Huffington Post Bans Donald Trump From Politics Section

The Huffington Post is taking a stand against Donald Trump and issued a statement on Friday morning saying that they’re banning Trump from appearing in any of its political coverage.

But you will find the 2016 GOP candidate in the entertainment section, right next to some other people America seems to have a love/hate relationship with: The Kardashians.

The note about “Donald Trump’s ‘campaign’” came from its Washington Bureau Chief Ryan Grim and Editorial Director Danny Shea.

After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president, we have decided we won’t report on Trump’s campaign as part of The Huffington Post’s political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump’s campaign is a sideshow. We won’t take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you’ll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.

It’s hard to argue that Trump’s campaign is a bit of a sideshow — and entertaining. Chew on this: Readers taking our quiz have a tough time figuring out if specific Trump quotes came from him as a 2016 candidate or his time on the WWE fake wrestling circuit.

Not a single reader has aced the test, and a majority have failed to even get 70 percent of them correct.

So yes, Trump does blur the line between politics and entertainment, but at least he’s not shaving anybody’s head while he continues to lead polls.

Via: Sun Times Network

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SENATE VOTES TO END DEBATE ON NCLB REWRITE, REJECTS LEE’S AMENDMENT ALLOWING PARENT OPT-OUTS FROM TESTS

The Senate voted to end debate on the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) Wednesday, 86-12, allowing for a final vote on Thursday on the measure that is that chamber’s version of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law.

An amendment to the bill, introduced by 

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)

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, that would have allowed parents to opt their children out of standardized tests, was rejected by the Senate Tuesday by a vote of 32-64.

Lee’s amendment would have allowed parents to opt their children out of standardized tests in writing, without causing any penalty to the parent, the child, any school leader or employee, or the school itself.

In addition, the amendment would have also allowed states to implement their own opt-out criteria for additional state and/or local assessments.

“Parents, not politicians or bureaucrats, will have the final say over whether individual children take tests,” Lee said, according to the Washington Post, regarding his amendment.

The ECAA was introduced by 

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

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, chairman of the Senate committee that oversees education, who worked closely with ranking committee member and co-sponsor 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)

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.

Alexander himself voted to reject Lee’s amendment allowing parents the opt-out right, asserting that the amendment would remove the right of states to decide whether parents should be allowed to opt their children out of tests.

“I say to my Republican friends, do we only agree with local control when we agree with the local policy?” Alexander asked.

Writing at Townhall, Jane Robbins and Heidi Huber observed recently that, despite Alexander’s claim that his legislation would provide more parental and local control of education, it “doesn’t ignore the ‘opt out’ movement – in fact, it adds language that effectively encourages the states to lower the boom on noncompliant students and parents.”

Via: Breitbart

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Democrats Pursue a No-Veto Strategy on Spending Bills

President Barack Obama has issued just four vetoes so far in his presidency, and it appears he won't be taking out the veto pen for a host of contentious fiscal 2016 spending bills, either — despite threats he's already lodged on seven of them.

Democrats instead are stonewalling the appropriations measures by keeping them from coming up for debate in the Senate, even though they could instead allow Obama to take the heat by issuing vetoes. That would let Democrats escape tough-to-defend votes on defense spending, veterans' benefits and more. But Democrats are having none of it, saying that the "regular order" process that would lead to a veto is a time-waster and they want negotiations on a budget deal launched now — a strategy that may or may not work.

“I have heard senators on the other side urge us to follow the process, which means spending weeks on the floor and more weeks in conference, only to send the president a bill he would veto,” says Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the full Appropriations Committee.

In her view, it’s up to Congress, not the president, to change the law and lift the spending caps that Democrats say are too constraining.  “We need a new budget deal that ends sequester for defense and non-defense," says Mikulski. "On our side, we are saying let’s not waste the rest of June, July and August, only to come to a crisis point in September. Instead, let’s come to the table now and not when we are threatened with shutdowns and showdowns.”

