Conservative Musings

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Saturday, February 6, 2016

Trump Still Leads In New Hampshire And Won The Debate And Probably The Primary

Although Rubio came into the latest debate on a hot streak after Iowa, his appearance hit a major roadblock in the name of Chris Christie. The New Jersey Governor threw Rubio off his game and all the senator could do was to repeat his talking points about Obama. Very bad performance and not an indication of his being quick on his feet. We expect his numbers will drop.

Will it hurt Rubio, probably. He was weaker than in the past. Kasich did himself well as did Christie. Carson was asked only a handful of questions so his appearance probably will be the last one. Bush was better than in the past but we feel he is, uninspiring but the "establishment GOP" still loves him, so he will soldier on.

Cruz was OK but did not hurt himself or improve his situation. Trump seemed to be able to be above the fray with the exception of his statement on "eminent domain" on which he was challenged for his use in New Jersey. He was weak on his answer.

The debate started off with what one commentator called a "giant cluster fark". The candidates, starting off with Carson, could not hear their names so there was a major traffic jam as the men kept waiting before going onto the stage. Kasich even was not introduced until one of the candidates asked if they were going to bring him on. A major screw up by the network.

Our summary:

Trump continues to be the leader and increases his support

Cruz stays about the same

Rubio drops significantly

Bush keeps about the same position

Christie will improve his standing by a couple points

Carson will drop significantly. He's a nice guy but not ready for prime time.

Kasich will increase significantly.

The loser was Rubio and the winner Kasich. Otherwise everything else looked like it will be status quo.

Conservative Tom

Suffolk/Boston Globe Poll: Trump Up By 10 Points on Rubio in NH

(Wire Services Photo)

By Cathy Burke | Friday, 05 Feb 2016 04:40 PM

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Donald Trump has a 10-point lead among GOP presidential candidates, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio closing in, a new poll of New Hampshire voters shows.

The Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll released Friday also finds one-third of GOP voters say they could still change their mind by Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.

Here's the GOP presidential candidates' breakdown:

Trump: 29 percent
Rubio: 19 percent
Ohio Gov. John Kasich: 13 percent
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: 10 percent
Sen. Ted Cruz: 7 percent
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: 5 percent
Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson: 4 percent.

"What a difference a caucus makes," David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University, tells the Globe.

Once Again, Freedom Of Religion Is Violated. This Time It Is California

CALIFORNIA STRONG-ARMS CHURCHES TO PAY FOR ABORTIONS

Terminating pregnancy not previously considered 'basic health care service'

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LEO HOHMANN

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California churches are trying to fend off an aggressive state health bureaucracy in an age of Obamacare.

A San Diego-area church is suing the state of California for forcing it to pay for elective abortions on its health insurance plans.

The suit filed Thursday by Skyline Wesleyan Church follows a similar claim filed in federal court last October on behalf of three other California churches.

But forced abortion coverage is not only happening in California.

The Catholic charity group Little Sisters of the Poor has its own legal battle against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, trying to avoid having to pay for abortion coverage for its employees in Colorado.

The Little Sisters filed a petition to the Supreme Court, and their case was granted on Nov. 6, 2015, along with six other cases brought by other nonprofit religious ministries. Right now, they are waiting for the court to hear their case and decide the issue.

Most of these government “mandates” came compliments of Obamacare.

The California church cites violations of its rights and freedoms under California’s Administrative Procedures Act and both the federal and state constitutions.

“Churches should not be forced to pay for the killing of innocent human life,” said Erik Stanley, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF, which is representing the church. “The government has no right to demand that church health insurance plans include coverage for elective abortions – something that violates the most sincerely held religious beliefs of this church and nearly all churches throughout the state.”

California is violating its own laws and Constitution, as well as the U.S. Constitution, “by strong-arming churches into having this coverage in their plans,” Stanley said.

Read the entire lawsuit against the California Department of Managed Health Care.

Attached to the lawsuit is a letter sent by state officials to Wade Overgaard, senior vice president of California operations for Kaiser Permanente Health Plan Inc. It stated:

“The purpose of this letter is to remind plans that the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox Keene Act) requires the provision of basic health care services and the California Constitution prohibits health plans from discriminating against women who choose to terminate a pregnancy. Thus, all health plans must treat maternity services and legal abortion neutrally.”

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ADF lawyers filed the lawsuit in the California Superior Court for the County of San Diego on behalf of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa.

In 2014, ADF and Life Legal Defense Foundation filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services against the California DMHC regarding the state’s mandate and its violation of federal conscience law. Those came on the heels of a complaint filed directly with DMHC, which responded by affirming its decision to force all plans to cover all abortions without any explanation as to how that decision squared with state and federal law.

Because Obamacare requires employers to provide health insurance coverage, the California mandate has left churches with no way to opt out of paying for abortions, said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremiah Galus.

“California has forced abortion coverage into churches’ health insurance plans without their knowledge or approval,” said Galus. “Californians should not be forced to choose between following their deepest convictions and submitting to unlawful and unnecessary government mandates.”

The complaint states that California based its mandate on a requirement in state law “that employer health plans cover ‘basic health care services.’” Before the mandate was implemented, however, the state had not interpreted “basic health care services” to include voluntary and elective abortions. In fact, existing law and regulations define “basic health care services” to include services only “where medically necessary,” the suit claims.

