Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush — who championed federally funded Common Core standards — continues distancing himself from them. During the recent FOX News GOP debate, Bush said he didn’t believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of education standards.

“I don’t believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility,” he said.

He added, “If states want to opt out of Common Core, fine; just make sure your standards are high.”

For Bush to approve Common Core and to claim he doesn’t believe the federal government should be involved is a paradox that wasn’t challenged by debate moderators. Bush’s statement that it’s okay to opt out of Common Core, but to “make sure your standards are high” also shows he doesn’t believe in state control of education, but rather having states adhere to federal regulations.

Bush will hold a noontime meet-and-greet Wednesday in Reno. Later in the evening, the Progressive GOP presidential candidate’s scheduled to attend a North Las Vegas town hall meeting.

Speaking of Nevada and Common Core, state lawmakers have given the final go-ahead to adopting Common Core math standards for high school students. A 12-member Legislative Commission voted 11-1 to approve the regulations, which have supposedly been reviewed several times.

Unfortunately, the move was the last piece needed to fully apply Common Core-aligned standards in high school. In the past, they were excluded from regulations because of technical problems.

Those problems included a widespread computer crash in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota. Furthermore, computer errors started appearing three weeks into the 12-week testing window, with only 30,000 students completing the required tests in English language arts and math before the servers overloaded.

The Nevada Department of Education filed a lawsuit against New Hampshire-based Measured Progress, the company hired to oversee testing, citing breach of contract. This year, Nevada has hired a new testing service, CTB/McGraw-Hill at a cost of $51 Million to the citizens of Nevada over the next four years.

In the end, whether regulated by the states or the federal government, Common Core is nothing more than a re-education platform, aimed at instilling Progressive beliefs in our children without their knowledge and without parental consent.

Trump is directly connected to Hillary Clinton and so is his decision to campaign as a Republican. As reported by the WaPo:

“Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men.

Four Trump allies and one Clinton associate familiar with the exchange said that Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape.”

Recently, Trump self-identify as a Democrat and donated a lot of money to them, giving around $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. MSNBC points out:

“He donated to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaigns in 2000 and 2006, her presidential campaign in 2008, and has given at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. And Clinton sat in the front row of Trump’s 2005 wedding.”

Trump also criticized Scott Walker, railing against a man who won three elections against a Progressive state-run machine, curtailed the government unions’ power and restored the state budget. He faulted Walker for falling short of budget projections and changing his position on Common Core education standards.

Now, many Republicans are afraid Trump is hurting the party. That’s because the GOP’s filled with Progressives, who can no longer tell the difference between the truth and playing to the crowds.

Meanwhile, Trump continues playing both to and down too Conservatives, with his ‘no-hold’s barred’ rhetoric. In the end, he’ll implode, much like Ross Perot did in 1992 for Bill, giving the White House to Hillary.

On the upside, their plans could fall through, as ‘Havana on the Willamette,’ (better known as Portland, Oregon) set the record for a rally held by Bernie Sanders, with 28,000 people in attendance. The avowed Socialist pledged to fight for universal health care, free college tuition, $15 an hour wage,” three months of paid leave for mothers and fathers, higher taxes on corporations, and the ‘corruptive influence of big money’ on American politics.

Clinton can only dream of such numbers when it comes to supporter’s attending her rallies. And it’ll become even more difficult if the media suddenly starts reporting on Sander’s with the same intensity they fake for both Clinton and Trump.

And as we wait, the same media continues to investigate if Megyn Kelly bleeds, or if she’s indeed yet another broadcast zombie.

FOX’s GOP debates were watched by 24 million viewers, making it the highest-rated primary debate in television history. For perspective, the first GOP primary debate four years ago, also on Fox, attracted 3.2 million viewers and the most-watched primary debate that year, broadcast by ABC, reached 7.6 million.

You might disagree over which candidate fared best in the Republican debate, but one thing is indisputable — Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier and Chris Wallace all lost. For over two hours, they demonstrated that Fox News offer’s no safe harbor for Conservative values.

It was clear from the get-go that Fox News had nothing but softball questions for Jeb Bush aimed at highlighting his family legacy and accomplishments. Meanwhile, the questions directed at Donald Trump were accusations and insults, which had nothing to do with running the country.

