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by ALEX SWOYER2 Feb 2016Washington, DC3,561
GOP frontrunner Donald Trump says that his experience in Iowa “was a great one” and that he was honored to place second after spending “very little there – a fraction of Cruz [and] Rubio.”
Trump posted a series on Twitter:
Trump is holding a campaign rally Tuesday night in New Hampshire with conservative author Ann Coulter.
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www.sacbee.com
If you were at Sleep Train Arena about 90 minutes before tipoff Monday night, you would have thought the Kings were handling major laundry duty.
Before fans entered for the game against the Milwaukee Bucks, T-shirts that were placed on every seat to celebrate the Lunar New Year were being collected and put in large piles. The shirts had a monkey on the front because this is the year of the monkey.
The shirts became an issue because they were to be distributed on the first day of Black History Month, when NBA players and coaches wear commemorative shirts.
“We all need a lesson in sensitivity,” Kings president Chris Granger said. “In an effort to celebrate Chinese New Year, we had some concerns about the T-shirt giveaway, so we pulled them all before the doors opened. Certainly we don’t want to offend anybody, and we acted as soon as we heard the concern.”
Center DeMarcus Cousins was one of the first people to raise concern with team officials, and soon thereafter, the shirts were collected.
Former NBA player and current Milwaukee TV analyst Marques Johnson applauded Cousins for speaking up and the Kings for removing the shirts.
“Good move Kings,” Johnson tweeted. “Year of Monkey Tees on 1st day of Black History Month not a good look. Thanks DeMarcus.”
More lineup shuffling – The Kings were without two starters: Cousins (sprained left ankle) and guard Ben McLemore (sprained right wrist).
“I think they’re both day-to-day” coach George Karl said. “As you know, I don’t spend a lot of time on injuries. I get the hands that are dealt.”
The Kings entered Monday 1-7 in games without Cousins. The win came in November at Milwaukee.
McLemore never had missed a game in his three-year career, a 211-game span. He said he was injured during Saturday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Cousins also was hurt at Memphis. After rolling his ankle in the first half, Cousins stayed in the game, only to be re-injured when Marc Gasol rolled into it late in the game.
Karl used his 17th different starting lineup of the season Monday, starting Kosta Koufos for Cousins and Marco Belinelli for McLemore.
Fewer options – Cousins is the Kings’ leading scorer and primary option on offense, so his absence forced Karl to adjust the game plan.
“Our playbook isn’t extensive,” Karl said with a chuckle. “When you have to take Cuz’s actions out, all of a sudden it’s short. Had to put a few new plays in this morning.”
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thehill.com
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says America will be glad if he’s the president next time the nation is attacked.
"If we are attacked, somebody attacks us, wouldn't you rather have Trump as president if we're attacked?" he said at a rally in Milford, N.H. "We'll beat the shit out of them."
He added that America needs to stop "playing games."
"We've become the policemen to the entire world," he said. "We take care of the world. They pay us peanuts."
Trump said under him, the U.S. would get along better with Russia and other countries.
"We can use them to knock out ISIS with us so that maybe we don’t always have to pay for it,” he said.
“Knock the hell out of them, but let them drop some of their bombs that cost $1 million apiece, let them use some of their weapons that cost billions of dollars," Trump added.
"Let them beat the shit out of ISIS also.”
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www.texastribune.org
A Customs and Border Protection vehicle patrols on the Texas border near the Rio Grande, Thursday, July 24, 2014, in Mission, Texas. Texas is spending $1.3 million a week for a bigger DPS presence along the border.
Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, pressed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday to explain why the agency plans to reduce its aerial surveillance on the Texas-Mexico border.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, the lawmakers said the cut to a requested 3,850 hours of aerial detection and monitoring in 2016 amounts to 50 percent less coverage than recent years.
“Given the recent surge of migrants from Central America and Cuba along the southern border, we believe DHS should request more surveillance and security resources, not fewer,” Abbott and Cuellar wrote in a letter.
The pair also reminded Johnson that in September, Abbott’s office askedthe DHS for more aerial resources and U.S. Border Patrol agents but that the request was never acknowledged.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency would respond "directly" to the governor and the congressman.
