Jeb Bush’s tie to fugitive goes against business-savvy image he promotes

Jeb Bush was a young man building a real estate business in Miami in 1985 when health-care entrepreneur Miguel Recarey Jr. hired him to help locate office space in South Florida.

Bush, then the son of the vice president, later provided another service: opening doors in Washington, where Recarey had mounted an aggressive lobbying effort for a waiver from Medicare rules that would allow his fast-growing company to continue to expand.

Recarey got what he wanted. But two years later, the firm, International Medical Centers, was shut down as regulators searched for millions in missing federal funds. Facing charges of bribery and bilking Medicare, Recarey fled the country to avoid prosecution. He remains a fugitive in Spain, where a court denied U.S. requests for extradition.

The Recarey case illustrates aspects of Bush’s business record that are likely to resurface as he moves closer to a campaign for president. Time and again, he benefited from his family name and connections to land a consulting deal or board membership, sometimes doing business with people and companies that would later run afoul of the law.

In the case of Recarey, Bush has said over the years that he “made one call” to a mid-level official to seek a fair deal for a Florida businessman.

But new interviews and a review of congressional testimony show that Bush engaged in multiple calls on Recarey’s behalf to senior administration officials — and that his advocacy made a difference.

One recipient of Bush’s outreach on behalf of Recarey, C. McClain Haddow, then the chief of staff to the secretary of health and human services, Margaret Heckler, told The Washington Post that hearing from the vice president’s son “certainly altered the trajectory of the decision.”

More...http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeb-bushs-tie-to-fugitive-cuts-against-savvy-business-image-he-promotes/2015/03/18/0a627a84-c804-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html

The Republican House Budget Committee just released its plan for how to balance the budget. One little catch is that the proposal talks only of the possibility of this happening in 10 years. The Democrats, they complain, don’t even try to balance the budget. Well, at least they’re more honest about it. It used to be that we looked at five-year plans in the socialist systems, but here we are facing a conservative proposal to “maybe” balance the budget in 10 years.

This achievement will occur, they claim, without raising taxes. But everybody knows Republicans are just as capable of raising taxes as are the Democrats. They are certainly not bashful about increasing spending. However this budget report claims that they can cut $5.5 trillion in spending — a more aggressive goal than they have ever before proposed. They emphasize a fairer and a simpler tax system to promote job creation and a healthy economy, which I think is nothing more than wishful thinking.

The claim is also made that the country will be put on a path to “paying off the debt by growing the economy and making government more efficient, effective, and accountable.” The claim that has been made by conservatives over many decades has always been that all we need to do is lower the rate of taxes and get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse and the economy will thrive and the debt will go down. There’s never a suggestion that it is necessary to achieve limited government or that policies have to change, such as our attitude toward the welfare state and certainly the warfare state.

The new proposal calls on Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. That suggestion has been around for a long time. And what makes us believe that if it’s in the Constitution that the budget should be balanced, it would actually occur? From my experience, the Constitution is not held in high regard in Washington—to say the least. There are too many loopholes, and too many off-budget programs that can be relied on. All we have to do is look at the recent history of the bailouts that occurred off-budget in the crisis of 2008-2009. Are they really going to be able to control the spending that the Federal Reserve participates in? I don’t believe too many Americans actually believe that’s a possibility. And the majority of Americans today want a much more thorough understanding of the Federal Reserve, with a growing number calling for complete repeal of the Federal Reserve Act.

...

More...http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/march/17/republican-balanced-budget-boosts-military-spending/

President Obama gave support to mandatory voting today at a town hall event in Cleveland. The President claims the drastic move would reduce the importance of money in elections and stop alleged voter suppression.

The Washington Times reports on the President’s claim that mandatory voting would change everything:

“It would be transformative if everybody voted. That would counteract [campaign] money more than anything. If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country.”

I wonder what the penalty would be for failing to vote?

More...http://www.ijreview.com/2015/03/274408-obamas-solution-money-politics-completely-change-political-map/

Well, we all know those that don't vote, by and large, are the most intelligent in the populace rather than the other way around. Good move and idea by Prez Zero as it can only benefit the democrat party since the majority of boobs that don't vote, get their 'news' from the free msm stations. It's not likely gonna happen but even if not, you see the genius of where this concept will fall in favor of..

