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News, Video

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from California in 2010, says the chance of her running for president in 2016 is “higher than 90 percent.”

When asked by host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, “What are the chances that you’re going to run for president?” Fiorina responded, “Very high.”

Fiorina has taken every opportunity to slam likely Democratic contender Hillary Clinton while speaking at the Iowa Freedom Summit and Conservative Political Action Conference, among other venues. The successful Republican businesswoman frequently compares her own extensive travel around the world to Clinton’s record-breaking travel tenure at the State Department, but notes that she actually accomplished something to show for all those hours and frequent flyer miles.

“You’re a former businesswoman,” Wallace said. “Give me a number.”

“Higher than 90 percent,” Fiorina responded, noting that she would “probably” announce in “late April, early May.”

As of now, Fiorina is polling at “–” percent, given pollsters have yet to include her in the crowded, deep 2016 GOP bench.

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and

Politics

reince-priebus-hillary-clinton-ap-630-354

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, right, and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, left. (Photos: AP)

WASHINGTON – RNC Chair Reince Priebus Saturday blasted Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton for wiping her secret server clean of all emails sent during her tenure as Secretary of State, linking the former first lady to President Richard Nixon and suggesting Republicans are not giving up on efforts to obtain the subpoenaed documents.

“Even Nixon didn’t destroy the tapes,” Priebus said in a statement released Saturday. “It’s imperative an independent third party review the server immediately. Unless Mrs. Clinton went to extreme lengths to wipe this server, there are ways to recover this data.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, confirmed Friday that Secretary Clinton unilaterally decided to wipe her server clean. The development came after the Benghazi committee extended the deadline at Clinton’s request for a previous request, and subpoenaed Clinton’s emails for an independent review executed by a neutral third party. House Speaker John Boehner had backed the move by Gowdy, telling reporters last week Mrs. Clinton “must turn over her computer server to an independent third-party investigator.”

“Unfortunately it appears Clinton went above and beyond to eliminate email traffic as Secretary of State,” Priebus added. “There isn’t a separate set of rules the Clintons can choose to play by. It’s time they be held accountable.”

RNC Chair Reince Priebus Saturday blasted Democratic

Politics

gowdy-clinton-emails

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, said he doesn’t trust Hillary Clinton and lawyers to delete private emails.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, confirmed Friday Hillary Clinton unilaterally decided to wipe her server clean.

“We learned today, from her attorney, Secretary Clinton unilaterally decided to wipe her server clean and permanently delete all emails from her personal server,” Gowdy said in a statement Friday. “Not only was the Secretary the sole arbiter of what was a public record, she also summarily decided to delete all emails from her server ensuring no one could check behind her analysis in the public interest.”

The development comes after the Benghazi committee extended the deadline at Clinton’s request for a previous request, and subpoenaed Clinton’s emails for an independent review executed by a neutral third party. House Speaker John Boehner had backed the move by Gowdy, telling reporters last week Mrs. Clinton “must turn over her computer server to an independent third-party investigator.”

“After seeking and receiving a two week extension from the Committee, Secretary Clinton failed to provide a single new document to the subpoena issued by the Committee and refused to provide her private server to the Inspector General for the State Department or any other independent arbiter for analysis,” Gowdy said.

Chairman Gowdy’s office did not immediately reply to an inquiry from PPD asking what steps — if any — he will take following the development.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a ranking member on the committee, dismissed Gowdy’s reaction as a political move.

“This confirms what we all knew—that Secretary Clinton already produced her official records to the State Department, that she did not keep her personal emails, and that the Select Committee has already obtained her emails relating to the attacks in Benghazi,” the Democratic lawmaker said in a statement. “It is time for the Committee to stop this political charade and instead make these documents public and schedule Secretary Clinton’s public testimony now.”

Islamic terrorists connected to al Qaeda, who the Pentagon knew had previously declared Libya “an Islamic state,” attacked the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi on the evening of September 11, 2012.  U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith were both killed in the initial wave. A few hours later, a second terrorist strike targeted a different compound located approximately one mile away, killing CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty and injuring 10 others.

Recently uncovered emails obtained by Judicial Watch reveal top aides for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton always knew the Benghazi mission compound was under attack from a terrorist group, and Clinton herself lied to the victims’ families.  The documents, which were obtained as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department, make no reference to a spontaneous demonstration or Internet video.

Clinton issued an official statement claiming the assault was the result of “a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.” Shortly after, while speaking at the ceremonial return of the victims’ bodies, Clinton said that the attack was prompted by “an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with,” promising the families that the man who made the video would pay.

The emails obtained reveal correspondences between Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Jacob Sullivan (among others), both of whom are on the partial list of notable witnesses to be questioned by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, during and immediately after the attack. But there was no mention of the secretary, herself, and it was recently revealed that Mills and Sullivan may have used private email accounts when corresponding with Clinton.

