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Author: Fuzzy Slippers

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Fuzzy Slippers

I am a constitutional conservative, a writer, and an editor.

Follow me on Twitter @fuzislippers

Apparently, Mitch McConnell is trying to undermine the senate run of a conservative candidate from Indiana that he sees as a potential disruptive force like Ted Cruz. CNN reports:
Rep. Marlin Stutzman is a member of the anti-leadership House Freedom Caucus, a conservative in the mold of Ted Cruz and a three-term Indiana congressman who voted against John Boehner as speaker. Now, he wants a promotion to the Senate -- and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies want to stop that. Privately, McConnell has made clear to his confidantes that he wants to bolster the candidacy of Stutzman's chief GOP rival, Rep. Todd Young, and push him over-the-top in the May 3 primary, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
This move is purportedly motivated, at least in part, by Stutzman's vote against John Boehner. CNN continues:

As I noted yesterday, Donald Trump is having problems with delegates, and it sometimes seems that he doesn't understand how GOP nomination rules work or that the rules are different in different states or even that there are rules at all.  Whatever the reason for this impression, it's backed up by the fact that he's only recently begun to organize his team to work on delegates. One Trump campaign shake-up following his discouraging last month or so is his new hire Paul Manafort, a move announced less than two weeks ago.  Manafort is a long-time GOP political operative who has served as an adviser on the campaigns of Bob Dole, John McCain, and Gerald Ford, among others. The New York Times reports:

In March, Indiana governor Mike Pence signed into law, HEA 1337, abortion restrictions related to diagnoses of Down's syndrome and other disabilities, selective abortion based on race or gender, and on the disposal of fetal remains (they are to be interred or cremated under the new law). At the time, Governor Pence said the new measures were “comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life.” Because abortions are down nationally and by 20% in Indiana over the past five years and is below the national average, there was some question about what practical benefits the law might have. One reaction that the law has had is the formation of a trolling campaign called "Periods for Pence" in which women tweet, email, and phone the governor's office to report on their menstruation cycle and other assorted issues with their vaginas.

As we await final results from Colorado, it appears that Ted Cruz will obtain more delegates in addition to the 17 he already has. ABC News reports:
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has locked up the support of 21 Colorado delegates and may scoop up even more Saturday. Slates loyal to Cruz won every assembly in the state's seven congressional districts, which began April 2 and culminated Friday with 12 delegates selected. The Texas senator is well-positioned to pad his total Saturday, when 13 more delegates were to be chosen at the party's state convention. According to an Associated Press count, Trump has 743 delegates, Cruz has 532 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 143. It takes 1,237 to clinch the nomination, though there's a real chance no candidate will reach that mark by the national convention in Cleveland in July. Of Cruz's Colorado delegates so far, only 17 were formally pledged to him, and in theory the other four could change their vote in Cleveland. But they were all included on the senator's slates and are largely state party officials who said they were barred from signing a formal pledge for Cruz but have promised to back him in balloting at the convention.
ABC goes on to note that Cruz's "superior organization" has helped him substantially in Colorado, and NBC News is reporting that Trump's performance in Colorado reveals a "chaotic, overwhelmed Trump campaign."

In the wake of the EU deal to return refugees to Turkey en masse, Greece is preparing for further violence and protests. The Guardian reports:
The Greek government is bracing itself for violence ahead of the European Union implementing a landmark deal that, from Monday, will see Syrian refugees and migrants being deported back to Turkey en masse. Rioting and rebellion by thousands of entrapped refugees across Greece has triggered mounting fears in Athens over the practicality of enforcing an agreement already marred by growing concerns over its legality. Islands have become flashpoints, with as many as 800 people breaking out of a detention centre on Chios on Friday.
The Greek government is expecting more violent protests and riots as the implementation begins tomorrow.

As I was reading through my newsfeeds, I kept seeing this story about "black staffers" leaving the RNC in droves.  It sounded ominous, like everything the mainstream media and progressive left have been saying was playing out in a mass exodus of black Republicans from the party. Here are some of the headlines: from NBCNews:

Yet Another Top African American Staffer Departs RNC

from the Sun Times:

RNC Losing Top Black Staffer

from Huffington Post:

Top Black Staffers Leave The Republican National Committee

However, once you follow the link and read the stories, these black staffers are simply moving on to new and greener pastures, often within the GOP or in more lucrative media roles.  For example, the subject of the stories above is  Kristal Quarker-Hartsfield, the national director of African-American Initiatives at the RNC, and she "is leaving the organization to work for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) as his director of intergovernmental affairs."

