  
Remember when federal agencies were ordered to intentionally manipulate the impacts of the government "shutdown" to take political advantage? The Internal Revenue Service is apparently borrowing from the same playbook. Commissioner John Koskinen testified that stringent budget cuts by Congress have hampered the agency's ability to adequately handle certain functions, like customer service. Just recently the Treasury's inspector general found that before March 7 nearly 4 in 10 customers who called into the agency never reached a representative — a drastic spike from the 1-in-10 ratio of a decade ago — and those that did waited an average of 25 minutes. A headline from The Hill described it as "IRS service worse than expected," but a new report suggests the abysmal service was self-inflicted — and potentially strategically implemented.
          Here's how: "While congressional funding for the IRS remained flat from 2014 to 2015, the IRS diverted $134 million away from customer service to other activities," reports John McCormack of The Weekly Standard. "In addition to the $11 billion appropriated by Congress, the IRS takes in more than $400 million in user fees and may allocate that money as it sees fit. In 2014, the IRS allocated $183 million in user fees to its customer service budget, but allocated just $49 million in 2015 — a 76 percent cut." In other words, the agency could have helped more Americans with our complicated tax-filing system but instead diverted funds elsewhere (perhaps toward targeting conservative groups?). At best, it's government inefficiency, and, at worst, the agency is caught in more malfeasance. Considering its track record, forgive us for assuming the latter. More...  -The Patriot Post  
 Parents of Michael Brown File Civil Suit Against Ferguson  
Michael Brown's mother and father won't stop until they see their definition of "justice" carried out. First, a grand jury declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the self-defense shooting death of their son. Then, Eric Holder's race-baiting Department of Justice not only declined to charge Wilson on civil rights violations but vindicated his actions. Still eying the prospect of winning the legal lottery, however, Brown's parents are going to try one more time. They filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the City of Ferguson, former police chief Thomas Jackson and Wilson. The suit seeks $75,000 and changes in the way the city conducts policing, because the Ferguson Police Department "had a custom or policy of negligently hiring and retaining officers, failing to property train and/or supervise officers in the use of deadly force," the suit reads. The lawsuit builds off the DOJ's report, which found the city practiced racial bias, with employees distributing racist jokes by email, for example. There are examples of the Ferguson PD seemingly abusing its power, such as one woman's illegally parked car turning into a six-month legal battle, $1,000 in fines and six days in jail. Abusive systems should certainly be reformed. But how many times must Darren Wilson prove his innocence? More...  -The Patriot Post  
 Rubio, Walker Struggle With Immigration Footing  
Immigration is likely to become a major issue in the 2016 presidential race, which is a good thing because the nation's immigration policies could use some reform. Unfortunately, any attempt at discussing reform will bring bombast, pandering rhetoric and misstatements of the facts. GOP candidates Marco Rubio and Scott Walker have already been caught up in the debate, taking heat from all sides for their recent statements. And the changing positions these two men have held on the issue hasn't done either of them any favors. Right now, the focus is on Barack nObama’s amnesty plan, which thankfully has been stalled in the courts. Given nObama's habit of thumbing his nose at the Constitution and circumventing the law to suit his political needs, we can be sure the matter won't end there. But there is a larger issue at play than just the 12 million illegals being recruited to join Democrat ranks. Recently released U.S. Census figures reveal America is in the midst of an immigration wave unlike any the country has ever experienced. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, "Absent a change in current policy, the Census Bureau projects that in 2023 the nation's immigrant population (legal and illegal) will reach 14.8 percent (51 million) of the total U.S. population — the highest share ever recorded in American history." And by 2060, one in five people in the U.S. will be an immigrant.  -The Patriot Post  
 PRESSURE GROWS ON HILLY FROM LEFT AND RIGHT  
The stakes are getting higher for Hilly Clinton. Liberal outlets and Democratic donors are pressuring her to offer substantive answers to the growing body of evidence against her and her husband and their cash fracking operation. That means she will soon have to meet the press (This time, expect a soft-focus interview with a credible but credulous reporter rather than the horror of her email press conference). While Clinton and her team are rehearsing lines that don’t sound like a deposition but can get past the legal department, a more serious challenge is on the horizon. Katie Couric doesn’t put you under oath. Trey Gowdy does.
          House Speaker backstabber John Boehner said Clinton “violated the law” when she destroyed more than 30,000 emails from her time as secretary of state and that he was open to trying to subpoena her servers. And now, Clinton has been called to testify about her role in the cover-up of the Benghazi attack. She has said in the past that she would cooperate, but recently refused the offer of a closed-door chat. Will she refuse to appear in public? Would she fight a subpoena? The stakes are higher now that allegations of corruption are stacking up. Benghazi leads to questions about her servers and destruction of evidence. The destruction of evidence leads to questions about the new allegations of official misconduct. But does she dare say no?
          The high-stakes legal gambits that have been the hallmark of the Clintons’ decades in Washington are heading into new territory. Whatever else you think about her, at least everyone can agree that Clinton’s candidacy means business for the D.C. defense bar. As to whether voters wish to endure more rounds of legal wrangling and Clinton drama is up to them.  
-Fox News

