IMMIGRATION REFORM CORNERSTONE OF TRUMP'S SOTU SPEECH (MS-13)

IMMIGRATION REFORM CORNERSTONE OF TRUMP'S SOTU SPEECH (MS-13):

DEALING WITH FAKE SYRIAN REFUGEES AND VICIOUS, COLD-BLOODED MS-13 GANGS EVEN WHEN IT’S NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIMS OR LATINOS.

IT’S SOLELY ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY.


Sources: Yahoo News, CBC News, Fox News, Youtube


Tuesday night, January 30, 2018 Donald J. Trump our 45th legally elected leader of the Free world (USA), delivered his first State of the Union address before the entire world.

During his speech Trump talked about his administration’s first year achievements as all U.S. Presidents have done when delivering their SOTU speeches.

Trump then proceeded to provide an update on the cornerstone topic of his administration’s agenda and the topic which helped to secure his 2016 election.

That topic is ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM.

Trump mentioned during his SOTU address that he is halting the FAKE Syrian Refugee program until further notice.

Considering how most of the Men who entered America’s borders under the guise of “Syrian Refugees” were actually from IRAQ and were actually members of ISIL, I can see how choosing to halt this program although not POLITICALLY CORRECT, would be in the best interest of our country as it relates to NATIONAL SECURITY.

Trump then went on to discuss his agenda for dealing with GANG WARFARE as in the notorious, most Cold-Blooded Gang to ever exist.......the MS-13.

MS-13 is an international Gang comprised solely of Young LATINO Men, not BLACK Men.

These Young LATINO Men hail from MEXICO, South America, Central America and Honduras.

MS-13 Gang Members are so cold-blooded and violent, they also target and viciously MURDER LATINO citizens just as easily as they frequently Kill American citizens.

This Gang uses MURDER to Terrorize, Intimidate and Control entire American Communities.

In many instances even the POLICE are afraid of MS-13 Gang Members.

Choosing to prosecute and deport Young LATINO Men who are active members of MS-13 is not a POLITICALLY CORRECT decision for Trump’s administration because for years Politicians and other Elected Officials have feared throwing Latino or Middle Eastern Men into Jail, or Deporting them even for MURDER or TERRORISM because it’s not POLITICALLY CORRECT.

However these Politicians and Elected Officials had absolutely No Fear of throwing Young BLACK Men into Jail in a New York minute, even for minor offenses.

Can you say Double Standard based on RACE??

Yet were it not for BLACK Voters, neither VIRGINIA nor ALABAMA Democrats would have won the 2017 elections.

So I commend Pres Trump for standing up for what is right for the USA even when it’s not Popular or POLITICALLY CORRECT to do so.

To wrap it up........

If you are from MEXICO and have been living in the United States for more than 10 years and enjoying America’s FREEDOM and RESOURCES, yet you have NEVER applied for LEGAL CITIZENSHIP, you should be made to Apply ASAP or be Deported.


****** Trump honors parents of MS-13 gang victims at SOTU


One of the longest standing ovations during President Trump’s first State of the Union address came when he introduced the parents of two teenage victims of gang violence.

Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens were invited by the White House to attend Tuesday’s speech. Their daughters — Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens respectively — were killed by members of the MS-13 gang on Long Island in September 2016, on the eve of Nisa’s 16th birthday. Federal authorities later arrested 13 gang members in connection with their deaths. Ten of those arrested had entered the country illegally.

Trump used their killings to highlight what he views as America’s “open borders” that “have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities.”

“These two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown,” Trump said. “Six members of the savage gang MS-13 have been charged with Kayla and Nisa’s murders. Many of these gang members took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws to enter the country as unaccompanied alien minors — and wound up in Kayla and Nisa’s high school.”

The president turned to their parents, who were seated next to first lady Melania Trump.

“Evelyn, Elizabeth, Freddy, and Robert: Tonight, everyone in this chamber is praying for you,” Trump said. “Everyone in America is grieving for you. And 320 million hearts are breaking for you. We cannot imagine the depth of your sorrow, but we can make sure that other families never have to endure this pain.”

The parents then received a long standing ovation as they wiped away tears.

Trump called on Congress to “finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminals to break into our country.”

“We have proposed new legislation that will fix our immigration laws and support our ICE and Border Patrol agents, so that this cannot ever happen again,” he continued. “So tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed. My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too.”

SCOTUS UPHOLDS TRUMP'S TRAVEL BAN ON SEVERAL MUSLIM COUNTRIES (GORUSH)

SCOTUS UPHOLDS TRUMP'S TRAVEL BAN ON SEVERAL MUSLIM COUNTRIES (GORUSH):

IRAN
LIBYA
SYRIA
YEMEN
SOMALIA
CHAD
NORTH KOREA
VENEZUELA

NEIL GORUSH BALANCES SCOTUS & RULES AS SCALIA MAY HAVE.

DEMOCRATS STOP WAITING FOR TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT OR TRYING TO ENCOURAGE AN ASSASSINATION.

INSTEAD KEY DEMS SHOULD BE STRATEGIZING TO WIN IN 2018 OR 2020.


Sources: BBC, CTV News, NY Times, TIME, Youtube


***** Supreme Court allows Trump travel ban to take full effect


The US Supreme Court has ruled President Donald Trump's travel ban on six mainly Muslim countries can go fully into effect.

But the directive against travellers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen still faces legal challenges.

On Monday, seven of the nine justices lifted injunctions imposed by lower courts on the policy.

The ruling covers the third version of the directive that President Trump has issued since taking office.

The presidential proclamation also imposed restrictions on travellers from North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials, which have gone into effect.

In striking down the other parts, lower court judges had cited Mr Trump's campaign description of his policy as a "Muslim ban".

Further arguments will be heard this week by federal courts in San Francisco, California, and Richmond, Virginia.

In June, the Supreme Court allowed an earlier version of the policy to take partial effect.

The president's travel bans have each been frustrated by the courts to some degree:

In January, he signed an order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspending all refugee entry. The measure prompted protests and legal challenges across dozens of states
A revised version in March exempted green card holders and dual citizens. By June, the Supreme Court allowed most of it to go into effect, a including 120-day ban on all refugees entering the US, but granted a wide exemption for those with a "bona fide connection" to the US
President Trump's third order was announced in late September. It added non-Muslim-majority nations North Korea and Venezuela, provisions which lower courts have allowed to proceed
What have lower courts said?

In striking down the other parts, federal judges have cited Mr Trump's campaign description of his policy as a "Muslim ban".

Lower courts have also found the policy violated the first amendment of the US constitution covering freedom of religion.

In October, a Maryland federal judge said: "The 'initial' announcement of the Muslim ban, offered repeatedly and explicitly through President Trump's own statements, forcefully and persuasively expressed his purpose in unequivocal terms."

A federal judge in Hawaii said the administration "lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be 'detrimental to the interests of the United States'".

A court in Virginia ruled: "The illogic of the government's contentions is palpable. The notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed," the court ruling said, pointing out that the countries' populations were between 90% and 99% Muslim.

STEPHEN PADDOCK – LAS VEGAS SHOOTER & TERRORIST; TRUMP CALLS HIM “PURE EVIL” (ISIL ClAIMS RESPONSIBILITY)

STEPHEN PADDOCK – LAS VEGAS SHOOTER & TERRORIST; TRUMP CALLS HIM “PURE EVIL”:

DID PADDOCK MURDER MORE THAN 58 PEOPLE IN COLD-BLOOD FOR ISIL? (TERRORISM)

IF NOT FOR ISIL, WHAT MADE HIM SNAP??

HOW COME U.S. GOV'T DIDN'T NOTICE ANGRY, WHITE GUY (PADDOCK) LOSING IT?.. BECAUSE GOV'T AGENTS ARE TOO BUSY WATCHING & WAITING FOR BLACK MEN TO MESS UP.

GUN CONTROL IS SURE TO COME SOON.

IT’S TIME TO PRAY AND STOP THE HATEFUL RHETORIC.


