Conservative Happenings

Sunday, April 19, 2015

NY Post: How Menendez ‘Conspired’ To Import Rich Donor’s Babes

They are the models who could bring down a senator.

Sen. Robert Menendez mobilized his staff to secure a visa for a Brazilian actress who posed nude on the cover of Sexy magazine; he stepped up for a sultry Ukrainian student who wanted a plastic-surgery consult; and he directd a staff member to “call Ambassador asap” in order to reverse a visa denial to a 22-year-old Dominican model.

The young women were all paramours of Dr. Salomon Melgen, 60, a married eye doctor and one of Menendez’s biggest donors, prosecutors charge.

The New Jersey Democrat’s efforts on behalf of Melgen’s lovers came to light in a 68-page indictment against the two men unsealed this month.

Menendez is accused of using his power and influence to benefit Melgen in exchange for almost $1 million in gifts and campaign contributions.

If convicted, Menendez faces up to 15 years in prison on each of eight bribery counts alone. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The senator is also accused of trying to influence a State Department official on Melgen’s behalf in a dispute involving one of the doctor’s business interests in the Dominican Republic.

Prosecutors also say Menendez and his staff tried to help Melgen in a Medicare billing conflict.

Melgen was charged with Medicaid fraud last week in a separate 76-count indictment.

Via: Fox Nation

Schieffer to O’Malley: Why Are You Only One ‘Even Thinking of Challenging’ Hillary?

Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer sounded more interested Sunday morning in why Martin O’Malley was the only Democratic candidate seriously considering challenging putative frontrunner Hillary Clinton than in his candidacy itself.

“Here is a party that won last two presidential elections, yet there seems to be this one candidate,” Schieffer said. “Shouldn’t there be more people out there? Why is there nobody but you — I don’t mean this in deprecating way towards you — but you seem to be the lone guy who’s even thinking about challenging her.”

“I’m not sure why that is,” O’Malley said. “But I think it would be an extreme poverty indeed if there weren’t more than one person willing to compete for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.”

Clinton who finally officially announced her candidacy last week, has significantly outpolled the remainder of the Democratic field. O’Malley polls in the single digits against her.

Via: Mediaite

CARLY FIORINA: ‘HILLARY CLINTON MUST NOT BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES’

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina warned the New Hampshire Republican Leadership Summit that “Hillary Clinton must not be president,” because she lacks the essential qualities of leadership such as a record of accomplishment, candor and transparency.

“She will pursue a set of policies that will crush possibilities and the potential of this great nation,” Fiorina said.

The former California Senate candidate and likely 2016 contender said she was asked on Fox News earlier in the day whether a woman’s hormones prevented her from serving in the Oval Office.

“Not that we have seen examples ever of a man’s judgment being clouded by hormones, including in the Oval Office,” Fiorina joked. “Hillary Clinton cannot be president of the United States, but not because she is a woman.”

Fiorina contrasted her own history as CEO of the largest technology company in the world with that of Clinton.

“The next occupant of the Oval Office needs to understand how the economy actually works,” she said, adding that “executive decision-making…is making a tough call at a tough time with high stakes for which you are prepared to be held accountable.”

Fiorina described her own life – and that of her husband – as examples of the American dream – a dream she believes Americans see as lost.

Via: Breitbart

Scott Walker NYC Lunch Invite Elicits Profane Response

Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker speaks at the Iowa Agriculture Summit in Des Moines, Iowa March 7, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

“F**k you and your entire extended family. And the c**t you came out of. Got it?” That was the message sent to New York state Republican Committee Director of Communications David Laska after a member of a club hosting an event for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker received an invite to meet the governor.

The email was sent from Jeffrey Putterman, a member of the Union League Club, where the lunch will be held on Monday. Putterman is a New York City real estate agent.

Walker is expected to join the field of Republican candidates running for president and just visited New Hampshire over the weekend.

Putterman hurled a slew of vulgar insults at Laska.

“That was a personal message, so cut the shit. And stuff your head up Walker’s ass,” Putterman said. “If you want to f**k with me, mano a mano, just let me know. You flaming jerkoff.”

“I’d be glad to meet and greet you, you little arrogant piece of shit,” he continued. He also called Laska an “asshole.”

After the initial response from Putterman, Laska told Putterman he would forward the email to Putterman’s employer and various media outlets, as Putterman had not said anything was off the record.

