Texas Senator Ted Cruz Wins 2016 Presidential Straw Poll at a Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana

If Ted Cruz is Constitutionally allowed to run for President … He will be a real threat to Democrats and establishment Republicans …

Texas Senator Ted Cruz won the 2016 Presidential straw poll at a Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Cruz finished first with 30.33%, Dr. Ben Carson second with 29.38% and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul finished third with 10.43%. They were followed by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Texas Governor Rick Perry rounded out the top five, at 5.06% and 4.90%, respectively. Moderate RINO’s Florida’s former Governor Jeb Bush came in 7th with 4.42% and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie came in dead last with 1.11%. During his speech Cruz said that Republicans would take back the Senate, they will retire Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and remove Harry Reid as Majority Leader.

Cruz finished in first place in the annual conference’s presidential straw poll at 30.33%. Dr. Ben Carson, a Fox News commentator and conservative activist, finished in second with 29.38% while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, was third with 10.43%.

Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Governor Rick Perry rounded out the top five, at 5.06% and 4.90%, respectively.

Neither Carson nor Paul spoke at the conference, but their support was a show of confidence by the traditionally more conservative crowd. The annual meeting of activists features of who’s who of big-name Republican politicians. It is an important appearance for potential presidential candidates to make.

More moderate Republicans also skipped the conference, but many fared much worse in the straw poll. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came in dead last with 1.11% while Florida’s former Gov. Jeb Bush and current Sen. Marco Rubio and came in seventh and eighth at 4.42% and 3.32 %, respectively.

Nobody Cares what any politicians in Washington says. Power in politics, sovereignty in America is with We the People!

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Ted Cruz, an ardent defender of The Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment said during his speech, “In Texas, we define gun control real simple. That’s hittin’ what you aim at.” Cruz Also went on to say, “that following the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT the president didn’t do  what she should have done. What he should have done is he should have stood up and said we are going to go after violent criminals  and we are going to come down on violent criminals like a ton of bricks.    instead he used it as an excuse to come after the rights of law abiding citizens.”

Cruz consistently pointed out that Democrats and establishment gray-beard Republicans both says that things can’t get done. Yet time after time in examples of drone strikes against Americans, Second Amendment gun control, foreign affairs and provisions in the International monetary fund.  All won by conservatives.

Too often the establishment GOP says it can’t be done because they are afraid to take a position. In order for there to be change, not only must Democrats go, so must the establishment Republicans who have long forgot what they were sent to Washington, DC to do.

THE CONSERVATIVE BATTLE AGAINST OBAMACARE:  HOW DO YOU WIN ELECTIONS … YOU DON’T WIN IT BY STANDING FOR NOTHING …

Cruz went on to blast the establishment same old-same old way of doing things within the GOP of trying to win elections. There is a cluster of political consultants who keep running losing campaigns, making the same mistakes and keep coming back to donors to make the same failed mistakes that did not win the previous times. He stressed that the way you win elections is you stand for principle and you empower the people.

Say Hello To the Five Identified Taliban Prisoners Released by Barack Obama from GITMO in Exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl … Meet the GITMO 5

The Taliban FIVE released from GITMO have been identified.

Yesterday, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only living POW held by the Taliban in Afghanistan was freed in exchange for five Afghan detainees from GITMO. Barack Obama was quick to take the praise yesterday and use phrases that began with an “I”.     The president stated Bowe’s recovery is a reminder of America’s unwavering commitment to leave no man or woman in uniform behind on the battlefield, which may have the have an asterisk after it. Who is to say that terrorists do not try an do the same? As reported at TWS, now it is time to meet the GITMO 5, five of the most dangerous Taliban commanders in U.S. custody.

1. Mullah Mohammad Fazl (Taliban army chief of staff)
2. Mullah Norullah Noori (senior Taliban military commander)
3. Abdul Haq Wasiq (Taliban deputy minister of intelligence):
4. Khairullah Khairkhwa (Taliban governor of the Herat province and former interior minister)
5. Mohammed Nabi (senior Taliban figure and security official)

More from The Weekly Standard: Five of the Most Dangerous Taliban Commanders in U.S. Custody Exchanged for American Captive.

The Taliban has long demanded that the “Gitmo 5” be released in order for peace talks to begin in earnest. The Obama administration has desperately sought to engage the Taliban as American forces are drawn down in Afghanistan, but those talks have gone nowhere to this point.  At first, the administration set preconditions for the talks, including that the Taliban break its relationship with al Qaeda. When it became clear that this was a non-starter, the administration decided to make the Taliban’s desired break with al Qaeda a goal, and no longer a precondition, for its diplomacy.

There is little hope that the peace talks will be more successful now. But the president seems to believe that Bergdahl’s exchange for the Gitmo 5 (who are reportedly being transferred to Qatar) may break the ice. “While we are mindful of the challenges, it is our hope Sergeant Bergdahl’s recovery could potentially open the door for broader discussions among Afghans about the future of their country by building confidence that it is possible for all sides to find common ground,” Obama said in his statement.

