Change To Pre- Proposal Conference Date Venue And Call In: Fill & Download for Free

“Event planner.” It’s a broad term that can be used to describe someone who plans a small birthday party for ten or someone who plans a multi-day conference for 350,000. The job, one of the top 5 most stressful in 2017 according to Forbes, requires an intense eye for detail and supreme organizational skills. It isn’t enough to get an event right, it has to be perfect. Nowadays, things are changing. The processes that planners used to rely on our growing and evolving. When you’re stuck in an excel dedupe or in a game of “phone tag” with a hotel to book additional rooms days before the event, you’ve probably thought – there has to be an easier way to do this. There is. Event Planning Software.Technology Can Change How You PlanWhy wouldn’t the answer be technology? We rely on technology for almost everything. If you don’t know an answer, Google it. When you want to know where your friends are, message them. Curious how your social media post is performing? Check the analytics. You need more toilet paper ASAP? Amazon Prime it! If there’s an app that lets you hunt ghosts, why wouldn’t there be technology for event management?You don’t need to pull your hair out over managing room blocks or spend the night before an event updating multiple registration lists. There’s an easier way.You might be wondering…Won’t it take more time to learn?At first, yes. Just like learning how to use a new app or getting used to system updates on your phone, implementing new technology takes time. The time to learn the system is short, as great products are created with users in mind. Once you learn the product, you gain time.Won’t it eat up my event budget?Event management software costs money. It’s a product, and like all products, you have to pay for it. The fact is, it really does improve the quality of your events and it speeds up otherwise endless processes. The data and event insights you have access to can help prove the success of your events and show you how to make them even more impactful for attendees.Technology is changing the way things are done for the better. Find out what options will work for you, and soon, you’ll feel like you’re leading the pack.Event Invites and TechnologyTo print or not to print? While printed invitations are beautiful, they’re also costly, easy to lose, and hard to track. Today, the pros of using online email marketing software often outweigh the cost and challenges that come with mailing printed invitations. Technology has improved event registration drastically. If you haven’t thought about sending email invitations or communicating with attendees online, we’ve outlined a few reasons why you should.A contact list is one of the most frustrating aspects of event planning. Is the list up to date? Are there duplicates? Do you have the correct information? Cross-checking, updating, and organization can take forever. If you’re using a basic Excel sheet that isn’t integrated with sales systems, or you’re working from a printed list – it’s likely your contact list will be out of date quickly or take hours to update. If you’re mailing invites, the likelihood that addresses have changed, or there’s a small error in the street address, apartment number, or zip code is high. Email marketing software allows you to keep track of your list, segment, track open rates, and more. And when you send email invites – all you need is an email address.Printed materials can be beautiful. But now, so can email invites. Technology can mimic the look and feel of a printed invite without costing an exorbitant amount. The design capabilities online have pretty much caught up to what can be done on paper. Emails no longer have to be plain, poorly formatted blocks of black and white text. Nowadays, you have the opportunity to add images, links, fonts, and incorporate your companies branding. Additionally, emails can be easily personalized. Adding a first name in the greeting is easy and takes no extra effort on your part.AccessibilityI don’t know about you, but I can’t keep track of a piece of paper to save my life. Once I take it out of the mailbox, it’s anyone’s guess as to where I placed the invite. If your attendees can’t keep track of an invite, it’s going to make it harder for them to remember that they have an event. People are busy, and not everyone has a magnetic fridge they use as a showcase for upcoming events. You need to make the process easy and seamless. An email is easier to find – you can search for it in your inbox. Whether you’re on a phone or computer, you’ll have access.Tracking RSVPsRSVPs and registration should be as simple and painless as possible. The registration process shouldn’t be the cause of low event attendance. Keep it easy. Make it so that all your attendee needs to do is click on a link, then fill out a registration form. They don’t need to worry about mailing a card back or calling a phone number to register. The best part? You can send reminder and follow-up emails, so your attendees know exactly when the event is and what they’ll need to do, lowering their level of stress.CostPaper is expensive. Not only that, the man-hours needed to stuff envelopes and digitize the responses that come back adds unnecessary cost. An online system tracks registration with no additional time needed from your staff. And, the cost of sending emails is incredibly low. You can send an invitation, reminder, and even a second reminder, for much less than it would cost to print one set of invitations and postage.DataYou want to know who attended, who was a no-show, who couldn’t make it and more. Online systems track registrations, making it easy to know who’s coming. Let your email marketing software track it for you – don’t spend extra time inputting data. As good as you might be at inputting information, human error is a thing. Having measurable, trackable data that’s tracked automatically cuts down on errors in reporting.Sometimes, you will want to send a printed invitation. But more often than not, it won’t be a necessity. Cut down on costs and increase attendance by using email marketing software.Taking the Mystery Out of Venue SourcingHow do you typically find a venue for an event? Like a lot of planners, you may start with a Google search. From there, you create a spreadsheet, start to identify criteria, send a few emails, call a few locations, and come up with a solid list of potential venue options.But how long did that take you? You can lose hours looking at different hotels, conference centers, and unique spaces, and at the end of that search, you may be left with a few hastily scribbled notes on a piece of paper or a partially filled out spreadsheet. The hardest thing to find during this search? The cost. You can sink hours into research, find a great list of five locations, then realize after reaching out that they’re all way out of your price range. That puts you back at square one.That’s only the first step in the long, tiresome venue sourcing process. You still need to create and send out a request for proposals (RFPs), evaluate them, and work through complicated negotiations.Venue sourcing tools make everything so much easier. What can they do? Provide a searchable database of venues, allow you to compare and contrast venues across the same criteria, easily send out RFPs, and get you set up to do the only thing you can’t do with event technology – go on-site visits. Though with the rise in VR technology, it might even help you do that someday soon. We’ve broken down venue sourcing into simple steps, that when using a great venue sourcing tool, will take the headache out of finding the perfect place to host your next event.Step One: Find VenuesKnow your meeting objectives and requirements. You need to start strong and by determining these at the outset, you’ll decrease the search process.Take into account feedback from attendees. Is this an annual event? If attendees ranked the venue from the previous year poorly, look at the feedback to pick a venue that will resonate better.Don’t feel alone! Reach out to your team, or others that have a stake in the event to brainstorm what factors are most important.Step Two: Write the Perfect RFPYou already know general objectives and requirements – now define your purpose. Make it clear what this event requires and hopes to achieve.Get detailed! Give as much information about the event as you can.No one likes to discuss money, but you need to share your budget requirements. The venue is one of the largest costs of an event and can make or break your budget.Make your deadlines clear. Give a date and time that provide venues enough time to respond.Don’t start from scratch. Pull a template from online.Be ready to answer any questions venues may have about the proposal or event.Step Three: Evaluate ProposalsCreate a spreadsheet to assess proposalsCreate a list of any factors that are less concrete – your qualitative factorsPay close attention to meeting rooms – do the sizes and layouts make sense for your event?Compare how responsive and helpful the venues are to help figure out how helpful they’ll be if you choose them.Next? Go on some site visits! You should be in great shape at this point. You have proposals, you know that the spaces you’re looking at are within budget and have the spaces you need, now you can look in person.The Best Ways to Promote Your EventsPromotion is a critical part of any event and requires creativity and some advanced planning. To create the perfect promotion plan, there are a few things to keep in mind. When deciding on how to promote your event, the main factors are time and money. Luckily, with technology that allows automation, it’s easier than ever to create more robust promotion plans as you work on event marketing.First Steps to Creating a PlanThere are various factors that go into creating a promotion plan. Before you even get into the nitty-gritty of coming up with creative and a unique hashtag, you need to understand two major factors: budget and manpower.BUDGETWhat are you working with? If you aren’t tracking your budget as well as you’d like, here are a few tips. Money has to be set aside for promotion, but there are ways to do it inexpensively. With social media and email marketing, many forms of promotion are relatively free. If you do have a good budget dedicated to promotion, you can look into paid advertising. Some of your budget might go into investing in technology to make promotion easier. That could be social media scheduling tools, email marketing systems, and more. Investing in automation tools will allow you to spend cut down time spent on promotion. Many tools can be tried for free or at a relatively low cost.MANPOWERIf you haven’t handled promotion before, you may not realize what a drain it can be on your time. It might not seem like too much to promote your event on every social media channel with original posts multiple times a day, but that’s hours added to your already full workload. The key is to identify from the beginning the time you’re able to dedicate to promotion and create your plan around it. By using systems that allow you to schedule social media posts in advance, you’ll be able to cut down on real-time updates. Additionally, by using email marketing systems that allow you to automate emails and send to segmented lists, you’ll save a lot of time.Creating a Promotion PlanThere are endless ways to promote an event. Event marketing is varied. You can get creative, stick to the basics, or do a mix. One thing’s for sure – your promotion plan should include social media and email marketing.SOCIAL MEDIAThere’s a big question that you need to answer. Where your potential attendees hanging out? Based on the demographics of your target attendees, you’ll be able to figure out the best channel to promote your event. Instagram may not be a great channel to promote an educational healthcare conference, but Twitter might be. It all depends on the age of attendees, the industry you’re in, and the type of event you’re planning. Not every social channel needs to be used. While social media is essentially free, it takes a lot of time to create different posts that work on each channel and monitor your channels.When crafting posts, share more than you create and use images. By using automated scheduling systems, you’ll be able to schedule posts months in advance. Don’t forget to check your account frequently to respond to comments and always search the hashtags you want to use before you post them.EMAIL PROMOTIONYou’ve been gathering lists of contacts for years. You know who attended the event the year before and who might be interested. Email can be a great promotional tool. The most important things to keep in mind are not to bombard potential attendees with emails and to keep emails short. If you send five emails in one day, your contact will unsubscribe and you won’t be able to contact them again. If you send really long emails, no matter how important the information is, they won’t be read.Use emails to target contacts that would be interested in the event. Entice them. Great subject lines, strong visuals, and brief emails will get the highest open and click-through rates. Send reminders, but be careful of your frequency.Easy Steps for Creating a Promotion PlanThose guidelines should help you as you decide how to promote your event. Below is a very basic list to use when creating a promotion plan. For even more, check out Event Marketing Tips.Figure out your budgetEvaluate how many hours per week you have to spend on promotionIdentify if you have the automation tools you needFind out where your customers are on social mediaGather graphics and key event informationCreate a calendar with pre-event milestones like speaker announcements and agenda unveilingCreate a 6+ month promotion plan leading up to the event utilizing milestonesCheck in often, adjust as neededBuilding a website used to be impossible if you didn’t know how to code. Today, things are much easier. Even if you have no knowledge of HTML, you can build a great website. Which is great news because nowadays, everyone expects there to be a website for everything. Emailed invitations are a thing of the past. Besides being wildly expensive, they’re hard to track and data is easy to input incorrectly. That’s why websites and registration sites are the new normal when it comes to events.What’s the Difference Between Registration and Event Websites?REGISTRATION WEBSITEA registration site is built for one thing – registration. Registration sites alone are perfect for smaller events, events that don’t need much promotion or events that have a very low barrier to entry. The purpose of a registration site is to allow an attendee to register easily online and provide you with the data and information you need.EVENT WEBSITEAn event website is more dynamic. This website is created for large events, high-cost events, and events that need to capture potential attendee’s attention. The purpose of an event website is to market the event and convince attendees to attend the event. This website can include videos, more information, and lead to a registration site. Not every event will have an event website, but if it has an event website it will also have a registration site.Regardless of the type of site you build, it should be:ResponsiveBrandedContain all of the event infoBe accessible and easy to readHow to Detect ProblemsBOUNCE RATESThe higher a bounce rate is, the worse it is. You want a low bounce rate. This means that when a visitor is on your site, they stay and interact for a reasonable amount of time. If bounce rates are high, that means they entered the site and left quickly. Try switching up the original landing page or copy to see if the change helps. When other pages on the site have high bounce rates, try changing those as well.ABANDON RATESOn a registration site, when a visitor fills out part of the registration and then leaves without finishing the form, that’s counted as an abandon. You want visitors to fill the entire form and complete registration. If your abandon rates are high, figure out what questions led to high abandons. Can you do without those? If not, try switching up the order and see what works. For those that already abandoned registration, send them an email (if you have their address) with more information about the event.Take it One Step at a TimeRegardless of the site you chose, you will need one. If building a website scares you – don’t worry. It isn’t hard. Event management software has made the process incredibly easy. If you can type and drag and drop, you can create a site.Get Rid of Lines at Your EventThere are a lot of terrible things that can go wrong at events. In most cases, the problems can be resolved without attendees ever knowing about them. The one thing that’s definitely noticed? Lines. Otherwise known as bottlenecks. One of the most visible hiccups onsite, lines are the bane of a planner’s existence. Attendees hate waiting and lines can be difficult to break up once they form. How do you fix some of the most common lines from forming onsite?You guessed it. Event management solutions. Doing things the manual way can lead to more bottlenecks onsite, aka more irritated attendees.Where and Why Some Lines FormCHECK-IN + BADGINGEveryone shows up about the same time for the event and it makes sense that a line will form. But if attendees are in line for more than a few minutes, their impression of the entire event can become soured by that single experience. First impressions are important. By using self-check-in kiosks and printing badges onsite, you can decrease lines. Attendees know how to check in on a screen – they’ve been conditioned at airports to do just that – and will make it through check-in much faster. And, if they find any errors in their registration information, they can fix it themselves.GETTING INTO SESSIONSAs a planner, you want to track who is attending what session. As an attendee, you want to get into that session without waiting in a line. Using quick scan in, RFID, and other technology options, attendees can get into sessions quickly and you’ll know where they are.FOODDid you know you can track how many attendees visit a drink or food session? Understanding foot traffic allows you to rearrange where table or coffee is set up to accommodate busy areas. Or it will show you where to rush more food. When attendees are hangry, the last thing they want is to wait for food. Sometimes, even the best-designed food layouts don’t work. Use live attendee tracking data to adjust as necessary.MAPSThere are times when lines form for a reason, and then there are times lines form just because. A lot of crowded traffic ways are due to a poor understanding on the attendee’s part of the venue layout. There may be a whole different route they didn’t know existed, which is why they’re all crammed into the same hallway trying to get into the keynote. Use a mobile event app to send push notifications highlighting different paths on the in-app map.SESSION CHANGES/DELAYSAnother great use for your mobile event app push notifications? Session changes or time delays. Alleviate a potential line or confusion by sending out a notification to attendees. The in-app map will come in handy for room changes.Cut Out the Lines with Onsite TechnologyNo one likes waiting in line. Event management software helps to decrease the number of onsite bottlenecks to make sure your attendees stay happy and enjoy the experience. No one wants the resounding theme of their post-event survey to be that lines were too long. Fix the problem before it forms using technology.How to Keep Your Event Attendees in the KnowEvents are stressful, and not just for the people that plan them. One of the major obstacles for attendees when deciding whether to attend an event is stress. It takes *a lot* of effort to set up travel arrangements, make a business case for their attendance, and miss out on a few days or more of work. One of the best ways to alleviate attendee stress is to provide them with plenty of information about the event. That’s why, when it comes to communication, you have to update attendees regularly, so they know what’s happening. In a perfect world, you would communicate so well that they would never have a question.Using Tech to Keep Attendees in the KnowSo what’s the best way to update attendees? In today’s high-tech world, it doesn’t make sense to send updates through the mail – they would never get them in time! Make the most of your attendee’s unhealthy attachment to their phones by using emails, event websites, and mobile event apps to give them all the information they need.EMAILEmail is a great way to send out updates ahead of the event. Not only that, you can send a bit more information in an email than you can in a push notification. The best news is, if you have any information about attendees or potential attendees, it’s most likely an email address.Best Ways to Use EmailsPoint Attendees to the event websitePut Content in a place they’re used to checkingSend more detailed information in segmentsSegment emails based on different attendee needsEVENT WEBSITEYour event website is essentially home base. Attendees know that it’s a place they can always return to feel ‘safe’ and get the information they need. Your website will have all of the information about your event, broken down into the details. This is where you can make big announcements, update attendees about changes before the event, and get them to download your mobile event app.Best Ways to Use the Event WebsiteBasic Event InfoBig AnnouncementsLocation with Maps and Travel InfoPersonalized ViewMOBILE EVENT APPThe mobile event app is the thing to have at your event. It’s the best way to update attendees on demand. Your attendees will have their phones at your event – make the most of them.Best Way to Use Mobile Event AppsUse Push Notifications to tell attendees where to be whenSend personalized updates and notificationsIn-App MessagingVenue Maps highlighting any location changesUpdate the schedule as it changesUse an Event App for Attendee UpdatesPrinted programs, large event signs, and mailed event info get outdated fast. By the time programs are printed, the chances that a session has been canceled or moved to a different room are high. That’s why event technology makes attendee updates easier – and less costly. Attendees will always be able to refer back to an app, a website, or an email – even if they don’t have their device. Giving easy access to event info helps decrease attendee stress.Event Planning Software Makes Life EasierFor event planners, event planning technology can change the game. From the amount of time spent on time-consuming to lack of insight into data and statistics, manually planning events is a challenge. With online event registration, event apps, venue sourcing, and event planning software you can cut down on the time spent on tasks and increase the scope of your events.

Donald Trump, with all his well-known flaws, won the 2016 election and has defeated both the Clinton machine and the news media. Had he stopped there, his presidency would have been a success. The news media will never be trusted again, the political polls won't be taken without a grain of salt, and Hillary Clinton is now so badly damaged politically that she wouldn't dare run again.But he didn't stop there, and this page is a partial catalog of his accomplishments.Overview articles:As Trump soars higher, Dems reach their lowest point yet. Against an enormous army of antagonists, political and cultural, academic and judicial, Donald Trump is enjoying some of the best days of his presidency. His power and popularity are expanding. Meanwhile, Democrats and the left, including the media, have suffered one crushing blow after another. Their recent confidence that Trump was not long for the Oval Office is suddenly morphing into a panic that he could win a second term.Trump's List: 289 accomplishments in just 20 months, 'relentless' promise-keeping. The Trump administration's often overlooked list of achievements has surpassed those of former President Ronald Reagan at this time and more than doubled since the last tally of accomplishments after his first year in office, giving President Trump a solid platform to run for re-election on. As Trump nears the two-year mark of his historic election and conducts political rallies around the country, during which he talks up his wins in hopes it will energize Republican voters, the administration has counted up 289 accomplishments in 18 categories, capped by the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. They include 173 major wins, such as adding more than 4 million jobs, and another 116 smaller victories, some with outsize importance, such as the 83 percent one-year increase in arrests of MS-13 gang members.If Only Trump Had Known What He Did Not Yet Know About D.C.. Frankly, I don't know how he has achieved so much so fast. ISIS was spreading into a caliphate, and he finished them. North Korea was launching ballistic missiles, and he stopped it, even getting the Doughboy to return the remains of American heroes who had fallen there half a century earlier. He got back that pastor from Turkey. He has imposed brutal sanctions on Putin and started arming Ukraine after Obama kowtowed to Putin and ended our promised missile defenses that we were supposed to provide Poland and the Czech Republic. He ended our insane cash flow to terrorists of the Palestine Authority, which was using your and my millions to finance the families of convicted murderers, bombers, and other terrorists while producing schoolbooks that teach eternal hate to children. He turned America from an energy net-importing country to net-exporting country. He reversed the stagnancy of the Obama Wasted Decade's dead economy and made it robust. The tax cuts. Manufacturing in the Rust Belt that was deemed hopelessly dead has revived. Our aluminum and steel industries are back. Veterans have new medical choices for care. The Obamacare tax penalty is dead.Timely news and commentary:Democratic doomsayers. The nation's unemployment rate has been at or below 4% for 16 consecutive months, the lowest in half a century. Wages have been rising steadily for seven years. Inflation remains below 2%. Inflation in health-related prices is below even the core inflation rate. The stock market is reaching record highs each month. The poverty rate is at or near historic lows, as are rates of violent crime. These good numbers don't even account for the much higher rise in actual standard of living and discretionary leisure time enjoyed in America today. Abroad, meanwhile, we are at peace. The grand total of fewer than 17,000 troops in even semi-hot, bullets-flying war zones is quite low, and combat fatalities are averaging fewer per year than they averaged per day for most years in Vietnam.Black Youth Unemployment Falls to Lowest Level in History. The American economy is providing jobs for younger African-Americans at an unprecedented level. In July, the unemployment rate for African-Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 fell to a seasonally adjusted 17.7 percent, the lowest rate since the government began tallying the figures in the early 1970s. A total of 762,000 young African-Americans had jobs in July, according to the most recent data from the Department of Labor. That's the highest number on record.Trump Makes the Case for Reelection. In just about 15 months, Americans will once again cast their votes for president. Although it's not clear yet who the Democratic nominee will be, we do know that President Trump will be the Republican candidate. When he first ran for president, he did so as an outsider. In other words, he ran against the failed policies of the ruling elites. This time, however, Trump actually has a record to run on. He may get criticized for his statements on immigration and such, but one thing nobody can take away from him, not even his most passionate leftist detractors: the economy is booming.Trump Just Got Another Win In Court, Democrat Party Lawsuit Is Dismissed With Prejudice. Ridiculous lawsuits have become the norm during the Trump era in regards to targeting a Presidential administration. Just a few weeks ago, a judge threw out a lawsuit brought by various activists alleging that Trump was violating the emoluments clause. While there are still quite a few outstanding, another frivolous lawsuit bit the dust today [7/30/2019] and this one was filed directly by the Democratic party.Trump Speaks the Politically Incorrect Truth. Unlike almost all of his predecessors, Trump is not afraid to counterattack his critics, nor is he cowed into silence by unfair claims that attacking his nonwhite critics is automatically racist.Trump reaches 'landmark' immigration deal with Guatemala. President Trump announced Friday [7/26/2019] that Guatemala would agree to restrict asylum applications to the US from Central America — a win for his effort to stem the tide of illegal immigrants at the Mexican border. The "safe third country" agreement would require migrants, including Salvadorans and Hondurans, who cross into Guatemala on their way to the US to apply for protections in that country instead of at the southern border. It could potentially ease the crush of migrants overwhelming the immigration system and hand Trump a victory as he works to fulfill his campaign promises to curb illegal entry.Twump hurts CNN's feewings. A half-hour before the release of the GDP numbers that showed our economy is well ahead of Obama's miserable 1.5% economic growth, CNN posted a column, "Trump makes people feel lousy. That could spell his political doom." [...] Before the election, CNN ominously warned us, "If Donald Trump wins the election, U.S. stocks (and likely many other markets overseas) will almost certainly tank. "How big of a drop? Forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisors predicts an 8% fall in the U.S. A new paper out Friday from the Brookings Institute projects a 10% to 15% nosedive. You get the idea." Now that President Donald John Trump is delivering the best economy in 50 years, CNN is saying, meh, money isn't everything.You Didn't Really Write That Book Report, Did You Bobby?" [On one hand,] The greatest U.S. economy in a generation, record-low unemployment, particularly among women and minorities, no major military conflicts, a pending and historic trade deal with China, higher wages, lower taxes, all of the many Trump successes and Democrats give the country [On the other hand,] Robert Mueller, tens of millions in wasted taxpayer dollars to prop up what was clearly an anti-Trump hoax from beginning to end, Democrat members of Congress declaring white people should be feared and monitored, other members of Congress wanting to go to war on cow [emissions], and on and on goes the lunatic fringe that now dominates a once-great political party.White House proposed new rule will cut 3.1M people from food stamp program. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials, the Trump administration will propose a rule Tuesday [7/23/2019] to reduce unwarranted access to food stamps, removing 3.1 million from the program and saving taxpayers $2.5 billion. President Trump has argued that many Americans now using SNAP are not in need, given the strong economy and low unemployment. Recommended changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would limit access to food stamps for households with savings and other assets. The goal is to end automatic eligibility for those already collecting other federal and state assistance.10 Things Democrats Want to Take Away. [#2] Jobs: Unemployment is at a historic low, especially for blacks and Hispanics — the lowest on record! 3.7 million jobs have been created here in the United States since President Trump's election — 1 million of those since the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act became law. In addition to unemployment numbers being at their lowest point in decades, job openings are at a record high — 213,000 jobs were added in June alone. And in June there were 6.7 million job openings, marking the second time since 2000 that there have been more job openings than those who are unemployed. While everyday Americans feel that now is a great time to find a job, Democrats scoff at these numbers. They miss the good ol' days of 9 percent unemployment, stagnant growth, and bleakness like we had in 2010 under the Obama administration.The Trump Administration Will Let ICE Officials Deport Certain Immigrants Much Faster. The Trump administration will dramatically expand the ability of immigration authorities to rapidly deport certain immigrants, according to a federal notice posted Monday [7/22/2019]. The administration announced on the Federal Register that it plans to expand expedited removal — quick deportations — to those who cannot prove they have been in the country continuously for two years. The new measure will apply to the entire country.Deregulation explodes under Trump, 13 regulations killed for every new one, $33B saved. It was an odd, geeky campaign promise for a populist presidential candidate to make. But when Donald Trump in 2016 pledged to kill two Obama-era regulations for every new one, crowds went wild. Those cheers stuck with him when he moved into the White House, and he put his promise into an executive order. And now as he opens his reelection campaign, Russ Vought, acting budget office director, has delivered the results sure to win even more rally cheers. "We've hit 13 to 1," he told a Heritage Foundation conference on federalism. And cutting so many regulations, he added, has saved taxpayers $33 billion.The Democrats' Blueprint To Steal 2020 From The Voters Of America. Democrats have no message whereby to persuade the voter in 2020. A president they hate with an irrational hatred continues to keep campaign promises and delivering on an agenda. To date he's kept 87 campaign promises and counting. Americans are happy about his policies and the general direction of the nation.NBC Poll — Wide Majority See Improved Race Relations Under President Trump. Right there in a poll of eleven southern states conducted by NBC over two weeks we see the reason why the DNC, political leadership and media are whipping up false accusations of racial anxiety against President Trump. The majority of those polled see improvements in race relationships, and their approval of President Trump is higher[,] and their view of the economy is more optimistic[,] and the number one issue is immigration. All empirical points that help President Trump and simultaneously destroy the Democrat narrative.For Being Such an Idiot, Trump is Pretty Smart. [Scroll down] From Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti to Robert Mueller to Megan Rapinoe, each one was portrayed as the dragon-slayer ready to bring down Trump. All have come and gone like the seasons, bringing down nothing but their reputations and what little integrity they might have possessed. Yet Trump haters won't give up. Trump is still too stupid and incompetent to be president, they tell us. He is an embarrassment to the country and the world. Yet on Friday, July 19, Trump sits at 49 percent total approval in the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, four points higher than his predecessor, Mr. Perfect, exactly eight years ago.Border deaths declined in Trump's first two years in office, data shows. According to statistics compiled by the United States Border Patrol, there were 298 border deaths in 2017 and 283 in 2018, making it an average of 291 per year. The average yearly deaths under President Obama stood at 372 and 382 under the Bush administration.The Squad vs. Trump: We Already Have the Winner. After Sunday [7/14/2019] there is no way to hide AOC's reprehensible concentration camp comments from the widest audience possible, or Ihlan Omar's belittling of the 9/11 attacks, or Rashida Tlaib's anti-Semitism, or even Ayanna Pressley's racism. And incredibly, the president did all this while managing to trigger Pelosi to embrace the squad, making her break all the congressional rules on decorum, triggering the presiding black Democrat to drop his gavel and walk out in disgust. The subsequent impeachment vote saw 137 Democrats jump ship and vote against the resolution. All this after more than a year of screams for Trump's impeachment from the Democrats. If you ever doubted the power of social media — or the president's unmitigated fluency in its use — doubt no more.Washington Lays All the Ugly Cards on the Table, and at Last We Have Clarity. [Scroll down] [B]y resorting to Twitter the president can engage any part of the Democratic lineup, bypassing the party front office. With rapid-fire Tweets calling the four congresswomen un-American and they, in turn, calling him a racist, Trump has cut the Democratic center out of a public stage that is now an arena of spontaneous, fiery exchanges. This provoked spontaneity keeps the Democratic Party from presenting a unified front and communicating through carefully prepared spokesmen in controlled venues, a system that served them so well in the past. It also keeps them from getting their story straight.Results Matter for Women, so Why Are Democrats Trying to Undo the President's Successes? There is a clear difference between the Democrat Party and President Donald Trump — Democrats promise to improve the lives of women, but Trump actually does it. [...] In April, female unemployment reached 3.4 percent, the lowest it has been since October 1953. The unemployment rate for women is currently 3.6 percent, slightly below the national average, and women have filled nearly 3.1 million of the new jobs created since the President took office.Very quietly, Trump may have just saved 43,000 lives. It's been going on for years: patients waiting for years for a life-saving kidney donation, and sometimes dying as they waited in those long, long lines. Kidney patients are most prominent among those waiting in line, but that's only because those waiting for other kinds of organs die so quickly that they can't wait in any line at all. Johns Hopkins University economist Steve Hanke at Forbes points out a very little reported story involving President Trump, who just days ago quietly signed an executive order that could save as many as 43,000 lives of the waiting kidney patients.Trump Has Already Outperformed Every President in US Stock Market History. The stock markets are a major indicator of an economy's strength. They include valuations based on past and current financial data and company and market data. The markets also include expectations for the future. This is why it makes sense to measure a President's impact on the markets from the day of the Presidential election rather than from the day of the inauguration.9th Citrcuit sides with Trump over Planned Parenthood. The 7 judges in the majority were appointed by Republican presidents including two Trump appointees. The other 4 were Democrat appointees. President Donald John Trump has appointed 44 circuit judges. A Republican Senate has confirmed 42 of them with 2 awaiting a decision. The Hyde Amendment bars taxpayer funding of abortion.Former Obama Official Admits Trump Knows What He's Doing While Obama Was Clueless. Barack Obama's photo-op foreign policy of bowing and grinning garnered no respect among Chinese officials while President Trump's tough-as-nails approach has done the opposite. Mr. Obama shrugged at the thought of millions of Americans losing jobs to the Chinese. President Trump said ENOUGH and went to work to remedy the decades-long imbalance between the two nations. Now, even some former Obama-era officials are admitting the Trump approach is working.Street Smarts in the White House. Trump's success dominating his dirty-dealing opponents has amazed and dumbfounded Democrats and the old GOP alike. They don't understand his strengths. Like a martial arts master, Trump doesn't absorb his enemies' attacks. He transforms their assaults into his own energy to win.Trump outmaneuvers the media on the 4th. Were it not so sad, I'd be laughing at how once again, Donald so cleverly outplayed them: they had spent more than a week talking about how Trump would make it all about himself — then the man, the patriot, spent his time on the 4th of July talking about the greatness of America.Bringing the Truth about Trump to Those Who Hate Him. Blacks and Hispanics have lower unemployment than ever before, since records have been kept, and have opportunities to get jobs with higher minimum wages than ever before, so they have less of a need for food stamps than they had under President Obama, who seemed to measure his success by how many additional Americans became dependent on food stamps during his administration, compared to President Trump's measurement of how many people had no need for food stamps any longer because of their opportunities for actual jobs.$10-12 Trillion In Wealth [has been] Created Since President Trump Took Office. $10 TRILLION dollars of wealth has been added to the pockets of the U.S. economy since Donald Trump became president. That's money that has made its way into retirement accounts, home values, businesses, and wages. Nearly everyone is benefitting from the economic miracle delivered by President Trump.The real reason why the left was against Donald Trump's July 4 speech. Several days before the speech, we heard that Trump was hijacking Independence Day and turning it into a campaign rally. But Trump never mentioned the 2020 campaign in his speech. We heard that Trump's desire to have tanks on the National Mall was an out-and-out authoritarian performance art. But that wasn't really the issue. Neither was the fake outrage over the cost. There was no mention of political opponents and no mention of the fake news media. And this wasn't Trump co-opting the nation's birthday to celebrate himself. In fact, for a man who loves to talk about his accomplishments, he never mentioned himself. No, Trump did something far more dangerous to the left. He gave America a strong dose of patriotism. He gave Americans a history lesson on the great people, heroes and their great accomplishments over the last 243 years.Gov't Dependency Plunges Under Trump — Why Aren't We Celebrating? Friday's [7/5/2019] jobs report showed that the economy created 224,000 new jobs, yet the unemployment rate edged up to 3.7%. Both are welcome news. The unemployment rate went up because 158,000 rejoined the labor market. These are people who previously didn't have a job and weren't looking for one. The labor market is tight enough that people who'd given up on work are getting lured back into the job market. And they're finding work. As of June, there were 5.6 million more people with jobs than when President Trump took office — despite claims by prominent economists that the economy was already at full employment when he was sworn in. The healthy labor market has resulted in something even more important yet little noticed: A sharp trend away from dependency on federal welfare and other benefits.Media got Mexican deal wrong. When President Donald John Trump told Mexico to help us defend our border or pay tariffs, the media went into hysteria. They forecast an Avocadolypse. CNN reported, "Chipotle could raise burrito prices by 5¢ if Mexico tariffs become permanent." When President Trump won that Mexican war, the media cast shade on his victory. The New York Times scoffed, "The deal to avert tariffs that President Trump announced with great fanfare on Friday night consists largely of actions that Mexico had already promised to take in prior discussions with the United States over the past several months, according to officials from both countries who are familiar with the negotiations." Mexico had been promising such help for years. That's what politicians do. They promise. President Trump got them to keep their word. That's what a real leader does.Not even the 4th of July is sacred to these hate-filled leftists. Since the moment President Trump announced his plan to celebrate the 4th of July with a parade and a tribute to our military, leftists' heads exploded. [...] The angry Left was certain Trump's 4th of July event would be a "campaign rally." It was not. It was a glorious tribute to all branches of the military, to law enforcement, and to first responders. His speech honored the American past, its heroes, and its accomplishments. The Left predicted a low turnout! There were nearly 800,000 people on the Mall to see and share in the festivities. The place was packed. The Left just keeps getting things wrong. And these people seem incapable of learning from their mistakes. They've been making the same ones since the campaign of 2016.Why didn't we do this before? Around 5 P.M., we started to watch President Trump and the parade. It pleased everyone present at the gathering. It was great for a couple of reasons: [#1] The Democrats cannot control themselves. [...] It was not a campaign rally, unless you think remembering past heroes and historic moments is now suddenly a Republican political ad. [#2] The people loved it. My friends at the party saw it as a celebration of U.S. symbols and military. [#3] President Trump did not make it about himself. He restrained himself and spoke a patriotic message. Once again, President Trump makes a trap, and the crazy Left falls right in.Dem 2020 task: Convince voters to overlook economy. On Oct. 28, 1980, in the final debate of his race against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan asked a question that has come to define presidential politics. "Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make a decision," Reagan said. "I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?" The answer for most voters was no, and Reagan won the election with 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49.Record 157,005,000 Employed; 19th Record of Trump Era. After the Fourth of July fireworks, the fifth of July brings another reason for Americans to celebrate. A record 157,005,000 people were employed in June, the most since February and the 19th record of Trump's presidency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday [7/5/2019]. And the economy added a strong 224,000 jobs in June, well above the estimate of 160,000. The unemployment rate, the lowest in 50 years, ticked up a tenth of a point to 3.7 percent.Household incomes set to substantially rise in coming years thanks to Trump's deregulation, report finds. It's official: Despite claims from Democrats that President Donald Trump's policies have only benefited the wealthy, his policies are in reality slated to benefit every American household to the tune of $3,100 annually, minimum, starting sometime after five to 10 years. "Since January 2017, there has been a historic effort to reduce costly regulation, while protecting workers, public health, safety, and the environment," a report published by the White House Council of Economic Advisers last month reads.Proud Trump delivers patriotic July 4 speech invoking American exceptionalism as 'one of the greatest stories ever told'. Donald Trump braved rainy weather to deliver a speech at his Fourth of July 'Salute to America' event from behind a panel of bulletproof glass. The president welcomed crowds on the National Mall to a 'very special' Fourth of July holiday before launching in his pre-prepared remarks. 'Today we come together as one nation with this very special Salute to America,' he told the sea of red, white and blue-clad revelers.US economy marks longest expansion in American history. The US economy has grown for 121 consecutive months following the Great Recession, marking the longest economic expansion in American history. [...] In another positive sign, wage increases over the last three years have been healthiest among the lowest-paid workers — showing a narrowing of the wage gap between high and low earners. In May, average pay for the poorest one-quarter of workers surged 4.4 percent from a year earlier.Trump Has Already Won the Immigration Debate. A national survey conducted by Rasmussen June 11-12 found that 55 percent of likely voters oppose providing taxpayer-funded health care benefits to illegal immigrants. Only 31 percent believe they should receive it. It isn't clear why the Democrats believe this position is a winner for 2020, unless they are confusing the ravings of the Twitter mob with public opinion.Border Apprehensions Nosedive After President Trump's Mexico Deal. Apprehensions on the southern border have plummeted, following President Trump's historic deal with Mexico. According to leaked Department of Homeland Security data, apprehensions at the southern border dropped by 25-percent between May and June. This drop was corroborated by acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Friday, who attributed the change to President Trump's deal with Mexico in June. The deal called on Mexican officials to do more to stop the flow of illegal migration to the U.S. southern border.Larry Kudlow: 'I Don't Understand What Planet' Democrats Are Describing. White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't understand the Democrats' criticism of President Donald Trump's handling of the economy, given its recent success. Kudlow was asked to respond to the Democratic presidential candidates' assertion that the U.S. economy isn't working for all Americans. [Video clip]DHS Expects Border Apprehensions To Decrease By 25%, Credits Trump's Deal With Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects apprehensions of illegal aliens to decline by 25% along the U.S. southern border in June and directly credited President Donald Trump's immigration deal with Mexico for the change. "It's become clear that over the past three weeks, since the administration reached a new agreement with Mexico, that we've seen a substantial increase in the number of interdictions on the Mexican southern border, and a sincere effort to address the transportation networks coming through Mexico," DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan said to reporters Friday [6/28/2019].A pathetic exhibition of virtue-signaling in Miami. Look at the white hot economy, the historically low unemployment figures, especially among blacks and other minorities. Look at the rising wages of the working class, the renaissance of manufacturing, the rekindled spirit of national self-confidence. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has presided over one of the most — I think it is probably the single most — successful opening years of any president ever. That's a difficult record to run against.5.8 Million Individuals Drop Off Food Stamps Under Trump. Over 5.8 million individuals have discontinued their participation in America's food stamp program since President Donald Trump's first full month in office, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. The most recent USDA data shows that 5,829,890 people discontinued their participation in food stamps received through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since February 2017, Trump's first full month in office.Acting ICE Director: ICE [is] Deporting Illegals with Final Removal Orders from Judges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will begin deporting illegal immigrants who have final removal orders from immigration judges, acting ICE Director Mark Morgan said Wednesday [6/19/2019]. Speaking to "Fox & Friends," Morgan said President Donald Trump "has been very clear" that he "wants to maintain integrity in the system, make sure that we enforce the rule of law and address this crisis that we have on the southwest border."Trump Just Revolutionized Health Care — And Nobody Noticed. Few have ever heard of "Health Reimbursement Accounts," but they could fundamentally change the nation's health care system — for the better — and destroy the Democrats' case for socialized health care. Late last week, the Trump administration finalized rules that will let companies put money into tax-exempt HRAs that their employees could then used to buy an individual insurance plan on their own. Seems like no big deal, right? Except it will start to unravel a 77-year-old policy mistake that is largely responsible for many of the problems the health care system suffers today.Peter Navarro: Trump's Tariffs Accomplished More in Two Days Than Congress in 20 Years. During an appearance on "Sunday Morning Futures" on Fox News Channel, senior White House trade adviser Peter Navarro praised the tariffs used by President Donald Trump. According to Navarro, the tariffs achieved more in two days on immigration than Congress was able to accomplish in 20 years. [Video clip]Where's The Apocalypse? The stock market, the backbone of our capitalist society, is up, considerably, under Trump, not in economic freefall. Unemployment, often seen as the most reliable means of measuring national stability, is down, considerably. There is no economic meltdown due to the Trump presidency but quite the opposite. Employer confidence is up. Investor confidence is up. Where is the apocalypse? Not in the financial sector.When Normality Became Abnormal. Everyone realized the Paris Climate Accord was a way for elites to virtual signal their green bona fides while making no adjustments in their global managerial lifestyles — at best. At worst, it was a shake-down both to transfer assets from the industrialized West to the "developing world" and to dull Western competitiveness with ascending rivals like India and China. Not now. Trump withdrew from the agreement, met or exceeded the carbon emissions reductions of the deal anyway, and has never looked back at the flawed convention.Trump's Mexican-tariff move was a true victory. President Trump's detractors are trying to play down the significance of the US-Mexico immigration deal, saying it is largely comprised of actions that Mexico had already agreed to many months ago. Nice try. If Mexico had truly agreed to implement many of these measures in December, then why had they not been implemented six months later? As even Mexican officials acknowledge, it was Trump's threat of tariffs that forced Mexico's hand. In announcing the deal, a relieved Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the "most important thing is that they didn't apply tariffs and we didn't experience an economic slowdown." The fact is, Trump bucked Republicans on Capitol Hill and even many of his own advisers, and used the threat of tariffs to get Mexico to act — and it worked.Donald Trump's Mexico Deal: Democrats Sad, Media Mope. Most Democrats and pro-migration advocates stayed silent after President Donald Trump announced he had gotten the reluctant Mexican government to agree to keep all migrants in Mexico until their U.S. court hearings. The "Remain in Mexico" deal allows Mexico to say it did not give in to Trump's push for a "safe third country" deal. But it gives Trump's border agencies a legal way to ignore the establishment's catch and release policies, which allow economic migrants to get U.S. jobs when they merely carry a child across the border and ask for asylum.Trump Deal with Mexico Likely Ends Catch-and-Release, Defunds Cartels. President Donald Trump has announced an immigration reform deal with the Mexican government which likely will allow border officials to end the catch-and-release of Central American migrants. Ending catch-and-release is a huge win for Americans and Trump because it means border officials now have a legal alternative to the catch-and-release rules which allow migrants to legally enter the United States if they bring children and claim asylum.Democrats blast Trump for forcing Mexico deal to cut illegal immigration. Democrats lashed out in all directions at President Trump after he won concessions from Mexico to try to stop the flow of illegal immigrants at the border. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chided the president Saturday for his method, saying his threat of tariffs was unbecoming of a friendly country's treatment of a neighbor. But Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer took a different approach, saying — seemingly with as much sarcasm as can drip on Twitter — that since Mr. Trump has struck a deal, he can stop talking about illegal immigration.Pentagon suspends Turkish F-35 training program; pilots ordered out of U.S. by July. The Pentagon is suspending its training program for Turkish pilots learning to fly the advanced F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, ordering the roughly 40 trainees to leave the U.S. by the end of July. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan made the order on the training program and the decision to expel the Turkish pilots this week. In a letter to Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Mr. Shanahan said all Turkish military personnel tied to the program would have their travel orders to the U.S. rescinded and be denied access to U.S. military facilities after July 31.Trump victory with Mexico leaves Democrats sputtering — and looking stupid. President Trump announced a deal with Mexico to help stave the border security crisis, and leaders of both countries celebrated. After all, both countries said they were the winners in the newly signed migration deal. There were losers, of course -- Mexico's infamous human smuggling cartels, and far left activists who shake down migrants, both of whom get curbed in the deal. But none made fools of themselves the way the biggest losers here, the Democrats (and their media allies) managed to do.Sen. Ron Johnson: GOP fully supports Trump's 'brilliant' tactics with Mexico. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said members of his party are united in their support of President Trump's strategy of using tariffs to motivate Mexico to curb illegal immigration. "The caucus definitely supports the president's use of tariffs to give us leverage against our trading partners to treat us fairly," Johnson said on Fox News Sunday. "This is out of control. That's why the president had to act, because Mexico had not been acting."Trump Breaks Mexico: New Deal Reached, Mexico To Take Action Against Illegal Immigration Into U.S.. President Donald Trump announced late on Friday [6/7/2019] that the United States has reached a new agreement with Mexico in which Mexico is going to take "strong measures" to end the flow of illegal immigration into the United States and will thus avoid being hit with massive tariffs by the Trump administration.Kris Kobach Praises Trump Over Mexico Strategy. Former Kansas Attorney General and staunch border security advocate Kris Kobach joined FOX and Friends this morning [6/7/2019] to discuss President Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexico. Kris Kobach praised Trump for being the first president to actually get Mexico to do something to stop the flow into the US. [Video clip]Trump Has Improved Relations with Every U.S. Ally. President Donald Trump has improved relations with every one of America's allies. You will not learn that from reading the news. The prevailing dogma in the mainstream media reflects the Democratic Party's revisionist propaganda, which obscures the fact that Barack Obama disrupted relations with our allies in an effort to appease Russia, Iran, and other enemies.Feds: No more education, legal services for immigrant kids. The federal government has stopped paying for English-language courses and legal services at facilities that hold immigrant children around the country, imposing budget cuts it says are necessary at a time when record numbers of unaccompanied children are arriving at the border.Trump's hardball on Mexico is working. Risky as President Trump's tariff threat tactic on Mexico is, it appears to be... working. Trump's hardball has gotten Mexico to deploy some serious measures to keep the migrant surge into the U.S. from becoming a flood. Somehow, a trade treaty works best when there's a security treaty underlying it, and Mexico thus far seems to recognize this. The markets, by the way, are noticing.Trump admin tells U.S. embassies they can't fly pride flag on flagpoles. The Trump administration is rejecting requests from U.S. embassies to fly the rainbow pride flag on embassy flagpoles during June, LGBTQ Pride Month, three American diplomats told NBC News. The U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia are among those that have requested permission from Trump's State Department to fly the pride flag on their flagpoles and have been denied, diplomats said.President Trump [is] More Popular in California than [the] Democrat Legislature. A survey recently released by the Public Policy Institute of California found that President Donald Trump is more popular in the deep blue state than the Democratic legislature. Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio recently told the Los Angeles Times, "All they hear from Sacramento are proposals for more taxes and more spending for everyone except the middle class. And they rightfully wonder where the high taxes they already are paying are going."Trump Approval Rating Hits Highest Level In Two Years. President Donald Trump's approval rating reached its highest level in two years, according to a new poll from Harvard CAPS/Harris, which suggests in its analysis that consumer confidence in the economy is likely a contributing factor. Forty-eight percent of voters surveyed said they approve of the job Trump is doing as president, which is the highest approval rating captured by the Harvard poll since June 2017. Trump's disapproval rating was just slightly higher at 52 percent, as first reported by The Hill. The survey, which was conducted between May 29 and 30, notes that the good economy could be spurring the relatively high approval rating.Anti-Trump Traitors Rip Blindfold Off Lady Justice. [President] Trump brought back jobs that Obama decreed were gone forever. Black, Hispanic, and female unemployment are at historic lows. Trump pulled us out of bad deals with foreign governments. Thanks to Trump eliminating absurd regulations and oppressive taxes, businesses are coming home to America building factories. The average American wage is $27 per hour. Americans are enjoying an economic boom. All this incredible good news is for the most part being hidden from Americans. Instead, Democrats, fake news media, Hollywood, and social media flood the airwaves with their lie that Trump is horrible for America.MAGAnomics — Despite Tariffs and Growing Economy Inflation Nonexistent — Economists and Financial Class Perplexed. Despite the professional punditry and their doomsayer predictions of Trump tariffs driving up costs for consumers, exactly the opposite is happening. Despite large growth in the Main Street USA economy; and despite large wage gains by U.S. blue-collar workers; inflation remains low and mysteriously detached from the Fed monetary policy.Here's something Clinton, Obama, the other Clinton, or the other Obama would never do:Trump Shakes Literally Every Naval Academy Graduate's Hand. President Donald Trump gave a speech to the graduates of the Naval Academy Friday morning [5/24/2019]. Then, the president went a step further, offering to shake the hands of every single graduate — more than 1,000 midshipmen. "I was given an option. I could make this commencement address, which is a great honor for me, and immediately leave and wave goodbye. Or I could stay and shake hands with just the top 100," Trump said, "Or I could stay for hours and shake hands with 1,100 and something. What should I do? What should I do?" Trump then shouted, "Stay! Ok, I'll stay."Obsessive Democrats like Nadler and Schiff are a plague upon this nation. The nation is being invaded on the southern border; hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants are being ushered into the country by recalcitrant leftists, who are so brain-damaged by their derangement that they no longer care about native citizens. They care only about destroying the source of their hysteria: President Trump. Why are they so maniacally berserk by this man's presidency? Because they and their partners in the media cannot abide his many successes: record-low unemployment, a roaring economy, his unwavering support for Israel, the revitalization of manufacturing in the U.S., tax cuts that have worked spectacularly on several levels. Hillary would have seen to it that none of these things happened.The Booming Jobs Market Mystifies the Press, When They Notice It At All. Wages are rising for the lowest-paid workers. Minority groups have never had it so good. People at the margins are getting pulled back into the labor market. So why, they ask, is the country "not quite exuding the self-possession or excitement that should accompany these exceptional times." First of all, that claim that nobody is celebrating the current economy is wrong. Every measure of consumer confidence and optimism is up. In some cases, way up. [...] The fact that the NPR reporters aren't aware of this shift in confidence says more about the bubble they live in than what is actually happening in the country. Inside this bubble, it's all doom and gloom, anger and frustration, and an absolute fixation on driving President Trump from office.A Common-Sense Ruling on Death Penalty Drugs. If there's one thing that tells you government in America is too big and unaccountable, it's when one branch of government stops another government from doing what it was set up to do, even if it's not the first agency's job. Case in point: Under President Barack Obama, the Food and Drug Administration stopped multiple states from carrying out executions because the agency had not approved the drugs they intended to use for lethal injection. Really. President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is changing that.The post-Obama economy is booming.The Truth about Trump's Economy. While Nancy Pelosi and other Democrat leaders dismiss the Trump economy as just benefiting the wealthy, my perspective is quite different. Since I have always resided in or near the inner cities of New York, it is quite obvious that these leaders have no idea what is happening in these neighborhoods. Help Wanted signs are posted in about every small business which no longer has to suffer the Obamacare mandates. Houses are undergoing renovations for the first time in years. The nearby housing project parking lots are filled with brand new vehicles. Restaurants now have packed dining rooms and waiting lists with many of their customers being people of color.Pentagon to Transfer $1.5 Billion to Border Wall. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has approved the transfer of $1.5 billion to build more than 80 miles of barriers on the border with Mexico, U.S. officials said on May 10, including taking about $600 million from an account meant for Afghan security forces. "The funds were drawn from a variety of sources, including cost savings, programmatic changes, and revised requirements, and therefore will have minimal impact on force readiness," Shanahan said in a statement. Shanahan said that the U.S. military had more than 4,000 service members on the border, along with 19 aircraft.President Trump Just Played Democrats & Media Into Giving Him What He Wanted All Along. President Trump knows the most pertinent parts of the Mueller Report. So too do leading members of Congress — namely Republicans. (Because they actually bothered to review its contents, unlike the Democrats who have not.) The full, unredacted report has been available for review for some time now. Jerry Nadler could have looked at it at any time. Instead, he has chosen to play a political game of "contempt" against Attorney General Barr in the hopes his media allies will be able to successfully spin the version that says the Trump White House is attempting to deny access to the full report.Here's something a Democrat would never have done:US seizes North Korean cargo ship. U.S. officials have confiscated North Korea's second-largest cargo vessel in a crackdown on the smuggling operations that finance the regime's nuclear weapons program, the Justice Department announced Thursday [5/9/2019]. "This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service," John Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security, told reporters Thursday afternoon. "Forfeiting the ship will deprive the North Korean regime of a significant means by which it has evaded sanctions and funded itself." The seizure is an unprecedented attempt to enforce international sanctions on North Korea as part of President Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign to induce dictator Kim Jong Un to abandon his nuclear weapons arsenal.U.S. Seizes North Korean Ship for Violating Sanctions. U.S. authorities have seized a North Korean ship that was transporting coal in violation of international sanctions, the Department of Justice announced Thursday [5/9/2019]. The North Korean ship, the Wise Honest, is the first seized by U.S. authorities over sanctions violations. It is now approaching U.S. territorial waters accompanied by the U.S. Marshals and Coast Guard. "This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in announcing the seizure.Trump [is] About to Flip Another Appeals Court To Conservatives. President Trump, who already has had a mammoth impact on America's judicial system by appointing over 100 judges and flipping the Pennsylvania-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals to majority Republican appointees, is posed to flip another Circuit Court of Appeals: The Second Circuit. There are 13 Circuit Courts of Appeals in the U.S.Blacks, Hispanics give little credit to Trump for record-low unemployment, higher wages. Black and Hispanic workers are seeing record-low unemployment and rising wages under President Trump, yet community leaders say it likely is not enough to sway their support to the president in next year's election. The unemployment rate for Hispanics dropped to 4.2% in April, the lowest level since the government began tracking the data in 1973. Unemployment for black Americans was at a near historic low of 6.7%, up slightly from the record low set last year.Biden: "First thing I'd do is repeal those Trump tax cuts." A repeal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would impose a large tax increase on the American people. Thanks to the tax cuts, a typical family of four earning the median family income of $73,000 saw a tax cut of over $2,000 — a 58% reduction in federal taxes. A single parent with one child with annual income of $41,000 saw a tax cut of $1,304 — a 73% reduction in federal taxes. As noted by the New York Times: "Most people got a tax cut."Democrats search for ways to downplay Trump's great economy. The U.S. jobless rate dropped to the lowest point in 50 years on Friday [5/3/2019] but Democrats could not have been more glum about it. [...] Friday's report on job gains is just another in a series of indicators that show the economy under President Trump is booming. Republicans and the president credit policies they put in place to reduce government regulations and taxes. The party's signature achievement, a comprehensive tax reform law, lowered taxes not only for individuals but small businesses and corporations. The unemployment numbers are helping Trump's base with big gains in blue-collar jobs such as construction as well as the voters Democrats are depending on: Hispanic unemployment dropped to a record-low 4.2%.263k New Jobs: The Trump Economy Continues To Defy the 'Experts'. Even before President Trump took office, then Fed chair Janet Yellen was warning that the economy was dangerously close to "maximum employment." Strong job growth going forward, she said in early January, could spark inflation. In May of that year — almost exactly two years ago today, in fact — the media's favorite economist, Mark Zandi at Moody's, declared that: "With the economy at full employment and seeming destined to blow past it, the current expansion is likely entering its later stages. An overheating economy, where tight labor markets result in significant wage and price pressures, has been a necessary condition for all past recessions." Oops. The economy created about 5 million new jobs after Zandi made that statement. The expansion gained strength. And inflation is nowhere to be seen.U.S. Steel Announces $1.2 Billion Investment to Upgrade Pennsylvania Facilities. The U.S. Steel and Aluminum industry has been a key focus of President Trump in an effort to reestablish a critical industry for America. Part of the administration strategy was broad-based tariffs aimed at curbing China's dumping of government subsidized product globally. The broad global application of the tariffs defeated the Chinese trans-shipment strategy to avoid them.Trump Bounces to Best Economic Approval Yet in CNN Poll. As usual, there are some worrisome data points in a generally Trump-positive poll, but start with the good news for the president: A new national survey from CNN shows public support for his handling of the economy hitting a new high, with Trump also above water on another important metric. On the heels of a better-than-expected quarter of GDP growth (the US economy has grown at an average clip of better than three percent since the GOP tax reform law was implemented), even a Trump-skeptical to -hostile electorate can recognize prosperity when they see it. And the man at the top is getting credit.Trump soars in the polls for his stellar economy. Now, bear in mind that this is a CNN poll, and those have consistently underreported President Trump's success and popularity, so the fact that they couldn't tamp it down somehow with a biased sample suggests that the approval may be even higher. And why shouldn't it be? Workers not only have jobs these days, they have their choice of jobs. Unemployment is in the 4% range.Checkmate: How President Trump's legal team outfoxed Mueller. When the Mueller Report was released on April 18th, most commentators focused on the "explosive" factual allegations. But other than the shocking revelation that the President once used an expletive in private, very few of those facts were novel; most were leaked long ago. At the end of Volume II of the Mueller Report, however, there were 20 pages of genuinely new material. There, the former FBI director turned Special Counsel Robert Mueller defended his "Application of Obstruction-Of-Justice Statutes To The President." These overlooked 20 pages were dedicated to defending Mueller's interpretation of a single subsection of a single obstruction-of-justice statute: 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2).Private payrolls surge by 275,000 in April, blowing past estimates in biggest gain since July. Private payrolls grew by 275,000 last month, the biggest increase since July, when they expanded by 284,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected private payrolls growth of 177,000. Services-providing jobs increased by 223,000 in April, led by a gain of 59,000 positions in professional and business services. Education and health services companies added 54,000 jobs while employment within the leisure and hospitality industry expanded by 53,000.312,000 Jobs Added In December, Manufacturing Growing 714% Faster Under Trump Than Obama. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its December jobs report Friday morning [4/26/2019], showing nonfarm employment was up by 312,000, stronger than analysts expected. The impressive jobs number, along with the Fed signaling patience on rate hikes, shook the stock market loose from its doldrums, with the Dow posting a 747-point gain. With the December jobs number, President Trump now has two full years of economic performance to compare with his predecessor, President Obama.Also posted under The Unexpected.Donald Trump Renegotiates: $40 Billion Japanese Car Plants Coming to U.S.. President Donald Trump revealed at a Saturday night rally in Wisconsin that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told him earlier that Japanese auto manufacturers are investing $40 billion in U.S. manufacturing facilities. "Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe, we're negotiating trade deals because every country has been ripping us off for years, and I really like the prime minister, he's a friend of mine, but I said, 'Mr. prime minister, we gotta do something'," the president told the crowd of thousands. "For so many decades we've been losing tens of billions of dollars to China, and Japan, and Indiana, and name any country and we lost, but we're not losing anymore."Here are 5 reasons Trump will win re-election. First: It's the economy, stupid. Recessions kill re-election campaigns. Only two presidents since 1968 have lost in their bids to win second terms, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, and their losses can be tied directly to a bad economy.Trump, Pompeo Win One for American GIs. Congratulations are in order for President Trump — and Secretary of State Pompeo — in the wake of the latest news from the International Criminal Court. In a surprising, and all the more welcome, move, the Hague-based solons this morning unanimously rejected a bid by the court's own chief prosecutor to open an investigation into whether our GIs and intelligence operators committed crimes in Afghanistan. When we say that's surprising, it's not to suggest that our forces in Afghanistan deserve an investigation by the ICC. They don't. It is to suggest that a pro-American decision from the ICC is like ... how to put it? ... the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of the Trump administration on anything. The Afghanistan decision was just off-script for the ICC.President Trump pulling up the drawbridge on goodies for illegals. With the wall still in the works, President Trump isn't sitting idle as 1.5 million illegal migrants prepare to storm the U.S. border this year. He's moving swiftly to get some kind of handle on the migrant surge by strengthening the U.S.'s loophole-filled system of laws that have made immigrating here illegally more attractive to would-be migrants than following U.S. law.Trump's approval soars - now hitting 53%. The Mueller report is over. The economy is simply humming. And President Trump's job approval rating, according to Rasmussen's daily tracking, is now 53%.US weekly jobless claims drop to the lowest level since 1969. The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a more than 49-year low last week. The data pointed to sustained labor market strength despite slowing economic growth. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to 202,000 for the week ended March 30, the lowest level since early December 1969, the Labor Department said.Trump's jobs-creating 'magic wand'. It's not often that a president delivers exactly what he promised for the US economy, but this one has. Specifically, President Trump has delivered not just solid job growth, but also rising wages. This when his critics called it impossible. March saw nonfarm payrolls grow by 196,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports — a major rebound from the slowdown in the first two months of the year. And wages grew 3.2 percent over the last 12 months, markedly faster than inflation. Unemployment was 3.8 percent in March, and has been at or below 4 percent for 13 straight months. This is what economists usually call "full employment," but the gains keep coming in part because millions who'd given up on even looking for work — and so were no longer counted as "unemployed" — have rejoined the workforce.America Created 196,000 Jobs in March, Beating Expectations for 170,000. The American economy added 196,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.8 percent, the government said Friday [4/5/2019]. Economists had expected 170,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.New Labor Department rule great for workers, great for employers, bad for Obama. The Department of Labor just announced this week a new rule for joint employer regulation. Joint employers exist when workers have two employers who control their work schedules, wages, or hiring. For example, a company could request workers from a staffing agency, but the company controls the pay and work schedules of the employees. If two employers are joint employers, both companies could be sued for minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Liberals have been trying to expand the definition of joint employer for years and hold more businesses liable for indirect violations, which has created confusion and cost jobs and revenue. Employers have been confused about who is a joint employer since Jan. 20, 2016, when the Department of Labor under President Barack Obama issued an administrator's interpretation.U.S. Jobs Grew by 196,000 in March as Hiring Bounces Back. U.S. hiring sprang back in March, showing a slowdown in February was likely just a passing chill during a historically long stretch of job creation. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 196,000 in March, the Labor Department said Friday [4/5/2019], a solid rebound from the 33,000 jobs added in February. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.8% last month, just above a 49-year low.Blue Collar MAGAnomics — Pittsburgh Region Unemployment Rate Lowest in 45 Years. President Trump's MAGAnomic policies are tailored to raise the income levels of all Americans; however, to the anxiety of his political opposition, the focus for greatest economic benefit is the middle-class, blue-collar and white-collar workers. In essence, the demographic hardest hit by 30 years of bad policy is the demographic receiving the largest gains from a return to Main Street, 'America-First' policy.Feinstein fumes as Trump administration pushes forward with 9th Circuit nominees without consulting her. The Senate is poised this week to consider two more conservative nominees selected by President Trump to sit on the left-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — and the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee isn't happy about it. That's because the nominees, Ken Lee and Dan Collins, were picked without any input from either Dianne Feinstein or Kamala Harris, California's two Democrat senators. Traditionally, the White House seeks to obtain a so-called "blue slip," or approval, from a judicial nominee's two home-state senators before pressing on with their nominationsMexico bows to Pres. Trump on 'containment' of illegal aliens. Mexico bowed to President Trump's border security demands by agreeing to set up a Central American illegal alien "containment" belt 2,200 miles south of San Diego. Mexico's socialist president, Andrés Manuel López-Obrador, known as "AMLO," trumpeted after his huge July victory that he sympathized with migrants suffering from "hunger and poverty." He promised to slash funds dedicated to border control and claimed that he would stand up to any of President Trump's bullying tactics.President Trump Signs Executive Order on Campus Free Speech. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday requiring colleges and universities to uphold the First Amendment on campus if they want to receive federal research funding. President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to protect free speech on college campuses. The order calls for holding universities accountable "both for student outcomes and for student life on campus," by withholding federal research funding if a university or college does not agree to respect the First Amendment.Trump tells universities to stop 'intimidation, pressure and abuse' of conservatives on campus or have their federal funding cut. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday [3/21/2019] calculated to force universities to choose between restrictive on-campus speech codes and an annual gush of federal dollars. 'If a college or university doesn't allow you to speak, we will not give them money, it's very simple,' he announced in an East Room signing event, with conservative leaders and student activists gathered.It Wasn't Russia. It Was Us. By now most reasonable-thinking folks understand the entirety of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax was little more than a multi-billion dollar Democrat-media-Deep State scam meant to discredit the results of the 2016 Election.President Trump Saves Thousands of Lives. So what happened in 2015 and 2016 to cause the violent crime rate, including the homicide rate, to rise after decades of decline? I can't think of any explanation other than the Black Lives Matter movement and the relentless attacks on law enforcement that it engendered, which were supported by the Obama administration. But what happened when Donald Trump took over in the White House? The homicide and violent crime rates began to fall again. If the New York Times's projection is correct, the second year of the Trump administration saw a steeper decline in the homicide rate. Again, what could possibly have caused this change? I can't think of a plausible theory other than the Trump administration's renewed support for law enforcement and the waning of the anti-police Black Lives Matter movement. Something happened beginning in 2017 that has saved thousands of lives. If it wasn't the new administration in Washington, what was it?Trump issues first veto of his presidency on camera in the Oval Office. President Donald Trump issued the first veto of his presidency on Friday during an Oval Office ceremony with mothers whose children were killed by illegal immigrants. The 'angel moms' were present in the Rose Garden when Trump declared that a national emergency existed on America's southern border; they returned to the Oval Office to see him formally reject an attempt by Congress to overturn it. 'Today I am vetoing this resolution,' he said. 'Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it. And I'm very proud to veto it.' Within an hour, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threatened to play her last card — a House vote to override the veto.Trump is dismantling Obama's legacy.Food Stamp Usage Falls to 37 Million for First Time Since October 2009. The most recent USDA data revealed that 37,911,631 people received food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in December 2018, marking the lowest level of overall participation in the nation's food stamp program in nearly ten years. The last time overall participation in food stamps reached this level was in October 2009, when 37,672,818 people were on the government dole, according to USDA data. Overall food stamp participation had consistently declined since 2013, when the Obama administration was in power and enrollment in the program reached its highest levels in American history.Donald Trump Vetoes Attempt to Block National Emergency. President Donald Trump vetoed a bill designed to block his emergency declaration at the Southern Border on Friday [3/15/2019], in a ceremony at the White House. "Today, I am vetoing this resolution," Trump said. "Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it. And I'm very proud to veto it." The president defied Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Democrats, and the "dirty dozen" Senate Republicans who joined them by signing his veto in a public ceremony at the White House.Third Circuit Becomes First Federal Circuit To 'Flip' Control Under Trump. Yesterday [3/12/2019], the U.S. Senate confirmed, by a 54-45 vote, Paul Matey to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The Third Circuit has federal appellate jurisdiction for the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. With the confirmation of Matey, the Third Circuit becomes the first of the 13 federal appellate circuits to "flip" control under President Donald Trump from majority Democratic nominees to majority Republican nominees.Trump's 'Hire American' Policy Delivers Fastest Wage Growth Since 2009. President Donald Trump's "Hire American" policy pushed Americans' wages up by 3.4 percent in the last 12 months, according to employment data released March 8. "We're seeing wages rise more than they have at any time for a long, long time," Trump told reporters.With Trump's Tough Deterrents, Many Asylum Seekers on the Border are Giving Up. Pushed beyond their limits by prolonged waits in dangerous and squalid conditions in parts of Northern Mexico, thousands of caravan members who had been waiting to seek asylum in the United States appear to have given up, Mexican officials said, dealing President Trump an apparent win after a humbling week for his immigration agenda. About 6,000 asylum seekers who had traveled en masse, many of them in defiance of Mr. Trump's demands that they turn around, arrived in Northern Mexico in late November as part of a caravan that originated in Honduras. Since then, more than 1,000 have accepted an offer to be returned home by the Mexican government, the officials said. Another 1,000 have decided to stay in Mexico, accepting work permits that were offered to them last fall, at the height of international consternation over how to deal with the growing presence of migrant caravans.Don't listen to the naysayers. Trump's economy is booming. It's very strange how politically bent "economists" can look at President Trump's raw economic data and question his success. Last week's strong GDP report of 2.9 percent growth for 2018 was the latest surprise upside of the Trump economy, much to the disappointment of the many naysayers. The 2.9 percent is up from the 2.2 percent in 2017, which included President Obama's 1.8 percent for the first quarter. Trump's two-year average is 2.6 percent GDP growth.3.8 Million Drop Off Food Stamps Under Trump. More than 3.8 million people dropped off food stamps since President Donald Trump's first full month in office, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The latest USDA data revealed that food stamp participation dropped to 38,577,141 in November 2018, down by 3,899,257 since Trump took office in February 2017, when 42,134,301 Americans received food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).Travel ban cuts migrants 80% from 8 nations. Two years ago, the Washington Establishment and a judge in Hawaii thought they stopped President Trump from banning travel with six war-torn countries and Iran. But the Supreme Court said under federal law, the commander-in-chief can issue temporary bans on travel. President Donald John Trump is doing just that. At present, the latest travel ban restricts travel with Chad, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen9th Circuit gets another Trump-picked judge, after White House bypasses consultation with Dems. The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Trump's nominee to be a judge on the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a party-line vote — and, in a historic snub, the White House ignored the input of the judge's two Democratic home-state senators in the process. The aggressive and unprecedented move to bypass the traditional "blue slip" consultation process and plow ahead with the confirmation comes as the Trump administration seeks to systematically erode left-wing dominance on the key appellate court, which Trump has called "disgraceful" and politically biased.Just Say No. Two related news stories this week offer a glimmer of hope that, at long last, the Western democracies are finally putting their foot down regarding Muslim terrorists who want to return to their "home" countries after fighting for the Islamic State. In both cases, they are women. And in both cases, they've been told to enjoy the Middle East, because that's where they'll be staying for a while.Trump Is the Most 'Progressive' President Ever for Blacks, Gays, Jews. President Donald Trump has achieved more concrete progress for blacks, gays, and Jews than any other American president. That claim is sure to be disputed, if not mocked, by those for whom grievance and identity politics are a profession or a psychological crutch. [...] Under Trump, black unemployment is at its lowest level in history. Trump pushed for, and signed into law, sweeping prison reforms backed by leaders of the African-American community. He pardoned the late boxer Jack Johnson, whom Barack Obama neglected. He also elevated a new generation of black conservatives in public life.Trump's Chances to Win in 2020 Improve with Every News Cycle. If the presidential election were held today[,] Donald Trump would win again, by defeating Democrats on the same battlegrounds that secured for him the Oval Office in 2016. Lots of people believe that. Many others think Trump's reelection chances are 50/50 at best. Democrats and Never-Trump holdouts hoping and praying that he's already toast have convinced themselves that there is no way in hell a majority of voters in key states will elect him to a second term. But one factor in the debate is undeniable. Trump's chances have gotten a lot better recently. His State of the Union address was magnificent. Rasmussen has his approval rating hovering around 50 percent. What promises he has not yet fulfilled or policy goals he has not yet achieved he is earnestly trying to fulfill and achieve, against opposition that would have withered most garden-variety politicos — you know, the people Trump defeated.America's Economic Revival Has Been Based on Environmental Deregulation and Increased Energy Production. Tonight, President Trump delivered his State of the Union address from the well of the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, focusing on topics including energy policy and deregulation. Director of CEI's Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell said: "The President made it clear that America's economic revival has been based on environmental deregulation and increased energy production. Undoing President Obama's climate agenda has given American manufacturers a huge energy price advantage. President Trump correctly observed that experts and political leaders agreed that manufacturing jobs were never coming back, but they are being proved wrong.Someone Just Noticed The Middle-Class Revival Going On Under Trump. USA Today ran a surprising story on Tuesday [2/12/2019] headlined "Can the middle-class revival under Trump last?" It's surprising — shocking really — because it might just be the first time a major news outlet has admitted that there has been a middle-class revival under Trump.House GOP leader McCarthy slams Dem's 'blah blah blah' mockery of Trump administration accomplishments. A House Democrat's "blah blah blah" mockery of key Trump administration accomplishments drew a quick response on Twitter on Wednesday [2/13/2019] from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., appeared unimpressed as she read a list of the economic successes of the Trump administration during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. "GDP is great, unemployment is at an all-time low, African-Americans are doing well, Hispanics are doing well, wages are rising at the fastest pace in ten years — blah, blah, blah," Moore, a congresswoman since 2005, said at the hearing.South Korea to pay $920 million for U.S. Military Presence in 2019, Up 8.2% from 2018. Following nearly a year of negotiation, the United States and South Korea finally inked a new defense cost-sharing agreement on February 10. Under the deal, Seoul pledged to raise its spending on U.S. military personnel deployed in South Korea to $920 million, up from $830 million in 2018. A State Department spokesperson described the deal to CNS News as "a one-year agreement for 1.0389 trillion Korean won (approximately 920 million U.S. dollars) in support of U.S. military requirements in labor, logistics, and construction." This figure represents an 8.2 percent increase from last year, when South Korea spent $830 million to help cover the cost of maintaining a presence of 28,500 U.S. troops in the country.It's true, Trump really did start building more wall in Texas. When President Trump said Monday [2/11/2019] at a campaign rally in El Paso that, "We've actually started a big, big portion of the wall today at a very important location, and it's going to go up pretty quickly over the next nine months," I assumed it was nonsense he was spreading in hopes that his supporters might not mob him on stage for so far failing to keep the central promise of his campaign. He similarly said Tuesday at the White House, "We just started a big, big section [of wall] on the Rio Grande." I'm happy to say I was wrong. Trump was telling the truth.Study: Trump's Obamacare Reforms Will Save Americans $450 Billion. A White House study released on Friday [2/8/2019] found that President Donald Trump's Obamacare reforms will save Americans roughly $450 billion over the next ten years. A White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) study released on Friday [2/8/2019] found that Americans will save $450 billion through Trump's Obamacare reforms. The CEA suggested that Trump's repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate and the expansion of short-term insurance plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) will save Americans billions over the next ten years.Fact Check This: Quality Of Life Is Up Sharply Under Trump. Unemployment at historic lows? Wages climbing at a fast pace? Who knew? The news media, fixated on Trump scandals, hasn't exactly been broadcasting that good news. And media fact checkers busied themselves after the speech nitpicking Trump's economic boasts. But the upbeat assessment clearly resonated with the public, most of whom gave Trump's speech top marks. Turns out they have been firsthand witnesses to the strength of the economy over the past two years.This is exactly what Nancy Pelosi was hoping to avoid, by stonewalling the SOTU speech:President Trump Approval Rating Jumps to 49% Following Brilliant State of the Union Speech. President Trump holds a 49% approval rating today after nearly two years into his first term despite a continued barrage of fake news and vicious media attacks. This comes after a brilliant State of the Union speech that enjoyed 76% approval rating with the American public. President Trump is tied with Barack Obama at the same point in his presidency despite the fawning press for the former president.President Trump's SOTU Affirmed Liberty to Unresponsive Subversives. In the name of curbing the rich, they wish to curb us all, grab power, assert governmental force over every area of our lives, and make themselves arbiters of every life decision we make — where we live, what kind of work each of us does, where and when we can and cannot travel, how to heat our homes or even build our homes, where to go to school, how many children to have, how long we live and under what conditions we live, and even the thoughts we think. Almost all that we now consider "private" they would refashion and reconfigure to be seen as "public." Our individual rights would be subsumed under collective rights. [...] The Democrats should be repudiating the extreme leftists in their party; instead, they are embracing the far left ideology.Tax Cuts Trigger Exxon Mobil To Invest Whopping $10 Billion In America's Infrastructure. On Tuesday, ExxonMobil announced it would invest a whopping $10 billion in America's infrastructure as it develops the Golden Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Sabine Pass. According to Exxon Mobil, "Construction will begin in the first quarter of 2019 and the facility is expected to start up in 2024."Reporters Stunned by State of the Union's Appeal to Both Sides. Several veteran White House reporters noted — to their surprise — that President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday evening won applause from Democrats as well as Republicans.The Trump Effect. Bill Kristol has told us he is all for the deep state. George Will came out in support of the co-head of the Clinton crime family. James Comey stood before the whole world to explain why Hillary should be indicted — and then said she would not be indicted. And just look at what the Democrats are doing. They now openly advocate that America open its borders to all comers. They have abandoned "safe, legal, and rare" and are now in a hurry to legalize infanticide. The Democrats are done with hiding their real intentions from voters. That's amazing, when you think about it. Until now, hiding their real intentions has been the secret of their electoral success. The important point is that we now know who these people have been all along. They are simply making known what they have kept hidden. What my friend is pointing to is this: Trump, somehow, has caused them to unmask themselves.Trump Rules! Dems Just Lost 2020 Election. The manufacturing sector expanded again, despite all the so-called "experts" preaching doom and gloom. The New Orders Index soared by 6.9 percentage points. Remember Obama said this was all impossible. He reported that manufacturing in the USA was gone forever. "That ship has sailed" Obama reported matter-of-factly. More great news. Year-over-year payroll growth was 3.2%. Obama would have given his right arm for an increase like that, even one time in his eight miserable years.The Northam Debacle is a fitting nightmare for a party that is all about "identity.". During Obama's first two years in office, black unemployment rose; under Trump, it has fallen. The liberal apoplexy about the Northam debacle is a reminder that the Democrats obsess not over sound policies but the preservation of politically useful images. They don't want to lose any ground to a president whom they routinely smear as a racist. They live in dread fear of losing a monopoly on the black vote, a monopoly based not upon substantive achievements but on the successful manipulation of identity politics.Good Riddance to the INF Treaty. The Trump administration today [2/1/2019] suspended the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, giving formal notice that the U.S. intends to withdraw in six months. It's the right policy to counter increasing Russian cheating and to ensure that the U.S. can adapt to the changing strategic environment in the Pacific.Much Has Changed for the Better Since 2016 — Not That Trump Will Get Credit. For all the acrimony about illegal immigration, the government shutdown over the wall and the question of amnesties, most Americans also finally favor some sort of grand bargain compromise. The public seems to be agreeing that conservatives should get more border fencing or walls in strategic areas, an end to new illegal immigration and deportation for those undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Liberals in turn will likely obtain green cards for those long-time immigrants here illegally who have a work history and have not committed violent crimes. Both sides will be forced to agree that illegal immigration, sanctuary cities and open borders should end and legal immigration should be reformed.Labor Force Participation at Trump-Era High of 63.2% in January. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said the economy added 304,000 jobs last month, higher than analysts were expecting. The number of employed Americans, 156,694,000, was slightly below last month's record (156,945,000), and the unemployment rate increased a tenth of a point to 4.0 percent. But the labor force participation rate increased a tenth of a point to 63.2 percent — the highest it's been on President Trump's watch.The Credible Press: An Autopsy. To be fair, any semblance of objectivity was abandoned long ago, but the finer, final particles blew away with the wind in November of 2016 with the election of one Donald J. Trump. And with them any pretense of professional ethics. Exhibit A is the recent revelation by the Media Research Center that throughout 2017 and 2018, 90 percent of the coverage of the President by the nation's three largest television networks was negative, despite an off-the-rails successful economy. Rest assured that if the current economic rocket ride was happening under the management of Bill Clinton or, nay, Barack Obama, the evening news would truly be all rainbows and butterflies. Yet because the Orange Man is in office they would have us believe we are on the brink of the Apocalypse. Even more disturbing is the fact that many of Trump's accomplishments involve causes the American left, and the liberal mainstream media, supposedly hold dear: record low unemployment for minorities; the winding down of long-standing wars; prison and sentencing reform; and proposals to protect the children of illegal immigrants. Yet the expected celebration has been replaced by unanimous demonization.Trump's Tax Cut 'Scam' Created 1.3 Million New Jobs, New CBO Data Show. During the tax cut debate in 2017, Republicans argued that the cuts would at least partially pay for themselves by spurring economic growth. Democrats said they were nothing more than a giveaway to the rich. The latest data from the Congressional Budget Office makes it clear that the GOP had it right.The Conservative Coward Caucus Betrayed Trump on the Shutdown. The entire world apparently believes that President Donald J. Trump "caved"to the Democrats over the issue of the government shutdown. [...] In fact, Trump behaved as any real man would have in a similar situation: faced with a lose-lose scenario, Trump opted to go out on his own terms; to make the best of a terrible situation. That's stoicism, not cowardice. I know what some of you are thinking: rather than allowing for the perception of defeat, why didn't the president just keep the government closed and force the Republicans to abandon him? Why not publicly illustrate how outmatched we Deplorables are in the halls of power? Because, ultimately, Trump must play politics if he is to continue on with the MAGA agenda. Had Trump lost in such a shocking and public way, whatever political capital he had going forward would have been squandered.Trump gets NATO allies to pony up $100 billion. President Trump succeeded because he was right and the press was wrong. Again. Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, praised our president for getting our allies to keep their word.No, President Trump Didn't Cave On The Border Wall. Republicans in Congress were reportedly feeling the heat from the 24/7 "I'm a federal worker and I'm losing my house" media stories and subsequently begging President Trump to give them a window of opportunity to strike a longer term deal with Democrats. The president wasn't immune to the pain being felt by federal workers either. He has always been and will always remain a president of the working men and women of America. So, after a bit of deliberation, he gave the green light for a short-term compromise.Why Trump went for a 21-day suspension of the partial shutdown, and what happens next. President Trump's Rose Garden declaration of an end to the partial shutdown was a tactical retreat, a rejection of a Little Big Horn strategy. He found himself in a no-win situation, and rather than bear unacceptable costs, has redefined the contest on better terms: sending the issue to a House and Senate conference committee charged with coming up with a deal that prevents a resumption of the shutdown, and provides border security, something that Democrats say they believe is important.U.S. officials to start pushing asylum seekers back across the border. U.S. border officials finalized plans Thursday to require asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are considered in the United States, the latest escalation of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Border officers will start pushing asylum applicants back across the border as soon as orders become operational on Friday, beginning at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, a Homeland Security official said on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.Call It Operation Big Boot: Trump Admin Announces "Migrant" Deportation. The "caravan" of Central American illegal aliens that is crawling north to the border might run into an obstacle: members of the previous caravan headed in the opposite direction. The Trump administration has announed its plan to send "asylum seekers" back across the border. A fact sheet posted at the website of the Department of Homeland Security yesterday announced new "Migrant Protection Protocols" that will, under the authority of the Immigration and Nationality Act, send "migrants" back to Mexico while the courts dispose of their phony asylum claims. The day of catch and release, which permits illegal aliens who file the false claims to disappear into the country and attach themselves to the public teat, might well be ending.Thanks to Trump, China's economy is rapidly decelerating — Here's what could happen next. The Chinese government recently announced that its GDP growth for 2018 of only 6.6 percent — the country's slowest rate of economic development since 1990. Growth in the fourth quarter declined to 6.4 percent. For the second half of 2018, Chinese investment, consumer spending, manufacturing and exports all slowed markedly with the current trade war with the U.S. hurting China more than anticipated. And that's assuming the numbers are accurate. Economists have long questioned the accuracy of China's official economic data. In any event, China's economy is rapidly decelerating — and that's no coincidence.The real evil of fake news. Trump has been a results president, achieving more jobs, lower taxes, fewer regulations, better trade deals, the near obliteration of ISIS, and peace in Korea in the face of unprecedented chaos and confusion. Trump is putting together a record that will put him among America's most successful chief executives with a leadership style only he could pull off. Institutional actors have forced Trump to take unorthodox measures to propel him to this success.Thank You For Canceling Pelosi's Trip, Mr. President. Believe me, the last thing the majority of troops want to see is Nancy Pelosi, an official who has done nothing but call for the cutting funding for the military and was part of the gang that cut military retirement benefits, during wartime, a few years ago. However, there are quite a few more reasons as to why President Trump, again, has done a good thing. These visits by Congressional delegations are mostly dog and pony shows. Troops have to spend hours or even days preparing for a high-level visitor, which take away from what troops should be focusing on; fighting the enemy and using whatever spare time they have to communicate with their loved ones. Most of these preparations that troops undergo for the convenience of a visitor like Pelosi are worthless, such as cleaning up living areas and give a false impression to those visiting. War is ugly. War is dirty. Let the troops live as they live.It's Not Just Speaker Pelosi: OMB Issues New Travel Guidelines For Shutdown. The Trump administration doubled down on grounding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and effectively grounded all congressional delegations for the duration of the shutdown. On Friday morning [1/18/2019], Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russ Vought tweeted a memo indicating that all congressional travel — at government expense — was being suspended until the shutdown ends.Hardball: Trump Bans ALL Congressional Travel On Government Aircraft. After canceling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plane trip to Europe and the Middle East, Trump had acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought send memo to all heads of executive departments and agencies that members of Congress were not allowed to travel on government aircraft without express permission from the White House during the government shutdown. "In light of the current partial government shutdown, the President has asked me to direct the heads of all executive departments and agencies of the Administration on new policies in support of Legislative Branch travel," Vought wrote. "Under no circumstances during a government shutdown will any government owned, rented, leased, or chartered aircraft support any Congressional delegation, without the express written approval of the White House Chief of Staff," the letter continued.Trump Puts Schumer and Pelosi in a Brilliant Vise Grip. The federal government shutdown has presented a unique opportunity for President Donald Trump to clear out the deadwood in the federal bureaucracy, saving U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars in salaries, perks, and rented office space for people who aren't doing anything productive. At the same time, Trump can get rid of dozens, possibly even hundreds of Deep State operatives in the government, handpicked by Barack Obama and Bill Clinton for their loyalty to the Democratic Party, not their country or the law. These people leak like a screen door in a submarine, mainly to CNN and MSNBC, the twin headquarters of Trump-hatred on cable TV. Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were choreographing their leaks to the media via text messages. Even though Strzok was fired and Page resigned, it's clear there are many others. They actively resist Trump and the Republicans at every opportunity. This is the core of the Resistance.Chris Matthews: Trump's Letter to Pelosi Made Democrats 'Look Like Fools'. MSNBC's Chris Matthews joined the chorus of pundits losing their minds over President Donald Trump cancelling Nancy Pelosi's trip to Afghanistan — but admitted that the president made the Democrats "look like fools." President Trump had hilariously cancelled the trip as the Democrats were in a bus on their way to the flight.Blue State Blues: Shutdowns Are Different When Republicans Fight Back. Spare, if you will, a moment's pity for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). They are not exactly enjoying the government shutdown as they might have hoped. Pelosi had already packed her bags and boarded the Air Force bus Thursday [1/17/2019], along with a sizable delegation of House Democratic leaders, for her overseas junket.Trump's shutdown trap? Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only 5 more days of the already-"longest government shutdown in history" (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more. Don't believe me that federal bureaucrats can be laid off? Well, in bureaucratese, a layoff is called a RIF — a Reduction in Force, and of course, it comes with a slew of civil service protections. But, if the guidelines are followed, bureaucrats can be laid off — as in no more job.Do the Math: Trump's Wall Is $25 Billion, Illegals Cost $165 Billion. As it turns out, Trump was not the bumbling blowhard of CNN's fever dreams. He was a marketing mastermind whose words went far beyond "resonating" with ordinary Americans — they stuck. Epithets like crooked, lyin', and low-energy were not just insults, they were silver bullets spoken by a silver tongue. Hillary, Ted, and Jeb didn't know what hit 'em. Two years on and Trump's word-wizardry is as potent as ever — Pocahontas's racial fraud is now common knowledge, and Trump's little rocket man jab arguably set the stage for North Korea's denuclearization summit. At this point, Trump's language is indistinguishable from political magic. For example, Trump's push for "the wall" has turned ardent socialists into laissez-faire economists on the issue of illegal immigration — who cares if migration hurts America's most vulnerable? We need aliens to grow the economy!Secretary Pompeo Eviscerates Obama in Cairo, Egypt: "The age of self-inflicted American shame is over". In the historic annals of linguistic evisceration, the speech delivered today [1/10/2019] by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Cairo, Egypt, will long be remembered. Standing in the venue of the American University in Cairo, the exact location used by former President Barack Obama in 2009, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo absolutely shredded the prior administration's mid-east policy with a comprehensive and complete rebuke of the former President. Understanding how Egypt was ground-zero for the destructive policies of the Obama administration and the rise of radical Islamic extremism via the Muslim Brotherhood; let there be no doubt Secretary Pompeo had a clear intention to outline the horrendous intentional Obama ideology, and it was well received by the Egyptian audience.The Great Undoing Continues. In his great undoing of the "accomplishments" of the Obama administration, President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the humiliating and destructive Iran nuclear deal. The deal funded a terrorist regime that remains at war with the United States and that continues to avow its dedication to our destruction. The Trump administration has also reimposed sanctions on the Iranian regime. There was no bridge too far for Obama in seeking to align the United States with the mullahs of Iran.Chuck and Nancy (Sad). [T]he exchange between President Trump and his would-be tormentors Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi amid the current government shutdown appears to have been pretty laughably one-sided. It doesn't take a partisan Republican to see that. The President didn't yell or scream, he didn't throw any bombs, and he didn't come off as the same guy he does on Twitter. What he did was to state a pretty cogent case for why the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is untenable, and why something needs to be done to put a cork in the sex and drug trafficking, and mass illegal immigration, flowing across it. For Trump, that means constructing a physical barrier along that border where it's been suggested such a project be completed. This is anything but a new idea, mind you — it's already been authorized by Congress. Remember the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was part of the Bush-era push to do something about illegal immigration?Trump's Rhetorical Knockout Blow. The president was clear, factually unchallengeable, and credible, and Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer looked and sounded like a waxworks animated illustration of the embalmer's art and her ventriloquist, the bearer of the broadest forehead since Pericles. The president spoke of a national-security, economic, and humanitarian crisis, and they spoke of the federal employees who are about to miss a paycheck.Did Trump win that wall speech? Surely he did. Twitter went hog wild, making fun of Pelosi's and Schumer's weird-looking appearance in their public rebuttal to President Trump's argument. They could have done nothing, as would have been normal for legislative opponents for a presidential speech, but they couldn't stand the idea of President Trump getting that camera time. They demanded, and got, airtime, too, presumably to flip the "narrative" by making President Trump appear "heartless," and having the last word to boot. It blew up in their faces.Don't Listen To The Media. President Trump Had A Strong 2018. Despite the media's unyielding obsession with Russian-collusion conspiracies, tax returns, Stormy Daniels, and any other scandal conjured through sophistry, President Donald Trump has accrued a slew of accomplishments in 2018 that deserve recognition. From the economy to the Supreme Court to foreign policy, this past year has been replete with home runs for the 45th president.MAGA: First Real US Household Income Gain Since 2000. President Trump's 'Make America Great Again' economic policies that favor Main Street over Wall Street just delivered a record for U.S. median household income and the first full year of higher real incomes since 2000. The median household income hit an all-time high of $63,554 in November 2018, based on an analysis of the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey by Sentier Research. The real, after-inflation, median household income was 3.2 percent above the $61,612 for November 2017; up 5.5 percent above the $60,231 in December 2007; up 15.4 percent from $55,083 in June 2011; and 4.3 percent higher than January 2000.The stock market may be tanking but the economy roars ahead with 312K jobs last month. Donald Trump may be a little obsessed with the performance of the stock market, which lost 6% of its value last year, but he needn't worry about the overall American economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that businesses created 312,000 jobs in December, far exceeding expectations on the street. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, reflecting a big increase in the number of people seeking work. The labor participation rate also rose as the economy continues to shake off the effects of eight years in the doldrums. What's more, wage gains for all of 2018 were a robust 3.2%, up from 2.7% in 2017.The Top 12 MAGA Moments for Donald Trump in 2018. [#1] Trump appoints Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court: In October, President Trump witnessed the swearing in of his second nominee to the Supreme Court, keeping his campaign promise to nominate constitutional judges. It was a long, destructive confirmation battle in the Senate, but ultimately Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in, despite dozens of false smears against his character.President's visit to troops a morale-boosting victory. President Trump made an unannounced trip to Iraq on Wednesday [12/26/2018] to visit our troops and it was exactly the right thing to do. Air Force One landed west of Baghdad under cover of darkness and once on the ground, it wasn't long before the president began pressing the flesh and taking selfies with members of our military, who were visibly ecstatic.Sweet Shutdown, Roll On. It never seems to occur to the Democrats, currently bellyaching about the largely phantom "government shutdown," that the last people Donald Trump cares about offending are the army of Democrat-voting bureaucrats who will be the only folks inconvenienced by Senator Charles Schumer's latest temper tantrum. As far as the rest of America is concerned, the shutdown of "nonessential" government services can bloody well continue indefinitely, as the president has promised, in order to get funding for his wall along the Mexican border. It's the best Christmas present ever.Record retail sales rain on anti-Donald Trump parade. [T]he left has been up in arms for days now about the government shutdown, pitching wails over the Wall Street numbers and stock market showing and predicting nothing but gloom and doom and financial suffering because of President Donald Trump. Then along come retail sales and put all that blather in its place.President Trump and First Lady Melania Make Post-Christmas Visit to Troops in Iraq. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania visited U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday, "President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas."First Lady Melania Trump Follows Pat Nixon, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush in Her Historic Visit to Combat Zone. First Lady Melania Trump already has set a number of records as First Lady.Melania Trump, first lady and role model, rises above Democratic pettiness. Despite the efforts of a miserable American media and liberal establishment to malign her, first lady Melania Trump continues on with work that endears her to the American public. Her agenda as first lady is expansive, focusing on children and the importance of all aspects of their lives, from self-esteem to education to health care. Our nation has a first lady who is smart, beautiful and a person of faith. She is committed to her family and to this nation.Let's look past the liberal media gloom factory and celebrate the good news this Christmas. Notwithstanding the gloom factory that is the liberal media, the country remains upbeat. The University of Michigan reported just recently that consumer sentiment rose in December, defying expectations. The report notes that "over the past half century, sentiment was higher in only two other time periods: 1964-65 and 1997-2000." Only 12 percent of respondents said they were concerned about the stock market. Americans are feeling good partly because the jobs market remains red hot. Unemployment, currently at 3.7 percent, is the lowest ever for blacks, Hispanics, Asians, teens, and women. Jobs are plentiful and not just entry-level jobs; manufacturing employment is up by 288,000 over the past year. Moreover, opportunities abound. At last count there were 7.1 million jobs available, and only 6 million Americans unemployed. Five years ago, the picture was bleaker, as there were only 3.9 million jobs available, and 11.3 million Americans out of work.A quarter of a million foreign thugs deported — thanks, Trump!. Amid all the back and forth about who the biggest deporter is among presidents, and whether deportations are up or down under President Trump, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has released some impressive numbers: 256,000 deportations of immigration lawbreakers, mostly for committing additional crimes beyond the initial border break, in 2018. [...] This, to be pessimistic, tells us a lot about how many immigration lawbreakers are out there, including ones who commit crimes here and haven't been caught.Trump Just Achieved What Every President Since Nixon Had Promised: Energy Independence. Last week, the U.S. exported more oil than we imported, for the first time in 70-plus years. And it happened not because of decades of federal "energy policies," but despite them.Trump scrapping the bad stuff in Obamacare, bit by bit. Obamacare is a hydra-headed nightmare monster — with high costs that only go higher, irrelevant services, limited choices, one-size-fits-all offerings, a nasty subsidy system that doubles as an involuntary data-mining operation, bad security, endless paperwork, and an incredibly capricious cost structure, all topped off with a hipster-leftist nomenklatura of entrenched Obamacare industry millionaires who love robbing you blind. It's horrible no matter how many ways you look at it. And Congress has been largely useless at getting rid of it. Now the voters have decided to see if Democrats can get the job done. Memo to voters: Don't hold your breath.After 2 years in office, Trump's approval rating matches Obama's at same point of presidency. Despite an unrelenting daily attack from CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, the New York Times, and countless other news outlets and pundits, President Trump's approval rating matches President Obama's at the same point of their presidencies. Trump's job approval stands at 46 percent, according to a new poll released by Fox News.US steel industry booming after Trump's tariffs. U.S. steel mills have seen almost a 5 percent jump in shipments so far this year, a sign that it's benefiting from stiff 25 percent tariffs on imports the Trump administration imposed last year. The American Iron and Steel Institute reported Monday [12/10/2018] that U.S. mills shipped 8.1 million tons in October, up 4.6 percent from the previous month and up 6 percent from the same period last year. So far this year, the industry has shipped 79.6 million net tons, 4.6 percent more than it had by this point last year.As Predicted, GOP Tax Cuts Prompt Record Tax Revenues. Remember when Democrats mocked last year's tax-cut legislation? And Nancy Pelosi called the tax breaks for Americans "crumbs"? But President Trump and congressional Republicans said they would ignite a booming economy and actually increase federal tax collections from greater economic activity including more consumer spending, business investments, higher wages and even employee bonuses.Trump proud of forcing Jeff Flake from Senate. After complaining that the GOP retirements hurt the party in the midterms, President Trump on Wednesday proudly credited himself with forcing out Sen. Jeff Flake. "In Jeff Flake's case, it's me, pure and simple. I retired him. I'm very proud of it. I did the country a great service," Mr. Trump said at a White House press conference.Complete List of President Trump's Accomplishments. In spite of massive attacks from the MSM, an investigation created through the efforts of the prior corrupt administration, and a Democrat Party that does all they can to derail him, the President kept his promises and did all he could to Make America Great Again. The results speak for themselves.Poll: Almost half of voters credit President Trump with improving economy. The results of a new poll is showing most voters credit President Trump with jump-starting the economy despite some Democrats trying to give the credit to former President Obama's past policies. According to Thursday's [11/1/2018] Harris Poll, nearly 50 percent of respondents believe President Trump is the reason why unemployment is at a record low and manufacturing is booming. On the other hand, only 21 percent of voters think the economy is the result of policies put in place by the former administration.156,562,000: Record Employment for 12th Time Under Trump. The economy is the second most important issue for registered voters as the midterm election nears, a new Gallup Poll says. And there was very good economic news on Friday, as the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics rolled out the October employment report — the final one before next week's midterm election. The number of employed Americans has never been higher. The 156,562,000 Americans employed in October is the twefth record set under President Donald Trump. In October, the number of employed men age 20 and up — 80,405,000 — set the 12th record since Trump took office; and likewise, for the 12th time, the number of employed women age 20 and up set a record, reaching 70,909,000 in October.Trump's reversal of failed Obama policies has created a booming economy. President Obama raised taxes on businesses and individuals. He expanded the federal government's size and power through dramatic increases in the number and scope of federal regulations. He discouraged domestic energy production — for example, refusing to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline and openly attempting to bankrupt the coal industry. The economy is now booming because President Trump took the opposite course. President Trump has dramatically cut both taxes and regulations — shrinking the government's size and power — while aggressively encouraging domestic energy production.President Trump Continues to Reduce US Debt to GDP [Ratio] — Something Obama Increased by 40%! With the US GDP Numbers released today, the debt to GDP ratio continues to decrease under President Trump. The US GDP for the third quarter was reported at a whopping 3.5% under the leadership of President Donald Trump. This was another BIG Trump win which doubles the first quarter growth of 2.2%. President Obama never reached an annual GDP Growth rate of more than 3.0%. No President over the past century had not ever been held to GDP growth rates of less than 3.0% until Obama.Caravan follies of 2018. President Trump has revealed that many of our NATO allies sponged off our military spending and refused to honor their commitment to defend themselves. That has changed. President Trump has revealed that our neighbors sponged off our economy. They agreed to replace NAFTA. President Trump has revealed that Democrats are socialists. Look at who won their primaries. Sane people need not apply. But most of all, he has shown that illegal aliens are invading the country. The caravan heading north is doomed because the people in the caravan are not seeking political asylum but access to an underground economy. People see through the media spin.Florida and Texas Post Record Sept.-to-Sept. Job Gains. Florida and Texas, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not only led the nation in the number of nonfarm jobs they added in the year running from September 2017 to September 2018 but also added the greatest number of jobs to their states in any September-to-September period on record. Ohio and Pennsylvania — sometimes considered part of the nation's "Rust Belt" — also saw significant job gains from September 2017 to September 2018, with Ohio showing the largest increase for its state in 21 years and Pennsylvania showing the largest increase in 18 years.No Hope For Democrats. This week, the World Economic Forum rated the United States as the most competitive economy among the 140 countries ranked. This is the first time since 2008 that the United States has topped this important list. This report follows an amazing list of positive economic indicators in recent weeks. The United States is enjoying an incredibly low unemployment rate, robust economic growth, and stellar consumer and small business confidence. It is a great time to be living in our country.Bureau of Labor Statistics: Currently 7+ Million Job Openings — Third Quarter Wage Gains +3.3%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released some remarkable economic data today [10/16/2018]. There are more than seven million current job openings and the year-over-year average wage gains are 3.3%Go Figure: Federal Revenues Hit All-Time Highs Under Trump Tax Cuts. Critics of the Trump tax cuts said they would blow a hole in the deficit. Yet individual income taxes climbed 6% in the just-ended fiscal year 2018, as the economy grew faster and created more jobs than expected.Six Democratic Scandals That The Elite News Media Suffocated With A Pillow This Cycle. In the Trump era, liberal media bias is worse than ever. So, it shouldn't shock us that the Media Research Center's Newsbusters division probably has carpal tunnel syndrome from jotting down all the insanity that is transpiring across CNN, MSNBC, and the Big Three (CBS, NBC, and ABC). In this media bubble, Trump colluded with the Russians to win an election; he's a tax cheat, a serial sexual abuser, and the most corrupt politician since Henry Clay and the corrupt bargain of 1824. Outside of this glass case of emotion, the economy is growing at four percent. There are more jobs than job seekers, and job openings are at a whopping 7.1 million. Three million jobs have been created, new trade deals with Mexico and Canada are in motion, the Trump tax cuts have formed a solid base for growth, and more than three million working-class families have received bonuses of $1,000 or more. Oh, and consumer and small business confidence have reached 18-year highs. And did I mention that unemployment is at 3.7 percent. Yeah, things are going well, but the Democrat-media complex is hoping that the president fails, of course.Why vote for Democrats? Given what the Trump administration is saying are record achievements for a president at this stage in office, why would anyone consider voting for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections? Writing in The Washington Examiner, Paul Bedard lists 289 accomplishments of the Trump administration, beginning with the obvious one, the economy: "They include 173 major wins, such as adding more than 4 million jobs, and another 116 smaller victories, some with outsize importance, such as the 83 percent one-year increase in arrests of MS-13 gang members." They also include two justices now on the Supreme Court and 82 other federal judges confirmed to lower courts.Turkey Releases Imprisoned US Christian Pastor Following Sanctions by Trump Administration. Pastor Andrew Brunson has been released so that he can return to the United States after spending two years imprisoned in Turkey. Pastor Brunson was on house arrest following his release from prison and was unable to return to the US. He had been living in Turkey and was working for the small Izmir Resurrection Church when he was arrested over his ties to various political groups following the failed 2016 coup attempt.Democrats agree to confirmations of 15 Trump judges. Senate Democrats accepted an offer Thursday [10/11/2018] from Senate Republicans to confirm 15 lifetime federal judges in exchange for the ability to go into recess through the midterms, allowing endangered Democrats to campaign. The calculation by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his caucus was simple: That Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be able to confirm roughly 15 judges if he kept the Senate in session for the next few weeks anyway. So Democrats OK'd an offer to confirm three Circuit Court judges and 12 Circuit Court judges as the price to pay to go home for election season.Trump defies California senators with 9th Circuit judge nominations. After months of negotiations and delays, the White House is moving to fill California's three vacancies on the influential 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — over the strenuous objections of the state's two Democratic senators. White House officials had been negotiating with Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, earlier in the year about filling these and other federal court vacancies in the state. But that dialogue collapsed this past summer, Senate aides said.Trump snubs Feinstein, Harris to nominate conservative judges to liberal 9th Circuit. President Trump is plowing ahead to fill three vacancies on the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, brushing aside Democratic resistance to nominate conservative judges. Presidents traditionally work with senators from judicial nominees' home state — in this case, California — to put forward judicial picks. They often seek what's known as a "blue slip," or an opinion from those senators. But in a snub to California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, the White House announced Wednesday that Trump had nominated Patrick Bumatay, Daniel Collins and Kenneth Kiyul Lee (all from the Golden State, and reportedly all members of the conservative Federalist Society) to the influential circuit.Casualty Lists From the Kavanaugh Battle. After a 50-year siege, the great strategic fortress of liberalism has fallen. With the elevation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court seems secure for constitutionalism — perhaps for decades. The shrieks from the gallery of the Senate chamber as the vote came in on Saturday, and the sight of that bawling mob clawing at the doors of the Supreme Court as the new justice took his oath, confirm it. The Democratic Party has sustained a historic defeat. [...] Trump has achieved what every GOP president has hoped to do since the summer of '68, when a small group of GOP senators, led by Bob Griffin of Michigan, frustrated and then foiled a LBJ-Earl Warren plot to elevate LBJ crony Abe Fortas to chief justice in order to keep a future President Nixon from naming Warren's successor.Trump's Fighting Spirit Gets Kavanaugh Confirmed. After the dirtiest, nastiest Supreme Court confirmation battle in American history, President Trump's pick, Brett Kavanaugh, was finally confirmed to the high court and sworn in as its ninth justice on the weekend, cementing for years what could be an ideologically conservative majority on the court. This means that in under two years in power President Trump has succeeded in putting two apparently originalist justices on the Supreme Court, a font of outrageous big-government activism where unelected black robed-politicians have for decades imposed unconstitutional left-wing monstrosities like Obamacare and so-called affirmative action on the American people, policies that voters have rejected at the polls.President Donald Trump's winning streak. Trump became an undeniably consequential President when Senate voted Saturday to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, consecrating the conservative majority that has long been the impossible dream of the GOP. On Friday, Trump had celebrated the best jobs data for 49 years as the unemployment rate dipped to 3.7%, offering more proof of a vibrant economy that the President says has been unshackled by his tax-reduction program and scything cuts to business regulations. While his 2016 election campaign was most notable for swirling chaos and shattered norms, Trump's vows to nominate conservative judges to the Supreme Court and to fire up the economy were the glue for his winning coalition.U.S. Unemployment Rate Drops To 3.7 Percent, Lowest In Nearly 50 Years. The U.S. jobless rate dropped to 3.7 percent in September — the lowest since 1969, though the economy added a lower-than-expected 134,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The jobless rate fell from August's 3.9 percent. Average earnings rose 8 cents, to $27.24 per hour last month. But wage growth slowed, with average hourly earnings up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 2.9 percent increase in August.Women Are Winning in the Trump Economy. By almost every economic measure, women are flourishing in today's economy. Female unemployment is currently at a 50-year low of 3.9 percent, less than half the rate it was as recently as President Obama's second term. This summer, the female unemployment rate reached its lowest level in 65 years. When you consider how small the female labor force was back then, it's safe to say it's never been easier for a woman to find a job than it is today. Women are also leaving the labor market sidelines to return to the workforce in droves. Prime-age female employment has increased by 1 million since November 2016. This year, the prime-age female employment rate finally returned to its pre-Great Recession level.Trumponomics Triumphant. Trumponomics is working extremely well and it can for a long time if we don't screw it up. I saw a headline in the Washington Post telling us that Trumponomics is not working, and I wondered what the heck these people must be smoking because obviously the economy is humming on almost all fronts. The reason they say his policies aren't working or won't work in the near future is because of Trump's trade policies. Trumponomics is actually a very simple concept. Get rid of unnecessary regulations and let people and businesses keep more of the money they earn, which will allow great compounding throughout the private sector.Nearly Half a Trillion Dollars Already Repatriated; More Coming. President Donald Trump said in an interview in July that untaxed corporate earnings held offshore used to be "$2.5 trillion ... I guess it's $5 trillion now. Whatever it is, it's a lot more. So we have anywhere from $4 [trillion] to 5 or even more trillions sitting offshore." Thanks to Trump's tax reform act and its related tax holiday, that number "sitting offshore" is now a lot less: almost half a trillion dollars less. In the first six months of 2018 alone, American companies have called back $465 billion of those untaxed corporate earnings from abroad. In an attempt to denigrate Trump's July statement, Politifact focused on just how much was being held overseas by American companies unwilling to pay the previously exorbitant 35 percent to bring them home. It was trying to show that Trump had once again exaggerated and overstated the numbers.Trump Buries The Old-World Order. Without regard to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, or Ivy League government departments, Trump abruptly pulled out of the multilateral Iran Deal. He quit the Paris Climate Accord, bragging that U.S. natural gas did far more in reducing global emissions than the redistributive dreams of Davos grandees. He took up Sarah Palin's reductive call to "drill, baby, drill," as the U.S., now the world largest producer of natural gas and oil, made OPEC seem irrelevant. Trump jawboned NATO members to pony up their long promised, but even longer delinquent, dues — or else. He renegotiated NAFTA and asked why Mexico City had sent 11 to 20 million of its poorest citizens illegally across the border, ran up a $71 billion trade surplus, and garnered $30 billion in remittances from the U.S. Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, declared the Palestinians no longer refugees after 70 years and thus no more in need of U.S. largess. Likewise, he dissolved US participation with the International Criminal Court, and questioned why the U.S. subsidized a UN that so often derided America.Here's what Donald Trump is doing right. There is much to criticize in President Donald Trump's less-than-nuanced behavior and approach to governing. The unemployment rate among his critics is now near zero. But we ought to express approval of his actions when warranted. Trump promised to destroy ISIS. He removed the strategic engagement handcuffs imposed by President Barack Obama. Under James Mattis, a warrior secretary of defense, that terrorist army is now an encircled shadow of its former lethal self, reduced to hit-and-run acts.The Economy Is Beating The Last Administration's Low Expectations. Americans are now seeing more jobs, higher wages, and greater investment. The president of the New York Fed remarked that the economy was neither growing too quickly nor too slowly, describing it as a "Goldilocks economy." Business optimism has been surging since the last election and the latest National Federation of Independent Business's (NFIB) survey of small business optimism hit a record high.Jobless claims fall again to reach new 49-year low of 201,000. The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in mid-September fell to a fresh 49-year low, partly because of Hurricane Florence but mostly owing to a surging economy. Initial jobless claims, a rough proxy for layoffs, fell by 3,000 to 201,000 in the seven days ended Sept. 15. That's below the 208,000 MarketWatch forecast and marks the lowest level since Nov. 12, 1969.Chaos or not, Trump is racking up a record of foreign policy success. Trump has taken a strong stand against the narco-dictatorship in Venezuela, and his administration even considered supporting coup plotters seeking to remove the Maduro regime. He strengthened NATO by getting allies to kick in billions more toward the alliance's collective security. He declared war on the International Criminal Court, which purports to have jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers and citizens even though America is not a signatory to the treaty creating the ICC. Liberals might not like any of these developments, but long-standing policy goals of conservative internationalists are being achieved.WashPost: Trump's Economy Boosts Blue-Collar Jobs. President Donald Trump has shifted the economy so that once-disregarded blue-collar manufacturing workers are now recovering jobs faster than coastal service-sector employees, the Washington Post acknowledged Sunday [9/16/23018]. "Blue-collar jobs are growing at their fastest rate in more than 30 years, helping fuel a hiring boom in many small towns and rural areas that are strong supporters of President Trump ahead of November's mid-term elections," said the Post, under the headline "Under Trump, the jobs boom has finally reached blue-collar workers. Will it last?"Paradox Emerges In the Trump Presidency. It's a paradox of the Trump presidency going into the midterm elections. The economy is strong by conventional indicators — a 4.2% growth rate in real gross domestic product for the second quarter of 2018, according to the Commerce Department, and a 3.9% unemployment rate, according to the Labor Department. The stock market has racked up impressive gains, with the Standard and Poor's 500 Index of large U.S. stocks up about 36% since Election Day 2016. America is not mired in any high-profile military conflict generating televised casualties. President Trump has no Iraq War, no Vietnam. [...] Yet surveys show Mr. Trump's job approval ratings and his favorability ratings underwater. Polls find that a majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.The Editor says...Most of the noise is coming from the Democratic Party, not the White House. The Democrats can't stand to see Donald Trump succeed.Terror Office Has License Revoked. That terrorist organizations should not have an official presence in the United States is a point with which most Americans would agree. Yet the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization has operated for years from an impressive office on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington D.C., with the blessing of the U.S. government. On Monday [9/10/2018], the Trump administration ordered it closed. State Department spokesman Heather Nauert explained the mission's shuttering by noting "the PLO has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel." The organization's leadership, she continued, "has condemned a U.S. peace plan they have not yet seen and refused to engage with the U.S. government with respect to peace efforts and otherwise."The Democrats: The Party of Resistance. One explanation for the ferocity of modern politics is that The Political Party That Is Never Wrong is getting a frightful drubbing today. Moreover, it is coming from a man who has only sought political office once in his life, our president, Donald J. Trump. Congratulations, Donald! He is beating the Democrats with policies that have revived the economy and rendered laughable Ex-President Barack Obama's pathetic claim that the "new normal" is someplace around 2 percent growth. President Trump responds that his economy is now growing at a rate of some 4.2 percent, most likely even higher. President Trump is also beating The Political Party That Is Never Wrong with his judicial appointees. He has had confirmed 67 to the courts. More than any of his predecessors at this stage in their presidencies, and if all goes well he will have landed two appointees on the Supreme Court shortly.EPA lost more than 1,500 workers in first 18 months of Trump administration: report. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reportedly lost 8 percent of its staff in the first 18 months of President Trump's administration due to high numbers of departing staffers and a low number of new hires. The Washington Post reported Saturday [9/8/2018] that nearly 1,600 workers left the EPA during that time, while fewer than 400 were hired. The agency's employment has shrunk to its lowest levels since the Reagan administration, the Post noted.EPA sheds 1,600 employees as Trump cleans house. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shed approximately 1,200 jobs as roughly 1,600 employees departed and fewer than 400 new employees were hired during President Donald Trump's first year and a half in office. Departing employees included "at least 260 scientists, 185 'environmental protection specialists' and 106 engineers," according to the Washington Post. The EPA's workforce is now down 8 percent to a size it has not been since former president Ronald Reagan was in office, reported the WaPo.Report: Blue-collar Job Growth At Highest Level In 30 Years. While everyone is focusing on anti-Trump derangement, the blue-collar job sector has been quietly bouncing back. According to the Brookings Institution, blue-collar job growth is at its highest level since 1984.Anomaly. Reports that anonymous officials in the White House are waiting to topple the president via the 25th Amendment or arguments that no one appointed to the Supreme Court can be validly confirmed periodically raise hopes that some shortcut to their Trump nightmare may yet be at hand. But the idealized past continues to fade under each new initiative of this astonishing administration. The cancellation of the Paris accord, the end of the Iran nuclear deal, the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem, the rejection of the PLO, the renegotiation of trade agreements, tariffs on China, a new strategic alliance with India, the formation of a Space Force, rapproachment with North Korea, the rejection of the International Criminal Court and a set of sanctions against Russia, Turkey, Iran are but a few of the demolition charges detonating against the face of the global world order.The Three Hard Truths of the Trump Era. [#1] Lowering taxes does increase revenue. This debate is as old as politics itself, but thanks to Trump's tax cut, the largest in more than three decades, it can finally be put to rest. The fruits of the legislation have been ripe indeed as companies repatriated nearly one-third of a trillion dollars in a mere six months following the tax cut and invested heavily in employee training and infrastructure. But perhaps its greatest worth is ending the supply side vs. Keynesian debate once and for all. As proof, consider that the federal government collected a record $1.3 trillion in income taxes through the first nine months of FY18, beating the previous record by $71 billion, which was set during the same period last year. And as the economy shows few signs of slowing down, these numbers may well continue to increase.The Number Of People On Unemployment Welfare Is At A 50-Year Low. Filings for unemployment benefits in the U.S. last week fell to the lowest number in nearly five decades, further evidence of a tight labor market and expanding economy. Roughly 203,000 people filed to receive unemployment welfare last week. In the week ending on Dec. 6, 1969, 202,000 people made an initial claim for unemployment, according to a Thursday [9/6/2018] report from the Department of Labor. The four-week moving average for the number of claims — a less volatile and more reliable metric — hit 209,500, also the lowest average since 1969.6.3%: African-American Unemployment Rate Second-Lowest Ever. The midterm election is about "safety and jobs," President Trump told a campaign rally in Montana Thursday night [9/6/2018]. He said the economy is "booming like never before," and on Friday, the unemployment report brought the president more good news: the unemployment rate for African Americans, 6.3 percent, is the second lowest on record (it was 5.9 percent in May); and job-growth remains strong. For Hispanics, the unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a point from last month's record low of 4.5 percent. And the overall unemployment rate remained at a low 3.9 percent. The number of jobs added — 201,000 — exceeded analysts' expectations.A Comparison of Two Presidents: President Trump versus President Obama — Their First 600 Days. As we approach the first 600 days into the Donald J. Trump Presidency it's again time to assess his accomplishments. What better way to perform this analysis than to compare his results to the prior Administration's — President Barack H. Obama's? On Friday [9/8/2018] former President Barack Obama gave a speech in Illinois where he was critical of the current President while never referring to President Trump as "President". Obama then took credit for President Trump's economy.Trump Deputies Release Rule Closing Obama's 'Flores' Catch-and-Release Loophole. President Donald Trump's deputies released a draft regulation which will shut the 2015 Flores catch-and-release loophole, and largely end the migration of unskilled Central American laborers into the United States. The regulation will help Trump fulfill his campaign promise to block illegal migration because it will allow officials to quietly detain migrant families together while judges assess their legal claims. Few migrants can win their immigration or asylum claims, so the no-release process will likely deter many poor migrants — such as Guatemalan David Xol — from paying smugglers to help them seek jobs in the United States.Report: Huge Number Of Illegals Opting Out Of Welfare Programs Fearing Trump Admin Crackdown. Illegal immigrants are opting out of government welfare programs out of fear of Trump Administration crackdowns coming done the pike, reported POLITICO on Monday [9/3/2018]. Due to a proposed Trump Administration rule to deny legal status to illegals on welfare, both legal and illegal immigrants have been inundating health care providers with calls demanding they be dropped from federal assistance programs like WIC. "Agencies in at least 18 states say they've seen drops of up to 20 percent in enrollment, and they attribute the change largely to fears about the immigration policy," says the report. WIC, or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, is a federally-funded assistance program from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), providing health benefits and services for low income mothers and their children.Illegals Abandoning Welfare Over Deportation Fears. Hilariously, we know this because the center-left magazine Politico reported on the phenomenon as if it was a bad thing (I'm not referring to any legal immigrants affected). According to their report: "Immigrants are turning down government help to buy infant formula and healthy food for their young children because they're afraid the Trump administration could bar them from getting a green card if they take federal aid. Local health providers say they've received panicked phone calls from both documented and undocumented immigrant families demanding to be dropped from the rolls of WIC, a federal nutrition program aimed at pregnant women and children, after news reports that the White House is potentially planning to deny legal status to immigrants who've used public benefits. Agencies in at least 18 states say they've seen drops of up to 20 percent in enrollment, and they attribute the change largely to fears about the immigration policy."Due process returns to campus. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is following through on her commitment to stand up for the due process rights of all students on U.S. college campuses. From what we've seen of a new framework, it would go a long way to restoring constitutional protection in campus sexual assault investigations. That's a long-overdue change. Last September, DeVos began this work, rescinding overzealous Obama-era guidelines that pushed university administrators to investigate and adjudicate serious accusations and even crimes. Using the threat of withheld funding if schools didn't comply, the former administration instructed universities to lower the burden of proof and create a framework to give alleged victims the upper hand. Title IX, the law preventing sex discrimination in schools that take federal funds, has been expanded greatly in recent years to apply to cases of sexual misconduct.Trump Policies Push Obamacare Rates Down. The Democrats and the media have repeatedly accused President Trump and the GOP Congress of "sabotaging" Obamacare, claiming that changes to the "Affordable Care Act" would result in unprecedented premium hikes in 2019. [...] It goes without saying that the Democrats and the "news" media were deliberately attempting to mislead the public. In reality, 2019 will be the first year ever in which Obamacare premiums will decline. In 12 states, according to A Trusted Resource For Obamacare Enrollment Help For 2019, the average rate charged by insurers selling plans through federal and state exchanges will actually be lower than in 2018. The largest cut will be in New Hampshire, where the average premium will drop by 13.47 percent.Household Income Jumps To All-Time Highs Under Trump: Why Isn't This Big News? Median household income is up more than 4%, the economy is growing fast, optimism is at decades long highs. Not that you'd know it, since the press is too busy trying to drive President Trump from office.Ten Inconvenient Facts. [#1] The economy is roaring under the Trump tenure. It's no surprise that this fact lands on the list. GDP and the stock market are up and unemployment and food stamp claims are down. If those trends happened under Hillary Clinton, journalists would gush and bow, but instead we get quibbles and warnings of what the future may hold. Ezra Klein even argued that with such a low unemployment rate (3.8%), Trump's economy should be performing much better than it is. In other words, even good news is bad news in the liberal mind.Trump keeps racking up the victories, despite liberal media's desperate efforts. In the middle of the liberal media's desperate efforts to convince us that President Trump is in trouble, there are an amazing number of victories that suggest he is winning. In fact, there are indications that he is winning a lot. Let's start with Tuesday's primaries. In Florida, a fine, well-entrenched state Agriculture Commissioner and former U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam decisively lost the Republican gubernatorial primary to Rep. Ron DeSantis. The big boost for DeSantis came from President Trump's endorsement and a Trump robocall to Florida Republicans.Michael Pillsbury: China Has "New Respect" For U.S. Trade Strategy. Sad Panda increasingly frustrated as disruptor Trump heaps vociferous praise on Chairman Xi, while simultaneously out maneuvering Beijing's geopolitical economic strategy. China expert Michael Pillsbury discusses the current environment around the Beijing leadership with Fox host Tucker Carlson. This is really important. [Video clip]Poll: Blue-Collar American Workers are More Optimistic About Trump, America, and Their Jobs. A new survey finds that more blue-collar American workers approve of President Trump than those who disapprove of him. Of the 1,049 Americans surveyed, 44 percent said they approved of Trump's job performance, while 40 percent said they disapproved, according to a new Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment. By contrast, 52.8 percent of all Americans say they disapprove of Trump's job performance in the White House thus far while 43.8 percent say they approve of him, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average. Eighty-six percent of the blue-collar workers surveyed said they are satisfied with their jobs and 91 percent said they are proud of the work they do. Eighty-five percent said their lives were headed in the right direction and 51 percent said the country is headed in the right direction, compared to 40 percent of all Americans who say the country is headed in the right direction, according to the Real Clear Politics poll average.Commerce Department Revises Second Quarter Growth Up to 4.2%. The U.S. economy grew at a strong 4.2 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, the best showing in nearly four years, as growth stayed on track to produce its strongest full-year gain in more than a decade.Candace Owens: 'I absolutely love this president ... he's killing political correctness'. Candace Owens is grateful that President Donald Trump did the "most necessary thing" in this country by speaking the truth. The Turning Point USA communications director lauded the president's timely attack on "political correctness" in the nation and his willingness to "take the hits from the media," in an appearance on Fox News' "Life, Liberty & Levin" on Sunday [8/26/2018]. "I think that what he did in this country was the most necessary thing by killing political correctness," the young conservative said. "Everybody was too politically correct to tell us that we were losing this country," she added. "He stood up on a platform and he started telling the truth."Trump boom as soaring US economy records best growth in four years. The US has experienced its best growth in four years, a major triumph for US President Donald Trump whose administration has prioritised domestic business since his shock election victory in 2016. Gross domestic product has increased at a 4.2 percent annualised rate, the Commerce Department said today, in its second estimate of GDP growth for the April-June quarter. That was slightly up from the 4.1 percent pace of expansion it reported in July and was the fastest rate since the third quarter of 2014.Bad Men, Good Presidents. Trump has shepherded through Congress the largest personal and corporate tax cuts since the Reagan administration. His administration has created a 35 percent reduction in regulations. Those reductions, including the rollback of costly Environmental Protection Agency regulations, have led to the biggest energy boom in history, making the U.S. the world's No. 1 energy producer and thus ending our dependence on Middle Eastern oil producers. The Trump administration has ended the Obamacare mandate and reformed the very costly Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Helping with these economic matters is free marketer Larry Kudlow, whom Trump appointed as director of the National Economic Council. As a result of the gross domestic product's growth spurt, caused by tax cuts and deregulation, unemployment is less than 4 percent. Black unemployment is hovering around the all-time low at 6.6 percent. In fact, it's estimated that there are 6 million more jobs than workers. Also on the domestic front, the Trump administration is trying to push through sweeping prison and sentencing reforms.Revoking John Brennan's clearance. Soon after President Trump personally revoked former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance, he made it known that he was considering the same action against others who have been outspoken critics of him or who paved the way for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation by using the unverified "Steele dossier" to fuel suspicion of Mr. Trump's presidential campaign. Mr. Trump's action cancelling Mr. Brennan's clearance may be the first time a president took such action personally.The Hill Stoops to New Low to Attack Trump: "Eradicate the Trump Plague". President Trump has done more for the American worker than any president in recent history. President Trump has lifted the US economy more than any president in recent history. President Trump's foreign policy has been a tremendous success. But the left hates Trump and his voters. So now they are openly calling for for voters to "eradicate of the Trump plague."Trumponomics Makes 401(k) Millionaires Like The Swiss Make Chocolates. It was a little report, one you might easily have missed, from the people at Fidelity Investments: The number of people with more than a million dollars in their 401(k) is soaring.U.S. Steel to Invest $750M at Indiana Plant Thanks to Trump Tariffs. U.S. Steel has announced that they will invest $750 million at their 110-year-old steel manufacturing plant known as Gary Works in Gary, Indiana, crediting President Trump's protective tariffs on steel imports. What was once the largest steel mill in the world will now get a $750 million facelift thanks to Trump's 25 percent tariff on all imported steel into the United States, designed to protect American industries and jobs from being outsourced.Black Trump supporters aren't Republicans. Some conservatives are buoyed by an uptick in approval of President Trump among black voters. Rasmussen said it doubled in the past year to 36%. Given that black voters supply one-fourth of the Democratic Party votes, that is not insignificant. This is the result of two things.[#1] Obama failed to deliver jobs to his black constituency.[#2] President Trump has.Another Trump Miracle: President Brings Hope and Investment Back to Gary, Indiana — A Democrat Dead Zone. Already President Trump's approval ratings have nearly doubled with black Americans. The black unemployment rate reached a new low under President Trump. America's businesses and manufacturers have reached new levels of optimism. And now this...U.S. Steel to invest $750 million to revitalize flagship Gary plant in wake of Trump tariffs. U.S. Steel announced Thursday [8/16/2018] that it is investing $750 million to revitalize its flagship Gary plant to gear up for increased demand in the wake of President Donald Trump's tariffs on imported steel. The company said the investment will make "significant upgrades" to increase efficiencies at the 110-year-old Northwest Indiana plant, which is U.S. Steel's largest, employing 3,800 workers.Trump revokes ex-CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance. President Trump has revoked the security clearance for former CIA Director John Brennan, the White House announced Wednesday, in the first decision to come from a review of access for several top Obama-era intelligence and law enforcement officials. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders read a statement on behalf of the president during the start of the press briefing, saying Brennan "has a history that calls his credibility into question." The statement also claimed Brennan had been "leveraging" the clearance to make "wild outbursts" and claims against the Trump administration in the media.Joe diGenova: "A Glorious Day for America. An Evil Man Has Lost Something He's Not Entitled To". Former US Attorney from the District of Columbia Joe diGenova joined Lou Dobbs on Wednesday night following the news that former CIA Chief John Brennan had his security clearance revoked. For months crazy John Brennan attacked the sitting US president. On Wednesday [8/15/2018], Sarah Sanders announced President Trump revoked ex-CIA Chief John Brennan's security clearance during a press briefing.Surprising support for Trump yanking Brennan's security clearance. This may be a sign that the tide is turning and the cabal that conspired to fix the 2016 presidential election and then, when that failed, remove Trump from office is going to be exposed and ultimately held to account. As the Democrats and their media enablers bloviate about John Brennan's imaginary First Amendment right to a perpetual security clearance, a statement of support for the president came from an unexpected source yesterday [8/16/2018].Trump Approval Ratings with Black Voters Soars to New All-Time High at 36%. In the last ten presidential election cycles the highest black vote share for a Republican was 12% for Bob Dole in 1996. If Donald Trump captured 25 percent of the African American vote he would win the 2020 election in a landslide. If Republicans were to peel off even 25% of black voters from the Democrat Party — Democrats would be the minority party for decades.Either Trump is delivering on his economic promises, or he's very lucky. Is President Trump fulfilling candidate Trump's promises? You can make a case that he is, based on some surprising and widely unexpected economic developments. Vice President Mike Pence, writing in the Des Moines Register, put it succinctly: "The evidence is clear: America is back." He adds, "It's not an accident." Pence and other Trump enthusiasts can point to increasing macroeconomic growth. GDP growth ran at a hot annualized 4.1 percent in the second quarter, and for the year it's up more than 3 percent. Unemployment was down to 3.9 percent in July. The S&P 500 stock index is up 6 percent during the Trump presidency while the rest of the world's stock markets are down 6 percent. These are numbers any recent administration would boast about.July Retail Sales Rock, Productivity Soars Above Expectations, Manufacturing Businesses Booming. Buoyant consumer sentiment boosted retail sales more than expected in July, while bigger than expected productivity gains point toward lower inflation and possible wage gains. Retail sales, which are the total receipts at stores that sell merchandise and related services to final consumers, rose 0.5 percent in July, according to data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday. Economists had expected sales to rise by just 0.1 percent. The sales numbers were so strong that they exceeded the top range of expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Outside of auto and gas sales, retail sales grew an even stronger 0.6 percent.US reaps more than $1.4 billion from steel and aluminum tariffs, report finds. In less than five months, the Trump administration has collected more than $1.4 billion in new revenue from steel and aluminum tariffs, according to a recent report prepared for members of Congress. The Congressional Research Service estimated that, between March 23 and July 16, the U.S. reaped $1.1 billion and $344.2 million from levies on foreign steel and aluminum, respectively.After 19 Months Of Trump, Small Businesses The Most Optimistic In 15 Years. Small business owners across the United States are the most optimistic they've been in the last 15 years. The latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, which assesses small business owner attitudes on a wide variety of subjects, showed the index at +118, higher than at any time since a +114 index in 2006.A Winning President is Better Than a Presidential President. [Donald Trump] came to office with a certain outsized, garish, New York persona, which set him up perfectly to send outrageous tweets, be politically incorrect, and drive liberals into a frenzy. He plays them like a fiddle in some respects, but he also has to be willing to get down and dirty. He stays close to the edge and slips sometimes. This is necessary. His reputation is important, to be sure; but Trump is making a strategic gamble with it. He knows that, unlike him, the media has only its reputation. It has nothing else to fall back on. No one can make people watch a news program or buy a newspaper or read a blog. When Trump is done, and a plurality of Americans clearly see the conventional media as phony liars, they are dead.Liberals Go Ballistic As Trump-Supported Candidates Rack Up Wins During Last Night's Elections. President Trump remains the single most powerful force in American politics today and last night's election results further confirmed that fact as Trump-supported candidates racked up wins across the nation despite millions of dollars pouring in to defeat them.Blacks' approval of Trump reaches a high of 21% and NAACP charges 'racism'. President Trump continues to show improvement among African-Americans, but the NAACP Tuesday called him a racist. In fact, in a new poll released by the group today, Trump's approval rating among blacks has reached 21 percent, more than double what it was in an April Reuters poll. But in its analysis, the NAACP slammed Trump and even went as far as claiming that Trump is setting race relations back, a charge that echoes recent media criticism of the president for slamming hoops star LeBron James.Under Trump, Republicans begin measuring welfare's success by how many people get off it. Like so much of Republican orthodoxy, President Ronald Reagan developed the conservative doctrine on welfare long ago. "We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare," he said while still California governor in 1968, "not by how many are added." Republicans can celebrate meeting that standard. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 3 million have stopped taking food stamps since President Trump's inauguration. Not only is that a drop from 42,134,301 in February 2017 to 39,329,356 in May of 2018, it's an overall drop of more than 8 million people since the program reached its peak under former President Barack Obama.Trump Frees Obamacare Captives, Dems Sue. Two important events happened last week in the interminable Obamacare saga that explain why the Democrats seek comprehensive control of our medical delivery system and why this project must be thwarted: The Trump administration altered an Obama-era regulation designed to trap individuals in the "marketplaces" created by the "Affordable Care Act." The amended rule will provide individuals access to low-cost health coverage, greater benefit flexibility, and the opportunity to escape Obamacare. Not coincidentally, on the very day the new rule became effective, the Trump administration was sued by four Democrat-controlled cities for "sabotaging" the health care law. These two events tell you all you need to know about how the President's health care vision differs from that of the Democrats.Watch Hispanic And Black Faith Leaders Thank Trump One-By-One For 'Empowering' Them. This week, President Trump hosted urban pastors at the White House for a roundtable on religion. No networks covered the event, but the White House posted footage of the remarks on youtube afterward. Trump opened up the meeting by saying "Throughout our history, America's churches and religious leaders have called for change and have inspired us to care for and bring hope back to those in need." Trump then opened the floor to the mostly black or Hispanic pastors. The pastors praised Trump as a "friend" who has "empowered" Christians in the White House. Pastor Darrell Scott, longtime member of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, called Trump "the most pro-black President that we've had in our lifetime."Unemployment Near Lowest Level in 50 Years — Hourly Earnings Up 2.7%. The unemployment rate continued to drop in July to around its lowest level in 50 years. Wages continue to rise under President Trump.Black Pastor: Trump 'Probably Going to Be... Most Pro-Black President That We've Had in Our Lifetime'. Donald Trump will probably be "the most pro-black president we've had in our lifetime," Pastor Darrell Scott said during a White House meeting with inner city pastors Trump held on Wednesday [8/1/2018]. Scott said Trump "actually wants to prove something" to the black community while former President Barack Obama "didn't feel like he had to."GDP boom: It sure looks like Trumponomics is doing what Obamanomics couldn't. Already, the Trump boom has the unemployment rate at historic lows, including for blacks and Hispanics. And the tight labor markets are pushing up wages and pulling people who'd given up hope back into the workforce, two enormously positive developments. As for keeping it up: Critics claim these GDP numbers are just a temporary jolt from last year's tax cuts, but in fact the cuts should bring a sustained growth in business investment on the order of 10 percent — and that means sustained, broad expansion.Battleground Poll: Only 11% of Trump Voters Trust #FakeNews Mainstream Media. At least 90% of mainstream broadcast coverage of President Trump since the November 2016 election has been negative. This is despite the record low unemployment, a 30% surge in the stock market, a 4.1% GDP, peace talks with North Korea, the defeat of the Islamic State, trade agreements with the European Union, etc. Trump supporters have learned to tune out the fake news mainstream media.Good News, Comrades: There's Bad News Coming! To working Americans, national prosperity is a positive development; consequently, they welcome it. Not so the Left, when the prosperity is the result of a Republican administration. Why? Because as noted in previous columns, the Democrats' hoped for a midterm election "blue wave" won't trump the "green wave" of economic prosperity. Why return to power a party that, the last time they were in power, told you the "new normal" is your jobs are gone and economic growth will forever be weak?Five Reasons Why Trump Is the 'Jobs President'. [#1] Unemployment is at a record low. The unemployment rate of Americans hit 3.8 percent in May, a record low. The unemployment rate of Latinos is at an all-time low. Women's unemployment hit a 65-year low in May and African-American unemployment rates hit an all-time low at the same time. [#2] A record number of Americans are working full-time. Nearly 130 million Americans now have full-time jobs. This is six million more than the record set under President Obama. [#3] The number of jobs available is at a record high. We've been seeing record-high job openings, ranging from 6.6 to 6.8 million between March and May.American prosperity of Trump era marks real turning point in history. Gross domestic product, or GDP, is the measure of choice when assessing the health of any economy, especially in the United States. GDP, which is measured at annual rates, includes the value of production of all goods and services produced in a country. In the one year since President Trump took office, the first quarter of 2017 through the first quarter of 2018, real GDP grew at a 2.55 percent annual rate. This is higher than the growth for six of the eight years President Obama was in office, or even five of the eight years when President George W. Bush was in office.Economy grew at 4.1 rate in second quarter, best in nearly four years. The economy grew at a 4.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday [7/27/2018], the best such growth rate in nearly four years. Strong consumer spending and a surge in exports helped drive up growth, as measured in gross domestic product and adjusted for inflation. Friday's [7/27/2018] report was one of the most anticipated in years, thanks to forecasters' projections for a growth rate of 4.2 percent. It fell just short of those expectations, but nevertheless easily beat the 2.2 percent growth rate of the previous quarter.Trump's Deal with the EU Is Democrat Nightmare. Forget porn stars. Forget tapes. Forget evil Vlad and Rocket Man. Forget insulting our NATO partners (whatever that means). Forget that pseudo-socialist with the hyphenated name. Forget Mueller, sleazy Strzok , Adam "Leaker" Schiff, Fingers Clapper, Knuckles Brennan, Rocko Rosenstein, or any of the sordid crew. Forget even Twitter! (well, maybe). By comparison, those are all sideshows. As everyone knows, in politics, "It's the economy, stupid!" Or, put another way, "It's the art of the deal." And that's what came through today and then some. This is the most significant moment of Trump's presidency since the tax law passed — and he's had plenty, more than any president of any of our lifetimes if you actually think about it. Boom went the stock market within seconds of the announcement. And those investors know a lot more than Jim Acosta, Chris Matthews, or even Jake Tapper.AG Sessions Deports Obama's 'Undocumented Immigrant' Code. The incorrect and deceptive "undocumented immigrant" term is being deported to nowheresville by the Department of Justice, which henceforth will refer to unapproved migrants as "illegal aliens." The misleading "undocumented" term was favored by President Barack Obama's pro-migration deputies, but President Donald Trump's agency officials instead will use the term set by federal law — "illegal alien."Justice Dept. reportedly tells attorneys 'illegal alien' is correct term, not 'undocumented'. No more "undocumented" immigrants, just "illegal aliens." CNN reported Tuesday evening that the Justice Department has told its attorneys that the term "undocumented" is inaccurate according to U.S. immigration law and that they should start using the legally correct term. "Illegal alien" is the accurate term used in the U.S. Code, the email reportedly says.Just How Far Will the Left Go? The economy is growing at rates that we have not seen in over a decade. Unemployment, especially minority joblessness, is at a historic low. Even The stock market is at record highs. The United States is now the world's largest producer of oil, natural gas, and coal. Consumer and business confidence is at a near all-time high. NATO is re-calibrating its military contributions to increase defense spending. North Korea has stopped talking about nuking ourWest Coast. The Iranian theocracy is panicking after the end of the Iran Deal. There have not been any incidents this year of Iranian hazing of U.S. ships. China is scrambling to find ways to readjust its lopsided trade surpluses induced by commercial cheating and dumping. Never has a Republican president appointed and had confirmed more conservative and stellar judges. The National Security team of Pompeo, Bolton, Mattis, and Haley is perhaps the most skilled since World War II. Why then the hate, the furor, the sheer mania?Trump, Russia, and Manufactured Hysteria. [Scroll down] If one takes a step back and tries to consider how the press conference between Trump and Putin should have gone, given that the decision was already made to meet and the goal was to build relationships, then Trump performed well. What else was Trump supposed to do? Perhaps he might have answered in a more polished way, but substantively, what should have been different? I cannot divine, nor have I seen anyone else offer, another option that doesn't seem manifestly worse.Trump had a good week. My next book really will be "The Best 8 Years of Our Lives." So far, that is all I have written. I will get around to writing the book sometime in 2025. Right now, I am savoring each moment, and watching the grand restoration of the United States of America take place.Trump Has Been Set Up, Framed And Relentlessly Persecuted By The American Intelligence Community. Power is the only thing leftists worship, and they are unraveling in front of our eyes without it. They can't control Mr. Trump. That alone drives them insane. [...] Each of the president's remarkable accomplishments — from unprecedented high employment, our booming economy and the tax cuts to his historic summit with Kim Jong-un — highlights their abject failures and serves to prick their narcissistic egos. The country is doing better without them every day. Even worse, they are desperate to keep their countless crimes and abuses covered up.Helsinki Is One of Trump's Finest Moments. [President Trump made] an issue of Antifa, who had been running around for the better part of a year acting as the organized left's Brownshirts. Antifa had not just been targeting the alt-right. Antifa had been targeting mainstream, everyday conservatives and Trump supporters. And because the establishment media also advocates in favor of violence against the right, Antifa was able to terrorize us with impunity thanks to a media that deliberately ignored, downplayed, justified, glorified, or romanticized their reign of terror.National Guard deployment led to more than 10,000 arrests of illegal immigrants, says CBP. The National Guard's deployment to the southwest border in mid-April has led to 10,805 "deportable alien arrests" of people who illegally entered the United States from Mexico, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said Monday [7/16/2018]. Because guardsmen are military personnel and not law enforcement officers, they cannot apprehend illegal immigrants. But CBP officers and Border Patrol agents apprehended thousands of people that guardsmen helped point out.Ron Paul: 'Trump Won' in Summit with Putin, 'Neocons Aren't Very Happy'. Former Republican congressman and non-interventionist advocate Ron Paul praised President Trump's summit in Helsinki, Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he believes the president "won." In comments after Trump and Putin wrapped up a press conference together, Paul said he was "delighted" to see the two power players speaking while noting that the interventionist wings of the Democratic and Republican parties — commonly referred to as "neoconservatives" — are outraged by the meeting.Trump's Summit with Putin Was a Success the Media Can't Admit. President Donald Trump scored a diplomatic win on Monday [7/16/2018] at his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. The media, the Democrats, and the Never Trump contingent declared immediately that Trump had failed. But they were bitterly prejudiced against the meeting from the start, to the point where many insisted that Trump cancel it. To them, looking at the summit through the lens of "collusion," the summit could only be the ultimate payoff for Putin's election meddling in 2016.Choke On It, Democrats: Unemployment Heading For A 50-Year Low Under Trump. What's that? Unemployment is about to hit a record low. Yes, it is. Ever since President Donald J. Trump signed major tax reform legislation into law, the economy has been booming. Strong job growth, rising wages, and three million jobs created since Trump was sworn into office. There are now more jobs than there are job seekers. Over three million workers from over 250 companies have been given bonus checks averaging $1,000 or more. Guy has a lengthy post detailing the strong retail sales report from June, along with another company, Mack Molding, announcing a $5.4 million expansion that will create another 100 jobs thanks to the tax reform bill. Oh, and hiring in America is at an 11-year high.Critics slam 'embarrassing' Mayor Sadiq Khan for feuding with Trump while London faces rising crime, knife deaths. London Mayor Sadiq Khan slammed President Trump's criticism of him as "preposterous" after allowing a giant Trump balloon at anti-Trump protests in London, but critics question whether the mayor should be devoting his energy to tackling crime rather than "embarrassing" the city in front of the whole world. Trump reignited the feud with Khan in an interview with The Sun newspaper, saying the Mayor of London "has done a terrible job" when it comes to terrorism and crime. "I think he has done a bad job on crime, if you look, all of the horrible things going on there, with all of the crime that is being brought in," he said. Khan called the comments "preposterous" on the BBC's Today program on Friday [7/13/2018], claiming that violent crime has risen across the country and London has been forced to tackle the issue with a smaller police budget.Also posted under hijrah.Trump touts poll that found six in 10 Hispanics say they're financially better off now that he's in charge. President Donald Trump is bragging Hispanics are better off under him than they were under President Barack Obama although the poll he referred to had a few caveats. The president touted a Monday [7/9/2018] poll from Emerson College that indicated Hispanics are better off under the his presidency but the minority voting bloc was only referring to their finances. 