Happy Thanksgiving 2016

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless!The ARRA News Service is not expected to publish articles on Thursday.  There is minimum expectations for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is time for some R and R and catching up with family and friends!

Below is a Thanksgiving Quiz developed by Kirby Anderson in 2001. Regardless, facts and truth remain timeless. Good thing to share with your family. ~ Dr. Bill Smith, Editor

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A Thanksgiving Quiz by Kerby Anderson, Contributing Author: This nation was founded by Christians, and Thanksgiving is a time when we can reflect upon this rich, Christian heritage. But many of us are often ignorant of our country’s origins, so we have put together a Thanksgiving quiz to test your knowledge about this nation’s biblical foundations. We hope that you will not only take this test and pass it on to others, but we also hope that you will be encouraged to study more about the Christian foundations of this country.

1. What group began the tradition of Thanksgiving?
A day of thanksgiving was set aside by the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony. This colony was the first permanent settlement in New England. The Pilgrims were originally known as the Forefathers or Founders. The term Pilgrim was first used in the writings of colonist William Bradford and is now used to designate them.

2. Why did they celebrate Thanksgiving?
Life was hard in the New World. Out of 103 Pilgrims, 51 of these died in the first terrible winter. After the first harvest was completed, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer. By 1623, a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of thanksgiving because the rain came during their prayers. The custom prevailed in New England and eventually became a national holiday.

3. When did Thanksgiving become a national holiday?
The state of New York adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom in 1817. By the time of the Civil War, many other states had done the same. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving. Since then, each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation for the fourth Thursday of November.

4. Why did the Pilgrims leave Europe?
Among the early Pilgrims was a group of Separatists who were members of a religious movement that broke from the Church of England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1606 William Brewster led a group of Separatists to Leiden (in the Netherlands) to escape religious persecution in England. After living in Leiden for more than ten years, some members of the group voted to emigrate to America. The voyage was financed by a group of London investors who were promised produce from America in exchange for their assistance.

5. How did the Pilgrims emigrate to the New World?
On September 16, 1620, a group numbering 102 men, women, and children left Plymouth, England, for America on the Mayflower. Having been blown off course from their intended landing in Virginia by a terrible storm, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod on November 11. On December 21, they landed on the site of Plymouth Colony. While still on the ship, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact.

6. What is the Mayflower Compact?
On November 11, 1620, Governor William Bradford and the leaders on the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact before setting foot on land. They wanted to acknowledge God’s sovereignty in their lives and their need to obey Him. The Mayflower Compact was America’s first great constitutional document and is often called “The American Covenant.”

7. What is the significance of the Mayflower Compact?
After suffering years of persecution in England and spending difficult years of exile in the Netherlands, the Pilgrims wanted to establish their colony on the biblical principles they suffered for in Europe. Before they set foot on land, they drew up this covenant with God. They feared launching their colony until there was a recognition of God’s sovereignty and their collective need to obey Him.

8. What does the Mayflower Compact say?
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these present solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends foresaid, and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have here under subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland.”

9. Why didn’t the pilgrims sail to the original destination in Virginia?
The Pilgrims were blown off course and landed at Cape Cod in what now appears to be God’s providence. Because their patent did not include this territory, they consulted with the Captain of the Mayflower and resolved to sail southward. But the weather and geography did not allow them to do so. They encountered “dangerous shoals and roaring breakers” and were quickly forced to return to Cape Cod. From there they began scouting expeditions and finally discovered what is now Plymouth. Had they arrived just a few years earlier, they would have been attacked and destroyed by one of the fiercest tribes in the region. However, three years earlier (in 1617), the Patuxet tribe had been wiped out by a plague. The Pilgrims thus landed in one of the few places where they could survive.

10. What role did the lone surviving Indian play in the lives of the Pilgrims?
There was one survivor of the Patuxet tribe: Squanto. He was kidnapped in 1605 by Captain Weymouth and taken to England where he learned English and was eventually able to return to New England. When he found his tribe had been wiped out by the plague, he lived with a neighboring tribe. When Squanto learned that the Pilgrims were at Plymouth, he came to them and showed them how to plant corn and fertilize with fish. He later converted to Christianity. William Bradford said that Squanto “was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.”

11. What was William Bradford’s proclamation for Thanksgiving?
Three years after their arrival, and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor Bradford made an official proclamation of a day of Thanksgiving:

Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at the meeting house, on the hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November the 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to the pastor and render thanksgiving to Almighty God for all His blessings.

12. Were the colonists dedicated to Christian principles in their lives on days other than Thanksgiving?
The Pilgrims were, and so were the other colonists. Consider this sermon by John Winthrop given while aboard the Arabella in 1630. This is what he said about the Puritans who formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony: “For the persons, we are a Company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ. . . . For the work we have in hand, it is by a mutual consent through a special overruling providence, and a more than an ordinary approbation of the Churches of Christ to seek out a place of Cohabitation and Consortship under a due form of Government both civil and ecclesiastical.” They established a Christian Commonwealth in which every area of their lives both civil and ecclesiastical fell under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

13. How did the Puritans organize their economic activities?
After the first year, the colony foundered because of the collective economic system forced upon them by the merchants in London. All the settlers worked only for the joint partnership and were fed out of the common stores. The land and the houses built on it were the joint property of the merchants and colonists for seven years and then divided equally.

When Deacon Carver died, William Bradford became governor. Seeing the failure of communal farming, he instituted what today would be called free enterprise innovations. Bradford assigned plots of land to each family to work, and the colony began to flourish. Each colonist was challenged to better themselves and their land by working to their fullest capacity. Many Christian historians and economists today point to this fundamental economic change as one of the key reasons for the success of the Pilgrims at Plymouth.

14. What has been the significance of the Pilgrims and their legacy of Thanksgiving?
On the bicentennial celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, Daniel Webster on December 22, 1820, declared the following: “Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.”

The legacy of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving is the legacy of godly men and women who sought to bring Christian principles to this nation. These spread throughout the nation for centuries.

15. How were Christian principles brought to the founding of this republic?
Most historians will acknowledge that America was born in the midst of a revival. This occurred from approximately 1740-1770 and was known as the First Great Awakening. Two prominent preachers during that time were Jonathan Edwards (best known for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”) and George Whitfield. They preached up and down the East Coast and saw revival break out. Churches were planted, schools were built, and lives were changed.

