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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Friday, May 04, 2018
President Trump Should “Just Say No” to Mueller’s Absurd Questions
Robert Mueller
by Newt Gingrich: President Trump should adopt Nancy Reagan’s famous slogan in his current fight with Robert Mueller. When asked to testify, Trump should “just say no.”
Based on the April 30, 2018, New York Times story “The Questions Mueller Wants to Ask Trump About Obstruction, and What They Mean” by Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt, many of the questions Mueller wants to ask President Trump are absurd. They are clearly a trap to establish a case for obstruction of justice or perjury.
Virtually no American could answer these questions with any certainty of detail. Consider this one: “What did you think about Mr. Comey’s intelligence briefing on Jan. 6, 2017, about Russian election interference?”
President Trump has spent more than 400 days in office, and Mueller would like him to accurately recall his thoughts about a particular meeting on a particular day. Remember, this is not a casual conversation. This is a criminal investigation seeking to use the full force of law to lock people up – just ask former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn or Vice President Cheney’s former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, who was trapped into perjuring himself during the Valerie Plame case.
You can be sure, Mueller will have interviewed everyone he could find who heard the President react to that meting 16 months ago. Mueller will have transcripts of everything President Trump has said and tweeted about that meeting. He will have the endless interviews with Comey. Mueller will then listen to the President and use any error of memory or effort to embellish to manufacture an obstruction or perjury charge.
Ask yourself: Could you reliably remember every detail of a meeting you had at a particular time 16 months ago – and the totality of your reactions to it?
Why would we think that a president who is currently handling North Korea, Iran, China, Russia, Syria, tax cuts, health care reform, state visits, and other presidential duties is going to have the ability (or the time) to remember with absolute clarity and accuracy what happened 16 months ago?
Mueller expands the absurdity with his follow-on question: “What was your reaction to Mr. Comey’s briefing that day about other intelligence matters?”
Consider how many intelligence briefings President Trump has viewed since then. Consider how many different conversations the President has had with a wide range of people about the so-called Steele Dossier (reportedly the topic of that meeting). Again, Mueller will have interviewed people, recorded their versions, and will be prepared to measure the President’s memory against any slippage, error, or misstatement.
Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who has written extensively and wisely on this case, warned in a recent column that “the rules of the game are that Democrats get away with murder while Republicans get murdered.” McCarthy was comparing the treatment of the Obama campaign’s Federal Election Commission violations with what is being done to the Trump campaign. His analysis also applies to the effort to protect Hillary Clinton (no matter how many clear criminal actions she and her team have committed) with the elaborate effort to take down Trump – no matter how often the Left’s conspiracy theories fall apart.
Alan Dershowitz, a distinguished Harvard law professor and civil libertarian, has warned about prosecutors with a wide net who seek to entrap people: “It was Lavrentiy Beria who told Stalin, ‘show me the man, and I’ll find your crime.’ You can go through the federal criminal code and find crimes that virtually any businessman, any politician has committed,” Dershowitz stated on MSNBC.
Dershowitz also warned, “I do not trust the government. I do not trust judges. I do not trust prosecutors when they are zealously seeking to go after a particular target, in this case Donald Trump. Nobody would have been going after Michael Cohen if he weren’t Donald Trump’s lawyer. That’s the reality.”
McCarthy made the case for Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” strategy in a column earlier this week, asserting that, “Trump would be foolish to answer questions from Mueller, who has made a habit of turning witness interviews into false-statements prosecutions. More important, absent concrete evidence of his complicity in a serious crime, a president should not be put in the position of being pressured to answer a prosecutor’s questions. When Trump complains that the Obama Justice Department would never have permitted President Obama to be treated this way, he is right…
“Unless Mueller can demonstrate that a serious crime has been committed, that Trump was complicit in it, and that Trump is in possession of evidence that is essential to the prosecution, Rosenstein should bar him from seeking an interview, let alone issuing a subpoena demanding grand-jury testimony. This is not merely about protecting Trump; it is about protecting the office of the presidency.”
Earlier in the piece, McCarthy pointed out that the questions Mueller reportedly wants to ask the President indicate that there is no evidence of a crime and that Mueller is just wanting to “probe the chief executive’s motives and thought processes regarding exercises of presidential power that were lawful…”
He noted, “If Bob Mueller wants that kind of control over the executive branch, he should run for president. Otherwise, he is an inferior executive official who has been given a limited license — ultimately, by the chief executive — to investigate crime. If he doesn’t have an obvious crime, he has no business inventing one, much less probing his superior’s judgment. He should stand down.”
In an echo of Dershowitz’s reference to Stalin-era prosecutions, McCarthy warns: “The criminal law inquires into intent when actions patently violate criminal statutes; its purpose is not to manufacture crime by speculating about the intent behind apparently lawful actions.”
The patterns that McCarthy and Dershowitz describe are beginning to be more apparent. For example, a federal judge has accused Mueller’s team of using the case against Paul Manafort to target the President. According to Fox News, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, told Mueller’s team, “You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort… You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump and an impeachment, or whatever.”
Judge Ellis has questioned Mueller’s authority to prosecute Manafort on a number of charges related to an earlier DOJ probe. He ordered Mueller to supply an unredacted document detailing the scope of Mueller’s investigation – the same document the DOJ has previously declined to supply to House Republicans.
It is exactly this pattern of prosecutorial targeting which led former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to tell the Daily Beast, “Anybody who says that I’m exaggerating when I say that this is an out-of-control investigation and they’re acting like storm troopers––give me a break, baby! They prove it every day.”
“I contend the only crimes committed so far in this investigation are the ones they committed, the government committed.”
A close friend, who is a great litigator, suggested to me that President Trump should end the speculation with this statement:
“My lawyers tell me this is a farce, and when you see the proposed questions, you can see they are. So, I am not going to spend any time on it, and I am not going to answer their silly questions. I’ll leave it all up to the lawyers to give you the legalese, and I am sure there will be plenty. But, that’s for them. I have a great country to lead. So, just talk to them.”