'A recent Emerson College ePoll said that most Americans, especially Hispanics, feel that they are better off under President Trump than they were under President Obama,' he wrote on Twitter Tuesday afternoon [7/10/2018].Bad news for Dems: Trump tax cuts have led to increased tax revenue. Democrats developed a sudden new concern with the size of budget deficits — something that failed to trouble them as Barack Obama doubled the national debt in just eight years — when President Trump's tax cuts were first proposed. Nancy Pelosi assured us, "[T]his thing will explode the deficit." And the Congressional Budget Office, sticking to obviously incorrect static model thinking — i.e., that people don't change their behavior when tax rates change — produced an estimate that the deficit would rise from $665 billion to $804 billion.Trump admin kicking unions out of free govt. office spaces: Pay rent or get out. While organized labor had a friend in former President Barack Obama, who stacked the National Labor Relations Board with career union labor lawyers, unions are now having a harder go at it under the Trump administration. In fact, unions accustomed to be provided free government office space to conduct their business are finding themselves with an option of either paying rent or being kicked to the curb.Colorblind Jobs Boom Under Trump Continues. President Trump is nowhere near as unpopular among minority voters as the biased mainstream media suggest. [...] Trump, it turns out, has been the most consequential president in history when it comes to minority employment. In June, for instance, the unemployment rate for Hispanics and Latinos 16 years and older fell to 4.6%, its lowest level ever, from 4.9% in May. The previous all-time low was 4.8%. African-American unemployment bounced up from its all-time low of 5.9% in May to 6.5% in June. But that 6.5% still represents the second-lowest unemployment reading ever for Black Americans.Exports hit a record high under Trump. I didn't make a big deal about the economy gaining a net 213,000 jobs in June because this is now the usual. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 delivered within days. After 8 years, we still await Obama's health bomb to deliver those $2,500 reductions in premiums like he promised. Having made America profitable again (MAPA) by dropping the corporate tax rate 40% — it is now at the European average — President Trump pivoted to trade, and the news is good. Exports hit a record $215.3 billion in May. USA Inc. is now on pace to have revenues of $2.5 trillion this year.Say Hello to Full Employment. This morning [7/6/2018], the Labor Department announced that the national unemployment rate ticked up to 4 percent in June for good reasons, as hundreds of thousands more Americans sought work. For the first time in recorded history, the number of job openings is higher than the number of people looking for a job.Iran has completely stopped harassing US ships now that strong Trump replaced weakling Obama. For all the concessions President Obama offered Iran for his "nuclear deal" — $150 billion, for instance — Iran treated the U.S. with contempt, harassing and even taking into custody U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf. The adage that weakness is provocative was proven true.Strangling Iran. After [President Trump] exited the 2015 Obama-Iran deal in May he has taken a hard line by re-imposing economic sanctions on Tehran which are proving effective in weakening Iran's economy and the ayatollahs' regime. Most importantly, for the first time since 2009, large violent protests against the regime are occurring in many of Iran's big cities, including Tehran.About that June jobs report: A surprising record in there. A couple of additions to the predictably comprehensive monthly jobs report by our colleague Ed Morrissey. As he reported here, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said June jobs grew by an unexpectedly large 213,000. Market and workforce experts had been predicting just under 200,000. That's all good. That put the number of employed Americans at 155,576,000, the tenth record month in the 17-month-old Trump presidency.Jobs report could signal a 'stampede' back into the workforce. The better-than-expected June jobs report, which saw the addition of 213,000 new positions to the U.S. economy and an increased labor force participation rate, is evidence of an economy that's returning to work, according to the Council of Economic Advisers chairman. "What we want to do is reconnect people who were discouraged by the bad economy that President Trump inherited, and we want to bring them back into society and get them back to work," Kevin Hassett said during a FOX Business interview with Charles Payne on Friday. "It's clear that this is the real message of work, almost the stampede back into the labor department."Nancy Pelosi Trashes June Jobs Report, Warns of 'Brewing Storm' of Wealth and Opportunity. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) trashed the June jobs report — even though it showed rapid job growth, rising wages, and low unemployment. The report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that employers created 213,000 new jobs in June — 22,000 more than economists had expected. Manufacturing jobs in particular rose by 36,000. The unemployment rate rose slightly, from 3.8% to 4.0% — but that was partly because so many people are entering (or re-entering) the labor force.North Korea's official media drop their hostility toward Trump and the US. North Korean propaganda, chronically showing heroic North Koreans crushing imperialist powers like the United States, has taken a dramatic turn toward moderation in recent weeks. Driven by the Kim Jung-un regime's open meetings with Presidents Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in of South Korea, the ubiquitous posters festooning public squares, shops and elsewhere now deal with economic progress and hailing improved relations with South Korea. Party newspapers show similar shifts.As Trump Builds, the Resistance Shouts 'Destroy!' The major premise of "The Resistance" is that Donald Trump is uniquely awful and that his unprecedented awfulness justifies an unprecedented reaction. "What Trump is doing to this country," the subhead to this article says, "is unprecedented — and it demands full-time citizen action to show the world that we who dissent are the majority." The problem (well, one problem) with this argument is that Donald Trump's is by no means "unprecedented" or even unusual. Granted, his rhetoric can be inflammatory (and, for some of us, extremely amusing). But his actions are methodical, thoughtful, and (what's more) effective. His first seventeen months in office have been nothing less than extraordinary in their litany of successes. Superb judicial appointments, welcome tax and regulatory reform, economic growth, consumer confidence, military preparedness, and that difficult-to-measure but still palpable quality of national morale: all on the upswing. These are good things, not bad things.Even before tomorrow's jobs report, Americans feel good about getting a good one. The new jobs report for June comes out Friday [7/6/2018]. If it's anything like the May report — 223,000 new jobs and a reduced unemployment rate of 3.8 percent — it will be good news for the economy, workers and the stock market, showing signs of a strongly growing economy. Economists predict the June numbers should come in just under 200,000 new jobs.Trump Approval Jumps As Attacks From Critics Backfire. Increasingly bitter and aggressive attacks on President Trump managed to bolster his approval rating, which climbed 5 points to reach the second highest level of his presidency, the latest IBD/TIPP Poll finds.Sessions Announces Charges For 601 People In Largest Health Care Fraud Bust In History. Federal officials are charging 601 people, including more than 100 medical workers, for fueling opioid addiction in the largest bust of health care fraud in U.S. history. The Department of Justice revealed the charges Thursday [6/28/2018], which were brought as part of an annual effort to dismantle schemes across the country involved in scamming health care programs. The takedown included the arrest of 76 doctors, 23 pharmacists, 19 nurses and several hundred others involved in prescribing and distributing massive quantities of opioid medications, resulting in more than $2 billion in fraudulent costs to federal health care programs and insurers, "reports NBC News.Is Trump the Most Fun President Ever? If you've been fed up with the left's hijacking of America, he certainly is fun — because bit by bit he's dismantling their power, supply train, and prestige. The shaky premises upon which they've controlled life in America for some time is being exposed and overturned.Sessions' reversals on four Obama positions validated by Supreme Court. It seems the Trump administration knows the law better than the Obama administration. The Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed positions of the Obama administration in four cases decided by the Supreme Court this year — and won all four of them. They included constitutional technicalities, such as whether a certain set of appointments needed Senate confirmation, and politically charged cases over cutting names from voter lists and labor unions charging dues to unwilling workers. "In four cases, after careful review, we changed the department's position in order to follow the law," Mr. Sessions said Wednesday as the court closed out its term. "The favorable Supreme Court decisions in all four cases reflect that we took the proper course of action. The decisions speak for themselves."American money [is] flowing back into America. Despite President Trump's tit-for-tat trade barbs, America's CEOs are not wasting anytime in taking advantage of his tax reform plan. Over $300 billion was repatriated to the U.S. in the first quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) — the most on record.Supreme Court upholds Trump travel ban on some Muslim-majority nations. The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Trump's controversial travel ban affecting several mostly Muslim countries, offering a limited endorsement of the president's executive authority on immigration in one of the hardest-fought battles of this term. The 5-4 ruling marks the first major high court decision on a Trump administration policy. It upholds the selective travel restrictions, which critics called a discriminatory "Muslim ban" but the administration argued was needed for security reasons.Six Months After Tax Reform, Manufacturers Report Record High Business Optimism. Manufacturers have reported record high levels of positive economic outlook as a result of the GOP tax cuts. This good news comes from data collected by The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in their 2018 Second Quarter Manufacturers' Outlook Survey. Due to the improved economic conditions that tax reform created, 95.1 percent of manufacturers reported a positive outlook for their companies and the economy, the highest percentage in 20 years.Trump prepares to pull a rabbit out of his hat. You know President Trump's visit to Duluth this week was important because CNN and MSNBC failed to cover the event live. Trump is about to do to 2018 what he did to 2016. [...] Howard Root attended the Duluth rally. "At least 25 percent of the audience was under the age of 30, and around 40 percent were women. The senior citizen percentage was less than 10 percent — the lowest I've ever seen at a Republican event. Other than the hundred or so party leaders, this was a vastly different crowd from the Minnesota Republican Convention that I attended in Duluth three weeks ago. None of the attendees I spoke with in the concession line at the rally were politically active (other than voting) and none were born-and-bred Republicans," Root wrote.U.S. withdraws from farcical U.N. Human Rights Council. Today [6/19/2018], the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the cesspool known as the United Nations Human Rights Council. It did so in protest of the presence of notorious human rights abusers on the commission, as well as the commission's blatant bias against Israel. Nikki Haley, our splendid U.N. ambassador, issued a blistering critique of the Council, explaining that it has become a "protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias." She cited the admission of Congo as a member even as mass graves were being discovered there. She also noted the failure to address human rights abuses in Venezuela and Iran. Haley and Secretary of State Pompeo are to be congratulated for this move.US withdraws from UN Human Rights Council as Haley decries 'cesspool of political bias'. The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council, with U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley calling the 47-member council "a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias." Haley noted the move came after a year where "we did not see any progress." Haley threatened the pullout last year, citing longstanding U.S. complaints that the council showed a "chronic bias" against Israel. Calling it "an organization that is not worthy of its name," Haley decried the membership of countries like China, Cuba and Venezuela — which also have been slammed for human-rights violations.Anyone Notice That Trump Is Now Tied With 'Popular' Obama On Job Approval? President Trump can't get a break from negative press coverage, but somehow his approval rating continues to edge upward. In fact, it's now tied with where the "extremely popular" President Obama was at this point in his first term.Satisfaction With Direction Of U.S. Hits 12-Year High — Only Democrats [are] Not Happy. When asked if people are satisfied with the direction of the country, it only registered a mere 38 percent. The silver lining is that this is the highest mark in over a decade. Gallup noted the 12-year high is due to the deluge of good economic news and reaching historic lows in unemployment. The second quarter growth is projected to be between 3.6 and 4.8 percent. A supermajority of Republicans and a healthy slice of Independents are satisfied with how the country is going. Only Democrats remain insufferable and nauseatingly petulant over the economic boom their guy Obama could never have managed to pull off.Trampling Out the Vintage Where the Sour Grapes Are Stored. By any reasonable account, the historic meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, resulting in an agreement pledging to work toward a stable and enduring peace (over six decades after the Korean armistice was signed at Panmunjom) was an incredible achievement. In fact, had Obama or Clinton achieved as much, we would expect a ticker-tape parade down Fifth Avenue.Trump ends EPA harrassment of farmers. American farmers feed the world. We export food. Socialists rule by starvation. (Ukraine, China, North Korea...) And so in the name of preserving wetlands, the bureaucracy is controlling water. Unconstitutionally. The Constitution allows Congress to regulate navigable rivers. By definition, this excludes wetlands. "The controversial Waters of the U.S. rule, implemented in 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency, received another setback when a U.S. District Court in Georgia issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the rule from being implemented in 13 states," Burt Rutherford reported on Wednesday [6/13/2018]. "The Georgia injunction is the second time a federal court has ruled against WOTUS. The first decision came shortly after WOTUS came into effect. A North Dakota court issued an injunction in 2015 that prevented the rule from being implemented in 11 states. With those two court rulings in place, nearly half the country — 24 states — are protected from WOTUS.If Obama had talked to Kim Jong-un, MSM would've swooned. Just hours after President Trump had concluded his historic summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, the consensus from the mainstream media was that the whole event was a big nothingburger. [...] What's more, said the MSM, Mr. Trump had just legitimized Mr. Kim by deigning to meet with him, elevating his status to that of a world leader. [...] But not so very long ago, the media went gaga over another president's declaration that he'd speak with any rogue leader, any time, anywhere on the globe. That's right, then-Sen. Barack Obama, when running for president in 2007, said he'd have no problem meeting with the leaders of Iran or Venezuela or Syria or Cuba — or even North Korea.Terms of surrender. President Trump and Kim Jong Un signed a terse agreement after their historic meeting in Singapore. [...] The American press will get it all wrong. That's what they do.Trump exposes the G-7 summit as a total fraud. You would expect a meeting of the leaders of the most important countries to be concerned about fighting terrorism, reducing taxes and regulations, and reducing trading barriers. That last issue was the one that President Trump focused on, to the dismay of the other attendees who wanted their usual painless photo op where they could virtue signal about women or the environment. But to their surprise President Trump focused on the important things, reducing global trade barriers, even suggesting the total elimination of all tariffs in all G-7 countries. This would greatly spur economic growth, if agreed to. But don't expect the media to focus on that. Rather than honestly reporting that Trump focused on our top international economic priority, access to foreign markets, they will portray Trump as a boor and an unenlightened unenvironmentalist.Media ignore politics of Bill Clinton pardons. President Trump's pardon of conservative author Dinesh D'Souza last week violently triggered Beltway media elites. To The Washington Post editorial board, President Trump's use of the pardon is "another show of disrespect for the justice system." Outspoken D'Souza was the subject of a highly politicized prosecution by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (now an anti-Trump resistance leader) over campaign finance violations totaling $20,000. The WaPo punditocracy grudgingly admits that the president "has constitutional power to do this" and that it is "Mr. Trump's prerogative" to pardon individuals the newspaper considers "unsavory." Yet, the editorialists fulminate that what "is offensive here is not the pardon power, but the use of it" for "arbitrary, political and unjustified" reasons.US Restores Top Ranking As Most Competitive Global Economy, As Democrats Fret. US voters will differ sharply on whether President Trump has 'made America great again,' but the economy over which he's presiding is undeniably on the upswing — with several of his key policies playing essential roles in that comeback. The latest piece of data that fortifies America's renewed economic vigor is a surge in international competitiveness, as measured by a closely-watched annual ranking from a Switzerland-based think tank.Voters Think Young Blacks Doing Better Under Trump Than Obama. Voters feel young black Americans are better off under President Trump than they were under Barack Obama, the nation's first black president. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey shows that 32% of Likely U.S. Voters believe life for young black Americans has gotten better since Trump's election. Slightly more (36%) say life for these Americans has gotten worse, while 26% think it has stayed about the same. But in March 2014, just 16% said life for young black Americans had gotten better since Obama's election five-and-a-half years earlier. By July 2016 in Obama's final year in office, only 13% thought life was better for young blacks. Even black voters are nearly twice as likely (28%) to say young black Americans are better off now than they were in the closing year of Obama's presidency (15%).What's Next for Conservatism: Trump is no pious Christian, but he is proud of his role, synecdochically significant, in making it safe to say "Merry Christmas" again. He has wooed people who cling to their Bibles (and to their guns). And he may be the most antiabortion president we've ever had. Trump prefers America to other countries, a preference reported as scandalous because of his accurate, if ... famously unusual, description of some of those other hell-hole countries. Trump seems naturally federalist — e.g., in wanting to get rid of those "lines around the states" that restrict the health insurance companies from writing policies on people who don't live in their states. He seems instinctively opposed to the superstate: his deregulation efforts have already gotten America moving again, and he's making it easier to fire workers who work for the federal bureaucratic leviathan state.Left comes to grips with Obama's failure. Obama built his legacy on sand. Donald Trump's tsunami presidency wiped it out. The Iran deal is dead. Obama's end run around the Constitution allowed Trump to end it without a congressional vote. The Paris carbon dioxide deal is dead. Trump withdrew, and it looks like the deal collapsed because the goal was to restrict the United States by using a Fake Fear about the weather. Obamacare's mandate is dead. DACA may die as well.Was May's Job Report The Best Ever? You have to look really hard at the May employment data to find anything even remotely resembling bad news about the economy. At some point, maybe the mainstream media will notice something's changed dramatically, and for the better.The May jobs report is great news for everyone — except Democrats running for office. Friday's [6/1/2018] monthly employment report was great news for anyone looking for a job in America — unless you happen to be a Democrat running for Congress. Among the many contentious topics swirling around this year's campaign, none is more important than the perennial issue of employment. Voters who are employed are historically more likely to favor incumbents than those who are out of work. That poses a major challenge for Democrats in 435 House districts and 35 Senate races who are looking to unseat Republican majorities in both chambers.Black unemployment rate hits new record low in May. The unemployment rate for black workers hit new record lows in May, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday [6/1/2018]. Black unemployment fell sharply to 5.9 percent, beating out the 6.6 percent record low that was set a month earlier. The unemployment rate for Hispanic workers hit a record low in April, at 4.8 percent, but it rose slightly to 4.9 percent in May.Trump Has Cut Federal Payroll by 24,000 Jobs. The federal government cut 3,000 jobs in May and federal employment has now dropped by 24,000 since President Donald Trump took office, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even as federal government jobs were declining, overall employment was increasing — as was employment in state and local government. In April, there were 2,789,000 people employed in civilian federal government jobs. In May, that declined to 2,786,000, a drop of 3,000. In December 2016, the month before Trump took office, there were 2,810,000 civilians employed in the federal government. That has now dropped by 24,000 to the current 2,786,000.Gaslighting Themselves: Why Trump Critics Miss the Obvious. In fact, should the economy continue to roar [...], it is entirely possible that Trump's job approval rating could rise to the point where more people approve of him than disapprove by year's end. That is in fact what normal politics would suggest: incumbents usually benefit from peace and prosperity. Yet to even suggest this as a possibility, as I have recently on Twitter, is to invite scorn or disbelief from the anti or never Trump pundits whose views dominate media discourse. The possibility that a plurality, perhaps even a majority, of Americans could come to see Trump as a success is an anathema to this crowd.How Trump is making it easier to say 'You're fired!' to bad federal bureaucrats. President Trump has ordered a crackdown on poor performance and misbehavior within the ranks of the federal workforce, senior administration officials said Friday [5/25/2018]. Mr. Trump signed a trio of executive orders that reform civil service rules by expediting termination for cause, revamping union contracts and limiting taxpayer-funded union work at agencies, said a senior administration official.Trump cracks his whip: Now North Korea wants to talk. The Norks have gotten away with their bullying of other American presidents and diplomats with over-the-top rhetoric and behavior, but Trump is an entirely different animal.35,000 more jobs. Obama hardest hit. Obama lied when he said you can keep your doctor. But on the other hand, Obama also lied when he said those jobs aren't coming back.Trump's Immigration Crackdown Opening Construction Jobs for Women. President Trump's tightened labor market through increased enforcement of immigration is forcing home builders to recruit American women, rather than relying on cheap, illegal alien workers. A new report by MarketWatch reveals how the tightened labor market is securing construction jobs and opportunities for women who would otherwise have been passed on in favor of cheaper foreign laborers.Household Income Hits All-Time High Under Trump ... And He's Getting Credit For It. A new report shows that the median household income has climbed 3% since President Trump took office. It's another sign of a strong economy, and at least one poll shows the public credits Trump for the good news.More than two-thirds of Americans credit the president for the booming economy. More than two-thirds of Americans credit President Donald Trump for the country's healthy economy, a new poll has revealed. The CBS News poll, which was released on Sunday, shows a sharp partisan divide, with Republicans more likely to give the president positive reviews while Democrats and Independents are not as complimentary. According to the survey, 35 percent of Americans say Trump's policies are 'a great deal' responsible for the economy. Around the same number — 33 percent — say the president's policies are 'somewhat' responsible.Trump Is Going Full Alinsky, and His Opponents Are Flummoxed. President Trump is reaping the results this month of his foreign policy initiatives. He blew up Obama's sketchy Iran deal. The U.S. embassy opened in Jerusalem, fulfilling a promise made, but never kept, by a slew of recent U.S. presidents. Trump is hopefully sitting down with North Korea's Kim Jung-un after Kim pledged to scrap his nuke program, despite media reports of last-minute attempts by Kim to scuttle the talks. Trump is keeping and following through on promises his predecessors have made but tossed aside due to lack of resolve or political expediency.Under Trump Era, Islamic State Downgraded from 'Caliphate' to Shrinking Terror Pockets. The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has suffered devastating losses in Iraq and Syria under U.S. President Donald Trump that have decimated the group's territorial caliphate, ultimately squeezing the jihadists into ever-shrinking pockets of land in Syria. U.S. Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, Pentagon spokesman, told Breitbart News that ISIS has been reduced to a "small" presence in Syria, [...]Pentagon revised Obama-era report to remove risks from climate change. Internal changes to a draft Defense Department report de-emphasized the threats climate change poses to military bases and installations, muting or removing references to climate-driven changes in the Arctic and potential risks from rising seas, an unpublished draft obtained by The Washington Post reveals. The earlier version of the document, dated December 2016, contains numerous references to "climate change" that were omitted or altered to "extreme weather" or simply "climate" in the final report, which was submitted to Congress in January 2018. While the phrase "climate change" appears 23 separate times in the draft report, the final version used it just once.Legacy of ashes: Obama's fading accomplishments. Lacking Senate votes to ratify a treaty with Iran, Obama instead made a personal promise to honor the Iran deal. Last week, President Trump reversed that decision. Obama long claimed he lacked authority to provide amnesty to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Then he did it anyway. The so-called Dreamers remain in political limbo, relying on the federal government to continue to ignore the law. Obama signed the U.S. up for a climate change plan that won't do anything to slow climate change. Trump took us out of it. Blocked by Congress, Obama passed his Clean Power Plan by executive order and net neutrality through the FCC. What he did with "a phone and a pen," Trump is undoing.Congress' Omnibus Bill Ended Funding for NASA's Carbon Monitoring System. Science magazine reported this week that funding for NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), which costs $10-million a year and is designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions, was not included in the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in March, which in effect kills the program.Sen. James Inhofe: What Trump Is Doing 'Is Nothing Short of a Miracle'. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told host Fox Business host Dagen McDowell on Thursday [5/10/2018] that President Donald Trump's handling of North Korea "is nothing short of a miracle." Inhofe pointed to the president's handling of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un as the catalyst that made the North Korean leader change his tune on participating in the Winter Olympics, seeking a meeting with Trump, denuclearization, and releasing the three American detainees.2.2 Million Fewer People on Food Stamps Under Donald Trump. More than 2.2 million people have discontinued their participation in food stamps during President Trump's first full year in office, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data on food stamp enrollment. The latest USDA data shows that since Trump's first full month in office in February 2017 — when food stamp enrollment was at 42,289,366 — participation in the program decreased by 2,257,235 to 40,032,131. The continued decline in enrollment during Trump's first full year is on pace with the steady decline in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation since 2013.Donald Trump vs. Barack Obama: Veni, vidi, vici. For eight years, the sane-minded of America suffered under a socialist-minded Barack Obama who scoffed law, mocked the Constitution and destroyed all that mattered on pretty near all matters tied to virtue, tradition, humble service and competent leadership. Now Donald Trump has come and with just over a year of leadership, has steadily and surely begun to repair what Obama broke. He's dismantling the previous administration's dismantling, so to speak. Veni, vidi, vici. He's come, he's seen and he's definitely, most definitely in the very throes of conquering.Top Four Obama Policies Trump Has Reversed. Fulfilling a campaign promise, earlier this week Donald Trump officially withdrew the United States from the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, calling it "one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into." For critics of the deal who recognized its flaws and did not turn a blind eye to evidence Iran was violating the terms of the agreement, this was welcome news a long time coming.Obama, Erased. Both before the election and after, I predicted Donald Trump would make Obama disappear. I predicted he'd erase Obama's entire legacy. He'd make our long national Obama nightmare disappear. He'd make the misery of the Obamageddon economy go away. He'd erase Obama like he was never there. In one bold stroke of his pen on Tuesday [5/8/2018], Trump did just that. President Trump nuked the Iran deal.The Wipeout of Obama's Legacy. President Obama's legacy is rapidly vanishing. The decision by President Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran is the biggest blow, but it's only the latest. The elimination of the individual mandate and canceling the yearly bailout of insurance companies have left Obamacare in a precarious condition. Young immigrants whose parents brought them to the United States unlawfully — so-called dreamers — are losing their legal status. This is historic. Presidents often vow to wipe out big chunks of their predecessor's legacies. President Eisenhower was going to take on the New Deal. Ronald Reagan targeted the Great Society. Both backed down. Trump, working with congressional Republicans, hasn't. He's eager to deflate Obama's standing and inflate his own.The Obama Legacy Deserves To Be Destroyed. When Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Iran deal, he could do so without much difficulty because the agreement hinged on presidential fiat rather than national consensus. But Obama's appeasement of Iran was only one in a string of unilateral norm-busting projects that deserve to be dismantled.Trump Dumps Iran Deal — Hallelujah! President Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is the greatest boost for American and global security in decades. If you think that is an exaggeration, then you evidently think the Obama administration's injection of well over a hundred billion dollars — some of it in the form of cash bribes — into the coffers of the world's leading state sponsor of anti-American terrorism was either trivial or, more delusionally, a master-stroke of statecraft. Of course, there's a lot of delusion going around. After repeatedly vowing to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons (with signature "If you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance" candor), President Obama, and his trusty factotum John Kerry, made an agreement that guaranteed Iran would obtain a nuclear weapon.Job openings hit record high of 6.6 million. Job openings hit a fresh record in March, further defying opinion that the labor market is tightening and near full. The level hit 6.6 million, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday [5/8/2018]. Even though JOLTS figures lag a month, they are closely watched for signs of market slack. Job openings in total rose by 472,000 over February.Trump shredding Obama's failed deal is just the beginning of winning in Iran. The fate of Obama's JCPOA Iran deal was clear when Donald J. Trump became America's 45th president. The new commander-in-chief inherently knew that President Obama's so-called "legacy "deal actually facilitated our enemies in Tehran, as it released more than $140 billion to the mullahs, had no effect on Iranian ballistic missile capability, created a risible inspection regime, and included a sunset clause which meant that nuclear weapons acquisition by Iran was simply delayed, not in fact prevented.Trump Withdraws U.S. From 'One-Sided' Iran Nuclear Deal. President Trump declared on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, unraveling the signature foreign policy achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama, isolating the United States from its Western allies and sowing uncertainty before a risky nuclear negotiation with North Korea. The decision, while long anticipated and widely telegraphed, leaves the 2015 agreement reached by seven countries after more than two years of grueling negotiations in tatters. The United States will now reimpose the stringent sanctions it imposed on Iran before the deal and is considering new penalties.Trump winning over Democrats with his handling of key issues, CNN poll finds. President Trump's popularity isn't all about the base. In a new CNN poll released Monday, his approval ratings are being buoyed by great optimism about the state of the nation, by his handling of issues, and by improving numbers among Democrats.April was best month in history for U.S. budget, according to CBO figures. The federal government took in a record tax haul in April en route to its biggest-ever monthly budget surplus, the Congressional Budget Office said, as a surging economy left Americans with more money in their paychecks — and this more to pay to Uncle Sam. All told the government collected $515 billion and spent $297 billion, for a total monthly surplus of $218 billion. That swamped the previous monthly record of $190 billion, set in 2001. CBO analysts were surprised by the surplus, which was some $40 billion more than they'd guessed at less than a month ago.Liberalism Must Be Destroyed. The economic news was all good this week, though you'd barely know it if you watched cable news. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent, which means nearly everyone who wants a job can find a job. Black and Hispanic unemployment are at the lowest rates ever recorded. Turns out all those liberal predictions of doom and gloom if Donald Trump were elected president were not only wrong, they were lies. Same goes for the predictions that tax cuts would bring about pain and suffering. So where's the accountability for those politicians, pundits, and journalists who fanned the flames of panic in trying to defeat both? There isn't any. Liberals can lie without fear of accountability because the people who'd hold them accountable — journalists — are on their side.Quality Of Life Index Hits 14-Year High Under Trump: IBD/TIPP Poll. The May IBD/TIPP poll finds that the public is increasingly happy with the direction of the country, as well as with their own quality of life and financial stress levels. They also give Trump higher marks on leadership and on his handling of the economy. Forty-six percent now say they're satisfied with the direction of the country, a three-point gain over April and the highest since Trump's first full month in office.The 3.9% Unemployment Rate Doesn't Mean A Tight Labor Market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the economy added 164,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment level dropped to 3.9%. It was 4.8% when President Trump took office. Since Trump took office, the economy has added a total of 2.7 million jobs, and since his tax cuts took effect we've seen an average 200,000 new jobs each month. Initial jobless claims are at decades long lows as well. That's unquestionably good news. The report also finds, however, that wages rose slightly less than expected in April — with hourly earnings climbing at a 2.6% annualized rate.Spike in Support for Trump Causes Pollster to Reject [His] Own Poll. A poll shows that President Donald Trump's approval rating has spiked since April 27 — prompting the Reuters/Ipsos polling team to quarantine their data. "Every series of polls has the occasional outlier and in our opinion this is one," the pollster announced. "So, while we are reporting the findings in the interest of transparency, we will not be announcing the start of a new trend until we have more data to validate this pattern."Valerie Jarrett: We should also give Obama credit for low unemployment. Former President Barack Obama's top adviser Valerie Jarrett dodged on giving President Trump credit for the lowest unemployment rate in almost two decades. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday [5/4/2018] that the U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April, pushing the unemployment rate down to 3.9 percent, the lowest since 2000.Black unemployment rate hit record low in April. The jobless rate for African-Americans reached 6.6 percent, the lowest level on Labor Department records dating to 1972.Unemployment Falls to Lowest Rate Since 2000 Despite Smaller than Expected Jobs Gains in April. The U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April and unemployment ticked down to 3.9 percent, the lowest since before the bursting of the tech bubble at the end of the last century. Economists had forecast nonfarm payrolls to grow by 192,000 and unemployment to tick down from 4.1 percent to 4.0 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. The unemployment rate had been stuck at 4.1 percent for sixth months.'Secret Science At EPA Is Coming To an End': Scott Pruitt Signs Data Transparency Rule. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule on Tuesday to prevent the agency from relying on scientific studies that don't publish the underlying data. "The era of secret science at EPA is coming to an end," Pruitt said in a statement. "The ability to test, authenticate, and reproduce scientific findings is vital for the integrity of rulemaking process." Pruitt first announced his initiative to rid EPA of "secret science" in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation in March. The Obama administration relied on so-called "secret science" to justify billions of dollars worth of regulations.Food Stamp, Welfare, Medicaid, Disability Rolls All Dropping Under Trump. Earlier this month, the government reported that enrollment in food stamps plunged by nearly 600,000 in one month. Is this part of a broader trend toward greater self-reliance?Jobless Claims Drop To 48-Year Low. The labor market is posting further signs of improvement as jobless claims fall to their lowest in 48-years. The Labor Department's latest data shows unemployment claims declined to just above 200,000 last week, remaining below 300,000 for the 164th straight week. This is also the lowest since December of 1969.Treasury Dept. Kills 305 Obsolete Rules, Introduces 250 Deregulatory Initiatives. The Treasury Department recently released a report detailing its progress on the path of regulatory reform. The Treasury said it's rolled back 305 regulations, including 298 outdated IRS rules since President Trump took office. The department also said it has dropped 94 rules from its regulatory agenda annually, and introduced zero new regulations.Trump's revenge: US crude oil floods European markets in blow to OPEC and Russia. THE United States is flooding the European markets with record amounts crude oil as US producers seize on Russia and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pact to cut output resulting in soaring oil prices.America is being mocked by the shallow bias of its free press. Pew Research Center and Harvard Media Studies surveys both confirm that 90 percent of the national media coverage of Donald Trump is hostile, but he is accomplishing his stated goals, slowly. The asinine Dodd-Frank financial strangulation law, which enacted the bipartisan dual-branch official American pretence that private greed rather than unspeakable governmental incompetence was responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown, is being repealed. The Secretary of State-designate has returned from a secret visit to North Korea that appears to presage the most ambitious American diplomatic activity since president Reagan's arms-reduction talks with president Gorbachev (1988), or even president Nixon's accord with Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai (1972). The economy is flourishing, illegal immigration is sharply curtailed. Assad has been smacked down and Putin faced down, and the gigantic canard of Trump collusion with Russia has collapsed.EPA's Pruitt Declares End to Obama's 'War on Coal'. Sunday [4/22/2018], Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt stated there was an end to the "war on coal" in America. Pruitt told New York AM 970 "The Cats Roundtable" host that the EPA is not in the business of picking of winners and losers in the energy industry, chastising former President Barack Obama's administration for declaring war on coal.Trump checkmates Democrats in sending Pompeo to North Korea. Are Democrats willing to take the blame for North Korea deploying nuclear weapons that could hit the United States? That's the question smart Democrats should be asking this week, after the stunning revelation that the White House sent CIA director and secretary of State designee Mike Pompeo to North Korea over Easter weekend to discuss terms for a summit between Kim Jong Un and President Trump. Consider that Pompeo's nomination will live or die on the votes cast by Senate Democrats. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul has already declared his opposition to Pompeo, while Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has been missing in action for months as the result of his ongoing medical treatment.Attacking Trump's Attorney: Calling All Tea Partiers. Let's get the Tea Party visible again with rallies in support of Trump's agenda, the border wall, ending sanctuary cities, and other important issues. We must inform the masses about Trump's remarkable achievements. Here's a taste: for each regulation that Trump has introduced, he has ended 66 of Obama's overreaching, job-killing, and insane leftist regulations.Trump administration issues rule further watering down Obamacare. The Trump administration took additional steps to weaken Obamacare on Monday, allowing U.S. states to relax the rules on what insurers must cover and giving states more power to regulate their individual insurance markets.Trump's Wall May Not Be Built, But The Illegal Immigrant Welcome Mat Is Being Removed. President Donald Trump continues to confound his critics. The same pundits who went crazy when he first proposed a wall on the southern border now rail against him for being a failure because he has not achieved that border wall. But beyond the political theater and tweets, when one considers what Trump has actually done, there is a surprise: The wall may not be there, but neither is the welcome mat to illegal immigrants that President Barack Obama had put out. That's progress.President Donald Trump Signs Memo Ending 'Catch and Release' Policy. On Friday, the White House announced President Donald Trump signed a memorandum ending the immigration policy known as 'catch and release.' [...] "The safety and security of the American people is the President's highest priority, and he will keep his promise to protect our country and to ensure that our laws are respected," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.Trump takes step toward ending 'catch and release' immigration policy. President Trump signed a memorandum on Friday seeking to take steps toward ending the "catch and release" immigration policy, a term that generally refers to the release of illegal immigrants as they wait for an immigration hearing. "Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to take important steps to end 'catch and release,' the dangerous practice whereby aliens who have violated our Nation's immigration laws are released into the United States shortly after their apprehension," the Office of White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "The safety and security of the American people is the President's highest priority, and he will keep his promise to protect our country and to ensure that our laws are respected."Federal Government Has Cut 21,000 Jobs Under Trump. The federal government cut an additional 1,000 jobs in March, bringing the total number of federal government jobs eliminated since President Donald Trump took office to 21,000, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In December 2016, the month before Trump was inaugurated, the federal government employed 2,810,000. In March 2018, that was down to 2,789,000. While the federal workforce has been downsizing since December 2016, the overall government workforce in the United States has been increasing — thanks to an increase in employment by local governments.Trump Admin Defunding Planned Parenthood, Will Cut as Much as $60 Million. Congressional Democrats are in a panic over Title X, the federal government's family planning program. That's because even though the recent omnibus spending bill once again allotted $286.479 million to fund the program, Republicans in Congress held the line on ensuring the Department of Health and Human Services has flexibility to change regulations governing how it is spent. Control of these taxpayer dollars will be in the hands of Valerie Huber, the deputy assistant secretary for population affairs at HHS.The Fuel Economy Fraud. The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday [4/2/2018] took the Obama fuel economy rules off autopilot. This is good news for consumers, automakers and the U.S. economy, but the Trump Administration's big test will be negotiating around the political potholes.Corporate average fuel economy (Cafe) standards are a vestige of the 1970s gas shortages. Like the Nixon-era price controls, the fuel standards were intended to reduce gas consumption. But the environmental left long ago hijacked the rules [...]Trump's Approval Climbs As Job Picture Brightens: IBD/TIPP Poll. President Trump's popularity edged up in April, with 38% now saying they approve of the job he's doing as president, up from 37% last month, as the share of households reporting someone being unemployed sharply drops.Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Level Since the Nixon Administration. Tax reform may not be generating the drumbeat of positive headlines that it once was, but the progress and successes it has created continue to pile up. Walgreens has affirmed a $100 million investment in raising employees' wages thanks to the GOP-passed law, as McDonald's unveils new education benefits, also to the tune of nine figures, for its workers. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan is touting the decision of a smaller Maryland-based company that he visited last fall to offer tax reform bonuses of up to $1,000. More than four million US workers have received such bonuses from their employers thus far, in addition to the rollout of other enhanced worker benefits and major investments from coast to coast. Oh, and the overwhelming majority of all taxpayers are receiving a tax cut because of the law, much to the surprise of many who bought into critics' false rhetoric and absurd predictions. Tax reform has become popular because Americans' realities have far exceeded Democratic doomsaying.Trump vindicated on Paris Climate Accord pull-out. Latest news from the International Energy Agency is that Paris Climate Accord nations, which is pretty much all of them, reported not a decline in greenhouse gases, but a 1.7% spike. [...] The headline suggests that the whole idea of lowering emissions through an international, Europe-based bureaucracy is increasingly "a fantasy." Greenhouse gas emissions go up, not down under this hideous accord, and not just because it gives a pass to rapidly growing third-world countries — pretty much all of them — to pollute away and let cutting emissions be America's burden. There is also the phenomenon of how the more a place goes "green," the more fossil fuels it uses. Like those electrical cars? They run on clean, green electricity all right — from plants that burn coal. Downstream, going green is very, very carbon-intensive, and it should surprise no one that sanctimonious western Europe, with all its green pontificating, is the very worst violator of them all.U.S. jobless claims plunge to 49-year low of 210,000. The rate of layoffs as measured by U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since 1969, reflecting the strongest labor market since the end of the dotcom boom nearly two decades ago. Initial U.S. jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 210,000 in the seven days ended Feb. 24. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast claims to total 226,000. New claims haven't been this low since December 1969.Quietly, Trump team sharply slashing refugee limits. Immigration is one of the most important issues that Americans' elected representatives refuse to do anything about. They concede it's vital to drastically reform the alleged system that determines who gets into the United States and who doesn't. But it's an emotional topic, freighted with fears and politics — and high costs. No one in the swamp wants to be seen compromising these days.Scott Pruitt Will End EPA's Use Of 'Secret Science' To Justify Regulations. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt will soon end his agency's use of "secret science" to craft regulations. "We need to make sure their data and methodology are published as part of the record," Pruitt said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. "Otherwise, it's not transparent. It's not objectively measured, and that's important." Pruitt will reverse long-standing EPA policy allowing regulators to rely on non-public scientific data in crafting rules. Such studies have been used to justify tens of billions of dollars worth of regulations. EPA regulators would only be allowed to consider scientific studies that make their data available for public scrutiny under Pruitt's new policy. Also, EPA-funded studies would need to make all their data public.Education Union DeVostated. The union representing Department of Education bureaucrats is crying foul after the agency constrained union privileges following months of delays in negotiation. On Monday [3/12/2018] the agency implemented a new collective bargaining agreement with its employees, who are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees. The terms of the deal could strike a blow against the labor organization. Workers will no longer be automatically enrolled in the union and instead will have to opt into representation. Under the previous contract, workers had only one 48-hour window to opt out of paying union dues or fees. It will also eliminate perks previously given to union officers, including taxpayer-supported office space and supplies. One department official said the contract implemented under Secretary Betsy DeVos will serve "as the gold standard for other agencies in their negotiations" with labor organizations.Federal Tax Revenues Hit Record Highs — Are Trump's Tax Cuts Paying For Themselves? The latest monthly Treasury report on taxes and spending shows that gross tax receipts in February were $1.4 billion higher than the year before. Weren't the Republican tax cuts supposed to explode the deficit?This Is What Leadership Looks Like. So Mister Trump is going to meet with the leader of North Korea. Stunning. For someone who's universally castigated as being a clueless, all thumbs palooka of a leader, this fellow sure gets a lot of things done.This Is the Greatest Manufacturing Jobs Boom in Twenty Years. The American manufacturing renaissance is still defying expectations. Over the last 12 months, manufacturers have added 224,000 jobs. That's the biggest annual gain since 1998, according to Wall Street economist Joe LaVorgna. Since the 2016 election, the economy has added 263,000 manufacturing jobs. Last month, 31,000 new manufacturing jobs came online. It wasn't supposed to be this way, according to the Very Wise People. Donald Trump's promises to bring back manufacturing jobs was widely derided as impossible, and his supporters were mocked as suckers.Republic Steel Announces Recommission of Lorain Ohio Steelworks — Hundreds of Jobs Scheduled To Return. Excellent news for the community of Lorain, Ohio, where it was announced today that Republic Steel has plans to recommission at least one blast furnace by the end of this year. They are also estimating the possibility of putting a second blast furnace back on-line due to production forecasts as a result of President Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs.US Steel Restarts Two Blast Furnaces in Granite City, IL After Trump Announcement on Tariffs. Speaker Paul Ryan pushed back against President Donald Trump's announcement to place tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel. Paul Ryan, a renowned globalist who joined President Obama in pushing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, attacked President Trump on Monday [3/5/2018] for his announcement to place tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.Gorsuch's Confirmation Is Still the Best Argument for Trump. For some liberals, it's the grudge that never dies. As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in Janus v. AFSCME, the eyes of the nation were riveted on its newest member: Justice Neil Gorsuch. As it turned, Gorsuch took a page out of Clarence Thomas's book, remaining silent as the two sides presented their arguments in a case that will determine whether municipal employees have a right to avoid paying union dues. The last time a similar case was heard, the recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the man whom Gorsuch ultimately replaced on the court, created a 4-4 deadlock. Now, the conservative Gorsuch is poised to cast the deciding vote that deals a fatal blow to unions' taxation of workers who don't wish to be taxed.The Weaponization of the EPA Is Over: An Exclusive Interview With Scott Pruitt. [Quoting Mr. Pruitt:] When you think about an EPA — armed, weaponized, if you will — like a rule like WOTUS, the Waters of the United States rule, that would take a puddle and turn into a lake. To take land use decisions away from farmers and ranchers and landowners across this country, and people think it was just farming and ranching. It was the building of subdivisions. It was really all land use decisions. I was in Utah last year meeting with some folks there that were building a subdivision, and there was an Army Corps of Engineers representative that was standing outside the subdivision with me, and he pointed to an ephemeral drainage ditch and he said, "Scott, that's a water of the United States." And I said, "Well, it's not gonna be anymore." That's exactly the kind of attitude that drove the past administration. It was all about power. It wasn't about outcomes necessarily. It was about power and picking winners and losers, and we're getting that corrected.USDA Opens Public Comment Period For Proposed Food Stamp Reforms. Sweeping new changes could be coming in the way federal food assistance is delivered. While comparably under the radar to other big Trump administration initiatives like tax reform and infrastructure, big changes are coming to federal food assistance programs. Currently, more than 40 million Americans rely on the federal food stamps program, now known as SNAP, to buy groceries and other household necessities. However, incidents of SNAP abuse have been a long-time blemish on the program. The most common example being that of some SNAP recipients sell their government-provided EBT payment cards for cash. Then-candidate Trump promised to reduce reliance on the program during the 2016 presidential campaign.Now, why would Americans' positive perception of the U.S. surge this past year? A new Gallup Poll finds that nearly half of all Americans are satisfied with their perception of the U.S. position in the world. That's the highest that collective national perception has been in 13 years. And, get this, the 45 percent who feel that way is fully 13 points higher than it was just a year ago. Why do you suppose that is? A year ago. Hmm, what happened in the winter of 2017 that could possibly explain a surge in positive self-perceptions of the U.S. global position?Trump Releases Obamacare Hostages. The Trump administration has issued a new regulation that will provide an escape route for health insurance consumers who have, since the imposition of Obamacare, been forced by their bureaucratic captors to choose between plans they can't afford and going without coverage. Once the proposed rule is implemented, in 60 days, Americans will be able to buy health plans that conform to their own needs rather than the whims of Washington politicians.Don't know much about history.... Taxes are down. Jobs are forming all over. Regulations have been slashed. Government coffers are filling up. Companies are forming. Migrants are choosing legal over illegal immigration. The nightmare of Obamacare is almost over. Europe is paying its NATO bills. The ISIS empire is dead. North Korea is trembling. Russia is on the run. And somehow, according to a widely dispersed poll, we elected the worst thing we could have done to ourselves in our current president. All those good things, and somehow President Trump has nothing to do with them.Trump bump: Small business 'optimism index' breaks a 45-year record. Main Street continues to flourish under the Trump administration. The National Federation of Independent Business reports that optimism is at a 45-year high among America's small businesses. The "Small Business Optimism Index" — a monthly gauge of sentiment among the owners — has broken the record for the measurement, established 45 years ago. "Main Street is roaring," said Juanita Duggan, president and CEO of the group, which represents 325,000 small business concerns in all 50 states. "Small business owners are not only reporting better profits, but they're also ready to grow and expand. The record level of enthusiasm for expansion follows a year of record-breaking optimism." Among the findings: 41 percent of the members reported they expect the economy to improve, a third say it's an ideal time to expand; another third report an increase in job openings; while 31 percent reported "higher worker compensation" for their employees.Our New Secessionists. On the one hand, we have Trump's judicial appointments, his attack on prosperity-sucking regulation, his emancipation of America's energy industry, his enforcement of America's immigration laws, his tax cuts, his strengthening of America's military, not to mention his success in bringing unemployment down and economic growth and consumer confidence up. On the other hand, we have the repeated warnings not to "normalize" a supposedly "dictatorial," xenophobic, racist reality-TV star. The irony is, despite his sometimes provocative tweets and off-the-cuff remarks, Donald Trump is governing more "normally" than any president since Ronald Reagan.Administration Imposes Sweeping Limits on Federal Actions Against Companies. The Trump administration has adopted new limits on the use of "guidance documents" that federal agencies have issued on almost every conceivable subject, an action that could have sweeping implications for the government's ability to sue companies accused of violations. Guidance documents offer the government's interpretation of laws, and often when individuals or companies face accusations of legal violations, what they have really violated are the guidance documents. Defense lawyers say the change in policy gives them a powerful tool to fend off allegations of wrongdoing against their clients.Food Stamp Enrollment Drops by Four Million in One Month. Four million people dropped off the food stamp rolls in one month, according to the latest numbers on food stamp enrollment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The latest USDA data show that the number of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the government program that administers food stamps, dropped from 45,666,795 in October 2017 to 41,658,868 in November 2017 — a staggering decrease of 4,007,927 over one month.A Trump Policy Just Knocked $30 Million Right Out Of Planned Parenthood's Hand. Planned Parenthood takes half a billion in taxpayer cash annually, but at least they've recently taken a multi-million dollar hit that they'll really feel. According to LifeNews, Planned Parenthood failed to comply with a Trump initiated policy that blocks foreign groups from promoting or performing abortions overseas.Great News On Regulation from the Trump Administration. Many of the Obama administration's worst actions involved issuance of "guidance," i.e., a left-wing interpretation of federal law that was often tendentious if not outright untenable. Nevertheless, most companies, universities, etc., were cowed into complying with Obama's "guidances." [...] Rule making under the Administrative Procedure Act requires following an actual process, with public comment and opportunity for appeal. Thus it is inconvenient for leftists. Issuing "guidance" is an inappropriate shortcut that generally just means implementing the administration's political wish list.Oil World Turns Upside Down as U.S. Sells Oil in Middle East. The United Arab Emirates, a model Persian Gulf petro-state where endless billions from crude exports feed a giant sovereign wealth fund, isn't the most obvious customer for Texan oil. Yet, in a trade that illustrates how the rise of the American shale industry is upending energy markets across the globe, the U.A.E. bought oil directly from the U.S. in December, according to data from the federal government. A tanker sailed from Houston and arrived in the Persian Gulf last month. The cargo of American condensate, a type of very light crude oil, was preferred to regional grades because its superior quality made more suitable for the U.A.E's processing plants, a person with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing a commercially sensitive matter.Why Liberals Root Against America. Hundreds of American companies are bringing jobs to America and paying American workers bonuses. Democrats sat stone faced. The lowest black unemployment rate in 40 years. Democrats smirked. We are defeating ISIS in the Middle East. Ho hum. They acted like petulant 12-year olds who fold their arms in defiance and pout miserably when things don't go their way. Many on the left are suffering from a severe case of anti-Trump derangement syndrome. ATDS sufferers crave bad news. In a bright sunny economic sky, they point to the single cloud. This is why Nancy Pelosi could only sniff that the bonuses workers are getting from the tax cuts are "crumbs."Labor Department: US Added 2,553,000 Jobs Since Trump's Election, Unemployment at 17-Year Low. America's economy has surged since President Trump's inauguration: GDP growth topped 3.3 percent last quarter, which is the highest since 2014. This economic growth has translated into more jobs and higher wages for American workers.Treason. In one year, Trump eviscerated ISIS, successfully fronted up Putin and North Korea, pulled manufacturing back to America, got nearly a quarter million Americans back in work, reduced black and Hispanic American unemployment to levels never before seen, re-budgeted the armed forces with an increase of $56 billion, slashed job-choking regulations left right and centre, put the country on an unprecedented 4% pa growth curve, rocketed the Dow Jones on to successive record-breaking highs, gave the American worker a huge tax cut and most importantly put some chest-swelling pride back into saying you're an American and one who no longer feels obliged to go around apologising to the rest of the world about it. How was that little lot covered by the mainstream media? It wasn't, it was ignored, as the FISA memo was. [...] Instead, it's become critical to report how many scoops of ice cream Trump had when treating his extended family to a private dinner to celebrate winning the presidency, or whether his wife is wearing high heels.Workers celebrate more money in paychecks after tax cuts. Many workers nationwide are noticing extra money in their pay checks this week after instructions from December's tax overhaul went into effect. [...] The bigger paychecks started Feb. 1 as employers began implementing the new withholding guidelines from the IRS, which dictate how much employers withhold from pay for federal taxes.The Night the Democratic Party Committed Political Suicide. First, the jobs front. Wednesday morning [1/31/2018] saw the release of ADP/Moody's Analytics private payrolls report. New job creation exploded once again under President Trump. Businesses added 234,000 jobs in January versus an expected 185,000. Manufacturing added 12,000 jobs and construction 9,000 new jobs -- in a traditionally slow month. [...] Secondly, the numbers from Trump's State of the Union. Fox News had the biggest audience for a State of the Union in the history of cable news. The old record of 6.5 million viewers was smashed by smithereens by Trump with an astonishing 11.7 million viewers. It was also the highest rated presidential address of any kind in the history of cable news.Due To Trump Tax Cuts Iowa Utility Customers To Get $147 Million Refund! The good news that surrounds the Trump economy just keeps coming. This time its in Iowa where the major utility providers have announced that due to tax cut savings they will be giving money back to their customers in the form of refunds and/or credits. Once again, that's real money going to real American families.It was so nice to hear a speech with the words "we" and "they" instead of "I" and "me". It was a great speech- especially if you measure it in terms of liberal discomfort. It was the most enjoyable SOTU speech I have heard in about ten years. It was patriotic. It was about America. I liked it very much, but what left the biggest impression on me was the use of the words "we" and "they" instead of "I" and "me." I wasn't the only one to notice.Trump Divides Americans And Un-Americans. There are two stories of America. One is the American story and the other the un-American story. On one side there are pilgrims settling a new land and on the other colonists ethnically cleansing the native population. One side sees war heroes and the other sees killers. One sees brave police officers and the other genocidal bigots in uniform. One sees America. And the other hates it. At the State of the Union, we saw those two halves divide up the House Chamber. We saw American elected officials stand for the flag, for the anthem, for veterans, for Jerusalem and for In God We Trust. And we saw the un-American officials selected by corrupt urban machine politics stay seated. The leaders of America and un-America were there in one room while America's story was told.Speaking From The Heart, Trump's Speech Was All Democrats Feared It Would Be. President Trump, defying expectations that he would give a speech filled with concessions to the bitterly angry Democrats, gave a full-throated, detailed (and long) defense of his first year in office and offered a vision for the future. It was a bravura performance.Wages, Obama Economy's Weakest Link, Now Surging Under Trump. A new survey out by the National Association of Business Economics finds that companies are starting to boost pay for their workers in order to attract and keep productive, skilled employees in a tighter labor market. That adds to mounting anecdotal evidence of a wave of pay raises, bonuses and new investments by major corporations fueled by the passage of Trump's tax cuts in December — evidence of a surge in economic growth.Exxon Mobil Announces $50 Billion Investment in U.S., 12,000 New Jobs, Citing Tax Reform. The oil giant Exxon Mobil has announced it will invest an extra $50 billion in the American economy, citing Republican's recently passed tax reform. In a blog post, Exxon CEO Darren Woods cited tax reform as well as "sound tax and regulatory policies" as well as a "pro-growth business climate" as major factors behind the investment. "These investments are underpinned by the unique strengths of our company and enhanced by the historic tax reform recently signed into law," Woods wrote.Trump Just Did Something Obama Never Could — Deliver On Promised GDP Growth. The Washington Post harrumphed that GDP growth for 2017 was "better than the year before, but far short of what Trump is promising. Officials had focused on 3% GDP growth as proof his economic policies were working, and Trump has said it could go far beyond that target." Sorry, but the Post — and anyone else making such claims — is wrong. When Trump released his budget earlier in the year, it included — as every president's budget does — a forecast for GDP growth for the year. What did Trump's economists say GDP growth for 2017 would be? Well, they said it would be 2.3% — exactly what the economy delivered, according to the BEA.NeverTrump Pundits Sing Hillary's Tune. After 18 months of helping the media and Democrats frantically sell every tweet, phone call, meeting, email, and sideways glance between Trump and his team and any person with a Russian last name as proof of election collusion, they are getting desperate. Self-righteous pundits who have staked their credibility and their careers on the failure of Trump's presidency are slowly realizing they are on the losing end of this gambit. Not only did Trump not destroy the Republican Party as they predicted, he galvanized the party during a surprisingly active and successful first year — cutting taxes, eliminating federal regulations, appointing conservative judges, and strengthening America's hand abroad. Each day, a company announces its plans to raise wages or give bonuses due to the dramatic drop in the corporate tax rate, subsequently exposing the modern-day Democratic party's contempt for the working class as party leaders mock those windfalls as "crumbs."Sorry skeptics, Trump's tax plan is actually working wonders. Not that they needed one, but progressive wing nuts and their fellow travelers are getting another reason to hate President Trump. He's proving that capitalism works. The president's policies of cutting high taxes and excessive regulations are sparking a stock market surge and soaring economic confidence. Each day brings announcements from companies ranging from Apple to Walmart that they are giving bonuses and pay hikes, adding new jobs and increasing their investments in America.250 companies offering 'Trump bonuses,' up 525%. With Home Depot and Starbucks moving to offer employees bonuses as a result of President Trump's tax reform package, the total number of firms rewarding workers has reached 250, a jump of 525 percent in just two weeks. The companies have credited the tax changes for plans to offer bonuses of up to $3,000, increases in retirement plans, wage hikes and even adoption benefits.Media Blackout As Democrats Publicly Struggle With Benefits Of GOP Tax Cut. The establishment media have saved Democrats from embarrassment by refusing to cover their struggling attempts to explain away the positive economic effects the Republican tax bill delivered for the working class. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats predicted the tax bill would be a disaster for the working class — "Armageddon" is how Pelosi described it — only to see more than three million American workers receive bonuses and pay raises as a result of the GOP tax cuts. Additionally, 90 percent of workers are expected to see an increase in take-home pay in 2018.Trump saves lives in Alaska. Jimmy Carter signed legislation in 1980 creating the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. This was to help save the black brant, a subspecies of the brant goose. In the first 14 years of this refuge, 12 Alaskans died because the refuge reduced the access of King Cove, population 989, to the neighboring community of Cold Bay, where Medevac aircraft land. We overdo saving species to the point where we are willing to let an Alaskan die every year because a few geese might be upset. President Reagan could not undo this mess, nor could either President Bush. Clinton and Obama could not care less about the people of Alaska.Campbell Soup Announces Shutdown Of Canadian Plant, Will Move Production To US. Another company has announced that it is moving production back to America from foreign soil. Campbell Soup is closing its Toronto plant and coming back to the U.S.Bad News For Dems: The GOP Tax Cuts Are Getting More Popular By The Day. The Republican tax reforms are growing increasingly popular as people start to realize the benefits. For Democrats who unanimously opposed these tax cuts, this can't be good news.Democrats need to admit Trump is boosting the economy. The Trump tax cuts might not end well, since they're likely to push interest rates higher than they'd otherwise go, possibly fueling inflation. And the extra debt Uncle Sam is taking on to finance the cuts only adds to the burden on future taxpayers. But for now, the tax cuts seem to be having the intended effect — they're boosting corporate earnings, stoking investment and, in some cases, trickling down to ordinary workers. Stocks keep hitting new record highs, confidence is rising and nobody sees a recession on the horizon.Laugh At The Democrats As They Die On Amnesty Hill. Well, that whole government shutdown thing didn't work out real well for the genius Democrats, did it? Nothing seems to be working out for them lately. The stock market is going gangbusters. The House GOP are becoming gangbusters — and the gang that is about to be busted is the coterie of evidence deleting Obama cronies who so brazenly politicized the government to help their political puppetmasters that even Zombie Richard Nixon is appalled. ISIS is dead — rest in pieces, you Seventh Century pederast cowards. And thanks to tax reform, everyone else is dead too, but is also getting more money in their paychecks.The Trump Economy, One Year In: A Success By All Measures. No question about it — one year into President Trump's first term, the economy is on a roll, creating wealth, income and jobs for Americans, and building opportunities for the young. It's a triumph of economic realism over foolish skepticism. Critics so disliked Trump as he entered office last year that they were all but rooting for him to fail.Disabled Rejoin Workforce In Droves As Economy Gains Steam. If you want a sign of a growing economy, look at the disability rolls. They've been shrinking rapidly of late, as fewer apply for benefits and more disabled return to work. This is very good news.Trump Year 1: Yes he's a conservative. Fascinatingly, Trump doesn't talk about conservatism much, nor did he as a candidate. Contrast the president with the dozens of Republicans elected to Congress since the Tea Party wave of 2010 who talked a tough game on issues such as ObamaCare, illegal immigration, and shrinking the government. But once in power, many of these GOPers backed away from strong conservative stances on those issues. But here we have a president in Trump who didn't campaign as a conservative but who is governing as one.America First: Trump Imposes 30% Tariff on Imported Solar Products and Washing Machines. President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on imported solar cells on Monday in response to a trade case brought by U.S. solar manufacturers charging that cheap imports, particularly from China, were harming domestic solar companies. The United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, announced that the president had decided to impose the tariffs, accepting the recommendation of the administration's trade advisors.Donald Trump Speaks at March for Life: 'Life Is the Greatest Miracle of All'. President Donald Trump spoke live via satellite at the March for Life in Washington, DC, on Friday [1/19/2018], thanking pro-life activists for marching against abortion. "The March for Life is a movement born out of love," Trump said. "You love your families, you love your neighbors, you love our nation, and you love every child, born and unborn, because you believe that every life is sacred, that every child is a precious gift from God. We know that life is the greatest miracle of all." The president spoke from the Rose Garden surrounded by pro-life activists and even a few parents holding their babies.Complete List of President Trump's Historic Accomplishments His First Year in Office! The President named and successfully put in place a new Supreme Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch. He signed more than 90 executive actions in his first 100 days alone. The actions included• Dismantling Obama's climate change initiatives.• Travel bans for individuals from a select number of countries embroiled in terrorist atrocities.• Enforcing regulatory reform.• Protecting Law enforcement.• Mandating for every new regulation to eliminate two.• Defeating ISIS.• Rebuilding the military.• Building a border wall.• Cutting funding for sanctuary cities.• Approving Keystone and Dakota pipelines.• Reducing regulations on manufacturers.• Placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.• Exiting the US from the TPP.Right Period, Wrong Guy. As President Trump racks up undeniable wins related to jobs (unemployment is falling, including historic lows among blacks and hispanics), economics (Trump's tax bill resulting in over a hundred companies giving large cash bonuses to their employees and Apple repatriating some $250 billion back to the U.S.), and foreign policy (ISIS being systematically eradicated from Syria and Iraq, North Korea and South Korea announcing they will attend the upcoming Olympics under one flag), there are those in the media and elsewhere who are reluctant to give him credit. On the contrary, not only do they downplay these achievements, but they insist on attacking him personally.U.S. Jobless Claims Fell Last Week to Near 45-Year Low. The number of Americans filing applications for new unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly 45 years, a sign the labor market is beginning 2018 with strong momentum.Education Secretary Betsy DeVos: Common Core is Dead at U.S. Department of Education. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave a far-ranging speech Tuesday in Washington at an American Enterprise Institute conference, "Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned." Most media reporting outlines Mrs. DeVos presentation to state 'the era of common core education is now dead."HHS Unveils Conscience and Religious Freedom Division: 'We're Open for Business'. For eight years, the Barack Obama administration's Health and Human Services (HHS) tried to force nuns and others of faith to act against their moral convictions by complying with mandates put forth in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, including contraceptives, abortion, and assisted suicide. But on Thursday [1/18/2018], the agency announced a new division in its Office of Civil Rights (OCR) established to protect Americans from discrimination based on their religious beliefs. Roger Severino, director of HHS's OCR, announced the new conscience and religious freedom division and spoke about how the development was set in motion by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.HHS launches office to enforce religious-freedom laws. The Trump administration launched a division at the Health and Human Services Department on Thursday to protect doctors and medical providers who object to participating in abortions and assisted suicide on religious or moral grounds. Officials said the division, part of the HHS' Office of Civil Rights, will stand ready to assist health care workers who say they're being coerced into participating in procedures that violate their beliefs. Democrats strenuously objected, saying it will restrict health care access to women or transgender patients.The Editor says...Whaaaat? [T]hey're being coerced into participating in procedures that violate their beliefs." Like baking a cake for a homosexual wedding?'We want to help America,' Apple CEO Tim Cook says of moving foreign money back to US. Apple CEO Tim Cook opened up to ABC News after the company announced earlier today that it will be investing $350 billion in the U.S. economy over the next five years, creating more than 20,000 jobs. In a news release, the company also said it would make a $38 billion tax payment to the U.S. as required by recent changes to the tax law. Apple said this would be the largest tax payment of its kind. While Cook would not "take a position" on how the new tax plan is affecting individuals' taxes, he said $38 billion tax payment would not have been paid under the old system.Apple: Get Ready For Our $350 Billion US Investment — Thanks To Tax Reform. Crumbs, Nancy Pelosi will say — it's all crumbs! Twenty thousand American workers over the next five years may disagree. Apple announced today that they plan to invest heavily in their US infrastructure, in large part because of the tax reform bill that Democrats claimed would kill people.Donald Trump Is Shrinking The Government. Everything Else Is Noise. President Trump is shrinking the size and scope of the federal government. You might have missed that little news item amid anti-Trump conservatives' breathless reporting of each and every non-troversy the mainstream media manages to gin up. But unlike President George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush, and even the Gipper himself, Trump in just his first year has cut Health and Human Services by 0.5%, Defense by 1.1%, Transportation by 1.4%, Justice by 1.5%, Energy by 2.3%, Commerce by 3.1%, Housing and Urban Development by 3.3%, State by 3.8%, Labor by 4.6% Education by 4.8%, and Treasury by a whopping 7.5%.President Nobama. To many progressives and indeed elites of all persuasions, Trump is also the Prince of Anti-culture: mindlessly naïve American boosterism; conspicuous, 1950s-style unapologetic consumption; repetitive and limited vocabulary; fast-food culinary tastes; Queens accent; herky-jerky mannerisms; ostentatious dress; bulging appearance; poorly disguised facial expressions; embracing rather than sneering at middle-class appetites; a lack of subtlety, nuance, and ambiguity. In short Trump's very essence wars with everything that long ago was proven to be noble, just, and correct by Vanity Fair, NPR, The New Yorker, Google, the Upper West Side, and The Daily Show. There is not even a smidgeon of a concession that some of Trump's policies might offer tens of thousands of forgotten inner-city youth good jobs or revitalize a dead and written-off town in the Midwest, or make the petroleum of the war-torn Persian Gulf strategically irrelevant to an oil-rich United States.Donald Trump's Support Among Blacks Has Doubled Since 2016, Amid Racism Claims. Two new polls show President Donald Trump's rising support among black voters, highlighting his political gains from pushing employers to hire Americans instead of lower-wage migrants. The growing support from blacks — despite furious Democratic claims of racism — could become a shocking political validation in November when Trump will face millions of upper-income Democratic voters who are angry at his "Buy American, Hire American" policies.Dr. Alveda King Counters Trump 'Racism' Claims, Slams Facebook for Blocking Pro-Life Message. Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., joined Breitbart News Sunday on the eve of her uncle's namesake holiday, hitting back at racism accusations against President Donald Trump and levying her own complaints against ultra-liberal Facebook. "I agree that President Trump is not a racist. He has done so much," King told host and Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle.More MAGAnomic Success — Chrysler Moving From Mexico To Michigan, Toyota Building in Alabama. The recently passed Tax Bill continues to enhance the MAGAnomic policy of the Trump administration, leading to more great economic and jobs news amid the headlines. Do the math. The three single-day announcements [listed in this article] will add more than 6,500 new jobs, average around $50,000 per job, and contribute tens-of-billions to a revitalized new America-First economy. This is MAGAnomics in action. This is a direct result of economic policies initiated by President Trump. This is part of the reason why the U.S. GDP will easily exceed 4% growth in the next three years of Trump's first term.Fiat Chrysler to invest more than $1 billion in Michigan plant and give $2,000 bonuses in response to tax reform. Fiat Chrysler announced Thursday [1/11/2018] that it will up its investment in the United States and pay some of its employees special bonuses after the recent tax code overhaul. CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a statement that these announcements reflect the company's ongoing commitment to manufacturing in the U.S. He also cited the recently signed tax bill as an opportunity to share the savings with Fiat Chrysler employees. The automaker said it will invest more than $1 billion in a Michigan plant and relocate production of its Ram Heavy Duty truck in 2020. That model is currently being produced in Saltillo, Mexico. Fiat Chrysler said this decision would create about 2,500 jobs in addition to the ones that have been previously announced.Walmart boosts pay for one million U.S. workers, tax reform is the reason why. Walmart, the nation's largest employer, with 1.5 million U.S. workers will allow the majority of those employees, 1 million, to share in the benefits of the largest sweeping tax reform in three decades. The retailer is boosting starting hourly wages to $11 an hour. Additionally, the retailer will give one-time $1,000 bonus payments to workers, depending on length of service at the company. It is also extending maternity and parental benefits. The changes take place in February.Success: EPA set to reduce staff 50% in Trump's first term. The Environmental Protection Agency, seen by President Trump as a bloated bureaucratic whale, is on schedule to fulfill his promise to reduce its staff nearly in half by the end of his first term mostly through retirements, not cuts, according to officials. The EPA Tuesday [1/9/2018] provided to Secrets its first year staff results which show that the agency is below levels not seen since former President Reagan's administration. And if just those slated to retire by early 2021 leave, Administrator Scott Pruitt and his team will have reduced a staff of nearly 15,000, to below 8,000, or a reduction of 47 percent. "We're proud to report that we're reducing the size of government, protecting taxpayer dollars and staying true to our core mission of protecting the environment," Pruitt said in a statement to [The Washington Examiner].Treat 'Mental Health' Talk Against Trump Like The Coup Attempt It Is. [Scroll down] We're coming in on the close of an unexpectedly successful first year for Trump, despite the media's Sturm und Drang against the presidency, Trump's lack of political allies, and his political naïvité. Trump's year ended with corporate tax reform passed for the first time in decades. Individual tax rates were cut for the vast majority of Americans. Regulations have been slashed. Trump changed direction on the Paris Climate Accord, on the Clean Power Plan, and the Iran nuclear deal. Foreign policy has been reoriented, with results including real success against ISIS. He appointed numerous judges to federal courts. Last week, the stock market topped 25,000 for the first time, despite the prediction of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman that the stock market would "never" recover from Trump's election.Trump Ends Temporary Protected Status For 200,000 El Salvadorans. President Donald Trump's deputies are ending the often-extended 'TPS' temporary refugee status for up to 200,000 El Salvadoran migrants, which was first granted when earthquakes hit their home country in 2001. The TPS decision underlines Trump's determination to enforce the nation's immigration laws, and to push his "Buy American, Hire American" inauguration-day promise, despite growing pressure from the GOP's business-first wing, Democrats and their allies in the establishment media.Working-class families are winning big under Trump. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its newest jobs report on Friday [1/5/2018], and the data clearly show, under the pro-business policies implemented by the Trump administration, low-income and working-class families are enjoying significant economic gains not experienced in nearly 20 years. Democrats and liberal pundits have argued the recent economic improvements are only helping a relatively small, mostly wealthy segment of the country, but nothing could be further from the truth. According to BLS, the national unemployment rate for December was 4.1 percent, a 0.6 percentage point drop from December 2016. That's an impressive figure, especially since the unemployment rate stayed flat at 4.9 percent from January 2016 through October 2016, the final month before Trump's election victory. But what's especially remarkable is the extent to which working-class Americans are profiting under Trump and Republican leadership in Congress.Is Trump Really Crazy? Why did not the supposedly far more sober and judicious Obama comprehend how to achieve 3 percent GDP growth. Could not Larry Summers or Timothy Geithner have ushered in record consumer and business confidence? Why did not black employment reach 2018 levels in 2013? Is not a man like Obama who eats arugula instead of daily swigging a dozen diet sodas far more studious and intellectually curious on all matters economic? Are we dunces really to believe merely building a high-rise in Manhattan takes more savvy than editing in near absentia the Harvard Law Review?Minority Unemployment Is At Record Lows Under Trump. While economists and Wall Street analysts described December's jobs report as "below consensus" or even "disappointing," there was nothing disappointing for one broad group of Americans: minorities. For them, the Trump economy is delivering, big time.Trump Drives Another Nail Into Obamacare's Coffin. During the 2016 primary season, Donald Trump pledged to facilitate lower health insurance premiums by permitting coverage to be sold across state lines. Oddly, considering that conservatives have long advocated this as a way of augmenting market competition among insurers, the proposal was ridiculed by his opponents for the Republican presidential nomination. During one debate Marco Rubio actually mimicked Trump's physical gestures, mocked his references to "lines around the states," and snidely added, "whatever that means." Friday, the Trump administration demonstrated what that means by issuing a new regulation allowing association health plans (AHPs) to offer coverage across state lines.1,788,000 More People Employed Since December 2016; 148,000 Jobs Added Last Month. On November 20, President Trump tweeted: "Under President Trump unemployment rate will drop below 4%. Analysts predict economic boom for 2018!" On Friday [1/5/2018], the nation's unemployment rate remained at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent for the third straight month, and the number of employed people increased by 103,000 to 154,021,000, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Since December 2016, 1,788,000 people have been added to the nation's employment roster, and the number of employed people has set six records since February, most recently in September.Food stamp recipients down 2M under Trump, USDA figures show. Since Donald Trump became president, the Dow Jones industrial average has climbed to 25,000 and fewer Americans are unemployed. Another interesting fact: The number of people collecting food stamps has declined by more than two million. Data released by the Department of Agriculture show that the number of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, dropped to 42,182,443 for fiscal 2017 — a decline of 2,036,920 from the fiscal 2016 total of 44,219,363.Report: Apple Likely to Repatriate $200 Billion in Foreign Cash. According to reports, Apple is set to repatriate approximately $200 billion in foreign cash as a result of the GOP tax reform bill. A GBH research note signals that Apple is set to bring back approximately $200 billion of its $252 billion foreign cash portfolio as a result of tax breaks that the company will now receive.Job-cut announcements in 2017 see lowest level since 1990, Challenger report says. U.S. employers announced plans to cut 32,423 jobs in December, bringing the year's total to a low not seen since 1990, global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday. "The tight labor market, coupled with uncertainty surrounding health care and tax legislation, possibly kept employers from making any long-term staffing decisions this year," CEO John Challenger said in a statement. "However, 2018 may see an increase in job cut announcements, as companies realign with consumer demand." Cuts in 2017 totaled 418,770, 20 percent below 2016's number. In 1990, companies announced plans to cut 316,047 jobs.Black Unemployment Rate Hits All-Time Low. In the month of December, the unemployment rate for black Americans dropped to just 6.8 percent, which is the lowest ever recorded. Prior to this month, the previous record was 7.4 percent in 2000. The government has been tracking unemployment by race for 45 years, since 1972. The Hispanic unemployment rate remains at a near record low of just 4.9 percent, up just a bit from the record of 4.7 percent in November of last year.Black Unemployment Rate Dropped To Lowest Levels Since 1970. Black unemployment dropped to 6.8 percent in December 2017, a rate not seen since the 1970s, according to Friday [1/5/2018] statistics from the Department of Labor. The 6.8 percent unemployment rate for black or African Americans has not been seen since 1972 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began tracking the unemployment rate in the United States, reports CNBC. The bureau has tracked the unemployment rate for black Americans at age 16 or older for the past 45 years and the rate has never fallen below 7 percent during that time period. The black unemployment rate was still significantly higher than other racial groups in December: whites had a 3.7 percent unemployment rate, compared to Asian American's unemployment rate at 2.5 percent. Hispanic Americans had an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.Federal Government Cut 16,000 Jobs in 2017. The federal government employed 16,000 fewer people in December 2017 than it did in December 2016, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. State governments employed 19,000 fewer people in December 2017 than they did in December 2016. However, overall government employment in the United States increased by a net 42,000 during 2017 because of the 77,000 jobs added by local governments from December 2016 to December 2017.It's Happening: Health Insurance Will Soon Be Sold Across State Lines. Although the Trump administration and Congress have struggled to fully repeal Obamacare, while putting a good dent in the law by repealing the individual mandate through tax reform, officials are finding new ways to lower costs and expand coverage to consumers. On Thursday [1/4/2018], the Department of Labor announced a new rule proposal that opens the door to allowing insurance companies to sell plans and coverage across state lines.Trump pulls brakes on $13B Obama-backed rail-tunnel plan. An Obama-era plan to have the federal government finance half of a $13 billion rail tunnel project ran into a red light Friday [12/29/2017] from the Trump administration. The plan, proposed under President Barack Obama in 2015, includes revitalizing a deteriorating Amtrak tunnel connecting New Jersey to New York City, repairing damage to a dual-tunnel conduit, and reconstructing the New Jersey railroad network's aging Portal Bridge, Crain's New York Business reported.Price for New York-New Jersey rail tunnel rises to $12.9B. The interim head of the development corporation formed to oversee the massive undertaking, John Porcari, said on Thursday the project will cost $12.9 billion, up from previous estimates of $7 billion to $10 billion.Sarah Sanders Announces Ban on Personal Cell Phones at the White House. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced a ban on personal cellphones and devices in the West Wing, in an apparent attempt to block leaks from the White House. "[S]tarting next week the use of all personal devices for both guests and staff will no longer be allowed in the West Wing," Sanders said in a statement to reporters. "Staff will be able to conduct business on their government-issued devices and continue working hard on behalf of the American people." She added that the new policy demonstrated the Trump administration's commitment to security.New Trump NLRB Delivers on Employer Promises. For most of the Obama era, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) pushed the legal envelope on every front in order to promote the interests of labor unions. Under President Trump, once the board finally attained a Republican majority — even if only for a few days — that battered envelope began to be repaired. It took until this fall for President Trump to finally nominate and obtain Senate confirmation of two new Republicans to the board, employer attorneys Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel. Trump also finally nominated and got Peter B. Robb confirmed as the new NLRB General Counsel. Similar to the board members, the general counsel must be confirmed by the Senate. Like the board members, he will serve for a set term of four years and has substantial influence on the board's policy direction.Trump's EPA Has Cleaned Up Seven Of The Most Toxic Sites In The US. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partly or completely cleaned seven of the most toxic land sites, called Superfund sites, in the U.S. in 2017, according to the EPA. Of the seven sites designated for cleanup, three were completely cleansed, while four others still require some work. The cleanup effort is a significant improvement over the year prior when the EPA completely cleaned one Superfund site and parts of another.NeverTrumps Renamed: AlwaysDemocrats. President Donald Trump is approaching the end of his first year in the White House with an impressive list of accomplishments: a big tax cut, repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate, huge regulatory rollback, judicial appointments including Neil Gorsuch, the Keystone pipeline, Paris Accords withdrawal, ANWR drilling, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and a first bite at immigration reform.The strange career of Nellie H. Ohr, a veteran of Fusion GPS. Justice Department boss Bruce Ohr rose from obscurity when it became known that in 2016 he was embedded with Fusion GPS, compiler of the dossier on Donald Trump. Bruce's wife Nellie H. Ohr also worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 election, and quite possibly played a strategic role.Trump's Historic Success Appointing Federal Judges in 2017. Even President Donald Trump's critics cannot deny his historic success in 2017 in appointed judges to the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, exercising one of the greatest powers of the presidency in a way that will create a lasting legacy shaping the destiny of the nation. President Trump's clearest single victory on the judicial front was the successful nomination and confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. It began with the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. For voters, the issue of the courts went from the abstract to the concrete, and judicial appointments became a red-hot issue.Trump's Energy Success. One of the president's major successes is in the area of energy policy. Along with energy secretary Rick Perry, the president is overseeing the recovery of the American energy sector from the low point it hit under the Obama administration. By a combination of executive orders totally restrictiong drilling on federal lands and EPA assaults on fracking and coal-mining, including a total ban on mountaintop-mining, Obama prosecuted a "war" not just on coal, but on fossil fuels generally. Now America has become the largest producer of oil and gas and a major exporter of natural gas. The U.S. now produces significantly more hydrocarbons than second-place Russia and twice as much as Saudi Arabia. As coal-mining is restored, pipelines are laid, and new wells are drilled, hundreds of thousands of jobs are being created across the economy, not just in drilling and mining, but in support services. The effect on the economy is already being felt.Obama tops 2017 biggest losers. While his name has rarely been in the news in 2017, Obama's policies were nearly always in the headlines — or at least behind them. The economy, for example. It's hard not to notice the stock market's performance since Trump's win: A 250-point jump the next day, and up more than 6,000 points (more than 30 percent!) since Election Day. Not Inauguration Day — the day Trump policies would begin. No, the markets merely needed to know that the Obama-era policies were ending for the rally to start. And they were right, too. The economy has grown twice as fast under Trump than it ever did during any year of the Obama administration. Obama had eight years in power, pushed through major legislation like Obamacare and Dodd-Frank, doubled the national debt — and the economy grew at a pathetic 1.5 percent his last two years in office. Every day of over-the-top economic news in 2017 was a reminder of just how badly Obama under-performed as president.Underestimate Trump at your peril. Would you believe that during his first year as commander in chief, President Trump hosted 43 world leaders at the White House. In total, he engaged or met with 149 world leaders in 2017. In 183 calls, the president spoke with leaders from 51 countries. Not exactly the lack of connectivity his critics expected a year ago. When Trump won the election, his critics expressed great concern about his apparent lack of preparation and experience in foreign policy and national security. Even Republicans in the foreign policy and national security establishment were deeply opposed to the Trump presidency because they believed he lacked sufficient knowledge to lead.Trump's Momentous First Year. [Scroll down] An incomplete list:• The economy has taken an unprecedented move towards the better.• GDP is moving upwards. Most are forecasting close to 4% growth in 2018.• New jobs are increasing monthly.• Manufacturing jobs are returning to the country for the first time in thirty years.• The bleeding of corporations leaving the country has stopped.• Corporations have begun to reinvest in American factories and interests.• Trade deals are being renegotiated to our economic benefit.• The first major tax cut legislation in thirty years was just signed into law.• Massive amounts of regulation have been cut, spurring business optimism.• Consumer optimism is higher than in the past two decades.• The coal industry in our country has been revived.• Pipelines for oil have been released for construction completion.• We have expanded oil drilling, even in ANWAR.• We are virtually energy independent as a nation.• Our energy businesses have become exporters.• Our stock market is through the roof, up 30%, new highs almost daily.• Business optimism has not been higher. Atlas stopped shrugging.• The horrid Obamacare individual mandate was torpedoed.• Justice Neal Gorsuch was voted to the Supreme Court.• Trump appointed more judges in his first year than any other President.Trump's Deregulation Binge Is Lightening The Economy's Load. With all that was going on last week, maybe you missed this: President Trump has cut 22 regulations for every new one put on the books over the last year. It's a big reason why the economy is perking up.The media ice begins to crack a little. [Scroll down] Indeed, the narrative about occasional bright spots, like the soaring stock market — with the trend-setting Dow Jones Average already at 25,000 and some giddy analysts see an incredible average of 50,000 on the horizon — has been that, well, this doesn't have much to do with Trump policies and, besides, it should have been Barack Obama's stock market spectacular. The president is shaking up the judiciary, not just with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch, but with dozens of lower-court appointments, including several to the U.S. courts of appeal whose work will resonate through the law for decades.Trump's First Year vs. Obama's Eight Years. Here are just some of Trump's accomplishments in his first year: [#1] He has been reducing regulations as fast as he can to free up the private sector. He has opened pipelines and drilling. Where Obama was trying to bankrupt coal companies and harm fossil fuel companies, he is building them up. [#2] He scrapped the burdensome Paris Accord. [#3] He dumped the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. I have not seen any country that has reduced their trade or refused to trade with the U.S as a result. Trump correctly believes that we should negotiate in smaller groups so they can be easier to monitor and fix. [#4] He knocked the foundation out of Obamacare. While Trump has not been able to get rid of Obamacare, he has been whittling away. The tax bill gets rid of the individual mandate which may eventually kill it.The Death Rattle of Obama's Reputation. [Scroll down] By contrast, and to the surprise of just about everyone, the Trump administration has been tough on Russia. Trump has ordered harsh sanctions on Moscow's Iranian allies for violating United Nations resolutions — a course the Obama administration declined to take even if it allowed Hezbollah terrorists with direct links to Putin to operate with impunity. He ordered long overdue airstrikes on Putin's vassal regime in Syria, halting any further use of chemical weapons in the process. Trump not only declined to lift Obama-era sanctions on Moscow, as many feared he would, but expanded them. This administration closed Russian consulates and annexes in the United States. It has targeted Putin allies like Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov under the Magnitsky Act — the same act that Kremlin cutout Natalia Veselnitskaya lobbied the Trump campaign to scuttle. Trump has even gone so far as to open U.S. arms sales to Ukraine, representing a significant blow to Putin's ambitions in Europe. It is without a doubt that Trump now has a stronger record on Russia than Barack Obama ever did.Haley announces $285M cut in 2018-19 UN operating budget. Calling it "a big step in the right direction," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday night announced a historic reduction in the U.N. biennial operating budget. Haley said the plan calls for a $285 million cut for the 2018-19 fiscal year. "The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known," Haley said. "We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked."Why the Remaining NeverTrumpers Should Apologize Now. More conservative goals have been achieved or put in motion in eleven months than in any time in recent, or even distant, memory. It's an astonishing reversal for our country accompanied by the beginnings of an economic boom. But that same success is causing, it's becoming increasingly clear, an equally determined, even virulent, reaction from the left. At first they too thought Trump was an ineffectual blowhard who would shoot himself in the foot, ultimately redounding to their advantage. Now that they have found that not to be the case, they are in a state of panic, fearing a defeat for their ideals that would set them back years, even decades. They cannot let this stand and are marshaling all their forces from the media to Hollywood to the academy, not to mention at least some of the investigative units of the FBI.Trump taxes Harvard. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Harvard will have to pay taxes next year on that $37 billion endowment it has. For centuries, Harvard has solicited tax-exempt donations from the wealthy under the guise of funding the university. But instead of just building buildings or covering operating costs, Harvard invests the money, and the money has piled up. That's good for the people who get paid to invest the money. But was that the intention of the donors? While the university sits on $37 billion, undergraduate students are paying $63,025 a year for tuition and room and board. Republicans decided to tax Harvard's earnings on the endowment. The howling is long and loud.Harvard Gets No Sympathy for Complaining About New Tax on Its Endowment. Harvard's endowment reaches into the tens of billions. They can complain about the new tax plan but very few people are feeling their pain.Trump is determined to push 'Merry Christmas' greeting backing away from more inclusive 'happy holidays' messages. There's no mistaking President Donald Trump's 'Merry Christmas' message — he wields it as a weapon against political correctness. For weeks, he's been liberally sprinkling his public remarks with Christmas tidings. And then pointing it out in case anyone fails to notice. Trump has long promised that this year would be different after what he saw as a trend toward giving the Christian celebration short shrift in favor of a more generic and inclusive 'happy holidays' message.A refreshing change from the previous president.Trump Spent Christmas Eve Personally Thanking Hundreds Of Armed Service Members Around The World. Donald Trump is spending Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, or as he calls it, "The Winter White House." Being in sunny Florida did not stop Trump from reaching out to hundreds of members of the armed service around the globe, some in active war zones. Trump spoke via video teleconference to rooms packed full of service members stationed in Qatar, Kuwait, Guantanamo Bay and the USS Sampson in 5th Fleet OPS Underway, according to the pool report. Trump spoke to five deployed units, one from each branch.'We say Merry Christmas again very, very proudly': 'Trump sends holiday greetings to the troops. President Trump kicked off his Christmas Eve at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida by participating in a video conference with American troops stationed around the world. 'I just want to wish everybody a very, very merry Christmas,' the president said. 