JOHN KELLY COMPLETES TRUMP'S FLEET OF EXECUTIVE CABINET GENERALS

JOHN KELLY COMPLETES TRUMP'S FLEET OF EXECUTIVE CABINET GENERALS:

EXCELLENT, COMPETENT CHOICES FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP.


Sources: Fox News, MSNBC, Youtube


***** Trump poised to tap John Kelly for DHS, adding another general to team


Adding yet another general to his administration, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap retired Marine Gen. John Kelly as his choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Kelly told Fox News Trump already has asked him to serve in the DHS position.

“I have been asked and would consider it an honor,” he said.

Kelly would be the third general Trump has picked for his administration, after announcing James Mattis – who along with Kelly is a four-star general -- as his pick for Defense secretary. Trump also announced in November that retired Gen. Michael Flynn would be his national security adviser.

Kelly retired from the Marine Corps earlier this year after leading U.S. Southern Command for three years, during which he was involved in the oversight of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and the southern border.

Kelly was picked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to serve as his senior military adviser and then served in the same position under Leon Panetta before moving to Southern Command.

Kelly complained at his last Pentagon press conference in January that after 40 years as a Marine he had the authority to watch drug dealers heading to the border by sea, but he could not disrupt them. He is believed to have a good relationship with current DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, with whom he served as Pentagon general counsel.

He served three tours in Iraq, and holds the somber distinction of being the most senior military officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. His son, Marine 2nd Lt. Robert Kelly was killed in November, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Known as an outspoken but loyal commander, Kelly will be first to lead the department who is not a lawyer and the fifth overall. The department was formed after the 9/11 terror attacks in order to help foil future attacks on the American homeland.

Sources say Trump has settled on Kelly for the role, and is expected to name him in the next few days. Kelly’s selection will require confirmation by the Senate.

Immigration enforcement is a familiar issue for Kelly, and a big part of the DHS portfolio. Southern Command, which is based in South Florida, regularly works with DHS on missions to identify and dismantle immigrant smuggling networks. And it has partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an operation targeting human smuggling into the U.S. and helped with the rescue of children arriving alone at U.S. borders.

While Trump has tapped military officials for key appointments, doing so can also bring complications. Gen. Mattis will need to secure a waiver from Congress in order to be considered due to a requirement that military officials be out of service for seven years before being secretary of Defense.

Trump, meanwhile, said Wednesday that he has taken, and acted on, advice from President Obama on who he should appoint to various positions in his administration.

“I have asked him what he would think of this one and that one,” Trump said on NBC's "Today" show. “I would say that, yes, I take his recommendations very seriously and there are some people that I will be appointing, and in one case have appointed, where he thought very highly of that person, yes.”

While he did not go into specifics, he said that he likes Obama "as a person" despite the brutal criticism he leveled at the president on the campaign trail.

"I will say this, I've now gotten to know President Obama. I really like him. ... I can't speak for him, but we have a really good chemistry together. We talk,” Trump said.

A coziness between current and former presidents is not unusual. President George H.W. Bush wrote President Bill Clinton a warm note when Clinton took office, while President Obama has repeatedly spoken of how accommodating President George W. Bush's team was to Obama in the lead-up to him taking office in 2009.

GEN "MAD DOG" MATTIS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTS SEC OF DEFENSE ROLE

GEN JOE "MAD DOG" MATTIS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTS SEC OF DEFENSE ROLE:

TRUMP GUARANTEES WAIVER APPROVAL.

US MILITARY NEEDS STRONG, COMPETENT LEADERSHIP.


Sources: AP, Fox News, YouTube


****** Mattis says he's 'grateful' to be nominated as defense secretary; House GOP introduces waiver language


President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense said Tuesday that he was "grateful" to be nominated as House Republicans introduced a must-pass spending bill that included language designed to speed up his confirmation.
Retired Marine Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis briefly joined Trump on stage at the president-elect's "Thank You" rally in Fayetteville, N.C.

"I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to our troops, their families, the civilians at the Department of Defense," Mattis said in brief remarks. "I know how committed they are and devoted they are to the defense of our country [and] the defense of our Constitution. And with our allies strengthened and with our country strengthened, I look forward to being the civilian leader, so long as Congress gives me the waiver and the Senate votes to consent."

"You're going to get that waiver," Trump said as Mattis left the microphone. "If you don’t get that waiver, there are going to be a lot of angry people."

Mattis retired from the military in 2013. However, since federal law requires the secretary of defense to be off active duty for at least seven years, Congress would have to approve a waiver allowing Mattis to lead the Pentagon.

Shortly before Trump took the stage, House Republicans included a proposal to expedite the waiver in legislation to keep the government funded into next spring.

