AP: Abortions decline in almost every state

Abortions have declined in nearly every state, according to a recent nationwide Associated Press survey.

In states both red and blue, in places where Republican-led initiatives against abortion have succeeded and in states where abortion rights remain protected, the number of abortions nationwide has declined by about 12 percent since 2010.

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In terms of percentage, Hawaii experienced the biggest decrease, at 30 percent. In 2010, there were 3,064 abortions performed in the state, compared to 2,147 last year. New Mexico followed, with 24 percent, along with Nevada and Rhode Island at 22 percent and Connecticut at 21 percent.Five of the six states with the biggest drop in abortions have not passed any laws restricting abortion clinics or providers, the AP reports.

States that have recently passed more anti-abortion legislation — like Missouri, Oklahoma and Indiana — have seen a drop of more than 15 percent, while blue states like New York, Washington and Oregon also had similar declines. Approximately 70 abortion clinics have closed in the U.S. since 2010, the AP reports, citing state officials and advocacy groups.

Abortions only rose in two states tracked by the AP. In Michigan, abortions increased by 18.5 percent between 2010 and 2014; in Louisiana, there was an increase of 12 percent.

A major factor in the decrease, the AP reports, is an overall decline in the national teen pregnancy rate, which reached its lowest rate in decades when it was last measured in 2010.

Ben Clapper, the executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, suggested to the AP that the increase in his state was partly owed to new abortion restrictions in neighboring Mississippi and Texas.

Via: Politico Europe

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Obama: Notice You Haven’t Heard Any Obamacare Horror Stories Lately?

In a round of questions following his remarks on the G7 Summit in Germany Monday morning, President Barack Obama dismissed the King v Burwell Supreme Court case as a tortured misreading of the law, and added, “Anyway, the thing’s working!”

“Part of what’s bizarre about this whole thing is we haven’t had a lot of conversation about the horrors of Obamacare because none of them have come to pass,” Obama said, citing significantly higher insured rates and lower health care costs. “None of the predictions about how this wouldn’t work have come to pass.”

The King case questions whether the federal premium subsidies were meant to be part of the law; an ambiguous sentence suggests they might have been withheld to pressure states into creating their own exchanges. But most involved in the writing and passing of the Affordable Care Act say it was a vestigial idea long abandoned by the time the law was passed.

If the subsidies were overturned, however, it would wreak havoc in the health care industry, if not the economy in general. One reporter asked why Obama didn’t have a Plan B in this event.

He responded that the ACA was a complex and interconnected piece of legislation that would be difficult to untangle, though he added that Congress could just fix the ambiguous sentence.

“This would be hard to fix,” he said. “Fortunately, there’s no reason to have to do it. It doesn’t need fixing.”

Via: Mediaite

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California’s Drought is a Communications and Policy Issue

Photo Credit: The International Rice Research InstituteIn the face of California’s crippling drought, public agencies will have to employ wide-ranging strategies and tactics to educate, motivate, enforce, and reinforce messages about drastic water cutbacks.

Their success or failure hinges on how they communicate to diverse audiences about managing water, a precious natural resource. In their dilemma, there are also communications lessons.

On Tuesday, California’s State Water Resources Board said residents used 13.5 percent less water against an April 2013 benchmark. This is a significant improvement over previous months, but it also shows a major gap in achieving the mandatory average 25 percent reduction in urban water use ordered by California Governor Jerry Brown. 

The drought has generated thousands of media stories and an unending stream of tweets and posts and sparked intense debate on what needs to be done. Water agencies, city managers, and other local elected officials will have to make major decisions, large and small, about how to urge residents to use much less, and conserve much more, water.

In this highly charged atmosphere, carefully developed communication strategies will be essential to get the public informed and accepting of the solutions required. Organizations will have to engage from the top down at the state level to coordinate messages and from the bottom up at the local level to make relevant, persuasive arguments.

Via: California Political Review

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TSA FAILED TO IDENTIFY 73 AVIATION WORKERS WITH ‘LINKS TO TERRORISM’

The Transportation Security Administration granted access to secure airport areas to 73 aviation workers with “links to terrorism,” according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

The audit, released Monday, reveals that TSA was unable to vet out 73 individuals with terror-related category codes because the agency did not have enough access to terror list information.

