The Front Page Cover
2016 The turth is the gold of today
Featuring:
The GOP Establishment’s Civil War
Peggy Noonan.
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Clinton Campaign Flounders Ahead of Iowa Caucus
Getting Hilly Clinton elected is a family (crime) business, but one that's facing a bear market. Her lead in the polls has shrunk to only 8.6 percentage points ahead of Bernie Sanders — the narrowest gap in the campaign so far. Clinton is running an uneven racetrack. Of course an avowed socialist named Sanders is making headway, because a socialist named Barack nObama has paved the way and the party can't tell the difference between Democrat and socialist.
This is terrible news for the Clinton campaign 15 days ahead of the Iowa caucus, as Clinton's lead is shrinking faster than it did in 2008. In what appeared to be a last ditch effort to reach out to younger voters, the Clinton campaign sent Chelsea Clinton to attack Sanders' health care policy in New Hampshire Tuesday, saying it would destroy nObamaCare, and thus take away health insurance from millions. (She didn't mention he would replace it with a single-payer system.) Chelsea is the figure Clinton has used to soften her image, to highlight her maternal side, to mitigate the fact that she fought for her husband's reputation after women accused him of sexual assault — a fact that has come back to hurt Hilly because today's society is more likely to believe women who speak up.
But this race isn't for Sanders or Clinton — with the baggage of the email scandal and dealings through her nonprofit — to decide. "The person who will decide the nomination on the democratic side is FBI Director James Comey," said commentator Charles Krauthammer. "If he decides to do a criminal referral [on Clinton], I think she can collapse — either it's quashed and then there's a huge scandal, or there's an indictment, in which case, [Joe] loose lips-Biden steps forward and he offers himself, self-sacrificially." Don't count out Elizabeth Warren, either. While many of the deadlines have passed to get loose lips-Biden's or Warren's name on the primary ballots in key states, Democrats could make the unusual move of running a brokered convention months later, replacing their inevitable candidate with a savior. -The Patriot Post
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Archbishops Rebuke Episcopal Church
The Archbishops of the World Anglican Communion convened in Canterbury, England, this week, and in a grave decision regarding the future of the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA), directed Archbishop Justin Welby to relegate of the American church to "observer" status. The move, which prevents Episcopal leaders from any role regarding "issues of doctrine or polity," has been anticipated for some years. The Episcopal Church was organized after the American Revolution and George Washington was an early communicant. But, as with the erosion of many other bedrock institutions by America's elite, ECUSA's current leaders have discarded the Church's biblical foundation.
In 2003, the "enlightened" U.S. bishops rebuffed the 85-million member World Anglican Communion, and codified their rejection of scriptural authority by ordaining Vicky Imogene Robinson, a divorced father of two, as the first openly homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire. Since then, ECUSA's Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori (the first female archbishop in apostolic Christian history), has embraced a broad slate of statist positions in opposition to the basic tenets of the church. She has decreed that "gay marriage" has equal in standing with biblical marriage, in clear opposition to Jesus's teaching on marriage, and the tradition and reason pillars of the church. She has further offended Christians by affirming a "nuanced approach" on killing unborn children — a "do as you please" approach. As a result, there are now fewer than 650,000 church attendees in the U.S. — and that number continues to decline. ECUSA leaders have done with the Bible what their fellow leftists have done with our Constitution. The ECUSA suspension is, in effect, one step short of expulsion, isolating the apostate U.S. Church so that its wealth and corrupting influence can't further diminish the biblical foundations of the World Church.
For further reading, see Mark Alexander's essay "Gender Identity, The Homosexual Agenda and The Christian Response."
-The Patriot Post
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Fleecing Taxpayers for Sport
An overwhelming vote by NFL owners Tuesday means the St. Louis Rams will return to Los Angeles for the 2016 season after having spent 21 years by the Mighty Mississippi. St. Louis sportswriter Bernie Miklasz summed up the situation well, saying the "NFL is guilty of a personal foul." Miklasz's recap of the sordid details is well worth reading, even for those uninterested in the Rams themselves or football in general. Focused as we are on promoting Liberty and free enterprise, we consider the fleecing of taxpayers to be the essence of this story.