16. How influential were Christian ideas in the Constitution?
While the Constitution does not specifically mention God or the Bible, the influence of Christianity can plainly be seen. Professor M.E. Bradford shows in his book A Worthy Company, that fifty of the fifty-five men who signed the Constitution were church members who endorsed the Christian faith.

17. Weren’t many of the founders non-Christians?
Yes, some were. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are good examples of men involved in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence who were influenced by ideas from the Enlightenment. Yet revisionists have attempted to make these men more secular than they really were. Jefferson, for example, wrote to Benjamin Rush that “I am a Christian . . . sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others.” Franklin called for prayer at the Constitutional Convention saying, “God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his notice?” While they were hardly examples of biblical Christianity, they nevertheless believed in God and believed in absolute standards which should be a part of the civil order.

18. How important was Christianity in colonial education in America?
Young colonists’ education usually came from the Bible, the Hornbook, and the New England Primer. The Hornbook consisted of a single piece of parchment attached to a paddle of wood. Usually the alphabet, the Lord’s Prayer, and religious doctrines were written on it. The New England Primer taught a number of lessons and included such things as the names of the Old and New Testament books, the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and John Cotton’s “Spiritual Milk for American Babies.” Even when teaching the alphabet, biblical themes were used: “A is for Adam’s fall, we sinned all. B is for Heaven to find, the Bible mind. C is for Christ crucified, for sinners died.”

19. How important was Christianity in colonial higher education?
Most of the major universities were established by Christian denominations. Harvard was a Puritan school. William and Mary was an Anglican school. Yale was Congregational, Princeton was Presbyterian, and Brown was Baptist. The first motto for Harvard was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae (Truth for Christ and the Church). Students gathered for prayer and readings from the Scriptures every day. Yale was established by Increase Mather and Cotton Mather because Harvard was moving away from its original Calvinist philosophy and eventually drifted to Unitarianism. The founders of Yale said that “every student shall consider the main end of his study to wit to know God in Jesus Christ and answerable to lead a Godly, sober life.”

20. If Christianity was so important in colonial America, why does the Constitution establish a wall of separation between church and state?
Contrary to what many Americans may think, the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. In fact, there is no mention of the words church, state, or separation in the First Amendment or anywhere within the Constitution. The First Amendment does guarantee freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.

The phrase is found in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to Baptist pastors in Danbry, Connecticut in 1802 in which he gave his opinion of the establishment clause of the First Amendment and then felt that this was “building a wall of separation between church and state.” At best this was a commentary on the First Amendment, from an individual who was in France when the Constitution and Bill of Rights were drafted.
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Kerby Anderson is a radio talk show host heard on numerous stations via the Point of View Network endorsed by Dr. Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service

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Book Review: What 'JFK And The Reagan Revolution' Reveals About Trump

Ralph Benko

by Ralph Benko, Contributing Author:  Remember prosperity? Want it back? Here’s the secret formula, which has always worked and would work again: Cut marginal tax rates and restore integrity to the dollar.

Donald Trump campaigned on meaningful marginal tax rate cuts and implying, with his offstage praise of the gold standard, a solid instinct for monetary integrity and how to produce it. One hopes so as it requires both together.

Here’s the brief. Lawrence Kudlow and Brian Domitrovic have just published what deserves to be the most important book of the 2016 presidential election cycle: JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity. It provides a solid understanding of the key issue of the 2016 race — the economy.

Reagan made “Supply-Side” famous by campaigning on and then enacted most of the Kemp-Roth 30% across-the-board tax rate cut. But John F. Kennedy was the original Supply-Sider. The book’s Big Reveal: Jack Kemp designed this tax cut as a direct copy of Kennedy’s own.

American memories are short. Most have forgotten the truly lousy economic growth of the 91%-top-tax-rate Eisenhower era (a rate for which Candidate Sanders expressed nostalgia). Most have forgotten Kennedy’s campaign promise to “get America moving again.” Most have forgotten his initial embrace of the Neo-Keynesian formula of high taxes, “easy” money from the Fed, and big spending infrastructure projects. And the failure of all that.

We forget JFK’s decisive pivot toward big marginal tax rate cuts while defending the dollar as defined by a fixed weight of gold. We only dimly remember the rip-roaring job creation that promptly followed the enactment of Kennedy’s tax rate cut after his assassination.

Sixteen years of economic stagnation have stupefied us as to how the economy inherited by Reagan, in 1981, was worse. Few remember that after the enactment of Reagan’s across-the-board marginal tax rate cuts (lowering the top rate from 70% to 50% and then, with overwhelming bipartisan support, to 28%), another prolonged period of massive job creation and economic growth ensued.

Reagan’s policies were subverted by his successor, President George H.W. Bush. This subversion is also vanished into the mists of history. During their primary campaign Bush had attacked Reagan’s tax-rate-cut promises as “Voodoo Economics.” Somehow the ensuing massive job creation never converted Bush.

Bush’s repudiation of his predecessor’s policies precipitated a recession and he lost his re-election bid. Bush hasn’t changed his mind. Politico reports that “Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor and daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy… posted a picture on her Facebook page shaking hands next to the former president and this caption: ‘The President told me he’s voting for Hillary!!’” Bush’s spokesman did not deny this claim.

Most also have forgotten how President Bill Clinton, after the Republicans took a Congressional majority, pivoted from his own misery-inducing Neo-Keynesian preferred policies to a supply-side policy mix. Regrettably, following Bush’s lead, Clinton also raised the top marginal tax rate.

That said, Clinton also cut the capital gains tax rate, embraced free trade, and mended a morally hazardous welfare system. He was rewarded by rip-roaring job creation and general prosperity. From those millions of new jobs came a federal budget surplus in place of deficits. This resulted in immense popularity.

Many have forgotten, although perhaps not forgiven, President George W. Bush’s abandonment of supply-side economics. That abdication caused a near decade of joblessness and economic misery.

Now do you remember? If not, Kudlow and Domitrovic to the rescue by showing how Supply-Side economics is not, by nature, a partisan thing. Democrats as well as Republicans love job creation. It’s great politics. The only thing that stands between us and greatness isn’t partisanship. It’s dogma.

Amazon rated Kudlow and Domitrovic’s JFK and the Reagan Revolution as the #1 new release in the category of economic history. Santayana taught us that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Skipping this book is to connive at one’s own doom.

Dislike doom? Read this book before election day. Bonus: it spills a lot of secrets or at least forgotten lore. Some of its revelations are game changers.