“According to TSA data, these individuals were employed by major airlines, airport vendors, and other employers. TSA did not identify these individuals through its vetting operations because it is not authorized to receive all terrorism-related categories under current interagency watchlisting policy,” the redacted report reads.

“TSA acknowledged that these individuals were cleared for access to secure airport areas despite representing a potential transportation security threat,” it added.

The new audit comes on the heels of another damaging Inspector General report on TSA’s security measures, which found the aviation security body was unable to detect fake bombs and weapons in 95 percent of trial runs. Revealed last week in an ABC News report, the OIG’s findings resulted in the Acting TSA Administrator, Melvin Carraway’s, removal from the post.

In addition to the threats posed by aviation workers with terror-ties, Monday’s report also took issue with the TSA’s handing of aviation workers’ potential criminal pasts and/or immigration issues, noting the agency’s controls on criminal histories and immigration statuses were “less effective” than its terror-vetting.

“In general, TSA relied on airport operators to perform criminal history and work authorization checks, but had limited oversight over these commercial entities. Thus, TSA lacked assurance that it properly vetted all credential applicants,” the report reads.

Via: Breitbart

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Obama’s Slap in Britain’s Face

London — Two weeks ago, we went to Washington to argue for the immediate release of Shaker Aamer, a detainee at Guantánamo Bay. Mr. Aamer’s wife and four children live in London but he has yet to meet his youngest child, Faris, who is now 13.

We are unlikely political bedfellows from the left and right of British politics. The four of us agree on almost nothing, with this exception: Mr. Aamer, a British permanent resident, must be freed and transferred to British soil immediately.

Mr. Aamer was picked up by the Northern Alliance in November 2001 in Afghanistan, where he was doing charity work, and sold for a bounty. He was taken to the notorious Bagram Prison, where he was brutally tortured, before being sent to Guantánamo in February 2002. In 2007, under President George W. Bush’s administration, he was cleared for release. In 2010, under President Obama, he was cleared for release again — after an arduous process requiring unanimous agreement by six agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Departments of State and Defense.

We should never have had to make the trip to Washington. Earlier this year, during his visit to the United States, Prime Minister David Cameronasked Mr. Obama to release Mr. Aamer. The president promised to pursue the matter. On March 17, the House of Commons passed an unusual unanimous motion calling for Mr. Aamer’s immediate release and transfer to Britain. Since that time little, if anything, has been done by the United States.

We heard during our visit that “Congress has prevented transfers”; yet, under current legislation, Mr. Obama could give notice to Congress and then transfer Mr. Aamer 30 days later, as the British government has requested. We heard that there may be “security considerations.” Any suggestion that Britain does not have the legal structures, the security and intelligence skills, or the care capacity to address any issues with Mr. Aamer is deeply insulting.

Via: New York Times

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This New State Data Shows the Real Story Behind King v. Burwell

Every day there seems to be another article focused on how many individuals might lose their subsidies if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in the King v. Burwell case.

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Yet, an even bigger group of individuals harmed by Obamacare has an equally good claim for relief that hasn’t gotten as much attention—the people who, thanks to Obamacare, must pay more for health insurance but who never got subsidies.

The Obamacare subsidies were intended, in part, to hide the law’s unpopular effects. At their root, Obamacare’s costly regulations, dictating what insurers can sell and what individuals and employer can buy, have resulted in premium costs going up, not down. In the 34 states potentially affected by the Court’s ruling, those regulations have driven up costs not only for the estimated 6.4 million receiving coverage subsidies, but also for at least another 15 million who have been forced to pay more for their health insurance without getting any subsidy.

Last month, The Heritage Foundation published a report highlighting that on average premiums could decrease by as much as 44 percent for young adults and 7 percent for near retirees if Congress, in response to a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in King v Burwell, simply eliminate three of the most costly Obamacare regulations—the age-rating rules, the actuarial value restrictions and the benefit mandates—in the affected states.

Today, Heritage will release state-specific data for the 34 states potentially affected by the King v. Burwell ruling.