“Just say no” is the only plausible answer to the Mueller fishing expedition.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein must finally do his job and stop Mueller from seeking to subpoena the President or take him before a grand jury. Mueller is only as outrageous and out of control as Rosenstein tolerates. So, Rosenstein also has to learn from Nancy Reagan and just say no to Mueller’s power grab, too.
---------------------- 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. Tags:Newt Gingrich, commentary, President Trump, Should “Just Say No”, Mueller’s Absurd QuestionsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
The Kanye Effect: Trump's Support Among Black Males Doubles
by Stephen Kruiser: The late, great Andrew Breitbart was forever trying to get conservatives to understand that "politics is downstream from culture." As someone who has been involved in both the entertainment industry and conservative politics my entire adult life, I can attest to the fact that it's not an easy idea to sell to many on the right.
We now have a fresh exhibit to help everyone understand a little better:
The Wrap reports that a new Reuters poll shows that support for President Trump among African-American men "doubled from 11 percent, for the week ending April 22, to 22 percent, for the week ending April 29." The poll also notes that this is the high-water mark for Trump in this survey so far this year.
Yes, the numbers are small, but doubling up is better than doubling down.
What is most remarkable about this "Kanye Effect" is the fact that the left has been working overtime to discredit him for not only speaking against leftist orthodoxy, but remaining unapologetic about it.
The MSM went nuts "reporting" on which celebrities unfollowed Kanye on Twitter, as if that blatantly obvious attempt to publicly shame him would work.
Having failed with that weak approach, the left sent the hive-mind late-night hosts after Kanye.
This perfectly encapsulates why the American left is so terrified of anyone deviating from its script. Freedom of thought and expression are anathema to the groupthink leftists and the collective has no place for individuals.
That's something worth remembering every time they go on and on about the celebration of diversity.
Something else important to note is that this is being reported on a mainstream Hollywood industry site and not being relegated to just a few center-right blogs.
If just one political mind can be saved...
---------------------- Stephen Kruiser is a professional comedian and writer who has also been a conservative political activist for over two decades. A co-founder of the first Los Angeles Tea Party, Kruiser often speaks to grassroots groups around America and has had the great honor of traveling around the world entertaining U.S. troops. He contributes to PJ Media. Tags:Stephen Kruiser, PJMedia, 2018, Kanye West, President Trump, Kanye Effect, Trump's Support, Black Males, DoublesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Standing With Israel, Fake News, Left-wing Hate, Good News
Gary Bauer
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Standing With Israel - It's been a busy week, my friends! I was at the White House twice this week, and this morning I was honored to attend a Christian solidarity event at the Israeli Embassy. I joined hundreds of Christian leaders demonstrating our support for the Jewish state.
We were there at the invitation of Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer. If you have never seen Ambassador Dermer defending Israel on TV, you are really missing out. He is exactly the fearless, unapologetic advocate that Israel needs right now.
The Jewish state is making headlines as it prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel. Of course, Christians know that Jews have a connection to the land of Judea and Samaria that dates back thousands of years.
I am pleased to report that after eight years of the most anti-Israel administration in America's history, today we have the most pro-Israel administration in America's history! The Trump/Pence team stands 100%, shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.
Donald Trump has demonstrated his commitment to Israel by keeping a promise every recent president has made but broken -- the U.S. Embassy is moving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem this month!
My friends, the U.S.-Israeli alliance has never been stronger -- and never more necessary. The threats to Israel's existence are growing by the day. As Prime Minister Netanyahu's dramatic address demonstrated, as the attempted drone attack from Syria proves, as the ayatollah's vitriolic rhetoric confirms -- the Islamic Republic of Iran means to annihilate Israel.
Please join me in praying for the peace of Jerusalem.
Fake News - Yesterday, NBC News reported that two reliable government sources, whom NBC has relied on before, told them that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had wiretapped Michael Cohen phones and at least one call from the White House had been intercepted.
For hours, there were streaming headlines about the White House being "in chaos," "scrambling" and "under fire." Some people blamed these reports for a 400 point drop in the stock market early in the day.
Hours later, however, NBC issued a retraction. The phone calls were not tapped. Instead, a pen log was kept of calls going into and out of Cohen's phones in real time. In other words, Mueller knew who Cohen was calling and who was calling Cohen. But he did not have a recording or transcript of what was said on any calls.
Yesterday's report is reminiscent of a dozen similar fake news stories on Russia. And that's why so many Americans don't trust the liberal media.
The Prosecutor vs. The President - As you know, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is acting more like a grand inquisitor these days, wants to force President Trump to testify before his team of Clinton lawyers. Mueller is even threatening to subpoena the president if he does not comply. Can he do that?
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy discussed this issue on Fox News this morning. He said Mueller can try to subpoena anyone he wants. But there is a bar that must be met in any situation.
When it comes to the president of the United States, that bar is extraordinarily high. And Mueller would have to justify it to his bosses at the Department of Justice, which would be Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Here's what McCarthy said:
"They should not, at the Justice Department, allow Mueller to even request an interview [with the president] unless they can show that there is a serious crime, that President Trump is somehow complicit it in it, and that President Trump has information that the special counsel can't get from any other source. If they can't show those things, the Justice Department should not allow Mueller to even request an interview."
If Mueller tries to subpoena the president, Trump could invoke executive privilege. Now we're in the courts, and the president's fate could depend on what side of the bed Justice Kennedy gets up on.
By the way, Mueller's legal team ran into a buzzsaw this morning. Judge T.S. Ellis seemed extremely skeptical of Mueller's authority to prosecute Paul Manafort, suggesting that the special prosecutor was really just trying to damage President Trump.
Left-wing Hate - It's no secret that the gods of Silicon Valley are trying to silence conservatives. Remember how Diamond and Silk, the pro-Trump sisters, were kicked off Facebook?