Sources: AP, CNN, MSN, NY Times, Youtube


*** Who is Stephen Paddock, Las Vegas shooter?


Police have identified the man accused of killing at least 58 people and wounding 515 in a Las Vegas shooting rampage as Stephen Paddock, a resident of Mesquite, Nev.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said officers determined the gunshots were coming from a room on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay complex on the Las Vegas Strip in what authorities say is the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

As police entered the room, Paddock, 64, killed himself, Lombardo said. At least 10 rifles were found in the room; it appeared he had hammered out the windows of the room before shooting.

"Right now, we believe it's a sole actor, a lone-wolf-type actor," Lombardo said.

Lombardo said that investigators were still trying to determine the gunman's motive. "I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath at this point."

Investigators believe Paddock used the vantage point to fire on the 22,000 person crowd that gathered for an outdoor country music concert. He opened fire as the artist Jason Aldean performed.

Law enforcement officials have not uncovered any information to suggest other public venues are threatened, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

Still, DHS security may be heightened in and around public places and events, DHS said.

The Islamic State claimed after the attack that Paddock was one of the terror group's "soldiers." But Aaron Rouse, chief of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, told reporters that investigators have found no links to international terror groups.

Eric Paddock, the brother of the suspected gunman, told reporters outside his home in Orlando that he was "dumbfounded" by the attack.

He said he last heard from his from his brother via text message to inquire about how their mother was doing after Eric Paddock's Florida neighborhood lost electricity for several days.

Eric Paddock added that his brother had "no machine guns" when he helped move him from Florida to Nevada a few years ago.

"There is no reason we can imagine why Stephen would do something like this," Paddock said.“We have no idea how this happened. It’s like an asteroid just fell on top of our family.”

Paddock told the USA TODAY Network in an interview that their late father, Benjamin Paddock, was a convicted bank robber and they were raised without him for most of their childhood. Benjamin, who was known as "Chromedome" and "Old Baldy" robbed a Phoenix bank in 1960, the Tuscon Daily Citizen reported in 1971.

He later escaped from a Texas prison and for a time was on the FBI's Most Wanted List. He was captured in 1978 in Oregon, where he was running a big parlor.

Paddock said, to his knowledge, his brother didn't have a history of mental illness or substance abuse. He said his brother owned guns and played high-stakes video poker.

In recent years, Paddock said they had gone skeet shooting and gambling together, but he had not detected anything was amiss.

But Paddock also described his relationship with his brother as being somewhat distant.

He said Stephen barely knew his children and he talked to him every once in a while.

He said he did not know Stephen's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, well.
"There's absolutely no way I can even conceive that my brother would shoot a bunch of people he didn't even know," Eric Paddock said. "There's no rationale. There's nothing anywhere that said why he did this."

Police blocked off the road to the suspect’s home in Mesquite, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Records show that Paddock resided at 1372 Babbling Brook Court in a home he purchased in 2015.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department obtained a search warrant and officers searched Paddock's home, said Quinn Averrett, public information officer for the Mesquite Police Department.

The Mesquite department had secured the home and the perimeter around it but is playing only a supportive role in the investigation.

Law-enforcement agents completed an initial sweep of Paddock's home Monday morning in which investigators found additional weapons and ammunition, Averrett told reporters at a news conference Monday.

He later said he could confirm only that ammunition was found in the residence.

Investigators continued to search the residence, and Lombardo said that investigators were preparing to search a second residence in Nevada belonging to the gunman.

The house in Mesquite is in a retirement community, Sun City Mesquite, an upscale development of about 1400 homes.

The community includes an 18-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a recreation center. Residents must be at least 55 years old, and no children are allowed.

Paddock was not known to the federal authorities. Paddock had no known connection to terrorism.

The gunman worked for the predecessor company of aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin from 1985 to 1988, the company said in a statement.

The company did not release further details about his employment there.

Lombardo said law enforcement authorities had located a “person of interest” who he named as Marilou Danley, believed to be the suspect's roommate.

She was later cleared of involvement, authorities said.

A federal law enforcement official who is not authorized to comment publicly said that Danley was located outside the country.

Authorities were gathering information from her about Paddock.

Lombardo said officers had located a Hyundai Tucson and a Chrysler Pacifica Touring, both with Nevada plates, which were registered to the dead suspect.

JOHN MCCAIN'S RECOVERY & RETURN TO US SENATE REQUIRES LONG SHOT MIRACLE (ARIZONA SPECIAL ELECTION?)

JOHN MCCAIN'S RECOVERY & RETURN TO US SENATE REQUIRES LONG SHOT MIRACLE:

MCCAIN IS NOW BEING COMPARED TO THE LATE US SENATOR TED KENNEDY WHO DIED OF BRAIN CANCER IN 2009.

WILL A SPECIAL ELECTION BE HELD IN ARIZONA TO REPLACE MCCAIN?

WHEN??


Sources: ABC News, Fox News, NY Times, State of the Nation, Youtube


***** Despite cancer diagnosis, McCain says, 'I'll be back soon'


Battling brain cancer, John McCain on Thursday vowed to return to the Senate, leveling fresh criticism at the Trump administration and aiming a good-natured dig at Republican and Democratic colleagues shaken by news of his diagnosis.

"I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support — unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I'll be back soon, so stand-by!" McCain said in a tweet. Showing no signs of stepping back from political and national security battles, he issued a statement slamming the Trump administration over its Syria policy.

The 80-year-old McCain, the GOP's presidential nominee in 2008 and a six-term Arizona lawmaker, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, who had removed a blood clot above his left eye last Friday.

They also managed to remove all of the tumor that was visible on brain scans.

The senator and his family are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, as he recuperates at his home in Arizona. President Donald Trump called the senator on Thursday, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

In a blistering statement through his office, McCain criticized the administration over reports that it was ending a program to assist Syrian opposition forces fighting the government of Bashar Assad.

"If these reports are true, the administration is playing right into the hands of Vladimir Putin," said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Making any concession to Russia, absent a broader strategy for Syria, is irresponsible and short-sighted."

Battling brain cancer, John McCain on Thursday vowed to return to the Senate, leveling fresh criticism at the Trump administration and aiming a good-natured dig at Republican and Democratic colleagues shaken by news of his diagnosis.

"I greatly appreciate the outpouring of support — unfortunately for my sparring partners in Congress, I'll be back soon, so stand-by!" McCain said in a tweet. Showing no signs of stepping back from political and national security battles, he issued a statement slamming the Trump administration over its Syria policy.

The 80-year-old McCain, the GOP's presidential nominee in 2008 and a six-term Arizona lawmaker, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, who had removed a blood clot above his left eye last Friday. They also managed to remove all of the tumor that was visible on brain scans.

The senator and his family are considering further treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, as he recuperates at his home in Arizona. President Donald Trump called the senator on Thursday, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

In a blistering statement through his office, McCain criticized the administration over reports that it was ending a program to assist Syrian opposition forces fighting the government of Bashar Assad.

"If these reports are true, the administration is playing right into the hands of Vladimir Putin," said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Making any concession to Russia, absent a broader strategy for Syria, is irresponsible and short-sighted."

More significantly, McCain's absence complicated Republican leader Mitch McConnell's plans for a Senate vote on a GOP health care bill to erase much of Barack Obama's law. A vote is possible as early as Tuesday, but Republican defections plus McCain's likely absence could sink any chance even to get started.

McCain's closest friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said that they had spoken by telephone Wednesday night and that the diagnosis had been a shock to McCain. But Graham said "woe is me" is not in McCain's DNA. "One thing John has never been afraid of is death," said Graham, who said he expects McCain to be back at the Capitol.

Prior to a Thursday news conference on immigration legislation, Graham said McCain called him three times.

"He is yelling at me to buck up, I'm so going to buck up," Graham said.

It was unclear how long McCain might be out. Earlier this year, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., missed several weeks after undergoing back surgery. Former Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was out for nearly a year after suffering a stroke in 2012.

Meantime, prayers and words of encouragement flowed in Thursday from presidents and Senate colleagues past and present.

"I called Senator John McCain this morning to wish him well and encourage him in his fight.

Instead, he encouraged me," said former President George W. Bush, who prevailed over McCain for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000. "I was impressed by his spirit and determination."

