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POLITICS

Ted Cruz’s Surge is Real: Now Leads in California By Michael van der Galien

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz not only leads in Iowa, but also in California:

A new Field Poll in California finds Ted Cruz has surged ahead of his GOP presidential rivals with 25%, followed by Donald Trump at 23%, Marco Rubio at 13%, Ben Carson at 9%, Rand Paul at 6%, and Jeb Bush at 4%.

And that isn’t the only good news in this poll for Cruz. It also shows that he’s now twice as likely to be GOP voters’ second choice. This means that he will continue to surge if (or when) some of his rivals get out of the race, which they’ll undoubtedly do once they lose (big-time) in Iowa.

Cruz’s surge comes despite relentless attacks from his rivals for the Republican nomination and establishment-friendly columnists like the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin.

And that proves that 2016 will be different from other years. Until this election season, negative attacks from establishmentarians against real conservatives were always successful, which is how moderates like John McCain and Mitt Romney ended up being the Republican nominee. Not anymore. The establishment tried to take out Donald Trump, which only resulted in him rising in the polls. Now they’re going after Cruz, and the results are the same. He’s stronger than ever before and actually seems to be relishing the attacks.

Marco Rubio, a Senator, Decries Congress’s Impotence and Inaction, Calls for Term Limits By Reid J. Epstein

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – To hear Marco Rubio talk, Congress is an impotent branch of government that needs a full-scale overhaul – and that’s exactly why he’s running for president.

Federal legislators, in Mr. Rubio’s description, are peripheral figures in Washington, people who can have some impact on policy but are not in a position to set it.

“While I’m a senator I can help shape the agenda — only the president can set the agenda,” the Florida senator said to a woman here who asked him during a town hall meeting how she can defend his record of missing Senate votes to her friends. “We’re not going fix America with senators and congressmen. The only way to turn this around is to reverse the damage this president has done to the United States of America.”
Of course, Mr. Rubio’s meager Senate attendance record has been a point of conflict in the Republican presidential primary for months. Rival Jeb Bush criticized him about it during an October debate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie brought it up in New Hampshire.

Mr. Rubio, who is forgoing a bid for a second Senate term in order to run for president, also endorsed constitutional amendments to instate term limits for federal legislators and judges. But congressmen, he said, will never agree to limit their own tenure.

Iran Thumbs Its Nose at America and Obama Does Nothing By Marco Rubio

Last week, the White House hailed Iran for shipping most of its low-enriched uranium stockpile to Russia. Secretary of State John Kerry called it “one of the most significant steps Iran has taken” under the nuclear deal signed this past summer. But the real news happened several days earlier: Even as the administration heaped praise on the mullahs in Tehran, Iranian Revolutionary Guard ships fired unguided rockets near a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz.

This provocation is just the latest in a series of dangerous acts committed by Iran that belie President Obama’s rosy promises of putting pressure on Iran for its aggressive actions. As the so-called “Implementation Day” of Obama’s flawed agreement approaches — and the president prepares to give the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief — it’s important to take stock of Iran’s behavior so far.

Among other things, the deal has greatly harmed relations between the United States and its traditional allies in the Middle East, Israel first and foremost. It has also emboldened Iran, which will receive important financial assistance to fund its regional aggression in places like Yemen, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Syria. In recent days, Iran even allowed the Saudi embassy in Tehran to be ransacked, leading Saudi Arabia to rightfully sever diplomatic relations with Iran.

Time to investigate the Clintons for violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act By Jan Sokolovsky

Now that Hillary Clinton has openly declared that Bill Clinton will be part of her campaign, it is time for the FBI to investigate the Clinton Foundation, of which Bill is the founder, for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (22 USC 611 et seq).

Since 2008, according to numerous reliable reports, the Clinton Foundation has received hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions from as many as 19 foreign countries and many significant foreign corporations. These include Algeria, Australia, Brunei, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Taiwan, and the UAE. During the same period, former President Bill Clinton has personally received millions in speaking fees from a number of these same nations and corporations.