Twitter is routinely accused of shutting down conservative accounts, and Google censored Dennis Prager's conservative videos because it didn't like the subject matter.
That's why I recently joined dozens of conservative leaders in a public statement calling on the tech giants to prove their commitment to tolerance by respecting the free speech rights of millions of Americans who may not necessarily think like they do.
Well, here's the latest example of Big Tech's bias against conservatives.
Amazon recently launched a new program called AmazonSmile. It allows users to donate a portion of their purchases to a non-profit organization. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), however, was banned from the list of participating charities in AmazonSmile.
Why? Here we go again. . . Amazon relies on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to identify so-called "hate groups."
The SPLC is a left-wing hate group! It hates conservatives, and it is has smeared pro-life, pro-family, Christian groups for years as if they were the equivalent of the KKK.
The ADF is one of the finest Christian legal groups in the country. It is one of the top litigators on matters of religious liberty. Would the Supreme Court really allow a "hate group" to regularly argue cases before the justices? I don't think so.
And Amazon shouldn't be taking directions from one.
Good News -
Unemployment fell to 3.9%, the lowest level in nearly 18 years. Black and Hispanic unemployment are at record lows.
The Associated Press acknowledges President Trump is right -- liberal judges are biased against him.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell says confirming conservative judges is a top priority.
President Trump recently ordered a review of federal education policy seeking to root out "overreach by the federal government"
------------------- Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Standing With Israel, Fake News, Left-wing Hate, Good NewsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Daniel Greenfield: It's not unmixed good news, but it's striking how little credit this administration gets for a massive recovery.
Every time the stock market went up, the media began hailing Obama and claiming that the bad times were over. Now we're seeing real benefits on the ground.Nation’s jobless rate drops under 4 percent for first time since 2000
The nation’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since late 2000, as the Labor Department reported Friday that businesses added 164,000 jobs in April, bringing the jobless rate down to 3.9 percent, and setting a new record low for unemployment among African-Americans.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in April, an 18-year low... A more encompassing measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons fell to 7.8 percent, the lowest since July 2001. Unemployment for blacks fell to a fresh record-low of 6.6 percent, down 0.3 percent.That's the real uneployment rate. And the record for black unemployment is even more striking.Black unemployment fell to 6.6 percent in April, the lowest in data dating back to 1972, while the jobless rate among Hispanics dipped to 4.8 percent, matching the lowest on record, Labor Department figures showed Friday.That's quite a racist administration. And a good financial overview.U.S. stocks logged their biggest advance in a week as investors reacted to an April U.S. jobs report that showed an 18-year low in the unemployment rate.
The S&P 500 Index moved higher, led by technology and consumer shares. The dollar resumed its climb and Treasuries fell Treasuries as the market also assessed the impact of America’s trade talks with China.If this were Obama, you know what the coverage would look like. Instead all the media wants to talk about is Stormy Daniels.
-------------- Daniel Greenfield is Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a New York writer focuses on Islamic terrorism and the radical left. David Horowitz is a Contributing Author of the ARRA News Service Tags:Daniel Greenfield, FrontPage Mag, Under Trump, Black Unemployment, Lowest Since 1972To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Democrats' Dangerous Case of Trump Derangement Syndrome
Michael Barone
by Michael Barone: Isaac Newton's third law of motion states that for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It can operate in politics, too. For example, Harvard law professor Jack Goldsmith recently wrote, "It is part of Trump's evil genius that he elevates himself by inducing his critics to behave like him."
Call it Trump derangement syndrome, and recognize it for what it is: something that could end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for the Democratic Party once again in 2018 and 2020.
Signs of that possibility are apparent in the polls. President Donald Trump's job approval has remained low, by historical standards, but it has also remained pretty steady -- and has been rising, just a bit, in recent weeks.
The standard pattern has been for presidents to start off their term with high honeymoon ratings and then sag somewhat in their second year unless buoyed (as both Bushes were) by perceived foreign policy successes.
What we saw in the midterm elections of 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2014 was the opposition party's winning majorities in both houses of Congress, except for the Senate in 2010.
Trump's trajectory has been different. After his controversial campaign, his barbed tweets and the revelation of the Hillary Clinton campaign-financed Steele dossier, he was never in honeymoon territory. His average job approval rating in the RealClearPolitics average never topped 46 percent -- the same percentage he won in the popular vote against Clinton.
In succeeding months, his numbers oscillated within a narrow range and often with no discernible (to the press, anyway) connection with events. As in the 2016 campaign, stories that would have hurt other politicians (Stormy Daniels, anyone?) seemed to have been priced in on attitudes toward Trump. You loved him or hated him -- and kept on doing so.
His recent upswing has his approval at 43.5 percent -- well below 50 percent but far higher than the 35 percent George W. Bush had before the Republicans' thumping in 2006.
Perhaps this reflects the economic upswing since the Republican tax bill passed in December. Perhaps it reflects presidential initiatives on Korea, Iran and China or the respect shown to him by the leaders of France, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany and others. He may be uncouth, some may think, but he's getting results.
And perhaps it reflects the Democrats' Trump derangement syndrome.
You had the spectacle of Bernie Sanders and 41 Democrats, including every Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on the Senate floor opposing Trump's nominee for secretary of state -- a nominee, Mike Pompeo, whose confirmation as CIA director some of them had voted for and who had been getting good marks at Langley.
That's as unprecedented as Trump's insulting tweets -- and less fact-based than many. Some Democrats complained about Pompeo's stances on gay issues. But they're the party that blocked for seven months the nomination of a gay ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell.
Another spectacle of Trump derangement syndrome was last Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, where a comedian's vitriolic monologue and mean-spirited attacks on Trump's press secretary validated his decisions this year and last not to attend. The event only further undermined the credibility of the anti-Trump press.
Its credibility may be further reduced if, as seems likely, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation ends with no finding of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Much of the press, notably CNN, has treated the collusion story as a second Watergate, and many Democrats amuse their friends with little quips assuming Trump administration policy is set in Moscow. Not very funny anymore.