Taxpayers put up $280 million to largely finance the building of the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis two decades ago. Inexplicably, St. Louis included an opt-out clause so the Rams could leave if they no longer liked the stadium. Surprise — the team exercised its option. Now, without the Rams' presence and their $500,000 annual rent, the remaining $100 million bill becomes all the more difficult to pay off. Indeed, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is working on legislation to require franchises to pay back taxpayer money if they leave town "prematurely." The problem, however, is that cities are willing to put taxpayer money on the line for these stadium boondoggles in the first place. St. Louis taxpayers are in a bad spot, but their own politicians put them in this predicament — as do politicians in cities around the country when handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to billionaire sports owners. And McCaskill sure didn't seem to mind the city's offer of yet another $400 million to partially finance a brand new stadium for the Rams to replace the one not even as old as the team's youngest player. (And you thought players had short careers.)
In the end, the Rams brought one Super Bowl title to the Gateway City, but they also brought 16 years of losing (and often downright lousy) football, as well as the politically charged Michael Sam draft debacle and the notoriously non-factual "hands up, don't shoot" player protest in the wake of the Ferguson shooting. And the city is still on the hook for $100 million now that the party's over. Maybe LA shouldn't be so quick to celebrate the NFL's return. -The Patriot Post
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Prisoner swap had ties to nuclear
deal but a 'one-time' situation
foxnews
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{foxnews.com} ~ The White House acknowledged Saturday that the prisoner exchange with Iran that included Washington Post reporter Jason Razaian was connected to the international nuclear deal with Tehran but that it was also was just a “one-time-only” situation that will not open the door to prisoner swapping between the rival nations... As Secretary of State John hanoi-Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently concluded the nuclear talks, they also “recognized a unique opportunity … for release of those citizens,” a senior nObama administration official said on a conference call with reporters. “This is one-time-only type of arrangement. We don't anticipate replicated in the future, but if the window opened up we’d wanted to take advantage of it,” the official also said..
nObama grants 'refugee' status
to new wave of migrants
LEO HOHMANN.
{wnd.com} ~ The number of Central American migrants crossing illegally into the United States through the Southern border has grown exponentially under the nObama administration.... More than 130,000 came in 2014 alone, most of them welcomed by sanctuary cities and then protected from deportation by President nObama’s executive actions. The legality of those actions remains unsettled and appears headed to the Supreme Court. But now President nObama has invented a new way to continue the influx of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and do it in a way that is deemed “legal.” He will simply re-categorize them as “refugees.” It's going to be an ugly last year. http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/obama-grants-refugee-status-to-new-wave-of-migrants/
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nObama Administration stonewalling
investigation into 113 terrorists inside US
Adam Kredo
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{freebeacon.com} ~ Leading senators on Monday petitioned multiple nObama administration agencies to stop stonewalling a congressional investigation into the immigration histories of at least 113 foreign-born individuals implicated in terrorist operations after legally entering the United States, according to a copy of the letters... The latest investigation comes just days after the Washington Free Beacon disclosed that an additional 41 foreign-born individuals who legally entered the United States had been arrested for planning a number of terror attacks. Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) disclosed Monday that they had been pressuring the nObama administration for months to disclose the immigration histories of these foreign-born individuals implicated in terror plots. Agencies including the Departments of State and Homeland Security have stonewalled these efforts, declining since mid-2015 to provide Congress additional information. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-admin-stonewalling-investigation-113-terrorists-united-states/.
Stunning Truth Behind the Capture of
Our U.S. Sailors by Iran
S. Noble
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What the US Government Won’t
Tell You About the Prisoner Swap With Iran
S. Noble
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10,000 Fighters Now in Hilly’s Libya
S. Noble
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As deal kicks in, PM credits
Israel with deferring Iran nukes
TAMAR PILEGGI.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, on January 17, 2016.