For example, in Arizona, premiums could drop by as much as $1,044 for a 21-year-old and $402 for a 64-year-old. Similarly, in Iowa, premiums could decline by as much as $1,068 for a 21-year-old and $486 for a 64-year-old. In Ohio, premiums could be reduced by as much as $1,125 for a 21-year old and $633 for a 64-year old.

Congress’ first step in responding to the Court’s ruling should be to get rid of the Obamacare regulations that needlessly increased the cost of coverage for both those with and without subsidies.

Via: The Daily Signal

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Food Stamp Fraud Scheme Sending Money to Yemen

Authorities made multiple arrests in a food stamp fraud investigation in Alabama where some of the money was being sent overseas to Yemen.

Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls announced last week that 20 arrest warrants on 257 charges were filed for Wednesday and a series of raids were performed on 11 Alabama convenience stores.

The charges range from fraudulent use of a credit card, theft of property and public assistance fraud.

AL.com reports, the massive probe targeted those who allegedly have been cheating the food stamp system to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and sending at least some of the profits to Yemen.

Central to the scheme were Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, a government-issued debit card that replaced food stamps issued through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Falls said they learned owners of several convenience stores in the Birmingham, Alabama area had been buying EBT cards from those who have been issued the cards for roughly 50 cents on the dollar.

Once in possession of the cards the storeowners and managers would then go to a wholesale store where they would buy goods and bring them back to their stores to sell at an inflated price.

“Several of the store owners are Yemenese and in conjunction with this, the investigation revealed that these same persons were sending wire funds - cash back to Yemen.”

In return, the person who sold their EBT card now had cash to buy items restricted from purchases under the SNAP system, such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

"They're selling their cards to get those things,'' Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Raulston told AL.com.

"Part of the problem, in my opinion, is now they don't have their food stamps card so they don't have the money to take care of their families or themselves,'' Raulston said. "I think it's a huge cycle of remaining impoverished."

Via: CNS News

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Bill Clinton Was Paid $400K By Singapore Company That Was Scamming Its Employees

The Internet was littered with scam warnings from small-time contractors who claimed they had been ripped off by Singapore-based UNI Strategic, but that didn’t seem to bother the State Department or Bill Clinton.

The agency, headed at the time by Hillary Clinton, signed off on a Nov. 14, 2010, speech delivered by the former president on behalf of UNI at the Presidential World Economic Forum held in Taipei, Taiwan.

The payday: $400,000.

Clinton’s speech was not remarkable, but it probably didn’t have to be. He spoke about the global economy, economic inequality and global warming in front of an audience of around 2,000 — eager to hear from an American politician of Clinton’s stature.

But while UNI could afford to pay Clinton a one-percenter’s annual salary, the company was ripping off a slew of contractors it had hired to provide training in various Asian nations.

Internet message boards, scam alert websites and independent blogs show up at the top of searches for UNI, which was founded in 2002 and specializes in workshops for governmental organizations and multinational corporations on a variety of topics.

It is unclear if UNI’s dastardly deeds were as well-known in 2010, but complaints stretch back to well before Clinton’s speech, and would seemingly have been easy to discover by anyone who cared to look.

Via: Daily Caller

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HILLARY PHONES IT IN FOR FAST FOOD WORKERS

Speaking to a gathering of fast food workers and voicing her support for a $15 minimum wage, Hillary Clinton said, “I want to be your champion” to the assembled group.

Well, we do know special orders never upset the Clinton Foundation. It’s also accurate to say Hillary phoned in her support.

Appearing by phone at a meeting of 1,300 workers, Clinton voiced her most emphatic support yet for the nationwide Fight for $15 movement, which is also seeking to unionize fast food giants like McDonald’s.

Perhaps more important to the multi-millionaire presidential candidate was that she paid her dues to Big Labor, including the SEIU. Campaigns and foundations do not run on bread, or hamburger rolls, alone.

Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry told the crowd that Clinton’s call shows “how powerful people around the world are listening to this movement to change our world.”

Clinton also expressed broader support for organized labor union and the right to bargain collectively.

The appearance marks the Clinton campaign’s latest attempt to shore up her left flank and de-emphasize the centrist pragmatism that marked her husband’s presidency and her own record as senator and secretary of state.