The collusion that seems more likely to have occurred is between Obama administration intelligence and law enforcement personnel and the news media to push the Russian collusion story largely or solely on the evidence of the Steele dossier.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer try to hush candidates baying for impeachment to meet the demands of party megadonor Tom Steyer and the majority of Democratic voters.
And they try to tilt local Democratic primaries toward candidates with military or law enforcement backgrounds and against "Resistance" types visibly afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome.
Looking ahead, it's possible that Republicans in 2018 and Donald Trump in 2020 could win based on solid achievements. But their chances will be aided if Democrats can't shake off their bad case of Trump derangement syndrome.
Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
-------------- Michael Barone is a Senior Political Analyst for the Washington Examiner and a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel and Washington Examiner contributor and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics. Tags:Michael Barone, editorial, Democrats' Dangerous Case, Trump Derangement SyndromeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Patrick Buchanan: If Donald Trump does not wish to collaborate in the destruction of his presidency, he will refuse to be questioned by the FBI, or by a grand jury, or by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his malevolent minions.
Should Mueller subpoena him, as he has threatened to do, Trump should ignore the subpoena, and frame it for viewing in Trump Tower.
If Mueller goes to the Supreme Court and wins an order for Trump to comply and testify to a grand jury, Trump should defy the court.
The only institution that is empowered to prosecute a president is Congress. If charges against Trump are to be brought, this is the arena, this is the forum, where the battle should be fought and the fate and future of the Trump presidency decided.
The goal of Mueller’s prosecutors is to take down Trump on the cheap. If they can get him behind closed doors and make him respond in detail to questions — to which they already know the answers — any misstep by Trump could be converted into a perjury charge.
Trump has to score 100 on a test to which Mueller’s team has all the answers in advance while Trump must rely upon memory.
Why take this risk?
By now, witnesses have testified in ways that contradict what Trump has said. This, plus Trump’s impulsiveness, propensity to exaggerate, and often rash responses to hostile questions, would make him easy prey for the perjury traps prosecutors set up when they cannot convict their targets on the evidence.
Mueller and his team are the ones who need this interrogation.
For, after almost two years, their Russiagate investigation has produced no conclusive proof of the foundational charge — that Trump’s team colluded with Vladimir Putin’s Russia to hack and thieve the emails of the Clinton campaign and DNC.
Having failed, Mueller & Co. now seek to prove that, even if Trump did not collude with the Russians, he interfered with their investigation.
How did Trump obstruct justice?
Did he suggest that fired NSC Advisor Gen. Mike Flynn might get a pardon? What was his motive in firing FBI Director James Comey? Did Trump edit the Air Force One explanation of the meeting in June 2016 between his campaign officials and Russians? Did he pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Mueller?
Mueller’s problem: These questions and more have all been aired and argued endlessly in the public square. Yet no national consensus has formed that Trump committed an offense to justify his removal. Even Democrats are backing away from talk of impeachment.
Trump’s lawyers should tell Mueller to wrap up his work, as Trump will not be testifying, no matter what subpoena he draws up, or what the courts say he must do. And if Congress threatens impeachment for defying a court order, Trump should tell them: Impeach me and be damned.
Will a new Congress impeach and convict an elected president?
An impeachment battle would become a titanic struggle between a capital that detests Trump and a vast slice of Middle America that voted to repudiate that capital’s elite, trusts Trump, and will stand by him to the end.
And in any impeachment debate before Congress and the cameras of the world, not one but two narratives will be heard.
The first is that Trump colluded with the Russians to defeat Hillary Clinton and then sought to obstruct an investigation of his collusion.
The second is the story of how an FBI cabal went into the tank on an investigation of Clinton to save her campaign. Then it used the product of a Clinton-DNC dirt-diving operation, created by a British spy with Russian contacts, to attempt to destroy the Trump candidacy. Now, failing that, it’s looking to overthrow the elected president of the United States.
In short, the second narrative is that the “deep state” and its media auxiliaries are colluding to overturn the results of the 2016 election.
Unlike Watergate, with Russiagate, the investigators will be on trial as well.
Trump needs to shift the struggle out of the legal arena, where Mueller and his men have superior weapons, and into the political arena, where he can bring his populous forces to bear in the decision as to his fate.
This is the terrain on which Trump can win — an us-vs-them fight, before Congress and country, where not only the alleged crimes of Trump are aired but also the actual crimes committed to destroy him and to overturn his victory.
Trump is a nationalist who puts America first both in trade and securing her frontiers against an historic invasion from the South. If he is overthrown, and the agenda for which America voted is trashed as well, it may be Middle America in the streets this time.
-------------------- 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. Tags:Patrick Buchanan, conservative, commentary, Memo to Trump, Defy MuellerTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
. . . Kanye West and Candace Owens appear to be free from the crippling liberal chains that bind many in the black community and the groupthink that comes with it.
Tags:Editorial Cartoon, AF Branco, Kanye West, Candace Owens, free thinking, unchanedTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by James Burgess: The age of the electric vehicle (EV) will be here sooner than you think.
Out of 1 billion cars in the world, only 2 million are electric. But that will soon change, as costs diminish, and more governments encourage the adoption of EVs to cut carbon emissions and fight urban pollution.
According to Bloomberg, by 2040, 54 percent of all new car sales will be for EVs. Millions of new EVs will take a big bite out of oil demand and displace 8 million barrels of transport fuel (gasoline and diesel) every day.
But the biggest factor in the EV surge is what’s under the hood…lithium ion batteries.
Bloomberg estimates that in the late 2020s, cheap battery technology will allow EV production to skyrocket.
The key is lithium, “white petroleum,” which is quickly becoming the world’s most sought-after mineral.
Jonathan More of lithium miner Power Metals Corp. calls it the largest commodity boom “in a generation.” The world is going to need “mountains of lithium, from all over the world, to satisfy the global hunger for batteries.”
