“Death by a Thousand Cuts” – Latest Ninth Circuit decision proclaims . . .

. . . “selling firearms is not part or parcel of the right to keep and bear arms”

NRA-ILA: Since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, lower courts across the country have expressed their disagreement with – or downright hostility to – the Second Amendment by distorting or disregarding these rulings to the detriment of gun owners.

Joining this judicial obliteration of the fundamental right to keep and bear arms is a new decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, regarding the extent to which the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding Americans to sell and buy firearms.

Reversing an earlier decision of the Ninth Circuit, the court concluded that the Second Amendment does not protect a right of “a proprietor of a commercial establishment to sell firearms. Commerce in firearms is a necessary prerequisite to keeping and possessing arms for self-defense, but the right of gun users to acquire firearms legally is not coextensive with the right of a particular proprietor to sell them.”

The case dates back to 2010, when the plaintiffs, John Teixeira, Steve Nobriga, and Gary Gamaza, decided to open “Valley Guns & Ammo,” a retail business that would sell firearms, ammunition, and gun-related equipment as well as provide firearm training and gunsmith services. They chose a location in Alameda County, California, and began the complex process of obtaining the necessary licenses, permits, and zoning approvals.

A county ordinance prohibited locating a gun store business within 500 feet of a “[r]esidentially zoned district; elementary, middle or high school; pre-school or day care center; other firearms sales business; or liquor stores or establishments in which liquor is served.” The ordinance was ambiguous on how this was to be measured, although planning department staff indicated that the 500-foot zoning requirement would be determined by measuring from the closest door of the proposed business location to the front door of any such disqualifying property. Accordingly, the plaintiffs selected a location where the closest residential property, measured door to door, was 532 feet away and across Interstate 880.

In fact, though, the County chose to measure the 500-foot distance from the closest exterior wall of the building to the closest residential property line rather than from door to door, meaning that the nearest residential property was only 446 feet away from the proposed site. Because of this, the business owners had to seek and obtain a zoning variance, which the appropriate zoning board granted after a public hearing, finding that Interstate 880, as well as other obstructions, prevented “direct traversable access at a distance less than 500 feet from the site to a residentially zoned district.” (This board also found there was a “public need” for the store, and that there was no detrimental public health or safety impact associated with the business.)

Members of the San Lorenzo Village Homes Association objected and appealed the grant of the variance because they were opposed to “guns and their ready availability” and to a gun shop in their community. When their appeal was sustained and the variance revoked, the business owners brought a lawsuit challenging the ordinance as unconstitutional. In support of their claim that the zoning ordinance was impermissible under the Second Amendment, they commissioned a study showing that the application of the 500-foot rule meant “there are no parcels in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County which would be available for firearm retail sales.” The ordinance effectively “red-lined” all new gun stores out of the county.

In 2016, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, addressing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, ruled the suit could proceed. It rejected entirely the County’s argument that the Second Amendment does not extend to the commercial sales of arms: “If ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms’ is to have any force, the people must have a right to acquire the very firearms they are entitled to keep and to bear. Indeed, where a right depends on subsidiary activity, it would make little sense if the right did not extend, at least partly, to such activity as well.” While a government enjoyed “substantial leeway under the Second Amendment to regulate the commercial sale of firearms” through zoning and licensing, there was “no question that an ordinance restricting the commercial sale of firearms” burdened Second Amendment rights, and the County failed to produce any evidence in support of its justification for the ordinance – that a gun store would increase crime in its vicinity. “Just as we have a duty to treat with suspicion governmental encroachments on the right of citizens to engage in political speech or to practice their religion, we must exert equal diligence in ensuring that the right of the people to keep and to bear arms is not undermined by hostile regulatory measures.”

This ruling was vacated and the case was set for rehearing before a larger (en banc) panel of the Ninth Circuit. (The NRA participated by filing an amicus brief together with the California Rifle & Pistol Association.)

In a 9-2 decision on October 10, Teixeira v. County of Alameda, that panel dismissed the lawsuit after concluding that the plaintiffs failed to raise a plausible Second Amendment claim.

While recognizing that “firearms commerce plays an essential role today in the realization of the individual right to possess firearms” recognized in District of Columbia v. Heller, the panel majority nonetheless used language in Heller on presumptively lawful “longstanding” prohibitions on the commercial sale of arms to justify treating sales of guns as distinct from the right of potential firearm buyers to acquire them. A “commercial actor’s ability to enter the firearms market” was completely independent of the ability of individuals to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and had no analogous Second Amendment protection. And, as long as residents could purchase firearms and ammunition anywhere in the county, the court held the ordinance had no adverse impact on the rights of individual buyers and consumers.

The decision is notable for two strongly worded dissenting opinions by Judge Carlos T. Bea and Judge Richard C. Tallman.

Both found fault with the majority’s analysis of the Second Amendment. The reliance on Heller’s language on “longstanding” prohibitions of commercial sales was misplaced – it either didn’t apply to local government restrictions, or required some evidence that the ordinance was itself “longstanding” or in a class of longstanding and similar prohibitions. Pointing out the obvious, both judges found that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms necessarily included the indispensable and attendant rights to “buy, service, test, and properly license” firearms. Moreover, Judge Tallman observed the impact of the ordinance could not be “viewed in a vacuum without considering gun restrictions in California as a whole,” where the ordinance added to the already “burdensome” California laws on firearm acquisition, ownership, carrying, and possession.

This ruling is not just a problem for California gun owners. The majority’s decision “inflicts yet another wound on our precious constitutional right,” one that “perpetuates our continuing infringement on the fundamental right of gun owners enshrined in the Second Amendment.” These cases, as Judge Tallman warned, “continue to slowly carve away the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. Today’s decision further lacerates the Second Amendment, deepens the wound, and resembles the Death by a Thousand Cuts.”
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Source: NRA-ILA

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Tags: NRA-ILA, 9th Circuit Court, denying operation of business, selling guns, ammo, does not violate, right to bear arms To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Homeland Security Advisor: Iran Openly Cheating on Deal

Former Sec. 0f StateJohn Kerry Sold Out America

by Karl Herchenroeder: The Islamic Republic of Iran is “practically” cheating on its nuclear deal in plain sight, a defense advisor told Congress on Thursday, citing evidence from satellite imagery.

