With the world in turmoil, foreign policy is shaping up to be one of the most important issues facing potential 2016 presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton, who enthusiastically bullied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Secretary of State, is now trying to sound more hawkish than President Barack Obama on the Israel-Hamas conflict. The real political winner in the conflict, however, has been Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

That is because Israel is acting with greater independence than it has in decades, ignoring Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry as they push for a ceasefire that most Israelis see as premature.

In previous rounds in Gaza, the Israeli government had to weigh carefully the risk that it might alienate the White House if it pressed too hard for victory. By now, however, there is no risk: the Obama administration is effectively on the other side.

Increasingly, Israelis have had enough, and more are arguing that they should stop relying on American aid. In 2013, as Breitbart News noted, some Israelis were prepared to make that argument privately. Now, as Eli Lake of the Daily Beast reports, many are making it publicly, including some of Israel's nationalist politicians. They want Israel to stand on its own--and to be free to act in its own interests in moments of crisis, such as today.

That development is a huge boost to Sen. Paul, who has long argued for cutting U.S. aid to Israel--as well as to all other nations. In a 2013 visit to Israel, Paul moderated that view somewhat, recognizing Israel's strategic importance and allowing that Israel should be the last nation to be cut from the U.S. foreign aid budget. Yet he has still argued that both the U.S. and Israel would be better off if Israel were less dependent on American aid.

That view is abhorrent to many pro-Israel activists in Washington. Leaders of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), for example, reject Sen. Paul's position outright. They argue that American military aid to Israel is a boon to both countries, boosting security and advancing technology. For AIPAC, politicians such as Chuck Hagel may even be excused their otherwise anti-Israel views as long as they vote for the annual aid bill.

Yet an increasing number of conservatives, both in Israel and the U.S., are arguing that as much as military aid helps in the short term, funding Iron Dome missile batteries and the like, it comes as a strategic cost to Israel--as well as a fiscal cost to American taxpayers.

President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal aliens via the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and other executive orders is a “magnet” for illegal immigration, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Breitbart News on Tuesday.

“All of that is a magnet and a beacon for people to come,” Paul said when asked about Obama’s executive immigration orders during a brief interview outside the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) headquarters. “You can’t have any kind of beacon without securing the border first. It really illustrates what conservatives have been saying all along, myself included: You can’t vote for immigration reform, you can’t have immigration reform without first securing the border.”

Paul added that the “whole idea that the president unilaterally offered these areas of forgiveness for the kids—this DREAM kind of forgiveness—the problem is if you do that with an open border, then the whole world will come.” Paul called for the border to be secured, and said that no immigration legislation should be considered unless the border is secured.

“So I think if we’re going to do immigration reform, what we really need is to have the border secure first,” he said. “What it really illustrates for me is that you can’t fix things by offering forgiveness without securing the border first. It’s a big problem. I think we should humanely clothe, feed and give water and sustenance then send them back home to unify them with their families.”

Paul endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz’s bill that would block Obama from implementing any more executive amnesty by halting funding for production of any documents needed for him to do so, too. “I think he wants to do exactly what I was saying, basically,” Paul said when asked about Cruz’s bill. “You can’t have the beacon first and he wants to overturn the president’s executive action—and I would support that.”

Asked whether the U.S should do more to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine, just 17 percent answered in the affirmative. Thirty-one percent said the current policy is correct and 34 percent said the U.S. should be less involved. The poll was completed before the downing last week of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the civilian airliner that was apparently attacked over eastern Ukraine.

(Full POLITICO poll results)

More than three-quarters of likely voters say they support plans to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016. Only 23 percent oppose the plan.

Forty-four percent of likely voters favor less involvement in Iraq’s civil war, versus 19 percent who favor more involvement and 23 percent who say the current level of involvement is appropriate.

The foreign policy and national security results in the poll could be even more significant for the looming 2016 presidential contest than they are for this year’s House and Senate elections. Republicans have already begun drawing lines of internal debate around defense issues; several potential candidates, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, have emerged as interventionist voices, while Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is his party’s chief skeptic of foreign engagement.

...Rand will be too popular...   ?
The "talking heads" on TV (and radio) still have a ton of influence with people who vote. For now, they are treating Rand decently and hopefully that will continue, but....

Why?
If the media is "corrupt and controlled" why give Rand Paul a shot at early front-runner?
If the "game is rigged", then what are they trying to gain by allowing the libertarian movement a chance to grow?

On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden declared that America's jobs picture is brighter than ever.