 
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1.
 Justice with Judge Jeanine  
(foxnews.com) - How do these people get into power positions? Reaction to DEA chief on Capitol Hill...      http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/justice-jeanine/index.html
2.
Image credit: shutterstock.com
 The Third And Final Phase Of Islam  
(Bethany Blankley) - The ultimate goal of Islamic totalitarianism is achieved first by Muslims pretending to be peaceful, then by subjugating and killing all non-Muslims...The third and final phase of Islam involves widespread violence against the non-Muslim world Muhammad called “dar al-harb” (House of War). Under Islamic totalitarianism, world peace, “Dar el- Salam,” is achieved once every country is Shari’a-ruled. The third phase of Islam is evidenced by dramatically increased attacks on non-Muslims, widespread massacres, and ongoing militia warfare when Muslims represent roughly 40 percent of a population. Reaching 60 percent, persecution of non-Muslims becomes constant. At around 80 percent, all non-Muslims are driven out of their homes and country through oppressive and unceasing violence.     http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-third-and-final-phase-of-islam-islam-as-the-civilization-alternative/?utm_source=MailChimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=opinion-articles&utm_campaign=DailyEmail04.25.15
3.
 Ted Cruz Obliterates AG Nominee Loretta Lynch And Rep. Senate   
(Justin Koski) - Early Thursday morning, ahead of the Senate’s vote on President nObama’s nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, ranted about current Attorney General Eric Holder, the likelihood of having Lynch as his successor...and the Republican Senate majority. He argued that as bad as Eric Holder has been as the attorney general, Lynch would be just as bad, if not worse. Cruz, who is running for president, posed a tough question to the Senate: what difference would it make whether Republicans or Democrats dominate the Senate, if someone arguably promising to be just like Holder is nominated by a president like nObama as attorney general?
4.
 The real sources of Bill Clinton's speaking fees  

(Dick Morris) - The Clintons lined their joint bank accounts with millions of dollars from Bill’s speaking fees from foreign governments, government related organizations and multinational corporations...But you won’t see all of the details on Hilly’s mandatory financial reports filed and publicized while she was secretary of state. Was she hiding something from us? Sure looks like it, because Hilly’s financial disclosures routinely omitted the sponsorships of many of Bill’s lucrative speeches. Federal law required her to publicly disclose the “source” of honoraria to Bill, but she apparently interpreted that to mean the entity that wrote the check, not the entity that paid or contributed to it. Both have reported the sources of those lucrative fees -- Bill, voluntarily, and Hilly, as required by law. Hmmm ... Guess what doesn't match.   http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/the-real-sources-of-bill-clintons-speaking-fees/