“Iran has actually practically told us that they’re cheating on the Iran nuclear deal,” Peter Vincent Pry, executive director for the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, a Congressional Advisory Board, said Thursday at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency. “They have told us in their military doctrine, black-and-white, that they plan to cheat on agreements in order to get nuclear weapons.”

Pry’s comments came the same day that President Trump announced that he will not certify the Iran deal this month, which starts the clock for a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to reapply sanctions that the Obama administration lifted under the deal.

Iran agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015, with promises to significantly curb operations at the country’s nuclear facilities in return for the lifting of international oil and banking sanctions. Some experts have said that Iran has denied international nuclear inspectors access to military installations.

Pry pointed to unclassified satellite imagery showing an Iranian military base with four high-energy power lines carrying about 750,000 volts each running underground into a facility to which the International Atomic Energy Agency has no access.

Pry suggested that Iran is using those high-voltage lines to power uranium centrifuges that have not been declared to the international community. He compared it to the Soviet Union’s underground nuclear reactor at Krasnoyarsk-26, which was used to clandestinely make plutonium and uranium for nuclear weapons to skirt Cold War arms deals.

“Something is going on in one of those underground military facilities (in Iran),” Pry said. “We have a long history of the bad guys cheating on these treaties, and at least half the problem is our own unwillingness to acknowledge that because there are interests in this town that are very much in favor of not wanting to face the reality that arms control doesn’t work.”

He compared the situation to the people surrounding UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain prior to World War II, who didn’t want to acknowledge that the Nazis and the Japanese were cheating on the Washington Naval Treaty.

In his opening remarks, Pry also warned of a separate issue that he has been sounding the alarm about for nearly a decade: North Korea staging an electromagnetic pulse attack that he believes could shut down the U.S. power grid for an “indefinite period leading to the death within a year of up to 90 percent of all Americans.”

As described by Pry, an EMP attack from North Korea would not require an accurate missile guidance system, as the target area could have a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. An EMP attack would be possible, he testified, by launching a short-range missile off a freighter or a submarine. A balloon-lofted warhead detonated at 30 kilometers in altitude, he continued, could “black out” the Eastern Electric Power Grid, which generates about 75 percent of U.S. electricity.

Pry cited claims made in 2016 by Ambassador Henry Cooper, former director of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, who wrote that North Korea “doesn’t need an ICBM to create this existential threat. It could use its demonstrated satellite launcher to carry a nuclear weapon over the South Polar region and detonate it ... over the United States to create a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse.”

Pry discussed North Korean weapons developments in just the past six months. Citing the intelligence community, Pry said that North Korea has an estimated 60 nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles that can strike Denver and Chicago, hydrogen bombs comparable to American thermonuclear weapons and miniaturized nuclear weapons. But Pry maintains that an EMP attack is the most significant threat.

“After massive intelligence failures grossly underestimating North Korea’s long-range missile capabilities, number of nuclear weapons, warhead miniaturization and proximity to an H-Bomb, the biggest North Korean threat to the U.S. remains unacknowledged: nuclear EMP attack,” he said.
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Karl Herchenroeder is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. and contributes to PJMedia.

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Tags: EMP, Iran, Iran Nuclear Deal, North Korea, Nuclear Threats, Karl Herchenroeder, PJ Media To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Prager U Video: The "Anti-Hate" Group That Is A Hate Group

Karl Zinsmeister

. . . .The vile slanders and smears of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

ARRA News Service: The Southern Poverty Law Center bills itself as a watchdog of hate groups. 

But is this just a cover for its true aims? Journalist and author Karl Zinsmeister explains in Prager U's new video ron how the SPLC is the "anti-hate" group that is actually the real hate group. 

To learn more about the SPLC's fomenting of hatred and lies, see DiscovertheNetwork.org's SPLC profile.

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Tags: Prager U, video, The "Anti-Hate" Group, That Is A Hate Group, SPLC, Southern Poverty Law Center To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

President Trump's New Strategy on Iran

The White House: “It is time for the entire world to join us in demanding that Iran’s government end its pursuit of death and destruction.” – President Donald J. Trump

"I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents, and affiliates," – President Donald J. Trump speech.

President Donald J. Trump, in consultation with his national security team, has approved a new strategy for Iran. It is the culmination of nine months of deliberation with Congress and our allies on how to best protect American security.

HIGHLIGHTS
Core Elements of the President’s New Iran Strategy

• The United States’ new Iran strategy focuses on neutralizing the Government of Iran’s destabilizing influence and constraining its aggression, particularly its support for terrorism and militants.

• We will revitalize our traditional alliances and regional partnerships as bulwarks against Iranian subversion and restore a more stable balance of power in the region.

• We will work to deny the Iranian regime – and especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – funding for its malign activities, and oppose IRGC activities that extort the wealth of the Iranian people.

• We will counter threats to the United States and our allies from ballistic missiles and other asymmetric weapons.

• We will rally the international community to condemn the IRGC’s gross violations of human rights and its unjust detention of American citizens and other foreigners on specious charges.

• Most importantly, we will deny the Iranian regime all paths to a nuclear weapon.

BACKGROUND
The Nature of the Iranian Regime under Supreme Leader Khamenei

• For 28 years, Ali Khamenei has been Iran’s Supreme Leader. Before that, he held the office of President for 8 years. In that time, he has shaped the Iranian regime in his image.

• Khamenei and the IRGC have pursued a steady policy of spreading a revolutionary ideology aimed at undermining the international system and many states by force and subversion. His main enemy and rallying point has been and continues to be the United States of America, which he calls the Great Satan.

• Under Khamenei, Iran exports violence, destabilizes its neighbors, and sponsors terrorism abroad. Within Iran, under Khamenei’s rule the Iranian government has oppressed its people, abusing their rights, restricting their access to the internet and the outside world, rigging elections, shooting student protesters in the street, and imprisoning political reformers like Mir Hussein Musavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

The Threats from the Iranian Regime

• The reckless behavior of the Iranian regime, and the IRGC in particular, poses one of the most dangerous threats to the interests of the United States and to regional stability.