A lot of those lithium batteries will be needed for EVs: in fact, major oil companies like Total SA have estimated that 20 million EVs will be on the road by 2030, and they’ll need enough batteries to power 200 million cell phones. That’s 1.2 million tons, six times current production levels.
With future demand like that, it’s no wonder that miners like Power Metals are so bullish. With a 15,000m drilling program about to get underway on 3000 hectares, Power Metals is at the center of the Canadian lithium belt that could contain as much as 7.5 million tons of lithium.
Forget oil and gas; the future of energy belongs to lithium.
“Carpocalypse Now”
When EVs first started to roll off assembly lines, plenty of skeptics scoffed. EV sales were tiny and concentrated on the luxury car market.
In March 2018, more than 40,000 EVs were sold in Europe, a 41 percent increase from last year. Total sales for the year were up 37 percent from 2017. European auto-makers like Volvo want to concentrate on EVs, and plan on electric cars and trucks covering 50 percent of all sales by 2025.
The real juggernaut in the global EV market is China, where half of all EVs are currently in use. China will remain the chief EV market for the next 5-7 years, and demand is growing more quickly than expected.
Global EV sales are estimated to increase from 1.2 million in 2017 to 1.6 million in 2018 and 2 million in 2019. By 2025, some states have decreed that EVs must make up 15 percent of all new car sales.
The Boston Consulting Group released a report estimating that hybrids and EVS would cut the market share of internal combustion cars by 50 percent by 2030.
Whether you’re an EV skeptic or a Tesla super-fan, it’s impossible to deny that EVs are going to transform the international auto market…and trigger a massive increase in demand for lithium, the key ingredient in all EV batteries.
The White Gold
You can’t have EVs without lithium ion batteries. That’s why Tesla CEO Elon Musk built a “gigafactory” in the Nevada desert, where thousands of batteries are churned out every year.
The worldwide battery market was $5.1 billion in 2017, but it’s to expand rapidly and could reach $58.8 billion by 2024.
Batteries have gotten a lot cheaper to make, but it all hinges on securing an adequate supply of lithium.
New lithium deposits are being uncovered all the time. One asset, Paterson Lake in Ontario, contains thousands of tons of lithium spodumene locked away in “pegmatite,” hard-rock formations that are entirely different from the salt-brine lithium found in South America.
Power Metals Corp., which owns the Paterson Lake property, has launched an aggressive 15,000m drilling program. According to head geologist Dr. Julie Selway, the property contains a “staggering amount of pegmatite dykes” and a “huge potential of finding more lithium mineralization.”
Along with firms like Nemaska Lithium and Quantum Minerals Corp., Power Metals is at the forefront of Canada’s lithium boom.
Together with new production in South America, Australia and Europe, Canada will help feed the world’s lithium demand and facilitate the surge in EVs by the 2020s.
When EV demand began picking up in 2015, it triggered a bull market for lithium. Prices shot up as battery manufacturers started buying up all the lithium they could find.
Lithium prices remained strong in early 2018, and capital is flooding into lithium projects all over the world.
A lot of the money is coming from China, the world’s leading battery manufacturer. Capital is seeking out lithium properties in South America, as Chinese companies hope to secure lithium supplies to feed EV battery growth.
A Chinese investment group recently acquired Lithium X for $265 million, taking over that company’s Argentinian property at the center of South America’s “lithium triangle.”
Chile and Argentina are the world’s no. 2 and no. 3 lithium producers, and production in Argentina is expected to triple by 2019 to more than 15,000 metric tons per year.
So aggressive has the Chinese push into South American lithium been, the Chileans have started to push back, warning one Chinese firm away from attempting to buy one major lithium producer, worth $5 billion.
Money is flooding into the lithium sector. And lithium miners like Power Metals will need every penny to fuel surging battery demand.
Fueling the Fire According to one August 2017 analysis, the global lithium ion battery market could reach $93 billion by 2025, growing at a rate of 17 percent each year.
To feed that colossal demand, the world is going to need lithium. A lot of it.
Miners in Canada and South America will bear the burden. Power Metals could potentially turn Canada into a major lithium producer, and it’s not alone: other companies like Nemaska Lithium have also made big discoveries, riding them to billion-dollar valuations.
Battery manufacturers feeding the EV market will rely upon new sources of lithium production. The surge of investment into lithium mining could turn into a flood.
----------------- James Burgess is the Deputy Editor of Oilprice.com and authored this article contributed by James Stafford the publisher of OilPrice.com, the leading online energy news site, to the ARRA News Service. Tags:James Burgess, Oil Price, Electric CarsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Rick Manning: On May 2, the Daily Caller reported, “House Democrat Warns Trump Team: You’ll End Up ‘Sullied’ Like Ronny Jackson,” writing, “Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen warned on Wednesday that members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle will end up ‘sullied’ like former White House physician Adm. Ronny Jackson — if they stick with the president for long.”
On May 2, the Washington Examiner reported, “Ex-Trump aide Michael Caputo warns: Investigations espousing ‘punishment strategy’ to deter future Trump-like candidates, stating, “Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide, said that he doesn’t think anybody should work on a Republican campaign ever again, unless they are compensated for any legal fees that may come out of it. Speaking out Wednesday evening, Caputo also said he believes there is a ‘punishment strategy’ to ‘destroy’ Trump and deter any other billionaires in the future from thinking about running for president. Just out of an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, Caputo told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson he’s certain that federal investigators are fixated on collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Caputo said he firmly believes there was never any collusion. Caputo also griped about the crushing legal costs of being a witness in the Russia investigations. He excoriated the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday in his closing remarks, blaming the investigation for forcing his family out of their home due to mounting legal costs and death threats. He concluded the statement saying, ‘God damn you to hell.’”