5.
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 Al Qaeda, jihadist allies declare victory over Syrian regime in key city  
(Thomas Joscelyn) - The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and its allies have declared victory over the Syrian regime in the city of Jisr Al Shughur. The city was considered one of the regime’s last remaining strongholds in the northwestern province of Idlib...Late last month, the jihadists launched a major offensive in the province, sweeping Assad’s forces out of the provincial capital. The battle for Jisr Al Shughur was the next major step in the jihadists’ plan to consolidate their control over the area. Al Nusrah declared “victory” on one of its official Twitter feeds, adding that the city has been “liberated.” Some of the photos posted on the Twitter page show al Qaeda’s fighters in control of the city’s center, the regime’s checkpoints, and a regime-built hospital. Al Nusrah uses another photo, picturing a number of bodies piled on top of one another, to claim that Assad’s forces committed a “massacre” as they fled the city.     
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The black banner of al Qaeda is raised as jihadists celebrate their “victory”:
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The jihadists, pictured in the middle of the city, thank Allah for their success:
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Al Nusrah says that local Muslims are celebrating the “liberation” of Jisr Al Shughur:
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A regime barricade overran by the jihadists:
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Al Nusrah claims these men were massacred by regime forces as they fled the city:
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This photo shows the jihadists clearing the streets of Assad’s “thugs:”
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Al Qaeda’s fighters inside the “national hospital” in the city:
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The next two photos show Al Nusrah fighters ripping up a picture of Assad and burning a Syrian flag:
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6.
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 Muslim Brotherhood Pay-Rolled By Clinton Foundation  
(Denise Simon) - Per the Muslim Brotherhood website: The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is reporting that Gehad El-Haddad, described as “spokesperson of the Muslim Brotherhood”, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 2103 case known as “the media trial”...In August 2013, the GMBDW reported on the arrest of Gehad El-Haddad by Egyptian security forces. At the time, we noted that although we were the first and only Western source known to have reported on El-Haddad’s employment by the Clinton Foundation, mainstream media reports mentioning this employment failed to credit the GMBDW. Gehad El-Haddad, the the son of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Haddad, was a Senior Adviser on Foreign Affairs to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood ‘s Freedom and Justice Party, a position he held since May 2011. His resume also says that he was is a Senior Adviser & Media Spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood as well as a Steering Committee Member of the Brotherhood’s Renaissance (Nahda) Project. Mr Haddad was also the Media Strategist & Official Spokesperson for the presidential campaign of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Gehad El-Haddad’s resume reports that he was the City Director for the William J. Clinton Foundation from August 2007 – August 2012. Among his duties at the Foundation were representing the Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative in Egypt, setting up the foundation’s office in Egypt and managed official registration, and identifying and developing program-based projects & delivery work plans.     http://noisyroom.net/blog/2015/04/24/muslim-brotherhood-pay-rolled-by-clinton-foundation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Noisyroomnet+%28NoisyRoom.net%29
7.
iran obama
 Iran: nObama’s Fatal, Final Mistake  
(leanrightamerica.org) - When it’s all said and done, presidential historians and political pundits will have plenty to chew on when it comes to the two terms of Barack nObama. It’s hard to imagine many writers of even token objectivity regarding this presidency as a success, but even if they shine the best possible light on the economy, immigration, and nObamacare, they are going to have a tougher time with Iran...The nuclear deal this administration has struck with the Islamic Republic may go down as nObama’s defining moment. And it could well condemn him to Worst President Ever status. That is, if any of us are around to write about it. Because while nObamacare is a destructive force on American freedom and the open market and illegal immigration undermines the rule of law and damages the economy, the Iranian nuclear deal could invite an even doomier future. Already, it is obvious that the parties left the negotiations table with much different ideas of what they had in their hands. nObama is claiming rigorous inspections and a gradual phaseout on sanctions; Iran is claiming that there really is no deal at all and even if there was, the sanctions would be lifted right away. They have also declared that any inspections that would infringe on their security are out of the question, meaning their military sites would be off-limits.     http://www.leanrightamerica.org/uncategorized/iran-obamas-fatal-final-mistake/
8.
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 Russian Hackers Read nObama’s Unclassified Emails, Officials Say  
(Michael S. Schmidt and David E. Sanger) - Some of President nObama’s email correspondence was swept up by Russian hackers last year in a breach of the White House’s unclassified computer system that was far more intrusive and worrisome than has been publicly acknowledged, according to senior American officials briefed on the investigation...The hackers, who also got deeply into the State Department’s unclassified system, do not appear to have penetrated closely guarded servers that control the message traffic from Mr. nObama’s BlackBerry, which he or an aide carries constantly. But they obtained access to the email archives of people inside the White House, and perhaps some outside, with whom Mr. nObama regularly communicated. From those accounts, they reached emails that the president had sent and received, according to officials briefed on the investigation.     http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/us/russian-hackers-read-obamas-unclassified-emails-officials-say.html?_r=0
9.
 Officials: FBI probes possible ISIS-inspired threat  
(Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz) - The FBI is investigating a possible ISIS-inspired terrorist threat in the United States, law enforcement officials said Saturday...The investigation originated from intercepted chatter and other intelligence information that led officials to believe a possible plot could be in the works, the officials said. No arrests have been made. It's not clear whether the threat is real or aspirational. The exact nature of the threat couldn't be learned. One official said it focused on parts of California where officials stepped up security, a U.S. official said.     http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/25/us/possible-isis-inspired-threat/index.html?utm_source=Liberty_Headlines_Is_Giving_Your_Site_Free_Traffic_for_Now&AID=7236
Watch the video at the site above.
10.
The Yavari Valley rainforest, Peru
 Top scientists start to examine fiddled global warming figures  
(Christopher Booker) - Last month, we are told, the world enjoyed “its hottest March since records began in 1880”. This year, according to “US government scientists”, already bids to outrank 2014 as “the hottest ever”...The figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were based, like all the other three official surface temperature records on which the world’s scientists and politicians rely, on data compiled from a network of weather stations by NOAA’s Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN). But here there is a puzzle. These temperature records are not the only ones with official status. The other two, Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama (UAH), are based on a quite different method of measuring temperature data, by satellites. And these, as they have increasingly done in recent years, give a strikingly different picture. Neither shows last month as anything like the hottest March on record, any more than they showed 2014 as “the hottest year ever” Back in January and February, two items in this column attracted more than 42,000 comments to the Telegraph website from all over the world. The provocative headings given to them were “Climategate the sequel: how we are still being tricked by flawed data on global warming” and “The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest scientific scandal”.    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11561629/Top-scientists-start-to-examine-fiddled-global-warming-figures.html?utm_source=Liberty_Headlines_Is_Giving_Your_Site_Free_Traffic_for_Now&AID=7236

