Your tax dollars at work

at credit: www.telegraph.com.uk

From today’s Press Release from Judicial Watch:

Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the Department of the Air Force revealing the Obama family 2015 Christmas vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii, cost the taxpayers $3,590,313.60 in flight expenses alone. According to the Air Force records, the Obamas used both Air Force One and a Boeing C-32A, the military equivalent of a Boeing 757, which was apparently use to transport the First Lady.

Judicial Watch also has obtained records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealing that President Obama’s four trips to New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Palm City, Florida in 2014 and 2015 cost taxpayers at least $286,416.64 for Secret Service travel and accommodations.  The Obama trips to New York and Los Angeles were solely for fundraising events. In Chicago, the president campaigned for Rahm Emanuel. The Palm City trip was a golf outing with no official activities.

Judicial Watch has previously reported the flight expenses of the New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Palm City trips.

The records obtained by Judicial Watch for the Obama family’s 2015 Honolulu Christmas vacation reveal the following flight expenses totaling $3,590,313.60:

• Air Force One, at $180,118 per hour for 18.2 hours – totaling $3,278,147.60
• A Boeing C-32A, at $15,846 per hour for 19.7 hours – totaling $312,166

 More infuriating details are here.

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Lyin’ media

Art credit: bnp.org.uk

Media bias is everywhere. And this morning, when reading about the misdemeanor charge of assault against Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, in Florida (an incident involving Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields on March 8 -- over a couple of weeks ago -- that was shown to be a nothing-burger), and then looking at the video that shows that nothing happened to warrant the charge, you just knew it was going to be bad for Trump.

Did we expect non-stop crawls on CNN and Fox, keeping viewer attention on the charge of assault? Turned on the TV to flip between the two stations. Yup. Wall-to-wall crawls. The report in the crawl was technically correct -  a charge WAS filed against Trump’s campaign manager. And that’s all that was needed to get the lyin’ media coverage. Never mind that the charge is baseless.

And here is what will probably happen, if they run true to form. The lyin’ media will run the headline as long as they can (and they've been including shots of the stop-action video that would make it APPEAR that there was some basis in fact for the charge, when in fact, there is no “there” there, as Gertrude Stein would have said). And maybe in a few days, or in a week or two, the charge will be quietly dropped, and if the lyin’ media covers it at all, they will bury it. 

And that’s the technique. Burn that impression into the viewer’s mind for a few days, and you’ve done the job. No matter whether it’s false, retracted, or withdrawn. Damage is done.

The tactic today got the lyin’ media a twofer: it shoved the Ted Cruz "Cuban Mistress Crisis" off to the side, and it threw mud at the Trump campaign.

Video is at Gateway Pundit, among other places.

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Paul Ryan facing primary challenge

art credit; politicspa.com

Encouraging development or wishful thinking? From the Washington Times:

A wealthy businessman with tea party ties confirmed Sunday that he is mounting a primary challenge to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, saying that after donating to the Wisconsin Republican’s past campaigns he feels “betrayed” by the speaker on trade deals and immigration.

The businessman, who is not yet revealing his identity, promised that his run will “shake up the establishment in a profound way,” according to a political consultant close to the prospective candidate.

The emergence of a viable Republican challenger in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District is the culmination of a monthslong recruitment effort by tea party activists who say they were double-crossed by Mr. Ryan when he passed a $2 trillion spending package late last year.

Eric Odom, a conservative activist and political consultant in Wisconsin, confirmed with “100 percent certainty” that a local business leader would be running to oust Mr. Ryan.

Read more here.  

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter

from Cleveland Tea Party Patriots

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Establishment candidates galore

cartoon credit: thecomicnews.com

Sundance reported:

Kasich won Ohio; therefore he has to stay in. 

Why?

Because if Kasich dropped out according to Ohio election law all of his 66 delegates become bound to the second place finisher, Donald Trump.

John Kasich cannot exit the race without helping Donald Trump.  Senator Ted Cruz knows this.  Senator Ted Cruz does not want Governor John Kasich to leave the race because of it. Yet Ted Cruz goes on TV demanding a Kasich exit.

When you accept these fundamental truths, you clearly see, yet again, the GOPe scheme involves Ted Cruz.

It sounds outrageous, but it would seem to be confirmed by a Politico story by Eli Stokols:

GOP elites line up behind Ted Cruz

Establishment is increasingly prepared to lose with Cruz

than hand the party to Trump

Republican elders, desperate to stop Donald Trump, are increasingly convinced they would rather forfeit the White House than hand their party to the divisive Manhattan billionaire.