'We say "Merry Christmas" again, very, very proudly,' Trump added, repeating his position on saying 'Merry Christmas' over 'Happy Holidays.' The president spoke to various rooms full of military personnel — one from each branch — based in Qatar, Kuwait, in Guantanamo Bay and aboard the USS Sampson, per the White House pool report.RNC Chairwoman: Trump's first year as president is a historic success. Since President Trump was elected, Democrats have done nothing but reject, obstruct and resist — kicking and screaming every step of the way. Yet that has not deterred our president. In fact, he has kept his eye on the prize: prioritizing the very people who put him in office. Because of that, he has had a historically successful first year in office. President Trump just delivered the biggest set of tax cuts in over 30 years, after rallying Congress and the American people around a plan that puts more money into our pockets. He has cut 10 regulations for each new one added, saving the country billions of dollars.Trump's making American mining great again. Lost amid this week's tumultuous vote on a tax-cut bill, President Trump signed an executive order that may be even more important: guaranteeing America has a reliable supply of the critical materials needed to produce modern-era weapons as well as popular consumer goods. The executive order, signed on Wednesday, follows a report by the United States Geological Survey that — not for the first time — identifies 23 critical materials, including metals, minerals and so-called rare earth elements (REEs) that America, once the world's leading source of rare earths, no longer produces. The reason: China, our main trade nemesis and a potential future military enemy, can provide them cheaper.And ... Presto! Tax Cuts Already Working Their Magic. Just one day after the tax bill was finally passed, companies were already scrambling to do things with their money. It's an impressive list and, no doubt, not comprehensive: [...] As for support, some 255 groups and major corporations have weighed in with support for the tax cuts, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. While it is true many of the actual tax changes won't be in effect for this tax year, many individuals will feel the benefits starting as early as February.Trump ends the War on Fossil Fuels and we all come out winners. For eight long years, President Obama waged a relentless war on the fossil fuels that provide us with the abundant, affordable and efficient energy that makes modern American life possible. One of President Trump's greatest accomplishments has been to end that ill-advised war, and now his actions are bringing about a peace dividend that will benefit us all. By terminating President Obama's Climate Action Plan, Clean Power Plan, biased climate research and other programs, as well as withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, President Trump will save the American people billions of dollars.Trump Effect: Apple Looking To Bring $252 Billion In Foreign Cash Back To USA After Landmark Tax Bill. Well, here's another one. For all the scowling that Apple's Tim Cook did during those Tech council meetings, he might not be able to feign outrage over the Republican president any longer. It has now become affordable for Apple to fulfill a longtime goal and repatriate $252 B[illion] in cash that currently sits overseas.Trump administration scraps organic food regulations. The Trump administration has stuck a fork in new regulations requiring that "certified organic" cows and chickens have enough room to spread their wings and hooves. The Obama-era rules required that organic poultry have enough room to run around, while livestock sold under the label had to have year-round access to an outdoor space and comfy indoor pens, The Hill reports. The regulations were supposed to go into effect March 20, but the Department of Agriculture delayed them three times and on Friday officially announced its intention to put them out to pasture — arguing they will "hamper market-driven innovation and evolution and impose unnecessary regulatory burdens."Year One List: 81 major Trump achievements, 11 Obama legacy items repealed. With the passage of the GOP tax bill this week, the Trump administration has scored 81 major achievements in its first year, making good on campaign promises to provide significant tax cuts, boost U.S. energy production, and restore respect to the United States, according to the White House. And along the way, President Trump even outdid his own expectations and slashed at least 11 major legacy items of former President Barack Obama, including cracking down on the open border, slowing recognition of communist Cuba and effectively killing Obamacare by ending the mandate that everyone have health insurance or face a tax. According to the White House, the 81 accomplishments are in 12 major categories and include well over 100 other minor achievements.Strategic patience is dead — long live America first. As President Trump unveiled our nation's new national security strategy today, it is apparent that it is unlike any national security strategy we have seen since the end of the Cold War. After we won that ideological conflict the day the Berlin Wall was breached on Nov. 9, 1989, we began a steady decline in our capacity to think and act strategically. That decline has ended. The 1990s were dominated by an astrategic focus on "peace dividends" without a focus on what national security meant without a Soviet Union or Warsaw Pact to focus our attention. After 9/11, the Bush White House followed an incredibly ahistoric and naive neoconservative policy based upon the idea that American-style representative government could be imposed, at the end of a gun barrel, on countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.Trump's first year is starting to look like a big win. Republicans have tried, on and off, to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling since the 1980s. The effort has always engendered intense opposition and always been abandoned. A provision for drilling in ANWR is included in the Republican tax bill almost as an afterthought. Republicans took a constitutional fight against ObamaCare's individual mandate to the Supreme Court in 2012, and lost. They targeted it in their ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill earlier this year, and lost. They tried again with a last-ditch "skinny repeal" bill, and lost yet again. Repeal of the individual mandate is also included in the Republican tax bill. As the year ends, President Trump is compiling a solid record of accomplishment.Trump makes 1,579 regulations disappear. Cutting the corporate tax rate by 40% is a great accomplishment which will give U.S. companies and foreign investors an excellent reason to invest trillions — yes, trillions — in the U.S. economy. But let us not overlook Donald Trump's greatest economic accomplishment as president: cutting the arms off the regulatory octopus that strangles our nation.Super-MAGA-nomics: American Economic Optimism Soars, Main Street is Back. Last Friday the New York Federal Reserve raised its estimate of U.S. GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2017 to four percent. That's officially the unattainable, impossible magic-wand-level of GDP growth all the 'experts' said was impossible. Why did they make that 'unexpected upward' re-re-re-revision? Because the underlying economic activity represents facts that cannot be denied. The economy is on-the-move.Trump National Security Strategy is Reagan's third term. On Monday afternoon [12/18/2017], President Trump will release his comprehensive National Security Strategy (NSS), delivering a speech on the document that will likely shape his foreign policy. Conservative Review received an advance draft of the strategy memo prior to the president's expected Monday afternoon speech. The NSS is very much Reaganesque in its policy prescriptions, but it's also formulated to adopt many of President Trump's proposals that he discussed on the campaign trail and during his first year in office.Trump Cuts 22 Regs for Every New One. The administration has cut 22 regulations for every new rule introduced, President Donald Trump announced at the White House Thursday [12/14/2017]. Agencies and departments issued 67 deregulatory actions and imposed only three new rules in fiscal year 2017, according to senior administration officials. The number far exceeded Trump's goal through his executive order to cut two old rules for any new regulation proposed. While making the announcement, Trump stood beside a mountain of paperwork that makes up the Federal Register. A piece of red tape connected a much smaller pile, which represented the regulatory code in 1960. "Within the first eleven months, we canceled or delayed over 1,500 planned regulatory actions, more than any previous president, by far," Trump said. "And you see the results, when you look at the stock market, the results of companies, and when you see companies coming back into our country."Republicans Just Gotta Stop Clobbering Each Other Like the Three Stooges. Remember the Warren Court of the 1960s? Imagine if Hillary now had the power to name Obama (Barack or Michelle), Eric Holder, or Elizabeth Warren to the Court. (Bill Clinton was disbarred, so ineligible.) Let the Left dream on. Hundreds of millions in cash no longer fly first-class, secretly stacked in wooden pallets, as ransom to Iranian mullahs. We no longer sign ill-conceived multilateral deals that abandon our economic rights while destroying our manufacturing base and closing down our factories at home. Billions no longer sink in Solyndra-type pipe dreams. The EPA no longer strangles the economy, even as the Keystone XL pipeline now proceeds, and parts of ANWR prepare for exploration. Clean coal is being revived, hydraulic fracturing is being advanced, and we are moving towards energy independence ending our reliance on brutal dictatorships and barbaric sheikdoms. Suffocating Obama-era regulations are being shredded. Illegal immigration along the southern border has plummeted dramatically, and the wall is moving forward — not as rapidly as we wish, but advancing. When an illegal immigrant dirtbag, who had been deported five times before and convicted on felony charges seven previous times, kills a sweet girl on a San Francisco pier and gets acquitted by a local jury, we now have a Justice Department that promptly brings new federal charges to incarcerate him anyway. The tax cut's impact will be felt across the economy over the next several years, bursting the media's calculated misinformation. Consumer confidence has rebounded from the Obama-Kerry-Pelosi Years to resounding highs, economic growth is well over three percent, and the past year's stock market boom reflects the dramatic rebound.On the Left, It Is All Hysteria, All the Time. Bears Ears is not a monument in any normal sense; it comprises over 2,000 square miles in southern Utah, more than twice the area of the State of Rhode Island. The Trump administration's Interior Department has reduced the size of the Bears Ears monument to a more manageable 201,876 acres — still really big for a monument — and the Left has gone bonkers. [...] But here's the thing: There was no Bears Ears national monument until December 28, 2016, when President Obama created it by presidential proclamation less than two weeks before he left office. The Trump administration's order restores the status quo as of December 27, 2016, only with a 201,876 acre "monument." In a sane world, no one would try to make the case that this represents some kind of outrage, let alone something illegal.Putin thanks Trump by phone for info that thwarted terror attack, WH confirms. Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Trump on Sunday to thank him for providing intelligence that helped thwart a planned terror attack in St. Petersburg, the White House says. The call was confirmed to Fox News and other news outlets early Saturday afternoon [12/16/2017] by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who later said the intelligence was a CIA tip related to a series of planned bombings. Sanders later released a "readout" of the call that stated the leaders agreed while talking that the sharing of the tip "serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together."Trump Has Made Our Government More Moral. After a year of Trump, the economy is in high gear, stocks are up, unemployment is down, energy production is up, business expansion is up and so on; ISIS — which took more than 23,000 square miles of territory after Obama left Iraq and refused to intervene in Syria — is now in control of a Port-o-San and a book of matches; 19 constitutionalist judges have been appointed and 40 more nominated; the biggest regulatory rollback in American history has been launched (boring but yugely important); the rule of law has been re-established at the border; we're out of the absurd and costly Paris Accord; net neutrality, the most cleverly named government power grab ever, is gone; our foreign policy is righted and revitalized; and a mainstream news media that had become little more than the information arm of the Democratic Party is in self-destructive disarray. If the tax bill passes before Christmas, it will cap an unbelievable string of conservative successes.Trump Opens Up 80,000 White-Collar Jobs to Americans. The administration's decision to reverse President Barack Obama's expansion of the H-1B program has been met with criticism by advocates for cheap foreign white-collar labor. The pro-American decision by President Donald Trump's deputies will launch a lengthy regulatory process which will open up roughly 80,000 jobs to Americans graduates over the next two years. In 2015, Obama's deputies began awarding H4 work permits to the spouses of H-1B guest-workers who manage to get into the line for residency and green cards. The H4 program did not have any approval from Congress but was one part of Obama's pro-immigration strategy.Trump Admin To Remove Climate Change From List Of National Security Threats. The Trump administration will reverse course from previous Obama administration policy, eliminating climate change from a list of national security threats. The National Security Strategy to be released on Monday [12/18/2017] will emphasize the importance of balancing energy security with economic development and environmental protection, according to a source who has seen the document and shared excerpts of a late draft. "Climate policies will continue to shape the global energy system," a draft of the National Security Strategy slated to be released on Monday said. "U.S. leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth, energy agenda that is detrimental to U.S. economic and energy security interests. Given future global energy demand, much of the developing world will require fossil fuels, as well as other forms of energy, to power their economies and lift their people out of poverty."FCC votes to repeal net neutrality rules. The FCC voted 3-2 along party lines Thursday [12/14/2017] to scrap its 2015 Open Internet Order as Democratic lawmakers and dozens of activists protested outside. In a dramatic moment, the meeting was abruptly evacuated in the middle of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's remarks ahead of the vote. Reporters and attendees were forced to exit the hearing room and leave their belongings as police brought in K-9 units to sweep the room. Attendees were allowed to re-enter the room within 15 minutes of the evacuation. The FCC declined to comment on the reasons for the evacuation.Toxic Hatred of Trump a Sign of Non Compos Mentis. [Scroll down] The fact is there should be no 'Never Trumpers' since his election. Those seeking to remove him via impeachment are nothing less than treasonous, self-serving, petulant, and just plain stupid. President Trump may be brash, outspoken and prone to politically incorrect tweets but he has done nothing wrong. I'm glad he tweets because he takes his point directly to the people without it being filtered by a hostile press which by the way manages to tweet faux news on a daily basis. In fact, President Trump has been incredibly effective in restoring the country to its former relevance. The stock market is booming; employment is the highest in years and unemployment is at its lowest. Yet those calling for his impeachment after his having been in office less than a year are displaying evidence of being non compos mentis. One can almost understand why the Democrats are devastated by his ascent to the presidency but the outcry among the GOP elite is not only inexplicable but downright destructive to progress.Obama still doesn't get it — optimism, not whining, grows an economy. President Obama will never understand what happened on Election Day, and why the country's mood brightened. But it's important that our policymakers understand. Trump's victory resulted in a sea change in expectations, setting off a benevolent chain reaction which continues to this day. That fact alone makes this undeniably Trump's economy.Trump's 'Inclusive' Jobs Boom. With 228,000 jobs created in November, joblessness at a 17-year low of 4.1% and wages rising, it can no longer really be doubted: Donald Trump's relentless focus on tax cuts, deregulation and draining the swamp is great for job growth.Trump shrinks national monuments — and with it, Obama's legacy. Trump's reportedly trimming Bears Ears by 85 percent, from 1.35 million acres to 201,397 acres, and Grand Staircase from 1.9 million acres to 997,490 acres. This is a big win for those in America concerned about private property rights and states' rights, and the growing trend of a federal government to use an outdated 1906 law to run roughshod over the Constitution and Founding Father intents. Basically, the reel-backs mean the property will once again be opened for public use, rather than set off-limits for special interests. And after all, wasn't that supposed to be the whole reason behind the Antiquities Act in the first place, to set aside properties deemed worthy of protection for the benefit of all the people? Let's hope more scale-backs are soon in coming.Trump's quietly courageous visit to Mississippi. Rejecting a massive claque of criticism, President Trump went anyway to the opening of the new civil rights museum in Jackson, Mississippi, to praise the "brave men and women" of the civil rights movement. It says something about the partisan politics of the nation that that act took some bravery, too, and Trump was up to the challenge.CNN: False Reporting is the New Normal. Remember when, under the presidency of Barack Obama, we were told that high unemployment rates and sluggish growth of the economy was the new normal? We were told that there was nothing that could be done about it. Two terms of the brilliant blind lashing out against the problems we faced as a nation by the messiah, Obama, could not fix it, so it could not be fixed. Get used to it, misery is now life as we know it. In less than a year under the Donald J. Trump administration's efforts, the current 4.1% unemployment rate is the lowest we've seen in 17 years. Unemployment claims have fallen to the lowest level in 43 years. The economy has been improving at a rate greater than what was accomplished during any of the years Obama was president, and with tax cuts on the horizon, a sudden boost to the economy is ready to roar. Meanwhile, in mainstream-media-land, there have been none of these reports.Good Taste Returns to the White House this Christmas. hough the hate-filled press would like you to think otherwise, this Christmas we have witnessed a return to a classic sense of style at the White House. The much-discussed Trump Christmas decor has contributed to this proper and appropriate appreciation of style which — as opposed to fashion — is timeless. Adam Flusser, the master of sartorial propriety, taught us certain standards complement our humanity. Style is higher than fashion because style comports itself with something eternal; something that is in accord timeless and elegant principles.160 Trump Accomplishments In 300+ Days. Americans are subjected to a relentless drumbeat from the Democratic Party, amplified by virtually the entire establishment press, that Trump is not only undisciplined, unfit for office and possibly racist, but that embarrassingly little has been accomplished by the Trump administration. And while he has befuddled and disappointed some — with major promises such as Obamacare repeal and a border wall unfulfilled or put on the backburner — the stunning reality is this: Donald Trump has amassed a long and remarkable list of actions and accomplishments that will surprise average Americans, even those who support the president and consider themselves well-informed politically.You won't hear much about this in the media, but Donald Trump is deporting Somali Muslim illegal/criminal aliens. There are tens of thousands, maybe more, Somali Muslim freeloaders/jihadists mostly living off welfare in Minnesotastan and the Trump Administration has already begin deporting many of them, with 5,000 more scheduled.Trump's Great and Ingenious Gifts. Trump's gift to Israel is not merely that 68 years after Israel declared Jerusalem its capital, the US finally recognized Israel's capital. In his declaration, Trump said, "Israel has made its capital in the city of Jerusalem, the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times." By stating this simple truth, Trump fully rejected the anti-Israel legacy of his predecessor Barack Obama. In his speech in Cairo in 2009, Obama intimated that Israel's legitimacy is rooted in the Holocaust, rather than in the Jewish nation's millennial attachment to the Land of Israel. Whereas the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations Mandate rooted the Jewish people's sovereign rights to the Land of Israel in its 3,500-year relationship with it, Obama said that Israel is nothing more than a refugee camp located in an inconvenient area. In so doing, he gave credence to the anti-Israel slander that Israel is a colonialist power. By asserting the real basis for Israel's legitimacy, Trump made clear that the Jewish people is indigenous to the Land of Israel. He also made it US policy to view Israel's right to exist, like its right to its capital city, as unconditional.Also posted under Barack H. Obama is no friend of Israel.Terrorists Are Losing Big, And It's All Thanks To Our Military's Liberation From Obama-Era Policies. The military is celebrating their return to excellence as they roll over ISIS like the terrorist group is merely trash in the street. According to members of the military, this is all thanks to the unleashing of Mattis, and the removal of Obama-era policies that hampered them. According to Fox News, the military's mishandling at the hands of the Obama administration allowed the world's public enemy number one to regroup after defeats, prolonging their existence and putting even more lives in danger. "Hundreds of ISIS fighters had just been chased out of a northern Syrian city and were fleeing through the desert in long convoys, presenting an easy target to U.S. A-10 "warthogs," said Fox News of an event that occurred in August of last year. "But the orders to bomb the black-clad jihadists never came, and the terrorists melted into their caliphate — living to fight another day."Trump delivers. Yes of course President Trump came through and delivered as promised on Jerusalem. He said he would. He said he would name Jerusalem the capital of Israel (later the Embassy, but that's just detail)... and skeptics beware. This man, this president, means what he says.A Time for War: The Gathering Storm. [Scroll down] If you had told me the list of what he's accomplished in his first year, two years ago, I would have said you were delusional. If you had told me the left would have become totally unhinged, to the point where they make fools of themselves daily, spinning furiously about how Vladimir Putin controls Trump, I would have said you were daft. If you had told me the left would never accept their loss, I would have laughed. If you had told me we would already be experiencing 3%+ growth, close to 25% increase in the stock market, that we'd be out of the Paris Climate Accords, becoming energy independent, had a great replacement for former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia while remaking the judiciary, getting tax cuts, voting out the Obamacare mandate, remaking the Middle East, that China would help us with Rocket Man, that illegal immigration would be cut by 75% to the lowest level in some 42 years (and that without the wall), that Trump would have driven the media to commit institutional suicide daily, all the while the left pulls its hair out on an hourly basis, I would have said you're a little torched. Trust me, this is almost miraculous.President Trump Hid A Massive Troll Of Obama In His White House Christmas Decorations. Candidate Trump promised many times on the campaign trail that, as president, he would have America saying "Merry Christmas" again. Trump has certainly made good on that promise, regularly using the greeting in speeches and statements. When the Trump's released their official presidential Christmas card, the words Merry Christmas were front and center, emblazoned in gold. Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, sent out eight official presidential Christmas cards in his tenure. None of them said "Merry Christmas." The distinction was cheered by conservative pundits and traditionalist who thought the Obama approach to Christmas was too "politically correct" and "inclusive."In [a] year of chaos, Trump's boost to [the] economy can't be denied. According to the official numbers, the economy is growing moderately well, compared with the weak growth during the Obama administration. The gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the third quarter in 2017. That followed the second quarter's 3.1 percent. So far, the fourth quarter is humming along at an annualized growth rate of 3.2 percent, according to projections. Job growth has also been moderately good, although the hurricanes this fall are making it hard to determine just how good.Highest Single-Month Manufacturing Jobs Gains in 15 Years. The November jobs reports are coming out and the results are Bigly remarkable. Manufacturing job growth in November was 40,000 new jobs. That's the highest single month jobs growth in over 15 years. These manufacturing jobs are higher wage jobs. This is the blue-collar-billionaire economic outcome President Trump has been working toward within every economic proposal, policy and initiative. The first wave of companies (large and small manufacturers of American products) to jump on the Trump economic initiatives, have invested and begun building-out their capacity. Now we begin to see those companies hiring workers to create the products and services.3 Presidents Before Trump Promised To Move U.S. Embassy To Jerusalem. The critics of Donald Trump attacked his decision. Meanwhile, the truth is, that for decades, some of the most beloved Democrats have used the promise of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a way to get votes. In 1999, while campaigning for New York's US Senate seat, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a letter, that she considered Jerusalem to be the "eternal and indivisible capital of Israel" and will be an active advocate — if elected to New York's Senate seat — to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. [...] As it turns out, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama (twice) also made the same promise. The only problem is, none of them had the courage to do it.Border crossing hits 45-year low. Illegal border crossing tumbled to a 45-year low and interior arrests of illegal immigrants soared in 2017, according to data released Tuesday that showed President Trump's enforcement crackdown netted tangible results during his first year on the job. The numbers, released by the Department of Homeland Security, reflected a stunning turnaround from the nearly nonexistent interior enforcement of immigration laws under President Obama. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 310,531 apprehensions nationwide in fiscal 2017, which ended Sept. 30, a decline of 25 percent from a year earlier and the lowest level since 1971.Arrests along Mexico border drop sharply under Trump, new statistics show. The number people caught trying to sneak over the border from Mexico has fallen to the lowest level in 46 years, according to Homeland Security statistics released Tuesday that offer the first comprehensive look at how immigration enforcement is changing under the Trump administration. During the government's 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, U.S. border agents made 310,531 arrests, a decline of 24 percent from the previous year and the fewest overall since 1971. The figures show a sharp drop in arrests immediately following President Trump's election win, possibly reflecting the deterrent effect of his rhetoric on would-be border crossers, though starting in May the number of people taken into custody began increasing again.Utah 'Monument' Was a Reward to a Clinton Donor. The shrinking in size of two national monuments in Utah by President Trump through executive order was a long overdue rebuke to federal land grabs that have enabled federal control of vast swaths of American land, particularly in the West. [...] President Trump, who has unlocked much of America's resources that were formerly held hostage by greenies and others, has decided to return to the people of Utah control of and decision-making power over the land of Utah, so you no longer need permission from a Beltway bureaucrat to pick up a rock and move it one foot to the left.Trump dramatically shrinks Bears Ears National Monument and slashes another by half in the name of 'states' rights'. President Donald Trump unveiled a plan Monday in Utah to dramatically scale back two national monuments — calling it an important move for 'states' rights.' 'Some people think that the natural resources of Utah should be controlled by a small handful of very distant bureaucrats located in Washington. And guess what? They're wrong,' he said in the cavernous Utah Capitol Rotunda in Salt Lake City. 'The families and communities of Utah know and love this land the best. And you know the best how to take care of your land. You know how to protect it, and you know best how to conserve this land for many, many generations to come,' he said.Trump's Plan To Overhaul National Monuments Law Is All About 'Righting Past Overreach'. When President Donald Trump speaks in Utah on Monday, he will not only be resizing two controversial national monuments, his administration will also be making major changes to how federal lands are managed. Trump will sign orders to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments as recommended by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. However, that's only the first step in the administration's plan for the Antiquities Act. In the coming months, the Department of the Interior (DOI) will begin a larger conversation about how the Antiquities Act of 1906 is implemented once the president designates a national monument, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.Trump is not 'shrinking a monument', he's reversing a shameless federal land grab. The media are wetting themselves today because President Trump is "shrinking federal monuments." You'd think he was taking an axe to the Washington Monument and chopping it down. But there are real monuments and then there are shameless federal land-grabs that get labeled "monuments" before a gullible news media that gladly adopt whatever language a Democratic president uses to spin his actions. The Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments were just that. There are elements of these pieces of land that have some historical value, but Bill Clinton and Barack Obama exploited that to declare massive swaths of land part of the "monuments," which put them almost completely under federal control over the objection of the State of Utah and all of Utah's congressional delegation. There was no cultural purpose to this. None. It was strictly an excuse to expand federal control over land.Supreme Court Allows Latest Travel Ban To Take Full And Immediate Effect. The U.S. Supreme Court Monday [12/4/2017] allowed the latest iteration of President Donald Trump's travel ban to take full effect for the time being, as lower courts continue to wrestle with lawsuits fighting the ban. The order permits the administration to enforce the president's September proclamation, which suspends entry of foreign nationals from seven nations, including Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor noted their dissent from the Court's decision.Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban' allowed by US Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to enforce his controversial "Muslim ban". The ban is now set to go into "full effect", although it is not clear on what timescale this will happen. Legal challenges against the controversial measure are still making their way through the US courts, and have not yet reached the Supreme Court.In a Win for Trump, Supreme Court Upholds 'Extreme Vetting' Travel Ban. President Donald Trump won a big victory Monday in the Supreme Court, which upheld his "extreme vetting" on immigration into the United States. The dispute over the policy stemmed from its application to six majority-Muslim countries. Lower federal courts in California, Hawaii, and Maryland ruled the ban was unconstitutional. In September, the administration revised the policy to add North Korea, Venezuela, and Chad to the list. It dropped Sudan and kept Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.Supreme Court Rules Full Enforcement of Trump Travel Ban Can Go Into Effect. The supreme court has granted a stay against all lower court rulings allowing the full President Trump travel and VISA ban to go into effect. This is a BIG win for President Trump.The Dow hits a new high, for the 63rd time under Trump. The Trump economy is cracking — GDP growth is on track to top 3 percent for three quarters running. We haven't seen that since 2004, and the Dow Jones average has just pierced 24,000. Privates businesses are optimistic and poised to invest with passage of the tax cuts. They have broken free from the Obama-era pessimism about free markets and capitalism. This has big consequences for ordinary investors. Even with stocks up overall more than 20 percent this year, this is no time to sell.Donald Trump Dumps Michelle O's Lunch Rule and Brings Chocolate Milk Back to Lunchrooms. The Trump administration is ending yet another of Michelle Obama's hated, overly strict school lunch rules by bringing chocolate milk back to school lunch menus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday [11/30/2017] announced a new rule set to take effect on July 1 after the period of public comment. The new rule relaxes sodium limits and Obama's whole-grain requirements. The rule will also allow milk with one percent fat back on the menu, ABC News reported.Trump makes good on vow to wish America 'Merry Christmas'. Ringing in the holidays for the first time from Washington, President Donald Trump lit the National Christmas Tree Thursday evening, wishing the country "a Merry Christmas" — as he vowed to do during his campaign.Repealing Obama's Net Neutrality a Blow for Freedom. The FCC is expected to vote and approve on December 14 Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to end the so-called "net neutrality" rules imposed by President Obama's FCC in 2015. This has provoked howls from liberals and tech giants that this is a blow for Internet freedom and another boon for big business. It is exactly the opposite. It is in fact a boon for economic and political freedom as are all the other Obama-era regulations rescinded by the Trump administration that have promoted economic growth and lessened our dependency on big government.Mining up 28.6 percent — in a single quarter. Those jobs aren't coming back the liberal liars scolded us. Hillary and Obama wanted tor retrain coal miners as computer programmers. We elected Trump, and in April, May and June alone, mining increased 28.6 percent.Merry Christmas is back at the White House: Trumps unveil their card with no repeat of the Obamas' Happy Holidays. On Monday [11/27/2017], the Trump family debuted their holiday card, which wishes Americans a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, instead of the generic, more politically correct, 'Happy Holidays.' That's different from last year's card sent out by President Obama, which included a family photo and wished Americans a 'joyous holiday season.'Change Agent Rex Tillerson Takes Rusted State Dept. Down To Frame — "Career Diplomats" Apoplectic. Oh yeah, the New York Times writes about the bloated bureaucracy and career diplomats being removed from the U.S. State Department as if it's a bad thing. The condescending DC elites cannot fathom why they are unable to stop Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from cutting the rust out of the enterprise and streamlining the mission. No one, repeat NO ONE, could have pulled off what T-Rex is accomplishing except T-Rex himself; with the full support of President Trump, of course.President Trump Ends Free Money for Immigrants. The degradation of America coincides with our idiotic immigration policy of "just get here and you're better than our citizens". Well no longer. In his weekly address president Trump announced an immigration bill that will create a merit-based Green Card system. The new system will end the abuse to our welfare system.Mueller might be the one who's 'draining the swamp'. President Trump famously promised that, if elected president, he would "drain the swamp" — upending the culture in Washington that favors the well-connected. It is special counsel Robert S. Mueller III whose work seems to be sending shock waves through the capital, by exposing the lucrative work lobbyists from both parties engage in on behalf of foreign interests. The Mueller probe has already claimed its first K Street casualty: Tony Podesta.Trump Mentions 'God' 9 Times In Thanksgiving Message — Here's How Many Times Obama Did The Same. President Tump released his Thanksgiving message to the country Thursday morning [11/23/2017]. The message included a full-throated defense of his policies, the military and the future of the country. The president mentioned "God" nine times and "prayer" twice in his message. [...] In contrast, in last year's Thanksgiving message, President Obama mentioned "God" only once and never once mentioned prayer.One has to wonder: Is Obama a Christian?What Michelle Obama Called A Prison, Melania Trump Calls An Honor. Melania Trump, in an interview with CNN during her and President Trump's recent trip to Asia, said it's an "honor" to serve as the first lady.Anti-Trump Chihuahuas Overlook the President's Many Achievements. The anti-Trump chihuahuas keep yammering about his tweets, his being in cahoots with Putin, and his not understanding the complexities of foreign affairs. But this summary of Donald Trump's achievements in just 10 months is difficult to gainsay: ["]Economic growth has been over 3 percent the last two quarters and is going higher. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 17 years. The stock market has gained trillions of dollars in value since my election and has reached record highs. We are massively increasing our military budget to historic levels. The House has just passed a nearly $700 billion defense package, and it could not come at a better time for our nation. Once again our country is optimistic about the future, confident in our values, and proud of our history and role in the world.["]Trump ends the War on Fossil Fuels and we all come out winners. For eight long years, President Obama waged a relentless war on the fossil fuels that provide us with the abundant, affordable and efficient energy that makes modern American life possible. One of President Trump's greatest accomplishments has been to end that ill-advised war, and now his actions are bringing about a peace dividend that will benefit us all. By terminating President Obama's Climate Action Plan, Clean Power Plan, biased climate research and other programs, as well as withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, President Trump will save the American people billions of dollars. Already, the fossil fuels peace dividend is creating growing employment, a resurgent economy and rising wages. America's ingenuity and muscle are once again being unleashed, after being shackled for years by the Big Government regulators of the Obama administration.Trump Shines in Foreign Policy. Remember ISIS? When Obama left office, it was still a growing network of eager sadistic killers, with secret sponsorship by Turkey, by some Gulf Arab regimes, the Wahhabi radicals, and by the Iranians. Today a lot of those boastful YouTube killers are just smoking splotches in the sand. A single MOAB bomb was dropped on a mountain tunnel complex in Afghanistan, apparently a clean target with no "weddings" going on. The day afterwards the media said that 94 ISIS killers died, but that assumes that somebody had already cleaned up that collapsed tunnel structure; not a chance. So a hundred or more of the worst human beings since Hitler died in one big explosion. Most important, the United States sent a strong signal of determination. Trump-Mattis announced a strategy of "surround and kill the enemy in place." For mass-murdering criminals there will be no mercy.Trump's First Year In Office Has Been Wildly Successful. On the economic front, consumer confidence has hit its highest level in 17 years. Over one million jobs have been created. The post-election stock market rally is the second largest since the Kennedy administration. The destructive tariffs and trade wars conservatives feared have not materialized. Tax reform awaits congressional Republicans' whipping the votes. On the so-called social issues, Trump repealed the Obama mandate that forced states to fund Planned Parenthood, and he reinstated the Mexico City Policy that protects U.S. taxpayers from having to fund abortions overseas. Unlike his predecessor, Trump has refrained from refashioning the White House into a giant glowing rainbow to celebrate activist judges' abuse of the Constitution. Quite to the contrary, Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, an originalist justice in the tradition Antonin Scalia. He's also appointed 12 other textualist judges to the lower courts, and many others who await confirmation.Poll: Dem favorability drops to lowest point in 25 years. Only 37 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, according to a new survey. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS found favorable views of the Democrats are at their lowest point in the poll in more than 25 years. A majority, 54 percent, have an unfavorable view of the Democrats, according to the poll. About one-third of liberals have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party.Why the Left Has Been So Wrong About the Trump Boom. Are the editors at Time and the Times so ideologically blinded that they are incapable of connecting the dots? The U.S. economic revival of 3 percent growth has already defied the predictions of almost every Donald Trump critic. I vividly remember debating Hillary Clinton's economic gurus during the campaign: They accused Trump and advisers such as myself of "lying" when we said that pro-growth policies would speed up economic growth to 3 to 4 percent. Jason Furman, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, told reporters earlier this year that the chances of reaching 3 percent growth over a decade were about 1 in 25 — which is what many political experts said was Trump's chance of winning the election. Another Obama economist, Alan Krueger, called the 3 percent growth forecast "extremely rosy."Trump's spectacular first year. Upon election last November 8, President Trump did something none of his predecessors did. He began his presidency the very next day. From high atop Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, Trump held court with businessmen, celebrities, and the prime minister of Japan. The stock market soared. The economy rebounded because after eight years of Marxism, capitalism was back, baby, and kicking down the door.Donald Trump's administration set to deport 300,000 refugees from US. Donald Trump's government has announced around 300,000 refugees living in the country can be deported over the next few months. The US State Department said that Central Americans and Haitians granted temporary status, some who have lived in the country for 20 years, could now be sent to their home countries. They had originally been given Temporary Protected Status because their nations had been deemed unstable due to armed conflict and natural disasters.Burying "Sue And Settle". Whether you consider yourself pro-regulation, anti-regulation or something in between, chances are you're in favor of clear, open rules. Whatever the policy a particular government agency is following, it should be transparent to all, right? That's why we should be grateful that Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recently announced the demise of "sue and settle." It's a legal strategy that environmental groups have been using for years to impose new regulations quietly — and to enrich their allies in the process.Trump's a Big Mouth; Journalists are Villains. I don't like bullies and I prefer a president who thinks before he opens his mouth. I do, on the other hand, very much like many of the things Trump has accomplished: the great judicial nominations, the taming of the regulatory state, the restoration of the rule of law at the border, leaving the silly Paris accord, the annihilation of ISIS, the attempts to hurry the implosion of Obamacare by suspending utterly illegal payments to insurance companies, calling out the NFL on its lack of patriotism, and calling out the media on a leftward bias that now amounts to simple malfeasance and corruption. That's an awful lot of good stuff, and it surely makes up for the big mouthery.Melania Trump cuts bloated first lady payroll from Michelle Obama days. According to a Fox News analysis of White House personnel reports, Melania Trump has significantly reduced the number of aides on the first lady's office payroll in comparison to her predecessor, Michelle Obama. During then-President Barack Obama's first year in office, 16 people were listed working for Michelle Obama, earning a combined $1.24 million a year.Trump Defeats ISIS In Months — After Years Of Excuses From Obama. Nine months after President Trump promised to defeat ISIS "quickly and effectively," U.S.-backed forces captured Raqqa, which until Tuesday had served as the ISIS capital. The battle now is over who deserves credit: Trump or President Obama. Trump, not surprisingly, claims it for himself: "It had to do with the people I put in and it had to do with rules of engagement," Trump said in a radio interview. Before dismissing this as typical Trump self-aggrandizement, consider that for several years Obama insisted that a quick and decisive victory against ISIS was all but impossible.White House Places CNN, MSNBC In The Back Row Of Presser. The White House placed CNN and MSNBC in the last two rows of the foreign press section during Tuesday's joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. CNN political analyst and Sentinel editor Brian Karem tweeted Tuesday complaining about the situation. "I am not saying that they are punishing MSNBC and CNN," he wrote. "What I am saying is that they are in the last two rows of the foreign press section."To Fix Everything Wrong With Obama's Failed Iran Nuke Deal, Trump Had To Decertify It. In decertifying the Iran nuclear deal, which Obama concluded in 2015 without Congress, Trump now puts the ball in Congress' court. Under legislation passed by Congress in response to Obama's deeply flawed Iran treaty — a deal so bad he didn't even dare submit it to Congress for approval — Congress now has 60 days to determine whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran, to withdraw from what most unbiased observers would agree is a very bad deal, or to come up with a plan that will actually work to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons.The flimsiness of Obama's 'legacy'. Virtually all of the things Trump has done to destroy the Obama legacy were actions taken by the previous president on his own initiative without any of the building blocks of legislation or consent of the public that really do ensure a legacy. Executive orders, treaties, even Obamacare were never executed in any bipartisan spirit or with consideration for the sentiment. Obama issued the executive orders on his own and did the treaties on his own, and even on the one legislative achievement, Obamacare, he passed the law on a monopartisan basis. Of course it was an unstable house of cards. The Obama legacy was never grounded in the institutional framework that could really ensure a lasting legacy.Trump and the dismantling of Obama's legacy. Brick by brick, the demolition job has begun: since taking office less than a year ago, Donald Trump has launched an all-out assault on the legacy of Barack Obama. Climate, free trade, health care, immigration, foreign policy — the 45th US president has set about undoing just about everything done by the 44th.Good Riddance to UNESCO. It was easy to miss it during a hectic week, but on Thursday, the United States announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Good riddance. In 2011, the U.S. substantially cut funding to UNESCO after the organization granted the Palestinian Authority full membership. But while Barack Obama asked Congress to restore funding, the Trump administration has taken the appropriate next step. UNESCO's embrace of the Palestinians in 2011 was par for the course for an organization that is a dependable opponent of Israel.Media's shrill coverage conceals some first-rate moves by Trump on Obamacare. Having gotten rid of the subsidies to Big Insurance, the chief problem with this "hurts the poor" narrative is that it's the opposite of the truth. A look at President Trump's actual executive order Thursday tells an entirely different story from what the media is reporting, vindicating the arguments of Trump apologists such as Steve Bannon, that Trump's capacity to reach Americans directly without media mediators is key to his connection to the voters. Without the media's obscuring lens, Trump's actions really look pretty good — especially in this Obamacare instance.Here's How Trump Has Silently Gutted Obama's Legacy. President Donald Trump has surgically dismantled Obamacare over the course of his first year in office, largely under the noses of the American public, Democrats and members of his party that have spent the last nine months trying to upend the American health care system. Over the course of his first nine months in office, he rolled back funding for a program intended to help individuals navigate the insurance marketplace, signed an executive order to allow for groups to purchase insurance across state lines and stopped federal funding for Obamacare subsidies. Taken in tandem, it appears the administration is working to overhaul the American health care system without the help of Congress, a body that has failed a handful of times to repeal and replace Obamacare during the first months of Trump's presidency.Supreme Court Tosses Case Against Trump's 'Travel Ban'. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case against President Donald Trump's controversial executive order restricting travel and immigration from several terror-prone states on Tuesday [10/10/2017]. The reason: the president issued a new version of the order last month that replaces the older version that had been the subject of litigation in the Fourth Circuit, rendering the case moot. Though many lower federal courts in liberal circuits ruled against the executive order, the Trump administration was set for victory in June, when the Supreme Court lifted an injunction against the enforcement of the so-called "travel ban," leaving the case to be argued in the fall.In victory for Trump, Supreme Court dismisses travel ban case. The Supreme Court dismissed a major challenge to President Trump's travel ban on majority-Muslim countries Tuesday [10/10/2017] because it has been replaced by a new version, sending the controversy back to the starting block. The ruling is a victory for the Trump administration, which had asked the court to drop the case after Trump signed a proclamation Sept. 24 that replaced the temporary travel ban on six nations with a new, indefinite ban affecting eight countries. That action made the court challenge moot, the justices ruled. "We express no view on the merits," the justices said in a one-page order.Clean Power Plan Repeal Will Save $33 Billion in Compliance Costs. Repealing the Clean Power Plan will save $33 billion in costs passed onto energy consumers, according to senior Trump administration officials. The Environmental Protection Agency formally began the process of repealing the Obama era rules on limiting carbon emissions of power plants on Tuesday [10/10/2017], with Administrator Scott Pruitt declaring the "war on coal is over." The EPA entered a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking into the Federal Register and will be open 60 days for public comment. White House officials said repealing the regulations, which set strict emission standards for coal-burning power plants, was following through on President Donald Trump's promises to protect the coal industry.U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue Rages: President Trump is Existential Threat to NAFTA. U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue is now engaged in a direct fight with U.S. President Donald Trump. As would be expected, and as we specifically predicted, Tom Donohue is now specifically aligning himself with Canada and Mexico against the interests of the United States economy.Trump is overwriting Obama's unlawful green schemes. The first year of Donald Trump's presidency has been characterized — despite his bumptiousness — not by executive overreach, but executive retrenchment. The populist Trump has operated within constitutional lines better than his technocratic predecessor, who used tendentious readings of the law and sweeping bureaucratic actions to impose his policies on immigration, health care, college campuses and the environment. The Clean Power Plan, which sought to reduce US carbon emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, was government by the administrative state on a scale that has never been attempted before.Trump's EPA Officially Ends Obama's War On Coal (America Won). In a major boost to jobs and the economy, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday [10/9/2017] that the administration is moving to officially scrap the Clean Power Plan, President Obama's signature regulatory program to kill the coal industry by curbing emissions from coal-fired power plants[.]Trump Drains Obamacare's Regulatory Swamp. [Scroll down] Millions of Americans are paying astronomical premiums for Obamacare plans and are not eligible for subsidies. These people will not allow this to continue if they have any choice, and these altered plans will provide a less expensive choice. The real objection progressives have to such plans is that they will accelerate the collapse of Obamacare's exchanges.Good News: Interior Deportations Under Trump Are Surging. We can call this the Trump Effect On Illegal Immigration. Deportations from those caught crossing the border have declined, as fewer attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border because of the harsh measures Team Trump has implemented (meaning they are enforcing the laws on the books), which includes catching and deporting illegals already in the country[.]Good News: Trump Just Privatized A Piece Of ObamaCare. In late August, the administration announced that it was sharply cutting the promotional budget for ObamaCare as well as money spent on "navigators" paid to help people enroll when open enrollment starts on November 1. Both cuts were more than justified. The Obama administration nearly doubled ObamaCare promotional spending in 2016 to more than $100 million, only to see overall enrollment decline by 400,000 and the number of new enrollees drop by 42%. This year, the Department of Health and Human Services is slashing the ad budget to $10 million.Lots Of Presidents Talked About Getting Rid Of Bad Regulations — Trump Is Actually Doing It. Getting rid of unneeded regulations may be the single-most effective spur to economic growth that's available to the federal government. Thankfully, unlike most recent presidents, President Trump is taking the job of cutting bad regulations seriously.Trump Keeps Winning On Judicial Nominations. [Scroll down] Judge Engelhardt did not exaggerate when he described the Obama Justice Department's conduct as "bizarre," "appalling," and "grotesque." The Fifth Circuit did not err in finding that the Justice Department lawyers stoked a "mob mentality" against police officers, and in affirming Judge Engelhardt's decision to order a new trial. Judge Engelhardt deserves great credit for blowing the whistle so loudly and decisively on the misconduct of the Obama Justice Department. If his decision in the New Orleans police case is a good indicator of his overall jurisprudence, then his nomination is another win for President Trump and for justice.Trump authorizes waiver to loosen shipping regulations for Puerto Rico. The White House has authorized a waiver to loosen shipping rules regarding Puerto Rico that island officials say would be a significant help for recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria. "At @ricardorossello request, @POTUS has authorized the Jones Act be waived for Puerto Rico. It will go into effect immediately," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted Thursday morning [9/28/2017].President Trump Waives Jones Act, Enables Rescue Shipments For Puerto Rico. On Wednesday [9/27/2017], DHS officials said that the administration was considering lifting the law, which bans foreign-flagged ships from carrying freight between U.S. ports. As a reminder, The 1920 Jones Act requires shipments of goods between two U.S. ports to be made with American-flagged vessels, limiting the amount of shipping and driving up its cost, and had been holding up shipments of much needed support equipment and supplies for Puerto Rico. A number of lawmakers had urged the Trump administration to waive the law and to do it immediately. Among them is Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who wrote a letter Tuesday to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke demanding she take action.Employer Hit with $100 Million Penalty for Hiring Illegal Aliens. Asplundh, the tree-trimming company, has been hit by a $96 million penalty for hiring (and rehiring) illegal alien workers. According to the federal prosecutors it is the largest payment ever levied in an immigration case. The company pled guilty to criminal charges in a federal court in Pennsylvania, where its headquarters is located, apparently moving swiftly to minimize the damage to the corporation's image. As a result of the guilty plea, there will not be a public trial.It's About Time — Employer Hit by $96 Million Penalty for Hiring Illegal Aliens. [Scroll down] This was not a garden-variety illegal alien hiring violation, according to court documents. As a result of an E-Verify check, some 100 Asplundh workers were identified as not being in the country legally and were laid off by the firm. Then some of them were knowingly rehired under new, phony names bearing new, phony documents. The information filed against the company cited four examples of this double-dealing, with, for instance, a worker who had been Danny Palao prior to his being laid off, being rehired as Jose Feliciano.DOJ files suit against company for allegedly not hiring Americans. The Department of Justice announced Thursday [9/28/2017] it has filed a lawsuit against a Colorado corporation for allegedly discriminating against U.S. workers. The complaint alleges that in 2016, Crop Production discriminated against at least three United States citizens by refusing to employ them as seasonal technicians in El Campo, Texas, because Crop Production preferred to hire temporary foreign workers under the H-2A visa program.Fighting Fire with Fire: A Republican Finally Co-opts Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. Democrats are adept at using Alinsky's rules to further their agenda. Many conservatives bemoan the fact that Republicans are unaware of these tactics or are unwilling to use them. Much like a baseball team not knowing they can bunt or run double plays and then wondering why the other team uses these tactics and wins games. The rules can easily be used by the right too. In Alinsky's own words, "In this book we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people." Who else in the GOP might say similar words? Paul Ryan? Mitch McConnell? Mitt Romney? Jeb Bush? None of the above. Only Donald Trump.Trump: The Warriors are not invited to the White House. President Trump had a reply to Stephen Curry, a basketball player who said he did not want his team to go to the White House to celebrate its NBA championship: Get lost. Trump does not want the Golden State Warriors at the White House. The Warriors can pound salt. Trump tweeted this morning [9/23/2017]: "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"White House confirms Trump's plans to withdraw from Paris climate deal. White House officials told foreign energy ministers Monday that President Trump still intends to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement unless the U.S. obtains "more favorable" terms. At a breakfast meeting on the sidelines of the annual United Nations general assembly in New York, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn and other officials emphasized that Mr. Trump's position hasn't changed, the White House said.President Trump Sets Record for Most Stock Market Closing Highs in First Year — Obama Had None His Entire First Term. President Trump is already the only President in US history to oversee two stock market rallies of nine days or more where the markets set new highs each and every day. On February 28th President Trump matched President Reagan's 1987 record for most continuous closing high trading days when the DOW reached a new high for its 12th day in a row! [...] The stock markets under President Obama moved in nearly the exact opposite direction in the nine months after President Obama's election win in November 2008.Betsy DeVos announces Education Department's new approach to Title IX investigations. In a highly-anticipated speech delivered Thursday [9/7/2017], Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the department is shifting its approach to Title IX enforcement away from that of the Obama administration, implementing a notice-and-comment process to develop an improved strategy based on feedback from the public.Trump, in DACA decision, restores constitutional sanity to immigration laws. By executive fiat, President Obama granted amnesty to immigrants living illegally in the United States. It was an unconstitutional act, to be sure. Obama had previously admitted he had no authority to end deportations of illegal aliens when he said, "The notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true." Then he went about doing it anyway, conjuring a new breadth of hypocrisy. His successor, President Trump, is now taking the first step toward restoring sanity to the rule of law as it applies to the Constitution and immigration.Trump Immigration Crackdown Raises Middle-Class Construction Wages In America By 30%. Open borders kills the American Middle Class and replaces them with millions willing to work for less. That is an undeniable economic truth but one the Establishment media and political class refuse to admit to the American people. Regulated common-sense immigration is a benefit to all. Open borders immigration is of benefit to corporations demanding cheap labor and politicians wanting to supplement legal voters with illegal ones.Trump's immigration policy means more jobs for Americans. A report in Politico shows President Trump's crackdown on illegal aliens has led to more jobs and better wages. And liberals are crying.Trump schools Obama on U.S. Constitution. President Trump never took a single law class — at least not that we know of. Because if he had, Mr. Trump would surely find a way to remind us every time he wanted to strut his legal stuff. Anyway, Trump University didn't even have a law school. Yet, Mr. Trump effortlessly runs legal circles around the Great Law Lecturer Barack Obama when it comes to understanding the Constitution.Also posted under Obama's greatly overrated intellect.Manufacturing Sector Increased Jobs at Fastest Pace in More Than 4 Years. The manufacturing sector increased jobs at the fastest pace in the month of July than the sector had in more than four years, the New York Times reported. While the jobs report showed there were fewer jobs created than were expected overall, jobs in the manufacturing sector showed improvement. "The latest payroll data underscores the striking rebound at American factories, which lost more than two million jobs in the recession, but have clawed their way back and recovered more than one million positions since 2010," the article states.Obama's 'pen and phone' have been trumped when it comes to DACA. Imagine a rogue president, frustrated with Congress for repeatedly failing to pass his administration's wish list on immigration, disregarding the separation of powers and unilaterally implementing his legislative prerogatives by executive fiat. No, this isn't a constitutional law hypothetical. This is the story of how the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty program came into being. For nearly two decades, Congress has considered varying versions of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a legislative amnesty for certain illegal aliens who claimed to have entered the country unlawfully as minors, while meeting other criteria. Every time the DREAM Act was brought up for a vote, it failed to pass both chambers of Congress to become law.President Donald Trump Serves Meals to Hurricane Victims at Houston Relief Center. President Donald Trump spent time meeting with Hurricane Harvey victims at the Houston NRG hurricane relief center on Saturday before serving meals from the Red Cross. Gov. Greg Abbott, the state's first lady Cecilia Abbott, and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner met Trump and first lady Melania Trump upon their arrival at Ellington Field in Houston. The Texas governor and Houston Mayor continued on with Trump to the relief center.Trump Administration Slashes Funds For Health Care Sign-Ups. Affirming its disdain for "Obamacare," the Trump administration on Thursday [8/31/2017] announced sharp cuts in programs promoting health care enrollment under the Affordable Care Act for next year.Looks like Andrew Jackson will stay on the $20 bill. Currently, as you might know if you just got paid, it's Andrew Jackson, an early Democrat, on the $20. He was a hero of the War of 1812 and a rough-hewn two-term president. He was also a successful military leader in battles against native Americans during his era. Last year, another two-term president, Barack Obama, approved a change that would delete Old Hickory's visage from the front and substituted it with Harriet Tubman's face. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says it has received no instructions yet to implement the changes, which candidate Donald Trump criticized as "pure political correctness."Trump Administration Won't Commit To Putting Harriet Tubman On $20 Bill. Anyone expecting to someday see Harriet Tubman's image grace the front of the $20 bill may be in for a long wait. In a new interview, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin hinted that the Trump administration may back off the planned change that would have had Tubman take Andrew Jackson's place on the bill. Speaking to CNBC today [8/31/2017], Mnuchin would only say that the Treasury will "consider" whether or not to move forward with the change from Jackson to Tubman. The $20 bill is up for a scheduled redesign in 2020, regardless of whose face is on the front.Trump Reverses Obama Plan to Collect Wage Information Based on Gender, Race, Ethnicity. A year before leaving office, President Barack Obama announced new steps to narrow what was described as a gender pay gap. Obama directed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in partnership with the Department of Labor, to annually collect pay data by gender, race and ethnicity from businesses with 100 or more employees. On Wednesday [8/30/2017], the Trump administration put that Obama-era order on hold. In a memo to the EEOC, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it is launching a review of the effectiveness of the equal pay data collection initiative. (Companies are still required to annually file information on the race/ethnicity and gender of their employees, but the wage information sought by Obama will not be included.)Mexico Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo Now Fears NAFTA Collapse. Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo has a different perspective today than prior to the beginning of NAFTA renegotiation. Before NAFTA round #1 began Minister Guajardo stated angrily if the U.S. did not concede to the demands of Mexico his government would flood the U.S. with drugs and illegal aliens. However, in the face of actually seeing NAFTA discussions possibly leading to collapse, Mr. Guajardo has a change in tone.Trump just nuked the Mueller Inquisition. The pardon of Joe Arpaio was about justice. The government refused his God-given right to a trial by a jury of his peers over a criminal contempt of court charge. President Trump ended that railroading of an 85-year-old man whose only crime was upholding federal law. Congress may wish to seek impeachment of the judges involved for denying Arpaio his civil rights.Levin: If Exposing Media Is Only Thing Trump Does, He Will Have Been a Successful President. On his nationally syndicated radio talk show Wednesday, host Mark Levin lambasted the media and praised Donald Trump, saying if exposing the media is the only thing Trump does, he will have been a successful president. "I honestly believe if this is the only thing President Trump succeeds in doing he will have been a successful president — that is, exposing the media," said Mark Levin. "For decade, after decade, after decade, and now it's worse than ever, the media have fraudulently presented themselves to the American people — to you — as some kind of objective nonpartisan entity just reporting the news. Now they're all out of the closet, and it's not very pretty."Trump signs directive banning transgender military recruits. President Donald Trump on Friday [8/25/2017] directed the military not to move forward with an Obama-era plan that would have allowed transgender individuals to be recruited into the armed forces, following through on his intentions announced a month earlier to ban transgender people from serving. The presidential memorandum also bans the Department of Defense from using its resources to provide medical treatment regimens for transgender individuals currently serving in the military.Trump pardons controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to controversial former Arizona sheriff and political ally Joe Arpaio less than a month after he was convicted of criminal contempt in a case involving racial profiling. Trump signed the pardon for the 85-year-old Arpaio on Friday night [8/25/2017] citing his long history of public service.Trump pardons former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. President Donald Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio on Friday [8/25/2017], sparing the controversial former Arizona sheriff a jail sentence after he was convicted of criminal contempt related to his hard-line tactics going after undocumented immigrants. The move drew outcry from civil rights groups, which accuse Arpaio of violating the Constitution in his crackdown on illegal immigration. During last year's presidential campaign, Arpaio was a vocal proponent of Trump's candidacy, and used his national notoriety to advocate for Trump's similarly aggressive stance on border security and deportations.Sheriff Joe Arpaio — yes, let him go. President Donald Trump hinted — well, more than hinted, really — during his Phoenix rally he was going to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio soon. And well he should. What happened to Arpaio was a political hit job.White House Has Reportedly Prepared Paperwork For Trump's Sheriff Arpaio Pardon. During President Trump's campaign style rally in Phoenix last night [8/22/2017], he strongly hinted a presidential pardon will be coming for former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. [...] It was heavily speculated Trump would pardon Arpaio while he was in Arizona. Although he telegraphed the move during his remarks, he didn't make an official announcement.Trump Lops Off Another of the Green Blob's Tentacles. President Trump has disbanded something called the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment (ACSNCA). Good. That shrieking you can hear is the sound of the Green Blob, mourning the loss of another of its tentacles. If you believe the liberal media, the ACSNCA — as probably no one ever called it — was a vital organization established by President Obama in 2015 as part of his career-defining mission to combat climate change.New Gov't Regulations Absolutely Plummet Under Trump. The pace of new government regulations has plunged in President Donald Trump's first seven months in office, a welcome relief to businesses and banks that have long pushed for less interference in the economy. In the first half of 2017, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has processed some 67 regulatory actions, ranging from notices to final rules. During the first six months of former President Barack Obama's first term, the department coursed through three times as many, processing 216 regulatory actions.Trump Ends Obama's 'Water Bottle Ban'. The Trump administration is ending a policy implemented by former president Barack Obama that attempted to ban water bottles at national parks. The National Park Service announced last week it was ending the so-called Water Bottle Ban, which the Obama administration implemented in 2011 to "reduce our carbon footprint."In January, President Trump vowed to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents. It never happened. Five days after President Donald Trump took office, he signed an executive order that promised a swift, sharp crackdown on illegal immigration — immediate construction of a massive border wall, quick hiring of 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and stepped-up deportation of undocumented migrants. [...] Seven months later, construction of the wall has yet to begin, the number of Border Patrol officers has actually dropped by 220, and immigration agents are on track to deport 10,000 fewer people this year than in President Barack Obama's last year in office, the latest figures show.Why I Wouldn't Change a Word of Trump's Statement. "Egregious" displays of "hatred, bigotry and violence" have no place in America he told us, with stunning clarity. No exceptions. No qualifications. Whoever you are, whatever you are, whatever your grievance, there shall be one law, one standard. The first thing to be done was "a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives... [for] no citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our society." Had Trump stopped there, it would have been enough. It would have been more than Barack Obama had said in eight years. Obama was on the wrong side of violence. He sympathized with the rioters in Ferguson, Missouri, and made excuses for the riots in Baltimore. Worse still, he failed even to mention the need to establish law and order and protect the lives and property of innocent people. And he put lives in danger by blaming the violence on the police.Trump's Pershing Tweet in Response to Barcelona Was More Than Just Genius Trolling. One of the big mistakes Trump's critics make is to assume he is very stupid. Hence the liberal media's delight in his Pershing tweet in the aftermath of the Barcelona massacre. They think it shows the president to be an historically illiterate and gullible fool because — or so they claim — he is repeating a debunked myth that General Pershing used bullets dipped in pig blood when fighting Muslim terrorists in the Philippines. [...] Trump was telling it as a "story" to illustrate an important point about the psychology of war. When your enemy fights dirty, you don't cower and apologize and ask what we have done to deserve such punishment. You give as good as you get.Whose Side Is He On? I see that, as of late Tuesday night [8/15/2017], [the] media is going berserk with rage about President Trump saying there were lawbreakers on both sides in [Charlottesville]. But clearly, Mr. Trump was right. The pro-statue people were strange looking, but they had a permit and they had the First Amendment. The ones who attacked them with clubs were the instigators. Yes, of course I hate anyone who even hints at sympathy for the Nazis. The monstrous evil of those demons is unmatched. But they have the right to speak when not inciting violence and when not committing violence. Otherwise, the Constitution is trash. For Trump to point out that while the KKK and the Nazis are nauseating, they have free speech rights, is not only correct, but actually brave of him.Delighted with Trump. Normal Americans have watched our politics turn to mud for a quarter-century, since Bill Clinton, the Arkansas corruptocrat. We've watched it and watched it while the media turned into a copycat Soviet propaganda ministry, and now, finally, somebody is acting like an adult and talking without having to explain every single word.Stand with President Trump. The commander in chief is undaunted, and determined to do what he promised during the campaign. He seated a solidly conservative Supreme Court justice. He has reduced regulations and increased jobs — another 209,000 in July; caused a dramatic drop in the number of illegal immigrants entering our country and taking jobs from Americans. Criminal illegal aliens like MS-13 members and convicted felons are being hunted down and thrown out. The President is restoring the strength of our military; making sure that our veterans receive the medical care and services they need; stopping the transgender and sex reassignment policies that have damaged morale and distracted our armed forces from their core mission; waging aggressive war against ISIS; and warning North Korea and other adversaries that American might is back.Trump takes action: 9,000 federal employees slashed in first six months. President Trump's hiring freeze helped cut the size of federal government by about 9,000 employees in his first six months in office, but that is just a drop in the bucket of a workforce of more than 2.8 million, and the administration has ended the freeze to fill mission-critical positions at agencies. Mr. Trump ordered the hiring freeze on his first day in office and embarked on the most ambitious agenda to shrink government since Ronald Reagan. His early success, although modest, is a testament to the president's tenacity and to the daunting task he has undertaken. Reagan also imposed a hiring freeze on his first day in office, but the federal workforce grew by more than 100,000 employees by the time he left office eight years later.Food Stamp Enrollments Down in 46 Out of 50 States. Food stamp enrollment went down over the past year in 46 out of 50 states, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics on food stamp enrollment. The states of Connecticut, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia saw the biggest drops in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment. Connecticut saw the largest drop, with SNAP enrollment dropping 25.4 percent from May 2016 to May 2017. The state also saw a pretty hefty drop in enrollment over one month — Connecticut's enrollment in the food stamp program dropped 14.2 percent from April 2017 to May 2017.Regulation revolution: 'Historic' Trump cuts, 1/20th of Obama's deluge, $23B slashed. The Trump administration is making good on its promise to limit new regulations and kill old ones, setting a record low for issuing rules, a pace at just one-twentieth of former President Obama. What's more, a new regulatory report card said that the administration has proposed 6 million fewer hours of regulatory paperwork than the Obama administration did in its first 200 days.Swamp Drainage Update: Guess How Many Federal Jobs We've Cut In Six Months? The public workers unions are powerful and entrenched, and they have many allies in Congress, making Trump's job on par with cleaning King Augeas' stables. So how's that going so far? Government Executive reports that despite all expectations and opposition, the ax has already fallen and more than 10,000 positions have been cut.Trump Immigration Crackdown Leads to Higher Construction Wages. President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration is already having a positive impact on American workers through increased wages in the construction industry. In a new report by Fox News, Texas construction companies admitted that Trump's increased enforcement of immigration was forcing them to pay higher wages to U.S. construction workers.Resisting the Tranny State. It's absolutely none of my business how any adult decides to express him/her/itself sexually. But the thing is, these days trannies are not content to just go be trannies; they insist that we become accomplices to their fantasy. We have to pretend to see what they see. We have to use pronouns that we know are misapplied. We have to allow dudes [...] to shower, change, and go to the bathroom alongside our daughters. We have to foot the bill for sex change surgeries. To even suggest that sex change operations are elective and not a "medical necessity" is to challenge the tranny illusion. This is at the heart of the controversy surrounding President Trump's announcement that trans folk will no longer be allowed to serve in the military. Trannies, their leftist allies, and "moderate Republicans" think soldiers are as entitled to state-funded sex change operations as they are to first aid on the battlefront.Someone Just Noticed That Trump Is Getting Stuff Done. Border crossings, for example, have plummeted, even though all Trump has done so far is promise to enforce existing laws. The Supreme Court approved parts of Trump's travel ban, a success made possible by Trump's appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the bench. Trump is busy filling lower court positions with conservative justices. Ron Klain, a White House aide to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said that Trump "is proving wildly successful in one respect: naming youthful conservative nominees to the federal bench in record-setting numbers." What else? Well, Trump pulled out of the Paris climate change deal, which as we noted in this space is a yuuuge win for the economy. The EPA, meanwhile, is dismantling Obama's coal-killing, growth-choking Clean Power Plan, and draining the heavy-handed Waters of the United States rule. [...] Trump promised to kill two regulations for every new one enacted, but in his first six months the ratio was 16-to-1. Trump also approved the Keystone XL and other pipeline projects held up by Obama. He's also rolled back a ban on coal mining on public lands.Record 153,513,000 Employed in July; 62.9% Labor Force Participation. President Trump was awake early on this "employment report" Friday [8/4/2017], tweeting about jobs, regulation-busting, and consumer confidence, among other things. A few hours later, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said the economy added 209,000 jobs in July; the number of employed people jumped by 345,000 to 153,513,000 in July, setting a third straight monthly record; the number of Americans counted as not in the labor force, meaning they don't have a job and are not looking for one, dropped for a third straight month to 94,657,000; and the nation's unemployment rate also dropped a tenth of a point, to 4.3 percent. The labor force participation rate, held down in part by a wave of Baby Boomer retirements, was 62.9 percent in July, slightly better than it has been in recent months, but still close to its 38-year low of 62.4 percent in September 2015.U.S. Has Crushed Expectations In Creating Jobs- 200,000+ In July Alone! Where is this new employment coming from? Employment stats are rising in the areas of restaurants and bars, meaning that Americans are feeling confident enough to spend money on entertainment, and also in the white collar office job arena and in health care. So far, employment in the mining and manufacturing sectors are unchanged. Mining and manufacturing were some of Trump's major areas of focus during the campaign, and an unchanged number of jobs in these areas could easily indicate that the job losses that have been feared over years are being held back.Trump Economy BOOMS Despite Political & Media Establishment Fighting Against Him. For Middle Class America, the chart above is a beautiful thing to behold. It represents more retirement account earnings, more job opportunities, more home values, more freedom to purchase goods and services, and more choice. While the Establishment Media and politicians have been wasting time with fabricated Russian conspiracies and personal taunts against POTUS Trump and his administration, just the thought of some of Mr. Trump's policies becoming reality is enough to send the U.S. economy into a growth spurt not seen in years.Yes, we needed a transgender military ban. Ed Morrissey wrote about this subject this morning, but there are a couple of other points I wanted to hit. Now, of course, Politico is reporting that the only reason Trump announced the ban was because it was a trade-off to get funding for the border wall in the next spending bill. [...] Is it true? Who knows anymore? It's coming from yet more of the infamous "anonymous sources" inside the Beltway.Former Transgender: Trump 'Made Right Decision,' 'Military Is a Fighting Force, Not a Gender Clinic'. A man who lived for eight years as a transgender female says President Donald Trump did the right thing for the U.S. military, as well as for all Americans, by banning transgenders from serving in the military. Walt Heyer, who has transitioned back to his birth gender, writes in a commentary that his personal experience leads him to support Trump's announcement.Let the Dems Be the Transgender Party. Trump's uncomplicated defense of common sense is nothing if not conservative. He doesn't need "commissions" to tell him whether or not enlisting men who pretend to be women and women who pretend to be men hurts military readiness. Anyone with five senses and a functioning intellect can see that it does. It is only under the vast experiment against common sense that is liberalism could such obvious truths fall into disfavor. Of course, the stupid party is joining the evil party in this experiment against common sense.Treasury Department Ending Ineffective Obama Retirement Program. The Treasury Department is ending an ineffective Obama program that promised to help millions of Americans save for retirement, the government announced Friday [7/28/2017]. Treasury announced the myRA program would be phased out, after costing taxpayers $70 million though few Americans used the program. Former president Barack Obama used his 2014 State of the Union address to launch the myRA program, with a promise to "help millions" to save for retirement. Two years later, only 20,000 had signed up.Ten Accomplishments By John Kelly At Homeland Security. [#1] He sidelined most of the top staff picked by Obama and allowed the department's border and enforcement agents to actually enforce the nation's immigration law. The result is that more than 70,000 illegals have been sent home by motivated agents, including many of the MS-13 gang members invited by Obama to live in the United States since 2011.Army Was Preparing Women To Shower With Men As Part of Transgender Training. Have you heard of the Pentagon's "Transgender Inclusion" agenda, first launched by President Obama? Near the end of Obama's second term, his Secretary of Defense Ash Carter set out "transgender inclusive" military policies that were supposed to be put in effect a few weeks ago on July 1st, 2017. Right now, this policy has not been completely removed, it has only been "delayed" for another six months.An attack by Trump "on the whole LGBT community"? The question of whether transgender people should serve in the military is first and foremost a decision about how best to defend America militarily. The purpose of our armed forces is not to promote or reject the LGBT agenda. Its purpose is not to serve as a model for tolerance of transgender and other LGBT people, or to afford them employment opportunities, or even to treat them fairly as individuals. The purpose of our armed forces is to defend the country from its enemies.Combat Veteran: War Is No Place For The Gender Confused. Combat veteran J.R. Salzman said Wednesday morning [7/26/2017] in the wake of President Donald Trump's military transgender ban that a war theater is no place for the gender confused. In a tweet series, Salzman recounted his experiences in Iraq in 2006, when he was stationed at an isolated firebase in the blazing heat and experienced constant stress from the intense nature of his job.Transgender Surgeries Would Cost Pentagon $1.3 Billion. Taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries would cost the Pentagon $1.3 billion over 10 years. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday [7/26/2017] that transgender individuals will not be eligible to serve in the military, with the White House citing cost and military readiness concerns. Internal data provided to the Washington Free Beacon from Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R., Mo.), a leading opponent of taxpayer-funded sex changes, show that even by using a conservative estimate, the costs associated with 0.7 percent of the military population is great.Trump Donating $100K Quarterly Salary to Education Department. The White House announced Wednesday [7/26/2017] that President Donald Trump is donating his quarterly salary to the Education Department. "Last quarter, the president's salary went toward the restoration of two projects at a national battlefield. After his donation, additional donors quickly stepped up to bring the total gift to over $260,000," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.President Trump Ends President Obama Transgender Military Policy. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday [7/26/2017] he does not plan to plans to continue with President Obama's transgender military policy. The previous policy from President Obama, which was still under final review, would have allowed transgender individuals to openly serve in the military.Donald Trump's 'Transgender' Declaration Preserves Americans' Two-Sex Society. President Donald Trump's dramatic decision to exclude so-called "transgender" people from the military is a direct rejection of the progressives' revolutionary demand that Americans' society should be remade to eliminate all civic recognition of the two different-and-complementary male and female sexes.Trump BANS transgender people from joining the military after 'consulting with generals and experts'. President Donald Trump sent out a series of tweets Wednesday morning saying that transgender people wouldn't be allowed to serve in the U.S. military 'in any capacity.' Trump fired off the tweets without warning, injecting a contentious social issue into the debate on a day after the Senate GOP's health care bill suffered a bad defeat and when a Senate panel was set to hold a public hearing that would touch on Russian foreign nationals' influence efforts.Trump announces ban on transgender people in the military. President Trump tweeted on Wednesday [7/26/2017] that "transgender individuals" should not be allowed to serve in "any capacity" in the US military. "After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow ...," he wrote on Twitter. "Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming ..." He finished up by writing: "victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you."Trump: Transgender people will not be allowed to serve in US military. President Donald Trump said Wednesday [7/26/2017] he wants transgender people barred from serving in the U.S. military "in any capacity," citing "tremendous medical costs and disruption." Trump's announcement on Twitter would reverse the effort under President Barack Obama to open the armed services to transgender people. He did not say what would happen to transgender troops already in the military.Trump calls Obama a liar. "Obamacare was a big lie," Mr. Trump said in a White House meeting [7/19/2017] with Republican senators seeking to craft a new health care plan. He went on. "You can keep your doctor? Lie." "You can keep your plan? Lie." "It was a lie, directly from the president," Mr. Trump said.I'm glad somebody finally said it -- other than me, of course. Obama lied about almost everything.President Trump Reverses Obama's Anti-Christian Refugee Policy. After declaring that Christians have "been horribly treated" by the refugee program under former President Barack Obama, President Donald Trump has reversed the Obama administration's disgraceful discrimination against Christian refugees. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department refugee data, during the period from January 21, 2017 — President Trump's first full day in office — through June 30, "9,598 Christian refugees arrived in the U.S., compared with 7,250 Muslim refugees. Christians made up 50% of all refugee arrivals in this period, compared with 38% who are Muslim."Border Patrol union chief praises 'miraculous' drop in illegal immigration under Trump. The significant downturn in the number of illegal border crossers between the U.S. and Mexico is "nothing short of miraculous," National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said on C-SPAN Monday [7/17/2017]. "As far as the Trump administration's efforts on immigration, this is something they campaigned heavily on," he said. "At six months, where we are on meeting those promises, we are seeing nothing short of miraculous. If you look at the rhetoric that President Trump has given, it has caused a number of illegal border crossings to go down. We have never seen such a drop that we currently have."Trump's Powerful Speech in Poland. President Trump landed in Poland to an enthusiastic welcome, and he responded in kind. In the best statement yet of his foreign policy, Trump showed a clear-eyed recognition of the threats from Russia and radical Islam, promised continued U.S. engagement in Europe, offered to support Poland against Moscow, and wrapped it all in a full-throated defense of Western civilization and its achievements.Our President Is a Street Fighter. President Trump is naturally combative, having honed his skills on construction sites among hard-hat workers. He knows the common man and he believes that if you don't stand up to a bully, he'll run over you and enjoy doing it. He does not back off from a fight, and that's exactly why working class and middle-America elected him President.Trumps Spend $5 Million Less Than Obamas On White House Salaries. An analysis of White House salary data reveals that President Donald Trump's administration is spending $5 million less of taxpayer money on his staff than his predecessor. Trump employs 377 people at the White House, with a total of $35.8 million, while former President Barack Obama paid $40.9 million for 476 employees in 2015, according to data analyzed by Open The Books.EPA moves to kill Waters of the U.S. rule. The Trump administration on Tuesday began the process of formally rescinding the highly controversial "Waters of the U.S." rule, an Obama-era regulation that gave Washington broad powers over streams and other small bodies of water across the country. The rule, put forth in 2015 but subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court before going into effect, was one of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's top targets when he took the helm at the agency. President Trump earlier this year signed an executive order directing Mr. Pruitt to review the rule, and with Tuesday's [6/27/2017] action, the EPA says it's finalized that review and will move to permanently strike the regulation from the books.The annual Ramadan 'Iftar' dinner for Muslims at the White House isn't the only thing the Trump Administration has axed. Administration officials also have eliminated plans to use millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to fund Islamic organizations and alleged Muslim charities allied with former President Barack Obama, including anti-American Muslim individuals like sharia-proponent Linda Sarsour. Also eliminated are Muslim government employees from the Obama team who were linked to these nefarious Islamic organizations.US coal mining surges in 2017 following last year's record decline. The United States, China and India, the world's largest coal users, have increased coal mining this year by 6 percent following 2016's record global decline. Among the three counties, production through May is up by at least 121 million tons compared to the same period last year, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press. The change is most dramatic in the United States where production is up 19 percent within just the first five months of 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.Army Howitzer Has 'Covfefe' Stamped On The Gun. A U.S. Army howitzer is trolling the world thanks to a Trump-related message one soldier stamped on the gun. A photo provided to The Daily Caller shows the word "Covfefe' stamped on the gun of an M109 Paladin. A source told TheDC that an individual made the stamp, not the U.S. Army.What does 'COVFEFE' mean? Try rising military morale. COVFEFE was the subject of much speculation, mostly on the left, as to what it might have meant. In this case, one of the troops has helpfully given the answer: rising military morale. You never saw such repetitions of presidential words during the Obama administration. Did anyone ever stamp 'You didn't build that' or 'If you like your health care' on one of the barrels of a howitzer? It comes against the backdrop of two things. One, military morale has been disastrously low, with the military rating the legacy of Commander in Chief Obama in acidic terms across every service.Trump administration removes protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears. The Trump administration is removing Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears, after they spent more than four decades on the threatened list. The Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service announced the delisting decision Thursday [6/22/2017], which immediately drew rebukes from conservationists and Democrats. Officials said that conservation efforts for the bear, a more than fourfold increase in its population and state policies designed to protect the bears show that the delisting is warranted.Trump scraps Obama policy that protected immigrant parents from deportation. An Obama-era immigration program intended to protect parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents from deportation has been formally cancelled, fulfilling a key campaign promise from President Trump, the Homeland Security Department announced late Thursday [6/15/2017]. Homeland Security John Kelly formally revoked a policy memo that created the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program. The revocation came on the fifth anniversary of another effort that has protected hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.Trump: Opening of New Pennsylvania Coal Mine Is Due to "Less Regulation". In a videotaped message played during the opening ceremony of a new coal mine in Friedens, Pennsylvania, on June 1 President Trump celebrated the opening as an example of what can be accomplished when government eliminates the regulations that have stifled the coal industry. "One by one, we're eliminating the regulations that threaten your jobs, and that's one of the big reasons you're opening today: Less regulation," Trump said. "We have withdrawn the United States from the horrendous Paris Climate Accord, something that would have put our country back decades and decades; we would have never allowed ourselves to be great again."Media ignore another Trump diplomatic triumph yesterday. President Trump is delivering on his promise to end the role of America as "Uncle Sugar" for its allies, bearing the major burden of collective defense. American taxpayers and American military personnel have ponied up money and lives for more than 70 years, while allies have devoted their resources elsewhere, freed up by the generosity of the superpower created by victory in World War 2. Yesterday [6/9/2017], an extraordinary thing happened: The president of Romania, the former Soviet-era puppet enslaved by Stalin's troops, came to the White House, and stood up during [a] Rose Garden press conference with President Trump, and stated that his country will start paying up its share of the burden for NATO — because of President Trump.Romanian President: We're Increasing Our NATO Contribution Because of Trump. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Friday that his country is increasing its contribution to NATO after hearing President Donald Trump's speech last month at NATO headquarters in Brussels. During a joint press conference at the White House, Trump praised Iohannis for committing to increase Romania's defense spending to NATO from 1.4 percent to two percent, as Trump called for during his speech in Brussels on May 25. Trump said other nations are also starting to "realize that it's time to pay up."Good News: Illegal Aliens With Old Deportation Orders Are Being Detained. Of course, this is terrifying people who are unlawfully present in the United States. [...] They should be terrified. Better yet, they should simply leave. They were ordered deported, and Obama and his administration allowed these people who are unlawfully present to remain in the country.DOJ ends Holder-era 'slush fund' payouts to outside groups. The Justice Department announced Wednesday [6/7/2017] it will no longer allow prosecutors to strike settlement agreements with big companies directing them to make payouts to outside groups, ending an Obama-era practice that Republicans decried as a "slush fund" that padded the accounts of liberal interest groups. In a memo sent to 94 U.S. attorneys' offices early Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would end the practice that allowed companies to meet settlement burdens by giving money to groups that were neither victims nor parties to the case. Sessions said the money should, instead, go to the Treasury Department or victims.Fear of deportation drives people off food stamps in US. A crackdown on illegal immigration under President Donald Trump has driven some poor people to take a drastic step: opt out of federal food assistance because they are fearful of deportation, activists and immigrants say.Trump Is More Transparent Than Obama Ever Was. President Trump's administration has decided not to invoke executive privilege to keep former FBI Director James Comey from testifying under oath before Congress. [...] Obama used executive privilege to keep the White House out of then-Attorney General Eric Holder and his Justice Department's "Fast & Furious" gun-walking debacle. Obama's defense was "George W. Bush did it."Proof that Trump Is Right About Paris. [Scroll down] Note that while the Germans are willing to incur inefficiency as long as other countries go along — or at least pretend to go along — if they have to choose between their economy and the purported threat of global climate catastrophe, they will choose their economy. Which means that they don't believe in the reality of the supposed climate calamity any more than we do.You're Fired, Paris Climate Accord. [President] Trump is taking on all of this global warming poppycock that rests on the utterly ridiculous notion that carbon dioxide, the natural gas humans and other earthly life forms constantly produce and expel, the same gas that promotes plant growth, is a pollutant. It is a truly insane idea that has no support in science but leftists are running with it because they hope to browbeat and intimidate Americans into accepting shrinking the economy by drastically reducing carbon emissions.Germany's car industry association officially confirms the truth of President Trump's reasons for withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord. President Trump complained that the "unfair" terms of the Paris Climate Accord made it difficult for American manufacturers to compete globally. Protecting and expanding those jobs was the primary reason offered for his withdrawal. He should now write a thank-you note to Germany's powerful auto industry lobby, the VBA (Verband der Autoindustrie), which just validated his argument.The case for nixing the Paris Agreement. Real pollutants from fossil fuel combustion, such as oxides of sulfur, nitrogen and fly ash, are rightly controlled, and by cost-effective technology. But more CO2 is not a pollutant but is a benefit to humanity. The "social cost of carbon," aka CO2, is negative. It is immoral to prevent developing countries from using reliable, inexpensive fossil fuels to escape centuries of poverty. Most developing countries have offered no plans to limit CO2 emissions any time soon, rhetoric about Paris' universal inclusivity notwithstanding. Without their cooperation, stabilizing atmospheric levels of CO2 is not possible, nor would this stop climate change if it could be done.Trump pulls plug on global warming scam — Environmentalists, globalists go nuts! Today [6/1/2017], Donald Trump pulled the plug on the global warming scam — not just the junk science, but more importantly, the entire industry built up around it. Bureaucrats, diplomats, politicians, lobbyists and people seeking grants for this and taxes for that. But did he go far enough? Either it's a scam or it isn't, and you can't Make America Great Again if you believe economic decisions should be made by the UN — and that's what the global warming agreement is. It's an economic plan of taxes and penalties and subsidies that doesn't have anything to do with the weather and anyone who thinks a carbon tax will change the weather, doesn't believe in science, they believe in superstition. Not even the UN's own IPCC argues their plans will change the weather.Trump Has Dirt on Comey: Strategic Firing of Swamp Rat James Comey. The narrative of the Left is that former FBI Director James Comey is a good guy caught in bad circumstances. Nothing could be further from the truth. Comey was a leftist plant, and President Trump knew it. [...] He is a deep-water Swamp Denizen who has been highly paid to deliberately provide cover for high-level corruption by the Clintons and Obama. He has been central to trying to destroy the Trump campaign and then the Trump administration from the start. He is as dirty as they come in DC. Comey had highest-level cover (the FBI no less) and was deep into an effort to eliminate Trump. Trump had to move hard, fast, and at exactly the right time to cut the head off the snake without getting bitten by the snake or being finished by the other swamp denizens. Notice that the President fired Comey when Comey was 3,000 miles away from his office. Comey had no inkling he was being cut, and that all his files, computers, and everything in his office were seized by his boss Sessions and the justice department. This was not a violation of protocol, it was tactical. Notice how Prez Trump compartmentalized the strike and did not inform any of his White House "staff" to prevent leaks. [...] In one masterstroke, Trump has eliminated a truly toxic and dangerous enemy to his administration and our country, dealt a horrendous blow to the Clinton/Obama and deep state machines, begun the restoration of the integrity of the FBI and the DOJ, and gained incredible ammunition to begin hunting the foul creatures in the swamp.Trump Steps on the Paris Agreement, Stands for Sovereignty. President Donald J. Trump has announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, "an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation," signed originally during the presidency of Barack Obama with 194 other countries. Trump's speech, despite some redundancies, was one of the most defining moments in U.S. history.A path forward after the Paris climate agreement. [Scroll down] So, even if Hillary Clinton had beaten Mr. Trump and had kept the United States in the treaty, and even if every single national leader on the planet (and their successors) had unflinchingly stood by every single treaty promise for year after year, regardless of economic downturn or political crisis, the Paris Treaty would have left 99 percent of the problem in place. Before Mr. Trump axed the treaty, many environmentalists quietly acknowledged this. They praised the agreement regardless, because of the political value of world leaders focusing on climate change and because they believed that much larger carbon-cutting promises would come later. That foolhardy assumption flew in the face of history.Paris Can Wait — It Was A Bad Deal. Supporters of the Paris climate deal present a false choice. You either (a) believe in the scientific consensus about climate change (in which case, you support Paris), or (b) you are a denier. But they are missing a third option, which is that (c) this is simply a bad deal in terms of the cost-benefit analysis. Why is it a bad deal? There are no consistent standards for participation. Countries unilaterally decided what voluntary and non-binding commitment they wanted to pledge. [...] Here's where the deal really falls apart. According to another study, the Paris deal would shave about 0.2 degrees off warming by 2100. You heard me right. Assuming everything works perfectly according to plan, we could plausibly be trading 6.5 million jobs for a 0.2-degree payoff. But remember, there is no enforcement mechanism.The Non-Existent Case for the Paris Accord. For a bull in the china shop, President Donald Trump has so far gingerly stepped around the Paris climate accord. That dance could end as soon as this week, with Trump deciding whether to stay in or opt out. "Out" should be the obvious answer. No U.S. interest is served by remaining part of the accord, which even its supporters say is mostly an exercise in window dressing — that is, when they aren't insisting that the fate of the planet depends on it.Memorial Day Was Marked by a POTUS Who Actually Cares About Our Military. On Memorial Day, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made a special trip to the graves of our soldiers who fell in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most touching, was the impromptu meeting our president shared with two mothers of fallen soldiers during ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.President Trump Has Perfectly Positioned Angela Merkel as The De Facto Head of The EU. President Trump has strategically positioned Angela Merkel to own the downside of consequences for the EU's predicable problems which are just over the horizon. When the U.K is finally out of the EU, Germany will have to try and fill the financial void. Great Britain currently provides more than £1.5 billion per month to the EU. The U.K. is most likely going to close the gates to open-EU migration. This means that not only will the EU lose the biggest source of financing for their socialist systems, but also that North African and Mid-East refugees are going to bottleneck within the social systems of the EU financially. This will enhance the severity and simultaneously speed-up the politically correct economic collapse.66 more reasons to love President Trump. The Hill just posted, "66 programs eliminated in Trump's budget." They are a mass of boondoggles Congresses (mainly Democratic, but Republicans are almost as bad) created to use social problems to employ political operatives back home. Bobby Byrd's Appalachian Regional Commission is the best example. It was supposed to close the gap in education, income, and the like in West Virginia and parts of 12 other states. In the 50-plus years of the commission's existence, the gap widened. The 66 programs waste "only" $26.7 billion a year, but they help re-elect rejects like Maxine Waters, Patrick Leahy, and the detestable Nancy Pelosi.Donald Trump Declines to Endorse Paris Climate Agreement. Despite heavy lobbying from G7 leaders, President Donald Trump declined to endorse the Paris Climate Agreement in a joint pledge of support for one of former President Barack Obama's signature achievements in office. Trump's decision upset world leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, desperate to convince the president of the agreement's merits.Tillerson declines to host Ramadan event at State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declined a request to host an event to mark Islam's holy month of Ramadan, two U.S. officials said, apparently breaking with a bipartisan tradition in place with few exceptions for nearly 20 years. Since 1999, Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have nearly always hosted either an iftar dinner to break the day's fast during Ramadan or a reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the month, at the State Department.Trump Budget Stops Cash Payments to Illegal Immigrants. The president's proposed 2018 budget would put a stop to a government program that has paid out more than $35 billion over the past ten years to illegal immigrants in lump-sum payments, disguised as a "tax credit." The use of the credit by illegal immigrants, which has allowed them to get up to $1,000 for each child they claim, including children who are not theirs and who don't live in the United States, has been referred to as "a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme" that has taken money out of the hands of hard-working Americans.Here are the 66 programs eliminated in Trump's budget. President Trump's fiscal 2018 budget proposal would completely eliminate 66 federal programs, for a savings of $26.7 billion. Some of the programs would receive funding for 2018 as part of a phasing-out plan. Here are the programs the administration wants on the chopping block.Trump Effect? Household Income Hits 15-Year High. In April, real median household income reached $59,361, according to the latest report from Sentier Research. That's up 2% since January, and is as high as it's been since February 2002. Expressed as an index, median household income was 100.9 in April, which is the first time this index has topped 100 since December 2008.Strong Enough. Trump voters are far greater in diversity of class, background, and concerns than the left believes. Most Trump voters decided their vote for a host of reasons, but high among them was given to his being strong enough. The one thing the Democratic/media collusion is misjudging is this: they aren't changing the minds of Trump voters. Polls show this conclusively. MSNBC just did a piece in North Carolina and were shocked to learn Trump voters haven't been swayed. For all the breathless daily Trump gotchas, the ones where they think they have Trump in full retreat, they aren't changing the electorates' mind. Trump voters are staying the course.Trump budget saves taxpayer money by weeding out welfare freeloaders. Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney delivered a tough message on Tuesday [5/23/2017] as he explained the cornerstone of the Trump administration's budget blueprint for fiscal year 2018; ween capable, low income Americans off of welfare programs and put them back to work.Forget What You Hear: Our Narcissist President Is Winning. He restarted the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, a surefire signal to the fossil fuel industry that they are no longer the enemy. Reversing another of Barry's foolish policies, he has opened the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as the Arctic Ocean to fossil fuel exploration. In addition, he has shown rightful skepticism for global warming religious cultism, which demands we destroy our economy today to prevent something that may or may not happen in a hundred years. He appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and deftly allowed the Democrats to burn themselves to the ground, negating any possibility they might have ever had of stopping his next Supreme appointment. Just as Obama talked up illegal immigration, Trump has talked it down, resulting in an astounding reduction in illegal border crossing.Trump Is POTUS, and Leftist Hysteria Is Noise. It's helpful to watch the SecDef press conference on YouTube, if you want to see how Trump's troops are taking charge. Obama's limp-wristed and arguably pro-jihad policies, which had some of our military in despair about the crimes against children they were forced to witness in places like Syria, are being replaced by solid, competent, humane but forceful military actions.Trump's flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel possibly first direct flight between countries. President Donald Trump's trip to Israel on Monday may have already made history even before Air Force One touched down in Tel Aviv. Trump took a direct flight from Riyadh to Tel Aviv, believed to be the first direct flight between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The two countries do not have diplomatic relations and Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel as a state. Trump arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport to start the second leg of his first foreign trip since taking office. Trump will also be visiting the Palestinian territories during his two-day trip in Israel.Donald Trump's Invigorating Speech in Riyadh. Compare, if you will, Barack Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo to the Muslim world with Donald Trump's speech today [5/21/2017] in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There was some overlap: both indulged heartily in the usual political boilerplate and délicatesse: honored to be here, working together, Islam's great contribution to culture, how splendid is the Middle East, terrorism is not coterminous with Islam, etc., etc. But that's where the similarity ended. Trump's speech was a forthright, America First, speech, Obama's an accommodationist's dream.The Underreported Success of the Trump Presidency. While the Democrat/media complex tries to whip their base, and the country into a frenzy, this administration is putting good things in place. First and foremost for our culture is the restoration of law and order. That begins with giving the respect due to our law enforcement officials, which has been a hallmark of this administration. The outrageous demonization of law enforcement by the previous administration is gone. [...] The existing border laws are being enforced. Illegal crossings are down 70%. ICE agents have been reenergized, rounding up criminals and deporting them.Immigration Arrests Jump Nearly 40% Under Trump. Immigration arrests climbed yet again in April as federal agents continued to track down both criminal and noncriminal aliens in far greater numbers over the first 100 days of the Trump administration than they did under former President Barack Obama a year ago. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations deportation officers administratively arrested 41,318 illegal immigrants on civil immigration charges between Jan. 22 and April 29, according to agency data released Wednesday. That was a 38 percent jump over the 30,028 arrests made in the same time period in 2016, the final year of the Obama administration.Trump KOs State-Run Retirement Accounts for Private Sector Workers. President Donald Trump reversed another eleventh-hour Obama administration regulation, rolling back Democrats' effort to push private sector workers into state government retirement plans. Trump signed House Resolution 66 on Wednesday [5/17/2017], undoing a regulation adopted by the Department of Labor on October 31, 2016. The department's rule would have allowed state and local governments to create IRA accounts for private sector workers and automatically deduct contributions from their paychecks without the protections savers enjoy under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.Report: Illegal Aliens Forego Food Stamps to Stay off Trump's Radar. Illegal aliens in San Francisco have reportedly begun abstaining from food stamps in the belief it will help them avoid being detecting by the Trump administration. In fact, so many residents have turned against food stamps that "the city is concerned." According to the San Francisco Chronicle, local Human Services Agency director Trent Rhorer has noted that "households with one illegal" are wondering how much information will reach administration officials if they use food stamps, also known as CalFresh. Eligible families also wonder "whether the administration will cut food stamp benefits to immigrants."After Trump Executive Orders, ICE Making 400 Arrests Per Day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday [5/17/2017] that it has arrested more than 400 individuals per day since President Trump signed executive orders calling for tougher immigration policies. Between Jan. 22 and April 29, the immigration enforcement agency arrested 41,318 individuals on civil immigration charges, 75 percent of whom were convicted criminals, after Trump signed immigration-related executive orders in January. That number represents a 37.6 percent increase from the same period in 2016.Trump administration encourages states to ask for Obamacare waivers. The Trump administration on Tuesday [5/16/2017] encouraged states to ask for Obamacare waivers to set up high-risk pools, creating a pathway for interested states to begin to adopt key parts of the GOP's repeal plans even before they pass a bill through Congress. Officials said the flexibility is needed to save Obamacare from its own shortcomings, saying states need to start experimenting with what works for them, rather than being bound to the top-down model of the Affordable Care Act.Trump cuts all health care aid to international groups performing or promoting abortion. The Trump administration announced a massive expansion Monday of the pro-life Mexico City Policy, issuing guidelines that will strip billions of dollars in aid from international groups that perform or promote abortion. Originally a ban covering roughly $600 million in family planning money, the Trump policy now applies to all international health care aid doled out by the U.S. government — nearly $9 billion.Professor: Trump's Refusal to Feel Guilty Stole Liberals' Main Weapon. For years, conservatives have been told that just by existing, we're wrong. We've been told to "check our privilege," so we have. We've been told that American exceptionalism is rude to other countries, so we've tempered it. We've been told that everything we've been brought up to believe is somehow racist, patriarchal, and bigoted, so we've paused and evaluated our beliefs. Then came Donald Trump who absolutely obliterated the way the Left tries to make the Right feel.Trump Brings Back Half of Lost Mining Jobs — Already! Remember when liberals said there was NO WAY Donald Trump could or would ever revive the coal industry? He was called a liar and a charlatan for going to West Virginia and Pennsylvania and other parts of economically depressed Appalachia promising that he would bring back coal jobs. "Coal is dead," the Sierra Club declared triumphantly to its donors last year. The standard refrain from the left was that Trump is "lying" when he said coal jobs will can be resurrected. Well, coal is back.Trump's immigration enforcement helps slow illegal border crossings by 76%. Illegal immigration across the southwestern border is down a stunning 76 percent since President Trump was elected, with the flow of children and families dropping even faster as analysts say the administration's commitment to enforcing the law has changed the reality along the border. Overall apprehensions by the Border Patrol dropped to just 11,129 in April, according to numbers released Tuesday [5/9/2017], marking the lowest monthly total for any month in decades.Trump's Quiet Victories. In office, the fallback position of the irreconcilables has been that he could not get anything done. Yet he has dismantled the entire self-garrote apparatus promoting global warming and impeding off-shore and shale-oil production, and is dismantling and reversing the welter of financial regulation designed to promote the Dodd-Frank myth that Congress had lacked the authority to prevent the economic calamities created by official inflation of the housing bubble up to 2008, (with the full approval of the Congress). There is steady promotion of charter schools over the ignorance factories of the state school systems reduced to mockery by the teachers' unions to which the Democratic Party is bound from sandal to mortarboard.Trump to sign executive order lifting ban on political activity by churches. President Trump will sign an executive order Thursday to make it easier for churches to actively participate in politics without risking their tax-exempt status, and to protect faith-based groups from being forced to pay for abortion services under Obamacare, the White House said. A senior White House official confirmed Wednesday night that Mr. Trump will take the action at a National Day of Prayer event as he hosts conservative religious leaders at the White House. The official said the order is "another example of the president fulfilling his campaign promises." The order is aimed at easing an IRS provision that prohibits churches from directly opposing or endorsing political candidates. Mr. Trump has been promising to get rid of the measure.Trump signs order aimed at allowing churches to engage in more political activity. The order, which Trump unveiled with great fanfare in a Rose Garden ceremony, was cheered by some conservative Christians but seen as a disappointment by others, who said it fell short of the broader changes they wanted as part of a highly anticipated measure on religious liberties. The order, Trump said, removes the financial threat faced by tax-exempt churches from the Internal Revenue Service when pastors speak out on behalf of political candidates. But some experts said it amounts to a mostly symbolic gesture with little likelihood of changing how the agency polices the issue.50,000 Haitians face being deported by Trump back to their country. More than 50,000 Haitians are at risk of being deported to a country still reeling from a series of natural disasters, after Donald Trump's immigration agency recommended ending their temporary right to live in the US. Up to 55,000 Haitians are living in America under so-called temporary protected status (TPS), initially granted to them after the 2010 earthquake, that killed an estimated 150,000 people. The status has been updated every 18 months, as Haiti has confronted the challenges of a cholera epidemic triggered by UN peacekeepers, a sexual abuse scandal involving those peacekeepers and political uncertainty following the postponing of elections that eventually saw Jovenel Moïse become president.Tillerson Cuts 2,300 Jobs From Bloated State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has begun fulfilling President Donald Trump's mission to reduce the size of government and save taxpayers a boatload of money by proposing to eliminate 2,300 jobs at the State Department. If implemented, the plan would trim the State Department's budget by more than a quarter and its staff by approximately 3 percent, according to The Associated Press.Study: Obama Imposed $4B More in Regulations Than Trump Did During First 100 Days. President Donald Trump imposed less than one percent of the regulatory burdens that former President Barack Obama did during his first 100 days, according to a new study from the American Action Forum. The conservative think tank tracked regulatory costs created by each administration during their first 100 days. AAF found that Obama imposed $4 billion in regulatory costs while Trump imposed less than one percent of that at $28 million. Trump, whose deregulatory actions AAF suggested were a "success," didn't approve any major new regulations during his first 100 days but was able to slash regulatory costs. The Market Stabilization Rule, enacted under Trump to regulate health care markets, did not impose any new burdens. Trump's other regulatory change, a delay in the Fiduciary Rule, resulted in a $78 billion drop in regulatory costs.13 Ways Trump Has Rolled Back Government Regulations in His First 100 Days. As President Donald Trump reaches his 100th day in the White House on April 29, he will have worked with Congress to rescind more regulations using the Congressional Review Act than any other president. "We're excited about what we're doing so far. We've done more than that's ever been done in the history of Congress with the CRA," Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., told The Daily Signal in an interview, referring to the law called the Congressional Review Act. The Congressional Review Act, the tool Trump and lawmakers are using to undo these regulations, allows Congress to repeal executive branch regulations in a certain window of time.Report: Trump Rolls Back $60 Billion More in Regulatory Savings. President Donald Trump and Congress have saved an additional $60 billion in regulatory costs by rolling back Obama administration rules, according to a new report. The American Action Forum, a center-right policy institute, released a report Tuesday documenting the most recent ways the administration and Congress have used the Congressional Review Act to repeal regulations. The report found the recent repeal and delay of regulations could lead to $86 billion in net fiscal effects for taxpayers from deregulation.Coal's Colossal Comeback. Liberals have been saying that Donald Trump was lying to the American people when he said that he could bring coal jobs back. Well, so far, he has delivered on his promise. There's more good news for the coal industry. Earlier this month, Peabody Energy — America's largest coal producer — moved out of bankruptcy, and its stock is actively trading again. Its market cap had sunk by almost 90% during Barack Obama's years in office. Arch Coal is also out of bankruptcy. It turns out that, after all, elections do have consequences. The Obama administration and its allies, such as the Sierra Club, tried to kill coal because of their obsession with global warming. Regime change in Washington has brought King Coal back to life.Trump Has All the Right Enemies. Signing bills into law requires two branches of government; therefore, it isn't exactly fair to blame the Trump administration for a Republican-controlled Congress divided against itself. Though Trump lacks a signature legislative accomplishment in his first 100 days [...] Trump has signed several meaningful pieces of legislation that thrilled different parts of his political base — a pro-life bill allowing states to strip money from Planned Parenthood; a bill repealing Obama-era anti-coal regulations; and a bill scrapping anti-gun rules signed by Obama. These were core promises to conservative Republicans kept by President Trump. And along the way, he nominated, and saw confirmed, Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.21,362 Illegal Aliens Arrested Under Trump So Far. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped-up arrests of illegal aliens during the first weeks of President Trump's term. According to newly released statistics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), originally requested by The Washington Post, arrests of illegal aliens increased 32.6 percent during the first several weeks of the Trump Administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 21,362 illegal aliens from January 20 through March 13, an increase of 5,258 from the same period in 2016.Trump is reviving the energy industry Obama tried to kill. Buried in an otherwise humdrum jobs report for March was the jaw-dropping pronouncement by the Labor Department that mining jobs in America were up by 11,000 in March. Since the low point in October 2016 and following years of painful layoffs in the mining industry, the mining sector has added 35,000 jobs. What a turnaround. It comes at a time when liberals have been saying that Donald Trump has been lying to the American people when he has said that he can bring coal jobs back. Well, so far he has.Trump Won't Be Punked By Foreign Dirtbags Like Obama Was. Donald Trump is in the process of doing what Barack Obama never did and what he and his coterie of pompous twits and political hacks masquerading as a foreign policy brain trust could never do. Trump is establishing a successful foreign policy doctrine. It's not precisely old school Republican doctrine. [...] Trump's policy is "America First." Obama's policy was "Blame America First." Obama employed force only after extensive agonizing and never in the amount required to actually win. The Obama Doctrine was about staving off defeat just long enough so the next sucker would get stuck dealing with the resulting mess [...]Trump Revokes Obama's Parting Gift to Planned Parenthood. States will once again be able to defund Planned Parenthood after President Trump overturned an 11th-hour Obama administration regulation protecting funding for the nation's biggest abortion provider. Trump signed into law on Thursday [4/13/2017] a bill reversing a Department of Health and Human Services regulation signed in December that prevented states from blocking funding for Planned Parenthood. Obama's regulation reversed the policies of more than a dozen states that had prevented federal Medicaid dollars or other federal reimbursements from going to clinics that perform abortions. Trump signed the legislation one month after he said that he would continue to direct taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood if it stopped performing abortions. The organization performs more than 300,000 abortions each year — about one-third of the national total.Trump Signs Resolution Overturning Obama Planned Parenthood State Funding Mandate. President Donald Trump signed a resolution Thursday that overturns former President Barack Obama's rule that forced states to provide family planning grants under Title X to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. In a signing ceremony that was closed to the press, Trump signed H.J. Res. 43, which allows states to withhold federal funds from facilities that provide abortions. In attendance were Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma, Susan B. Anthony president Marjorie Dannenfelser, and Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America.American Resurrection. The statistics on illegal immigration are in. Apparently, the wave of illegals has been cut by 70% since Trump's inauguration. And the Wall doesn't even exist yet. So much for all those who said we couldn't halt this illegal flood. ICE is deporting criminals (and leftists are squealing), sanctuary cities are going to lose a lot of funds, Lansing, Michigan, just voted to stop being a sanctuary city, overcoming their foolish mayor.Ex-Obama officials say hesitation to use force in Syria, elsewhere, emboldened adversaries. News of President Trump's response to the Syrian chemical attack left several Obama administration officials with a sense of frustration and a reluctant feeling of vindication. Trump's decision to act swiftly and decisively, with an airstrike, was what they had wanted to see Barack Obama do in 2013 when he was president and the world learned of the Syrian government's chemical attack that killed some 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. But Obama, they say, was too hesitant and too guided by a belief that dialogue was the way to deal with rogue leaders. He preferred the olive branch to the stick in his efforts to appeal to leaders with dangerous instincts, they say.Illegal Aliens Caught Committing "Minor" Crimes Are Now Getting... Arrested. [Scroll down] Perhaps they aren't the ones that Trump said he would go after, but, he's not sitting their approving each and every illegal who ICE goes to detain. Furthermore, ICE typically picks up the low and no crime illegals because they have outstanding deportation orders already on the books. Double furthermore, this same thing happened under Obama. Because Obama was only going to micro-manage ICE operations so much. Just because Trump said he would "prioritize" does not mean ICE won't pick up those with other crimes or no crimes. And, really, is DUI not a serious crime? When you drive under the influence, usually alcohol, you are drastically increasing the danger to other people. Fraud usually involves stealing legal citizen's information, which can ruin their lives. Oh, and none should be here in the first place.Fear of Trump Makes Migrants Disappear From Mexican Border. [President] Trump hasn't yet made good on his bombastic campaign trail promises. The wall is still just a twinkle in his eye, and the deportation force hiring sprees haven't happened yet. ICE agents have conducted raids targeting undocumented immigrants, but they aren't actually that different in scale from raids that happened during the early years of the Obama administration. But the symbolism of Trump in the Oval Office and the threat of extended detention has already deterred many migrants. Migrants are scared, explained Jose, a young Honduran man staying at the San Bosco shelter in hopes of getting to the U.S. They might be less scared in the future, he said, but for now they're waiting.Arrests of illegal criminals jumps 250% in one week. As promised, immigration police have expanded their campaign to deport illegals with criminal records, announcing the seizure of 368 illegals in seven states and Washington, D.C. That nearly a 250 percent increase over the 106 announced a week earlier. The biggest seizures by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in Texas, but they made arrests as far north as Wyoming.Trump Blows Up Obama's Foreign Policy Straw Men. President Trump did more than retaliate for Bashar al-Assad's illegal and inhumane use of nerve agents against civilians when he ordered the launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles to destroy al-Shayrat airbase in Syria. He also detonated a few shibboleths of his predecessor's foreign policy. First is the idea that President Obama's 2013 deal to remove Assad's weapons of mass destruction was a success.President Trump's military strike against Syria is perfectly legal. Senator Rand Paul may be a fine doctor, but his knowledge of the law and Constitution appears misguided. He proved it when he accused President Trump of acting unconstitutionally by launching a military strike against a Syrian airbase without congressional approval. Senator Paul is mistaken. It is true that under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitutional [sic], only Congress has the power to declare war. But a singular strike against a limited asset hardly constitutes war. It is a military action intended to confront hostilities which does not rise to the level of a declared war as the Founders envisioned.Trump administration revokes Obama-era directive blocking controversial water project. The Trump administration issued a memo late last week revoking two federal directives implemented under President Obama that had blocked a controversial water project in California's Mojave Desert. An acting assistant director at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rescinded two legal guidances that reinforced the agency's 2015 decision that Cadiz Inc. could not use an existing federal railroad right-of-way in its long-standing project to pump groundwater from the project's planned well field in the Mojave Desert and sell it to urban areas throughout Southern California that rely on the Colorado River Aqueduct.Illegal immigration down 67 percent under Trump. Illegal immigration across the southwest border is down more than 60 percent so far under President Trump, officials revealed Tuesday [4/4/2017], even before the first new agent is hired or the first mile of his promised border wall is constructed. Mr. Trump took a victory lap over the "record reductions" in illegal crossers, saying he is already saving Americans' jobs by preventing them from having to compete with unauthorized workers.Bit by bit, Trump methodically undoing Obama policies. Amid the turmoil over staff shake-ups, blocked travel bans and the Russia cloud hanging overhead, President Donald Trump is steadily plugging away at a major piece of his agenda: Undoing Obama.Sessions says border crossings down 60 percent due to Trump's leadership. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Thursday that illegal border crossings "are down 60 percent due to President Trump's strong leadership." Sessions gave a wide-ranging interview and said that the administration would look at other possible actions against so-called "sanctuary cities" after he announced this week that federal funds would be cut off to locales that refuse to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after detaining illegal immigrants.Team Trump is already [effective] at the United Nations. As US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley pointed out Monday [3/20/2017], only one country is subjected to regular scrutiny and condemnation in each of the three annual sessions of the 47-member Geneva-based human-rights body. Guess which one. "It's not Syria, where the regime has systematically slaughtered and tortured its own people," Haley said. "It's not Iran, where public hangings are a regular occurrence. It's not North Korea, where the regime uses forced labor camps to crush its people into submission. "It's Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East."Trump was right to fire Preet Bharara. Fake News outlets portray Preet Bharara as a "storied prosecutor" who went after Wall Street and political corruption. [...] Obama appointed him as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, taking office on August 13, 2009. His turf included Wall Street. Under Bush 43, that office successfully prosecuted a score of CEOs. Topping the list of those convicted was Ken Lay, CEO of Enron, who died before he could be sent to prison. The rest did prison time. But Obama changed that. Through Preet Bharara, Barack Obama sold Get Out Of Jail Free cards to corrupt CEOs on Wall Street.Preet Bharara 'fired': A phony scandal created by an Obama appointee. In 2009, President Barack Obama asked for the resignation of George W. Bush-appointed U.S. Attorneys. When he replaced virtually all of them, it was treated as nothing out of the ordinary. That's because it wasn't. In March 1993 President Bill Clinton had Attorney General Janet Reno fire 93 of the 94 U.S. Attorneys appointed by the prior administration. (Only Michael Chertoff was retained, apparently at the request of Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.) Again, there was no outrage over these firings. Yet today, Preet Bharara, Obama's U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is being portrayed by some as a political martyr because he was "fired" after he refused the Trump administration's request to resign along with the remaining 45 Obama appointees in the U.S. Attorney slots.Saint Preet. President Trump axed 46 Democratic political appointees this weekend whom Barack Obama had appointed as U.S. attorneys. He asked for their resignations, but the guy in Manhattan refused to do the honorable thing. So Trump fired Preet Bharara — whom the press immediately lionized.Trump's Wall Is Already Paid For. Critics of the border wall proposed by President Trump have said the cost is prohibitive under current budget and economic conditions, that no way is Mexico going to pay for it, and shifting funds away from the TSA, Coast Guard, and FEMA are counterproductive in terms of national security. These criticisms ignore the costs to the U.S. in terms other than money — increased crime, overtaxed law enforcement, the drain on public resources such as education, medical care, etc., and the driving down of real wages through an endless supply of cheap labor. In fact, thanks in large part to the mere threat of the wall, the sudden enforcement of existing law, and the stripping of funding from sanctuary cities by President Trump, illegal immigration has plummeted by 40 percent in February, a trend that if continued will reduce the costs and burdens of illegal immigration to the point that the benefits of enhanced border security, including the wall, will be more than paid for.Repealing Obama. Repealing and replacing Obamacare is nice. But President Trump is doing so much more. He is repealing and replacing Obama legacy of Obama's failure to improve the economy, of Obama's failure to balance the books, and of Obama's failure to protect the border. President Trump rolled back jobless claims to their lowest since 1973, added 473,000 jobs, overseen double-digit improvements in the stock market since his election, collected $60 billion more in tax revenue than he has spent, and has seen new illegal immigration drop 40% in his first full-month in office.Don't Look Now, But Trump Is Already Winning On Border Security. Just by saying that he would strictly enforce immigration laws already on the books, President Trump is already on his way to solving the illegal immigration problem. Imagine if previous presidents had done the same. In February, border agents apprehended just 18,762 people at the U.S./Mexican border, a 40% drop from January, which was itself a 27% decline from December. In fact, illegal border crossings have fallen every month since Trump won the election. And February's number was lower than any month in the previous five years, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.BUMMER: Did President Trump Just Nuke Obamacare with a Single Executive Order? Earlier this month, the IRS made a seemingly insignificant change to its policy, undermining the Obamacare mandate in a very significant way. For the last several years, individual filers were required by law to fill out line 61 of form 1040, which indicates whether you have maintained coverage or paid the penalty. This is otherwise known as a "shared responsibility statement." Taxpayers could also claim exemption by filing a 8965 form. Tax returns that don't indicate coverage status (silent returns) were to be automatically rejected. However, due to an executive order issued by President Trump, that line is now optional, making it incredibly difficult to enforce the Obamacare mandate.America Is Safer, in Less Than a Month. During the campaign, many who were slow to embrace Trump saw him as a mere showman, largely because he was already known for that. I subscribed for a time to this view myself. But there is more to Trump than this. As any comedian or jazz musician can attest, good improvisation indicates fully rounded virtuosity. The political showman who regards his TelePrompTer as essential is the one who deserves the word "mere."State Dept. carries out layoffs under Rex Tillerson. While Rex Tillerson is on his first overseas trip as Secretary of State, his aides laid off staff at the State Department on Thursday. Much of seventh-floor staff, who work for the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and the Counselor offices, were told today that their services were no longer needed. These staffers in particular are often the conduit between the secretary's office to the country bureaus, where the regional expertise is centered. Inside the State Department, some officials fear that this is a politically-minded purge that cuts out much-needed expertise from the policy-making, rather than simply reorganizing the bureaucracy. There are clear signals being sent that many key foreign policy portfolios will be controlled directly by the White House, rather than through the professional diplomats.It's a bloodbath at the State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is cleaning house at the State Department, according to a report. Staffers in the offices of deputy secretary of state for management and resources as well as counselor were shown the door Thursday [2/16/2017], according to CBS News. Many of those let go were on the building's seventh floor — top-floor bigs — a symbolically important sign to the rest of the diplomatic corps that their new boss has different priorities than the last one. The staffing changes came as Tillerson was on his first foreign trip — attending a G-20 meeting in Bonn, Germany.Trump has kept his promise: Health insurance mandate is history. President Trump has kept at least one of his campaign promises, effectively ending the mandate that required people to buy health insurance. While approved by the Supreme Court, this mandate was unconstitutional because Americans cannot be compelled to buy health insurance, or to buy anything. President Trump did not actually terminate the requirement to buy health insurance, but he tweaked the rules so enforcement is very unlikely to occur.Trump, GOP Congress have already cut $2.8 billion in regulations. Nearly $3 billion in Obama-era federal regulations have already been slashed by President Trump and Republicans in Congress, a benefit that also saves Americans 41 million hours of paperwork. A new report from the regulation watchdog American Action Forum said that Trump's executive orders and congressional passage of cuts to regulation via the Congressional Review Act have saved $2.8 billion in potential costs.Union Leaders Praise President Trump After Meeting — Cheer for Removal of TPP. Union leadership met today [1/23/2017] with a pro-jobs, pro-growth, pro-USA president. Leadership from construction/manufacturing, pipe fitters, steel workers and industrial machinist unions met today with President Trump and exit the meeting with incredible praise for the respect he showed them.Trump Wins Praise From Democrats on TPP Withdrawal. One of President Trump's first moves as president is getting a big thumbs up from some of our more liberal members of Congress. Senators Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Bob Casey (D., Penn.), and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) praised Trump today for signing an executive action to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.Carrier Announces Deal With Trump To Keep 1,000 Jobs In Indiana. The bigger story here is that: A.) A U.S. President-Elect actually cares about blue collar jobs, and B.) United Technologies, ie. Carrier's parent company, recognizes their best interests are now to focus on "America First".Trump to reveal deal to keep nearly 1,000 Carrier jobs in Indiana. Carrier had planned to move production from a key factory in that state to Mexico, taking with it the roughly 1,400 jobs of those who work at the Indiana plant. But shortly after CNBC revealed that Donald Trump was expected to travel to Indiana on Thursday to announce that a deal had been reached, Carrier itself confirmed the agreement.Trump Cuts Another Deal to Keep Jobs in America. Earlier this month, Ford Chairman Bill Ford notified Trump that Lincoln scrapped a plan to move production of the MKC crossover south of the border, a decision that Ford acknowledged was influenced by the Republican's victory on Election Day. On Tuesday evening, another target of criticism during Trump's run to the White House announced that an Indianapolis factory will remain open for business. Carrier, maker of air conditioners and commercial refrigeration products, revealed on Twitter that it "reached a deal" with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence to "keep close to 1,000 jobs" in Indiana.Flashback June 2016: Obama Says Trump's Plan To Keep Carrier In U.S. Is Unrealistic. At a town hall event hosted by PBS in June 2016, President Obama said it was unrealistic to try to neogtiate with companies to keep jobs in the U.S. Obama was responding to a question from an empoyee of Carrier Air Conditioners, who had announced months earlier that they were closing a factory in the U.S. and moving to Mexico. Six months later, President-elect Donald Trump announced a deal with Carrier's parent company to keep the factory open.

That atheistic evolutionist will do nothing but lie to you. Here’s an article you might like to read and ponder.Version:1.0 StartHTML:000000200 EndHTML:000152840 StartFragment:000098331 EndFragment:000152756 StartSelection:000098335 EndSelection:000152752 SourceURL:https://creation.com/biblical-ecologyToward a biblical basis for ecology, with applications in mycorrhizal symbioses in orchidsby Tom Hennigan‘God was our original habitat and our hearts cannot but feel at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful abode.’Ecology is the study of the intricate relationships between organisms and their environment. In order to develop a creation model of ecology, the foundation must be based on sound biblical presuppositions, beginning with the assumption that there is a Creator who desires to be known in word and deed. The framework upon this foundation is forged from current creation research that has shed light on ecological principles. The study of orchid mycorrhizal symbioses is consistent with the creationist idea that microbes are an organosubstrate and are critical in bridging the gap from the environment to the orchid so it can germinate, develop and persist in the biosphere. This suggests that the orchid baramin was created as a biological system with fungi. As scientific research continues to unveil the elaborate and interdependent relationships in ecosystems, the observations suggest that they are products of masterful engineering. Fascinating and challenging questions remain and it is hoped that building a creation model of ecology is encouraged and that all who would marvel at such complexity would long to enter that ancient and beautiful aboutFigure 1. The terrestrial showy lady slipper (Cypripedium reginae), a member of the slipper orchid subfamily Cypripedioideae, depend on obligate fungal relationships for their existence. Taxonomically, the slipper orchids consist of five genera and roughly 150 to 170 species found everywhere but Africa and Australia. They have variable forms and are easily recognized because their flowers are uniquely modified with a slipper shaped, sac-like pouch. The flowers rely on complex pollination symbioses in which insects drawn to the flowers crawl into the opening of the ‘slipper’ and can only escape by passing the stigma and anther, allowing pollen masses to be deposited or removed and sexual reproduction to take place.The neo-Darwinian model, with its random naturalistic presuppositions, has dominated the science arena for a century and a half. In contrast, the recently developed modern creation model is in its relative infancy (although belief in creation is ancient) and only certain aspects are now being rigorously researched. Examples include the research in creationist geology and paleontology, showing evidence of a world wide catastrophic floodand its implications for the reinterpretation of both time scales and mechanisms that produce various geologic features. Creation physicists are making great strides in predicting mechanisms and strengths of planetary and cosmic magnetic fields while exploring radiometric dating techniques consistent with young-earth predictions.Creation biologists have not only falsified the neo-Darwinian contention that mutations plus natural selection can generate the world’s biodiversity from random events, but also have shown that evolutionary genetic theory is fatally flawed and effectively falsified by numerical simulation.In 1866, the term ecology was first coined by Ernst Haeckel, from the Greek oikos, meaning ‘house’ or place-to-live7 and ology, study of. The study of ecology concerns the relationship of organisms which include both, interactions with each other and with the abiotic environment. The field is an integration of many sciences including geology, physics, chemistry and biology. These complex biotic and abiotic interactions comprise the ‘ecological system’ or ‘ecosystem’. The ecosystem concept was developed in the 1930s by English ecologist, George Tansley,and ecosystems can range in size from a drop of water to the biosphere, depending on where researchers want to draw their study boundaries. Trying to unravel the mysterious and infinitely complex relationships within these systems can be both invigorating and perplexing.This paper lays the biblical foundation for an ecological model, summarizes creationist research directly related to ecology, and incorporates an analysis of orchid mychorrizal symbioses. It is hoped that further investigation into the beautiful complexities of this world will instil an attitude of profound love for the Creator and encourage research that will develop a more viable, and uniquely biblical, creation model of ecology. The call for a ‘great synthesis’, whereby the Bible is central to our beliefs and foundational to the scientific models we construct, is critical.Worldview in scientific interpretationAs with all scientific disciplines, interpretations of ecosystem dynamics are dependent on presuppositions of the researchers, which are ultimately affected by their worldviews. Unfortunately, public school and university educators do a poor job emphasizing this because many are unaware of their own assumptions, and thus produce a blend of scientific facts with worldview interpretations. For many, the confused result is a belief that the creation/evolution issue is a war between science (evolution) and religion (creation). All observations are interpreted through the lens of a worldview, and in this paper the issues surrounding ecosystem origins are not issues of science verses religion, but worldviews of materialistic naturalism verses biblical theism (supernaturalism).In recent decades neo-Darwinist James Lovelock, noting the biosphere’s ability to physiologically self-regulate, developed a materialistic explanation for this phenomenon known as the Gaia Hypothesis, named for the Greek goddess Gaia or ‘mother earth’. Lovelock contends that life has affected the planetary environment and maintains itself by manipulating the current environment for its own benefit.Though he believes random processes produced life, and that the earth is not making conscience decisions, it still smells of teleology to many materialists and is, therefore, controversial. New Age followers, many of whom are ecologists and environmental educators, distort Lovelock’s original ideas and view earth as a conscious entity, worshiping ‘her’ accordingly. This worldview is often injected into public high school and university curricula. Materialistic naturalism, as a worldview, is vacuous because it discounts the Creator and has clearly been shown to be a dead end.Random mutation and natural selection are recognized processes by creation ecologists, but careful study has shown that these processes cannot explain the origin of complex organisms and their interdependent relationships within ecosystems. It is well documented that even the most ‘simple’ biochemical systems in bacteria are more complex, by orders of magnitude, than anything humans have designed. Yet the naturalist paradigm is left trying to explain how complex ‘seemingly designed’ systems could be products of random, non-intelligent processes.A biblical world view: the foundation for an ecological modelIn contrast, the biblical world view recognizes both random and purposefully designed processes, allowing great freedom when testing hypotheses about ecosystem origins and mechanisms. This view recognizes that there is an all powerful Creator who has revealed Himself through the written Word.He is the Self-Existent One, the omniscient, omnipotent God who is separate and above His creation.Intimately involved with His creation, He holds it all together.That ecosystems work because of complex interdependent relationships is consistent with His character. Therefore the biblical ecologist recognizes the majesty, power and wisdom of God in the beauty, complexity and mystery of His creation.In the beginning, God created everything very good and made humanity so that they would enjoy an intimate and dependent relationship with Him.This means human life is precious and to be protected from conception to death, in the broadest possible terms that include protection for the unborn, child safety, not government welfare bureaucrats and provision for pure food, water and air.Tragically, when Adam desired independence from the Creator, resulting in sin, human dependence upon God became marred and the Divine/human partnership broken.The consequences of this spiritual independence are well illustrated in evolutionary, environmental philosophy which sees humans as only a higher functioning animal on the evolutionary continuum. They rank human population growth as the most serious environmental problem in the biosphere. Some even consider humanity a parasitic blight on Earth and have suggested that the planet would be better off if 90% of us were dead.As a consequence of Adam’s Fall, Earth is cursed. Death and suffering through disease, predation, parasitism and venom injection apparatus are a result of the curse and do not reflect God’s character. Instead, they are consistent with broken, distorted and displaced relationships.Fortunately, through Christ’s atonement, God has restored this relationship for those who believe Him by faith.How we respond to God’s call for a renewed relationship will affect our connections with each other and with the created world. As Christians, our first love should be for Him followed by love for our fellow men.Lives characterized by these qualities are only possible when they are rooted in Christ and guided by His Spirit.Even with regard to animals, these godly characteristics are biblical precedence for taking care of them.William Wilberforce expounded on these qualities which were the bases for his successful anti-slavery campaign in England and his founding of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.God has given us the responsibility to represent Him and care for His creation now, and in preparation for the new creation, which we will also have the responsibility to tend and keep.The root of any ecological crisis is relational, particularly our broken relationship with the Creator. Historically, many Christians have fallen into spiritual delusion by embracing ungodly views. Bristow has challenged Christians to have the mind of Christ by avoiding the mindset of having more, in order to get more.God is the basis for our significance and security while materialism is the root of greed and causes great detriment to the created order. Bristow’s second challenge is that Christians need to avoid being so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. Scripture prophesies an eventual destruction of the current heavens and Earth because of the great evil that will manifest itself globally. Eventually there will be a wonderful and eternal replacement for both and they will become the true home for all believers.However, that does not mean that we are to be apathetic now. God has given us the responsibility to represent Him and care for His creation now, and in preparation for the new creation, which we will also have responsibility to tend and keep.The problems of materialism and apathy in Christendom have lead some to believe that a biblical worldview is responsible for the world’s environmental problems. Lynn White not only blamed the biblical worldview for destroying pagan animism and paving the way for an unfeeling exploitation of nature, but he also felt that environmental issues will only be solved if we abandon the biblical paradigm all together.White was evidently ignorant of the fact that it was the biblical worldview that was behind a seminal book that was arguably a catalyst behind the global conservation movement.In 1864 George Perkins Marsh wrote Man and Nature that described the biblical perspective of stewardship. He believed that our talents, emotions, intellect, salvation and this world are gifts from God. God must be given credit for everything because He made and owns it all. Christians have tended to stay away from environmentalism due, in part, to the impact of Lovelock’s ideas which fuelled the adoption of neopagan and New Age environmentalism and to the influence of Christian authors like Dave Hunt and Constance Cumbey.As His representatives, Christians should be at the forefront of these issues because they have been given the task to be good stewards of the land. The word steward derives from the 10th-century English word stigweard, which literally means ‘guard of the hall’ implying one who is responsible to manage something for someone elseGod’s command to have dominion and subdue creation has been misunderstood.People have used this verse as a justification for wonton environmental harm. In biblical theology, Christians are to manage and take care of that which is God’s. The Hebrew for ‘have dominion’ is רךה (radah) and ‘subdue it’ כבש(kabash), and both carry the idea of being in charge.Biblical stewardship that involves taking control of the land can be likened to a forester who uses an ecosystem approach in the management of a timber stand. He takes charge of the timber so that it is both ecologically and financially sustainable. Consequently, he exercises a benevolent dominion that balances the use of timber for market, maintains optimum wildlife habitat, and preserves the beneficial forest services for years to come. Foresters have a technical term that could be synonymous for this benevolent dominion called silviculture, or the art of producing and tending a forest with a particular goal.Today, the term conservation is consistent with this view because it does not necessarily connote preservation, but recognizes the importance of biodiversity and emphasizes the wise use of land.Ever since humanity was given the task of dominion, or using the land wisely, most cultures around the world have managed the land for their needs. Often it has been with devastating ignorance and sometimes with great knowledge and skill. The romanticized notion of early colonists coming to the untouched and pristine American wilderness is a myth. The indigenous peoples had been managing the land for hundreds of years, and through trial and error, many understood it well. They often recognized that a wisely managed and sustainable ecosystem was healthier and more productive than its wild counterpart.Interestingly, there is increasing collaboration amongst practicing ecologists and native peoples as Western science seeks to understand Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Often, with TEK, the indigenous culture and language contain hints about ecological concepts and healthy ways to manage ecosystems that are unknown to formal science but have been practiced successfully for centuries.An initial synthesis of current creation research: scaffolding for an ecological modelWhen Noah stepped out of the ark 4,500 years ago, his world had changed drastically. God’s judgment on the land and its creatures was devastating and complete. That judgment has implications for how we interpret the current mechanisms of geologic processes, organism diversification and distribution (biogeography), and complex biological interactions. Insights learned from understanding the land within a biblical creation model have biblical implications and applications in origin of life assumptions, godly stewardship, human relations, world hunger, sustainable agriculture, and energy use among many more. The following is a synthesis of creation research that contains many venues for future investigation.Genetics/molecular biology/microbiologyNeo-Darwinists believe random beneficial mutations and natural selection provide the mechanisms that produced current biodiversity. Examples of these types of mutations include antibiotic resistance in bacteria and their ability to genetically adapt to environmental stresses. Upon further inspection of the bacterial genotypes, new insight has shown that when beneficial changes in nucleotide sequences occur, there is a loss of pre-existing activities in the original (wild-type) biochemical system. This knock out of existing biochemical machinery tends to change the enzymatic, regulatory or transport systems, and confers a temporary survival value to the bacterium in that new environment.This trade-off of an existing biochemical system in order to survive a new environment, at the expense of systems used in other environments, is called antagonistic pleiotropy.Anderson and Purdom note that many of these mutations look as if they produce adaptation as a result of design and give every indication of a designed mechanism. This process does not add complexity to the already existing system and, therefore, does not explain the origin of complex, interconnected systems. Further analysis of Hall’s research of the E. coli ebg operon supports, to the idea that bacteria can adaptively mutate under numerous environmental conditions, but with a corresponding reduction in some aspect of the biochemical machinery.Some have stated that this is evolution in action, but it is evolution in the wrong direction and is therefore untenable as an explanatory mechanism for life’s origins.Because of their crucial roles in ecosystems and the partially stochastic nature of environments, bacterial adaptive mutations would be expected within a creation model. The microbial world of bacteria, fungi and viruses must be understood in God’s original creation. Microbes (‘germs’) are often looked upon negatively, but few realize that far less than one percent of these organisms are truly harmful, and the vast majority are crucial for all life.Fascinating research has begun to explain how pathology arose after the Fall, but much work still needs to be done.Potential areas of viable research should look for deleterious pathogens that have experienced a dangerous mutation and/or were displaced into organisms they were not designed to inhabit.Francis has proposed that God created microbes as a link between macro-organisms and the chemical environment, calling them an organosubstrate or biomatrix.He hypothesizes that if these are designed for this purpose they should be abundant, ubiquitous, involved in complex and crucial symbiotic relationships involving macro-organisms, able to form symbiotic microbial communities, mine and provide chemical elements from the lithosphere, and cycle elements in the biosphere. They fit all of these parameters and demonstrate that the biosphere, including humanity, could not survive without them. Some have proposed that the materialist endosymbiosis hypothesis can also explain these complex relationships.However, all of the evidence discussed suggests that an engineered biomatrix is more consistent with the data.Because humans, plants and animals could not function without microbes, it is hypothesized that they were created as biological systems with plants, animals and humans on multiple days of Creation Week.Viruses are biologically non-living and are looked upon as deleterious genetic machines. Current research suggests that their harmful qualities may be, by far, the exception than the rule because pathology is uncommon and there are many examples of beneficial viral symbionts.Viruses have powerful mini-motors used to inject genetic materials into their hosts and their hosts are often bacteria.Bacteria contain tremendous amounts of genetic potential and are constantly acquiring and exchanging genetic information. Because of this ability, they provide many ecological services such as bioremediation, recycling nutrients, cleansing water and regulating soil pH. This ability to exchange and gather genetic information may be facilitated and ameliorated by viruses. Instead of parasitic symbioses, viruses may be commensal with bacteria in genetic exchange, much like bees cross pollinating flowers.Fascinating areas to investigate include the roles of viruses in genetic transfer as a function of microbe involvement in global homeostasis, and potential mechanisms for rapid intrabaraminic diversification.BiogeochemistryMicrobes are also a crucial component in biogeochemical cycling. These cycles consist of the paths elements take through the global system for proper functioning and persistence of life. If microbes did not exist, the critical carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles would not be possible and life would cease. Life affects chemistry and chemistry affects life.Many diverse genera are involved and this redundancy is important as a system back up should a taxon not be present.Zuill and Standish focused their attention on the nitrogen cycle.Nitrogen is crucial for the existence of all life and is a building block of amino acids needed for protein synthesis, as well as nucleotides and their nucleic acids. The nitrogen cycle’s function is to keep its various molecular forms in balance so that life can persist. Through five stages, atmospheric nitrogen is converted into nitrogen compounds that plants require and can assimilate, and it is then recycled back into the atmosphere again. Many chemical steps are involved in various parts of ecosystems and specific enzymes are needed at the right times and places. The nitrogen cycle is dependent on the carbon cycle and requires microbes and other creatures to work in concert. In turn, plants provide nutrition to animals. Amazingly, in order for certain chemical reactions to continue, plants contribute specific chemicals while the biomatrix provides what plants lack in order to complete the required chemical reactions. Many diverse genera are involved and this redundancy is important as a system back up should a certain taxon not be present.Behe’s concept of irreducible complexity in biological systemswas enlarged and extended to ecosystems, giving rise to a term ‘irreducible interdependence’.Behe discussed this concept in the context of biochemical reactions in single organisms. Zuill and Standish used the term ‘ecochemical pathways’ to refer to the series of biochemical reactions across multiple species, where each step of the reaction is mediated by one or several species. An irreducibly interdependent system has the following characteristics in this testable model:Potential gaps in the system cannot be reasonably bypassed by inorganic nature alone.It must have a degree of specificity that in all probability could not have been produced by chance.A given function or step in the system may be found in several different unrelated organisms.The removal of any one of the individual biological steps will resort in the loss of function of the system.The data suggest that the nitrogen cycle may be irreducibly interdependent based on the above criteria. No proposed neo-Darwinian mechanisms can explain the origin of such a system. Compounding matters, Zuill makes a strong case by suggesting that this biodiversity of multi-species interactions have always been required for biospheric regulation and had to have been built rapidly.Several of the above arguments are based on logical inferences, but many of these inferences can be further tested to determine if they meet interdependence criteria. This research could be extended to test other global cycles, and interaction between cycles, for irreducible interdependence.Baraminology/biogeographyCreation biologists have been discussing the origin, variation and global dispersal of species for decades.In recent years, the progressing discipline of baraminology, a uniquely creationist biosystematics method for determining ‘created kinds’ (baramin), has become an important area of study for the biblical history of biodiversity.Evidence suggests that rapid intrabaraminic diversification has occurred since the animals dispersed from the ark.Genetic and environmental mechanisms to explain how this happened are unclear, but exciting vistas of research, testing for mediated design, have been proposed.Baraminological analysis seems to be a useful biological tool and a recent synthesis of 66 studies highlight research already done, but there is much work to do.Figure 2. A comparison of protocorm development of the Boat Orchid (Spathoglottis plicata) after five weeks. The first two illustrations compare development when the fungal symbiont is absent. The last illustration shows development after being infected by the fungus, Tulasnella calospora. (After Smith and Read,p. 355).One area of study that will shed light on diversification is biogeography. Evolutionists previously used biogeographic models as proof of evolution, but these models have since fallen into disfavour as an evolutionary mechanism.Data learned from biogeographical modelling have implications for mechanisms involved in both geographical distribution and diversification of baramins. For example, it has been hypothesized that the Noahic Flood would have ripped apart large chunks of terrestrial materials that became rafts which travelled on water by wind currents. This creation biogeography model envisions these giant rafts in the form of log masses, plant debris and vegetation mats that dispersed organisms world wide.The authors made 18 predictions that test it for validity, including distributions of wind dispersed organisms which should reflect distributions of rafted organisms and the directions of transoceanic dispersal which correspond to marine current movements.This preliminary synthesis of ecological concepts doesn’t scratch the surface of the intricacies and complexities of systems and subsystems continually being discovered. For example, space prohibits discussing challenges to understanding food web dynamics, in particular fungal symbionts preying on soil arthropods and translocating the invertebrate nitrogen compounds to its plant host.Or why heterotrophyid parasitic trematodes from the Genus Ascocotyle, are obligate parasites on at least three disparate and different hosts, where at least two of these hosts must ingest the worm in order to complete their reproductive cycle.To illustrate, a subsystem of food web dynamics in the complex mycorrhizal symbioses of orchids will be analyzed in the light of a creation ecology model.Mycorrhizal symbioses in orchidsThe ‘evolution’ of angiosperms remains one of the frustrating and mysterious puzzles of neo-Darwinian botany. The fossil record suggests sudden appearances and does not mean that intrabaraminic diversification did not occur; it is consistent with fully designed flowering systems.The Orchidaceae is considered one of the largest flowering families within Angiospermae and is incredibly diverse. Orchids are cosmopolitan and include terrestrial herbs, epiphytes, lithophytes and lianas. They are famous for their unique inflorescences and intricate symbioses, one of which is their obligate associations with mychorrizal fungi. Many of the orchids, particularly the epiphytes that grow on branches without soil, are subject to extreme conditions and these symbiotic associations with fungi help them to survive.The term ‘mycorrhizae’ literally means ‘fungus root’ and refers to the relationship between soil fungi and plant roots. Fungal diversity is estimated to include about 100,000 species, and like angiosperms, their fossil record provides no evidence that neo-Darwinian mechanisms produced these complex life forms which represent about one-quarter of the earth’s biomass.There are different types of mychorrizal associations and species within at least three fungal phyla; Ascomycota, Basidiomycetes and Glomeromycota which play crucial roles in various associations. The classification of fungal symbionts continues to be difficult but it seems that a large percentage of orchid mycorrhizae are Basidiomycetes, from the form genus Rhizoctonia.Gnetic tests have verified the identity of Rhizoctonia to specific genera that include Tulasnella, Ceratobasidium, and Thanatephorus.Coupled with the complexities of identifying the players in these complex associations, is the need to determine what the relationships are and how they work. Consider the case of orchid seeds which are tiny (0.3–14 µg), undifferentiated and lack endosperm. Under laboratory conditions, with carefully formulated soil and nutrients, orchids can be germinated asymbiotically (figure 2). However, in the wild, a complex system of mycorrhizal symbionts is prerequisite if the orchid is to germinate and develop.Orchid-fungus specificity in ecosystems is controversial. Most orchid endophytes are widespread in soil and are found globally. Some have likened their common presence in orchid roots as a relational one. Others have interpreted the associations as a reflection of their universal distribution. The latter interpretation would also be consistent with properties of a designed biomatrix. Nevertheless, there is evidence that at least some orchid species are specific toward particular fungi.Figure 3. Cross section of an epiphytic orchid root. In this illustration, symbiotic fungi enter the orchid root through the spongy velamen. Then they enter passage cells, which are exodermis cells with delayed or absent cell walls. These cells are thought to be important in attracting fungi and absorbing ions. The hyphae may also enter the root cortex which is responsible for moving nutrients to the transport tissue. It is thought that carbohydrate transport takes place at the orchid/fungus interface.Orchid seeds contain small amounts of high energy proteins and lipids, but very little sugar.Once dispersed, they imbibe water and swell. Fungal hyphae enter the testa through either epidermal hairs or the suspensor which is zygote tissue involved with pushing the embryo to the centre (figure 3). As the hyphae breach the cell wall, there is no evidence of distortion or cell wall thickening which suggests that the hyphae enter by the process of hydrolysis rather than the application of pressure. At this juncture, three things can happen:Functional symbiosis between orchid and fungus begins.The fungus parasitizes and kills the seed.The fungus does not penetrate and the seed never develops.It is hypothesized that since the onset of the curse, biological organisms have experienced deleterious mutations, decreasing biochemical function, and dysfunctional relationships. These hypotheses could be tested in the cases where the fungus kills the seed or does not penetrate.In functional symbiosis, the fungus has access to key soil carbohydrates and translocates them to the orchid, enabling the seed tissue to grow and differentiate. The fungus may also synthesize vitamins and growth factors for the seedling, but this has not been demonstrated. The fungus colonizes mostly the basal cells of the orchid, while the apical cells elongate and become the protocorm or the microscopic first stage of orchid germination. The plasma membrane invaginates and the fungal hyphae forms tight coils called peletons (figure 3). It is at the peleton/orchid cell interface where carbohydrate transport probably takes place. Cells in the orchid do not show signs of stress when they change in response to hyphal presence. Cytoplasm streaming remains active, mitochondria become numerous, major organelles like the Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum are well developed, the nuclei hypertrophy and they contain higher amounts of DNA than uninfected cells.It is unclear what is happening in the nuclei and why. Do parts of the genetic apparatus, from both organisms, combine to form a cooperating genetic system that enables the relationship or does the orchid simply multiply what it has?Most of the time, adult orchids that can photosynthesize still contain mycorrhiza but their relationship is unclear. There is growing evidence that mycorrhizae are important in providing mineral nutrition such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P). In Goodyera repens, mycorrhizal colonization is associated with an increase in both N and P uptake.Mechanisms showing how this is done have not been worked out, but research with other mychorrizal forms, such as Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF), may shed some light. AMF has been shown to produce the genes that establish symbioses with nitrogen fixing bacteria.This suggests that the presence of AMF in the rhizosphere increases legume nodulation, thereby increasing nitrogen fixation and utilization by symbionts. AMF are also more efficient at P uptake than plant roots alone and can change soil chemistry to increase N and P concentrations and rates of uptake. Further research may show whether orchid mycorrhiza also have these capabilities.The fact that microbes are crucial bridges between orchids and the environment suggests that they were not only designed as a biomatrix, but also part of the functioning system of the original orchid baramin.As complex as the above associations are, recent observations further complicate matters. More than one fungal species can form peletons in an orchid root or individual cell. Some orchids experience a fungal succession in which different fungi occur at different developmental stages. For example, the achlorophyllous orchid, Gastrodia elata, needs one fungus for germination (Mycena osmendicula), but full orchid development can only occur if a secondary colonization by Armillaria takes place.Other research has found that epiphytic orchids contain interlaced fungal hyphae and filamentous nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria that form a sheath on the aerial roots.There is growing evidence that Rhizoctonia can form concurrent orchid mycorrhizas and ectomycorrhizas with other photosynthetic plants. The implication is that there is a three-way relationship with the fungus capturing the carbon from the other photosynthetic plant and translocating it to the orchid. Fungal succession and links with other microbe taxa bring the complexities of these relationships to a new level and presently it is unknown how common they are or whether they exhibit irreducible interdependence.Orchid fungi are mysteriously unique in the world of mycorrhizae. It does not yet appear that the fungus gains anything from the relationship, but there is still much to learn. The interactions between the two are variable and dynamic; some likening them to enemies on a battlefield.For example, the genera Armillaria and Rhizoctonia are strongly pathogenic species. In some situations, the fungus advances towards the seed, yet once colonization begins the orchid produces secondary compounds to lyse the peletons, clearly controlling fungal growth. Some have interpreted the relationship as the orchid taking defensive measures against a potential parasite. Others interpret the lysis of peletons as the mechanism for nutrient transfer. What controls the process of balancing ‘infection’ between the two is a mystery and dependent on the relationships involved. The following hypotheses have been suggested:The aggressive nature of the fungus is balanced by defence mechanisms of the orchid.The fungus alters its metabolism upon penetration and plant tissue enzymes are no longer produced.Some defence mechanisms operate at low levels in both.59Research suggests that in some cases there is alteration of fungal metabolism which no longer makes it parasitic once it breaches the testa. If true, it would also be consistent with orchid lysis of fungal peletons as one of accessing fungal nutrients and not a defensive measure.ConclusionsWorldview matters when scientific observations are interpreted. Orchid mycorrhizae are just one of thousands of ecological subsystems that can be used to test creation predictions based on biblical presuppositions. Their highly complex associative systems, beginning at the genetic level, reflect marvellous design and possible irreducible interdependence. Parasitism and inability to colonize orchid seeds may be due to disruptions and system knock outs brought on by the curse, causing relational malfunction. The fact that microbes are crucial bridges between orchids and their environment suggests that they were not only designed as a biomatrix, but also part of the functioning system of the original orchid baramin. The more humans understand rhizospheric relationships within a creation ecology model, the better managers they will be. The potential is there to create opportunities for representing God, in the management of his resources, for the benefit of all.