"Businesses are hiring at historic rates, with 52 consecutive months of net private sector job growth," said Biden in the newly released report supporting the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 1998, which President Obama signed on Tuesday.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reauthorization will use a $1.4 billion "job-driven checklist" tool to "ensure that the $17 billion in federal training funds are used more effectively," said a senior White House official. The program will also feature a $25 million Department of Labor award to develop a web-based "skills academy" for adult learners.

Obama and Biden's efforts to cast a positive light on America's jobs outlook, however, may face headwinds with voters. As the New York Times noted, "In fact, part-time jobs accounted for two-thirds of all new jobs in June." What's more, economist Ben Casselman of Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight states, "For the 49th time in 50 months, more jobseekers gave up looking than found work."

Obama and Biden's upbeat economic outlook stands in contrast to the views of voters. According to Gallup, 56% of Americans believe the economy is getting worse, versus just 39% who say it is improving.

Obama departed from the signing of the jobs-training reauthorization for a Democratic fundraising trip in California. The price to attend the reception and take a picture with Obama is $10,000, and it cost $32,400 to be a co-host of the event.

Eighteen percent of Americans, or fewer than one in five, say they or someone in their family is better off because of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new poll by CNN. Nearly twice that number, 35 percent, say they or someone in their family is worse off. A larger group, 46 percent, say they are about the same after Obamacare as before.

In nearly all demographic categories — age, income, education, etc. — more people say they are worse off because of Obamacare than say they are better off.

For example, one might expect respondents with incomes below $50,000 to be somewhat likely to say Obamacare has helped them. And that is the case: 21 percent say they are better off because of the Affordable Care Act. But 35 percent say they are worse off. (Forty-four percent are the same.)

Likewise, one might expect young respondents to report benefits from Obamacare. And they do: 23 percent say they're better off. But 33 percent say they're worse off. (Forty-three percent are the same.)

In other categories, the gap between better off and worse off is larger. In just one demographic group, nonwhites, is the group of those who say they are better off, 29 percent, bigger than the group who say they are worse off, 17 percent. (Fifty-four percent say they are the same.)

“Oh our brothers in Gaza, know that you are fighting an enemy following Satan’s path, whereas you are fighting in the way of [Allah] the merciful,” Maqdisi said.

He added that he and his fighters want to join the fighting in Gaza.

“True, we are fighting in Syria, but our heart yearns to arrive and fight the sons and brothers of the apes and pigs [the Jews],” MEMRI reported Maqdisi as saying The jihadi cleric said that Gazans must be patient and wait for either victory or martyrdom, adding that Allah will soon send “extraordinary soldiers who will fight and defeat the Jews.”

“The days of defeats have passed. Our concept today is offensive and therefore you must attack them [the Jews] so they won’t attack you, hold on, fortify yourself and trust in Allah so you may succeed,” Maqdisi said.

He threatened Israel, stating that the Jews will not be able to sleep because of the sounds of artillery, and that soldiers will reach and destroy them.

Calling on Muslims to help the struggle in Gaza, he said, “If you help them, Allah will help you, if you abandon them, Allah will abandon you. The choice is yours because on Judgment Day they will ask you did you help the Gazans or the men of al-Sham or not.”

World suspension of Israel flights a 'great victory': Hamas

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Hamas said Wednesday that the suspension of international flights to and from Israel over security concerns about Gaza rocket fire was a "great victory."

"The success of Hamas in closing Israeli airspace is a great victory for the resistance, and is the crown of Israel's failure," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

A rocket fired from the embattled Palestinian territory hit near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Tuesday, prompting US and European airlines to suspend all flights to and from the Jewish state.

The flight ban was still in place on Wednesday, as Israel bombarded Gaza for a 16th straight day in an operation to stop rocket fire and destroy tunnels constructed by Hamas, the main power in the territory.

Ukrainian fighter jets were flying very close to Malaysian Flight 17 when it was shot down
Is THIS Why the Plane Was Shot Down?

Senior U.S. officials now admit that the Malaysian airlines passenger plane was likely accidentally shot down.

The Russian government claims Ukrainian fighter jets were flying very close to Malaysian Flight 17 when it was shot down.  Others claim that Ukrainian fighter jets were escorting the Malaysian plane through Ukrainian airspace.

However, a Youtube video made a month before Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down alleges that Ukranian fighter jets were hiding behind passenger planes, pulling away temporarily, dropping bombs on Ukrainian separatists, and then hiding again behind the plane

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

All the photos you see are made to make their country look better than it really is. They are not going to show pictures of the starvation because they want the world to believe that they are self sufficient.

The US is supporting them in Syria. Then why can't they do the same in Iraq?

I think bush has the best chances of winning as his family is one of the more politically powerful families in America.

I would vote for Pual Ryan. He is a solid conservative who is fiscally responsible.

i think it is more that the FBI is trying to figure out who is willing to terrorize America