The last thing you do is take info/remarks/solace from the trollface otherwise known as lambcrotch/silvercrotch or whatever else shows their face. Do not quote, acknowledge nor pay no mind to known trolls especially their new accounts during your research after the fact period. Thx but you should know better.

I'm particularly interested in how all this affected the litecoin situation as I've had orders placed over the last 4 cents on the way down just because. Nothing big, just some play coinage but I'm just wondering whether the move is down further tonight/morning and then a rebound or is this ship just flat out taking on water in a large manner across the board..

Rand considers attaching Audit The Fed to debt ceiling vote!

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is mulling attaching his Audit the Fed legislation to a vote to raise the debt ceiling, Paul spokesman Brian Darling told The Hill.

Darling said that Paul, who is considering a 2016 presidential campaign, fully expects to get a vote on the measure in the Senate this year and that "there are numerous options to get a bill passed by itself or combined with other legislation."

"The strategy going forward will be to use regular order," Darling told The Hill. "If regular order does not work, Audit the Fed would be a great amendment to a debt-limit increase or any other piece of must pass legislation that hits the Senate floor."

The move is a clear signal of how serious Paul is about getting a vote on the legislation that has garnered political blowback from top Fed officials. The proposal allows for increased congressional oversight at the central bank.

More...http://thehill.com/policy/finance/233249-rand-paul-eyes-debt-ceiling-fight-in-audit-the-fed-push

Veteran GOP operative David Chesley in line to head Rand Paul’s NH campaign

As Rand Paul prepares to formally announce his candidacy for President, the New Hampshire Journal has learned the Kentucky senator intends to tap state Republican Party director David Chesley to run his Granite State operation during the first-in-the-nation primary campaign.

Two independent sources confirmed Tuesday night that Chesley will leave his NHGOP post perhaps as early as next week and join Paul’s campaign as soon as the senator formally announces for President and begins an official campaign operation.

There are numerous media reports tonight that Paul will announce his candidacy in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, April 7.

The New Hampshire Journal has further learned that Paul New Hampshire supporters have been advised by the Paul team to save Wednesday, April 8, as the date he will arrive in the Granite State to continue his announcement tour. He is also expected to go to Iowa, South Carolina and other states.

Before the announcement tour, Paul is scheduled to arrive in New Hampshire on Friday for campaign-style events and meetings that day and Saturday.

In Chesley, Paul will be picking up one of the top operatives in New Hampshire. During the 2014 midterm campaign, Chesley was the Republican National Committee state “Victory” director and has remained in the role of NHGOP state director – a separate post from NHGOP executive director. In that role, Chesley oversees continued development of the party’s ground operation, data collection, get-out-the-vote planning and its voter ID effort.

More...http://nhjournal.com/nh-journal-first-veteran-gop-operative-david-chesley-in-line-to-head-rand-pauls-nh-campaign/

Rand's team from top to bottom is top shelf, yet never mentioned by the tv media at this point. Folks are gonna be surprised to see such a ground game when they aren't being told nor apprised of the on the ground situation by the fake ass media including Fox. The interested parties here should be ready to donate to his campaign once the ball gets rolling in a few weeks.

Very innovative of Facebook to only allow someone to link up their Visa or Mastercard debit cards at this point, tho it's not surprising. The good news is that they have the bitcoin option on the horizon so that's a positive. If we can get the bitcoin tipping on FB thing trending then this entire market will be heading in the right direction in terms of the masses getting the drift.

TRENTON, N.J. (March 18, 2015) – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law yesterday that represents an important first step towards blocking federal programs that militarize local police in the state.

Informally known as the 1033 Program, the Pentagon provides local law enforcement, at little or no upfront cost, surplus federal property, including aircraft, armored vehicles, automatic weapons, and night vision equipment originally intended for use by the United States Armed Forces without even obtaining approval of the local governing body.

