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Confab ahead of AIPAC speech meant to improve relationship with congressional GOP. Donald Trump will host a group of nearly two dozen influential Republicans on Monday afternoon for an off-the-record gathering that his allies hope will improve his relationship with the congressional GOP and the party’s Washington establishment, according to two attendees. The meeting is Trump’s first major meeting with lawmakers and key Republican figures since last fall, when he met with a smaller group at the Capitol after his speech at a protest against the Iranian nuclear agreement. Several members of the House and Senate are expected to participate,...

While Americans are suffering in the Obama economy, President Barack Obama is seeking to increase the money available to him after he leaves the White House. The Congressional Research Service reports that for requests for both 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, Obama's proposed federal budget would expand funding through the Former Presidents Act. In 2017 alone, Obama wants nearly an 18% hike in expenditures… $588,000. That means $3.865,000 in appropriations will be available to spend on former Presidents! The 2016 proposed budget includes an additional $25,000 increase. The Former Presidents Act, enacted in 1958, provides living former presidents with a...

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Thursday accused the House and Senate Republican leadership of “moral cowardice” for failing to stand up to GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. a speech on GOP policies and Trump’s success, the Nevada Democrat said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have tried to have it both ways. They intend to support the eventual nominee, Reid said, but assail Trump for his call to bar Muslims from the United States and his slow disavowal of support from white supremacist groups. “Giving Trump a slap on the wrist each time...

How often does someone get pre-emptive Pinocchios? Barack Obama got three of them today in his speech regarding the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Obama offered a pre-emptive argument of his own, accusing Republicans of “an abdication of their constitutional duty” if they refused to give Garland’s nomination a hearing and a floor vote: resident Obama: The Senate must fulfill constitutional duty At a time when our politics are so polarized, at a time when norms and customs of political rhetoric and courtesy and comity are so often treated like they’re disposable — this is precisely the...

Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s name was left off Florida primary ballots according to reports relayed by Fox News’ Jennifer Eckhart on Twitter who said the local Fox affiliate has received “dozens of complaints.” Eckhart wrote the irregularities are in “Jupiter County” which does not exist. She probably meant the town of Jupiter or Palm Beach County where Jupiter is located. Palm Beach County is where Trump’s Florida base Mar-a-Lago is located.

When I was a young girl, my father, who served as the first Governor of American Samoa and in other leadership positions across the Pacific, would take me along with him whenever he would travel for work. I learned a lot watching my father over the years and am grateful for the leadership skills and desire to serve that he instilled in me. I also learned just how few women there were in leadership positions in Pacific cultures. As women, our struggle for equal rights and participation in government and community leadership positions is never ending. The women who came...

A second former State Department official is refusing to talk to Congress about what he might know about Hillary Clinton’s private email system. Politico reports that John Bentel, who retired from the State Department in Dec. 2012, has told the House Select Committee on Benghazi and the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees that he will not meet to discuss the server and what, if anything, he knows about it. In response to a Dec. 5 letter from Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security chairman Sen. Ron Johnson, Bentel said he had “no memory of knowledge” about...

Millions of Americans are filing their taxes this month—and getting a good reminder of why they despise the IRS. But thanks to the Republican majority in Congress, the IRS is being forced to start cleaning up its act. When the IRS scandal broke, Congress demanded answers from the agency’s top officials. Were they targeting groups for their religious and political beliefs? No, they said, it was just a few rogue employees in Ohio—if anything at all. Well, what happened to Lois Lerner’s emails? Oh, they were lost in a tragic hard drive crash. Shouldn’t we update our laws to prevent...

How many times have you heard of Senators and Representatives adding riders or amendments to bills to help fund their pet projects back in their states or for a friend? I’ve written about a number of these in the past including: $384,949 for the study of duck penises$876,752 to study snail sex$15.3 million for the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska$113,227 for a video game preservation center in New York$550,000 for a documentary on how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union$48,700 for 2nd annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival, to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry.$350,000 to support an International...