• The Iranian regime has taken advantage of regional conflicts and instability to aggressively expand its regional influence and threaten its neighbors with little domestic or international cost for its actions.

• This occurred most recently following the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the vacuum created by the Obama administration’s ill-considered withdrawal from the region.

• The full range of the Iranian regime’s malign activities extends well beyond the nuclear threat it poses, including:

o Ballistic missile development and proliferation;

o Material and financial support for terrorism and extremism;

o Support for the Assad regime’s atrocities against the Syrian people;

o Unrelenting hostility to Israel;

o Consistently threatening freedom of navigation, especially in the strategically vital Persian Gulf;

o Cyber-attacks against the United States, Israel, and America’s other allies and partners in the Middle East;

o Grievous human rights abuses; and

o Arbitrary detention of foreigners, including United States citizens, on specious charges and without due process.The Need for a Comprehensive Strategy

• The previous Administration’s myopic focus on Iran’s nuclear program to the exclusion of the regime’s many other malign activities allowed Iran’s influence in the region to reach a high-water mark.

• Over the last decade and a half, United States policy has also consistently prioritized the immediate threat of Sunni extremist organizations over the longer-term threat of Iranian-backed militancy.

• In doing so, the United States has neglected Iran’s steady expansion of proxy forces and terrorist networks aimed at keeping its neighbors weak and unstable in hopes of dominating the greater Middle East. Recently, the Iranian regime has accelerated the seeding of these networks with increasingly destructive weapons as they try to establish a bridge from Iran to Lebanon and Syria.

• The Trump Administration will not repeat these mistakes.

• The Trump Administration’s Iran policy will address the totality of these threats from and malign activities by the Government of Iran and will seek to bring about a change in the Iranian’s regime’s behavior.

• The Trump Administration will accomplish these objectives through a strategy that neutralizes and counters Iranian threats, particularly those posed by the IRGC.

Countering the IRGC

• Supreme Leader Khamenei’s primary tool and weapon in remaking Iran into a rogue state has been the hardline elements of the IRGC.

• The IRGC’s stated purpose is to subvert the international order. The IRGC’s power and influence have grown over time, even as it has remained unaccountable to the Iranian people, answering only to Khamenei. It is hard to find a conflict or a suffering people in the Middle East that the IRGC’s tentacles do not touch.

• Unaccountable to Iran’s elected leaders or its people, the IRGC has tried to gain control over large portions of Iran’s economy and choke off competition, all the while working to weaken and undermine Iran’s neighbors and perpetuate the chaos and instability in which it thrives.

• The IRGC has armed Bashar al Assad and guided his butchering of his own people in Syria and has cynically condoned his use of chemical weapons.

• The IRGC has sought to undermine the fight against ISIS with the influence of militant groups in Iraq under the IRGC's control.

In Yemen, the IRGC has attempted to use the Houthis as puppets to hide Iran’s role in using sophisticated missiles and explosive boats to attack innocent civilians in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as to restrict freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

• The IRGC has even threatened terrorist attacks right here at home. Senior IRGC commanders plotted the murder of Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States, Adel Jubeir, on American soil in 2011. But for exceptional work by our law enforcement and intelligence officers to detect and disrupt this egregious act, the IRGC would have conducted this terrorist attack and assassination in our own capital and would have killed not only a Saudi Arabian diplomat, but a host of other innocent bystanders at a popular restaurant in Washington, D.C.

• The IRGC, which repeatedly displays reckless hostility and disregard for the laws and norms that underpin the international order, threatens all nations and the global economy.

• Our partners in the international community agree with us that the IRGC’s reckless behavior threatens international peace and security. They agree that the IRGC is fanning sectarianism and perpetuating regional conflict. They agree that the IRGC is engaged in corrupt economic practices that exploit the Iranian people and suppress internal dissent, human rights, and Iran’s economic prosperity.

• For all these reasons, we want to work with our partners to constrain this dangerous organization, for the benefit of international peace and security, regional stability, and the Iranian people.

The Iranian Nuclear Program and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

• The Iranian regime’s activities severely undercut whatever positive contributions to “regional and international peace and security” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) sought to achieve.

• Even with regard to JCPOA itself, the Iranian regime has displayed a disturbing pattern of behavior, seeking to exploit loopholes and test the international community’s resolve.

• Iranian military leaders have stated publicly that they will refuse to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of their military sites. These statements fly in the face of Iran’s commitments under JCPOA and the Additional Protocol. Not long ago these same organizations hid nuclear facilities on military sites.

• This behavior cannot be tolerated; the deal must be strictly enforced, and the IAEA must fully utilize its inspection authorities.

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Tags: White House, press release, President Trump, new strategy, Iran To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

CNN Publishes Fake History of Abortion in America

Jerry Cox, Contributing Author: Recently the U.S. House of Representatives voted to prohibit abortions after the twentieth week of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. This federal bill is very similar to a law Arkansas passed in 2013.

As The Washington Post notes, the U.S. is one of only a handful of countries in the world in which abortion after the twentieth week of pregnancy is legal.

Shortly after the House passed the bill, CNN published a video that is nothing short of fiction.

The video claims that at one point abortion simply was part of life in America; that even the Catholic church did not believe life began at conception; that the anti-abortion movement began with doctors wanting to regulate midwives and homeopathic medicine; and that early pro-life activists were primarily concerned with declining birth rates among white women.

Frankly, I had no idea it was possible to cram so much wrong information into 96 seconds, but CNN did. The video is still online, and you can watch it for yourself if you want.

Here’s the truth: Christian leaders always have opposed abortion.

During the first or second century, church leaders circulated a document called The Didache summarizing many basic Christian teachings. Among other things, it said, “you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that [child] which is born.”

Our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview write,“Christians have opposed abortion of all kinds going back to the earliest writings outside of the New Testament . . . . But apparently it’s news to CNN.”And contrary to the video’s claims, abortion was not simply part of American life. In 1871, an investigative journalist writing for The New York Times said,Thousands of human beings are thus murdered before they have seen the light of this world, and thousands upon thousands more of adults are irremediably ruined in constitution, health and happiness. So secretly are these crimes committed and so craftily do the perpetrators inveigh their victims, that it is next to impossible to obtain evidence and witnesses.Whatever some may say, there simply is nothing new about people — especially Christians — equating abortion with murder.
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Jerry Cox is the founder and president of Family Council and the Education Alliance.