Former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas said: "Having known John for many decades, I am certain that he is as tough as they come — if anyone can defeat this, it's him. John is a true American hero."

According to the American Brain Tumor Association, more than 12,000 people a year are diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same type of tumor that struck McCain's Democratic colleague in legislative battles, the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.

The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over 55 at about 4 percent.

McCain, a former combat pilot, has a lifetime of near-death experiences — surviving a July 1967 fire and explosion on the USS Forrestal that killed 134 sailors, flying into power lines in Spain, being shot down in October 1967 and falling into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi, and going through 5 1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prison.

"The Hanoi Hilton couldn't break John McCain's spirit many years ago, so Barbara and I know — with confidence — he and his family will meet this latest battle in his singular life of service with courage and determination," said former President George H.W. Bush.

Commenting on both McCain and the response, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said, "The outpouring of bipartisan respect and love for John McCain as he faces this cancer battle reminds us that after all the meanness there is a human side to politicians. Count this Democrat in John McCain's corner."

In the past, McCain had been treated for melanoma, but this primary tumor is unrelated. Doctors said McCain is recovering from his surgery "amazingly well" and his underlying health is excellent.

US MARINES SUFFER 16 TROOP LOSS AFTER KC-130 CRASHES IN MISSISSIPPI

US MARINES SUFFER 16 TROOP LOSS AFTER KC-130 CRASHES IN MISSISSIPPI:

WAS IT AN AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT OR TAMPERED WITH (ISIL)?

PRAY FOR THE FAMILIES OF THESE BRAVE SOLDIERS.

PLEASE PRAY DAILY FOR ALL US MILITARY TROOPS EVERYWHERE IN JESUS NAME.


Sources: AP, USA Today, YouTube


***** 16 dead in military plane crash in Mississippi


JACKSON, Miss. — A military refueling aircraft crashed Monday afternoon in a soybean field in Leflore County, killing at least 16 and leaving a debris field five miles in radius, officials said.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Lee Smithson said the plane crashed on the Sunflower-Leflore county line.
Leflore County EMA Director Frank Randle confirmed that 16 are dead in the crash.
"Most of them are gonna be Marines," he said. He could not confirm whether there were any civilians on the plane.
The U.S. Marine Corps Twitter account posted that "A USMC KC-130 mishap occurred the evening of July 10. Further information will be released as available."
Marine Corps spokeswoman Lt. Kristine Rascicot confirmed that the plane that crashes was a USMC KC-130, but said she was not able to release any more details.
Capt. Sarah Burns said in a statement that a Marine C-130 "experienced a mishap" Monday evening, echoing almost the exact language of the tweet.
A KC-130 aircraft is an extended-range tanker version of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules that has been modified for aerial refueling.The C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop aircraft used primarily for military transportation. It's known as a workhorse used in refueling, humanitarian missions, firefighting, search and rescue, and combat missions, according to the Lockheed Martin website.
It wasn't clear Monday evening where the flight originated or where it was headed.
Leflore County deputy coroner Will Gnemi confirmed that his office was called to the accident scene. He said investigators were looking for other victims at the rural crash site, searching in a soybean field with tall vegetation.
Greenwood Fire Chief Marcus Banks told the Greenwood Commonwealth's Tim Kalich that the debris field was about five miles in radius.
Banks told the Commonwealth that the call came in around 4 p.m. An aircraft crash truck rushed to the scene, and 4,000 gallons of foam were used in an effort to put out the fire, he said.
Firefighters were driven away by several "high-intensity explosions," Banks told the Commonwealth, adding that they thought it was possibly some ammunition igniting.
The Commonwealth reported that the flight last contacted air traffic controllers at an elevation of about 20,000 feet.
"Please join Deborah and me in praying for those hurting after this tragedy," Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said in a statement on Facebook. "Our men and women in uniform risk themselves every day to secure our freedom."
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said the NTSB was not involved in the investigation because the plane was a military aircraft.

TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY TRAVEL BAN UPHELD BY SCOTUS (VICTORY)

TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY TRAVEL BAN UPHELD BY SCOTUS (VICTORY):

BANS TRAVEL FROM SIX MUSLIM COUNTRIES LINKED TO TERRORISM.

IRAN, LIBYA, SOMALIA, SUDAN, SYRIA, YEMEN,

SCOTUS AGREES TO HEAR FULL ARGUMENTS ON TRAVEL BAN IN OCTOBER.


Sources: BBC News, CBS News, Fox News, Youtube


****** Supreme Court Upholds Trump Administration’s Travel Ban


The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to forge ahead with a limited version of his ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries to the U.S. Trump hailed the decision as a “victory for national security,” but it’s likely to set off a new round of court disputes over anti-terror efforts and religious discrimination.

The justices will hear full arguments in October in the case that has stirred heated emotions across the nation and pointed rebukes from lower courts saying the administration is targeting Muslims. Until then, the court said Monday, Trump’s ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen can be enforced if those visitors lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

The ruling sets up a potential clash between the government and opponents of the ban over the strength of visitors’ ties to the United States. A senior official said plans already had been written to enforce the ban aggressively. But immigrant groups said relatively few people try to enter the United States without well-established ties. Those groups said they will be sending lawyers and monitors back to American airports, where the initial, immediate implementation of the ban in January caused chaos and confusion.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the ban would be implemented starting 72 hours after being cleared by courts. That means it will take effect Thursday morning.

The president has denied that the ban targets Muslims but says it is needed “to protect the nation from terrorist activities” committed by citizens of the six countries. All six have been designated as presenting heightened concerns about terrorism and travel to the United States.

The 90-day ban is necessary to allow an internal review of screening procedures for visa applicants from the countries, the administration says. That review should be complete before Oct. 2, the first day the justices could hear arguments in their new term.

The ban will have run its course by then, raising a question of whether the justices will even issue a decision in the case or dismiss it because it has been overtaken by events.

The court asked both sides to address the issue of timing, along with questions about whether the ban is aimed at Muslims, the impact of Trump’s provocative campaign statements and federal courts’ authority to restrain the president in the area of immigration.

A 120-day ban on refugees also is being allowed to take effect on a similar, limited basis.

Three of the court’s conservative justices said they would have let the administration apply the bans without the limits imposed by their colleagues.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, said the government has shown it is likely to win the legal case in the end. Thomas said the government’s interest in preserving national security outweighs any hardship to people denied entry into the country.

Trump hailed the court’s order as a “clear victory for our national security,” especially after lower court rulings that blocked the travel ban in its entirety. He said in a statement that his “number one responsibility” is to keep Americans safe.

His administration’s implementation plans, largely orchestrated by White House adviser Stephen Miller, focus on refusing entry to people who are unable to show a substantial and pre-existing tie to a person or institution in the United States. The plans were described by a senior official who was familiar with them, speaking on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss them publicly by name.

But some immigration lawyers said relatively few people would fall under the ban because people coming to study, work or visit family members already have sufficient relationships with others already is in the country.

“This order, properly construed, should really allow for only the narrowest implementation of any part of the ban. It’s going to be really important for us to make sure the government abides by the terms of the order and does not try to use it as a backdoor into implementing the full- scale Muslim ban,” said Omar Jadwat, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is representing some of the challengers to the travel ban.

The court’s opinion explained the kinds of relationships people from the six countries must demonstrate to obtain a U.S. visa.

“For individuals, a close familial relationship is required,” the court said. For people who want to come to the United States to work or study, “the relationship must be formal, documented and formed in the ordinary course, not for the purpose of evading” the travel ban.

The opinion faulted the two federal appeals courts that had blocked the travel policy for going too far to limit Trump’s authority over immigration. The president announced the travel ban a week after he took office in January and revised it in March after setbacks in court.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the ban was “rooted in religious animus” toward Muslims and pointed to Trump’s campaign promise to impose a ban on Muslims entering the country as well as tweets and remarks he has made since becoming president.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the ban does not comply with federal immigration law, including a prohibition on nationality-based discrimination. That court also put a hold on separate aspects of the policy that would keep all refugees out of the United States for 120 days and cut by more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000, the cap on refugees in the current government spending year that ends Sept. 30.