 
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Hilly’s Ungainly Glide
Peggy Noonan
     (peggynoonan.com) - I’m off the next two weeks finishing a book, and I can already tell you this is a terrible time to be away from the scene. Hilly Clinton’s announcement followed by her dark-windowed SUV journey into deepest darkest America was the most inept, phony, shallow, slickily-slick and meaningless launch of a presidential candidacy I have ever seen. We have come to quite a pass when the Clintons can’t even do the show business of politics well. The whole extravaganza has the look of profound incompetence and disorganization—no one could have been thinking this through—or profound cynicism, or both. It has yielded only one good thing, and that is a memorable line, as Mrs. Clinton glided by reporters: “We do have a plan. We have a plan for my plan.” That is how the Washington Post quoted her, on ideas on campaign finance reform.

     Marco Rubio had a pretty great announcement in that it made the political class look at him in a new way, and a better way. I have heard him talk about his father the bartender I suppose half a dozen times, yet hearing it again in his announcement moved me. I don’t know how that happened. backstabber John Boehner is the son of a barkeep. It has occurred to me a lot recently that many if not most of the people I see in the highest reaches of American life now come from relatively modest circumstances. Rubio is right that this is our glory, but I’m thinking one of the greatest things about America is a larger point: There’s room for everybody. You can rise if you come from one of the most established, wealthiest families, and you can rise if you came from nothing. I have promised myself I will stop talking about the musical “Hamilton” and so will not note that this is one of the points made in the musical “Hamilton”: America was special in this regard from the beginning, with landed gentry like Jefferson and Washington working side by side with those such as the modestly born Ben Franklin and the lowborn Alexander Hamilton. But now it is more so. Anyway, back to Rubio: “Yesterday’s over” was good, and strict, and was a two shot applying as much to the Clintons as the Bushes.
Two points on the general feel of the 2016 campaign so far.

     One is that in the case of Mrs. Clinton we are going to see the press act either like the press of a great nation—hungry, raucous, alive, demanding—or like a hopelessly sickened organism, a big flailing octopus with no strength in its arms, lying like a greasy blob at the bottom of the sea, dying of ideology poisoning.

     Republicans know—they see it every day—that Republican candidates get grilled, sometimes impertinently, and pressed, sometimes brusquely. And it isn’t true that they’re only questioned in this way once they announce, Scott Walker has been treated like this also, and he has yet to announce. Republicans see this, and then they see that Mrs. Clinton isn’t grilled, is never forced to submit to anyone’s morning-show impertinence, is never the object of the snotty question or the sharp demand for information. She gets the glide. She waves at the crowds and the press and glides by. No one pushes. No one shouts the rude question or rolls out the carefully scripted set of studio inquiries meant to make the candidate squirm. She is treated like the queen of England, who also isn’t subjected to impertinent questions as she glides into and out of venues. But she is the queen. We are not supposed to have queens.

     Second point: We have simply never had a dynamic like the one that seems likely to prevail next year.

     On the Republican side there is a good deep bench and there will be a hell of a fight among serious and estimable contenders. A handful of them—Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Rubio, maybe Bobby Jindal—are first-rate debaters, sharp advancers of a thought and a direction. Their debates, their campaigning, their opp geniuses, their negative ads—it’s all going to be bloody. Will the American people look at them in 2016 and see dynamism and excitement and youth and actual ideas and serious debate? Will it look like that’s where the lightning’s striking and the words have meaning? Will it fortify and revivify the Republican brand? Or will it all look like mayhem and chaos? Will the eventual winner emerge a year from now too bloodied, too damaged to go on a
nd win in November? Will the party itself look bloody and damaged?

     On the Democratic side we have Mrs. Clinton, gliding. If she has no serious competition, will the singularity of her situation make her look stable, worthy of reflexive respect, accomplished, serene, the obvious superior choice? Or will Hilly alone on the stage, or the couch, or in the tinted-window SUV, look entitled, presumptuous, old, boring, imperious, yesterday?

Will it all come down to bloody versus boring?

And which would America prefer?
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