And jus’ as the Democrats have already crowned Hillary their nominee; Progressive Republicans have crowned Jeb theirs. If this continues, we’ll all get to go to the voting booths next November and once again choose the least offensive candidate.

But as we begin the low-road to ever-more Progressive governance and leadership, the debate is also the beginning death-knell of Fox News. This follows the departure of Rupert Murdoch as the head of the parent company – 21st Century Fox.

Murdoch is one of two people who created Fox News. The other is Roger Ailes, whose contract is running out and most likely won’t be renewed.

That’s because Murdoch has two sons — James, who was publicly characterized as an “effing dope” by Ailes and Lachlan, who was fired by Ailes. Unfortunately for Ailes, James will become the new CEO while Lachlan will become an executive co-chairman.

And if that wasn’t enough, the candidates had to share the stage with Facebook, who co-sponsored the debates. The three FOX News moderators reportedly used questions taken from the popular social networking site.

Social media users tend to be younger and generally more Progressive in their mind-set. And now you can understand more fully, why softballs were lobbed at Bush, and missiles fired at Trump.

Oh, and if there’s any doubt that FOX News missed the mark — The New York Times praised Kelly, Baier and Wallace for their so-called ‘fair and balanced’ approach to the questions asked.

“I had no idea that John F. Kennedy replaced Ben Franklin on the fifty-cent piece,” Mary stated out of the blue.

“Yeah,” I responded, “In 1964.”

“Why?” she shot back.

“I guess because he was assassinated,” I answered.

“Well, that’s a stupid reason,” she huffed, adding “besides he was a bad man!”

She vented about how the Cuban Missile Crisis and Bay of Pigs invasion was his fault, how he escalated the U.S.’s role in Vietnam, backed a coup in Iraq, and screwed around on his wife, Jackie. I said nothing — I couldn’t disagree with her assessment.

Wait until she finds out why the Mercury-head dime was replaced in 1946 with the likeness of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“Amen,” I finished, as I adjusted the pillow under my head.

Now it was time to wait for sleep to arrive. And as usual my mind rapidly wound through the day’s activities and thoughts about worldly events.

“When will I not have to write so much political shit?” I groaned, thinking about the frenetic writing habit I had developed over the last couple of years. I rolled over, closing my eyes, pretending to be asleep to fall asleep.

Still my mind was a whirlwind of activity. Thoughts zipped through my brain and prattled around like unattended children till my mind settled down and my body relaxed.

And as I faded towards sleep, the word ‘Shemitah,’ popped into my head. It was so faint a thought, I nearly ignored it.

“Shemitah,” I whispered. “‘Release’ in Hebrew.”

For months I’d been studying the ‘Shemitah,’ the seven-year cycles that means “to release.” This cycle’s set to begin, as close as I can tell September 13, though others smarter than I think it could happen as early as the eleventh or as late as the fifteenth.

Either way, it will trigger a small financial event that will cascade into a world-wide economic crisis. I’ve come to believe it will be worse than the last recession we went through – and all because we didn’t turn back to God as a nation.

Flipping through this knowledge like a spinning Rolodex, I suddenly realized I had been given the answer to my question about my writing task. Sleep overcame me fast at that point and rested well throughout the night and deep into the morning.

That morning I knew I was ‘released’ from the journey God had pressed upon me and that it would take effect as the month of the Shemitah began. It’s reassuring to know I’ve done all I’ve been asked to do and that there’s nothing left for me to do.

It’s God’s turn beginning September 1 and I’m thankful. Amen.

Earlier this year, CEO Dan Price of Seattle-based Gravity Payments, made headlines after raising his employees’ base salary to $70,000 a year. Yet, not everyone at Gravity Payments agrees with his plans to share the wealth.

Two of his top employees quit in protest whose departure was “spurred in part by their view that it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises.” And his brother, Lucas Price, filed a lawsuit against Dan for violating Lucas’ rights as a minority shareholder and breaching duties and contracts.

Finally, Price has had to rent out his own house to help cover his bills. Much of the company’s profits, $2.2 million last year, were reinvested in the company not to expand or innovate, but to cover the new minimum wage.

Now, Netflix will begin offering unlimited paid maternity and paternity leave in the first year after a child is born or adopted. The thinking behind offering unlimited-time-off perks is that it will motivate employees and increase worker productivity.

