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Economy

(Photo: REUTERS)

Existing home sales in the U.S. increased to their highest level in 18 months in March fueled by inventory levels, according to an industry report Wednesday.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales increased 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.19 million units, the highest level since September 2013. The percent increase was the largest since December 2010.

“After a quiet start to the year, sales activity picked up greatly throughout the country in March,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun he said. “The combination of low interest rates and the ongoing stability in the job market is improving buyer confidence and finally releasing some of the sizable pent-up demand that accumulated in recent years.”

February’s sales pace was revised up to 4.89 million units from the previously reported 4.88 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home resales rising to only a 5.03 million-unit pace last month.

Housing inventory climbed 5.3 percent to 2.00 million existing homes on the housing market for sale, bringing it 2.0 percent higher than a year ago when it was at 1.96 million. Further, inventory is at a 4.6-month supply at the current sales pace, which is down from 4.7 months in February.

“The modest rise in housing supply at the end of the month despite the strong growth in sales is a welcoming sign,” adds Yun. “For sales to build upon their current pace, homeowners will increasingly need to be confident in their ability to sell their home while having enough time and choices to upgrade or downsize. More listings and new home construction are still needed to tame price growth and provide more opportunity for first-time buyers to enter the market.”

The fairly upbeat report will not be enough, however, to sway economists’ expectations on second quarter growth following a considerably weak first quarter. Considering the abysmal data on retail sales, housing starts and manufacturing, the report will be unlikely to convince the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates in June.

Meanwhile, the housing market lobby urged lawmakers in the Senate to chip away at the president’s post-financial crisis financial reform bill.

“This legislation levels the playing field for brokerages with affiliated business agreements by eliminating the 3 percent cap on the calculations of fees and points in the Dodd-Frank Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage rule,” NAR President Chris Polychron, executive broker with 1st Choice Realty in Hot Springs, Ark., said.

Regional Data: Source NAR

March existing-home sales in the Northeast increased 6.9 percent to an annual rate of 620,000, and are 1.6 percent above a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $240,500, which is 1.6 percent below a year ago.

In the Midwest, existing-home sales jumped 10.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.20 million in March, and are now 12.1 percent above March 2014. The median price in the Midwest was $163,600, up 9.7 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the South climbed 3.8 percent to an annual rate of 2.19 million in March, and are now 11.7 percent above March 2014. The median price in the South was $187,900, up 9.3 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the West rose 6.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.18 million in March, and are now 11.3 percent above a year ago. The median price in the West was $305,000, which is 8.3 percent above March 2014.

Existing home sales in the U.S. increased

World

yemen-coup

A Houthi fighter fires at forces guarding the Presidential Palace during clashes in Sanaa January 19, 2015. (REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

Though the Sunni kingdom announced late Tuesday that it would halt the air campaign in Yemen, the Saudi airstrikes continued Wednesday in the city of Taiz. The airstrikes in Taiz came after Houthi rebels reportedly seized a strategic base just outside the city, and a report from the Iranian Tasnim news agency indicating the regime in Tehran was looking for a way out of a quickly escalating situation.

“We are optimistic that in the coming hours, after many efforts, we will see a halt to military attacks in Yemen,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

The development came just two days after U.S. President Barack Obama late Monday ordered the USS Theodore Roosevelt to join the battle fleet in the Persian Gulf. Though the White House tried to push back on the claim Tuesday, Pentagon officials tell PPD the mission was to intercept if necessary shipments of Iranian weapons to the rebels, bringing the number of U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf to at least 9.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, himself, took to Twitter to reenforce reports claiming Iran was willing to put a lease on their Shiite militant rebels.

The Iranian-backed former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose support for the Houthis aided their territorial gains and contributed to his ouster, also publicly urged a halt to the conflict.

“We hope that everybody will return to dialogue to solve and treat all the issues,” he said in a statement right before the Houthis attacked the base outside of Taiz. Now, despite the calls for dialogue, heavy fighting continued Wednesday in the port city of Aden.

Saudi Arabia began leading a coalition of allied Arab countries in a bombing campaign against the Houthis in late March. The Iran-backed Shiite rebel militants, whose official slogan is “Death to Israel, Death to America,” seized control of the capital of Sanaa and forced the resignation of U.S.- and Saudi-backed former President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

iran-yemen-straits

The Strait of Bab el Mandeb (West Operations Area) and Strait of Hormuz (South Operations Area) sandwiches the currently embattled and disputed country of Yemen.