According to the document released by the Clinton camp , the following is how Clinton’s personal attorneys deemed which emails would be preserved:

  • First, a search was done of all emails Clinton received from a .gov or state.gov account during the period she was secretary of state — from 2009 to 2013.
  • Then, with the remaining emails, a search was done for names of 100 State Department and other U.S. government officials who Clinton may have had correspondence with during her tenure.
  • Next, the emails were organized and reviewed by sender and recipient to “account for non-obvious or non-recognizable email addresses or misspellings or other idiosyncrasies.”
  • Lastly, of the emails still left over, a “number of terms” were searched, including “Benghazi” and “Libya.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chair of

US, Video

Joseph Scaffido, Assistant Dean for Student Activities at Cornell University, was captured on video advising on how to start and fund a pro-ISIS club on campus.

The video was captured via hidden camera by a Project Veritas investigative journalist, who even asked Scaffido how to obtain funding to send care packages to ISIS and Hamas, and astonishingly, how to bring a member of ISIS to Cornell to run a “training camp.”

Cornell administrators have yet to return a request for comment from PPD.

Joseph Scaffido, Assistant Dean for Student Activities

Politics, Video

In the “New Rule” segment of Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher ripped the out-of-control political correctness coming from the Left. Maher specifically named two examples, including the ridiculous outrage that followed from the Left after one half of the fashion duo Dolce & Gabbana made a comment that babies created via in vitro fertilization (IVF) are “chemistry children and synthetic children.”

“Don’t through the synthetic baby out with the bathwater,” Maher said, by attacking “people who are 95% on your side.”

Maher also called out the left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America for complaining about a recent cover of the magazine The Economist which used jalapeños to make up the red and white in the American flag for a story about Latinos in America.

“For example, The Economist last week drew the wrath of the liberal website Media Matters who said that their jalapeño flag cover was “the sort of stereotype that ignores Latinos as a multi-faceted community and relegates them to chili-pepper-consuming constituency,” Maher explained.

“Hey, Media Matters, can I say one thing to you?” Maher asked. “Shut the fuck up.”

BILL MAHER: Don’t through the synthetic baby out with the bathwater. Last week you may have seen that the iconic designers Dolce & Gabbana caused a raucous when they said that even though they are proudly gay, but when it comes to how you make bambino, they’re old school Italians who don’t approve of what they said is “synthetic children,” because you know synthetic, they just don’t breath like cotton…

Yes, we joke about everybody here and that’s something that a lot of liberals have forgotten about how to do. For folks who take such pride in their love of diversity liberals seem to tolerate none in their own ranks. I don’t necessarily agree with Dolce & Gabbana, but what is the point of attacking people who are 95% on your side? Give them a break. They’re from Sicily — the same place Justice Scalia comes from and if you want to protest someone who doesn’t support gays, start with him.

But no, it’s easier to get all faked outrage over the hateful anti-gay speech from two men who bedazzle codpieces for a living. Ellen, Martina [Navratilova], they were all furious. Courtney Love said she planned to burn her Dolce & Gabbana, and then breath in the melting polyester because, hey, you never know might get you high.

But Dame Elton John was the angriest of all, tweeting, ‘How dare you refer to my children as synthetic? My hair yes, but my children.’ He recorded a protest song called “I Won’t Let My Son Go Down On You.” And called for a boycott. Really? You can’t sell handbags now if you only agree with Elton John almost all the time. In Syria ISIS is throwing gay people off buildings. Maybe there are bigger battles to fight?

We liberals always talk about how the right needs to rein in its crazies but the left has some crazy reining in to do too. Unless you think I am creating a false equivalency, I’m not. Because on the right, unlike the left, they have actually been able to carve out a place for their crazies; unfortunately, that place is elected government.

All the more reason not to drive people into their arms with crazy political correctness. For example, The Economist last week drew the wrath of the liberal website Media Matters who said that their jalapeño flag cover was “the sort of stereotype that ignores Latinos as a multi-faceted community and relegates them to chili-pepper-consuming constituency.” Hey, Media Matters, can I say one thing to you? Shut the fuck up. No Hispanic looked at this cover and said, “I’ve been wronged.” They looked at it and said, “Mmm, yum, jalapeños.”

In the "New Rule" segment of Friday's

Politics

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, host of the Mark Levin Show, said President Obama is the greatest threat Israel has had to “face since the 1930s.”

“Barack Obama, as a result of this and the other things he’s doing, including arming up the Islamo-Nazis in Tehran, is the greatest threat the Jews face, not in this country but in Israel, since the 1930s,” Levin said. “He is the greatest threat they face since the 1930s. And I say that because he is doing more now to degrade Israel’s military and defense posture, its intelligence information. He’s doing more now to arm Israel’s enemy than anybody. He is the greatest threat that that nation faces. And by the way, he’s a great threat to our nation too, as far as I’m concerned.”