The bill would prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and buy several months for the new Congress and incoming Trump administration to wrap up more than $1 trillion worth of unfinished agency budget bills.

However, it also includes language meant to force Senate Democrats to consider whether to oppose the entire spending bill over Mattis' confirmation, risking a government shutdown over the matter.

The legislation requires Mattis to receive 60 Senate votes to receive the waiver. However, the legislation would limit debate on the measure to 10 hours.

For Mattis to receive the waiver, at least eight Senate Democrats would have to join 52 Senate Republican to approve it.

Trump himself was less bombastic Tuesday evening than at a similar rally last week in Cincinnati. The president-elect attempted to strike more of the healing notes traditionally delivered in the weeks after a bruising campaign. He even stopped the crowd when it started to boo the media.

"We will defend American jobs. We have to look at it almost like a war," Trump thundered. "We want the next generation of innovation and production to happen right here in America.

"We will heal our divisions and unify our country. When Americans are unified there is nothing we cannot do -- nothing!" he added. "I'm asking you to dream big again as Americans. I'm asking you to believe in yourselves."

HILLARY'S 2016 DNC SPEECH REVEALS HER AGENDA (COMPETENT LEADERSHIP)

Sources: CNN, Bretibart, Youtube

HILLARY'S 2016 DNC SPEECH REVEALS COMPETENT LEADERSHIP:

HILLARY'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH WASN'T BELLS & WHISTLES BUT IT MADE ME BELIEVE IN HER AGAIN.

***** How Hillary Clinton defined her historic moment

Story highlights

• Clinton offered a stark choice for the nation
• Clinton on Trump: 'A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons'

As Hillary Clinton playfully batted away an avalanche of balloons Thursday night, she appeared proud, happy and reconciled to her historic moment.

She had accepted the Democratic nomination with "humility, determination and boundless confidence in America's promise," taking her place as the first woman to lead a major presidential ticket on a night pulsating with emotion.

Her speech lacked the poetic sweep of the President Barack Obama's address Wednesday, but it was in keeping with someone who presents herself as a practical, dogged, policy-oriented striver who gets knocked down and then gets straight back up. 

The choice she defined for the nation in 2016 is stark: a "moment of reckoning."

The former first lady, senator and secretary of state set her sights on the White House and blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump, portraying him as a small man who got rich by stifling workers, who peddles fear and who lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief.

She quickly reached out to disappointed Bernie Sanders voters at the end of a convention dedicated to healing the deep rift from their contentious primary race. With the Vermont senator watching from the arena, Clinton told his supporters: "I've heard you. Your cause is our cause."

President Barack Obama congratulated Clinton at the conclusion of her speech.

"Great speech," he tweeted. "She's tested. She's ready. She never quits. That's why Hillary should be our next @POTUS. (She'll get the Twitter handle, too)"

In the audience, Clinton supporters were moved to tears, including 16-year-old Victoria Sanchez.

"This is more than I ever could have imagined," she said. "I know that I have just lived history and I can follow in her footsteps. This changes my entire life." 

After a lifetime in a polarizing political spotlight that has left her with plenty of enemies and dented approval ratings, Clinton set out to prove to voters that she could be trusted. 

Dedicated fighter

She avoided any show of contrition for controversies like the one over the private email server she used for official business while secretary of state that has again provoked questions about her honesty and integrity among many voters. 

Instead, she presented herself as a dedicated and indefatigable fighter for children, the disabled, blue-collar workers, women and the poor, while promising a backbone of steel as she vowed to take out ISIS.

Throughout a speech punctuated by roars of applause and watched by a misty-eyed former President Bill Clinton, she repeatedly returned to attack Trump -- who laid out a much darker vision of America's future at his own convention last week.

"Don't let anyone tell you we don't have what it takes," Clinton said. "Most of all, don't believe anyone who says: 'I alone can fix it,' " a reference to a part of Trump's acceptance speech last week.

"Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart," she said. "Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together."

Turning to national security, Clinton warned that a president has to make decisions about war and peace, life and death.

"Ask yourself: Do you really think Donald Trump has the temperament to be commander in chief? Donald Trump can't even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign." 

She added: "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."

Trump hit back -- with a series of tweets.

"No one has worse judgement than Hillary Clinton - corruption and devastation follows her wherever she goes," he wrote. "Hillary's wars in the Middle East have unleashed destruction, terrorism and ISIS across the world."

Stephen Miller, Trump's senior policy adviser, blasted Clinton's speech as an "insulting collection of cliches and recycled rhetoric."

"She spent the evening talking down to the American people she's looked down on her whole life," he said.

Persuading Americans

But Clinton is working to persuade Americans that she understands their frustration and economic anxiety at a time when many of them still do not trust her. Her prime-time televised address is especially crucial because she has not so far generated the kind of passion among her supporters that Trump has garnered from his backers by channeling anger about the direction of the country.