Iran has long sought to isolate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their Sunni-dominated arch nemesis across the Gulf. However, control of both the West Operations Area (Bab el Mandeb) and South Operations Area (Hormuz) through proxy states or directly would not only achieve that goal, but also allow them to gain significant control over the Middle East oil supply and global oil markets.

The violence in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation, has resulted in extensive civilian casualties. As of now, it is less than clear whether that violence will end anytime soon. Though Saudi officials maintained Tuesday that they had achieved their goals in launching the intervention, their stated objective at its outset — the restoration of Hadi to power — remains uncompleted.

At least 944 people have died in the fighting.

Saudi Arabia is still gearing up to shift its military strategy to include special forces training Sunni militiamen in southern Yemen, who vowed never to lay down their weapons against Houthi rebels. Fighting continued Wednesday in the port city of Aden,

[brid video=”7295″ player=”1929″ width=”630″ height=”354″]

Though the Sunni kingdom announced late Tuesday

Opinion

rand_paul_getty2015

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kty., speaks to media. (Photo: Getty Images)

It’s not smart to get too enthusiastic about any politician. I’ve been disappointed often. I believed Bill Clinton when he said, “the era of big government is over.” I thought George W. Bush was a “small government guy.” And Barack Obama …

Well, never mind.

If I want limited government and individual freedom, to whom do I turn?

Ted Cruz? I want to like him. He’s smart. He’s read economists Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, etc. He confronted Obama’s attorney general about constitutional limits on killing Americans with drones. He fought hard against ObamaCare.

But he also seems so eager to go to war. It also bothers me that he praises states’ independence but then criticizes President Obama for giving states a tiny bit of free rein to set drug policy.

I like Jeb Bush personally. I like Govs. Walker, Kasich and Perry. But they also seem eager to go to war in the Middle East and continue the destructive drug war in America.

So I plan to vote for Rand Paul.

Sen. Paul confuses people. Some Ron Paul fans say Rand is not as committed to liberty as his father. But some of their complaints seem ambiguous. Yes, Rand avoids alienating conservatives because he wants the Republican nomination. But has he violated his principles?

He doesn’t call for drug legalization but wants to decrease penalties, and he doesn’t rule out legalization.

He voted for sanctions on Iran, which bothers hardcore libertarians, but of the policies under consideration, sanctions were better than war.

And Rand wants the Senate to fulfill its constitutional role by approving any war. That’s libertarian.

He supported increases in defense spending, but at least he said they should be offset by reductions in other spending.

Paul disappoints me by opposing gay marriage and saying a “moral crisis allows people to think there would be some other sort of marriage.” What? If anything, there are fewer “moral crises” in America: Crime, teen pregnancy, teen sexual activity and use of marijuana are all trending down. I wish politicians would get off their “moral crisis” pedestal.

At least Rand did not ask the government to ban gay marriage. It’s a relief when a politician draws a line between what his religion tells him and what government ought to do.

Where Rand Paul shines is in the clarity of his plans to shrink government. When elected to the Senate, he said his big priorities were “the debt, the debt and the debt.”

Good. With the federal government $18 trillion in the hole, we can’t afford another big-government president.

Paul presented budget proposals (visible online) that left-wing critics like Vox say are “the most radical vision of limited government ever presented by a major American presidential candidate (apart, perhaps, from Paul’s father, Ron Paul).”

He wants to eliminate the Department of Education, Amtrak subsidies, the Department of Energy, foreign aid and other programs that do more harm than good. He would privatize Medicare and partially privatize Social Security.

Paul criticizes crony capitalist subsidies, and, unlike most politicians who suck up to Midwestern farmers by offering ethanol subsidies, he proposes merely eliminating regulations that inhibit ethanol production. That’s libertarian.

Paul’s practicing politics, but it’s still pretty libertarian politics. In fact, he seems to lean over backward to stick to libertarian principles — even while trying to sound like a mainstream politician.
Most politicians just change their “principles” to fit the needs of their campaign. And maybe keeping things vague is the way to win. Hillary Clinton’s website doesn’t even give any specific policy positions.

Liberals should consider voting for this Republican. Paul’s been more vocal than any Democrat in his warnings about civil liberties violations by police, the Dept. of Homeland Security and the NSA. His criticism of policies that disproportionately harm minorities let him reach out to groups that Republicans have often ignored. A recent poll of swing states found Paul would beat Hillary Clinton in Colorado and Iowa.