Trump’s first executive order on travel applied to travelers from Iraq and well as the six countries, and took effect immediately, causing chaos and panic at airports as the Homeland Security Department scrambled to figure out whom the order covered and how it was to be implemented.

A federal judge blocked it eight days later, and that was upheld by a 9th circuit panel. Rather than pursue an appeal, the administration said it would revise the policy.

In March, Trump issued the narrower order.

ASSAD vs TRUMP - "NO US MILITARY GROUND TROOPS IN SYRIA"

ASSAD vs TRUMP - "NO US MILITARY GROUND TROOPS":

TRUMP KNOWS ISIL HAS SET TRAPS FOR US MILITARY GROUND TROOPS IN SYRIA.

TRUMP IS NOT A HOTHEAD WARHAWK SEEKING TO MAKE $$$ FROM WAR CONTRACTS.


Sources: NY Post, YouTube


***** Trump: ‘We’re not going into Syria’


Amid complaints that his aides are saying different things about Syria and his policy is confusing, President Trump emphatically cleared the air.

“We’re not going into Syria,” he told me yesterday in an exclusive interview. “Our policy is the same — it hasn’t changed. We’re not going into Syria.”

The president, speaking by phone Tuesday, called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a “butcher” and a “barbarian” for using sarin gas on his own people, but said last week’s successful missile strike was not the start of a campaign to oust the dictator.

“Our big mission is getting rid of ISIS,” Trump said. “That’s where it’s always been. But when you see kids choking to death, you watch their lungs burning out, we had to hit him and hit him hard."

called the attack, which involved 59 cruise missiles fired from two Navy destroyers, “an act of humanity.”

I asked if he, as a new president, found it difficult to make the final decision, knowing the stakes.

“It’s very tough to give that final go-ahead when you know you’re talking about human life,” he said. “We went back and forth, and also back and forth about severity. We could have gone bigger in terms of targets and more of them, but we thought this would be the appropriate first shot.”

Later, he added, “We hope he won’t do any more gassing.”

The interview was scheduled to last 15 minutes, but ran nearly twice as long. Throughout, the president was gracious, energized and focused. He answered every question, and invited me to ask more as aides tried to get him to his next appointment. So I did.

How seriously does he take the threats from Russia, and does he think there is still a possibility for cooperation in the region with Vladimir Putin?

“We’re not exactly on the same wavelength with Russia, to put it mildly,” Trump answered. “Putin must see what a barbarian this guy is, and it’s a very bad symbol for Russia with this guy gassing children and using barrel bombs.”

With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow as we spoke, Trump said he hoped for Putin’s cooperation, but added, “I don’t know.”



He was especially upset that Syria had used chemical weapons after supposedly destroying all its stockpiles under a deal President Obama signed in 2013 and repeatedly boasted about. I asked whether that fact gave him more pause about Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

“I don’t need more pause about Iran,” Trump said. “It was the single worst deal ever. It’s a disgrace that a deal like that was even signed. It made Iran a power from a country that was ready to fall apart.”

He wasn’t finished. “Iran won’t honor its deal. Instead of saying, ‘Thank you very much for saving our country,’ they’ve been emboldened.”

Noting those problems and North Korea’s threatening aggression, Trump said, “I knew I was left a mess, but it’s worse than I thought.”

he had any recent contact with Obama?

“No,” he said. “I’m very disappointed that I was surveilled and so was my campaign. That’s not supposed to be happening, but I’ve been proven right.”

Although the evidence supporting Trump’s claim that Obama “wiretapped” him is incomplete, there is no question he is the victim of dirty tricks. Numerous leaks suggest that communications involving Trump’s team were intercepted by law enforcement or intelligence agencies and given to anti-Trump media outlets to undermine the new administration.

And the admission last week by Susan Rice, Obama’s national security director, that she asked for the names of some Trump associates to be “unmasked” points to a likely political purpose involving the White House.

Although two congressional committees are probing Trump’s claim, along with whether his campaign colluded with Russian hacking during the campaign, I believe a Justice Department probe of the Obama administration’s surveillance is also needed. At the very least, the leakers of national security material gathered must be found and prosecuted.

Bannon: “A good guy, but …”

Washington’s rumor mill is working overtime on the fate of presidential aide Steve Bannon, who is said to be at the center of the rampant White House infighting. When I asked the president Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Bannon, who took over the campaign in mid-August, I did not get a definitive yes.

“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”

He ended by saying, “Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will.”

Media’s ‘fake sources’

President Trump remains hot about the coverage he gets in the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. When I asked about stories that cited anonymous sources “close to the president,” Trump insisted that “many of those sources are made up and I don’t believe them. Let them reveal their sources.”

“It’s fake news and fake sources,” he insisted, adding that’s why he won’t appear on CNN. As for the Times, “they’re a failing, dead paper. Lucky for them I came along. If Hillary had won, they’d be closing up shop by now.”

He’s not impressed by commentators, either. “Pundits, they knew less than my 11-year-old son,” he said. “They have zero political instinct and zero political talent.”

Xi ‘understood immediately’

The missile strike in Syria overshadowed his two-day meeting with China president Xi Jinping, who brought his wife to meet Trump and first lady Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The leaders ended their first meeting just as the first missiles were launched.

“When I explained to him what we were doing, because of the gassing of children, he understood immediately,” Trump told me.

I asked about their summit, given some of the harsh things Trump has said about China.

“I was a little surprised, we had a great chemistry, not good, but great,” Trump said. “I liked him and he liked me a lot. That doesn’t mean we’re going to get along on trade or North Korea, but we had great chemistry.”

Their meeting included a priceless interlude in which Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner brought their three children to meet China’s first couple. The oldest, Arabella, who turns 6 in July, is studying Mandarin and sang a Chinese song and recited Chinese poetry in honor of the guests.

What did President Xi make of that, I asked.

“He said she was speaking absolutely perfect Chinese, he couldn’t believe it,” the proud grandfather recalled. “He said, ‘She sounds like a 5-year-old girl from Beijing.’”

Ivanka posted a video of the performance and it is a huge sensation in China, making successful diplomacy in this case a Trump family affair.

MS-13 GANG VIOLENCE INCREASED UNDER OBAMA LIKE ISIL (BORDER PATROL)

MS-13 GANG VIOLENCE INCREASED UNDER OBAMA LIKE ISIL:

MS-13 GANG MEMBERS CONSIST MAINLY OF LATINO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

UNDER OBAMA MEDIA ONLY FOCUSED ON BLACK GANG VIOLENCE.

US TROOPS SHOULD PATROL TEXAS-MEXICO BORDERS.

TIME FOR GOP & DEMS TO UNITE AGAINST ALL GANG VIOLENCE.


Sources: Fox News, CBS, Business Insider, YouTube


***** How MS-13, One of America’s Most Dangerous Gangs, is Funded


President Donald Trump is ready to crack down on the infamous, money-making MS-13 gang, after a violent quadruple homicide in Long Island, N.Y. last week left four teenagers dead and badly beaten. Trump is promising to remove the gang from U.S. streets “fast.”


MS-13, a group that was started by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s, is known for its ruthless and violent tactics. Most of the founding members were from El Salvador and fled to the U.S. during the country’s civil war that lasted 12 years, from 1980-92. Since then the gang’s membership has ballooned to at least 10,000 members in the United States and more than 30,000 worldwide, according to the FBI and Treasury Department.

“[MS-13] is one of the most dangerous and rapidly expanding criminal gangs in the world today,” Philip Holloway, a legal analyst and former police officer, told FOX Business. “MS-13’s mottos is ‘Mata, roba, viola, controla’ (Kill, steal, rape, control),” he noted.

The gang has managed to expand its business tentacles into a variety of illegal activities, despite sanctions levied against the group by the U.S Treasury Department under the Obama administration. “They are involved in multiple crimes including murder, racketeering, drug trafficking, sex trafficking and human trafficking including prostitution,” Holloway said.

MS-13 also uses violence as a means for extortion, which constitutes much of its income, University of Houston sociology professor Luis Salinas told FOX Business.

“A lot of the violence is part of the extortion … and prostitution. Once they get here they get these individuals and extort money from their families. They’re also into extortion for protection of this neighborhood or that neighborhood,” Salinas said.

