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Wanted: A Safer Anti-Aircraft Missile for Syrian Rebels by Clay Dillow April 21, 2016, 5:48 PM EDT Deadly surface-to-air weapons, now with expiration date. As the Syrian cease-fire unravels, U.S. officials have indicated that they may be willing to provide Syrian rebel groups with the kind of sophisticated, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weaponry that just might turn the tide in the five-year-old conflict. But it will do so if, and only if, those weapons include a safety mechanism that restricts where and when they can be used, Foreign Policy reports. Syrian rebel groups have long clamored for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons—known as “man-portable...

Trump is ahead of Cruz by an eight-point margin among Indiana likely Republican primary voters: 41-33 percent. John Kasich comes in third with 16 percent. Men are the key to Trump’s advantage. He receives 44 percent to Cruz’s 33 percent, while Kasich takes 13 percent. Among women, Trump ekes out a three-point edge (36-33 percent), while 20 percent back Kasich.

Sen. Ted Cruz’s wipeout in the New York primary, while expected, nevertheless rattled many Republican insiders and activists who did not foresee the magnitude of the defeat. Is Cruz crumbling? Was Wisconsin an anomaly? The Cruz campaign set itself up, sending the candidate to campaign for days in New York and suggesting that Cruz could pick off congressional districts. He didn’t, and worse, came in third. Expectations should have been kept low. Really low. Just as they recovered from New York, anti-Trump Republicans looked up to see a batch of polls from the states that will be voting on April...

Since the debate over what he said yesterday is still raging, it’s only fair that you get to hear his latest comment about it. Skip to 8:35 of the clip below from last night’s interview on Trump TV.His response to Hannity’s question about North Carolina is a dodge but it’s a dodge with a conservative pedigree. If you’re a Republican who’s been put on the spot about a hot-button social issue, you can’t go wrong saying, “Leave it to the states.” Even righties who disagree with you on the merits will tip their caps at your nod to federalism....

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Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus laid out the boundaries for both Donald Trump and his many opponents Friday in a speech aimed at holding together his party at a time when it seems it is under assault from all sides. Priebus opened his speech to RNC members here with a stern shot at the #NeverTrump forces. "It is essential to victory in November that we all support our candidate," Priebus said. "This goes for everyone, whether you're a county party chairman, an RNC member or a presidential candidate. Politics is a team sport, and we can't win unless we...

On Thursday, Williamson County Circuit Court Judge Michael Binkley rejected pro-abortion advocates’ efforts to invalidate Tennessee’s Amendment 1, which clarifies that the state Constitution contains no right to abortion. Abortion advocates had challenged the law, which voters enacted in 2014, on an interpretation of the state requirements for constitutional amendments that claims the number of “yes” votes must be equal to or greater than the number of people voting for governor plus one, and therefore only voters who voted in the gubernatorial race should have their votes on the amendment counted. The state countered by arguing that Amendment 1 was...

Ted Cruz's campaign produced and released this attack ad overnight, after Donald Trump came out in favor of allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice, rather than the bathroom corresponding to their birth. The Cruz campaign has seized on this issue as a clear indicator that Donald Trump is "not a conservative." "Leave it the way it is," Trump said. "There have been very few problems." "Should a grown man pretending to be a woman be allowed to use the women's restroom?" asks the Cruz campaign, calling the bathroom issue "PC Nonsense that is destroying America." "North...

Cruz’s path to defeat before the convention is simple: Lose Indiana, lose California decisively, and lose the war for Pennsylvania’s 54 unbound delegates. Within the past 24 hours, there’s new evidence that we’re on track for all three. I covered the battle for Pennsylvania last night and noted that some private polls of Indiana have the race there tight, with Trump possibly out to a small lead, but here’s the first solid evidence from a public poll that that state is tilting against Cruz. To think, after all the time we’ve spent obsessing over delegates, they’re probably not going to...

A Utah lawyer has appealed a lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court, alleging Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is not a "natural born citizen" and therefore ineligible to become president. Legal scholars say there is virtually no chance the high court will consider the appeal, partly because they do not want to encourage a wave of similar suits. Cruz has faced questions about his eligibility to become president from his chief rival, Donald Trump. Cruz was born in Canada, though his mother is a U.S. citizen. The U.S. Constitution sets only a few standards for presidential eligibility. Candidates...

New York billionaire Donald Trump promises "forward motion" on so called gay rights if elected president. While speaking with Bay Windows publisher Sue O'Connell Friday, Trump spoke about his wishes to unite the country on gay and lesbian issues. According to a report by Bay Windows: O'Connell, who is also Bay Windows' Publisher, identified herself as a lesbian in a question that noted the progress the LGBT community has made in the last two decades and asked Trump if voters can expect him to continue that momentum if elected "When President Trump is in office can we look for more...