'Draw the Line'

Allowing Obama to issue vetoes would seem to make sense. The president is a lame duck with an approval rating that hit 50 percent in a CNN poll for the first time in more than two years as he enjoys one of the best periods of his presidency, so he's got some political capital to spend. At just four vetoes, his record doesn't come close to that of other recent presidents, though of course there's many months left in his tenure.

But, most importantly, a veto from Obama would blunt Republicans' exploitation of defense votes.

Witness the Senate's $576 billion Defense appropriations bill (HR 2685), which Democrats blocked from consideration in June. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear just how the GOP will characterize Democrats’ action on it: “Our Democratic friends have curiously just last week voted for the troops by approving the defense authorization bill,” the Kentucky Republican said, “and then turned around and voted against the troops on the bill that would actually fund their pay raises and the other things that these volunteers depend on.”

And yet, Democrats seem unconcerned with this line of attack. Particularly instructive is the case of Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., a moderate in a purple state with a re-election in 2018.

Via: Roll Call

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DONNELLY LAUNCHES REFERENDUM TO OVERTURN NEW VACCINE LAW

Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

by MICHELLE MOONS2 Jul 2015San Diego, CA6

Former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly has launched a referendum against vaccine law SB277, pledging to work with every individual or group to collect the signatures needed to put the vaccine referendum on the 2016 ballot and let voters decide this issue.

“This is we, the people, exercising the people’s veto,” Donnelly told Breitbart News.

“This referendum is not about vaccinations; it is about defending the fundamental freedom of a parent to make an informed decision for their children without being unduly penalized by a government that believes it knows best.”

Many of SB277’s opponents indicated that they do vaccinate their children, but opposed the infringement on parental rights.

Hundreds of Californians from across the state fought a long battle against the bill in the legislature. On Tuesday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB277 into law. As of Tuesday, tens of thousands had signed petitions calling for Brown to veto three pieces of legislation related to vaccine requirements, including SB277. As of Thursday, nearly 100,000 had signed the petitions, combined.

“Do you think the government or parents should have more control about what is injected into your child’s body?” Donnelly asked. “The government is intimidating parents by denying children the right to education.”

Prior to SB277, if a parent chose to opt a child out of even one vaccination such as Hepatitis B, but still vaccinate for all other diseases as required, that parent could sign a personal belief waiver. SB277 eliminates that waiver, making California one of strictest states in the nation. Parents that still wish to opt out of even one vaccination will not be allowed to enroll that child in private or public school.

“They are stamping out a parents’ right to make their own medical decisions for their kids,” Donnelly told Breitbart News.

According to Donnelly, California already has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. Centers for Disease Control statistics as of September 2014 show Californiavaccination rates in the young 19-35 month range within a reasonable range as compared to other states, he noted. CDC charts show California among the most vaccinated states for MMR, DTap and Hib.

Via: Breitbart

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GOP gov.: "Time to move on" from same-sex marriage

Possible Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich believes it's "time to move on" from the same-sex marriage issue in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling.

"I do believe in traditional marriage and the court has ruled and it's time to move on," Kasich said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, adding that there's "so many other things now that we have to focus on."

Kasich, who has not yet officially announced a bid for the White House in 2016, believes the country needs to wait and see "how this evolves."

"I think everybody needs to take a deep breath to see how this evolves," the Ohio governor, who was the named defendant in the original lawsuit brought by Jim Obergefell over same-sex marriage, said. "But I know this. Religious institutions, religious entities - you know, like the Catholic church - they need to be honored as well. I think there's an ability to strike a balance."

But while the Republican governor has conceded that "it's the law of the land and we'll abide by it," some in the conservative wing have expressed their willingness to take on the same-sex marriage fight over the long term.

Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention told CBS' "Face the Nation" that people of faith "are not going to simply surrender" their traditional marriage views because of the Supreme Court ruling.

"We didn't make up our views on marriage and sexuality, and we can't unmake them," Moore said Sunday. "We understand that in the short term, things are very stacked against us here, but we ought to have the pluralistic American environment where we can agree to disagree."

Instead, Moore added, "we're going to have to take a page from the pro-life movement and see this as a long-term strategy."