Rand Paul is not perfectly libertarian, but of those who might be president, he’s the best thing we’ve got.

In 2012, I voted for Gary Johnson. Next year: Rand Paul.

John Stossel is host of “Stossel” on Fox News and author of “No They Can’t! Why Government Fails, but Individuals Succeed.”

John Stossel warns that it isn't too

Polls

obama-immigration-order-unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled large parts of President Obama’s executive immigration order unconstitutional, in the first court opinion to tackle Obama’s controversial policy changes. Then, a federal judge in Texas put the brakes on the policy.

President Obama’s lawyer had a rough day last Friday before a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals attempting to fend off the immigration lawsuit filed by 26 states. According to the latest polls and oral arguments on President Obama’s executive amnesty, the policy is losing in the courts of public and legal opinion.

Let’s begin with the court of public opinion.

As PPD has previously examined, particularly in the case of immigration, the results get worse when the question is asked more plainly. We have examined and explained the data on this topic in great detail in the past, but most voters still oppose President Obama’s executive order to exempt millions of illegal immigrants from deportation. In fact, according to Rasmussen tracking, more than ever say he doesn’t have the legal authority to take such action, which is precisely the question presently making its way through federal courts.

But voters remain closely divided over whether their state should be part of the legal challenge now tying up Obama’s plan in court. While 59 percent say Obama does not have that legal power to issue the order, which is up from 52 percent in February and a new high to date, 43 percent of voters want their state to sue the administration. That’s still more than the 39 percent who say they are opposed, but a significant 18 percent remain undecided.

However, there is evidence to suggest the vast majority of undecideds will not be swayed to support the plan regardless of how the courts rule.

Overall, 56 percent of likely voters now oppose the president’s plan, up from 51 percent measured by Rasmussen in early February. Meanwhile, only 35 percent favor the plan, which is little changed from two months ago, and only 25 percent believe the president has the legal authority to grant executive amnesty without the approval of Congress. A nearly identical number of voters (26 percent) say Obama should take action if Congress doesn’t lay down in front of him.

Most voters continue to believe the federal government is encouraging illegal immigration and more voters than ever feel the United States is not aggressive enough in deporting those who are here illegally. Further, most also still say that securing the border is more important than legalizing illegal immigrant workers already here.

Sixty-one percent of voters favor the Madisonian Constitutional philosophy, thus they say the government should only do what the president and Congress agree on when it comes to immigration, which is up four points from early December. Though voters under 40 are disproportionately more likely than older voters to say the president has the legal authority, voters of all ages still agree the government should only do what Congress and the president decide together on immigration.

The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 19-20, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Let’s move on to the court of legal opinion.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in February granted the preliminary injunction requested by the states and temporarily blocked the president’s order.

“The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle,” Judge Hanen wrote, flat-out stating that he agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that the burden from legalizing millions of people is sufficient for standing, He said the order — if allowed to take effect — would be a “virtually irreversible” action.

The administration further dug their hole deeper when the judge caught them in a lie.

However, the substance of district court Judge Andrew Hanen’s Feb. 16 injunction order was not the question before the 5th Circuit, yet; only whether the government’s request for a stay (or lifting the injunction while the appeal is pending) would be granted.

Benjamin Mizer, the acting assistant attorney general of the Civil Division at the Justice Department, made a series of arguments that appeared not to sit well with the justices.

Mizer argued the government had “good reasons to grant” work permits because it would allow an otherwise illegal immigrant “to work on the books rather than off the books.” Because it is a “third-party crime” for an employer to hire an illegal, providing work permits “is actually reducing crime by reducing the third-party crime.”

“In other words, rather than enforcing federal immigration law that prohibits employers from employing any noncitizen who doesn’t have a work permit, it is better for the government (without authority) to issue work permits to illegal aliens so employers won’t break the law the administration doesn’t want to enforce,” notes Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies who attended the hearing. “The government has to break the law so employers won’t have to.”

The justices were skeptical.

Judge Smith said that — on the issue of standing, which the government argued the states do not have — the case of Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) seems quite relevant. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in that case that the states had standing on the issue of the EPA’s then-nonregulation of so-called greenhouse gases. Judge Smith appeared to believe the case ironically gave plenty of precedent to grant the states standing.

Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller also pegged Mizer down by arguing that the injunction simply keeps the existing status quo on immigration law. Judge Jennifer Elrod quickly noted that the court was “big about [preserving] the status quo,” particularly regarding the Supreme Court “in the middle of cases.” When she asked Mizer to answer why it could not be considered a “logistical mess” for the 5th Circuit to lift the stay, considering the government would move to issue work permits and grant tax benefits even though the states could win the lawsuit, he was stumped.