“We all have to deal with hate mail, and having thick skin comes with the territory, but every now and then people cross the line,” Laska told The Daily Caller. Putterman has taken shots online at other politicians in the past. He wrote a post on his Facebook page about Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in 2013 during the Trayvon Martin controversy. Cruz made remarks about the debate that Putterman attacked him for.

Via: Daily Caller

Expert: Obama's amnesty 'profoundly unfair' to 4 million legal immigrants, a new high

While the administration struggles to move forward with its plan to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, the list of foreigners trying to get into the United States legally has surged to 4.4 million, over 100,000 more than last year, according to the State Department.

Those on the list either have a family member who is a U.S. citizen or green card holder, sponsoring their entry, or an employer wants them.

The list grew by 100,085 over last year. And more than a quarter of them, 1,323,978, are Mexican.

RELATED: Feds wasted $41 million deporting illegal immigrants on nearly-empty charter flights

According to a blog post written on the list bypolicy expert Jessica Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Studies, unlike illegals slipping over the border, many of those on the wait list have been there for up to 13 years or more as they go through the proper process to enter the country.

Unlike with illegals, the government regulates who can come into the country legally.

"The waiting lists are needed because of annual limits on the number of immigrants that can be admitted in certain family and employment categories, and because of caps on the number who can come from each country," she wrote.

RELATED: Huckabee hits Obama amnesty, warns of exploding welfare for illegals

The issue of letting more legal immigrants in is a key one for Washington as it grapples with what to do about the 12 million illegals already here.

"The existence of this massive waiting list of eligible applicants for family immigrant visas and green cards raises important questions for policymakers," wrote Vaughan.

"First, there is clearly no shortage of eligible immigrants being sponsored by family members and employers who are waiting many years for their opportunity to be admitted legally. Any move by the president to relax eligibility standards or grant benefits such as work permits, deferred action, or parole to illegal aliens is profoundly unfair and destructive to the integrity of the legal system because it gives illegal aliens preferential treatment over those applying through the legal process established by Congress," she explained.

RELATED: Applications for H-1B tech visas reach record levels

Fairness is also an issue, even outside the fact the administration is letting thousands of illegals into the country every year, she added.

Via: Washington Examiner

Saturday, April 18, 2015

'When Hillary Clinton travels there's going to need to be two planes, one for her and her entourage, one for her baggage

Former secretary of state will make her visit to the Granite State as a proclaimed 2016 candidate this week

Paul and other Republican presidential contenders are in in town for a GOP summit in Nashua

The Kentucky senator also took a swipe at the GOP field: 'They all look alike, all sound alike, they all dress alike and nothing ever changes'

Speaking about Libya, he charged that 'they would have just done the same thing ten times over' as President Barack Obama

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul smacked around Democratic rival Hillary Clinton at a campaign stop in New Hampshire this morning on the eve of the former Obama administration official's first visit to the Granite State as a proclaimed 2016 candidate.

'When Hillary Clinton travels there's going to need to be two planes, one for her and her entourage, one for her baggage,' Paul said during remarks at a New Hampshire GOP summit taking place in Nashua this weekend.

'I'm concerned that the plane with the baggage is really getting heavy and teetering' Paul said, predicting that she'd soon have new questions to answer about her family foundation's donations from foreign actors.

Clinton embarked on a cross-country trip in an armored van she nicknamed 'Scooby' last weekend for the first leg of her presidential bid. She ditched the van within days and flew back to the East Coast, travelling coach.

The wealthy Democrat was spotted at the Omaha, Nebraska, airport on the way back carting her own luggage.

Paul has been suggesting since he announced his bid for the Oval Office in early April that Clinton, a former first lady, U.S. senator, secretary of state and board member of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation would 'soon' face a day of reckoning over the charity's fundraising practices.

'I think there is big news coming on the Clinton Foundation,' Paul told Fox News during a New Hampshire swing earlier this month. 'I think there are things that went on at the Clinton Foundation that are going to shock people.'

'I think they're going to make people question whether she ought to run for president,' he said, declining to go into more detail.