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Tags: Jerry Cox, Family Council, CNN fake history, aAbortion, America To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Trump Attacks On Multiple Fronts, Trump Returns Triumphant

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Trump Attacks On Multiple Fronts -  After one of the most brutal campaigns in modern American history and months of constants attacks by Soros-funded groups, big media and weak-kneed establishment swamp creatures, Donald Trump could be forgiven for running up the white flag. Thank God that is not who he is. This week the president launched multiple attacks against Barack Obama's radical legacy.

First, he issued an executive order to allow small businesses and individuals to join association healthcare plans across state lines. Then he ended what were arguably illegal government subsidies to insurance companies. Democrats immediately accused President Trump of trying to "sabotage" Obamacare. Unraveling Obamacare will likely be messy. But Trump has repeatedly said that if Congress will get its act together, he is willing to work with them on solutions.

This afternoon, President Trump delivered a speech at the White House announcing that he would not certify Iran's compliance with Obama's nuclear deal. That deal was one of the worst diplomatic defeats for the United States in decades. Iran received billions of dollars in sanctions relief that it is using against us and Israel. Unfortunately, the president can't get that money back.

Instead of appeasing the tyrants in Tehran, Trump announced a new strategy focused "on neutralizing Iran's destabilizing influence and constraining its aggression." The president called for revitalizing traditional alliances, most especially America's alliance with Israel, and a major crackdown on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has tentacles everywhere.

Earlier this week, 1,000 ISIS fighters surrendered to Iraqi units trained and advised by the United States. The ISIS caliphate is collapsing. Under Obama, ISIS was gaining 1,000 fighters a month. Under Trump ISIS is being decimated.

Boldness is contagious. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced plans to end the "blue slip" tradition that Democrats are using to block President Trump's conservative judicial nominees. McConnell is facing resistance from some of his GOP colleagues, but dozens of conservative leaders, including me, are pressuring Sen. McConnell to get the job done.
Trump Returns Triumphant - As you know, the 2017 Values Voter Summit is underway. American Values, my non-profit public policy organization, is a proud co-sponsor of this terrific event and it is very gratifying to see so many people here this year.

It was also humbling to be recognized from the podium by several speakers this morning. Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, singled me out during his remarks for my efforts in defense of Israel.

My friend Bill Bennett commented on the slings and arrows we took together while promoting Ronald Reagan's agenda at the Department of Education. Carol and I even got a thumbs up and a wave from President Trump!

When he addressed the 2016 Values Voter Summit, Donald Trump made a number of pledges to the audience, including a pledge to come back. Today, he kept that promise, becoming the first sitting president to address the Values Voters Summit. And Donald Trump received a raucous reception.

He gave a fantastic speech, promising to defend America's traditional values and outlining the various ways he has already delivered on key pledges -- from appointing Justice Neil Gorsuch to signing executive orders defending religious liberty. Below are some excerpts of his remarks:

"When America is unified, no force on Earth can break us apart. We love our families. We love our neighbors. We love our country. . . We cherish the sacred dignity of every human life.

"We believe in strong families and safe communities. . . We defend our Constitution. We protect religious liberty. We treasure our freedom. We are proud of our history. We support the rule of law and the incredible men and women of law enforcement.

"We celebrate our heroes, and we salute every American who wears the uniform. We respect our great American flag. And we stand united behind the customs, beliefs and traditions that define who we are as a nation and as a people. . .

"The American Founders invoked our Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence -- four times. . . Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer. . . And we all pledge allegiance to 'one nation under God.'

"This is America's heritage, a country that never forgets that we are all -- all, every one of us -- made by the same God in Heaven. . .

"As long as we have pride in our country, confidence in our future, and faith in our God, then America will prevail. . . We will defend our faith and protect our traditions. . . Our values will endure, our nation will thrive, our citizens will flourish, and our freedom will triumph."

I will be speaking at the Summit this afternoon around 3:00 pm ET. You can watch my remarks live at valuesvotersummit.org.

Tomorrow, American Values is hosting a lunch for several hundred attendees and sponsoring a breakout session on the threat of radical Islamic supremacism.

Thank you, my friends, for making these opportunities possible. We couldn't do it without you!
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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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Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, President Trump, Attacks On Multiple Fronts, Trump Returns Triumphant To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

U.S. 9th Circuit Rules There Is No Right To Open A Gun Store

by Tom Knighton: The Second Amendment says we have a right to own and carry firearms. The Constitution clearly says so, the Supreme Court says so, and even a lot of anti-gun zealots begrudgingly say so. It’s as simple as that.

By extension, people have a right to open gun stores, right? After all, what good is a right to keep and bear arms if you can’t get any arms?

One might think that’s the case, but one federal court disagrees.

The U.S. 9th Circuit on Tuesday upheld an Alameda County law barring gun stores within 500 feet of residential properties in a blow to gun rights advocates.

The ruling came from a 9-2 en banc panel of the court in a case brought by gun dealers and Second Amendment groups who contended the county’s zoning effectively put it off limits to new gun stores. The court held that local governments could regulate the sale of firearms so long as would-be buyers were still able to purchase them somewhere in the area and that the Second Amendment does not protect the ability to engage in gun sales.

Writing for the majority, Judge Marsha Berzon noted that there were numerous gun stores, including a Big 5 Sporting Goods outlet, located in the County that had been in operation before the 500-foot rule came into effect, and the new zoning restriction did not burden the right to keep and bear arms as it just limited the ability to open new gun stores.

“In any event, gun buyers have no right to have a gun store in a particular location, at least as long as their access is not meaningfully constrained,” said Berzon.

The case was brought in 2012 by businessmen John Teixeira, Steve Nobriga and Gara Gamaza who found that the county’s zoning made it impossible to find a commercial property available for which they could open a new gun store.I spent a good bit of time thinking about this, and I don’t know that the court is actually wrong here. The Second Amendment doesn’t really apply since there are still gun stores available for people to buy guns from, so this falls into a different category.