On Thursday, a Muslim woman reported to police that a stranger who shouted "terrorist" at her slashed her face with a knife.  Apparently, after having been so "attacked," the woman then called 911, only to later admit that she was not attacked and that her wound was self-inflicted. The incident has been widely reported, including in a publication called Arab American News:
A blade-wielding wacko called a Muslim woman a “terrorist,” then sliced open her face as she left a downtown Manhattan cosmetology school, police said. The woman, 20, is a student at the Make-up Designory on Broadway near Rector St. and was leaving the building and walking toward Trinity Church at 4:50 p.m. when her attacker struck. Police sources describe him as a white man wearing a black hat and a black jacket. He came up behind her, slashed a roughly two-inch gouge into her cheek, and ran off, police sources said.The woman then ran back into her school on the 15th-floor and called a relative, who called 911.

Back in 2012 Professor Jacobson reported on the organized movement to ban the term "illegal alien" because it is deemed "racist."  Since then, California governor Jerry Brown has banned the term, the LA Times drifted into lala land banning both "illegal immigrant" and "undocumented immigrant," and former House Speaker John Boehner issued a memo about "individuals living outside the rule of law." A group of graduate students at Dartmouth have succeeded in their bid to get the terms "illegal" and "alien" to describe illegal aliens removed from public libraries across America that use the Library of Congress subject list. The Washington Times reports:
The Library of Congress has decided to no longer use the heading “illegal aliens” in bibliographic records after Dartmouth College students petitioned to ban the “racially charged” term. The Library of Congress denied the ban request in 2014, arguing that “illegal alien” is an official term for people who are in the country without proper documents, students told Fox News.

Despite her nonchalance about the issue, Hillary Clinton's email problems are not going away.  The FBI investigation has entered a new phase as the FBI is set to interview Hillary's longtime and closest aides. The Los Angeles Times reports:
Federal prosecutors investigating the possible mishandling of classified materials on Hillary Clinton’s private email server have begun the process of setting up formal interviews with some of her longtime and closest aides, according to two people familiar with the probe, an indication that the inquiry is moving into its final phases. Those interviews and the final review of the case, however, could still take many weeks, all but guaranteeing that the investigation will continue to dog Clinton’s presidential campaign through most, if not all, of the remaining presidential primaries.

Despite repeated attacks from Democrats and even assurances from Obama that his campaign was all but over,  Bernie Sanders is more than holding his own against Democrat presidential rival Hillary Clinton.  Having announced last fall that his campaign is "not just electing a president, it is transforming America,” Bernie is content to push forward with his "political revolution." While Democrats mutter that self-proclaimed "democratic socialist" Bernie isn't even really a Democrat, Bernie swept all three of Western Saturday's Democrat caucuses:  Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington. CNN reports:
Saturday was a big day for Bernie Sanders' quest for the Democratic presidential nomination as he swept to resounding victories in the caucus states of Hawaii, Washington and Alaska. But the delegate math is still in Hillary Clinton's favor. "We knew things were going to improve as we headed West," Sanders said at a jubilant rally before 8,000 people in Madison, Wisconsin -- a state that will hold the next major contest in 10 days. "We have a path toward victory."
That path may be an uphill climb, however, because as CNN notes, the delegate math is not in his favor.

With demand down and red states limiting the amount of taxpayer monies going to fund abortion, abortion clinics are closing across the country.  Friday, Florida became another state to cut abortion funding when Governor Rick Scott signed into law a bill that would cut state funding to clinics that perform abortion. The Orlando Sentinel reports:
Planned Parenthood and other health clinics that provide abortions in Florida will go without taxpayer funds and face increased regulations for the procedure, under a bill signed Friday by Gov. Rick Scott. . . . . The law, which takes effect July 1, requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, requires annual licensure inspections for clinics and bans the purchase, sell or transfer of fetal remains. The law upgrades the failure to properly dispose of fetal tissue from a second-degree misdemeanor to a first-degree misdemeanor.

Last month, the city council in Charlotte, North Carolina passed an ordinance that included allowing transgendered persons to use bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, etc. for the gender with which they identify. This did not sit well with North Carolinians, nor with their state legislature, and in a special session, the state passed a bill that would make it state law--thus over-turning the Charlotte ordinance--that people can use such facilities only for the gender with which they were born, not the one they identify with or claim to be.  North Carolina governor (and former mayor of Charlotte) Pat McCrory signed the bill into law late Wednesday. https://twitter.com/PatMcCroryNC/status/712825004312829952 Watch the report:

Walt Disney and Marvel, a Disney subsidiary, are threatening to boycott Georgia if Governor Nathan Deal signs into law a religious freedom bill that recently passed the Georgia state legislature. The bill, HB 575, had already undergone significant revisions in response to pressure from SJWs.  The bill was initially designed to protect businesses and non-profits whose owners had religious objections to providing services for and participating in gay "marriages"; however, the new version is less accommodating to religious freedom. The Washington Times reports:
The bill initially would have allowed Georgians to decline service for same-sex weddings if doing so violated their religious beliefs. But, sensing the coming storm, Mr. Deal urged lawmakers to make substantial changes to the legislation before passing it.