#NeverTrumpers will be incredulous at the proposition that Trump could be akin to JFK, Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Trump is by disposition very, very different from all three. But it doesn’t much matter.

Peter Drucker, the man who transformed management from craft to art, wrote in The Effective Executive:Among the effective executives I have known and worked with, there are extroverts and aloof, retiring men, some even morbidly shy. Some are eccentrics, others painfully correct conformists. Some are fat and some are lean. Some are worriers, some are relaxed. Some drink quite heavily, others are total abstainers. Some are men of great charm and warmth, some have no more personality than a frozen mackerel. There are a few men among them who would answer to the popular conception of a “leader.” But equally there are colorless men who could attract no attention in a crowd.Moreover, among the five elements of effectiveness Drucker inventories we find this:Effective executives concentrate on the few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results. They force themselves to set priorities and stay with their priority decisions. They know that they have no choice but to do first things first—and second things not at all. The alternative is to get nothing done.Many harbor doubts about Trump, including some elite Republicans. That said, the right policy mix, not the personality, delivers the goods.

This book is also important, in part, because Kudlow has become one of Trump’s most trusted economic policy advisors. This is not an academic work. It’s written right from the center of the political cyclone.

If you buy the policy mix but doubt the man, take into account that Trump has surrounded himself with authentic supply-siders, like Kudlow, and likely will staff his top economic policy shops with these loyalists. Elizabeth Warren recently observed, “personnel is policy.”

This book will help you assess Trump’s personnel as well.

Kudlow writes with first-hand authority. He is a distinguished front lines veteran of the Reagan “Supply-Side” wars as Reagan’s Associate Director for Economics and Planning in the Office of Management and Budget. Domitrovic, a historian, professor, and author of the authoritative history of supply-side economics, Econoclasts, also writes with authority.  He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.com.

The bottom line?  Government, though airbrushed by the media, is a very sloppy, confusing business. As Herman Wouk perceptively wrote in the first chapter of his novel Inside, Outside, “[T]he longer I’m in Washington the more I realize that most people in this town tend to act with the calm forethought of a beheaded chicken.”

I’ve been in Washington far longer than Wouk’s protagonist and the “calm forethought of a beheaded chicken” observation remains true to this day. While acknowledging the full catastrophe that is politics, let’s keep firmly in mind that underneath all the sound and fury resides the real deal: the policy mix. Yet therein lies the key to prosperity.

I found the most fascinating parts of this book to be those that reveal how prestige economists and elite government officials perennially embrace historically discredited Big Government policies. And the stories of the recurring fights by a vastly outnumbered and Death Starred Supply-Side Rebel Alliance who, against all odds, vanquish the Emperor.

The Rebel Alliance has won, in part, because it was coached and guided by Jedi Grandmasters. The Yoda of this movie, to whom Kudlow and Domitrovic pay tribute, was the Nobel Prize-winning maverick economist Robert Mundell. Mundell, to whom I have attributed the increase in the world GDP from $11T/year to, as of last year, ~$73T/year. While not adjusted for inflation or population growth, that’s a stunning increase.

Prof. Mundell, who I consider worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, now has been sidelined by health issues. Yet his legacy prescription of low marginal tax rates and high integrity money lives on in the veterans of the Supply-Side wars such as Kudlow and Mundell’s Obi Wan, Arthur Laffer.

The right policy mix, as Kudlow and Domitrovic show, takes us up the stairway to economic Heaven. The wrong mix leads us into economic Hell.

Economists call embracing faith-based thinking “strong priors.” That’s a fancy phrase for dogmatism, and dogma besets the policy elites. The electorate – on the receiving end of policy – typically displays more common sense than does our most distinguished experts.

Elites persist in a faith-based adherence to Neo-Keynesian policies of big spending Big Government, high tax rates, and “easy” money. I’ve said before and it bears repeating: Keynes, who was certainly no Neo-Keynesian, wrote in his General Theory of Unemployment, Interest, and Money (chapter 24, part V):Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.Read JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity. Learn the Secret History of the Supply-Side Rebel Alliance and its never ending battle for economic opportunity and growth. Then, whether you vote Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Green, demand that whoever gets elected adopt low tax rates and high integrity money policies.

Such policies are not partisan. They inevitably lead to massive job creation and upward income mobility for all.
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Ralph Benko is senior advisor, economics, to American Principles in Action's Gold Standard 2012 Initiative, and a contributor to the ARRA News Service. Founder of The Prosperity Caucus, he was a member of the Jack Kemp supply-side team, served in an unrelated area as a deputy general counsel in the Reagan White House. The article which first appeared in Forbes.

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Visiting President-Elect Trump at Trump Tower

by Newt Gingrich: Callista and I had the opportunity to visit with President-elect Trump at his office in the Trump Tower in Manhattan on Monday.

We were delighted to have the chance to congratulate the President-elect and share ideas with a friend who we both believe will become a great president.

Getting to Trump Tower is a project in its own right. Demonstrators led the New York City Police to close off the street near the entrance and set up various checkpoints.

Callista and I did not realize that C-SPAN had a live camera capturing every step in and out of the Trump Tower elevators. We waved to the press corps and photographers while waiting for the elevator but had no idea we were on live TV.

Arriving 30 minutes ahead of schedule, we went straight to the President-elect’s office on the 26th floor. I have been there several times over the years. The biggest change was the number of security agents present from the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security.

The President-elect was seeing people on a very tight schedule. As we arrived, his senior staff was just leaving his office. While we waited, we visited with former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams. Together we looked out over the changing leaves of Central Park — a beautiful view!

When the President-elect was ready, we were invited into his office. He was comfortably seated behind his desk, greeted us warmly, and asked us to sit down. To our right was a wall full of his framed magazine covers. His earliest covers are over 35 years old and capture his growth as a leader. It was very impressive!

To our left was his famous chair from The Apprentice. This TV show was number one for four years and on the air for 13 years. The Apprentice taught Trump a lot about television and audiences. Because the elite media and elite political consultants never watched The Apprentice, they failed to understand how good he was on television and how much he understood the working Americans who made his show so successful. Callista was aware of the chair because she had just watched Harvey Levin’s special, OBJECTified: Donald Trump, on Fox News.

During our time with the President-elect we reminisced about the presidential campaign. Callista and I first discussed a possible run with him back in January of 2015 at the Marriott in Des Moines, Iowa. We watched his campaign develop from the very beginning. It was an amazing 22 months, and he earned the presidency by defeating 16 GOP rivals, Clinton’s billion-dollar campaign, and the news media.