Monday’s request comes as CBP is reporting a new surge in the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the Rio Grande. From October to December of 2015, about 10,560 unaccompanied minors entered Texas illegally through the Rio Grande Valley sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. That marks a 115 percent increase over the same time frame in 2014. The amount of family units, defined as at least one child and adult guardian or parent, has increased by 170 percent to 14,336 in the Rio Grande Valley.
The El Paso sector also saw 1,030 unaccompanied minors, an increase of almost 300 percent.
In Monday’s letter, the pair also requested a detailed breakdown of how the DHS determined the reduction in aerial surveillance was warranted and information on how staffing and operation levels would be affected.
While Abbott has spoken extensively about illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America, the letter marked the first time Abbott has referenced a recent surge of Cubans coming into Texas.
Abbott visited the island nation last year to explore expanding trade between Cuba and Texas. During that trip, he spoke about the current trade embargo but not the migrant issue.
During the 2015 fiscal year, about 28,400 Cubans entered Texas through U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Laredo field office, which extends from Del Rio to Brownsville. That’s compared to about 15,600 in 2014.
The surge came after the Obama administration announced in 2014 its plans to re-establish ties with Cuba, leaving many Cubans fearing they will lose a special designation that allows them to apply for legal residency status, or a “green card,” after living in the country for a year. Cuellar and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have called for the repeal of that designation.
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www.usatoday.com
A graphic from a Microsoft video about its caucus vote counting app.(Photo: Microsoft)
As Republican and Democratic caucus voters used new Microsoft tallying apps during the Iowa caucuses, some took to Twitter to say the sites were crashing, while others complemented them on how swiftly they worked.
USA TODAY
Iowa caucuses: What's happening right now
Looks like Microsoft's caucus tallier crashed...https://t.co/D45W22T1VM#IowaCaucuspic.twitter.com/M9qM4U5Qc7
— Miranda Green (@Mirandacgreen)
And the Iowa GOP caucuses results site is down. Good job, @microsoft !#IowaCaucuspic.twitter.com/33PgBWONhl
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin)
Add “Iowa Caucus vote tracking” to Microsoft’s long list of unsuccessful promotional efforts…pic.twitter.com/RqZmx7Q11x
— Michael DeGusta (@degusta)
Microsoft Recount APP was not working properly at 1 location-Iowa Caucus Stream-A-Thon! Continued...https://t.co/0QQ92oFsUI via@YouTube
— CelesteHolmes (@Dallas4Bernie)
Some users noted the system might simply be temporarily overwhelmed and suggested users wait a moment and then try again.
@michellemalkin@Microsoft Just try a few seconds later. The server is probably getting more requests than it can handle. Bashing is easy.
— Boris Pulatov (@BorisPulatov)
In an emailed statement, Microsoft said that the mobile apps for both parties worked without issue.
However national interest in the Iowa Caucuses overwhelmed the Democratic and Republican Party Iowa Caucus websites, which Microsoft was working to resolve, the company said.
Some online charged that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had donated “millions” to the Clinton Foundation, making the company's creation of the apps suspect. However Microsoft created apps for both the Republican and Democratic parties, so others said that seemed unlikely.
Columnist Matt Drudge tweeted, “Watching the Iowa folks put their votes into Microsoft app is terrifying...”
Microsoft provided the free app in hopes of cutting down on errors and increasing speed in the reporting process, in response to issues at previous Iowa caucuses.
In a blog post in June, Microsoft's vice president for technology and civic engagement Dan'l Lewin, said the software company was "honored to support the 2016 Iowa caucus via a new, mobile-enabled, cloud-based platform that will facilitate accuracy and efficiency of the reporting process."
The secure system was meant to enable precincts "to report their results directly by party and will ensure that only authorized Iowans are reporting results. This announcement represents the first-of-its-kind major technology component to caucus reporting," he wrote.
Microsoft built apps for each political party in Iowa for all mobile and PC platforms, with the results to be securely stored and managed in Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, he said.
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www.weeklystandard.com
Florida governor Jeb Bush received 5,165 votes in Iowa. His vote total constitutes 2.8 percent of the Republican turnout, placing him in sixth place in the Iowa caucus.
Yet no candidate in either party spent more in the race than Bush.
According to MSNBC, Bush spent $14.9 million in Iowa, all coming from Bush's super PAC. (In fact, if one were to consider national ads and money from the campaign, the total would be significantly more.)
That means, the once Republican frontrunner spent $2,884 per Iowa vote.
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