Common sense and an examination of the record indicate that there was no altruistic explanation for these contributions and fees. On the contrary, these foreign donors were involved in projects or activities that could have benefited politically or commercially from favorable policy decisions by the secretary of state, or from the Clintons’ global contacts. Therefore, the Foundation and the Clintons individually should be investigated for violating the Federal Agents Registration Act (FARA) for failing to register as agents of those foreign governments and failing to fully disclose these payments.

What the Hillary emails tell us about her state of mind By Thomas Lifson

Buried in the thousands of Hillary Clinton emails so far released is a fascinating and significant insight to her mind, something so far apparently noticed only by Geoff Earle of the New York Post. She has surrounded herself with courtiers who take every opportunity to compliment her on her looks:

When a photo of Clinton on her Blackberry started lighting up the Internet in April 2012, an aide forwarded it to Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills under the subject line, “Photo gone viral!”

Mills passed it along to Clinton, who wanted to know why it was so popular.

“You look cute,” responded Mills.

The photo in question is this one:

Now cuteness, like beauty, may be in the eye of the beholder, but this photo looks sinister. The sunglasses, the black outfit, and the lie Hillary uttered about wanting to use only one device being the reason for her home-brew email server were the reasons this photo was passed around.

Did Hillary really believe her toadies? Apparently, yes, because this sort of ass-kissing was far from rare:

Jihad, Trump, and the Lessons of Churchill By James Lewis

“Donald Trump may be a figure of fun for the U.S. political class, but his message is Winston Churchill’s, and the danger he warns about is just as real. Trump is the only person in recent memory who can pierce the wall of lies put up by the cartel media – which is deeply infiltrated by jihadist money and propaganda. Trump may look like a pop culture icon, but in fact he may signal a major turning point in the jihad war.”
In 1940, on the eve of World War 2, when the English Parliament finally grasped the full disaster of appeasement, those were the words M.P. Leon Avery spoke to Neville Chamberlain. The full quote, from Oliver Cromwell, is:

“Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

A crucial moment came in 1940, before general war broke out, when the British establishment finally saw through its own years of wishful denial. Hitler used those years to build overwhelming arms superiority, threatening and invading one country after another, spreading terror and fear through Europe while promising peace, peace, and more peace. After the “Norway debate” of 1940, Neville Chamberlain took public responsibility for his failures and resigned. Churchill was quickly asked to form the next government. He was ready, and the political establishment finally flipped on the very edge of disaster.

The Clash Was Mrs. Clinton right about Trump and terror recruitment?By James Taranto

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is claiming vindication—albeit in a passive-aggressive way. The inevitable Democratic presidential nominee’s press secretary, Brian Fallon, retweeted a New Year’s Day tweet from Steven Greenhouse, a recently retired New York Times reporter: “Whoops, Donald, Hillary Turns Out to be Right—Your Rant Against Muslims Shows Up On New Terror Recruitment Video,” a headline from a left-liberal blog called Addicting Info.

Trump responded yesterday: “Hillary Clinton lied last week [sic] when she said ISIS made a D.T. video. The video that ISIS made was about her husband being a degenerate.” Followed by this: “Al-Shabbab [sic], not ISIS, just made a video on me—they all will as front-runner & if I speak out against them, which I must. Hillary lied!” (In fact, Mrs. Clinton made her assertion in a Dec. 19 debate, and al Shabaab is transliterated with one “b” and usually a double “a.”)

Was Mrs. Clinton right? One might charitably speculate that naming the wrong terrorist group was the product of honest confusion. But she framed her assertion not as a prediction but a statement of fact: “They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.” That was false at the time she said it. Was it prescient? Maybe, but if one recasts the statement as a prophecy, it could very well have been a self-fulfilling one. That is, it’s quite possible al Shabaab got the idea from her.

Blogger Tom Maguire observes of another Trump response:

He might want to Trump that up a bit. He might say something like “I’m calling it like I see it and trying to be straight with the American people. If other politicians are picking and choosing their words to stay out of terror videos, well, people can judge their candor for themselves.”

Bill Clinton—the Big Dog—Gets Fixed It was a ‘subdued’ former president who turned out for Hillary in New Hampshire this week. By William McGurn

It was a muted Bill Clinton who stumped for his wife in New Hampshire on Monday.