Reince Priebus, the incoming White House Chief of Staff and current Republican National Committee Chairman, joined us in our meeting with the President-elect. He is the most important RNC Chairman since Mark Hanna in 1896. Priebus built a machine that included 7500 paid field operatives. It was the synergistic effect of Trump’s social media and rally-based campaign combined with the RNC’s field campaign that made a Trump victory possible. It is vital that the RNC continues to grow and improve its capabilities to be ready for 2018 and 2020.

Since Reince and Callista are both from Wisconsin, we engaged in a little cheesehead conversation. The victory in Wisconsin for both the President-elect and for Senator Ron Johnson was one of the more satisfying moments on election night.

We then discussed a wide range of cabinet appointments and other items. As the presidential transition’s press release reported, “The conversation with former Speaker of the House of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich involved long-term strategies and priorities for a productive legislative agenda, as well as innovative utilization of business in our country.”

When we were done, we took a picture with President-elect Trump in front of his wall of framed magazine covers.

We then went down to the 14th floor to catch up with some of the key players who helped win the presidential campaign. In particular, we spent time with Dave Bossie, Stephen Miller and Katie Walsh.

Dave Bossie is an longtime friend who heads up Citizens United, and with whom we’ve made eight documentary films. He is a real patriot who sacrificed six months as a volunteer to help elect the new president. We all owe him a debt of gratitude.

Stephen Miller did a brilliant job organizing and writing an enormous number of speeches which candidate Trump gave. He was busy all day every day writing speeches which helped lift Trump to victory.

Katie Walsh served as Reince Priebus's deputy at the RNC and actually ran the nationwide ground game that made such a big difference. She is operating as the deputy to Reince in his new Chief of Staff position and is doing a great job.

After our visit, Callista and I returned to the lobby where we had a chance to brief the press. I tried to explain my role as a strategist and planner -- but that is a topic for another newsletter.


We were honored to be invited to Trump Tower to visit with President-elect Trump. It was a very useful and memorable visit.
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Newt Gingrich is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. The above commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.

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A Thanksgiving Message from President-Elect Trump

ARRA News Service: President-elect Donald J. Trump today released a Thanksgiving message in which he asks everyone to set aside their differences and join together under the shared resolve to Make America Great Again for all people.

Full Video Transcript:
We are very blessed to call this nation our home. And that is what America is: it is our home. It’s where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams.

It is my prayer, that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by a shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

In declaring this national holiday, President Lincoln called upon Americans to speak with “one voice and one heart.” That’s just what we have to do.

We have just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just don’t heal overnight. It doesn’t go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities. So important to me, and so important to our country. But to succeed, we must enlist the effort of our entire nation.

This historic political campaign is now over. Now begins a great national campaign to rebuild our country and to restore the full promise of America for all of our people.

I am asking you to join me in this effort. It is time to restore the bonds of trust between citizens. Because when America is unified, there is nothing beyond our reach, and I mean absolutely nothing.

Let us give thanks for all that we have, and let us boldly face the exciting new frontiers that lie ahead.

Thank you. God Bless You and God Bless America.

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Federal Judge Blocks Implementation of Controversial Overtime Rule

by Melissa Quinn: A federal judge blocked implementation of a controversial rule addressing overtime pay from taking effect next week, a rule that had businesses, nonprofits, and higher education institutions bracing for the impacts of the measure.

The Department of Labor’s rule was supposed to take effect Dec. 1, and under the new measure, any employee making up to $47,476 each year would’ve been eligible for overtime pay.

The Obama administration finalized the rule in May, and the federal government’s announcement sent many companies and nonprofits scrambling to figure out how to comply with the law while also protecting both their businesses and employees.

“The more I learned, the more shocked I became that a rule like this would pass with so little input from those who were going to be impacted by it,” Albert Macre, a small business owner in Steubenville, Ohio, told The Daily Signal. “It’s the law of unintended consequences.”

In anticipation of Dec. 1, some businesses decided to reclassify workers who were previously salaried to hourly, while others gave raises to employees who were close to the $47,476 threshold, exempting them from the new rule.

Macre himself runs several small businesses, and the new overtime rule will impact one, Payroll+ Services, which opened in 1995 and offers payroll processing services.

“I thought it was a typo,” Macre said of the new rule. “I know that there are some pretty bold unilateral moves that have occurred in the executive branch in the last few years, but that just seemed like a big one—a complete doubling of the threshold and the number of people involved.”

Macre’s business fluctuates throughout the year, so his employees typically work less than 40 hours a week for approximately eight months out of the year, but work overtime during the remaining four months of the year when they become busier.

Three of Macre’s employees at Payroll+ Services qualified for overtime under the Department of Labor’s new rule. To make sure that his workers’ pay remained consistent throughout the year, Macre decided to implement a system of salary advances that will be recovered during the overtime months.

Macre toyed with the idea of changing his employees from salaried to hourly, but he ultimately decided it would’ve hurt his workers.

Compared to other new policies like Obamacare, Macre believes the overtime rule was to be ushered in too quickly.

“Here’s one they just jammed down our throats and thought we were just going to be able to work miracles and find this money magically,” he said. “Any time you do too much too soon it’s crazy.”

And the new rule wasn’t going to only impact Macre’s employees’ pay, but also the benefits they receive.

Macre’s business previously covered all of its employee’s health care costs. But now, he’s asking his workers to pay for a portion of their health insurance.

“Essentially what we’re going to give with one hand in terms of additional compensation will be taken away by having the employees be responsible for some of their own benefits,” he said.

Macre, a member of the National Federation of Independent Business, testified on behalf of the organization before the House Committee on Small Business in June.

He’s hopeful that under a new president the rule will either be rolled back or policymakers will come to a “new amicable solution.”

‘Devastating Impacts’
The Department of Labor first announced its proposed rule regarding overtime pay in July 2015, which revised the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime regulations.

The current salary threshold for overtime pay is $23,660, and that salary level was last updated in 2004.

Under the Obama administration’s originally proposed rule, the threshold for overtime pay would’ve risen to $50,440—more than double the salary ceiling set more than 10 years ago. But the rule was revised and the salary was lowered to $47,476.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, 3.9 million additional workers would’ve become eligible for overtime under the new rule. Of those, 900,000 “occasionally or regularly” work overtime and would’ve earned more or worked less because of the proposal, the agency found.