That’s why the party’s establishment is suddenly rallying behind Ted Cruz, a man they’ve long despised and who has little chance, in the view of many GOP veterans, of defeating Hillary Clinton on Election Day.

Read the rest here.

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Governor Kasich: Which party do you belong to?

art credit: thebullelephant.com

From RyanLovelace yesterday at The Washington Examiner (beware of the link; it’s a user-UNfriendly website):

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he isn't willing to serve as anyone's vice president, but he indicated party affiliation would not matter to him when choosing his own running mate.

After losing the Arizona primary and trailing a candidate who is no longer running for president, Kasich hit the campaign trail in Wisconsin and told voters only he could beat the Democrats in November.

He ruled out the possibility of serving with any GOP nominee, but would not oppose putting a Democrat near the top of the Republican ticket himself in November.

“I'm going to be nobody's vice president, OK?” Kasich said, interrupting a questioner at a town hall in Wauwatosa. "I will not be anybody's vice president. Just so you know."

So, he won’t run for Vice President on the GOP ticket, but if nominated for President by the GOP (presumably nominated at a brokered convention, since mathematically he cannot win with delegates), he’d be happy choosing a Democrat as his running mate?!?!

Who’s side is he on? Actually, it looks like he’s on the side of the elite establishment political class, both GOP and Democrat (the so-called Uniparty). He’s accepted campaign contributions from George Soros and his surrogates; see CTPP’s earlier blog here. The GOPe does not care whether it wins or loses, as long as the elite noses are still in the trough. And Gov. Kasich is part of the elite’s game plan.

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Utah Caucus irregularities

cartoon credit: thepoliticalcarnival.net

Some Cleveland Tea Party patriots will have already seen this report, since it was linked on Drudge today, but it is very disturbing:  

UTAH CAUCUS: First hand insider report - Incompetence, Manipulation, and Ballot Stuffing!!!

Just got back from my caucus... My head is still spinning.

Check in was slow but reasonably controlled. Super-long lines. I've never seen turnout like this.

Got my credentials, but no presidential ballot. They said those would be delivered to our caucus room.

Got to my caucus room. I counted about 120 people there (no idea how many were actually registered and credentialed). 

We elected Precinct Officers, State Delegates, and County Delegates - the typical incompetence and ignorance of the rules you'd expect to see from volunteers, but all went somewhat smooth.

...Then came the Presidential Ballot. 

Someone shows up with a stack of probably 250 ballots. The precinct chair splits them up, and starts handing stacks of them out and tells people "take one and pass it down". 

No checking credentials, IDs, NOTHING.

I'm sitting at the end of a row and people start handing me stacks of extras. I literally had over 50 ballots in my hand. 

We were told to mark our vote and place our ballot in a tin can. They then asked for a volunteer to hold the can. At this point, most people filed out the door. 

I cast ONE vote, then stuck around to see what would happen with the votes. 

About 15 minutes later, with only about 10 or so people milling around, someone walks in the room with an envelopes STUFFED full of "absentee" ballots - some envelopes having 2-5+ ballots. 

I raised a question and said, "isn't there an absentee process already in place? Didn't people have to register for that last week?" and was told "Oh no, this is completely normal". 

As I've mentioned in other threads, I was in Party leadership for 6 years and no, this is absolutely not normal.

I then asked if I could observe the vote count, and I was told my observations were not needed and to leave the area while the ballots were being counted. 

I left the room (things were already a complete Charlie Foxtrot at this point) and wandered over to my friends precinct caucus to see if it was just as much a cluster. 

His caucus was just getting to the presidential ballot, and as I walked in the door I was handed ANOTHER BALLOT. 

Again, no credential check, no ID check, NOTHING.

No, I didn't vote again... 

I went back to my precinct and they had the results: 

   74% Cruz

   14% Trump

   11% Kasich

Now just imagine this kind of outright incompetence/manipulation happening in 2000 precincts across the state.

As I left the building, I started overhearing results coming back from other precincts... Overwhelmingly numbers for Cruz... Like 70-90% or more. (In one precinct Cruz got around 100, Trump had 2, Kasich 0).

Bottom line... They basically are going to post whatever the hell numbers they want. 

There were no apparent controls, no credential checks, no ID checks, and ballots being handed around like napkins. 

UTAH RESULTS ARE A COMPLETE SHAM.

 # # #

Cruz news

artwork credit: tulsaworld.com   

Lots of Tea Party people liked Ted Cruz’s filibuster to oppose Obamacare. Remember when he read Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham? 