Judge Elrod said illegals who are legalized by the executive amnesty “could end up with a big check and you’d need to knock on their door and ask for it back.”

It struck at the heart of Judge Hanen’s ruling, which stated the “genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle,” and Mizer only answered by stating they had “additional logistical steps” to take, and that illegal immigrants “probably” would not be able to collect tax credits before the case was decided because there are “a lot of hoops that an individual had to jump through.”

I read polls better than judges, but it would be a safe bet to assume that the 5th Circuit was just as convinced as the American people.

According to the latest polls and

Economy

There are some things in life that are guaranteed to make me smile. Georgia Bulldog victories are on that list, of course, and I also relish occasional moments of glory on the softball field.

Shifting to the world of public policy, nothing warms my heart and brings a smile to my face faster than news that taxpayers have successfully escaped the greedy and grasping claws of government.

I cheered when successful French taxpayers moved across the border when Francois Hollande imposed a 75 percent class-warfare tax rate. And I was overjoyed when elitist French politicians whined that the geese with the golden eggs were escaping.

I was happy to learn about consumers traveling across borders to escape punitive air-travel taxes in places such as England and the Netherlands.

I applauded when Toyota moved hundreds of jobs from high-tax California to low-tax Texas. And when oppressed taxpayers successfully escaped from New Jersey. Or from Detroit.

I also was glad to find out that Americans can dramatically reduce their tax bills by moving to Puerto Rico, which is a completely legal tax haven for U.S. citizens.

I’m even happy when American companies use “inversions” to get out from under America’s insanely punitive approach to business taxation. I’ll also defend individual Americans who reluctantly give up their passports to protect themselves from confiscatory taxation.

The common theme in all these examples is that politicians were unable to seize as much money as they hoped because taxpayers had the ability to shift economic activity to jurisdictions with better policy.

This is why tax competition is so praiseworthy – and also why we need to be so concerned about sinister efforts to create cartels for the purpose of replacing this liberalizing process with an “OPEC for politicians.”

But I’m guilty of digressing. Today, we simply want to focus on good news.

And I know this Bloomberg story made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Here are some excerpts about the looming decision of at least one bank to escape excessive English taxes.

HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, has faced calls to move its domicile away from the British capital after the government increased the levy on bank’s balance sheets for an eighth time this year. HSBC is hit the hardest by the tax and paid 750 million pounds ($1.1 billion) last year. Both the Labour and Conservative parties have pledged a more onerous tax regime for banks in their manifestos for the May 7 U.K. election. “Banks and pay are still easy cannon fodder for politicians,” said Jonathan Tyce, senior banks analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in London. “The lines between the Labour and Conservative parties are more blurred than usual and either way, it doesn’t look promising for banks or bankers.” …Standard Chartered Plc, another British bank that like HSBC makes most of its profit in Asia, is also being urged by Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, its second-largest shareholder, to relocate to Asia because of the cost of being in London.

Good. I hope both banks leave.

While I have grudgingly admitted that David Cameron’s government has done a decent job of restraining spending in recent years, taxpayers haven’t reaped many dividends. Yes, there have been some very successful reductions in the corporate tax rate and a modest reduction in the top tax rate on personal income, but these reforms were more than offset by big tax hikes when Cameron first took power.

P.S. If I understand correctly, HSBC didn’t get a bailout during the financial crisis. But if I’m wrong and the bank did mooch off taxpayers, then I’m much less sympathetic.

P.P.S. Shifting to another topic, I like to share examples of how some nations enjoy faster growth than others, mostly because these comparison invariably help to show why small government and free markets are the best route to prosperity.

To echo this point, here’s a very enlightening chart I just saw on Twitter, which shows per-capita economic output for a group of nations that were all roughly equal back in 1997.

What’s remarkable is that a couple of those nations dramatically boosted living standards in a very short period of time while others have stagnated.

per-capita-gdp-us-dollars

And since I’ve written about the good reforms in Estonia and Poland and complained about bad policy in Venezuela and South Africa, you can understand why this is yet another example of why leftists have no good response to my two-part challenge.

CATO Institute economist and PPD contributor Dan

Politics

Rand-Paul-Shades

Libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kty., sports shades during a campaign stop in Iowa. (Photo: Daily Signal)

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kty., announced on April 7 that he will run for president in 2016 during the “Stand with Rand” rally at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Behind him is a team that is two years in the making. However, first Paul will have to secure the Republican nomination in a growing and deep GOP bench.