This sounds more like protectionism for the existing gun stores more than an outright attempt to infringe on anyone’s Second Amendment rights.

Not that such a thing makes it any better.

Anytime you create zoning laws that effectively ban any particular industry from your community, you have failed to understand the free market system which we ostensibly live under.

You see, in a case like this, competition means not just that there are multiple gun stores, but that even newer companies can open up to challenge the existing stores. This ultimately keeps prices down, service high, and all that jazz. Even the threat of competition is often enough to boost customer service and/or reduce prices.

By blocking new stores, the local government is basically protecting older, slower to adapt companies from the folly of their current ways. At the same time, they’re just being outright un-American.
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Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia and contributes to PJ Media.

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Tags: Tom Knighton, Bearing Arms, U.S. 9th Circuit, Rules, no right, to open, gun store, gun rights, California To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

FBI Finds 30 Pages of Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting Documents – Wants Six Weeks to Turn Over Docs

by Judicial Watch: Judicial Watch was informed yesterday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that the FBI has located 30 pages of documents related to the June 27, 2016, tarmac meeting between former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton, and proposes non-exempt material be produced no later than November 30, 2017 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:16-cv-02046)).

The new documents are being sent to Judicial Watch in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed after the Justice Department failed to comply with a July 7, 2016, FOIA request seeking the following:

• All FD-302 forms prepared pursuant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server during her tenure.
• All records of communications between any agent, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding, concerning, or related to the aforementioned investigation. This request includes, but is not limited to, any related communications with any official, employee, or representative of the Department of Justice, the Executive Office of the President, the Democratic National Committee, and/or the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
• All records related to the meeting between Attorney General Lynch and former President Bill Clinton on June 27, 2016.

The FBI originally informed Judicial Watch they did not locate any records related to the tarmac meeting. However, in a related case, the Justice Department located emails in which Justice Department officials communicated with the FBI and wrote that they had communicated with the FBI. As a result, by letter dated August 10, 2017, from the FBI stated, “Upon further review, we subsequently determined potentially responsive documents may exist. As a result, your [FOIA] request has been reopened…”

(Surprisingly, the Trump Justice Department refuses to disclose the talking points developed by the Obama Justice Department to help it respond to press inquiries about the controversial June 27, 2016, tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.)

On June 27, 2016, Attorney General Loretta Lynch met privately with former President Bill Clinton on board a parked private plane at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. The meeting occurred during the then-ongoing investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s email server, and mere hours before the Benghazi report was released publicly involving both Mrs. Clinton and the Obama administration. Judicial Watch filed a request on June 30 that the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General investigate that meeting.

“The FBI is out of control. It is stunning that the FBI ‘found’ these Clinton-Lynch tarmac records only after we caught the agency hiding them in another lawsuit,” stated Judicial Watch Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch will continue to press for answers about the FBI’s document games in court. In the meantime, the FBI should stop the stonewall and release these new records immediately.”

This case has also forced the FBI to release to the public the FBI’s Clinton investigative file, although more than half of the records remain withheld. The FBI has also told Judicial Watch that it anticipates completing the processing of these materials by July 2018.

There is significant controversy about whether the FBI and Obama Justice Department investigation gave Clinton and other witnesses and potential targets preferential treatment.

The Obama administration extended numerous immunity agreements, including: Clinton’s former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills; John Bentel, former director of the State Department’s Office of Information Resources Management; Heather Samuelson, Clinton’s executive assistant; Brian Pagliano, an IT employee at the State Department who serviced the Clinton non-government server; and an employee at Platt River Networks, the company that maintained it. It is not clear whether Hillary Clinton received some type of immunity.

In 2015, a political action committee run by McAuliffe, a close friend and political supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, donated nearly $500,000 to Jill McCabe, wife of McCabe, who was then running for the Virginia State Senate. Also, the Virginia Democratic Party, over which McAuliffe had significant influence, donated an additional $207,788 to the Jill McCabe campaign. In July 2015, Andrew McCabe was in charge of the FBI’s Washington, DC, field office, which provided personnel resources to the Clinton email probe. Judicial Watch has several lawsuits about this McCabe/FBI/Clinton scandal.

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Indecent Exposure . . .

. . . Left wing Hollywood hypocrites have been exposed for covering up high profile sex offenders and predators among their peers.

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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Crossing the Twitter Rubicon

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: No sooner had I upbraided media folks for overreacting to various presidential peccadillos regarding Puerto Rico, when Donald J. Trump, in his running media battle, crossed a line with this week’s most notorious tweet.

He first complained, perhaps correctly, that, “Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a ‘tenfold’ increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean.” But then the chief executive officer of the United States of America tweeted this: “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License?”

The answer to his question is: never.

The Federal Communications Commission licenses the network affiliates of ABC, NBC and CBS across the country — not the networks themselves — to broadcast their television signals using public airwaves. Still, through those affiliates a tyrannical FCC could no doubt damage the networks.

Government licensing of media outlets is anathema to the First Amendment. And the thought of the POTUS actively threatening the ability of NBC or other networks to report the news as they freely decide is . . . well, unthinkable.

I don’t buy the accusations that Trump is undermining freedom of the press by criticizing the press — even arguing by tweet, “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @CNN, @NBCNews and many more) . . . is the enemy of the American People!” The president is as free to criticize the media as the media is free to criticize the president.

It might be his duty.

But considering the use of official government power to potentially “shut down NBC and other American networks,” as UK’s Independent reported, or just to temper their coverage?

Despotism.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Paul Jacob is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.

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Is Trump the Heir to Reagan?

by Patrick Buchanan: Three decades ago, as communications director in the White House, I set up an interview for Bill Rusher of National Review.

Among his first questions to President Reagan was to ask him to assess the political importance of Barry Goldwater. Said Reagan, “I guess you could call him the John the Baptist of our movement.”

I resisted the temptation to lean in and ask, “Sir, if Barry Goldwater is John the Baptist, who would that make you?”