But more recently, there has been some unnerving news about Ted Cruz. It’s bad enough that Glenn Beck seems to have gone off the rails with extreme statements and behavior, but now he is claiming that Cruz is the anointed priest, the “Fulfillment of Mormon Prophecy.”

Gateway Pundit has the video of Beck claiming that “This is the Priesthood Rising!”

Earlier reports described Cruz’s “dominionist” father Rafael Cruz who “indicated that his son was among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as “kings” to take control of all sectors of society, an agenda commonly referred to as the “Seven Mountains” mandate, and “bring the spoils of war to the priests”, thus helping to bring about a prophesied “great transfer of wealth”, from the “wicked” to righteous gentile believers. The YouTube video is here (h/t Conservative Treehouse).

Conservative Treehouse (a pro-Trump blogger) discusses the widely held perception that Cruz is a Washington “outsider,” when in fact that elaborate position masks the fact that he is a classic political “insider” and part of the GOPe (GOP elite) network – and has been all along. 

This blog previously posted why there are problems with Cruz’s eligibility as a natural born citizen.

This is all scary stuff, even if Cruz drops out of the race. Gov. Kasich cannot win enough delegates mathematically, so that leaves two alternative scenarios: [1] Donald Trump goes into the July convention with enough votes to meet the new rules of 1,237 delegates (he is presently at 678, Cruz at 423) as well as winning 8 states with a majority (not plurality) of delegates, or [2] the first vote is inconclusive, and the GOPe heads for the backroom to engineer the subsequent vote(s).

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George Soros and surrogates contributed $700,000 to John Kasich’s campaign

cartoon credit: comicallyincorrect.com

Over the last several months, this blogsite posted articles and links to expose the source of campaign funds for the leading candidates. Those candidates were Jeb! Bush here, Ben Carson here, Chris Christie here, Ted Cruz here, Marco Rubio here, and Donald Trump here. I did not include Governor John Kasich, because at the time, his role in the campaign appeared to be limited to siphoning off votes from top contenders. He succeeded in winning Ohio, but he is still not a serious contender, because mathematically, there are not enough delegates left in future primaries to put him over the top. But Ohio voters might still be interested in Gov. Kasich’s campaign funding sources. From Life Site News two days ago:

It took the Ohio Governor 29 tries, but he finally won his first state in the GOP primaries.   In Tuesday’s GOP primaries, Ohio’s Governor John Kasich won his home state, and one of the most important states of the general election map. 

Although it is now a mathematical impossibility for Governor Kasich to reach the necessary 1,237 votes to win the GOP primary nomination outright, the Ohio Governor has vowed to stay in the race, betting on a brokered convention along with a suspension of the convention’s rules to clinch the nomination.

As a point of explanation, Governor Kasich is not only mathematically shut out of the nomination based on delegates, but also on the fact that a candidate must win at least 8 states before he can be considered for the convention’s ballots.  This appears highly unlikely given the Governor’s 1-28 record to date.

However, there may be a different reason for Governor Kasich to remain in the race, and that can be discovered by following the trail of his donors.

A simple search of Governor Kasich’s 2016 Presidential campaign donations lists the Soros Fund Management as the sixth highest individual donor with $202,700. The seventh largest donor is the Duquesne Family Office with $150,000.  On the Super PAC side, Kasich’s New Day for America received $150,000 from Stanley Drukenmiller (who operates the Duquesne Family Office) and $200,000 from Scott Beset, who is employed by the Soros Fund Management.

Scott Bessent served as George Soros’ chief investment manager until late 2015, while Stanley Druckenmiller currently manages $2 billion of Soros’ hedge funds. Clearly, these three names, George Soros, Scott Bessent, and Stanly Drukenmiller represent George Soros just as New Day for America and Kasich for America represent Governor John Kasich.

  

In total therefore, George Soros, personally and through surrogates, has donated over $700,000 to Governor John Kasich’s campaign.

The Open Secrets pages are here and here, listing contributors. Hopefully those in other states who have yet to vote in their primaries will learn about this.  

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GOP elites to Republican voters: Drop Dead

cartoon credit: niftyatheist.com

CNBC reports (h/t Gateway Pundit):

Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.

“The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That’s the conflict here,” Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota [and a Republican convention rules member], told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.

Haugland is one of 112 Republican delegates who are not required to cast their support for any one candidate because their states and territories don’t hold primaries or caucuses.