On Thursday, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump took the liberal stance on transgender restroom access. Media outlets can call it "moderate" all they want, but it is inescapable that Trump defended biological men using women's restrooms. The Donald is not exactly hesitant to offend people, and transgressing political correctness has been one of the centerpieces of his campaign. He even declared in the past that he would protect Christians and social conservatives, but this acceptance of "transgender rights" may be a sign that he has started pandering to the "center" for the general election.Conservatives have long warned that Trump is unpredictable,...

More than 167,000 people have signed a pledge to boycott Target after the retailer said it would welcome transgender customers to use any bathroom or fitting room that matches their gender identity. The boycott pledge was started by the conservative American Family Association (AFA). "Target's policy is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims," AFA President Tim Wildmon said in an open letter. "This means a man can simply say he 'feels like a woman today' and enter the women's restroom...even if young girls or women are already in there." Wildmon urged people to sign the boycott pledge,...

Gov. Terry McAuliffe this morning will sign an order that effectively restores the civil rights, including the right to vote, of more than 200,000 felons in Virginia. The unprecedented move, expected to be announced at an 11 a.m. news conference on Capitol Square, marks a dramatic expansion of policy in restoring the right to vote, to sit on a jury, to serve in elected office or become a notary. Today's order applies to nonviolent and violent felons - a significant departure from a policy embraced in recent years by Democrat and Republican governors to remove the societal obstacles felons face...

Joe Scarborough reacts to the debate surrounding the revelation of "two Donald Trumps" -- a conservative primary Trump giving way to a centrist general election Trump. JOE SCARBOROUGH: [Trump] is going back to what he has always been. We have said on this air nonstop. He is a Democrat. He is a centrist Democrat. Who gave money to Democrats for years. He has never been a conservative. That's not been a secret to anybody. And yet he has blown the doors off every Republican primary. And when he goes into the general election, it is going to be harder for...

DONALD TRUMP REPRESENTS THE FIRST CANDIDATE FOR WHOM SUCCESS COULD ONLY COME AFTER A CULTURE WAR APOCALYPSE A candidate like Donald Trump should be impossible. A loud, unscripted, hard-edged reality show-style candidate with exceedingly flexible positions on many hot-button issues would be laughed out of contention for the Republican nomination in other years. A man whose serial gaffes and willingness to stick his thumb in the eye of the gatekeepers of good taste would be cooked before he stepped onto the debate stage. An utterly inexperienced politician, who describes our rights and privileges as particular to us as Americans rather...

April 26: Pennsylvania: Trump leads in every poll and is on pace to win the 17 pledged delegates that will go to statewide winner. The 54 unbound delegates will be selected in the primary and will be free to vote for whomever they want at the national convention. Even if they declare a candidate preference before the convention, they will not be formally bound to it in any way. That said, a large number of them are already committing publicly to supporting whichever candidate wins their congressional district – or at least to weighing the district result heavily in their...

After failing to secure a single delegate in Colorado nearly two weeks ago, angry Donald Trump supporters, reacting to the candidate’s claims of a ‘rigged’ nomination process, began taking matters into their own hands. This included issuing death threats to Colorado GOP chairman Steve House, who said he’s received emails warning him to hide his family and “pray” he makes it to the convention in Cleveland, as well as phone calls from people telling him to put a gun down his throat, and if he doesn’t they will come help him out. But it seems House hasn’t been the sole...

... His history with the gay community is a long one. He donated to charities focused on the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and early ’90s. In 2000, when he briefly considered running for president, he gave an interview to The Advocate, a gay magazine, in which he supported amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to “include a ban of discrimination based on sexual orientation.” “It would be simple. It would be straightforward,” Mr. Trump said in the interview, adding, “It’s only fair.” Sixteen years later, gay rights advocates are still trying to persuade Congress to pass a similar...

Previous thread pulled over "Title," so here it is again with exact title from You Tube. Summary: Trump asked about transexual-bathroom controversy starting at 8:35 mark. Basically says there are more important issues. Also states should be a local and state issue. Not something the federal government should be worrying about. Trump also asked, at 10 minute mark, about "taxing wealthy." Says would like to go after the wallstreet guys. Discusses closing loopholes, carried interests, etc. Hannity asks him directly about the "wealthy in general." Trump cites wallstreet guys, basically saying taxes might go up, but says in general taxes...