In response to the proposal, nonprofits, colleges, small and large business owners, and workers submitted close to 300,000 comments to the Department of Labor.

The proposal found organizations like Habitat for Humanity on the same side as large companies like Wal-Mart, which decided to raise minimum salaries for its entry-level managers from $45,000 to $48,500.

While businesses and nonprofits had been bracing for the impact of the overtime rule, congressional Republicans attempted to provide companies with relief.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced legislation in September that would further delay implementation of the overtime rule to June 1.

The bill stalled in the Senate, but a companion bill introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., passed the House, 246-177, in September.

“This federal overtime rule is devastating for small businesses, colleges, and nonprofits all across America, but particularly in states with a low cost of living,” Lankford said in a statement to The Daily Signal.

“The economic realities and regional cost-of-living differences that exist throughout the country were completely ignored in favor of yet another one-size-fits-all approach taken by the Obama Department of Labor,” he continued.

A second bill introduced in the Senate and House would’ve stretched out implementation of the salary increase over five years.

Making Adjustments
Though the new overtime rule was set to take effect in just over a week, those opposed to the rule closely watched the courts for further guidance on what will happen with the regulation.

In September, 21 states, the majority led by Republican governors, filed a lawsuit against the federal government in an attempt to block the rule. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups filed a second lawsuit the same day.

In their lawsuit, the states argued the new rule violates the 10th Amendment and stressed that under the proposal, state budgets will be damaged and services and programs cut.

“Enforcing [Fair Labor Standards Act] and the new overtime rule against the states infringes upon state sovereignty and federalism by dictating the wages that states must pay to those whom they employ in order to carry out their governmental functions, what hours those persons will work, and what compensation will be provided where these employees may be called upon to work overtime,” the lawsuit states.

A federal judge issued an emergency injunction against the rule Tuesday, blocking it from taking effect.

In addition to action from the courts, the Trump administration could also roll back the overtime rule.

Trump often spoke on the campaign trail about repealing many regulations implemented by President Barack Obama.

Already the president-elect and congressional Republicans are looking to eliminate more than 140 regulations after Trump takes office on Jan. 20, and the president-elect said in August he would roll back the overtime rule.

But now that businesses, nonprofits, and colleges have figured out how they’ll comply with the rule, some worry rolling back the proposal won’t be that easy.

“What if it goes three to six months or a year [after implementation] and you’ve already made your changes, your employees have already gotten used to it? You’ve given raises, adjusted salaries, hired part-time workers, and you’ve sort of learned to live with it?” Mike LeFever, president of South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc., told The Daily Signal.

“From a practical point of view, can you just go back to the way things were?” he continued. “You just don’t do that.”

LeFever’s organization represents 20 private colleges and universities in the Palmetto State, and he said he initially expected his member institutions to either switch workers who made significantly less than $47,476 to hourly or give those who made close to $47,476 raises so they’re exempt from receiving overtime pay.

Some of the colleges and universities did end up boosting the pay of those who were close to the new threshold so they would’ve been exempt, LeFever said. But others have decided to hire additional part-time workers to take over some of the responsibilities of their full-time workers to avoid paying those employees overtime.

This approach was taken mainly for those working in student affairs positions, which may require weekend work if there is an event happening on campus.

Initially, LeFever was concerned that the new overtime rule could eventually lead to a rise in tuition rates if payroll went up significantly.

But he said the colleges and universities he works with might instead make cuts elsewhere, such as departmental budgets or in future raises.

“It’s not the best of arrangements,” LeFever said, “but everybody has to make adjustments to comply with the law.”

This article has been updated to include the federal judge’s decision to block the overtime rule from taking effect.
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Melissa Quinn (@MelissaQuinn97 ) is a news reporter for The Daily Signal.

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President-Elect Trump To Nominate Betsy DeVos as U.S. Secretary of Education

Betsy DeVos

ARRA News Service: President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate Betsy DeVos as Secretary of the United States Department of Education. A leader in the national school reform movement for more than two decades, Betsy DeVos is a highly successful education advocate, businesswoman, and philanthropist.

“Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate,” said President-elect Donald J. Trump. “Under her leadership we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families. I am pleased to nominate Betsy as Secretary of the Department of Education."

“I am honored to accept this responsibility to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again,” said Ms. DeVos. “The status quo in education is not acceptable. Together, we can work to make transformational change that ensures every student in America has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential.”

A native of Michigan, Betsy DeVos has spent decades advocating for school choice reforms and helping underserved children gain access to quality education. Ms. DeVos is chairman of the American Federation for Children whose mission is to “improve our nation’s K-12 education by advancing systemic and sustainable public policy that empowers parents, particularly those in low-income families, to choose the education they determine is best for their children.”

Ms. DeVos is chair of the Windquest Group and has also served on national and local charitable and civic boards, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, American Enterprise Institute, The Philanthropy Roundtable, Kids Hope USA, and Mars Hill Bible Church.

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ICYMI: Open Letter to America’s College Cupcakes

Ray Starmann: Dear College Cupcakes:

America has watched for the last year or so, as our nation’s universities have been consumed by a new strain of left wing totalitarianism that has all the traits of the haunting Marxist dictatorships of the past.

Free thought and expression and discussion are disappearing from college campuses and being replaced by behavior and lexicons out of 1984.

In the greatest arenas of free speech across this land, you shriek and howl and cry and stamp your feet like two year olds when someone disagrees with you.

You have mental meltdowns when reading passages from the world’s greatest literature that somehow offend you in every conceivable way, shape or form.

You feel oppressed and terrorized when viewing someone in a Halloween costume that you dislike.

You are triggered by opposing views from Presidential candidates, who do nothing more than say things that you may disagree with.

When triggered by every imaginable word, phrase and action on this planet, you find it necessary to retreat to so-called safe spaces, where you will be further coddled by counselors, Play Doh and Bubble Guppy videos.

Like raving martinets, you accuse anyone you disagree with of being a racist, a rapist, a sexist or any other derogatory term you can create to soothe your tender and warped psyches.

You have been told for your whole lives how special you are and these fantastical words have been reinforced by the ridiculous behavior of helicopter parents and idiotic teachers who found it necessary to control every facet of your lives and ensure that each of you precious little snowflakes received a trophy, even though many of you only deserved a kick in the behind.

Your latest irrational tirades concern the election of PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP. Inspired by the lunatic behavior of your socialist professors, you are the laughing stock of the rest of the country as you hold cry-ins, need therapy dogs and hide under the covers in your dorm rooms because a man was elected President.