Introduced by Sen. Nia Gill, Senate Bill 2364 (S2364) flips this process around, banning local law enforcement agencies from obtaining this equipment without first getting approval from their local government. Currently, these military transfers happen directly between the feds and local police, as if they make up part of the same government. This law interposes the local government in the process, giving the people of New Jersey the power to end it, and at the least, forcing the process into the open.

S2364 passed the Senate by a vote of 36-0 concurred by a vote of 70-0. With Christie’s signature, it’s the first state law of its kind directly addressing the endless flow of military equipment to state and local police.

EFFECT

Almost 13,000 agencies in all 50 states and four U.S. territories participate in the military “recycling” program, and the share of equipment and weaponry gifted each year continues to expand. In 2011, $500 million worth of military equipment was distributed to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. That number jumped to $546 million in 2012.

Since 1990, $4.2 billion worth of equipment has been transferred from the Defense Department to domestic police agencies through the 1033 program, in addition to various other programs supposedly aimed at fighting the so-called War on Drugs and War on Terror.

According to the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, the Office of Emergency Management assisted with the transfer of over $30 million in excess Department of Defense property to New Jersey law enforcement agencies since the beginning of federal fiscal year 2014.

S2364 wouldn’t put an end to the militarization of New Jersey law enforcement, but is does it create a mechanism for local communities to stop the free-flowing tide of equipment. Citizens now have the power and forum to pressure their elected officials at a city or county level to vote against such acquisitions or face the consequences come the next election.The new law also creates an environment of transparency that didn’t exist before.

More...http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2015/03/first-in-the-country-new-jersey-law-a-first-step-to-stop-federal-militarization-of-local-police/

NJ has terrible gun laws and ridiculous taxes and Christie pretty much sucks as governor which is why I'm puzzled that he signed this. He's pro-NSA spying, war hawkish and surveillance state in general which usually doesn't jive with considering to demilitarize the police.

Scott Walker aide fires off epic 40-tweet tweetstorm after resigning following just one day on the job

...
Some conservatives were not pleased with the hiring of Mair. The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, Jeff Kaufmann, called on Walker to dismiss Mair, and the right-leaning site Breitbart News ran a sharply critical story about her support for immigration "amnesty."

"Walker made another massive misstep on Monday, hiring Liz Mair," the Breitbart story read. "Mair's support for amnesty for illegal aliens ... is sure to dog Walker in Iowa, South Carolina, and other early presidential states."

After she left Walker's campaign, Mair fired off about 40 tweets that clarified her positions on issues like ethanol subsidies and reiterated her criticism of King. She insisted she was actually a big fan of Iowa but has questions about its status as the first state to weigh in on the presidential process. Mair also praised Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) using still more colorful language.
...

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/liz-mairs-epic-scott-walker-tweetstorm-2015-3#ixzz3UmpCDN7e

Once again, one has to wonder how Walker hires a broad like this having such pro-amnesty for illegals while he's supposed to be this great conservative. Then she goes on to insult Iowans the same day she's hired. This inability to maintain and control staff that you just hired is simply amazing or incompetence.

Rand Introduces Economic Freedom Zones Act of 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Rand Paul today reintroduced the Economic Freedom Zones Act of 2015. This legislation will establish free market enterprise zones and dramatically reduce taxes in order to help facilitate the creation of new jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities, enhance and renew educational opportunities and increase community involvement in bankrupt or economically distressed areas. These zones will apply to any zip code with unemployment greater than one and a half times the national average.

“There are many communities in our country still waiting and praying for economic recovery and opportunity,” said Sen. Paul. “I want to give Americans in these places the chance to succeed.”

“The Economic Freedom Zones Act will allow impoverished areas to remove the shackles of big government by reducing taxes, regulations, and burdensome work requirements. These zones will give parents and students the flexibility to find better schools and provide incentives for philanthropy. By taking drastic, meaningful action, we can create new jobs and finally get these communities back to work,” Sen. Paul continued.

Details including TITLE I—PROHIBITION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS...  http://www.paul.senate.gov/files/documents/SIL15104.pdf

Pretty much, and I'm sick of paying for it. I wonder how much money this country has spend since the Armistice by keeping forces over there and conducting military exercises four times a year..