What brings the moment back is Laura Ingraham’s new book: Billionaire at the Barricades: The Populist Revolution from Reagan to Trump.. Thesis: Donald Trump is a conservative populist and direct descendant and rightful heir to Ronald Reagan.

To never-Trumpers this is pure blasphemy. Yet the similarities are there.

Both men were outsiders, and neither a career politician. Raised Democratic, Reagan had been a Hollywood actor, union leader and voice of GE, before running for governor of California.

Trump is out of Queens, a builder-businessman in a Democratic city whose Republican credentials were suspect at best when he rode down that elevator at Trump Tower. Both took on the Republican establishment of their day, and humiliated it.

Among the signature issues of Trumpian populism is economic nationalism, a new trade policy designed to prosper Americans first.

Reagan preached free trade, but when Harley-Davidson was in danger of going under because of Japanese dumping of big bikes, he slammed a 50 percent tariff on Japanese motorcycles. Though a free trader by philosophy, Reagan was at heart an economic patriot.

He accepted an amnesty written by Congress for 3 million people in the country illegally, but Reagan also warned prophetically that a country that can’t control its borders isn’t really a country any more.

Reagan and Trump both embraced the Eisenhower doctrine of “peace through strength.” And, like Ike, both built up the military.

Both also believed in cutting tax rates to stimulate the economy and balance the federal budget through rising revenues rather than cutting programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Both believed in engaging with the superpower rival of the day — the Soviet Union in Reagan’s day, Russia and China in Trump’s time.

And both were regarded in this capital city with a cosmopolitan condescension bordering on contempt. “An amiable dunce” said a Great Society Democrat of Reagan.

The awesome victories Reagan rolled up, a 44-state landslide in 1980 and a 49-state landslide in 1984, induced some second thoughts among Beltway elites about whether they truly spoke for America. Trump’s sweep of the primaries and startling triumph in the Electoral College caused the same consternation.

However, as the Great Depression, New Deal and World War II represented a continental divide in history between what came before and what came after, so, too, did the end of the Cold War and the Reagan era.

As Ingraham writes, Trumpism is rooted as much in the populist-nationalist campaigns of the 1990s, and post-Cold War issues as economic patriotism, border security, immigration control and “America First,” as it is in the Reaganite issues of the 1980s.

Which bring us to the present, with our billionaire president, indeed, at the barricades.

The differences between Trump in his first year and Reagan in 1981 are stark. Reagan had won a landslide. The attempt on his life in April and the grace with which he conducted himself had earned him a place in the hearts of his countrymen. He not only showed spine in giving the air traffic controllers 48 hours to get back to work, and then discharging them when they defied him, he enacted the largest tax cut in U.S. history with the aid of boll weevil Democrats in the House.

Coming up on one year since his election, Trump is besieged by a hostile press and united Democratic Party. This city hates him. While his executive actions are impressive, his legislative accomplishments are not. His approval ratings have lingered in the mid-30s. He has lost half a dozen senior members of his original White House staff, clashed openly with his own Cabinet and is at war with GOP leaders on the Hill.

Moreover, we seem close to war with North Korea that would be no cakewalk. And the president appears determined to tear up the Obama nuclear deal with Iran that his own national security team believes is in the national interest.

Reagan was, as Trump claimed to be, an anti-interventionist. Reagan had no wish to be a war president. His dream was to rid the world of nuclear weapons. This does not sound like Trump in October 2017.

Steve Bannon may see the 25th Amendment, where a Cabinet majority may depose a president, as the great threat to Trump.

But it is far more likely that a major war would do for the Trump presidency and his place in history what it did for Presidents Wilson, Truman, LBJ and George W. Bush.
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Patrick Buchanan is currently a conservative columnist, political analyst, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He has been a senior advisor to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000. He blogs at the Patrick J. Buchanan.

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Can Congress Help Turn Around Damage To The Military By The Obama Administration?

by Printus LeBlanc: Yes, the 115th Congressional session has been a disaster for the Republican majority. Obamacare repeal was a failure, tax reform has is not done, and anything meaningful came from executive orders. No organization has taken Congress to task for its shortcomings more than Americans for Limited Government, but when Congress does something right, half of Congress at least, it must be acknowledged.

The House of Representatives did their job; now it is up to the Senate. In mid-September, the House passed H.R. 3354, which includes all twelve individual appropriation bills, totaling $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending. The current continuing resolution expires in mid-December, and if the Senate can tear themselves away from wasting committee time to find no collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia, they have a chance to boost national security.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is getting the lion’s share of the discretionary budget pie. The bill provides $658 billion for the DoD, and another $73.9 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), think Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. This is a far cry from the Obama years, in which the military saw a continually shrinking budget, while the world was becoming more dangerous.

In 2015, the Navy increased its battle force requirement to 308 ships. During the campaign, President Trump touted his plan to rebuild the U.S. Navy, and take it past that requirement to the 350-ship mark. The last time the Navy had such a fleet was in 1998. Currently, the navy has 279 ships in the fleet, leaving the fleet 29 ships short of the 308 required and 71 short of what the President wants. Regardless of which number is the right amount, the current fleet is dangerously low, and the House budget begins the process of rebuilding the navy.

Many will ask, “Do we need such a large navy?”. In a word, Yes.

It is the U.S. Navy that patrols the world’s strategic choke points. It is the guided missile destroyers, equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system, being used to protect the U.S. and its allies from ballistic missiles. It is the U.S. Navy interdicting weapons transfers between rogue regimes.

The legislation will use submarines and ships to fulfill those missions by providing $21.5 billion to procure 11 Navy ships, including funding for one carrier replacement, two DDG-51 guided missile destroyers, two Virginia-class submarines, and three Littoral Combat Ships.

The legislation also begins to repair the readiness hole in the military. Since the beginning of the Obama administration in 2008, military readiness has been in a constant freefall. Eighty percent of Marine Corps aviation units lacked the minimum number of aircraft ready for training. Only one-third of the Army’s brigade combat teams are in an acceptable state of readiness.

These are just a few examples of the damage the Obama administration did to military readiness. The House budget attempts to rectify the situation by approving $192 billion for operations and maintenance, $24.1 billion above FY 2017. The military has had a serious of high profile accidents involving all branches of service that resulted in deaths. Congress and the military have all but blamed the incidents on lack of training and readiness, and the extra $24 billion will go a long way in preventing deaths.