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{timesofisrael.com} ~ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israeli efforts had put a nuclear bomb out of Iran’s reach for the time being... a day after the implementation of the landmark accord and the removal of sanctions from the Islamic Republic was announced. “If it weren’t for our efforts leading the way in enforcing the sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, Iran would have had a nuclear weapon long ago,” the prime minister said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “Israel’s position is, and remains exactly as it has always been — to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. What’s clear is that Iran will now turn its resources toward its terrorist activity in the region and rest of the world, and Israel is prepared to handle that threat,” he said..
The roots of Black Lives Matter unveiled
James Simpson
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What Saul Alinsky Taught nObama...
Rick Wells.
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John hanoi-Kerry – Iran Deal
Makes The World Safer For One Day
Rick Wells.
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The GOP Establishment’s Civil War
Peggy Noonan.
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It is still true that the party has never had a year like this, with the ground shifting beneath its feet. It’s hard to see this clearly because on the surface the things you expect to see happening are happening.
It is still true that the party has never had a year like this, with the ground shifting beneath its feet. It’s hard to see this clearly because on the surface the things you expect to see happening are happening.
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The candidates are starting to throw hard punches. They’re all trying to show they can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee—a necessary talent if you make it to the general election. No point in hand-wringing or telling them to stop on the grounds that what they’re doing will produce, for the Democrats, a badly bloodied GOP nominee.
The candidates are starting to throw hard punches. They’re all trying to show they can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee—a necessary talent if you make it to the general election. No point in hand-wringing or telling them to stop on the grounds that what they’re doing will produce, for the Democrats, a badly bloodied GOP nominee.
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Best and worst have come from Chris Christie, who has a way of keeping things lively. Earlier he counseled his fellow contenders not to savage each other—don’t waste your ammo, keep your eyes on the prize. Good advice. This week Marco Rubio’s PAC unloaded a spot slamming Mr. Christie on the old charge he embraced President nObama during Hurricane Sandy. The governor answered Wednesday on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. He called Mr. Rubio “a first-term United States senator who has never had a tough race.” He continued: “This guy’s been spoon-fed every victory he’s ever had in his life. That’s the kind of person that we want to put on stage against Hilly Clinton? I don’t think so. She’ll pat him on the head and then cut his heart out.” It was wonderfully colorful and malicious and reminded me of Sen. Bob Kerrey, who said of Bill Clinton in 1992 that he wouldn’t win in November because he hadn’t served in Vietnam: “He’s going to get opened up like a soft peanut.”
Best and worst have come from Chris Christie, who has a way of keeping things lively. Earlier he counseled his fellow contenders not to savage each other—don’t waste your ammo, keep your eyes on the prize. Good advice. This week Marco Rubio’s PAC unloaded a spot slamming Mr. Christie on the old charge he embraced President nObama during Hurricane Sandy. The governor answered Wednesday on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. He called Mr. Rubio “a first-term United States senator who has never had a tough race.” He continued: “This guy’s been spoon-fed every victory he’s ever had in his life. That’s the kind of person that we want to put on stage against Hilly Clinton? I don’t think so. She’ll pat him on the head and then cut his heart out.” It was wonderfully colorful and malicious and reminded me of Sen. Bob Kerrey, who said of Bill Clinton in 1992 that he wouldn’t win in November because he hadn’t served in Vietnam: “He’s going to get opened up like a soft peanut.”
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Democratic presidential primaries in those days were fierce. They’re not anymore, because the new Democratic Party, the one of the progressive left, has only a single unifying principle: winning. Hilly Clinton’s opponents haven’t laid a glove on her, and won’t.
Democratic presidential primaries in those days were fierce. They’re not anymore, because the new Democratic Party, the one of the progressive left, has only a single unifying principle: winning. Hilly Clinton’s opponents haven’t laid a glove on her, and won’t.