On May 3, NBC News reported, “Feds tapped phones of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and caught one call with White House: NBC News,” stating, “Federal authorities wiretapped the phone lines of President Donald Trump’s long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen, NBC News reported Thursday. At least one call between Cohen’s phone and the White House was captured by the wiretap, according to the story.”
The NBC story was later retracted, with Fox News reporting, “Sources with knowledge of the proceedings told Fox News that investigators used a pen register, or dialed number recorder (DNR), on at least one of Cohen’s phones. A pen register records all numbers dialed from a given phone number, as well as the length of each call.”
To believe that the FBI went and got a court to violate the President’s attorney-client privilege via wiretap and did not record the contents of the wiretap, it seems like bull. It’s clearly an attempt to obscure the fallout of this egregious abuse of power, to cover up the fact that the President’s attorney was under surveillance. Either way, it’s surveillance of the President’s attorney.
Are you picking up a theme?
Support Donald Trump and you will be destroyed. It doesn’t matter if the public has ever heard your name, you will be targeted and driven into bankruptcy or worse. The crime? Supporting the President of the United States.
And it is all happening right before our eyes in plain sight.
It is no secret that Special Counsel Mueller is a heat seeking missile with only one goal – to take down the Trump presidency.
It is no secret that senior officials within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Obama Department of Justice similarly sought to undermine the Trump candidacy and subsequently the legitimacy of his presidency.
It is no secret that the Democrats with the aid of some key Senate Republicans have engaged in full blown obstruction of the President’s ability to staff his own Administration.
And now, anyone can read with their own eyes that the seek and destroy campaign goes beyond just the President and those closest to him, and aims at anyone who had the audacity to work in the Trump campaign, to large donors who support conservative causes, and even to those who dare to fight for traditional constitutional governance.
The message is clear. If you dare step outside the accepted socialist orthodoxy that pervades dominant thought in the United States, you will be silenced.
But they cannot silence the people, and ultimately that is the strength of America. Unfortunately, those who seek to destroy the President and anyone who dares to support him know this and that is what the campaign of intimidation is about.
On the Cohen wiretap, it is an obscene abuse of power for the Department of Justice to use wiretaps or pen registers or whatever on the phone of the President’s personal attorney in an apparent attempt to listen to an attorney/client privileged conversation(s). Whether at least one conversation between someone at the White House and the President’s attorney was recorded or even simply its metadata registered, this brazen judicial abuse should have civil libertarians apoplectic.
Of course, the reality is that the left can justify any action, no matter how egregious, in their effort to take down President Trump.
In the mid-terms, the people will decide if they want to reward those who are engaged in a silent coup, not just against Trump, but also against the very premises of our constitutional republic of innocence until proven guilty and the right to free speech and political activity. President Trump was elected in spite of the D.C. swamp, and threats from the swamp will do nothing but show the people who the real swamp creatures are. If the people want to maintain their freedoms, they better be taking names also.
It is clear to anyone who is paying attention that those who vowed before the election to impeach Trump if he won will stop at nothing to end or disable his presidency. We can no longer be shocked by this ongoing abuse of prosecutorial power, the only question is how long the American people will tolerate it.
------------------- Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government. Tags:Coup by Intimidation, The Swamp, Fights Back, Rick Manning, Americans for Limited GovernmentTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Seton Motley: Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio was once the next, newest Conservative Golden Boy…for about three seconds.
In the midst of the 2010 Tea Party-fueled revolution election, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was desperately trying to fend off conservative insurgent candidates. Who were looking to represent the GOP base – who have the audacity to expect the DC GOP to actually do the less government things upon which they always campaign.
Then-State House Speaker Rubio declared early for the Florida Senate seat. And after having been a state-level leading advocate for illegal alien amnesty – promised conservative and Tea Party leaders he had experienced an awakening. And that he was now on the side of the law-and-order angels on immigration policy.
It was largely this promise – that secured him widespread conservative support. And the malevolent neglect of McConnell. Who let Rubio languish for months – and then immediately endorsed squishier-than-Squish alleged Republican Charlie Crist the second Crist announced.
Rubio – who had initially been polling at a very meager five percent – won the primary over Crist, defeating the DC GOP Establishment. And then won the general. All thanks almost entirely to his conservative supporters – who backed him based largely on his immigration mea culpa promise.
But just about the first thing Rubio did after unpacking his boxes in his regal new Senate office – was screw everyone on illegal alien amnesty.
“Trump” is, of course, Donald Trump. The out-of-nowhere presidential candidate – who eventually won…based largely on his promise to stop illegal aliens from illegally entering the country.
And Rubio was blasting Trump – for promising the exact same thing Rubio his own self had promised to get elected.
Before screwing everyone on it, of course. Not so much with Rubio’s amnesty mea culpa, it would seem.
Since winning the reelection he promised he wouldn’t seek – Rubio has continued to be inordinately unhelpful to those of us who want less government.
Remember, it was conservatives who waded into the 2010 Florida election – against the DC GOP Establishment – to ensure Rubio won.
We are now deeper into the 2018 election. And Florida Democrat Senator Bill Nelson is up for reelection – and very vulnerably so.
Republicans have an excellent candidate – popular sitting governor Rick Scott – and an excellent opportunity to pick up a seat in a very swing (and trending poorly) state.
And where is our sitting GOP Senator on all of this?
In fact, Rubio took said second shot…in writing. He tried to do damage control – by dressing up his shot in allegedly conservative garb and publishing in a conservative publication. But a second shot it was, nevertheless.
In fact, Rubio is apparently less of a fan of the tax cut for which he voted – than No-Vote Florida Democrat Senator Nelson: “The Tax Foundation’s Scott Greenberg has noted that not only does Rubio believe the corporate rate cut was too aggressive, but also that Bill Nelson, Florida’s Democratic senator, has sounded more positive about the tax law’s deduction for pass-through income than other tax writers in his party.”
Even more election year assistance from Republican Rubio – for Democrat Nelson.
Of course, Rubio is on the tax reform law – nigh entirely incorrect.
Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) has an ongoing, rolling compilation page of all the very many benefits the tax law has delivered to workers. As of this writing: “522 companies (and counting) announce pay raises, bonuses, 401(k) match increases, expansions, and utility rate cuts.”
That’s a whole lot of benefits for a whole lot of workers. You know – the ones Rubio said didn’t overwhelmingly benefit.
And before we move on from this – the ATR list is only a compilation of direct worker benefits.
Anyone who understands very basic market economics knows the IN-direct benefits – will be even more fruitful and bountiful.
Anything private sector companies do with their money – helps the economy. Which helps workers – because it helps everyone.
I can’t find a link, but I remember Trump at one point saying he doesn’t just want everyone to have a job – he wants everyone to have multiple job offers. Which would mean a bidding war for each person’s services – which would mean much higher wages and much better benefits.
This only happens – when private companies keep more of their coin. And with it do all sorts of things – beyond just increasing existing employees’ wages and benefits.
Rubio decries things like stock buybacks. Which are really great for shareholders – including we tens of millions with retirement accounts.
But these buybacks – are companies reinvesting in themselves. To grow – and thus hire more people.
Thus getting us closer to Trump’s vision. Of each American getting to choose between multiple job offers. And thereby getting much better wages and benefits.
Oh: And of course another of the objectives of tax reform – was to make America a much more attractive place to do business. Which it indubitably does.
Which means businesses that aren’t doing business here – will start. And those that are – will expand.
All of which means more job offers. Again getting us closer to Trump’s vision.
Again benefiting workers.
Again sailing clearly over the head of Rubio.
Rubio remains, as always, so very helpful.
---------------- 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. Tags:Seton Motley, Marco Rubio, Perhaps, Least Helpful, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: Yesterday, jurors convicted former Arkansas State Senator Jon Woods on 15 felony counts consisting of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
Woods was at the center of a corrupt scheme to reward cronies at Ecclasia College and AmeriWorks with GIFs — state General Improvement Funds — in return for kickbacks. Former State Rep. Micah Neal, his co-conspirator, pleaded guilty more than a year ago. And last month, the former president of Ecclesia College, Oren Paris III, also admitted guilt.
Regular readers may remember Woods as the Senate author of Issue 3, placed on the 2014 ballot by legislators — along with a summary for voters to read that fibbed about “establishing term limits” and imposing a gift ban between lobbyists and legislators.
Enough voters were hoodwinked,* leading to the gutting of term limits (allowing a legislator to stay in the same seat for 16 years), the empowering of a legislature-appointed “Independent” Commission to bestow a 150 percent pay raise on legislators, and the enabling of legislators to eat every meal at the lobbyists’ trough.
Mr. Woods now faces as many as 20 years on each of 14 counts and ten more years on the money laundering conviction. Having experienced, in a previous life, the poor customer service in the federal prison system, I do not wish that on anyone.
But justice has been done.
More good news: the Arkansas Supreme Court has since ruled the entire corrupt GIF program unconstitutional . . . while Arkansas Term Limits closes in on completion of their petition drive to place a measure on this November’s ballot to restore the term limits stolen by Woods.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* The measure passed 52 to 48 percent at the ballot box.
---------------- 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. Tags:Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Arkansas, corruption, Jon Woods, Micah Neal, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Unemployment Rate Falls To 3.9 Percent As U.S. Economy Adds 164,000 Jobs
This year, the economy has added an average of 202,000
jobs each month. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
by Danielle Paquette: The U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent — the lowest point since 2000, federal economists reported Friday.
The average hourly wage rose by 2.6 percent year-over-year, maintaining a slow pace of growth, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
President Trump celebrated the news in a tweet.
JUST OUT: 3.9% Unemployment. 4% is Broken! In the meantime, WITCH HUNT!
For the past six months, the jobless rate had clung to 4.1 percent, the longest it had gone without budging since the late 1960s. (The record to beat: nine months.) The streak defied the expectations of economists, who said the nation's prolonged hiring blitz was bound to drive the figure down.
Women seemed to propel some of April's drop. The share of unemployed female job seekers sank to 3.5 percent last month, down from 3.8 percent in March. Other worker groups — men (3.7 percent), whites (3.6 percent), blacks (6.6 percent), Hispanics (4.8 percent) — showed little to no change.
Other government data suggest fewer people are facing layoffs: Initial claims for state unemployment benefits hit 211,000 during the last week of April, the lowest level since March 1973.
"It’s an exciting headline for the worker,” said Josh Wright, Chief Economist at iCIMS, a software company. “A real Goldilocks number, with job growth being great.”
But pay stayed flat, so the Federal Reserve won’t likely feel pressure to raise rates before June. In other words, Wright said, the markets should respond favorably.
“What we’re seeing here is steadiness,” he said.
Most of the April hiring happened in professional and business services, which grew by 54,000 jobs. Employment in manufacturing jumped by 24,000, mostly in the durable goods area. Health care added 24,000 positions and mining hopped by 7,000.
If the expansion further gains steam, analysts at the Fed said the unemployment rate could reach 3.7 percent this year, a figure not seen since 1969.
Economists say the tightening labor market should accelerate wage growth.
“The longer the economy burns hot, the more workers are in the driver's seat negotiating with companies,” said Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, a jobs site.
That should bring “not spectacular, but slowly building” raises as employers struggle to fill vacancies.
A demographic shift partly explains why employers are having trouble finding talent. Baby boomers, which today represent a third of the workforce, are retiring in droves, said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, an international consulting firm. Younger workers aren’t replacing them.
And although millennials constitute 35 percent of America’s workers, they’re more likely than previous generations to have attended college — and less likely to have picked up a trade at vocational school. They're less likely to take jobs in construction and manufacturing. (Employers in both sectors have turned to raises and high school recruiting to shrink their gaps.)
“We are in a demographically induced tight labor market,” Brusuelas said.
