Texas Sen. Ted Cruz releases birth certificate

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz released his birth certificate to the Dallas Morning News on Sunday, revealing his dual citizenship in Canada and the United States that could possibly pose a problem down the line.

The Republican was born in Canada to an American mother, instantly making him a U.S. citizen, but under Canadian law, he also became a citizen of that country, the Morning News reported.

So unless he renounces that citizenship, he will remain a citizen of both countries.

“He’s a Canadian,” said Toronto lawyer Stephen Green, past chairman of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section.

The U.S. Constitution allows only a “natural born” citizen to serve as president, and to most legal scholars, that includes an American born overseas to an American parent, the Morning News said.

According to the report, opponents have derided Mr. Cruz as “Canadian Ted,” saying he can’t run because he wasn’t born on U.S. soil.

Mr. Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer, argued last week that being an American by birth makes him eligible.

Via: Washington Times

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[VIDEO] Michelle Obama on the Move: What Will She Do Next?

America's famous mom takes her fight against childhood obesity to the next level, gears up for parenting teenagers, and admits to hitting her stride as first lady. Read the Parade cover story below and watch an exclusive video message from Mrs. Obama:

Nearly five years after moving into the White House, Michelle Obama could not look more at home. Posing in the formal Green Room, she appears both relaxed and invigorated, embracing the undefined (and undefinable) roles of Spouse in Chief, Role Model in Chief, and Mom in Chief. But it’s the last one that makes the first lady shine brightest of all. Put her in a room with kids—whether her own or the nation’s—and she glows. In fact, at the second annual Kids State Dinner on July 9, Mrs. Obama beamed at the success of 54 students who won a nationwide competition, sponsored by Epicurious.com, to develop creative, delicious, and healthful recipes. An outgrowth of her Let’s Move! program to curb childhood obesity within a generation, the State Dinner (which happened at lunch) featured dishes like Lucky Lettuce Cups and Bodacious Banana Muffins, as well as an appearance by her husband, whom she playfully tweaked for admitting he’d hated vegetables as a kid. As she sat with Parade the following day, Mrs. Obama was regal in a magenta sheath yet so down-to-earth that she quickly fluffed the cushion of an antique couch between photo takes. No longer sporting the bangs that caused such a sensation (“You know, it’s hard to make speeches with hair in your face!”), the first lady spoke to us about her second-term goals for her childhood obesity fight, her maturing family, and her dreams for America’s children.

Via: Parade

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Employment gains falter in U.S. states

(Reuters) - Jobless rates dropped in only eight states in July from the previous month and rose in 28, the Labor Department said on Monday, as employment gains sputtered.

The slight improvement in employment last month came after jobless rates fell in only 11 states in June from May.

From July 2012, unemployment rates decreased in 36 states and the District of Columbia and increased in nine, the department said.

For much of the last year, the majority of states have registered drops in monthly jobless rates. In May, rates dropped in 25 states and in April they fell in 40 states and Washington, D.C.

Nationally, the jobless rate fell to 7.4 percent in July, the lowest level since December 2008, largely due to people giving up on the job hunt and dropping out of the work force.

States point to the recent ebbs and flows in the labor force as a reason for their jobless rate swings, along with hemorrhaging public service employment and fluctuating education jobs.

Mississippi had the largest drop in unemployment last month, to 8.5 percent from June's 9 percent.

"The unemployment rate has been dropping since February in Mississippi. It's just been little changes," said Chief of Labor Market Information Mary Willoughby, noting that over the same time period, the state's labor force has shrunk as well.

In neighboring Alabama, where the rate dropped to 6.3 percent from 6.5 percent in June, the labor force also shrank. While manufacturers in the state gained jobs, total employment "plunged this month, dropping by 14,700," according to Alabama's labor department, with most losses inconstruction, educational and health services, leisure and government.

Via: Reuters

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California Minimum Wage May Jump 25%

California has made progress in bringing down the unemployment rate. June’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 8.5 percent is the lowest since October 2008, according to California Employment Development Department data. Unemployment reached 12.4 percent during the Great Recession, and for much of the past five years it’s been in double digits, including as recently as last October.