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Mr. Rubio has turned stern and indignant, as if he’s decided the base is angry so he’ll enact anger too. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, he darkly alleges, are “isolationist candidates” whose intent is “weakening our military and intelligence capabilities.” Mr. Paul responded by comparing Mr. Rubio to Rahm Emanuel.
Mr. Rubio has turned stern and indignant, as if he’s decided the base is angry so he’ll enact anger too. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, he darkly alleges, are “isolationist candidates” whose intent is “weakening our military and intelligence capabilities.” Mr. Paul responded by comparing Mr. Rubio to Rahm Emanuel.
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More touchingly, Jeb Bush again warned the base about Donald Trump. “It’s very fun to talk about the theatrics,” he said on “Morning Joe.” Mr. Trump has tapped into “angst and anger,” but “his views are not the views of a conservative.”
More touchingly, Jeb Bush again warned the base about Donald Trump. “It’s very fun to talk about the theatrics,” he said on “Morning Joe.” Mr. Trump has tapped into “angst and anger,” but “his views are not the views of a conservative.”
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Mr. Trump’s supporters don’t care if he’s classically conservative. Doctrinal purity is not the story this year. The GOP base is a big jumble.
Mr. Trump’s supporters don’t care if he’s classically conservative. Doctrinal purity is not the story this year. The GOP base is a big jumble.
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Democrats are likely less unified than they think. On the rightward and leftward edges of both parties they hate political correctness, illegal immigration, Wall Street.
Democrats are likely less unified than they think. On the rightward and leftward edges of both parties they hate political correctness, illegal immigration, Wall Street.
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A new playbook is emerging while some contenders seem to be reading from the old playbook and wondering why the plays they’re calling aren’t working.
A new playbook is emerging while some contenders seem to be reading from the old playbook and wondering why the plays they’re calling aren’t working.
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And the GOP is struggling. In Virginia the state Republican Party wants a so-called loyalty oath in the March 1 presidential primary. Virginia is an open-primary state—any registered voter can vote in either primary—but the GOP apparently wants to discourage independents and Democrats from voting for Mr. Trump. So they’ve decided voters should sign a statement of affiliation with the GOP before they get to cast a ballot. This is so idiotic it’s almost unbelievable. When Democrats and independents want to vote in your primary you should be happy. Politics is a game of addition! You want headlines that say “Massive GOP Turnout.” You don’t greet first-time voters with an oath but with cookies, ginger ale and balloons. Ronald Reagan reached out to Democrats in 1984: “Come too, come walk with me.” We still speak of Reagan Democrats.
And the GOP is struggling. In Virginia the state Republican Party wants a so-called loyalty oath in the March 1 presidential primary. Virginia is an open-primary state—any registered voter can vote in either primary—but the GOP apparently wants to discourage independents and Democrats from voting for Mr. Trump. So they’ve decided voters should sign a statement of affiliation with the GOP before they get to cast a ballot. This is so idiotic it’s almost unbelievable. When Democrats and independents want to vote in your primary you should be happy. Politics is a game of addition! You want headlines that say “Massive GOP Turnout.” You don’t greet first-time voters with an oath but with cookies, ginger ale and balloons. Ronald Reagan reached out to Democrats in 1984: “Come too, come walk with me.” We still speak of Reagan Democrats.
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I do not understand the inability or refusal of Republican leaders to take Mr. Trump seriously. They take his numbers seriously—they can read a poll—but they think, as Mr. Bush said, that his support is all about anger, angst and theatrics. That’s part of the story, but the other, more consequential part has to do with real policy issues. The establishment refuses to see that, because to admit it is to implicate themselves and their leadership. Political consultants can’t see it because they don’t think issues matter—not to them and certainly not to the dumb voters.
I do not understand the inability or refusal of Republican leaders to take Mr. Trump seriously. They take his numbers seriously—they can read a poll—but they think, as Mr. Bush said, that his support is all about anger, angst and theatrics. That’s part of the story, but the other, more consequential part has to do with real policy issues. The establishment refuses to see that, because to admit it is to implicate themselves and their leadership. Political consultants can’t see it because they don’t think issues matter—not to them and certainly not to the dumb voters.