She spoke of her wholesome middle class upbringing and said her family were builders of the American dream and not people "with their name on big buildings" -- another dig at Trump. 

Clinton took pains to reach out to white blue-collar workers, many of whom have been left behind by economic globalization and technological change and have been attracted by Trump's anti-elite message.

"Right now, an awful lot of people feel there is less and less respect for the work they do," she said, and admitted that politicians had not done a good enough job of showing they understand.

One of the major themes of the Democratic convention has been an attempt to reintroduce one of the most famous women in the world to the American people. And she admitted that if many Americans knew little of the woman behind the image, it may be her fault.

"The truth is, through all these years of public service, the 'service' part has always come easier to me than the 'public' part," Clinton said.

Clinton also indicated she understood the need to reassure Americans shaken by a violent summer at home and an epidemic of terror attacks in Europe and the US. While Clinton and Obama have argued that ISIS is on the run, the economy is on the upswing, and Americans are safer than they have been in years, they are struggling to counter the dark image that Trump has painted of a nation in decline, chaos and disorder that resonates with many voters.

National security threats

Amid charges by Republicans that the optimistic mood of the Democratic convention has ignored the threat from ISIS and terrorism, Clinton was specific about the global national security threats that loom -- though she didn't use the term Islamic terrorism as the GOP repeatedly has called for.

"Anyone reading the news can see the threats and turbulence we face," Clinton said. "From Baghdad to Kabul, to Nice to Paris and Brussels. From San Bernardino to Orlando, we're dealing with determined enemies who must be defeated. No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance -- looking for steady leadership."

Following a spate of killings by police of African-American youths and massacres of police officers, Clinton laid out a firm stance on gun control, vowing that America should not have a president in the "pocket" of the gun lobby.

"I'm not here to take away your guns," she said. "I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place."

Ahead of her speech, retired four star General John Allen, the former head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, delivered a powerful address in which he told delegates that Clinton would be "exactly the Commander-in-Chief America needs." 

'America will continue to lead'

"With her as our Commander-in-Chief, America will continue to lead this volatile world. We will oppose and resist tyranny and we will defeat evil. America will defeat ISIS and protect the homeland," said Allen, who was surrounded on stage by 37 military veterans.

Clinton delivered her speech at the end of a largely successful convention, which helped mend the party after her divisive primary against Sanders. The mood on the convention floor Thursday was festive and upbeat — in contrast to the discontent that festered on the opening night Monday when die-hard Sanders fans loudly make their disappointment known.

Samantha Herring of Walton County, Florida, was a Sanders supporter but has decided this week to work hard to elect Clinton.

"Is it hard? Yes. I loved Bernie, but that's why I have to vote for Hillary," said Herring, who made signs reading "He has my heart, but she has my vote."

DONALD TRUMP'S NEW YORK WIN PROVES HE CAN MAKE IT ANYWHERE (95 DELEGATES)

DONALD TRUMP'S NEW YORK WIN PROVES HE CAN MAKE IT ANYWHERE:

TRUMP WINS 95 DELEGATES; CRUZ ZERO.

NEW YORKER VOTERS DID NOT FORGET HOW CRUZ PUBLICLY BASHED THEIR VALUES.

Sources: The Hill, CNN, New York Times, NY Daily News, Youtube

Tuesday, April 19, 2016 the state of NEW YORK displayed their love and support for native son Donald J Trump.

Trump won the NY GOP primary by a landslide.

Hillary Clinton also won the New York Democrat primary.

Considering how Ted Cruz publicly bashed NY values several months ago during one of the GOP debates, I'm not surprised Trump easily defeated Cruz.

However I hope the GOP Establishment leaders are listening because Trump's NY win speaks volumes.

In the words of Liza Minelli's signature song, 

"If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, it's up to you New York, New York".

Trump's NY win proves he can in fact make it anywhere and that he can defeat Hillary Clinton in a close, match up race.

***** Cruz Finishes Last In New York As "Values" Line Backfires

Ted Cruz is projected to come in third in New York’s GOP presidential primary, behind Donald Trump and John Kasich, Fox News and MSNBC are reporting.

Cruz, who may end up getting zero delegates from New York state, was not helped by his attacks on "New York values."

The New York values line — first delivered in January as a critique of Manhattan's liberal culture — played well among evangelicals in Iowa but came back to bite Cruz when he had to face Empire State voters. 

Cruz drew loud protests as he campaigned in the Bronx and tried to reframe the comment as an attack on New York Democrats. But returns from Tuesday show no evidence he made inroads with voters.

Trump is on track to win more than 50 percent of the New York vote statewide and could come close to winning all 95 delegates there.