Via: Breitbart

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SHERIFF JOE: DEMOCRATS USING ILLEGALS FOR VOTES

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Sunday Democrats are mostly interested in immigration reform because the newly legalized residents will eventually obtain voting rights and will vote for democrats

That’s common sense,” said Arpaio. “I don’t think that’s something that nobody knows. You make them here legally so they can vote.”

Arpaio was speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM.

“There’s a push afoot nationally to sign up more Hispanics to be able to vote,” said Arpaio. “But you have to be careful now. But if you legalize these guys, these people, they are going to vote.”

Like the reporting you see here? Sign up for free news alerts from WND.com, America’s independent news network.

As WND previously reported, Eliseo Medina, a former immigration adviser to President Obama, boasted in 2009 that granting citizenship to millions of illegal aliens would expand the “progressive” electorate and help ensure a “progressive” governing coalition for the long term.

Medina is the current secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Medina and Gutierrez served on Obama’s National Latino Advisory Council.

During the interview, Arpaio urged Republican president candidates to discuss the issue of drug trafficking when talking about border security.

Via: Western Journalism

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4 Liberal Myths About Ronald Reagan Debunked

Presidential historian H. W. Brands’ new biography of Ronald Reagan and his conclusion that modern American politics is best seen as “The Age of Reagan” has aroused liberals to circulate once again the hoariest myths about the man and his presidency, including the malicious charge that Reagan was deliberately indifferent to the lot of African-Americans and other minorities.

Liberal Myth No. 1: Reagan’s dangerously belligerent foreign policy had little to do with the disintegration of Soviet Communism. Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader most responsible for bringing the Cold War to a non-nuclear conclusion.

Reality: In the 1970s, as presidential scholar Kiron Skinner has written, Reagan formulated four key ideas about U.S.–Soviet relations and the Cold War. One, discussion of Soviet expansionism around the world had to precede any talk about arms control, not the reverse. Two, America was an “exceptional” nation obligated to match deeds with words in the promotion of freedom around the world. Three, because the Soviet Union was an “abnormal” nation with no popular base of support, it was prepared to foment global crises to maintain its control. Four, the Soviet Union’s inefficient economy and inferior technology “could not survive competition” with America. Once elected president, Reagan began carrying out a multifaceted victory strategy based on these ideas.

Reagan ordered an across-the-board buildup of the defense establishment, including land-based weapons, new ships, and new medium-range missiles. He launched a psychological offensive, declaring that the Soviets’ “evil empire” was headed for “the ash heap of history.” He made SDI (the Strategic Defensive Initiative) the cornerstone of the Reagan Doctrine and would not surrender it, even at the Reykjavik summit. He strongly supported anti-Communist forces in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola, and Cambodia.

He carried his crusade for freedom into the disintegrating Soviet empire. Standing before Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in 1987, he directly challenged the Kremlin, saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” A little more than two years later, the wall came down and Communism in Eastern and Central Europe collapsed. Lech Walesa, Nobel laureate and founder of the Polish trade union Solidarity that confronted the Communist regime, said of President Reagan, “We in Poland … owe him our liberty.”

Democracy triumphed in the Cold War, Reagan wrote in his autobiography, because it was a battle of ideas—“between one system that gave preeminence to the state and another that gave preeminence to the individual and freedom.” The Cold War ended in triumph for the idea of freedom because of Ronald Reagan, not Mikhail Gorbachev, who as late as 1988 quoted the Communist Manifesto when asked his position on private property.

Liberal Myth No. 2: The ’80s were a decade of greed that benefited only the wealthy and overlooked the middle class.

Reality: Reagan inherited a dangerously weakened economy. High tax rates had severely limited jobs and investment and brought in less than expected government revenue. President Reagan reversed the process by cutting personal tax rates and government regulations, stabilizing the economy and encouraging entrepreneurs.

Via: Daily Signal

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NYT: Hillary The Tormentor

AP

By Frank Bruni, NY Times

LATELY I’ve been running into people even more put off by the Clintons than the nefarious operatives in the “vast right wing conspiracy” ever were.