Here are a list of names representing the most influential political advisors and operatives behind Team Rand Paul 2016, who will work tirelessly to get him there. The early staffing moves from various candidates will all be introduced to PPD’s viewers and subscribers in PPD’s new series, Team 2016: Players, Pollsters And Pockets Behind The Campaign.

• Chip Englander was tapped to be Paul’s campaign manager in January. In 2013, the senator began visiting constituencies Republicans have failed to court in recent elections, reaching out to minority voters in inner-city neighborhoods. If Paul wanted to advance his unconventional efforts, then hiring Englander, the former campaign manager for Illinois Republican Bruce Rauner, who defeated incumbent Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn last November, was the smart choice.

• Doug Stafford has been with Paul since his 2010 Senate race and will serve as his chief political strategist. Stafford was brought over from RANDPAC, where he was the executive director. He is widely believed to be the most influential advisor in Paul’s ear, and has taken the lead in the senator’s presidential aspirations since 2013.

• Tony Fabrizio is an experienced Republican pollster who has polled for 1994 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole and Florida Gov. Rick Scott. While we haven’t seen the internals from the Scott campaign, we have been told that Fabrizio nearly pegged Scott’s winning margin.

• Vincent Harris will be digesting data from Austin, as well, while serving as Paul’s digital strategist in charge of his dominant online presence. Harris knows what he is doing. He also handled digital strategies for Ted Cruz during his grassroots-driven upset Senate victory and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 campaign, which election all models save for PPD thought might actually be competitive. He resume also includes the failed 2012 bids by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, as well as the resounding come-from-behind victory by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.

• Rachel Kania will join Harris at Paul’s Austin office as a senior field and technology strategist.

• Rex Elsass, who served as media consultant for Paul in 2010, never really left his side. He will continue to do what he does best.

• Steve Grubbs is Paul’s man in the first-in-the-nation Hawkeye State caucus. Having a man serve as chief Iowa strategist who was also the former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, is a smart play.

• Mike Biundo is currently the chief New England strategist for RANDPAC. Biundo served as Rick Santorum’s national campaign manager in what was an impressive but ultimately failed 2012 run. We introduced him here because it is widely expected he will serve as coalitions director and a national senior adviser.

• Chris LaCivita, a veteran GOP strategist, is a senior adviser running Paul’s Palmetto State operation. He has come to the rescue of several notorious underdogs far from South Carolina, however, including Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts in 2014. The incumbent was trailing Democrat-pretending-to-be independent Greg Orman by double-digits before going on to defeat him by a similar margin.

• Steve Munisteri is the former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, and currently serves as a senior adviser to Sen. Paul. His job primarily involves messaging and strategy, but is also advising Paul campaign in the Lone Star State. Munisteri has known the Pauls for roughly 4 decades, going back to when he worked on Ron Paul’s congressional campaigns (including his Senate race) from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Rand Paul became acquainted with Munisteri when he was a college student at Baylor and hung around Young Conservatives of Texas, a group Munisteri founded.

• John Yob, who served as the national political director for Sen. John McCain’s 2008 primary victory, will have the same job at RANDPAC.

• Sergio Gor, who until recently served as a spokesman for both RANDPAC and Paul’s official office, is Paul’s campaign communications director.

There are several other names that are worth mentioning, in large part because they are either gearing up to officially join the campaign or play an important supportive role. In the case of Sen. Paul, unlike the other GOP candidates, the campaign will seek to expand on a formative operation and ground game built up by his father.

Iowa

For instance, in addition to Munisteri, David Fischer, who served in various capacities in Ron Paul’s presidential campaigns, is an influential player in Iowa’s Liberty Movement. He will play a pivotal role in the Hawkeye State, though we still don’t know what that will be, officially.

John Tate was Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign manager, a player in Paul’s Senate bid, and is expected to get on board at RANDPAC. Meanwhile, Jesse Benton, who is married to Rand Paul’s niece, has worked for both Ron and Rand Paul and, according to sources, will also soon be a part of a pro-Paul super PAC.

A.J. Spiker, also a former chair of the Iowa Republican Party, will be another Hawkeye State adviser. He remains close to Ron Paul, played a key role in his last presidential bid, and will look to drive up engagement from the father’s surprisingly strong liberty coalition.