The House budget starts the turnaround of the DoD, but change must also come from within the Pentagon. The Pentagon should be audited to ensure funds are spent appropriately. There must also be a cultural change in the Pentagon, and the military must be reminded it is an organization built to defend and kill.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis has taken the initial steps by ordering a review of the mandatory training requirements that do not directly support core tasks. The review will eliminate unnecessary, costly training that distracts the warfighter from his or her primary mission, fighting wars.

However, this should only be the first step for Mattis. The next step for the Secretary should be to cancel the biofuels program. The Great Green Fleet is a waste of time and money. $26.6 per gallon for fuel containing chicken fat is outrageous, but $424 per gallon algae-based fuel takes the cake. There’s nothing economic or smart about paying exponentially more for fuel when you have an abundance of it.

While Americans for Limited Government is against many of the programs being funded in the budget, “limited government” does not mean “no government,” and the military is one of government programs the federal government should support. That does not mean it is ok for the military to become a money wasting bastion of PC culture. It is now up to the Senate to continue what the House started and adequately fund the military while continuing to force Pentagon to get back to the basics: warfighting.
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Printus LeBlanc is a contributing reporter with Americans for Limited Government

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EPA’s CPP Repeal To Give American Ratepayers Relief

by Caleb Taylor: The Trump Administration will soon begin the process of repealing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP) that would’ve led to large increases in utility costs for average Arkansas ratepayers.

Trump signed an executive order in March ordering the EPA to review the CPP and other environmental regulations.

From Bloomberg:The Environmental Protection Agency won’t prescribe an immediate replacement to the plan, and instead will soon ask the public to comment on whether — and how — to curb carbon-dioxide emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, according to a draft of the proposed rule and other government documents.

The proposal, set to be unveiled in coming days, is a first step to delivering on President Donald Trump’s promise to rip up the Clean Power Plan, which served as the cornerstone of Obama’s climate change agenda. Trump moved to pull the U.S. out of the global Paris climate accord, and in the past he has dismissed global warming as a hoax.

Obama’s initiative was designed to cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Because of legal challenges, it never actually took effect. The U.S. Supreme Court put it on hold in February 2016.Repealing this regulation was one of the campaign promises made by Trump as a candidate.

A study by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) found that Arkansans would face an average annual electricity price increase of 20 percent resulting from utility companies’ increased compliance costs under the regulation.

These costs would be in exchange for relatively non-existent environmental benefits. According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the CPP would potentially reduce global temperatures by .03 degrees (in other words, about one-thirtieth of one degree) by 2100.

All in all, this news is another good sign that Trump is serious about removing burdensome federal regulations that harm average Americans.
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Caleb Taylor writes for The Arkansas Project an outreach of the Advance Arkansas Institute.

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Trump, Paul Forge Alliance on ‘Biggest Free-Market Reform of Health Care in Generation’

President Trump hands pen to Senator Rand Paul

by Fred Lucas: Unable so far to achieve even a partial rollback of Obamacare from Congress, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that could make it easier for some consumers to buy insurance across state lines—potentially increasing competition.

“Insurance companies will be fighting to get every single person signed up … and you’ll get such low prices,” @POTUS says.

“The competition will be staggering,” Trump said before signing the order. “Insurance companies will be fighting to get every single person signed up, and you will be hopefully negotiating, negotiating, negotiating, and you’ll get such low prices for such great care.”

“Should have been done a long time ago, and it could have been done a long time ago,” he said.

Trump’s executive order primarily does three things:

• Allows more small businesses to form associations to buy insurance plans, with the goal of creating more competition and expanding options across state lines.
• Reviews establishment of “short-term limited duration insurance,” which would not be subject to Obamacare’s expensive and comprehensive coverage regulations.
• Makes it easier for businesses to offer health reimbursement accounts, to allow more employees of small businesses to get coverage through work.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who opposed the recent Graham-Cassidy measure in the Senate to roll back Obamacare, heralded the executive order during the White House ceremony.

“President Trump is doing what I believe is the biggest free-market reform of health care in a generation. This reform, if it works and goes as planned, will allow millions of people to get insurance across state lines at an inexpensive price,” Paul said, speaking before the president did.

Trump, during his remarks, acknowledged the significance of the support from Paul, with whom he sparred during the 2016 Republican presidential primary season.

“I can say, when you get Rand Paul on your side, it has to be positive, that I can tell you. Boy,” Trump said to laughter and applause. “I was just saying as he’s getting up and saying all these wonderful things about what we’re going to be announcing, I said, ‘Boy, that’s pretty unusual. I’m very impressed.’”

Trump nearly walked away after his remarks before Vice President Mike Pence reminded him he still had to sign the order. After signing it, Trump gave the pen to Paul.

Trump did take a veiled swipe at congressional inaction on dismantling Obamacare when he noted: “For a long period of time since I’ve started running and since I became president of the United States, I just keep hearing ‘Repeal and replace, repeal and replace.’ Well, we’re starting that process, and we’re starting it in a very positive manner.”

After two tries, the House passed a measure to replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, but the Senate failed twice to get legislation to a conference committee after a few Republican defections—one of whom was Paul the last time.

“He is trying to give relief to Americans, through small group coverage, who are looking at horrendous premium increases,” Robert Moffit, a senior fellow in health policy at The Heritage Foundation and a former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, said.

“There has to be an option for people that don’t get subsidies or we will see a reversal in the gains from Obamacare,” Moffit said. “There will be more uninsured.”

The Senate first tried to passed a “skinny repeal” of Obamacare that failed in a floor vote after three Republican defections: Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

A subsequent bill sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., focused on block-granting health care dollars to the states but never made it to a floor vote after Collins, McCain, and Paul all came out against it. By that point, Murkowski had said that she disliked the process.

“You look at what’s happening with the premiums and the increases of 100 percent and 120 percent, and even in one case, Alaska, over 200 percent and now, every congressional Democrat has blocked the effort to save Americans from Obamacare, along with a very small, frankly, handful of Republicans—three,” Trump said, adding:

Premiums have gone skyrocketing, [and] today, one-third of all the counties in America have only a single insurer selling coverage on an exchange, and next year it looks like nearly half of all counties in our country—think of that—all of the counties, one half will have only one insurer, and many will have none.----------------
Fred Lucas (@FredLucasWH) is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal.