In 2015 the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of three members of the gang who were funneling funds back to higher-ups in El Salvador from prison. These actions were an attempt “disrupt” MS-13’s financial network by cutting off profits from illegal activities in the United States, the Treasury Department said. In 2012 the Obama administration designated MS-13 a transnational crime organization and implemented sanctions against six members in 2013.

While the U.S. government attempts to target MS-13’s earnings, targeting its culture is proving more difficult. The fierce loyalty among members is unique, Ron Hosko, former assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, told FOX Business.

“They're very cohesive and often directed by imprisoned bosses in El Salvador to recruit and expand in American communities. That tends to mean there's an aggressive internal enforcement mechanism which equates to internal discipline involving physical violence and murder for disrespect or betrayal,” he said.

Membership in street gangs showed no signs of decreasing, according to the FBI’s 2015 National Gang Report, and MS-13 was identified as one of the top gangs involved in cross-border crimes. Recently, law enforcement has taken a tougher stance on making arrests; a move spurred by Attorney General Jeff Session’s focus on illegal immigrant crime, Hosko said.

“MS is a clear example [of illegal immigrant crime]. Affiliates would cross the border and make their way to American enclaves where they found friends and relatives living here already,” he said. “Citizenship is a combination of American born (many to illegals) and illegal immigrants.”

Salinas said about 60-70 percent of current U.S. members in MS-13 are immigrants, the majority of which could be illegal.

On Tuesday during an interview on Fox News, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he believes the gang “could qualify” as a terrorist group. In El Salvador, MS-13 has already been designated as a terrorist organization.

Hosko said President Trump’s administration is changing the narrative quickly for both gang members and law enforcement in the United States.

“[The FBI] believed that claiming of ‘credible fear’ of persecution, gang retaliation, other bad acts in their homeland to immigration authorities likely resulted in widespread release of bad actors into the U.S. as their claims were being evaluated. With Obama, that was acceptable risk. I think that's changing fast.”

.

SUSAN RICE'S MATA HARI SPYING ON TRUMP TEAM DETAILED & POLITICAL

SUSAN RICE'S SPYING ON TRUMP TEAM WAS EXTREMELY DETAILED & POLITICAL: (MATA HARI)

SPYING ON TRUMP IN 2016 HAD NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH RUSSIA.

GOOGLE IS TRYING TO HIDE THIS STORY.

MANY AMERICANS & US SOLDIERS WERE SPIED ON UNDER OBAMA WHILE ISIL OPERATIVES HAD FREE REIGN.

IS CONGRESS AFRAID TO INVESTIGATE RICE BECAUSE SHE IS A BLACK WOMAN??

LET THE CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS BEGIN.


Sources: Fox News, The Federalist, Alex Jones, PBS, YouTube


****** Reports in unmasking controversy were detailed, had info about 'everyday lives'



The intelligence reports at the center of the Susan Rice unmasking controversy were detailed, and almost resembled a private investigator’s file, according to a Republican congressman familiar with the documents.


This is information about their everyday lives," Rep. Peter King of New York, a member of the House Intelligence committee said. "Sort of like in a divorce case where lawyers are hired, investigators are hired just to find out what the other person is doing from morning until night and then you try to piece it together later on.”

On the House Intelligence Committee, only the Republican chairman, Devin Nunes of California, and the ranking Democrat Adam Schiff, also of California, have personally reviewed the intelligence reports. Some members were given broad outlines.

Nunes has consistently stated that the files caused him deep concern because the unmasking went beyond the former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and the information was not related to Moscow.

Schiff said in a statement, “I cannot comment on the content of these materials or any other classified documents, and nothing should be inferred from the fact that I am treating classified materials the way they should be treated - by refusing to comment on them. Only the Administration has the power to declassify the information and make it available to the public."

Former National Security Adviser Rice is under scrutiny after allegations she sought to unmask the identities of Trump associates caught up in surveillance - such as phone calls between foreign intelligence targets. Rice denies ever having sought such information for political purposes and has defended her requests as routine.

But the most recent government data shows that unmasking or identifying Americans happens in a limited number of cases. The Office for the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the 17 intelligence agencies, said "...in 2015, NSA disseminated 4,290 FAA Section 702 intelligence reports that included U.S. person information. Of those 4,290 reports, the U.S. person information was masked in 3,168 reports and unmasked in 1,122 reports."

The report said "NSA is allowed to unmask the identity for the specific requesting recipient only under certain conditions and where specific additional controls are in place" and those conditions were met for "654 U.S. person identities" in 2015.

That means Americans were identified in 26 percent of the cases, or roughly one in four intelligence reports.

During his March 20 testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, NSA director Admiral Mike Rogers said only 20 individuals within the agency are authorized to approve those requests.

“They receive specific training, there are specific controls put in place in terms of our ability to disseminate information out of the databases associated with U.S. persons,” Rogers said at the time. What it appears to suggest is that the NSA itself agreed that the instances in which Rice requested unmasking warranted that action.

FBI Director James Comey was less direct. "I don't know for sure. As I sit here, surely more, given the nature of the FBI's work," he testified.

"It would be nice to know the universe of people who have the power to unmask a U.S. citizen's name," South Carolina Republican congressman Trey Gowdy pressed. "Because that might provide something of a roadmap to investigate who might've actually disseminated a masked U.S. citizen's name."

Rice told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell that the reports were requested by the Obama administration, which announced a probe into the Russian election hacking in early December. Two months earlier in October, before the election, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Homeland Security Department put out a joint statement about Moscow's interference.

Rice told Mitchell, "Fulfilling the president's request for such a report, they went back and scrubbed more reports. They began to provide more such reports to American officials, including myself."

Given the late fall timeline, it is not clear the intelligence reports Rice discussed during the NBC interview, are the same files reviewed by Nunes and Schiff.

Speaking to Fox News Wednesday, President Trump said he believed the former national security adviser may have committed a crime when she sought the identities of the Trump team members. The allegation was first reported by the New York Times.

While not commenting on the individual case, a former senior intelligence official explained the request must be approved by the NSA. Rice would have understood that there is an extensive government paper trail, that can be audited within the NSA, that shows who requested the unmasking, on what basis, and whether it was granted. This raises more questions about Rice, her motivation and whether it was authorized higher up, offering cover.

If approved, the former senior intelligence official said, only the requester, in this case Rice, would receive the information. Based on Fox News’ reporting, the information was shared beyond Rice, but it is not clear if those who received it had a “need to know.”

A spokeswoman for Rice, Erin Pelton, said in an email to the New York Times on Wednesday, “I’m not going to dignify the president’s ludicrous charge with a comment.” Pelton works for Mercury LLC, a crisis management firm.

At the height of the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack fallout, and questions about whether Rice and a former senior intelligence official had misled Congress about the role of an internet video in the deaths of four Americans, Mercury LLC was also tasked with handling the Fox News media inquiries.

TRUMP'S 1st JOINT CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESS MET W/ LOUD APPROVAL (DEMS MOCK)

PRES TRUMP'S FIRST JOINT CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESS MET WITH LOUD APPROVAL:

DEMOCRATS RESPOND WITH BITTER DIATRIBES & MOCKERY.


****** HIGHLIGHTS OF TRUMP'S SPEECH WERE:

REBUILDING US MILITARY

REBUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM

FAKE NEWS & MEDIA PROPAGANDA

TRUE UNITY

ANTI-SEMITISM

DEFEATING ISIL

CIVIL RIGHTS & SCHOOL CHOICE

REPLACING OBAMACARE WITH REAL HEALTHCARE

PAID FAMILY LEAVE & AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE

BUILDING THE GREAT WALL TO SECURE OUR BORDERS


Sources: ABC News, Fox News, Washington Post, YouTube


~ President Trump Addresses The Joint Congress


President Donald Trump delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, addressing a host of familiar themes from his campaign and calling for unity to address a litany of issues that he says are plaguing the country.

Trump's call for an end to the "pure unadulterated division" and "trivial fights" comes in the wake of a bruising campaign and a tumultuous start to his presidency, squaring off against critics as well as waging a pitched battle against the media. The speech also comes amid a flurry of questions about alleged contacts between Trump associates and suspected Russian officials, which the president has derided as "fake news."