Today is Veterans Day, when we honor those who served, which I have no doubt none of you ever have. The nation particularly honors our combat veterans who drained deep the chalice of courage and who fought against real racists, like the Nazis; real bogeymen like the Imperial Japanese Army, the Chinese, Victor Charlie, the Republican Guard and the Taliban.

Today, at this very moment, as you tearfully meltdown because Donald Trump is our next President, our current military is in harm’s way in Mosul, fighting real sexists who call themselves ISIS.

King George, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Saddam, these were real threats, some of the greatest madmen the world had ever seen and our veterans fought and defeated them in hot and cold wars.

Our veterans, men and women, many of whom were your age at the time they served, never had the luxury to wallow in self-pity over imagined nonsense and monsters.

Their threats weren't created in the hallowed ivory towers of Harvard Yard. Their threats were created in the British Parliament, in Bavarian beer halls, in jungle outposts and jettisoned across the globe to cause havoc and death. The only thing that stopped them, the only thing that prevented the world from descending into darkness was the US military and our veterans.

There were no safe spaces on Iwo Jima or Omaha Beach. There were no cry ins on Bunker Hill or at the Frozen Chosin. There were no counselors in the Da Drang Valley or at Khe Sanh. There was no time to protest imaginary enemies at Fallujah. The enemies were real and were doing their damnedest to kill Americans and destroy our way of life.

As I stated, our enemies were fighting against Americans who were mainly your age. I and many Americans have serious doubts that you aggrieved marshmallows could rise to the occasion and fight anyone, much less the Redcoats or the Waffen SS.

How and why America has gotten to a point where being a wimp is looked upon as normal behavior for young people is the subject of another article and a disgrace in itself.

Instead of claiming half the nation is racist for voting for Donald Trump, you precious little snowflakes might want to get off your asses and read about men who overcame real prejudice and racism and fought for their country; like the Tuskegee Airmen.

Instead of being offended by words in books, you precious little cupcakes might want to step out of your safe spaces and read about American matadors at places like Trenton, the Wheatfield, Seminary Ridge, the Meuse-Argonne, the Bulge, New Guinea, 73 Easting and Tal Afar.

As for the election, get used to saying President Trump.

Suck it up buttercups.
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Ray Starmann is Editor in Chief, US Defense Watch and shared this for Veterans Day, As it is thanksgiving tomorrow it seemed appropraite to thankfully share it again.  Shared by Norm Beznoska, Jr., aka Navyman Norm, is a Strongsville, OH resident . He contributes to the ARRA News Service

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In the Proud Tradition of Leftist Domestic Terrorism…

Unfortunately, the Left Emulates

by Seton Motley, Contributing Author: Water is wet. The Sun rises in the east. And large swaths of the Left engage in heinous acts of violence in the name of politics.

For our purposes here today, we’ll ignore the 94 million or so people Communism has murdered around the world. This is about the domestic Left.

We’ll begin just after the Civil War – with the Democrat Party’s creation of the Ku Klux Klan. A racist outfit that murdered and terrorized blacks and sought to overthrow southern Republican governments.

Let us move forward to the radical 1960s. With the creation of groups like the Black Panther Party and the Weather Underground (ne the Weathermen). Who engaged in murder and mayhem of all sorts.

The Weather Underground liked planting bombs in places like police stations and the Pentagon. Weather Underground founder Bill Ayers ran in the same Chicago political circles as current outgoing Democrat President Barack Obama.

In the modern era, we have an evolving amalgam of violent Leftist entities. Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter have each engaged in…un-peaceful activities. The protests of candidate Donald Trump and now President-elect Trump haven’t been pleasant.

Which brings us to today – and the lovely expanses of North Dakota. Well, they were lovely – until the Left arrived.

Currently underway in the Flickertail State is a fracking petroleum revolution. Thanks to capitalism and its industry creations, we are extracting massive amounts of oil from the shale fields.

But we need to get that oil somewhere – hence the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The four state governments through which it will travel and the federal government have all already approved it.

So it’s good to go, right? Of course not – because we have the Left. Who have engaged in all manner of actions to block DAPLs construction. They have of course filed a lawsuit (because if there’s one thing the Left has more of than violent actors – it’s lawyers).

But that wasn’t near enough – so they are physically blocking the construction site. And are oft doing so in very, very violent fashion: “(I)nvestigators say they have found materials behind the protest line used to make Molotov cocktails, including 1-pound propane cylinders, glass bottles and rocks.”

Peaceful. How about this?: “(P)olice released a statement saying that the protesters ‘attempted to flank and attack the law enforcement line from the west,’ describing their actions as ‘very aggressive.’…Law officers were there to keep protesters from crossing the bridge, which the sheriff’s department said was closed for safety reasons ‘due to damage caused after protesters set numerous fires’ on it in a separate incident.…”

Tranquil. How about this?: “’Any suggestion that this was a peaceful protest is false. This was more like a riot than a protest,’ said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. ‘Individuals crossed onto private property and accosted private security officers with wooden posts and flag poles.’”

Sounds an awful lot like domestic terrorism. But let’s check the HPatriot Act definition:

“(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

“(B)appear to be intended—(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping;”

Yep. The Leftist DAPL protestors are in fact engaged in domestic terrorism.

The latest installment in a long, proud tradition of Leftist domestic terrorism.

Peace, Man.
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Seton Motley is the President of Less Government and he contributes to ARRA News Service. Please feel free to follow him him on Twitter   /   Facebook.

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Be Thankful

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, millions of Americans are hitting the roads or heading to airports to be with friends and family. I love this uniquely American holiday. But it's not just a day off of work, a day devoted to parades and football, not even turkeys and pumpkin pies.

As the name implies, it is about giving thanks to God for the blessings we enjoy.

Thanksgiving traces its origins back to the Pilgrims -- those hardy pioneers who arrived on the shores of North America and, against all odds, carved a nation out of the wilderness. They came to the New World not seeking fortune, but in search of freedom, and, more specifically, the freedom to worship God as they wished.

Testifying to America's rich religious heritage, thanking God for His blessings was a routine experience in our early years. The first official National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was issued by the Continental Congress on November 1, 1777, in celebration of the victory against the British at the Battle of Saratoga.