Even with Trump’s huge projected delegate haul in four state primaries Tuesday, the odds are increasing the billionaire businessman may not ultimately get the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the GOP nomination before the convention.

This could lead to a brokered convention, in which unbound delegates, like Haugland, could play a significant swing role on the first ballot to choose a nominee.

Most delegates bound by their state’s primary or caucus results are only committed on the first ballot. If subsequent ballots are needed, virtually all of the delegates can vote any way they want, said Gary Emineth, another unbound delegate from North Dakota.

“It could introduce Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, or it could be the other candidates that have already been in the race and are now out of the race [such as] Mike Huckabee [or] Rick Santorum. All those people could eventually become candidates on the floor,” Emineth said.

And at Politico we see that (h/t HotGas)

Former Speaker John Boehner said Paul Ryan should be the Republican nominee for president if the party fails to choose a candidate on the first ballot.

"If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I'm for none of the above," Boehner said at the Futures Industry Association conference here. "They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I'm for none of the above. I'm for Paul Ryan to be our nominee."

Wading into the GOP nominating battle for the first time since leaving office last fall, Boehner said that "anybody can be nominated" at the convention in Cleveland this summer.

The GOP establishment / elite (GOPe) couldn’t breathe life into the Jeb! campaign. Then they tried to push Marco Rubio as the Jeb! surrogate and that maneuver failed. Gov. Kasich’s job in the race was to deprive any momentum candidate of the 66 Ohio winner-take-all delegates. Kasich succeeded, but otherwise it is now a two-candidate race. Neither Cruz nor Trump is acceptable to the GOPe. So we are seeing the GOPe preparing to force a brokered convention. And it's now out in the open.

# # #

Get out and vote!

Ohio Primary today

Get out and vote!

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More photos and video from Cleveland rally for Donald Trump

Backstage at the Trump rally

Here is a Must See video of Pastor Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center Ministries of Cleveland Heights introducing Mr. Trump :

Here are a few photographs courtesy Pat J Dooley:

IX Center filling up

Pledge of allegiance and Star Spangled Banner

Cleveland Tea Partiers Ralph King and photographer

A homemade sign

Mr. Trump onstage

Posters, cameras, selfies galore

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Governor John Kasich on Immigration, amnesty

Art credit: beforeitsnews.com

Illegal immigration has emerged as one of the most important issues in this primary election season. Fair (Federation for American immigration Reform) summarizes some fiscal and employment impacts of illegal immigration:

This report estimates the annual costs of illegal immigration at the federal, state and local level to be about $113 billion; nearly $29 billion at the federal level and $84 billion at the state and local level. The study also estimates tax collections from illegal alien workers, both those in the above-ground economy and those in the underground economy. Those receipts do not come close to the level of expenditures and, in any case, are misleading as an offset because over time unemployed and underemployed U.S. workers would replace illegal alien workers.

Tomorrow’s Ohio primary is less than 24 hours away, and here’s a report from Julia Hahn at Breitbart:

With Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’s presidential hopes diminishing as his personal demons catch up with him—from his relationship with billionaire Norman Braman to his role in pushing Obama’s amnesty—the donor class seems to be turning its eyes to John Kasich’s last stand in Ohio.

The hope seems to be that a Kasich win in Ohio will not only deny GOP frontrunner Donald Trump delegates, but will also create a new vehicle for arriving at a contested convention.

Because the Kasich campaign was largely ignored as a non-factor prior to Rubio’s polling collapse, Kasich went months with virtually no scrutiny of even his most bizarre statements on the campaign trail.

However, in recent days, Trump has increasingly set his sights on Kasich—whether it be Kasich’s role at Lehman Brothers during the time of the economic collapse, as well as Kasich’s support for NAFTA and Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement—a deal which Donald Trump and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) have warned would destroy Ohio’s auto industry.

In particular, Trump has zeroed in on Kasich’s heretofore overlooked push for massive amnesty. Though it has transpired without much attention, Kasich has quietly amassed a string of bizarre, peculiar, and extreme statements on immigration that places him to the furthest leftward reaches of not just the Republican President field, but the Democratic Presidential field as well. This perhaps underscores an element of seriousness to Kasich’s previous declaration, which he had intended in jest: “I ought to be running in a Democrat primary.”

Below are just some of Kasich’s most bizarre and radical statements on immigration, which have flown under the radar.  

1) “God Bless” Illegal Immigrants . . .

2) “I couldn’t imagine” enforcing our current immigration laws: “That is not… the kind of values that we believe in.” . . .