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But issues do matter, and Mr. Trump has functioned this year not as a great communicator or great compromiser but as the great disrupter. He brags that he has brought up great questions and forced other candidates to face them and sometimes change their stands—and he has. He changed the debate on illegal immigration. He said he’d build a wall and close the border and as the months passed and his competitors saw his surge, they too were suddenly, clearly, aggressively for ending illegal immigration.
But issues do matter, and Mr. Trump has functioned this year not as a great communicator or great compromiser but as the great disrupter. He brags that he has brought up great questions and forced other candidates to face them and sometimes change their stands—and he has. He changed the debate on illegal immigration. He said he’d build a wall and close the border and as the months passed and his competitors saw his surge, they too were suddenly, clearly, aggressively for ending illegal immigration.
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Mr. Trump touched an important nerve in opposing the political correctness that has angered the American people for a quarter century. He changed the debate when he asked for a pause in Muslim immigration until America “can figure out what’s going on.” In the age of terror, that looked suspiciously like common sense. Americans do not want America to become what Europe is becoming.
Mr. Trump touched an important nerve in opposing the political correctness that has angered the American people for a quarter century. He changed the debate when he asked for a pause in Muslim immigration until America “can figure out what’s going on.” In the age of terror, that looked suspiciously like common sense. Americans do not want America to become what Europe is becoming.
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You only have to look at what is reported to have happened in Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve to get a sense that Europe’s establishment, with its politically correct thinking, is losing control. Angela Merkel is a great lady and most of her leadership has been sound as a drum, but she will probably lose her job eventually because of her epic miscalculation in accepting more than a million Middle Eastern refugees.
You only have to look at what is reported to have happened in Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve to get a sense that Europe’s establishment, with its politically correct thinking, is losing control. Angela Merkel is a great lady and most of her leadership has been sound as a drum, but she will probably lose her job eventually because of her epic miscalculation in accepting more than a million Middle Eastern refugees.
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Her decision was no doubt driven by heart and sympathy, but it reminds me of the fall of Margaret Thatcher. In 1989 Thatcher moved to impose a change in the British tax system. This caused resentment and then unrest. She wouldn’t back down, and the next year she fell. Years later she told me what she’d learned. People are afraid, she said; they live closer to the margins than we understand. When you propose a big change you can leave people feeling as if the rug is being pulled from under them. That’s a big thing to learn, and she spoke of it with humility.
Her decision was no doubt driven by heart and sympathy, but it reminds me of the fall of Margaret Thatcher. In 1989 Thatcher moved to impose a change in the British tax system. This caused resentment and then unrest. She wouldn’t back down, and the next year she fell. Years later she told me what she’d learned. People are afraid, she said; they live closer to the margins than we understand. When you propose a big change you can leave people feeling as if the rug is being pulled from under them. That’s a big thing to learn, and she spoke of it with humility.
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She lost her job by being too tough. Ms. Merkel has imperiled hers by being too soft. But the lesson is the same: know how close to the edge people feel, how powerless, and respect their anxiety. Don’t look down on it, and them.
She lost her job by being too tough. Ms. Merkel has imperiled hers by being too soft. But the lesson is the same: know how close to the edge people feel, how powerless, and respect their anxiety. Don’t look down on it, and them.
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Back to the Republicans. It reflects badly on the party that Donald Trump—whom one journalist this week characterized as a guy running around with his hair on fire—had to become the party’s 2016 thought leader.
Back to the Republicans. It reflects badly on the party that Donald Trump—whom one journalist this week characterized as a guy running around with his hair on fire—had to become the party’s 2016 thought leader.
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Bernie Sanders has, in a way, had the wit to see this, which is why he said he is reaching out to Trump supporters.
Bernie Sanders has, in a way, had the wit to see this, which is why he said he is reaching out to Trump supporters.
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