Via: Daily Mail

New Study: Proposed tax on services could costs Californians $122.6 BILLION per year

Just in time for Tax Day, the Board of Equalization issued a study requested by the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance estimating the revenue take from taxing untaxed services would be $122.6 billion. The study will become fodder in the coming debate over Senator Bob Hertzberg’s effort to restructure the state tax system to include taxes on the service economy.

.Hertzberg commented on the study results, “California’s economy has changed from one that had been dominated by making goods to today where 80 percent is producing services.”

Hertzberg’s plan, Senate Bill 8, would tax services as part of a restructuring plan and raise an additional $10 billion in tax revenue.

In response to the study, Board of Equalization Vice-Chair George Runner said, “I’d consider a broader sales tax only if it’s part of revenue neutral tax reform, such as abolishing California’s income tax and the Franchise Tax Board, along with other taxes that destroy jobs. … The last thing overtaxed Californians need is another tax.”

Runner opposes Hertzberg’s proposal.

There will be plenty of time to get into the debate over service taxes. However, it should be noted that the $122.6 billion the service tax could supposedly raise is not only larger than the current General Fund budget of $113 billion, but almost $10 billion larger. In other words, a tax on services as outlined in the study could replace the General Fund revenues and get the additional $10 billion that Hertzberg is looking for while eliminating the income tax, state sales tax and corporate tax.

Hertzberg’s proposal would not attach a service tax to all the items delineated in the BOE study, pointing out education and health care as tax-free services.

If not all services are taxed the door would be open for other services and industries to seek exemptions from the tax — a potential field day for the state’s lobbyists.

Via: California Political Review

Time for American Taxpayers to revolt

This was the horrible week in which millions of Americans paid their taxes to the ever increasing and intrusive federal government. This year, the tax burden has grown with Tax Freedom Day appearing on April 24, meaning that Americans will spend approximately one third of the year working for government before they can provide for their families.

Taxes are certainly oppressive in this country. Compared to last year, tax revenue increased 4.3% to $1.478 trillion in the first 6½ months of the 2015 fiscal year. Even worse, the insatiable federal government continues to spend money with reckless abandon. Through April 1 of this year, the budget deficit was an astounding $439 billion, a significant increase from 2014.

Not only are taxes and deficits increasing, but the actual size of the federal tax code is exploding. When the income tax was created in 1913, the tax code was only 400 pages. It increased to 26,000 pages by 1984 and has tripled in size in the last 30 years. Since the implementation of Obamacare in 2010, the federal tax code has increased another 3,300 pages, resulting in more rules and regulations for Americans to decipher. Today, the federal tax code is over 74,000 pages of bureaucratic nonsense, making it impossible for the average American to complete their own tax return. It is no surprise that 94% of Americans need professional assistance in finishing their tax return.

Via: Canada Free Press

Ben Affleck Demanded PBS Suppress His Slave-Owning Ancestry

While participating in the 2014 PBS genealogy series Finding Your Roots, Ben Affleck learned that he had an ancestor who owned slaves. While participating in the 2014 PBS genealogy series Finding Your Roots, Ben Affleck learned that he had an ancestor who owned slaves. Hacked Sony emails, posted publicly by WikiLeaks this week, show that the famed actor openly attempted to prevent the information from making it into the show’s final cut.

Gawker pointed out on Saturday morning that a July 2014 email chain between PBS host Prof.Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton show the pair cryptically conversing over the peculiar production request from a big name like Affleck.

Let’s go to the email chain. First Gates mentions a suppression request from a certain “megastar” (emphasis added):

Lynton responds that the situation is “tricky,” but that he suggests removing the fact if “no one else knows” and the show can get away with it (emphasis added again):

The pair then went back and forth about whether it’s worth compromising for “Batman,” and how it could hurt the brand to not give in to his request:

Affleck’s episode aired on October 14, 2014, and did not include anything about a slave-owning ancestor.

Via: Mediaite

[VIDEO] Obama Warns U.S.: ‘Climate Change Poses Immediate Risks to Our National Security’

CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama warned the American people in his weekly address today that “there’s no greater threat” than climate change and that it “poses immediate risks to our national security.”

He said Americans need to work against climate change because “it’s about protecting our God-given natural wonders.”

“Wednesday is Earth Day, a day to appreciate and protect this precious planet we call home,” said Obama. “And today, there’s no greater threat to our planet than climate change.”

“This winter was cold in parts of our country--as some folks in Congress like to point out--but around the world, it was the warmest ever recorded,” said Obama.