In 1941, as America confronted a world at war, Congress voted to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

In his first Thanksgiving proclamation, President Ronald Reagan wrote:

"America has much for which to be thankful. The unequaled freedom enjoyed by our citizens has provided a harvest of plenty to this Nation throughout its history. In keeping with America's heritage, one day each year is set aside for giving thanks to God for all of His blessings. . .

"As we celebrate Thanksgiving. . . we should reflect on the full meaning of this day as we enjoy the fellowship that is so much a part of the holiday festivities. Searching our hearts, we should ask what we can do as individuals to demonstrate our gratitude to God for all He has done. Such reflection can only add to the significance of this precious day of remembrance.

"Let us recommit ourselves to that devotion to God and family that has played such an important role in making this a great Nation, and which will be needed as a source of strength if we are to remain a great people."What are you thankful for? A job? A warm home? A loving family? Good health? All of the above, or something completely different?

I am thankful for the hard-won privilege we have to elect our leaders, for our nation's tradition of peaceful transfers of power, for our religious liberty and our freedom of expression. Those freedoms have been under increasing assault in recent years and we must never take them for granted. I am thankful we have a chance to restore our Republic.

In spite of all the challenges we face today, I believe we can be thankful to be Americans. We are the descendants of the patriots who declared that "All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

As President Reagan so often encouraged us to do, I pray that each of us in the weeks ahead will work harder to make America an even better place -- a "shining city upon a hill."

Tomorrow, when Carol and I celebrate Thanksgiving with our family, we will pray for America, for our leaders, for our men and women in uniform and for all of you. We are very thankful for your friendship and generosity. God bless you, my friends, and thank you for being our partners in this great adventure.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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Hope n’ Fear . . .

. . . The last thing Obama and the Democrats want is for Trump’s plans to help America prosper. It’s proof liberalism is a failure.

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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In Defense of the Electoral College

by Robert Romano: For the second time this century, a Republican president will be sworn in to office having won the electoral college majority needed to win but having lost the national popular vote.

Naturally, this is once again leading to calls among Democrat activists to abolish the electoral college in the Constitution. Or even, for the electoral college to break the law and vote against their own states, handing the election to Hillary Clinton.

All ignoring that the reason the electoral college was implemented was to prevent big cities and big states from having a lock on the presidency, and from dominating our republic.

Currently, Hillary Clinton has a commanding, but meaningless 1.7 million vote lead in the electoral college, owed almost entirely to her 3.5 million vote margin of victory in California, according to the Atlas of American Elections.

Neither candidate nor party competed for votes in California, because California is practically a state with one-party rule. In fact, Republicans were not even allowed to have a Senate candidate on the ballot because of state rules allowing the two top vote getters in the primaries to compete, who were both Democrats, giving Republicans in-state even less incentive to come out and vote.

Similarly, Hillary Clinton did not spend time campaigning in Republican strongholds like Texas, Indiana or Mississippi that Trump won handily, which combined from an electoral college standpoint have the same 55 electoral votes that California does.

Hypothetically, if you removed all of these uncompetitive states from the mix — California, Texas, Indiana and Mississippi — you would find that Donald Trump actually had a 260,000 vote lead in the popular vote in remaining states. A tortured, meaningless analysis, to be certain. But as it turns out, Clinton did slightly better in certain Republican areas than Trump did in California. But it never mattered, because none of those states were ever considered to be up for grabs, so nobody campaigned there.

The point is, if the popular vote winner was to be the president, the campaigns would have been conducted wholly differently.

The primary process would be different. There wouldn’t be this focus on Iowa and New Hampshire.

Everyone would have spent the year campaigning in the cities. There would be a greater incentive for Republicans to vote in Democratic strongholds, and Democrats to vote in Republican strongholds since everyone would know that their vote counts even more so.

There are no guarantees how that would have played out, but the key is, that is not the system candidates competed in this year or any year in our republic. We have an electoral college, it’s in the Constitution. You need to win states if you want to be president, and Donald Trump won more of the states’ electoral college votes where it counted than Clinton.

Do we object to the two senators per state system, too?

What about state ratification of constitutional amendments?

These are all checks against direct democracy.

State representation is a vital feature of our federal republic. If the framers had wanted a straight up popularly elected government, they might have constructed a parliamentary system instead of a bicameral legislative system plus federalism. Third parties might be more viable under such a system. There might be more coalition governments. Turnout might be higher in presidential elections.

But the framers did not do that, fearing a tyranny of the majority. So, let’s stop pretending.

To overturn the election result — which was based on the assumption that whoever wins the majority of the electoral college wins the election — would be to illegally change the rules of the game after the game was over. In fact, electors in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin — all swing states Trump won giving him the electoral college majority — are legally bound to vote for their state’s winner in the electoral college.

If electoral college electors in these key states were to break the law to change the outcome, it would have to be considered illegitimate, and in fact would encompass a dangerous destruction of our constitutional system. Then, you wouldn’t have a president, but something else entirely. It would be a new system — without any rule of law — with a leader who was never legally selected in the first place. Guess what happens next. How would that be good?
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Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government. His article was first shared on the ALG's NetRight Daily blog.

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President-Elect Trump To Nominate South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. Ambassador to the UN

Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC)

ARRA News Service: President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, a cabinet-level position in the Trump-Pence Administration.

Governor Haley is one of the most universally respected governors in the country. After working at her family's business, Governor Haley turned her focus to economic development and has traveled abroad to negotiate with international companies on behalf of South Carolina. As governor, she has led seven overseas trade missions and successfully attracted jobs and investment through negotiations with foreign companies.

“Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country,” said President-elect Trump. “She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”

“Our country faces enormous challenges here at home and internationally, and I am honored that the President-elect has asked me to join his team and serve the country we love as the next Ambassador to the United Nations,” said Governor Haley.

Born in Bamberg, South Carolina, the daughter of Indian immigrants, Governor Haley became the first female governor of her home state in 2011 and is currently the youngest governor in the country. Prior to becoming governor, she represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.

A true fiscal conservative and savvy businesswoman, Governor Haley’s leadership drove down South Carolina’s unemployment to a 15 year low by adding more than 82,000 jobs in each of South Carolina’s 46 counties.

Prior to dedicating her life to public service, Governor Haley worked at her family business. In 1998, Governor Haley was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce and named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003. She also became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003 and president in 2004.

Governor Haley is a proud graduate of Clemson University where she earned a degree in accounting. Governor Haley and her husband, Michael, a Captain in the Army National Guard and combat veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, have two children, Rena, 18, and Nalin, 15.