New Hampshire

David Chesley, the former Republican National Committee state director, is Paul’s political director in New Hampshire. Tammy Simmons is RANDPAC’s New Hampshire operations director, and a state representative from vote-rich Manchester, which gives her access to an already-built network of supporters.

Home Base

Paul has thus far lined up almost the entire Kentucky delegation behind him, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Jim Milliman, Paul’s Blue Grass State director for his Senate office, played a huge role in Paul’s campaign announcement that took place in Louisville. Before Paul brought on Englander as his campaign manager, Milliman was knee-deep in Paul’s minority outreach at home. He is crucial to the senator’s electability argument, which holds he is best suited to broaden the GOP’s base.

Final Thoughts + Video

The GOP Establishment’s consultant class quietly — and sometimes publicly — mocked Englander’s strategy for Rauner to reach out to traditional Democratic voters, including inner-city minorities, many of whom endorsed and subsequently voted for him. Rauner, who PPD accurately predicted would win, proved the talking heads wrong.

READ ALSO — Meet Team Rubio 2016: Players, Pollsters And Pockets Behind The Campaign

As PPD recently examined, polls suggest Sen. Paul has a far better shot at winning the nomination and a general election juxtaposed to previous libertarian and libertarian-leaning candidates than other pundits want to admit. Paul has consistently run stronger than other GOP hopefuls against Hillary Clinton and, though this could easily change in the world of politics, has thus far demonstrated the greatest potential to expand the party’s appeal.

[brid video=”7243″ player=”1929″ width=”630″ height=”354″]

In this edition of Team 2016: Players,

World

USS_Theodore_Roosevelt_Big_Stick

U.S. Navy officials say the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, depicted in this filed photo dated 1999, has joined the battle fleet off the waters off Yemen and is prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister said he was optimistic a ceasefire in Yemen would be announced later on Tuesday, a sign the regime may have blinked when faced with a threat of military force.

Pentagon officials confirmed late Monday that the USS Theodore Roosevelt had been ordered to join a battle fleet in the Persian Gulf with a mission to intercept shipments of Iranian weapons to the Shiite Houthi rebels fighting the U.S.-backed government of Yemen.

“This is really about sending a message,” an official said. “It is a message to our partners that we are in this and willing to support. It is a message to the Iranians that we’re watching.”

Now, a report from the Iranian Tasnim news agency indicates the regime in Tehran is looking for a way out of a quickly escalating situation.

“We are optimistic that in the coming hours, after many efforts, we will see a halt to military attacks in Yemen,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

Iran has long sought to isolate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their Sunni-dominated arch nemesis across the Gulf. However, control of both the West Operations Area (Bab el Mandeb) and South Operations Area (Hormuz) through proxy states or directly would not only achieve that goal, but also allow them to gain significant control over the Middle East oil supply and global oil markets.

iran-yemen-straits

The Strait of Bab el Mandeb (West Operations Area) and Strait of Hormuz (South Operations Area) sandwiches the currently embattled and disputed country of Yemen.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Saudi King Salman on Friday and, according to the White House, simply agreed that a negotiated political solution was necessary to achieve lasting stability in Yemen. However, he gave the order to the USS Roosevelt just two days later on Sunday, bringing the number of U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf to at least 9.

Pentagon officials who spoke to PPD said that the USS Theodore Roosevelt will also track at least one Iranian naval convoy that was headed to the Gulf of Aden.

Saudi Arabia began leading a coalition of allied Arab countries in a bombing campaign against the Houthis in late March. The Shiite rebel militants, whose official slogan is “Death to Israel, Death to America,” seized control of the capital of Sanaa and forced the resignation of U.S.- and Saudi-backed former President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

READ ALSO — Why U.S. Increased Support For Saudi Coalition Fighting Iran Proxy In Yemen

It was a stunningly embarrassing development the White House struggled to explain, which came less than one year after President Obama cited the Arab world’s poorest country as the model for his administration’s plan “to degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State (ISIS).

PPD reported in early April that the United States was expediting shipments of arms to the Saudi coalition, though Pentagon officials said U.S. involvement had been rather significant prior to the decision, including already-utilized rescue assets provided for downed Saudi pilots.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt adds a great deal of naval and air capability, as well as supportive firepower to the Persian Gulf battle fleet, which was already equipped with amphibious ships for landing troops.

Iran's deputy foreign minister said he was

US

Hillary-Clinton-Watermark-Silicon-AP

Hillary Rodham Clinton jokes during her keynote address at the Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2015.