“And the fact that the climate is changing has very serious implications for the way we live now. Stronger storms. Deeper droughts. Longer wildfire seasons,” he said. “The world’s top climate scientists are warning us that a changing climate already affects the air our kids breathe. Last week, the Surgeon General and I spoke with public experts about how climate change is already affecting patients across the country. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security.”

Via: CNS News

Cruz: If Terrorists Attacked A Golf Course ‘That Would Get The White House’s Attention’

U.S. Senator Cruz speaks at Morningside College in Sioux City

NASHUA, N.H. — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican presidential candidate, took a jab at President Barack Obama Saturday for not attending the march in France against radical Islamic terrorism when he gave remarks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit.

“And we all remember just a few months ago seeing over 40 world leaders walking arm and arm in solidarity with France against radical Islamic terrorism and where oh where oh where was the United States of America? You know, if only the terrorists attacked a golf course. That might actually get the White House’s attention. ‘Holy cow! This is serious!'” Cruz said.

The march in France happened after two masked gunmen opened fire and killed 12 people and injured 11 others at the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

Via: Daily Caller

RUBIO IN NH: 2016 WILL BE A REFERENDUM ON OUR IDENTITY AS A NATION

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) enjoyed a warm reception at the New Hampshire Republican Leadership Summit. He built on the theme of optimism for America’s future that he spoke of in his presidential announcement speech, and he added some sharp criticism of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.

Rubio started by noting that it had been a “fascinating week, probably the most historic of my life,” and then shifted into a bit of a stand up routine that seemed well-received. A reporter had asked whether Rubio thought that 43 was “old enough to be president.” Rubio’s reply: “I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure 44 is,” which is how old he will turn on his birthday this May. The Constitution only requires that the President be at least 35 years old, and our youngest President, John F. Kennedy, was 43 when he was sworn into office in 1961.

Rubio also joked that he had “worn more wires than an FBI informant” this week, due to all the media interviews. Regarding Hillary Clinton’s rumored plan to raise $2.5 billion for her campaign, Rubio quipped, “that’s a lot of Chipotle, my friends.”

Taking a more serious tone, Rubio said that running for President was “a decision one makes after a lot of thought and prayer.”

“I believe with all my heart that we are on the verge of another American century,” he continued, echoing the “New American Century” theme of his campaign. “Throughout all of human history, you could only go as far as your parents went before you,” said Rubio, but in America, we did not have such limits.

Rubio then spoke about his family, about how both of his parents had been born poor in Cuba, where “they found themselves in a society that told them…there are things you just cannot do because of who you are and where you come from.”

After coming to America, the Rubios found jobs, were able to raise their four children, own their own home, save for retirement, and leave their children better off. “They were never rich, never famous, but they were successful,” said Rubio, meaning that his parents had achieved the American dream.

However, said Rubio, today that American dream is in doubt for millions of Americans. “Why is this happening to the greatest country in human history?” he asked. The answer, according to Rubio: too many leaders stuck in the past. All was not lost, though, and “our future has the opportunity to be better than our history,” if America finds away to adapt to the twenty-first century.

America is “engaged in a global competition” for investment and talent, said Rubio, and is being held back by regulations that are crushing innovation, an excessive corporate tax rate, businesses that are not growing because of Obamacare, and energy policies that are blocking us from using our natural resources.

Via Breitbart

Obama’s Executive Amnesty Appears To Be In Trouble In The Fifth Circuit Court

Good news: The President’s recent action on immigration is still running into resistance in the courts.

On Friday, attorneys for the Obama administration argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. They were asking for a stay of a lower court judge’s ruling preventing the administration from moving forward with its executive amnesty designs.

It does not appear that they are going to win.

The three-judge panel consisted of two Republican appointees and one Democratic appointee. That’s a problem for President Obama because Republican-appointed judges tend to take the Constitution seriously.

One of the two Republican-appointed justices used Obama’s own statements against a Justice Department lawyer.

The sole Democratic appointee on the court noted that the President’s actions could discourage illegal immigrants from applying for programs that offer them work permits.

It looks like it’s going to be 2-1 in favor of the good guys when everything is said and done here.

The Constitutional principle of separation of powers survives for at least another day, the objections of the President notwithstanding.

Via Downtrend.com
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