The time for small thinking is over," Trump said. "The time for trivial fights is behind us. We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts. The bravery to express the hopes that stir our souls. And the confidence to turn those hopes and those dreams into action."

Trump began the address by condemning the recent threats against Jewish centers and a suspected hate crime in Kansas. The president had drawn fire for not immediately addressing the Jewish Community Center incidents and not making public comments about the fatal Kansas shooting until tonight's speech.

"Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms," Trump said.

One of the most emotional moments -- and possibly the longest standing ovation of the speech -- came when Trump praised Carryn Owens, the widow of Senior Chief William "Ryan" Owens who died in a raid in Yemen. The moment has been a political hot point since Owens' father Bill Owens and Sen. John McCain criticized the president's choice to execute the mission. but Trump used the speech to call it "a highly successful raid."

During the speech, Trump revisited what he called the movement that propelled him into the White House.

"In 2016, the earth shifted beneath our feet," he said. "The rebellion started as a quiet protest, spoken by families of all colors and creeds -– families who just wanted a fair shot for their children, and a fair hearing for their concerns. But then the quiet voices became a loud chorus -- as thousands of citizens now spoke out together, from cities small and large, all across our country."

"Above all else, we will keep our promises to the American people," Trump said.

Trump ran through a series of his biggest campaign promises during much of the speech, giving updates on what he and his team plan to do about them. He talked about how "we will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border," and later talked about plans for "a new program of national rebuilding."

His call for Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare was met with one of the loudest responses, with Republicans standing while some Democrats were seen giving a thumbs down.

He made a push for unity later in the speech, saying that "everything that is broken in our country can be fixed."

"Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing, and hope. Our citizens deserve this, and so much more – so why not join forces and finally get the job done? And get it done right. On this and so many other things, Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country, and for the good of the American people," he said.

Trump touched on paid family leave, the need to make childcare more affordable, an effort to promote clean air and water -- all issues that his daughter Ivanka has reportedly championed -- as areas where Republicans and Democrats could work together, along with rebuilding the military and the country's infrastructure.

He went on to call education "the civil rights issue of our time" before asking Congress to fund an education bill that allows children school choice.

"Our children will grow up in a nation of miracles. But to achieve this future, we must enrich the mind – and the souls – of every American child," he said.

While Trump did talk about his administration's plans to build a "great, great" wall, a regular theme of his campaign, he did not talk about who would pay for it; he said regularly during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall and he has since wavered about when and by whom those payments would be made.

First Lady Melania Trump attended the speech along with hand-picked guests, including Maureen Scalia, the widow of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, who is a senior advisor to the president, were also seated in the first lady's box.

A group of female House Democrats all chose to wear white in an act of support for women's rights. Their sartorial choice was particularly noticeable because they all sat together in the chamber.

On Monday, Trump's team sent out an email to supporters asking for their "input on the direction of our country" before what they called his State of the Union address.

The email called the speech "his biggest speech to date."

NEW IMMIGRATION TRAVEL BAN SAME AS 1st TRAVEL BAN (PROTECTS USA BORDERS)

NEW IMMIGRATION TRAVEL BAN SAME AS FIRST TRAVEL BAN (PROTECTS USA BORDERS):

TRUMP SAYS YES TO NATIONAL SECURITY, NO TO BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT.

TRUMP SAYS NO TO ISIL OPERATIVES POSING AS REFUGEES.

HIS PREDECESSORS ENFORCED SIMILAR
ANTI-TERRORISM TRAVEL BANS.


Sources: Fox News, NBC News, YouTube


***** Trump adviser says new travel ban will have 'same basic policy outcome'


Senior White House Policy Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News' "First 100 Days" Tuesday that a revised version of President Donald Trump's travel ban would "have the same basic policy outcome."

Miller claimed that the new executive order would be "responsive" to federal court rulings which halted the original order and resolve "a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court."

However, Miller also insisted that the court ruling staying the original order was "flawed" and "erroneous" and that Trump's action was "clearly legal and constitutional."

"Here's the reality," Miller said. "We’ve got a serious problem in our country of terrorism, radicalization and serious problems of people joining ISIS, joining terror groups, joining Al Qaeda and committing or attempting to commit acts of crime and terror against our nation."

Miller indicated the revised order would apply to the same seven majority-Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya — as the previous order.

Miller spoke to host Martha MacCallum at the top of an hour-long immigration town hall in Jacksonville, Fla. hours after Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly directed agency heads to hire thousands more immigration officers, end so-called “catch-and-release” policies and begin work on the president’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Senior White House Policy Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News' "First 100 Days" Tuesday that a revised version of President Donald Trump's travel ban would "have the same basic policy outcome.

Miller spoke to host Martha MacCallum at the top of an hour-long immigration town hall in Jacksonville, Fla. hours after Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly directed agency heads to hire thousands more immigration officers, end so-called “catch-and-release” policies and begin work on the president’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Through a show of hands, most of the town hall audience indicated that they supported Trump's tough stance on illegal immigration.

"I think [Miller's] main argument was right on point," said audience member Jack Capra. "Securing our borders is a national security issue [and] it's the federal government's job to keep our citizens safe from external and internal threats. I think immigration is a big contributor to that."

However, immigration attorney Francisco Hernandez told MacCallum that Trump's ordered immigration enforcement changes had "written a blank check that he can't cash."

"He’s going to have to get the money from somewhere," Hernandez said, "and we don’t have the money."

In last year's presidential election, a Fox News exit poll found that 10 percent of Florida voters said immigration was the biggest issue facing the country. Of those voters, 69 percent backed Trump over Hillary Clinton.

KEYSTONE XL OIL PIPELINE & DAKOTA ACCESS PROJECTS REACTIVATED BY TRUMP'S PEN (100 DAYS)

KEYSTONE XL OIL PIPELINE AND DAKOTA ACCESS PROJECTS REACTIVATED BY TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL PEN (100 DAYS):

TRUMP REFUSES TO BOW DOWN TO ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS BULLIES.

WILL TRUMP STILL TAKE BACK OIL FIELDS FROM ISIL?


Sources: Fox News, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, CNN, NBC News, YouTube


***** Trump seeks to revive Dakota Access, Keystone XL oil pipelines


President Trump signed executive orders Tuesday clearing the way for the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines to move forward.

He also signed an executive order to expedite environmental reviews of other infrastructure projects, lamenting the existing “incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process.”

“The regulatory process in this country has become a tangled up mess,” he said.

It remained unclear how Trump’s order would restart the pipeline projects or expedite environmental reviews. Many of those reviews are statutory and the legislation that created them cannot be swept aside by an executive order. 

The White House did not immediately release texts of the orders.


Trump said that both pipeline projects would be subject to renegotiation. In an Oval Office signing before reporters, the president said he would want any new projects to make use of American steel.

“I am very insistent that if we’re going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipe should be made in the United States,” he said.

The orders will have an immediate impact in North Dakota, where the pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners wants to complete the final 1,100-foot piece of the 1,172-mile pipeline route that runs under Lake Oahe. The pipeline would carry oil from the booming shale oil reserves in North Dakota to refineries and pipeline networks in Illinois.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other Native American groups have been protesting the project, which they say would imperil their water supplies and disturb sacred burial and archaeological sites.


The Army Corp of Engineers called a halt to the project in December to consider alternative routes.

The executive order from Trump on the Keystone XL pipeline threatens to undo a major decision by President Obama, who said that the project would contribute to climate change because it would carry tar sands crude which is especially greenhouse gas intensive because of the energy it takes to extract the thick crude.

TransCanada, the Calgary-based project owner, has said it would be interested in reviving the pipeline. But it was unclear what Trump’s caution about renegotiation would mean for TransCanada’s plans.

Originally, TransCanada had planned to get about 65 percent of the steel pipe from U.S. manufacturers but other supplies from Canada.


On Tuesday, Trump said: “From now on we’re going to be making pipeline in the United States. We build the pipelines, we want to build the pipe. We’re going to put a lot of workers, a lot of skilled workers, back to work. We will build our own pipeline, we will build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days.”