How Rand Paul's Digital Team Helped Re-Elect Bibi

...
Funny he should say that. Four months ago, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul hired Harris Media to run the digital operations for his RANDPAC–and, theoretically, for his coming presidential campaign. A month later, Likud hired the same consultants to help reach out to voters in the snap election. While Paul was fending off occasional attacks from American hawks, who view him as insufficiently pro-Israel, and declining to sign on to new AIPAC-backed Iran sanctions, Vincent Harris was Instagramming everything from his run from Tel Aviv to Jaffa to his "digital team" (surrounded by Netanyahu posters) to his tour of Israel's wine country.

More importantly, Harris and Duncan were bringing American tactics to Israel's race, and capitalizing off of Netanyahu's moves. The prime minister's speech to Congress was a major boon for social networking. The video led OnlyTheLikud, and viewers were asked to provide personal data, like WhatsApp contact numbers ("that's huge in Israel"), that the campaign could mobilize them with.

"We really capitalized on the prime minister’s visit to Congress to push back on the narrative that his influence had been damaged," said Duncan. "We were able to use great quotes and content from the United States and Israel, these great quotes from members of Congress who supported Bibi. We used digital to push back entire on that entire, biased narrative, and I think it was extremely effective."

They wouldn't know just how effective until all the votes and data were in. "I'm interested in seeing the turnout in the settlements, in particular," said Duncan.

What Duncan did know was that the Netanyahu splash page had more than 500,000 unique views, in a country of around 5 million voters. The mobilization might have turned out or changed the votes of people who'd told exit pollsters they planned to do something else.
...

More...http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-03-18/how-rand-paul-s-digital-team-helped-re-elect-bibi

New CNN national poll: Bush 16, Walker 13, Paul 12/ Paul performs best against Clinton

1st choice:
Bush 16%
Walker 13%
Paul 12%
Huckabee 10%
Carson 9%
Christie 7%
Rubio 7%
Cruz 4%
Perry 4%
Kasich 2%
Graham 1%
Jindal 1%
Santorum 1%


2nd choice:
Bush 13%
Paul 11%
Rubio 11%
Huckabee 9%
Christie 9%
Cruz 6%
Carson 6%
Walker 5%
Perry 5%
Santorum 4%
Fiorina 3%
Kasich 2%
Graham 1%
Jindal 1%

More...http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2015/images/03/17/poll.2016.pdf

Right where we want to be at this stage of the game.

Harry Reid thanks Rand Paul for help with eye injury

Washington (CNN)As Rand Paul presided over the Senate floor Wednesday morning, Democratic Leader Harry Reid took a few moments to thank the Kentucky Republican and ophthalmologist for helping him with an eye injury.

Reid, who now wears special dark glasses, said Paul has "has been so kind and thoughtful and considerate and visiting with me, giving me encouragement and some expert advice as to what he's seen in the past and giving me hope for better sight out of my right eye."

Reid suffered a concussion and broke several ribs and bones in his face during an exercising accident on New Year's Day, resulting in severe limitation of sight out of his right eye.

"I really appreciate it very, very much. I want the people of Kentucky to know how thoughtful and considerate and kind you've been to me over these months," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/politics/rand-paul-harry-reid/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRFxXp1C9o

MTV News: Rand Paul Talks Tech, Social Media And Youth Issues At SXSW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MDVLiNI38o
Good Interview. Rand is relaxed and informative, speaks well off the cuff! For those that don't know, MTV is the biggest hipster music station viewed by many millenials.

How Islamic State Threatens Rand Paul’s 2016 Campaign
Written by a former staffer to neocon McCain

htxp://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/03/17/how-islamic-state-threatens-rand-pauls-2016-campaign/

European countries can have these luxurious welfare states and socialistic mentalities because they spend very little on military spending. I don't endorse the former but wish the US would do much less of the latter.

If we're talking about Draper's auction purchase last year I believe they were bought around the $670ish area, which either way isn't very optimum at the moment.

Good grief, the mounting problems with these guys are getting worse than I had originally thought. Like, the wheels are officially coming off kind of worse.