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Why Mexico's Oil Reform Is A Huge Opportunity For Investors

by James Stafford, Contributing Author : When a massive country de-nationalizes its entire energy sector and opens its oil and gas doors for the first time ever to foreign companies, the opportunities are staggering.

Welcome to the 'new' Mexico, and welcome to the early stages of an oil and gas game that will be bigger—from an investor's perspective—than anything in history.

Mexico's move to implement historic energy reform legislation in December 2013, and follow-up legislation in 2014 that further solidified the comprehensive de-nationalization, provides an unprecedented opportunity for oil companies looking to tap into Mexico's huge energy potential.

Mexico has ended the now 75-year monopoly of state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), and admitted in no uncertain terms that it needs foreign partners and investors. All of this has prompted the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) to revise its 2040 forecast for Mexican oil and gas production upwards by a whopping 76 percent.

All of this, says International Frontier Resources Corp. CEO Steve Hanson, means that "over the next four years, we will see accelerated growth for a country with massive oil and gas resources, excellent infrastructure, a transparent investment framework, and a new hunger for foreign partners. In short, it is the largest energy opportunity in the world today--and the door has just been opened."

From the supermajors to the small-caps, the interest is expansive and the competition is only set to intensify. With this in mind, we're looking at three companies that are taking optimal advantage of Mexico's wide-open playing field both offshore and onshore. These companies know how to play it and why being a first-mover on this scene is so important:

Exxon Mobil: The Supermajor Run on Mexico's Offshore Bounty
For Exxon, 5 December is crunch time for getting into Mexico. In August, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) joined Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES) to jointly bid for rights to drill in Mexico's deep waters in an auction set to take place on the fifth of December. So far, the three have a joint operating agreement, the details of which remain a mystery. A total of 21 companies have registered for this auction--including major international players Shell (NYSE:RDS.A), Italian ENI (NYSE:E), and BP (NYSE:BP)--which will put up 10 offshore areas.

These offshore blocks are said to be Mexico's most lucrative, keeping in mind that some 76 percent of the country's potential oil resources are in the deep-waters. The reserves in these 10 blocks are said to be worth an estimated US$10 billion.

But where it gets really interesting is that this massive interest in Mexico's offshore potential was already signed on before Pemex announced a string of new offshore discoveries in September. A total of six new oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico—two in deep water and four in shallow—up the ante on the auction even further. The combined reserves of the two deep-water discoveries alone are estimated at 140-160 million barrels of oil equivalent (proven, probable and possible, or 3P, reserves).

Then we have the Trion discovery in the northern Gulf of Mexico, also up for auction on 5 December. The bidding rules have recently been changed for Trio, paving the way for a single operator to work alongside Pemex for 60 percent of this massive project. Trion is estimated to have 3P reserves of 480 million barrels of oil equivalent, and it covers 1,250 square kilometers just south of the US-Mexico maritime border.

This is one of the most intense exploration areas in the world right now, and the Mexican government is hoping to bring in around US$7 billion in investment from this auction, not including Trion.

But this is for the investor who is looking to play Mexican oil at the highest level, and for the long term. Exploration of these areas up for grabs can take around eight years and another two years to take it to production. Deep-water exploration is expensive—even if Mexico is one of the cheapest venues to operate in—so this is a long-term game that could ride out today's depressed oil prices. . . . Read More
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James Stafford is Editor, OilPrice.comARRA News Service. OilPrice.com, the leading online energy news site.

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Crucial Religious Freedom Case Arrives To Supreme Court

by Star Parker: Among the factors that drove the electoral victory of Donald Trump was his very strong support from evangelical Christians.

Trump won the white evangelical vote 81 percent to 16 percent. This was a higher percentage of the evangelical vote than received by the last three Republican presidential candidates.

And one very strong factor driving this evangelical vote was concern about the Supreme Court.

Shortly before the election, the Pew Research Center reported that 77 percent of conservative Republican and Republican-leaning voters said Supreme Court appointments were an important consideration in their vote.

For conservatives, the appointment of a justice whose conservative credentials are as solid and unwavering as those of the late Antonin Scalia is vital.

Even with Scalia's presence on the court, Obamacare survived two crucial court decisions that could have dealt it fatal or near-fatal blows. And then, last year, by a 5-4 vote, the court redefined marriage. Conservatives know that a loss of Scalia's conservative anchor would open the door for our nation's highest court to turn completely into a group of black-robed Hollywood scriptwriters.

One example of the many challenges facing us is a case dealing with religious liberty, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which the court recently agreed to hear.

Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Missouri, operates a preschool, a child learning center, open to all children in the local community age 2 to kindergarten.

The school includes a playground.

In 2012, the school applied for grant in a program run by the State of Missouri that would have enabled them to resurface the playground with a surface safer for the children.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources operates the Playground Scrap Tire Surface Materials Grant Program. They recycle tires and produce a rubberized product as a pour-on surface for playgrounds that is safer and more friendly for kids than gravel and other materials.

Trinity Lutheran applied to the program and was ranked fifth out of 44 applicants.

The government then rejected their application. The Missouri constitution, they said, prohibits directing government funds to religious institutions because of an 1875 amendment — the Blaine Amendment.

The church filed a lawsuit but lost in district court and then lost again on appeal. They then, under representation by the Alliance Defending Freedom, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, and the high court has agreed.

What does making a playground safer for kids at a church school have to do with religion? Why should it be any different than any other school?

The constitution's first amendment guarantees each citizen's right to "free exercise" of their religion. The fourteenth amendment guarantees "equal protection" under the law.

Refusal of a state government to use public funds, designated for the safety of children, for children at a school run by a church is anything but "free exercise" of religion and anything but "equal protection" under the law for kids at a church school.

Religion is now widely viewed in our courts as an obstacle to freedom rather than something crucial that a free society must protect.

It is one thing to use the power of government and government funds to promote a certain religion. This is clearly what the U.S. constitution wishes to prevent. But it is quite another thing to discriminate against a citizen of faith and not make government resources available to that citizen, resources that are available to other citizens, because of that individual's faith.

Can it possibly be that the safety of a child playing at a church-operated school is a different issue than the safety of a child a secular school?

The Trinity Lutheran Church has already lost twice on this question. It's why our courts need a strong and powerful conservative injection.
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Star Parker is an author and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. CURE is a non-profit think tank that addresses issues of race and poverty through principles of faith, freedom and personal responsibility.

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