Companies across the country have already made adjustments to account for the dearth of applicants. More employers, including blue-collar firms, are offering larger bonuses (which do not show up in the government’s wage data). They’re ramping up on-the-job training, which economists say will play a larger role in the economy as technology advances.
----------------------- Danielle Paquette shared this Jobs Report on The Washington Post provided to the ARRA News Service. Tags:Unemployment Rate, Falls To 3.9 Percent, U.S. Economy, Adds 164,000 Jobs, Danielle Paquette, The Washington PostTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Please Like & Follow & Support Army Combat Vet John James . . .
. . . He Has Releases First Ad For His Michigan US Senate Campaign.
by Henry Rodgers: Michigan Republican Senate candidate and Army combat veteran John James released an ad Friday that begins with a clip of terrorists being obliterated by a missile from an Apache helicopter, which James used to pilot.
In James’ first television ad, obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation, the 37-year old Iraq War veteran and Detroit businessman explains why he is running for U.S. Senate while standing next to a U.S. Army Hellfire missile.
“Hunting terrorists in the skies above Baghdad, there are two things you need—faith in God, and a Hellfire missile, James said. I flew Apaches because I wanted to take the fight to the enemy. Now I’m volunteering for a new fight. To secure the borders, defend our Constitutional rights and protect Michigan jobs,” James continued. “I hate politics but I love this country.”
James’ name has continued to gain national attention after receiving a long list of endorsements for his efforts to defeat Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, who endorsed James days before President Donald Trump appointed him to serve. (RELATED EXCLUSIVE: John Bolton Endorses Michigan Army Veteran For US Senate)
The former Navy SEAL involved in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, Robert O’Neill, campaigned across the state with James in December, telling TheDCNF, “John represents the best America has to offer, his relevant experience graduating from West Point and serving in combat makes him just the person Michigan, and America, needs in the US Senate.” (RELATED: Navy SEAL Who Shot Bin Laden Hits The Gun Range With Michigan Senate Candidate [VIDEO])
As well as the long list of endorsements, James has also raised more than $2 million since announcing his candidacy in September.
James faces businessman Sandy Pensler in the Michigan GOP Primary, which will take place on Aug. 7, 2018.
Trump Initiative Protects Religious Rights, Faith Groups’ Equal Access to Federal Dollars
by Fred Lucas: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday focusing on protecting freedom of religion and exploring new ways faith-based agencies can partner with government to effectively provide services.
“We condemn all crimes against people of faith, and today we are launching another historic action to promote religious freedom,” Trump said at a National Day of Prayer ceremony in the Rose Garden before signing the executive order to create a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.
“The faith initiative will help design new policies that recognize the vital role of faith in our families, our communities, and our great country,” the president said. “This office will also help ensure that faith-based organizations have equal access to government funding and the equal right to exercise their deeply held beliefs.
“We take this step because we know that, in solving the many, many problems and our great challenges, faith is more powerful than government, and nothing is more powerful than God,” Trump continued.
The White House initiative will be made up of faith leaders and experts on charity and religious freedom from outside the government and will be led by the newly created position of adviser to the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.
It will make recommendations about providing services to the poor and to apprise the Trump administration of any executive branch failures to comply with religious liberty protections under law.
During his remarks in the Rose Garden, the president talked about the Rev. Billy Graham, the legendary evangelist who died earlier this year, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic civil rights hero assassinated 50 years ago in 1968.
“Today, we remember the words of Reverend Graham, ‘Prayer is the key that opens us to the treasures of God’s mercies and blessings,’” Trump said. “Always beautiful, and when he said it, it meant so much. When I say it, it means something, but I liked when he said it better. … I think he did that a little better than I do.”
Trump continued:
The prayers of religious believers helped gain our independence, and the prayers of religious leaders like the Reverend Martin Luther King—great man—helped win the long struggle for civil rights.
Faith has shaped our families, and it’s shaped our communities. It’s inspired our commitment to charity and our defense of liberty, and faith has forged the identity and the destiny of this great nation that we all love.Trump signed a religious freedom executive order last year at a similar Rose Garden event.
A Family Research Council analysis released Wednesday found the religious freedom executive order Trump issued in May 2017 allowed charities and other entities to provide up to 13.7 million people with health care and other social services, and enabled at least 44 schools that provide education for more than 148,000 students to continue operating.
“The announcement of President Trump’s faith initiative is further evidence that this administration is not only committed to protecting our first freedom, but in also acknowledging that our faith in God contributes to the guidance and well-being of our country,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a social conservative advocacy group.
“I look forward to working with the president to make sure the community of faith will be able to bring hope and help to people in the United States and around the globe,” he said in a statement.
However, Americans United for Separation of Church and State contends the executive order will instead trample on religious freedom.
“Our government should protect religious freedom, not use it as a sword to harm others,” Rachel Laser, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Our country is strongest when we are all free to believe, or not, as we see fit and to practice our faith without hurting others.”
Executive departments and agencies will designate a liaison to the White House faith initiative.
Similar initiatives were begun under the previous two administrations.
President George W. Bush established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. President Barack Obama continued with the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Both focused on charity. Trump’s version extends the focus to also protecting religious freedom.
The executive order on Thursday shows that Trump understands the benefit of the government partnering with faith-based groups, said Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, legal adviser for the Catholic Association, a group advocating the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
“The order also restates the government’s commitment to protect freedom of conscience and religious liberty by increasing oversight of federal programs,” Picciotti-Bayer said in a statement. “Everyday Americans respond to God’s call to serve, offering their time and talents to aid and assist their neighbors. People of all faiths, and those with no faith at all, find compassion and professionalism in the care they receive from groups motivated by faith.
“Today’s executive order hails their work—a wonderful product of the rich religious pluralism of our country,” she said.
---------------- Fred Lucas (@FredLucasWH) is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal. Tags:President Trump, Initiative, Protects Religious Rights, Faith Groups, Equal Access to Federal Dollars, Fred Lucas, The Daily SignalTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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