Friday, April 29, 2016

Donald Trump isn't even in the White House yet, but a wall is being built without him. Not between the U.S. and Mexico, as he promises. The Secret Service is planning to build a taller fence around the Executive Mansion in response to the recent rash of fence jumpers breaching security.

Carly Fiorina may regret agreeing to be the running mate for Ted Cruz after hearing what former House Speaker John Boehner said about him. Boehner, still chapped over Cruz shutting down the government in 2013, tore into the Texas senator in an interview, calling him "Lucifer in the flesh." He added, "I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life."

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has repeatedly said he would not talk about the private email server scandal enveloping his opponent, Hillary Clinton. But that didn't deter his wife, Jane. She told Fox Business Network's Neil Cavuto the FBI should speed up its investigation of the former secretary of state. "It would be nice if the FBI moved it along," she said.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Here's a disturbing report from the Migration Policy Institute: Children born to refugees receive more government benefits like food stamps, cash assistance, and Supplemental Security Income than native-born children.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a message for establishment Republicans: "Get over it." His blunt advice followed a night of five big wins for frontrunner Donald Trump. "I think it'd be very, very hard, virtually impossible, to stop him from winning the nomination at this point.

"Some people might be willing to take the risk to bank on Trump rather than perhaps go with somebody who's going to have to prove that she can build ... trust." - MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, referring to Hillary Clinton.

Monday, April 25, 2016

"Rigged" seems to be the new buzzword in national politics. Donald Trump charges the Republican nominating process is rigged against him. Now billionaire Charles Koch, a major contributor to Republican candidates, tells ABC's "This Week" the economy is "absolutely" rigged and that if he was in control, there would not be "a tax code that subsidizes the wealthy."

Bot parties are concerned about their candidates' rhetoric. Donald Trump's advisers are telling him to tone it down. And Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is warning Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton about their rhetoric, suggesting it could "make it more difficult for us to reunify" after a Democratic nominee for president is chosen.

Could Hillary Clinton's worst problem be boredom among Democratic women. A new Gallup poll shows only 31 percent of women are paying close attention to the presidential race, compared to 44 percent of men. This despite the expectation that Democrats will nominate their first woman as the party candidate.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Border control agents discovered an 800-yard tunnel used to smuggle drugs between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego. Does Donald Trump still want to build that wall?

FBI Director James Comey has raised the possibility of the presidential election campaign becoming even more chaotic than it already is. In response to a question Comey conceded that the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server could extend beyond the Democratic convention in July, at which she is expected to be chosen as the party's nominee in the November election.

When a president visits a foreign country it is customary for him to present a gift to his host head of state. In the case of President Obama's most recent overseas trip, he released nine detainees from the Guantanamo Bay facility to Saudi Arabia.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Whether or not Republicans are successful in eliminating or drastically revising President Obama's signature legislation, Obamacare appears destined to fail on its own. The latest indication is United Health's announcement that after losing $1.1 billion it is dropping out of Obamacare exchanges in all but a few states.

Donald Trump says he wants a "show business" type of Republican convention. But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the 2008 GOP nominee, will miss the July 18-21 event in Cleveland. "I have to campaign for reelection," he said.  McCain faces opposition in an August 30 Republican primary as well as a strong, well-financed Democratic challenge.

Socialist Bernie Sanders finally released his tax return and now we know why he delayed so long. It revealed his outrageous hypocrisy. In running for president Sanders berates high income earners who pay lower taxes than blue-collar workers. But his 2014 return shows a joint income of $205,271 and an effective tax rate of 13.5 percent, compared to an average of 15.2 percent.


Monday, April 18, 2016

Visiting the White House and seeing the president is a rare opportunity that only a small percentage of Americans get to experience. Citizens should be outraged about a report that William Leonard Roberts II was wearing an ankle monitor that went off after President Obama had finished speaking to a group recently. Roberts is a black rapper known as Rick Ross. He has worn the monitor since he was released from jail on $2 million bond in July 2015 after being arrested for kidnapping and assault. He had been invited to the White House to support Obama's initiative to keep young black people out of jail.

Warning: Don't mess with Hillary Clinton -- she's carrying. Not a gun. Hot sauce. She told hosts of a hip hop radio show she always carries a bottle of hot sauce in her purse. Listeners flooded social media with accusations that she was pandering to blacks.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Who remembers Ron Paul? (For that matter, who remembers Rand Paul, his son, who was one of the 17 Republicans running for president until Donald Trump forced all but two of them out.) Doug Wead remembers Ron Paul because he was a senior adviser to him when he ran for president in 2012. He also remembers his "lost delegates". a block of supporters that stayed in place after party leaders blocked Paul from getting the nomination. Wead, now a presidential historian, says many of them  have been duly elected to this year's GOP convention and could decide whether Trump, Ted Cruz or someone else is the nominee this time around.

Members of Congress will not miss a weekend at home (visiting with their constituents, of course) no matter what. House Republicans skipped out of Washington, missing a deadline for passing a budget for the next fiscal year. House Speaker Paul Ryan's plans to pass a budget resolution early fell victim to old habits.