"I don't think that an infinitely elastic view of marriage is sustainable," the evangelical leader said. "I think we have to be the people who keep the light lit to the old ways when it comes to marriage and family and that's going to be a generation-long skirmish."

Via: CBS News

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5 Things You May Not Know About Donald Trump

Donald Trump has become one of the most well-known Americans through his business dealings, television shows including "The Apprentice," and frequent appearances in the media, and he plans to announce on Tuesday if he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

But there are still a number of things about "The Donald" that are not widely known. Here are five of them:

1. Trump's grandparents anglicized their name from Drumpf. His grandfather Friedrich and grandmother Elisabeth were born in Germany and emigrated to the United States. Their son Fred Trump married Donald Trump's mother Mary Ann MacLeod, who was born in Scotland and met Donald Trump's father during a vacation trip to New York.

2. While Donald Trump did inherit wealth from his father, he is personally responsible for accumulating the great bulk of his fortune. Trump's father built affordable rental housing, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. He had a net wealth estimated at between $250 million and $400 million at the time of his death, but his four surviving children were heirs.

By 2011, Donald Trump's business dealings had boosted his fortune to $2.4 billion, according to Forbes. One estimate now places his worth at $4.1 billion, although another maintains that it is as high as $7 billion.

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3. Trump's parents sent him to a military school, New York Military Academy, when he was 13 years old. While there he played varsity football, varsity soccer, and was captain of his varsity baseball team.

4. Trump's oldest sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, served as a federal appeals court judge. She was nominated for the post by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Prior to that, she had a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Special: New Probiotic Fat Burner Takes GNC by Storm

5. Trump prefers cherry-vanilla ice cream. He also loves hamburgers and meat loaf, he once told Us Weekly, but he doesn't drink coffee, tea, or alcohol, and eats only the toppings on pizza, discarding the dough. And he eats lunch at his desk.

Via: Newsmax

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[VIDEO] Jeb Bush prepares to launch candidacy, regain lost momentum|

The best political campaign logos convey a feeling or a message, a memorable bit of information about the candidate running for office.

Jeb Bush is going with his old standard — “Jeb!” — to harken back to his tenure as Florida governor (and to avoid spelling out “Bush”).

But will his campaign be worthy of an exclamation point?

Bush will try to energize his supporters Monday when he formally launches his 2016 campaign in Miami, after spending six months exploring a candidacy but failing to position himself comfortably ahead of a crowded and ambitious Republican field that so far boasts 10 candidates, without counting Bush.

“I thought Jeb would take up all the oxygen,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a potential candidate, said in New Hampshire earlier this month. “He hasn’t.”

To be sure, Bush has scored big political donors. But he hasn’t scared off other challengers. He’s stumbled trying to distance himself from his brother’s unpopular Iraq war. And he’s struggled to reintroduce himself to GOP voters in a party much changed since his last time on the ballot 12 years ago.

“It will take time. It always does,” Bush told CNN’s “State of the Union” in an interview aired Sunday.

Monday at Miami Dade College’s Kendall campus, Bush will portray himself as a doer, a politician who put conservative ideas into action in a diverse state and who seeks public office to govern rather than pontificate. He will then take his pitch on the road, visiting New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina between Tuesday and Thursday.

“This is what leadership is about — it’s not just about yapping about things,” he said in a campaign video unveiled Sunday. “There are a lot of people talking, and they’re pretty good at it. We need to start fixing things. I said I was going to do these things and I did them, and the result was Florida is a lot better off.”

Via: Miami Herald

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/elections-2016/jeb-bush/article24259312.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/elections-2016/jeb-bush/article24259312.html#storylink=cpy

HARRY REID BLOCKS CHANGES TO NEVADA PRESIDENTIAL CAUCUS RULES

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Minority Leader 

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

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 is at it again.

Known for meddling in politics at all levels in his home state of Nevada, the Democrat intervened earlier this week to help kill a GOP-backed bill in the Legislature that would have allowed Nevada to trade its presidential caucuses for primaries, seen as friendlier to establishment candidates like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)

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 who might be tougher for Democrats to beat.