Only a few weeks back, Mr. Clinton was thought to be Hillary Clinton’s “secret weapon.” Well, he has just made his first two appearances of the 2016 campaign—and the Associated Press describes him as “subdued,” while the New York Times says he “seemed to be on a tight leash.”

Not to mention how adrift he looked when a reporter asked him about Donald Trump’s slams about his treatment of women.

It’s not the first time the Big Dog has been fixed. Back during Mrs. Clinton’s first run for the Democratic nomination, her husband was stung by accusations of racism after he seemed to diminish Barack Obama’s landslide victory in the 2008 South Carolina primary by pointing out that Jesse Jackson had won that primary before. Mr. Clinton would later complain the Obama team had “played the race card” on him.

Now it’s Mr. Trump who’s spoiling the primary season. After Mrs. Clinton accused The Donald of sexism, he responded as he always does: He escalated. If Mrs. Clinton was going down that route, he said, he was going to bring up all the female skeletons in her husband’s closet.

Mr. Trump has been at it ever since. “I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about women’s issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite he is and how Hillary abused those women,” he tweeted on Saturday.

The Month That Was December 2015

We ended the year with the good ship ‘United States’ rudder-less, in a threatening sea and captained by an imperious and aloof President – an Ahab fixated on his dislike for America’s imperious past and determined to amend it in his own image. Prospects for the upcoming Presidential election, at least given the two individuals who lead their respective Party’s polls, are dispiriting. On the one hand we have a megalomaniac, a man who approaches politics as though he were hosting a fantasized-reality TV show. His narcissism exceeds his respect for his fellow man. On the other, we have an arrogant and supercilious woman who feels the crown is her due – a consummate liar who measured her success as Secretary of State, not in terms of bringing peace to the world’s hot-spots or in treaties enacted but by miles flown and countries visited. While the present is daunting, the future – unless our choices are different – scares the bejezus out of anyone who loves their Country, has knowledge of its history and is endowed with common sense.

Sadly, we have reached a point where Lincoln’s depiction of the United States seems no longer to apply. We have become a “government of the elite, by the elite, for the elite.” The “people,” apart from their votes and their money, are no longer relevant. Washington politicians are a class unto themselves, with mainstream media as their PR department. We listen to President Obama talk of fairness, of wealth and income inequality; yet the divergence has grown sharper during the past seven years. We listen to Mrs. Clinton claim she speaks for the “little” people, while subverting the system to her own financial benefit. Donald Trump is adored by what was once termed the “silent” majority – those who believe that the Country they see is not the one they knew. Yet they ignore his past crony-like ties to politicians of all persuasions.

Hillary Clinton Shouts Down Rape Victim Challenging Her Over Bill’s Sexual Assaults “The hypocrisy of so-called women who fight for women” Daniel Greenfield

The media is applauding this as if shutting up a rape victim is some kind of political triumph.

Yes, that was me and yes, I am fully aware of how impolite I was. According to a little sign in Hillary Clinton’s Salem, NH office; Well Behaved Women Rarely make History.

I have been trying to get Hillary’s side of the story for many years and gave her many opportunities to talk to me about it. She cannot say she is both fighting for women but will not even try to find out what her husband was doing on the day in April of 1978 that the rape probably happened according to the very well researched Dateline NBC story Lisa Myers did in 1999. I would not blame a woman for what her husband did but it is what Hillary did after the fact, intimidated Broaddrick and has enabled her husband’s abuse of other women. Hillary is a traitor to the core values of feminism.

When Al Gore was running for president, I asked him if he believed her too because I was shocked that women’s groups like NOW were not demanding answers. Gore told me that he doesn’t know the story but that I should forgive Clinton anyway as if I was asking about an affair, not a crime. After Broaddrick saw that question on TV, she called me and I asked her all the questions people were throwing at me about why she may not be telling the truth. I was in a support group at the time for rape and sexual assault survivors and I know this subject better than I want to

Hillary believes Broaddrick was raped and that is why she will not discuss it in any sincere way. That is what drove me to do what I did today, my concern for sexual assault survivors. If I could have brought this issue up in any polite way or if people in her campaign really did follow up with me by calling me, I would never have been so impolite. I know I was impolite but in this whole scenario, you are angry at the wrong person, save that anger for Bill Clinton for being a sexual predator or for the woman who enables him-not me.