The obituary for an 81-year-old North Carolina man, Larry Darrell Upright, who passed away on Monday, April 13, 2015 “respectfully asks that you do not vote for Hillary Clinton.”

“In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Shriners Hospital for Children at 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607,” the obituary reads. “Also, the family respectfully asks that you do not vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. R.I.P. Grandaddy.”

The obituary has received nationwide attention and sparked responses in the Condolences section of Whitley’s Funeral Home website from across the country.

“I am a stranger and I do not know you or your departed,” wrote Sherrie Lynn. “However, I saw the obit and wanted to express my condolences and to let you know that your sense of humor is wonderful. Please know that we will not be voting for Hillary. Blessings to you and your family.”

larry-darrell-upright

Larry Darrell Upright. (Photo: Whitley’s Funeral Home/Family)

The obituary quickly made its way to social media, which some pointed out in their responses.

“I am sorry for the loss of your loved one, and will be praying for your family,” Paula Celino. “We do not know each other, but after reading the obituary, we share a common goal. My family and I will not be voting for Hillary. In case you did not know the obit was posted on Facebook.”

While the vast majority of responses were positive, whether they said they would or would not vote for Hillary in 2016 (most, by far, said they would not), there are always those the family says need a sense of humor. Interestingly, those who expressed anger at the obituary also seemed to be the only commenters without the courage to leave their actual name.

“My sympathies to your family, but…WOW! What a horrible and hateful obituary!!!” wrote No one in particular. “You really think that you should mix politics with death? That’s pretty low and distasteful. Oh, btw, I WILL vote for Hillary!!!! And so are a lot of people!!!”

WOW! That’s a lot of “!” marks!

Jill McLain, Upright’s surviving daughter, said in an interview Tuesday morning that her father was just an average guy who was very passionate about politics. He was a member and past Master of Allen-Graham #695 Masonic Lodge and a former Shriner of the Year at Cabarrus Shrine Club, according to his obituary. He retired from the Building Automation Industry and spent his retirement golfing, a game he was obviously proficient in.

“Darrell’s greatest joy was his family and he will forever be remembered as a loving husband, father, and Grandaddy,” the family wrote.

He is survived by his beloved wife and devoted caregiver Colleen McDonald Upright; son Michael D. Upright; daughter Jill Upright McLain and husband, Phil; granddaughters McKenzie Upright Brady and husband, Logan, Lindsay McLain Leece and husband, Jason, and Laura McLain.

The obituary for an 81-year-old North Carolina

World

Egypt-Mohammed-Morsi

April 21, 2015: Egypt’s ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi sits in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Egypt’s national police academy in Cairo. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO –  Former Egyptian Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was sentenced to 20 years by a criminal court on Tuesday for charges linked to the killing of protesters in 2012, the first of several verdicts to be handed down against the country’s first democratically elected leader.

Judge Ahmed Youssef handed down his verdict as Morsi and other defendants in the case stood in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Egypt’s national police academy. Though Morsi was present, 7 of the accused were tried in absentia.

The ruling, which can and will be appealed, marked the downfall of Morsi who rose to power under Egypt’s once-powerful Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamists, deemed to be a terrorist group, rose to power promising economic and cultural reforms following the 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak. However, they never delivered on those promises, sparking populous pushback just a year later when millions protested against them for abusing power.

The military, which was headed up by Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, now the current president, vowed to protect the Egyptian people against the Muslim Brotherhood and eventually overthrew the Islamist government.

However, in an ironic turn of events, Mubarak and former members of his government recently have been acquitted of numerous criminal charges, while Morsi and the Brotherhood are at the receiving end of heavy-handed sentences. Morsi did, however, escape the death penalty.

Worth noting, Tuesday’s verdict sparked no immediate protests by Islamic groups in the Arab world’s largest country.

Twelve other Muslim Brotherhood leaders and Islamist supporters, including Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, were also sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Youssef dropped murder charges involved in the case, instead ruling the sentences were justified by the “show of force” and unlawful detention of protestors and political opponents.

The surrounded violence in response to protests outside the presidential palace that took place in December 2012. Morsi’s organized supporters attacked the opposition demanding that Morsi call off a referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution. The deadly confrontation killed at least 10 people during the night.

Though Morsi remained defiant in the face of the court, he has not repeated earlier behavior seen in the beginning of the trial.

“I am the president of the republic!” Morsi would repeatedly shout in attempts to interrupt and delegitimize the proceedings.