3) Kasich likened deporting the illegal population to Japanese internment camps . . .

4) Illegal immigrants “are some of the hardest-working, God-fearing, family-oriented people you can ever meet.” . . .

5) Allowing ICE officers to do their jobs is not “humane” . . .

6) America can’t deport illegal immigrants because they are “made in the image of the Lord”  . . .

7) Kasich has called for implementing an open borders-style policy where workers can come and go as they please. . . .

8) Kasich would enact amnesty within his first 100 days. . . .

9) America shouldn’t address ending birthright citizenship because it’s “dividing people” . . .

10) Illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay because “they’re here” . . .

Read the full report here.

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Trump rallies in Ohio: just who are these protesters?

Branco cartoon credit: http://comicallyincorrect.com/

Gov. John Kasich criticized the Trump campaign for creating a “toxic” environment inthe GOP race for the presidential nomination, blaming the Trump campaign for the thug violence that resulted in a rally being postponed the other day in Chicago. But the thugs are the usual suspects:  MoveOn.org, Black Lives Matter, and Communists, among others (via Gateway Pundit).   

At the Cleveland rally at the IX Center, protesters lined the access road into the parking lot, but a few made it past security and tried to disrupt the rally. They were thrown out, and Trump supporters chanted “Trump. Trump, Trump” while the thugs were removed. No violence. 

As Trump said, it’s not Trump supporters who are disrupting rallies. It’s those who are supporting, in particular, Bernie Sanders. 

The Cleveland rally for Trump can be viewed here or here.

Cleveland and other Ohio Tea Partiers were there and reported firsthand. And take a look at Cleveland Tea Party’s very own Ralph King backstage (below) with Mr. Trump. 

More photos to come...

# # #

Countdown to the Ohio GOP primary: Kasich and Trump

Photo credit: onpolitics.usatoday.com

It’s coming down to a contest between Governor John Kasich and Donald J. Trump.

From CNN Politics:

Internally, Kasich's team is encouraged by what they see happening on the ground. Save for a series of ad buys and a few appearances in the state, they've seen little else in the form of an organization from Trump in the state. Marco Rubio, focused solely on survival in Florida, and Ted Cruz, aren't planning any stops in the state.

The only remaining campaign stops in Ohio before next Tuesday's primary are tomorrow, Saturday, March 12, both rallies for Donald J. Trump:

In Dayton at 10a.m. 

In Cleveland at 2pm.

The latest polling at Real Clear Politics shows Kasich and Trump in a close race.

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Confusion on the Ohio Primary Ballot ~ GOP

A day or two ago  Conservative Treehouse posted a 3-minute video about Confusion on the Ohio Primary Ballot for Republican voters. The Democratic party ballot is straightforward. 

Secretary of State John Husted has finally responded with a press release that includes the following:

State election leaders say there is nothing unusual about the ballots, urging voters to choose their candidates in both columns.

Cleveland Tea Party Patriots’ Ralph King confirms that a voter’s principal choice is for the Delegate-at-Large, but a second vote for a District Delegate / District Alternate does not cancel out or affect the at-Large vote. So vote twice for the candidate of your choice. 

# # #

Republican "debate" tonight. Again.

Cartoon credit: Mike Peters via TheModerateVoice.com

Yet another GOP "debate" tonight (if there is anyone left who is not already suffering from debate fatigue):

CNN Republican Debate: Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential debate from the University of Miami in Miami

8:30 - 11:00 PM on CNN 

# # # 

Gov. John Kasich and Donald J. Trump campaign in Cleveland this week

Photo credit: onpolitics.usatoday

Gov. John Kasich and Donald J. Trump
campaign in Cleveland this week

The Ohio primary election is on Tuesday, March 15, a week from tomorrow. At least two of the four GOP candidates will hold rallies in the greater Cleveland area this week.

From Fox8 Cleveland:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich will be in Broadview Heights on Tuesday night for a rally.

He is already speaking at a rally on Sunday in Columbus with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tuesday's event will be held at the Ohio CAT headquarters on Royalton Road in Broadview Heights. [Address: 3993 E Royalton Rd, Broadview Heights, OH 44147, map here] 

From blog.4president:

Donald J. Trump in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, March 12, 2016

When: Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 2:00 PM (EST)

Where: I-X Center Drive,  Cleveland, OH, map and directions here  

Hosted By: Donald J. Trump for President

Register for this event now at eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/donald-j-trump-in-cleveland-oh-tickets-22635314836 

Doors open at 11:00 AM

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