Although California Department of Managed Healthcare and its director “knew that employers like Skyline Church have sincerely held religious beliefs against paying for or facilitating abortions,” the complaint continues, the two “Defendants nevertheless required that any group health insurance plan sold to them cover abortions, including voluntary and elective ones. Thus, by issuing the mandate, defendants caused Skyline’s group health plan to include coverage for voluntary and elective abortions without its knowledge and in violation of its religious beliefs.”

Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund attorney Charles LiMandri, one of more than 3,000 private attorneys allied with ADF, is serving as local counsel in the case on behalf of the church.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based nonprofit that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith in American society.

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Border Surveillance Being Cut Massively

AMERICANS ARE 'BEING BETRAYED BY THEIR OWN PRESIDENT'

Congressman: Islamic terrorists 'have already got a lot of people here'

Published: 43 mins ago

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President Obama boards Marine One (Photo: White House)

The Obama administration is ordering Border Patrol agents to release illegal immigrants without making them appear in court or keeping track of their whereabouts, and it’s also dramatically rolling back aerial surveillance along the southern border, leading a senior congressman to suggest the public is unaware it is being “betrayed” by its commander in chief.

What’s sad is the people of the United States don’t recognize that they’re being betrayed by their own president and also betrayed by those people in the Congress and the Senate who have been going along with this amnesty program,” said Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif., a leading voice against amnesty and for border enforcement.

On Thursday, reports emerged that the Obama administration was effectively telling U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents to stand down and not process people entering the United States illegally. They further state that agents are told not to order illegals to appear at a deportation hearing and not make efforts to track them down inside the U.S.

“We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether,” said National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd.

In addition, Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, are imploring the Department of Homeland Security for an explanation for a 50 percent rollback in aerial surveillance of the Texas-Mexico border.

Rohrabacher told WND and Radio America he and fellow critics of Obama’s immigration policies are well past the point of outrage.

“This president has done so many things that are contrary to the interests of the safety and security and prosperity of the people of the United States that this is no surprise, especially in dealing with foreign entities, whether it’s Muslims overseas or whether it’s illegal immigrants coming in here from various countries. This is nothing new for this administration,” he said.

One of Rohrabacher’s top concerns is how Obama’s open-door policy could further weaken national security.

“He’s opening the door,” he said. “There’s not even going to be a guard on the door to watch who’s coming in. Do you think the radical Islamist terrorists that have declared war on our country and murder us at any chance, you think they don’t see this? They have already got a lot of people here.”

He continued, “What the president is doing is going to increase the level of criminals that are coming here from other countries and terrorists who come here specifically to hurt Americans and kill Americans.”

Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif.:

While Rohrabacher is clearly disgusted with Obama on this issue, he is adamant that blame can be spread throughout the two parties.

"Our president is supposed to be watching out for the people of the United States. Our president has decided that he will not do so. The Democratic Party needs to be held accountable for this. And the people in the Republican Party that have been going along with this open-borders, amnesty approach to immigration deserve to be held accountable as well," he said.

The congressman said he understands that people are desperate to escape crippling poverty and other problems in their native countries and even admires their determination to make a better life for their families, but he said compassion for their circumstances cannot supersede the well-being of the American people.

"That doesn't mean we're going to bring people in who will take jobs away from Americans, will consume the health care and the education dollars that we have for Americans," Rohrabacher said. "We don't need that."

He encourages voters to find out what their congressmen and senators have really been doing on these issues.

"Hold people accountable in public office for the stands they have taken," Rohrabacher said. "Our country is in grave jeopardy because of it."

He offers a couple of tips: "Look and see where your elected officials stand on amnesty. That's a tip-off as to whether they are secretly going along with the president."

Rohrabacher said one issue in particular gets twisted beyond recognition.

"How about those people who say we have to take care of the DREAMers? 'Oh, we have to take care of the DREAMers.' What they're talking about is giving benefits to young people who are here illegally when those education benefits should be going to our own people," he said. "Our own kids are saddled with debt, and we're going to give education benefits to people who have come here illegally?"

Since January 2015, Republicans have controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So why can't the GOP do something to to curb Obama's alleged recklessness on the border?

"Controlling Capitol Hill doesn't mean anything unless you have a two-thirds vote against a president who vetoes anything he doesn't like," Rohrabacher explained. "It takes a two-thirds vote to override the veto, so we haven't been in control of Capitol Hill enough to be in control of a legislative agenda."

Rohrabacher has endorsed Ted Cruz for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, in what seems like a process of elimination among the major candidates. He said Rubio is simply all over the map on this issue.

"The people of Florida elected him when he pledged not to support amnesty, pledged to fight this idea of open borders. As soon as he got elected to the United States Senate, he flipped over and became a major force for amnesty. Now he wants to flip again and wants us to forget that lie," Rohrabacher said.

The congressman simply doesn't believe Donald Trump is serious about the issue.

"Trump is talking off the top of his head and quite often he says things that are contradictory," Rohrabacher said. "He says we're going to deport the people here illegally. Then he says once they can get home, they can immediately come back if they want to. This is nonsense. So the only one who makes any sense to me is Ted Cruz."

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