Now, during Tuesday’s hearing, Morsi and the rest of the defendants smiled in their white jumpsuits and just raised the four-finger sign symbolizing the events at the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque that resulted in hundreds being killed. The military had banned the Brotherhood, but they staged a sit-in on Aug. 14, 2013. Security forces moved in to disperse what was technically an illegal Islamist gathering and some 4,000 people were either hurt or killed.

From his exile in Turkey’s capital, Istanbul, top Muslim Brotherhood figure Amr Darrag called the ruling

“This is a sad and terrible day in Egyptian history,” said top Muslim Brotherhood leader Amr Darrag, who is currently in exile in Turkey’s capital, Istanbul. “They want to pass a life sentence for democracy in Egypt.”

Morsi still faces three other trials on charges including undermining national security by conspiring with foreign groups and orchestrating a prison break. Further, thousands of Brotherhood members are in jail facing various charges, mostly associated with the violent events in August that followed Morsi’s 2013 overthrow.

Morsi is being held at a high security prison near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Tuesday’s hearing in a makeshift courtroom was heavily guarded, as hundreds of black-clad riot police backed by armored vehicles were deployed at the police academy.

Former Egyptian Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was

Opinion

marco-rubio-ted-cruz-rand-paul

Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, all Republican presidential candidates, are shown in this composite. (Photo: Getty)

Painful as it is to realize that both the Democrats and the Republicans will still be holding their primaries a year from now, that is one of the high prices we pay for democracy.

Seldom does the initial “front-runner” in either party’s primaries end up being the actual candidate when election day rolls around. However, even if we cannot predict the outcomes of the primaries this far in advance, we can at least start trying to understand the candidates, the almost candidates and the people who are running just for the publicity.

One of the curious things this early in the process is that, while the Republicans’ three freshmen Senators — Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul — have all had interviews on various television talk shows, veteran politician Hillary Clinton has been hiding out from real interviews by hard news reporters, as if she is afraid to be cross-examined.

This is by no means an irrational fear on Mrs. Clinton’s part. There are all sorts of questions that she would find hard to answer. They range from questions about recent events like the e-mails from her days as Secretary of State that she destroyed illegally, after Congress called for her to produce them, to the still unsolved mystery as to what she and Barack Obama were doing during the hours when four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya, were under attack by terrorists in Benghazi.

Then there are the bald-faced lies, such as Mrs. Clinton’s claim to have been shot at in a war zone, her claim that she and her husband were “poor” at the end of his terms as president, and her claim that charges of sexual misconduct against Bill Clinton in the White House were fictions invented by a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

Supporters of Hillary Clinton tout her “experience” in high-level institutions of government — as first lady in the White House, as a Senator and as Secretary of State. But years of such “experience” raise the embarrassing question as to whether she ever actually accomplished anything in all those years, other than being physically present.

Among the many Republicans’ announced and unannounced candidates, three of the most prominent are freshmen Senators with no tangible accomplishments to go with their rhetoric. Whatever their potential, which seems especially striking in the case of Senator Marco Rubio, the White House is not the place for on-the-job training, in an age of international terrorism and nuclear bombs.
Barack Obama has already given us repeated demonstrations of what a mess a freshman Senator with rhetoric can make in the White House.

While there are a number of Republican candidates who can point to substantial accomplishments as governors, the fact that most have strong track records as conservatives means that they may well split the conservative vote so many ways in the primaries as to let the nomination go by default to a mushy moderate — of the sort beloved by the Republican establishment, but not by enough voters to beat even a weak or troubled Democrat on election day.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is today’s mushy moderate candidate who may well follow in the footsteps of a whole string of similar losers, from Mitt Romney and John McCain in recent elections, all the way back to Thomas E. Dewey, who managed to lose even in an election where three different Democrats were on the ballot, fragmenting that party’s vote.

While the Republicans have several governors who would make good presidents, of whom Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal are the most prominent, that is very different from saying that these governors would make successful presidential candidates. How they handle themselves in the primaries can reveal that.

Former Governor Jeb Bush has lots of political savvy on his side — his own savvy and that of others — and a ton of money behind him. So he could end up being the last man standing after the many Republican conservatives knock each other off.

What could prevent that would be if each of the successive conservative Republican candidates who fall behind were to throw their support to whoever becomes the conservative candidate with the best chance of rescuing us all from another Clinton versus Bush election.

But we should never bet heavily on rationality prevailing in politics.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com.

Painful as it is to realize that

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