A recent study found that for every 10 extra hours of vacation time employees took advantage of, their performance ratings from their bosses climbed 8 percent, and that those who took frequent vacations were less likely to leave the company. Plus, workers not taking all of their vacation are a financial liability for companies leaving company’s saddled with $224 billion in liabilities for vacation days that employees were given but did not take.

But the reality is that giving employees unlimited time off might mean they actually take less vacation. The reason for this is something called “work martyr syndrome.”

Employees think that it will look extra good to their bosses if, despite being given unlimited vacation time, they actually take even fewer days off. And it isn’t for those with unlimited vacation.

Even those who get a set number of vacation days don’t even take them all. A 2014 analysis found that U.S. workers left an average of 3.2 vacation days on the table.

Finally, McDonald’s is rolling out self-service kiosks in restaurants across the U.S. that allow customers to order and pay for their food without ever having to interact with a human. The kiosks are reportedly a response to a call for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

And as the economy continues falter because of Progressive business models, the Obama Administration continues to push climate change and green energy – one which is scientifically unsubstantiated, while the other has failed over and over again.

Even if the White House refuses to use the words “Islam” and “radical” in the same sentence, the FBI appears to be taking the threat of domestic terrorism seriously. They issued an alert on July 2 to all law enforcement agencies in Colorado and Wyoming about a group of Middle Eastern men threatening U.S. military families.

Last May, the wife of a U.S. Army soldier was approached in front of their Fort Collins, Colorado home by two Middle Eastern men, who claimed she was married to a U.S. interrogator. When she denied this, they laughed and drove away in a dark-colored, four-door sedan with two other Middle Eastern men.

Similar incidents near F.E. Warren AFB in Cheyenne, Wyoming were reported in June. The bulletin says the Middle Eastern men also try to gain personal information about military members and family members through intimidation, leaving family members fearful.

In a statement, Colorado Senator Cory Gardner said he was “alarmed” by the reports.

“This news comes less than two weeks after FBI Director James Comey, speaking in Denver, warned of the heightened threat from the Islamic State that Colorado specifically faces,” Gardner said.

The bulletin’s release comes amid the questioning of a person of interest after shots were fired a second consecutive day near Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in southern Mississippi. There were no reported injuries.

It follows the July 16 attack targeting two Chattanooga, Tennessee military installations, killing four U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy sailor before he was himself killed. The FBI claims they can find no connection between the shooter and ISIS/ISIL.

The terror group has threatened several times to strike military members in their homes. In March, the group “Islamic State Hacking Division” posted a list of addresses belonging to 100 military members, calling for their beheadings, saying it leaked the information so that “our bothers residing in America can deal with you.”

The alert says the men haven’t been identified and that the FBI isn’t sure if the incidents involve the same men. They also ask that anyone in Colorado contact the FBI at (970) 663-1028, if approached. In Wyoming, contact the FBI at (307) 632-6224.

It’s difficult enough for the men and women in our uniformed services to do their jobs with President Obama as their Commander-in-Chief — but having to do their duty while worrying about the safety of their families on U.S. soil is simply appalling.

While everyone in the national media’s focused on the line-up for the prime-time Republican debate and who’s ‘qualified’ to take part, they’ve ignored another move made by President Obama that will damage the U.S. economy further than his signature health care plan is doing. This time Obama’s forcing states to close their coal plants and cut emissions — or risk losing federal highway funding.

President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal includes $4 billion in payments to “support states exceeding the minimum requirements” mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency “for the pace and extent of carbon pollution reductions from the power sector,” to fight global warming. The EPA says its $4 billion fund will reward states that go beyond the call of duty and lower their emissions beyond what the administration has called for.

Obama’s budget also puts into place $48 billion in green energy subsidies over the next 10 years which states could use to help meet federal emissions mandates. These subsidies will give tax breaks to companies that produced green energy and bio-fuels, buildings that installed energy-efficient equipment and for making alternative fueled vehicles.

Meanwhile, the EPA can use the federal highway fund to force states to comply with its mandates. Failing that, the agency can even carry out its own plans in the states as well as take over the state’s environmental enforcement and impose their own federal plan to reduce emissions in non-compliant states.

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan requires states to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. However, several states have already sued the EPA over the Clean Power Plan, saying it violates the Clean Air Act and infringes upon state sovereignty.