Speaking to reporters Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president supported energy projects “like Dakota and the Keystone Pipeline, areas that we can increase jobs, increase economic growth, and tap into America’s energy supply more, that’s something that he has been very clear about.”

Referring to comments Trump has made during the campaign and after the election, “He was talking about that being a big priority.

That’s one of those ones where I think that the energy sector and our natural resources are an area where I think the president is very, very keen on making sure that we maximize our use of natural resources to America’s benefit.”

“It’s good for economic growth, it’s good for jobs, and it’s good for American energy,” Spicer added.

As news of the move surfaced Tuesday morning, oil industry officials hailed it as overdue.


“Making American energy great again starts with infrastructure projects like these that move resources safely and efficiently,” said Stephen Brown, vice president of federal government affairs at Tesoro Companies.

“We are pleased to see the new direction being taken by this administration to recognize the importance of our nation’s energy infrastructure by restoring the rule of law in the permitting process that’s critical to pipelines and other infrastructure projects,” Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said.

Many lawmakers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), backed the president’s bid to revive the pipelines.

Environmentalists, by contrast, vowed to continue to fight the two pipelines.


Greenpeace Executive Director Annie Leonard noted in a statement that a broad coalition of opponents-“Indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and climate activists” –managed to block the projects in the past and would not give up now.

“We all saw the incredible strength and courage of the water protectors at Standing Rock, and the people around the world who stood with them in solidarity,” she said. “We’ll stand with them again if Trump tries to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline, or any other fossil fuel infrastructure project, back to life.”


“We will resist this with all of our power and we will continue to build the future the world wants to see,” she added.

Bill McKibben, founder of the activist group 350.org, which has fought both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, said the decision to allow the projects to move forward ignores the massive opposition expressed both through public protests and in comments to government agencies.

“The world’s climate scientists and its Nobel laureates explained over and over why it was unwise and immoral,” McKibben said in a statement.

“In one of his first actions as president, Donald Trump ignores all that in his eagerness to serve the oil industry. It’s a dark day for a reason, but we will continue to fight.”


Americans have tended to favor the Keystone XL project even as Obama rejected it.


According to an October 2015 Washington Post-ABC News poll,  55 percent wanted the next president to support building the Keystone oil pipeline while 34 percent wanted them to oppose it, with majorities of Republicans and independents supportive.

Earlier Post-ABC surveys found Americans widely expected the project would create a significant amount of jobs, but divided on whether it would pose a significant environmental risk.

MATTIS SCORES CONGRESSIONAL WAIVER TO LEAD PENTAGON (AVOIDS PC QUESTIONS)

GEN MATTIS SCORES CONGRESSIONAL WAIVER TO LEAD PENTAGON:

AVOIDS POLITICALLY CORRECT GAMES DURING CONFIRMATION HEARINGS.

MATTIS LOVES THE USA & RESPECTS US MILITARY.

Sources: Times of Israel, C-Span, YouTube

******* Trump’s Pentagon chief: The capital of Israel is Tel Aviv
~ "The capital of Israel that I go to, sir, is Tel Aviv, sir, because that’s where all their government people are."

Diverging from the signals the president-elect has been sending out, James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis opts to ‘stick with US policy’.


President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the Pentagon said Thursday that the United States should continue treating Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital, breaking with Republican members of Congress and intimations the incoming president could fulfill his campaign pledge to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Asked during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee if he supported the embassy’s relocation, retired Marine Corps general James “Mad Dog” Mattis said, “Right now I stick with the current US policy.”

Facing an hours-long session of questions from senators, he emphasized: “The capital of Israel that I go to, sir, is Tel Aviv, sir, because that’s where all their government people are.” He also noted, however, the determination was not part of his remit as defense secretary nominee.

“I would defer to the nominee of Secretary of State on that, sir,” he said.

The last three successive presidents have maintained that the future status of Jerusalem should be settled in final negotiations between the parties, as both Israelis and Palestinians claim the city as their rightful capital.

But Trump has indicated since his victory in November he will no longer honor that tradition. In December, he nominated his longtime friend and attorney David Friedman, a vocal supporter and donor to West Bank settlements, to be the next US ambassador to Israel

In a statement announcing the selection, Friedman said he expected to carry out his duties in “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”

Trump also repeatedly promised during the campaign that he would move the embassy. While past presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also vowed on the trail to do so, neither fulfilled that promise once they assumed the responsibilities of conducting America’s foreign policy.

Mattis’s position further underlines a difference with most Republican on Capitol Hill, who make up the majority in both chambers of Congress.

The Obama administration allowed passage of a United Nations Security Council Resolution last month that condemns settlements as a violation of international law. The text states that all areas Israel captured in the 1967 war — which includes East Jerusalem and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, with the Temple Mount and Western Wall, the holiest sites in Judaism — are “occupied Palestinian territory.”

Earlier this month, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) proposed the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which urges Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there.

Mattis declined to comment on the motion Thursday, telling the senators he needed more information on the particulars of its content.

He also diverged from most GOP lawmakers in expressing support for a two-state outcome to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“If it brings peace to the Middle East,” he said, while also indicating he is willing to hear alternatives despite his skepticism that another resolution to the conflict exists.

“If there’s another solution, I’d be happy to hear what it is,” he said, before later stressing America had a “vital interest” in the two sides reaching a peaceful accommodation to their decades-long dispute.

At a hearing on Wednesday, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, also endorsed the two-state solution.

In the past, Mattis has been a critic of the Israeli settlement enterprise, asserting that its continued expansion imperiled Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state.

“If I’m in Jerusalem and I put 500 Jewish settlers out here to the east and there’s 10,000 Arab settlers in here, if we draw the border to include them, either it ceases to be a Jewish state or you say the Arabs don’t get to vote — apartheid,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in July 2013.

During that same conversation, he also said the United States pays a security price with the rest of the Arab world for its support of Israel.

Mattis, who headed the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) under President Obama from August 2010 to March 2013 (a post that has command authority for all US forces in the Middle East with the exception of Israel), did imply during Thursday’s hearing that his former boss did not always send a comforting message to Israel as an ally.

There was “a sense” in Jerusalem, Mattis said, that the administration has been “indifferent to their security concerns.” Under that assessment, he told committee members, it was “time to build trust” with the Jewish state.

Mattis also addressed the Iran nuclear deal, saying he thought it was an “imperfect” pact, but that the US had an obligation to abide by its terms. “When America gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies,” he said.

During the campaign, Trump sent conflicting messages on the Iran accord, suggesting he would both abrogate the deal and enforce rigorously. Since being elected, his top advisers have indicated he will not withdraw from the deal unilaterally unless Iran violates the agreement.

TRUMP PICKS GEN "MAD DOG" MATTIS TO LEAD US TROOPS TO VICTORY AGAINST ISIL

TRUMP PICKS GEN JAMES "MAD DOG" MATTIS TO LEAD US TROOPS TO VICTORY AGAINST ISIL:

EXCELLENT CHOICE FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.


Sources: LA Times, MSNBC, YouTube


****** Why Trump needs James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis


"Trump needs Cabinet officers who are willing to stand up to him and push back when he’s wrong. Mattis has already done that."

When President-elect Donald Trumpannounced that James N. Mattis was his choice to lead the Department of Defense, what seemed to delight him most was the retired general’s Iraq war nickname: “Mad Dog.”

“Mad Dog Mattis!” Trump told a post-election rally. “Mad Dog. He is great, he is great…. They say he is the closest thing to Gen. George Patton that we have.”

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to hear a lot about Mattis’s prowess as a combat commander and his salty exhortations to the troops he led.

“Be professional, be polite, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet,” he told his Marines. (A pretty good definition of what combat forces are for, actually.

And he incautiously told a partly-civilian audience that fighting is “a hell of a hoot. ... It’s fun to shoot some people.” (He apologized for that one.)

But if Trump chose Mattis for his mad-dog reputation, he made a good choice for the wrong reason.

Yes, Mattis was a Marine who demanded “ferocity” from his troops in battle. But he’s also a strategic thinker and scholar who ordered his officers to read military history, can quote Marcus Aurelius or Ulysses S. Grant — and never much liked the “mad dog” sobriquet his men bestowed on him in Anbar province.