(Mark Levin Show, March 26, 2015)

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, host

Economy

import_export_gdp_growth_reuters

(Photo: Reuters)

U.S. economic growth cooled in the fourth quarter, down from the initial estimates but on par with revisions, according to the Commerce Department. Business pulled back on inventory and equipment investment, leaving only consumer spending as the counterweight to across-the-board disappointment.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate, which is unrevised from last month’s (the second) forecast, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its third estimate. The report also found that after-tax corporate profits fell at a 1.6 percent rate in the fourth quarter, though after-tax profits increased at a 4.7 percent rate in the July-September period.

However, throughout 2014, profits decreased by 8.3 percent, which is the largest annual drop since 2008.

Business investment on equipment was revised to show an increase of 0.6 percent rather than the previously estimated 0.9 percent. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased at a 4.4 percent rate in the fourth quarter instead of the 4.2 percent pace reported last month. It was the fastest rate since the first quarter of 2006, likely due to latent effects of lower fas prices. However, crude is on the rise, leaving the gauge uncertain at best.

Trade sliced off 1.03 percentage points instead of the 1.15 points reported last month, while residential construction spending in the fourth quarter was revised up and government spending was a touch weaker than previously reported.

U.S. economic growth cooled in the fourth

Economy

U.S. consumer sentiment fell month-over-month in March, a survey released on Friday showed, though the reading was better than expected.

The University of Michigan’s final March reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 93, topping both the preliminary read of 91.2 as well as the median forecast of analysts polled by Reuters, which was for a reading of 92.

However, it was below the final February reading of 95.4.

Meanwhile, despite the UM survey results, U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter more than previously estimated, with businesses pulling back on inventory and equipment investment. It was only consumer spending estimates that curtailed a further slowdown in the pace of growth.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate, according to the Commerce Department report on Friday. The economy grew at a 5 percent rate in the third quarter.

U.S. consumer sentiment fell month-over-month in March,

Policy

HARRY TRUMAN ET FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT EN 1945

UNITED STATES – APRIL 13: The American Democrat Harry S. Truman (Left) Who Became President Of The United States After The Democrat Franklin Roosevelt Pictured During A Dinner At The White House On April 13, 1945. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

This is a column I never expected to write. That’s because I’m going to applaud Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

This won’t be unconstrained applause, to be sure. Roosevelt, after all, pursued awful policies that lengthened and deepened the economic misery of the 1930s. And, as you can see from this video, the “economic bill of rights” that he wanted after WWII was downright malicious.

Truman, meanwhile, was a less consequential figure, but it’s worth noting that he wanted a restoration of the New Deal after WWII, which almost certainly would have hindered and perhaps even sabotaged the recovery.

But just as very few policy makers are completely good, it’s also true that very few policy makers are totally bad. And a review of fiscal history reveals that FDR and Truman both deserve credit for restraining domestic spending during wartime.

Here’s some of what I wrote for The Hill. I was specifically responding to the cranky notion, pursued by Bernie Sanders, the openly socialist Senator from Vermont, that there should be tax hikes on the rich to finance military operations overseas.

The idea has a certain perverse appeal to libertarians. We don’t like nation-building and we don’t like punitive tax policy, so perhaps mixing them together would encourage Republicans to think twice (or thrice) before trying to remake the world.

But “perverse appeal” isn’t the same as “good policy.”

That’s why I suggest another approach, one that used to exist in our nation.

…lawmakers would be well served to instead look on the spending side of the budget. …This may seem like a foreign concept in today’s Washington, but it actually was standard procedure at times in our history.

Consider, for instance, what happened to domestic spending when the nation entered World War II.

As you see from this chart, these outlays fell significantly as a share of GDP. And this was while Roosevelt was in the White House!

I note in the article that much of this improvement was the result of rising GDP, but the raw numbers from the OMB Historical Tables also show that nominal spending was constrained.

The same thing happened during the Korean War. Once the conflict began and policy makers began funding the troops, they also put the brakes on domestic spending.

Unfortunately, restraining domestic spending when military spending is rising is no longer the standard practice in Washington.

I point out in the article that we got across-the-board profligacy under President Johnson.

Reagan, by contrast, did reduce the burden of domestic spending when he boosted defense outlays to win the Cold War.

But then we had a return to guns-and-butter spending last decade during the Bush years.

Which led me to write this surreal passage.

…we have two odd collections of bedfellows, with Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Truman and Reagan in one camp vs. LBJ and Bush in the other camp.

Though there’s only one good president mentioned in that excerpt if we’re grading overall records.

[mybooktable book=”global-tax-revolution-the-rise-of-tax-competition-and-the-battle-to-defend-it” display=”summary”]

Mitchell: This is a column I never

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