According to the agency’s own estimates, its power plant rule will force coal-fired power with a 49-gigawatts capacity or greater to close down, causing electricity prices to jump by six percent by 2020. The new rule will also cost $41 billion per year, while the agency’s $4 billion will cover only a fraction of the costs.

Coal power provides the U.S. with about 40 percent of its electricity, more than nuclear power and renewable energy combined. Sadly though, as that percentage dwindles, the long Progressive slog towards third-world status for the U.S. will continue apparently unabated by Congress.

Progressive Senators blocked efforts to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood. The legislation was in response to undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they provide medical researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses, when in fact they are illegally selling the organs for profit.

The four videos released by the Centers for Medical Progress shows people posing as representatives of a company that purchases fetal tissue negotiating with Planned Parenthood officials. The videos also show those officials speaking casually about abortion procedures used to get tissue and close-ups of fetal organs.

During debates over Planned Parenthood’s funding, Progressive leaders attacked Conservatives, claiming they are out of touch with the average American.

“It’s our obligation to protect our wives, our sisters, our daughters, our granddaughters” from the GOP’s ‘absurd policies,’” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada “The Republican Party has lost its moral compass.”

Planned Parenthood says the videos are selectively edited and that the organization only recovers costs of the ‘procedures,’ which is legal, and only gives the tissue to researchers with a mother’s advance consent and in fewer than five states. According to Planned Parenthood, they only provide contraception, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and abortions in their clinics from coast to coast.

With three congressional committees’ investigations, probes in several states and the expected release of additional videos, Senate Conservatives had hoped the added pressure would have caused Progressive support of the groups activities to crumble.

Congressman Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina said he expects to get several dozen signatures on a letter opposing any spending bill containing money for Planned Parenthood. The letter calls for funneling Planned Parenthood’s federal dollars to other providers of health care to women, including hospitals, state and local agencies and federally financed community health centers.

Senate Conservatives say that transfer would allow women to continue receiving the health care they need, since Planned Parenthood’s has only 700 clinics. For their part, Progressives claim many of the organization’s centers are in areas with few alternatives for reproductive health care for low-income women.

This fits right in with Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger and her 1918 vision: “All of our problems are the result of over breeding among the working class, and if morality is to mean anything at all to us, we must regard all the changes which tend toward the uplift and survival of the human race as moral.”

One of the Islamic terrorists, who attacked the “Draw Mohammed” event in Garland, Texas last May, bought a weapon through then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ gun operation that allowed thousands of firearms fall into criminal hands. Five years before the attack that ended in his death, Nadir Soofi, purchased one of the 9-mm handguns.

In 2010, Lone Wolf Trading Co., in Phoenix, Arizona, was known for selling illegal firearms. Soofi however didn’t know the gun store was part of a federal sting supposedly targeting Mexican drug lords and their traffickers.

The idea was to allow Lone Wolf to sell the illegal weapons to criminals and straw purchasers, and track the guns back through the smuggling networks to the drug cartels. Unfortunately, the Obama administration lost track of an estimated 1,400 guns in ‘Operation Fast and Furious.’

It’s curious that the front-store for all the illegal activity would be known as ‘Lone Wolf,’ the same title the administration has mislabeled a number of obvious ISIS/ISIL inspired terror attacks in the U.S. Incidentally, the sting resulted in only 34 indictments and a House of Representative vote to hold Holder in criminal contempt after he refused to release documents tied to the scheme.

“This is consistent with what has previously been described as a lone wolf attack,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said of the Garland attack. “Essentially you have two individuals that don’t appear to be part of a broader conspiracy, and identifying those individuals and keeping tabs on them is difficult work.”

Soofi, who had criminal record of misdemeanor drug and assault charges, gave false the information on the federal forms and his purchase was flagged. The feds placed a seven-day hold on his application, but even that failed to stop the future-terrorist from obtaining the weapon, as 24 hours after the hold was placed, it was lifted.

So far, the FBI has refused to release any details, including serial numbers, about the weapons used in Garland by Soofi and his roommate, Elton Simpson. Some of the other ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ weapons were used in at least 200 murders in Mexico, and another has been linked to the 2010 ambush-killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in Arizona.

Not only did the Obama administration’s guns end up in the hands of the Mexican Cartel, but Islamic terrorists picked up a few up, too.