It seems that everyday residents of red states aren't the only ones fed up with people moving to our states from their failed progressive fantasylands and bringing those failed policies with them. One Mississippi State Representative echoed the sentiments of many of us; while I live in Florida, not Mississippi, Florida is being inundated with blue staters fleeing the results of their policies . . . only to try to force them on us. The Clarion-Ledger reports:
When Becky Guidry of Gulfport emailed freshman Rep. Karl Oliver, R-Winona, expressing her concerns about the tax breaks being considered by the Legislature, she was shocked by his response. "It is irresponsible of our leadership to suggest eliminating income and corporate franchise taxes when: revenue projections are already down, budgets for various services are being cut across the board, funding for public education and other critical services such as child care, foster care and roads/bridges are underfunded," Guidry wrote in an email she said she sent to most representatives. "... If and when this bill reaches the full House for a vote, again, I urge you to vote No."
Cutting taxes in a red state!? Who ever heard of such a thing?  Needless to say, Oliver had a fitting response:

A 25-year-old black woman who appeared to be brandishing a handgun was shot and killed by police in Virginia; it was later discovered that, like Tamir Rice, she held a non-firing replica (see below). CBS reports:
A 25-year-old black woman was shot and killed by police officers in Virginia on Saturday after threatening them with what turned out to be a fake handgun, police said. Investigators with the Norfolk Police Department's Vice and Narcotics Division were conducting a surveillance operation when they came across a fight in a parking lot, police said.

It seems that Iran is having trouble getting the Obama administration to understand just how little it respects or fears Obama's America. They do keep trying, though.  They bully and cajole the Obama admin while dangling empty promises and outright lies before them, and they repeatedly declare that their goal is, first, the destruction of Israel (wipe Israel off the map), and second, the destruction of the United States (we're the "big" Satan after Israel's "little" Satan.). That's okay, the Obama admin assures us, Iran doesn't mean what its leaders say (there may be a certain amount of projection here).  Iran does love and respect—if not America then—its fearful leader. Iran's theocratic leadership shakes its head in disbelief  . . . and pure joy.  How weak! How malleable! How ineffectual!  Iran loves a weak American president as Jimmy Carter found out to the detriment of his second term dreams.

You may recall the Silver Spring, Maryland case of parents being charged with “unsubstantiated neglect” for allowing their children, ages 10 and 6, to walk home from a local park.  This, along with similar incidents, sparked a debate about "free-range kids," the role government should take in parenting, and the relative dangers of and safety concerns about children walking outside without a parent or guardian present. The Washington Post reported about it at the time:

Long before the Meitivs of Silver Spring clashed with Montgomery County over their young children’s walk home alone from a park, other parents across the country were at odds with authorities over similar questions: How much supervision do children need, and when are they truly at risk?

In Austin, Kari Anne Roy, 38, a children’s author, was investigated for neglect after her children walked the dog one day in August and her 6-year-old lagged behind, playing on an outdoor bench a few houses down the street.

In Port St. Lucie, Fla., Nicole Gainey, 35, a mother of two, was arrested for letting her 7-year-old son walk alone to a park and play there, about half a mile away from their home in the town where she grew up.

One of most the most publicized recent cases involved Debra Harrell in North Augusta, S.C., who allegedly allowed her 9-year-old daughter to play at a park while she worked at a McDonald’s as a shift manager.

Last week I wrote about the fact that Navy SEALs are forced to share combat rifles, are short on live ammo for training, and are purchasing their own gear.  This week, assistant commandant of the United States Marine Corps, General John Paxton, told Congress that he does not believe the Marines are ready for another war. The Stars and Stripes reports:
If the Marines were called today to respond to an unexpected crisis, they might not be ready, a top Marine general told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

Gen. John Paxton, assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, testified to lawmakers that the Marines could face more casualties in a war and might not be able to deter a potential enemy.

“I worry about the capability and the capacity to win in a major fight somewhere else right now,” he said, citing a lack of training and equipment.

Paxton, along with the vice chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, spoke to the Senate committee on the readiness challenges facing each service after 15 years of war and recent budget cuts.