While the downward trend has been encouraging, California’s unemployment is still 12 percent higher than the national average of 7.6 percent. And much of the rural area of the state remains at Great Depression levels of unemployment: Imperial County 23.6 percent, Colusa County 15.8 percent, Sutter County 14.7 percent, Merced County 14.1 percent, Yuba County 13.6 percent. In addition, 23 other counties are still suffering double-digit unemployment, including Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, California’s unemployment rate could be headed back up if a bill significantly increasing the $8 state minimum wage is passed this year. Assembly Bill 10 by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, would increase it by 25 percent in increments over the next five years: $8.25 per hour starting Jan. 1, 2014, $8.75 in 2015, $9.25 in 2016, $9.50 in 2017, $10 in 2018.

Alejo’s mostly agricultural 30th Assembly District is comprised of cities with high unemployment rates: Gonzales 15.8 percent, King City 13.8 percent, Greenfield 12.8 percent and Salinas 11.5 percent.

Jobs lost when minimum wage increases

Ironically, hundreds of Alejo’s currently employed constituents and thousands more throughout California could be out of a job if his bill passes, according to opponents of minimum wage hikes. The Employment Policies Institute lists the potentia.l damage:

• For every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, teen employment at small businesses decreases by 4.6 to 9 percent.
• Only 16.5 percent of minimum wage recipients are raising a family on a single income. The rest are teenagers living with working parents, adults living alone, or dual-earner married couples.
• There were 550,000 fewer part-time jobs as a result of the 40 percent federal minimum wage increase between July 2007 and July 2009, according to a Ball State University study.=

Via: California Political Review

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Vulnerable Democrat Senator Who Campaigned For Obama Now Claims The President Has “A Hard-Left Agenda”

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR): Obama “Doesn’t Connect Well” With Arkansas And Has “A Hard-Left Agenda.” “But Pryor acknowledges that Obama ‘doesn’t connect well’ with Arkansans. ‘I think that President Obama has in some ways what you would think of as a hard-left agenda in various ways, and that agenda is not popular in our state,’ Pryor said, riding in the backseat of an aide’s pickup. ‘And a lot of that agenda I don’t support.’” (Manu Raju, “Lone Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor Hangs On,” Politico, 8/19/13)

• “Asked If He Approved Or Disapproved Of The President’s Performance In Office, Pryor Took A Long Pause And Said, ‘I Would Say, ‘Is There Another Option There?”” (Manu Raju, “Lone Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor Hangs On,”Politico, 8/19/13)

FLASHBACK: Pryor Campaigned For Obama In 2008, Saying: “Barack Obama Has The Leadership, He Has The Vision, He Has The Hope That This Country Needs Right Now.” (Mark Pryor, Remarks At Little Rock, AR Obama Rally, 10/24/08)

• Pryor Said In 2011 That He Thought Obama Deserved Another Four Years In Office. “Pryor said he thought Obama deserved another four years. ‘I think that President Obama came in [during] an incredibly difficult time, a whole set of circumstances that made his presidency one of the most difficult in American history,’ Pryor said.” (Charlie Frago, “Partisan ‘Games’ Miring Debt-Cap Deal, Pryor Says,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 6/3/11)

Via: GOP.com

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Reagan’s “Secret Ally” In Crushing The Soviet Union

Most people who succeed in the arena of public policy – especially in D.C. – have a knack for self-promotion.

Yet you likely haven’t heard of William P. Clark.

That’s because, unlike others in his position, he was modest beyond explanation. And considering that he was close to the spotlight on a daily basis, that was no easy feat.

You see, not only did Clark work alongside President Ronald Reagan throughout his career, many people (including me) believe that he was the closest friend Reagan ever had.

I was lucky enough to know Bill Clark very well. And since he left this Earth last Saturday, I thought it’s time you knew him, too.

Helping Reagan Crush the Soviet Union

While Reagan was Governor of California, Bill served in numerous posts, including Reagan’s Chief of Staff in Sacramento. He ended those years as a Reagan appointee to the California Supreme Court.

(That’s why those of us who knew him called him “Judge.” Even though, as late as 2011, he was still asking me to simply call him Bill.)

Once Ronald Reagan moved to Washington, he immediately called Bill to serve him in a variety of difficult positions – the most important of which was National Security Advisor in the White House in January of 1982. (And they just don’t make them like they used to).

At this post, Bill crafted the eventual unraveling of the Soviet Empire.

Recall that Margaret Thatcher credited Ronald Reagan with “defeating the Soviet Union without firing a shot.” That’s true. But Bill Clark was Reagan’s chief advisor during the battle.

The plan consisted of both intense economic warfare and Reagan’s offer to help the Soviet dictatorship step slowly toward a pluralistic and Democratic society.