The surprise outcome exasperated Republicans from Las Vegas to Washington and served notice that even as Reid heads into retirement, Republicans will have to get around him if they hope to win Nevada in 2016. And it was just the latest move from a masterful tactician who rules his home state’s political scene like no other and is determined to keep the White House and his own Senate seat in Democratic hands though his name will never again be on the ballot.

“Harry’s an icon, there hasn’t been anybody in politics like him. Whether you like his politics or not he’s carved out a spot that quite frankly is unique in the history of Nevada politics,” said Republican 

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV)

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39%

, a former state party chairman. “He’s a results-oriented guy, and until we really hug ‘what are they doing, and how do we compete with that’ there’ll continue to be days where we struggle.”

For Reid, 75 and blind in one eye as the result of an accident while exercising earlier this year, working against the primary bill was just one of his recent moves designed to boost Democratic prospects in Nevada.

Some of his top lieutenants run the state Democratic Party and will be instrumental in working for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. The former secretary of state and first lady surrounded herself with some of Reid’s allies in the immigrant community when she visited the state last month, and she plans another appearance in a couple of weeks.

Via: Breitbart

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NYT: Billionaire George Soros Financing Dems' Voter Rights Lawsuits

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has agreed to spend as much as $5 million on Democrats' court battles against voting laws passed in recent years by Republican-controlled state governments such as in Ohio and Wisconsin.

"We hope to see these unfair laws, which often disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society, repealed," the Hungarian-born investor has said about the legal battles, describing himself as being "proud" of his involvement, reports The New York Times. 

Soros political adviser Michael Vachon said the billionaire has given $1 million so far this year to the liberal research super PAC American Bridge. 

Backers of Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who has made the voting laws a cornerstone of her campaign, have been pushing Soros to commit millions of dollars to her super PAC.  Soros has not done that so far, the Times says.

The lawsuits against the states are being led by attorney Marc Elias, who is the Clinton campaign's general counsel, the newspaper reports. 

This is not Soros' first involvement in voting issues. His first major push in American politics included the America Coming Together voter-mobilization drive in 2004, in an effort to defeat President George W. Bush. 

The lawsuits include attacks on voter ID requirements, time restrictions on early voting that make it difficult to cast ballots on the weekend before Election Day, and rules nullifying ballots that are cast in wrong precincts. 

The Times reports that Soros was in contact with Elias in January 2014, while the attorney was exploring federal lawsuits before the midterms and before the 2016 cycle, said Vachon, Soros'  adviser, Michael Vachon. Elias himself refused comment Friday about the lawsuits' funding.

Soros is supporting lawsuits filed in Ohio and Wisconsin last month, and is helping finance a case Elias and other groups filed in North Carolina last year.

Clinton and Democrats argue that the states' voting laws affect poor, minority, and young voters, but Republicans say the new laws, enacted since 2010, serve as protection against election fraud. 

Via NewsMax

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Scott Walker Has Early Lead in Iowa Poll as Jeb Bush Faces Challenges

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has expanded his early lead in Iowa, while former Florida Governor Jeb Bush continues to face headwinds and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida shows upside potential in the state that hosts the first 2016 presidential nomination balloting.

A new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows more than a third of likely Republican caucus participants say they would never vote for Bush—one factor in a new index to assess candidate strength in such a crowded field. Forty-three percent view him favorably, compared to 45 percent who view him unfavorably. 

Read the poll questions and methodology here.

Walker is backed by 17 percent as the state enters a busy summer of candidate visits, a planned straw poll, and campaigning at the Iowa State Fair. Tied for second are Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 10 percent, with Bush and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee next at 9 percent each. 

They're followed at 6 percent by Rubio and 2012 Iowa caucuses winner Rick Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania. With eight months to go before the 2016 caucuses, there's plenty of time for movement.

“Scott Walker’s momentum puts him solidly in first place,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of West Des Moines-based Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll. “For the time being, he’s doing the right things to make the right first impression.”

Via: Bloomberg Politics

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