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Unemployment Claims Fall To Lowest Level In 43 Years, Despite Hurricanes

WASHINGTON EXAMINER — The total number of laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits fell to 1.89 million at the end of September, the Department of Labor reported Thursday, the lowest such mark in nearly 44 years.

And new claims for unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to 243,000 in the first full week of October, according to the agency, as the job market bounces back from hurricane damage even faster than forecasters expected.

Low new jobless claims are a good sign. They indicate that layoffs are rare, and accordingly that job creation is strong. ... (read more)

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Respect, Lying Media & Politicians, SPLC vs. VVS

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Respect - The left likes to portray President Trump as an ignorant buffoon. It did the same thing to Ronald Reagan, who was often derided as "an amiable dunce." But at the end of the day, what matters most is not whether people like you, but whether they respect you.

In spite of all the negative press here at home and all the late night jokes, it seems many countries are coming to respect America more because they realize we have a serious leader in the White House.

The latest example came yesterday when Caitlin Coleman, her husband, Josh Boyle, and their children were rescued from the Taliban by Pakistani special forces. They had been held as hostages since 2012.

During a speech yesterday in Pennsylvania, President Trump said this:

"Something happened today where a country that totally disrespected us called with some very, very important news. And one of my generals came in, they said, 'You know, I have to tell you, a year ago they would have never done that.' . . .

"You'll probably be hearing about it over the next few days. But this is a country that did not respect us. This is a country that respects us now. The world is starting to respect us again."

You may recall that several weeks ago, President Trump announced a new strategy for Afghanistan. A major part of his address, largely overlooked by the media, was the president's call for new approach to Pakistan. President Trump said, "It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order, and to peace."

Yesterday's rescue of American hostages is a good start.

Lying Media - NBC News reported yesterday that President Trump this summer demanded "what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal." Top officials in the room "were surprised" by this demand. NBC supposedly got this information from "three officials who were in the room."

President Trump blasted the NBC report as "Pure fiction made up to demean," to make him look like a warmongering idiot. At a press conference yesterday, President Trump said, "Right now, we have so many nuclear weapons. I want them in perfect condition, perfect shape. That's the only thing I've ever discussed."

Secretary of Defense James Mattis also condemned the NBC report as "absolutely false," "erroneous" and "irresponsible."

Chief of Staff John Kelly told the White House press corps this afternoon that the president has said repeatedly that it would be wonderful if the world could get rid of nuclear weapons.

By the way, Kelly also denied fake news reports that he was frustrated in his job and about to be fired. He aid that what frustrated him most was reading the fake news. "It is astounding to me how much is misreported," he said. Kelly also told reporters to "develop some better sources."

I am a staunch proponent of the First Amendment and free speech. But big media should be held accountable.

Who were these sources -- the three officials in the room? Did they even exist? The so-called "journalists" who produced this report have an obligation to defend their reporting or NBC should fire them.

Not a week goes by without major media outlets publishing totally false information. There has to be some accountability somewhere.

Let me remind you that when former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, he said, "There have been many, many stories . . . about Russia that are dead wrong"

The president has every right to criticize the left-wing fake news media when they lie about him and try to make him look like an idiot. Sadly, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) is attacking Trump for fighting back!

What is wrong with these GOP politicians? Apparently, they have learned nothing from the 2016 elections. Donald Trump defeated 16 of them and Hillary Clinton because conservative voters wanted a fighter!

We are sick and tired of weak-kneed politicians who care more about what media elites say about them than they do about actually advancing conservative values!

Lying Politicians - A major left-wing talking point on the president's tax reform plan is that Republicans are lowering taxes on the rich while raising taxes on the poor. Their argument goes like this: Trump's plan calls for lowering the top tax rate from 39.6% to 35% while increasing the bottom rate from 10% to 12%.

Here's why this is false. The top marginal rate has not yet been determined. The president has said he is willing to keep a high top tax rate. On the lower rate, Chuck Schumer and other progressives are counting on average Americans not getting into the details.

The first rate in the tax code is in fact a zero rate. Due to the personal exemption, an individual pays no tax on the first $6,000 of income and a married couple pays no tax on the first $12,000 of income. President Trump wants to double that. So he is dramatically expanding the zero rate.

The left is suggesting that lower income people will be paying more under Trump's plan, but that is simply a lie and they know it.

Know Your Base - As I wrote yesterday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is like a scrambling quarterback right now, desperately trying to avoid being tackled. He allowed the Kaepernick protests to fester for over a year and he appeared oblivious to the outrage of fans.

Now he's written a memo that appears to favor requiring players to stand for the national anthem. But I sincerely doubt he has the courage to tell the players that they will face fines unless they stand. We will have to see how this plays out.

But here's the bottom line: Donald Trump knew the fan base of the NFL better than the commissioner of the NFL -- just like he knew the base of the Republican Party better than the professional consultants and politicians who run the Republican Party. Trump really deserves the title "Billionaire Populist."

SPLC vs. VVS - The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) attacked the Values Voter Summit today in a full page Washington Post ad. In fact, the SPLC has an entire website devoted to smearing the Summit and its co-sponsors, including yours truly.

Why? Because we believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman. We believe that children should not be introduced to "alternative lifestyles" in the schools at inappropriate ages. We don't think we should be importing bigotry into America and we believe that hateful Islamic supremacists should be kept out of the country.

The SPLC specifically highlighted this quote from one of my September 2015 End of Day reports: "If the United States is going to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees, they should be Christians and we should make no apologies for that."

Well, I'm not apologizing. The SPLC is a left-wing hate group that is bigoted against Christians and traditional American values. It has also had a rash of bad publicity lately. (Here, here and here.) Not surprisingly, the FBI and the Pentagon have severed ties with the radical group.​

​Chag Same'ach - Carol and I wish all of our Jewish friends and supporters celebrating Simchat Torah a happy and joyous holiday!
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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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