In terms of economic warfare, the most significant aspect was to limit the hard currency that the Soviet Bloc could earn from Russia’s large and untapped oil and gas reserves. And one of the policies Clark penned was a national security directive which limited the Soviet’s access to the best of Western oil and gas equipment. He also authored a security directive which successfully limited economic credits to the Eastern Bloc.

And when the Polish Communist regime – headed by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski – declared Marshall Law, Bill Clark really went into action.

Via: Western Journalism

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MSNBC’s Touré: NYPD Officers ‘Discouraged’ From Stopping, Frisking Whites

THEY MAKE IT UP AS THEY GO ALONG. 

MSNBC host Touré condemned the New York City policing strategy known as “stop-question-and-frisk” on Monday. He dismissed the NYPD’s claims that the program has been found unconstitutional unfairly by a New York district court. Touré reported that NYPD officers have informed him that “racial profiling” is a major part of that program and police are “discouraged” from stopping suspicious individuals who are white. 

Touré began by playing a clip of New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly defending the practice on NBC’s Meet the Press, saying that most of the lives saved by that program are minority lives.

“He’s saying lots of crimes are committed in black and brown neighborhoods so it’s going to treat everyone in those neighborhoods like criminals,” Touré asserted. “That is a justification for racial profiling, which the Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg says in his Washington Post editorial today he has zero tolerance for.”

RELATED: Conservative Amy Holmes Scorches Discriminatory ‘Stop-And-Frisk’ On MSNBC

“Police officers have told me it ‘stop-and-frisk’ involves is racial profiling,” the MSNBC host claimed. “The trial gave us stories of white people doing suspicious things and officers being discouraged from stopping them.”

“Do you see how policing blacks via the presumption of guilt and policing whites via the presumption of innocence becomes a self-reinforcing mechanism?” Touré asked.

Touré goes on to attack the claims that the controversial NYPD program is effective. He cites statistics which purport to show the program is “worse than random” in its success rate at capturing illegal guns.

“Don’t black Americans have a right to walk down the street without getting mugged by police?” Touré concluded.

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

Via: Mediaite

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MSNBC Deceptively Edits Bloomberg to Change Meaning of Statement on Stop and Frisk

The folks at MSNBC were at it again Monday.

During a segment on the Martin Bashir show, the producers chose to air only five seconds of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 65-second answer at a press conference Monday to make it appear that he would have a completely different view of Stop and Frisk if he had a son (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JOY-ANN REID. SUBSTITUTE HOST: I want to play something for you that Mayor Bloomberg said in his news conference today, he was talking about Stop and Frisk in a way that's interesting because it recalls what President Obama said would happen had he had a son. Just listen to this and I'll get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: I think if I had a son and that son was stopped, I would have some real questions about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So Mayor Bloomberg is essentially saying that if he had a son and he was stopped, he would feel differently about Stop and Frisk. How do you respond to that given how vigorously he and other proponents of this kind of policing have defended the practice? They're essentially admitting that if this were happening to their children, if it were happening to their sons, they wouldn't like it. Why can't they take that next step and then understand why these communities that are experiencing don't want it?

Actually, if Reid and MSNBC had been honest with viewers, they would have aired the next 60 seconds of Bloomberg’s answer which fully explained why possibly not liking Stop and Frisk for personal reasons wouldn't necessarily lead an intelligent person to oppose it:

BLOOMBERG: I think if I had a son and that son was stopped, I would have some real questions about it. Having said that, I think if I thought long and hard about it, I actually thought that [New York City mayoral candidate] Bill Thompson (D) said it right. Bill Thompson said he didn’t like Stop and Frisk, but he had a son. He wanted to make sure the kid didn’t get killed, and the only way we should do that is get guns off the streets.

If you’ve got a better answer, and one that you’re willing to try and see whether, “Well, let’s see if another few hundred people get killed. Okay, it didn’t work, and we’ll go back.” This is, we’re playing life and death here, and this is just not something. But, yeah, if anything, if it’s personal, if you have something happen to you, you feel about it very differently. That doesn’t mean you can’t stop and say, “Wait a second. No matter how much I dislike it.”

Take a look at public housing. Five percent of the public lives in public housing. 20 percent of the crime in this city is in public housing. We have to do something to stop that. Nobody likes cops in the halls in public housing, but they dislike the fact that they’d be taken away even more because that’s what’s protecting them to the extent we can possibly do it.

Via: Newsbusters

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