The Obama administration says that security measures have been put into place to make sure that the Gitmo 5 do not pose a threat to American national security. Let’s hope that is true; it certainly has not been the case with many ex-Gitmo detainees in the past.

Taliban Detainees Turned Over by U.S. in Bergdahl Deal:

MOHAMMED FAZL: A February 2008 Pentagon document said Fazlserved as Taliban deputy minister of defense and as a seniorcommander who was chief of staff of the Taliban army. The U.S.military said he was wanted by the United Nations for possiblewar crimes including the murder of thousands of Afghanistan’sminority Shi’ite Muslims between 1998 and 2001. It said he wasborn in 1967 in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province. According toU.S. military documents, Fazl was also on the scene of aNovember 2001 prison riot that killed CIA operative JohnnyMicheal Spann, the first American who died in combat in theAfghan war. There is no evidence, however, that Fazl played anydirect role in Spann’s death.

MULLAH NORULLAH NOORI: A February 2008 Pentagon document said Noori was a senior Taliban military commander in the Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif during fighting in late 2001 after the U.S. invasion. It said he also was the Taliban governor for two provinces and was wanted by the United Nations for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shi’ite Muslims. It said he was born in 1967 in Afghanistan’s Zabul province.

KHAIRULLAH KHAIRKHWA: A March 2008 Pentagon document said Khairkhwa was a senior Taliban official serving as the minister of interior, governor of Herat and a military commander. It said that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, he represented the Taliban during meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support hostilities against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It said he was born in 1967 in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.

ABDUL HAQ WASIQ: A January 2008 Pentagon document said Wasiq served as the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence. “He was central to the Taliban’s efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. and Coalition forces after the 11 September2001 attacks,” the document said. It said he was born in 1971 in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.

MOHAMMED NABI: A January 2008 Pentagon document said Nabi was a senior Taliban official who “served in multiple leadership roles.” It said he “maintained weapons caches and facilitated the smuggling of fighters and weapons.” It said he was born in1968 in Afghanistan’s Khost province.

UPDATE I: What the hell was this TWEET from father of released Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Below is the tweet from Bob Bergdahl’s account, which was published May 28 and was deleted Saturday night.  Imagine that? He us still working to free all GITMO prisoners, what is up with this? God will repay the death of every Afghan child? Why didn’t the father of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl just end his tweet with allahu akbar?

Six Climbers Reported Missing on Mt. Rainier; Helicopter Search Begun for 4 Clients of Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International & 2 Guides (Update: Climbers Feared Dead After 3000 ft Fall)

Six climbers have been reported missing on Mt. Rainier in Washington state. The six climbers set out Monday along White River Trail, then reached Thumb Rock on Tuesday, elevation 10,700 feet. The group was last heard from on Wednesday night by satellite phone when they reported they were going to turn around because of bad weather. A helicopter search for the missing climbers is focusing on the northwest shoulder of the mountain at the Liberty Ridge area, near where they were last heard from.

Six climbers are missing on Mount Rainier, and a helicopter search was launched on Saturday for them, a National Parks spokeswoman said.

The missing group includes four clients of Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International and two guides. They were due to return from the mountain on Friday. When they did not return, the climbing company notified park officials, Park Ranger Fawn Bauer said.

“The last contact with them was at 12,800 feet,” Bauer said.

Mount Rainier, southeast of Seattle, stands at 14,410 feet and attracts thousands of climbers trying to reach its summit every year.

The search for the missing climbers is focusing on the northwest shoulder of the mountain at the Liberty Ridge area, near where they were last heard from, Bauer said. Saturday’s search includes a team of three climbing rangers on the ground and flyovers with a Hughes helicopter. An Army Chinook helicopter is on standby at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

UPDATE I: 6 climbers on Mt. Rainier believed dead after 3,300-foot fall.

All six climbers are believed to be dead after searchers then spotted debris and climbing gear but no signs of life at the site. It is believed that the bodies of all six climbers are there, and it appears they fell about 3,300 feet down the face of a steep rockfall. Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold said, “There is no viable chance of survival from such a fall.”

Click on pic to watch VIDEO – pic: screen-grab from KOMO video

A group of six climbers missing on Mount Rainier are all believed to be dead after plunging more than 3,000 feet down a steep rockfall at the peak’s upper elevations.

A helicopter search was launched for the missing climbers Saturday morning after they failed to return on time from a scheduled five-day ascent of the mountain.

Officials said searchers found climbing gear and detected pings from the climbers’ emergency beacons at the 9,500-foot level of the mountain. Their last known location before that was at 12,800 feet on Liberty Ridge.

“All indications point toward a fall of 3,300 feet from near the party’s last known location,” said Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold. “There is no viable chance of survival from such a fall.”