Left wing radicals shut down the Donald Trump rally in Chicago last night. Jim Hoft provided extensive coverage of the event at The Gateway Pundit. But who was behind the violent protests? Bernie Sanders supporters. They openly bragged about it on Twitter. Here’s a screenshot in case they delete their tweet:

Homeless U.S. military veterans stand in line for free services at a "Stand Down" event hosted by the Department of Veterans Affairs on November 3, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. A week ahead of Veterans Day, more than 500 homeless veterans were expected to attend the event, where they received free medical care, winter clothing, employment assistance and were able to see a judge to resolve legal issues. Organizers say the homeless veterans population has surged in recent years with the high national unemployment rate. Stand Down is a military term that means a temporary stop of offensive military action. (Photo...

According to the venerable Encyclopædia Britannica, the word cabal is defined as a private organization or party engaged in secret intrigues. In the wake of Donald Trump's near clean sweep of the March 8 GOP primaries and caucus, the anti-Trump secret meeting recently held in Georgia certainly fits the definition. In what may be the most curious presidential race in the history of the United States, Anusha Asif of Tech News Today reports on Mar. 8, 2016, many of the Congressional leadership of the Republican Party have met on March 7 with a who's who of liberal billionaires behind closed...

Democrat-turned-Republican state Sen. Carlyle W. Begay has announced he is entering a crowded field for the GOP nomination for the open seat in Arizona's 1st Congressional District. Begay is a Navajo appointed to fill a legislative vacancy in 2013. He won election to legislative term of his own in 2014 as a Democrat. He switched his party registration in 2015 after earlier in the year breaking party ranks to back a Republican-drafted state budget.

Recognizing the need for addressing the mental health issues plaguing many American citizens, the Senate health committee has announced the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016. While mental health can be described as "our emotional, psychological, and social well-being," mental illness "can affect your thinking, mood, and behavior."  Mental health problems can wreak havoc, not only with a person's life, but also with the lives of his or her near and dear ones. Recognizing this, a bipartisan Senate committee has announced that it is working out ways to address the mental health crisis in the United States. Senate health committee members announced...

Mitt Romney's speech against Donald Trump is not likely to win many converts. Romney's remarks will just further vindicate and entrench Trump supporters. Romney, though a good man, is quintessentially GOP establishment and has shown, by his speech, that he still doesn't understand the role he and his colleagues have played in bringing about the Trump surge. During campaign season, these guys always seem to get it. They profess to understand how destructive President Obama's agenda is, but once they're elected, they lose their will to fight, which makes many conservatives believe they didn't believe their own rhetoric in the...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/03/donald-trump-president-rep-tom-marino-editorials-debates/81277746/

Judicial Watch Presses Ahead with Fight over IRS Criminal Investigation Facts Department of Homeland Security Releases Documents Showing 1,000 Individuals Removed from Terrorist Watch List Judicial Watch in Court over CongressÂ’s Obamacare Exemption Judicial Watch Presses Ahead with Fight over IRS Criminal Investigation Facts The Clinton email matter is important, and your JW is, of course, at the center of the story. Check out this New York Times article, which shows that the FBI and Judicial Watch are the only two entities in DC likely to get answers and accountability on the Clinton email issue: Last week Judge Emmet...

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER: I didn't watch the debate, there have been about 25,000 debates, this was about 25,001... This is over. You're having tens of millions of Republican voters coming out to vote for Trump. So I understand Romney has an issue, Jeb Bush lost, Romney lost, Marco Rubio lost. They're all kind of in the angry loser group. I'm sorry, but you have millions of Republican voters voting for Donald Trump and that's just the way it is. Period.

To the catalogue of anxieties her patients explore during therapy — marriage, children, and careers — psychologist Alison Howard is now listening to a new source of stress: the political rise of Donald Trump. In recent days, at least two patients have invoked the Republican front-runner, including one who talked at length about being disturbed that Trump can be so divisive and popular at the same time, said Howard, who practices in the District. What had happened to Trump during his childhood, the patient wanted to know, to make him such a “bad person?” “He has stirred people up,” Howard...

Freedom lovers everywhere are biting their nails during the election season, wondering how the damage can be limited. Depending on who gains control, we could have trade wars, nationalized health care, the pillaging of Wall Street and Main Street, more wars in the Middle East, a VAT tax, surveillance of your smartphone, mass deportations, internment camps, and worse. Read that sentence slowly in a deep voice and it sounds like the trailer to a dystopian film. Another Way Let’s take a step back and ask whether it has to be this way. What if the power of government were so...