Read the full story here

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Fred Barnes: Democrats Panicked That Clinton Campaign Could Collapse 

By Todd Beamon, Newsmax

Democrats are panicking because Hillary Clinton's candidacy for the White House in 2016 "is in trouble" — and the "troubles tend to be self-inflicted," says Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard.

Read the full story here

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The Coming Democratic Panic

Watch what happens if Hillary Clinton falls behind in the polls.

By Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard

There’s one more problem of Clinton’s doing: her mad dash to embrace the left wing of the Democratic party. After being paid hundreds of millions for speeches to Wall Street firms, she now says the very wealthy in America must be “toppled.”

Read the full story here

Via: Fox News

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Watch: Unexpected Military Exercise In US City Shocks Residents And Raises Serious Questions

For the past few months, Western Journalism has been reporting on Jade Helm 15, the so-called “military exercise” the Pentagon claims is a training mission being conducted in Texas and other states in the southwest United States. Ted Cruz — the senator from the Lone Star State who’s running for the GOP presidential nomination — has said he appreciates those, including Chuck Norris, who are skeptical of the government’s explanation for the widespread troop and equipment movements and maneuvers.

As B. Christopher Agee noted in a recent post on Western Journalism:

Jade Helm 15, a planned military exercise that has sparked speculation of an underlying effort to institute martial law, is now getting the attention of some high-profile figures in the southwestern states affected.

Chuck Norris spoke out recently, echoing the fears many have regarding the actual scope of the domestic mission. He made it clear, however, that his grievance is not directed toward the enlisted men and women ordered to take part.

Now, as WNEM-TV reports, the U.S. Army is also conducting military exercises in Flint, Mich., where residents say they were caught off-guard when explosions rocked portions of the city. A spokesman for Flint city government says the blasts were part of a training program to help prepare the military for combat in urban environments.

Via: Western Journailism

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White House attempt to control news reporting confirmed

Copies of Obama administration e-mails obtained by Judicial Watch have confirmed attempts by the White House to control the media in the United States by manipulating interviews with networks.

Despite public statements that Fox News, which often has reported criticisms of President Obama, was granted the same access as other networks, the e-mails Judicial Watch obtained “provide evidence that FNC was specifically singled out for exclusion.”

According to one Oct. 22, 2009, e-mail exchange between Dag Vega, director of broadcast media on the White House staff, to Jenni LeCompte, then-assistant secretary for public affairs in the Treasury Department, Vega informs LeCompte that “…we’d prefer if you skip Fox please.”

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, explained that the controversy arose when the administration was making “executive pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews with selected administration favorites.

Obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed on Oct. 28, 2009, the e-mails reveal an entrenched anti-Fox bias, the organization said.

Via: Western Journalism

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Disgraced Healthcare.gov Firm Ensnared In New Jersey Sandy Recovery Flimflam

A federal watchdog is throwing a red flag on a $60.2 million Hurricane Sandy Recovery contract New Jersey officials awarded to the Canadian firm behind the disastrous Obamacare Healthcare.gov web site.

CGI Federal lost its $93 million contract for Healthcare.gov after it crashed within hours of going live in 2013 and contained so many design flaws the Obama administration had to assemble an emergency team to make the Obamacare website minimally operable.

Five months before that widely publicized digital disaster, CGI won the New Jersey contract in a procurement process that the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general now says was rife with serious flaws.

New Jersey officials were required to comply with federal procurement rules because the $60.2 million was awarded as part of Washington’s $1.5 billion disaster recovery assistance to the state in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The contract was to design and operate the Sandy Integrated Recovery Operations and Management System for administering the federal funds. New Jersey officials claimed they complied with all applicable federal requirements in their selection of CGI.

But state officials “did not procure services and products for its system in accordance with federal procurement standards or comply with all federal cost principle requirements for supporting salary and wage compensation,” the IG said in a report made public late Friday.

“Specifically, it did not prepare an independent cost estimate and analysis before awarding the system contract to the only responsive bidder. It also did not ensure that option years were awarded competitively and included provisions in its request for quotation that restricted competition,” the report said.

“Further, it did not ensure that software was purchased competitively and that the winning contractor had adequate documentation to support labor costs charged by its employees,” it said.

Via: Daily Caller

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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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, 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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