Off the battlefield, he’s soft-spoken, thoughtful, cautious — and, most important, un-Trumplike.

Indeed, Mattis has already disagreed with many of the foreign policy positions Trump adopted without evidence of deep study during his campaign.

Trump has suggested that the United States should adopt an “America First” foreign policy, shedding excess obligations and spending less on traditional alliances. Mattis has called for “continued engagement in the world” and “stronger alliances,” and said Trump’s dismissal of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance was “kooky.”

When Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Mattis said the proposal caused “great damage” to U.S. relationships in the Middle East. (Trump later softened the policy to “extreme vetting.”)

Trump has suggested that Vladimir Putin’s Russia could be a U.S. ally; Mattis considers Putin a major threat, and believes the U.S. should do more to help Ukraine.

And, as Trump himself reported, Mattis told the president-elect to his face that he was wrong to suggest that U.S. forces should torture suspected terrorists for information. “Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, and I’ll do better,” the general told the president-elect.

Trump and Mattis also differ on Iran, which could set up one of the new administration’s first big foreign policy debates.

Trump has said dismantling Obama’s 2015 nuclear arms deal with Tehran would be his top priority. Mattis says that’s simply impractical.

“There’s no going back,” Mattis said in April. “I don’t think that we can take advantage of some new president’s [arrival] and say we’re not going to live up to our word on this agreement. I believe we would be alone if we did, and unilateral economic sanctions from us would not have near the impact of an allied approach.”

Instead, he said, the priority should be to keep pressure on Iran to curb its intervention in the rest of the Middle East, and to deter Iran from abandoning the nuclear agreement in the years ahead.

“I think we’re going to have to hold at risk the nuclear program in the future — in other words, make plans now of what we’d do if in fact they restarted,” he said.

There’s one big problem with Mattis’s nomination: the law that prohibits a former military officer from being secretary of Defense unless he or she has been retired for at least seven years.

It’s a sensible law, meant to guarantee the principle of civilian control, and it’s only been waived once before, for George C. Marshall in 1950. Marshall was an extraordinary case: the chief of staff who organized victory in World War II and then served as a successful secretary of State.

This is an extraordinary case for a different reason: Trump needs Cabinet officers who are willing to stand up to him and push back when he’s wrong. Mattis has already done that.

And Trump needs someone to balance the influence of his other favorite general, the volcanic Michael Flynn, who will be his national security advisor.

Mattis and Flynn, who know each other well, are likely to go head-to-head on a long list of issues. (According to one report, Flynn wasn’t thrilled with the idea of nominating Mattis, who outranked him four stars to three. Generals remember details like that.)

Trump’s infatuation with generals — he boasted frequently in the campaign about their support — sometimes takes on an odd fanboy tone. (“Mad Dog!”)

But in this case, it might be a good thing. When Mad Dog Mattis tells Trump that blowing up the Iran nuclear agreement, weakening alliances, bombing civilians or reinstating torture is a bad idea, the boss might actually listen.

OBAMA SENDING 600 MORE US TROOPS TO FIGHT ISIL (PRAY)

PRES OBAMA SENDING 600 MORE US TROOPS TO FIGHT ISIL IN IRAQ:

IS 600 ENOUGH?

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR TROOPS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

Sources: NY Times, YouTube

**** U.S. to Send 600 More Troops to Iraq to Help Retake Mosul From ISIS

WASHINGTON — President Obama has authorized sending an additional 600 American troops to Iraq to assist Iraqi forces in the looming battle to take back the city of Mosul from the Islamic State, United States officials said on Wednesday.

The announcement means that there will soon be 5,000 American troops in Iraq, seven years after the Obama administration withdrew all American troops from the country. Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has criticized both Mr. Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, for that decision.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, traveling in New Mexico, said the additional troops would help with logistics as well as providing intelligence for Iraqi security forces in the fight for Mosul. Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that Iraqi forces would be ready to retake the city by early October.

“These are military forces that will be deployed to intensify the strategy that’s in place, to support Iraqi forces as they prepare for an offensive,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday.

Administration officials insisted that the deployment was consistent with Mr. Obama’s policy not to commit American ground forces again in Iraq. Mr. Obama, who vowed to end the Iraq war in his 2008 presidential campaign, has been wary of increasing the number of American troops there. The officials said the Americans would be there to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces, who they said were leading the operations to retake the Islamic State’s remaining territory.

Mrs. Clinton said at an NBC News forum on national security this month that she would not put ground troops in Iraq “ever again.” Mr. Trump said in Marchthat he would deploy up to 30,000 American troops in the Middle East to defeat the Islamic State.

IMMIGRATION AMNESTY POLICY BLOCKED BY SCOTUS 4-4 (SCALIA'S ABSENCE)

IMMIGRATION AMNESTY POLICY BLOCKED BY SCOTUS 4-4 (SCALIA'S ABSENCE):

ISIL HAS RUINED ANY CHANCE FOR IMMIGRATION AMNESTY IN THE UNITED STATES.

Sources:  NY Times, CNN,  NBC News, WSJ, Youtube

****** Supreme Court Deadlocks on Obama Immigration Plan. It Remains Blocked.

The Supreme Court on Thursday announced that it had deadlocked in a case challenging President Obama’s plan to shield millions of immigrants from deportation and allow them to work. 

The 4-4 tie left in place an appeals court ruling blocking the plan, dealing a sharp blow to an ambitious program that Mr. Obama had hoped would become one of his central legacies. 

Instead, even as the court deadlocked, it amplified the already contentious election-year debate over the nation’s immigration policy and presidential power.

The case, United States v. Texas, No. 15-674, concerned a plan to allow as many as five million unauthorized immigrants who are the parents of citizens or of lawful permanent residents to apply for a program that would spare them from deportation and provide them with work permits. 

The program was called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA.

Mr. Obama has said he took action in 2014 after years of frustration with Republicans in Congress who had repeatedly refused to support bipartisan Senate legislation to update immigration laws. 

A coalition of 26 states, led by Texas, promptly challenged the plan, accusing the president of ignoring administrative procedures for changing rules and of abusing the power of his office by circumventing Congress.

In February 2015, Judge Andrew S. Hanen of Federal District Court in Brownsville, Tex., entered a preliminary injunction shutting down the program while the legal case proceeded. 

The government appealed, and a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans affirmed the injunction.

In their Supreme Court briefs, the states acknowledged that the president had wide authority over immigration matters, telling the justices that “the executive does have enforcement discretion to forbear from removing aliens on an individual basis.”

 Their quarrel, they said, was with what they called a blanket grant of “lawful presence” to millions of immigrants, entitling them to various benefits.

In response, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. told the justices that this “lawful presence” was merely what had always followed from the executive branch’s decision not to deport someone for a given period of time.

“Deferred action does not provide these individuals with any lawful status under the immigration laws,” he said. “But it provides some measure of dignity and decent treatment.”

“It recognizes the damage that would be wreaked by tearing apart families,” Mr. Verrilli added, “and it allows individuals to leave the shadow economy and work on the books to provide for their families, thereby reducing exploitation and distortion in our labor markets.”

The states said they had suffered the sort of direct and concrete injury that gave them standing to sue.

Judge Jerry E. Smith, writing for the majority in the appeals court, focused on an injury said to have been suffered by Texas, which he said would have to spend millions of dollars to provide driver’s licenses to immigrants as a consequence of the federal program.

Mr. Verrilli told the justices that Texas’ injury was self-inflicted, a product of its decision to offer driver’s licenses for less than they cost to produce and to tie eligibility for them to federal standards.

Texas responded that being required to change its laws was itself the sort of harm that conferred standing. 

“Such a forced change in Texas law would impair Texas’s sovereign interest in ‘the power to create and enforce a legal code,’” the state’s lawyers wrote in a brief.

Judge Hanen grounded his injunction on the Obama administration’s failure to give notice and seek public comments on its new program. 

He found that notice and comment were required because the program gave blanket relief to entire categories of people, notwithstanding the administration’s assertion that it required case-by-case determinations about who was eligible for the program.

The appeals court affirmed that ruling and added a broader one. The program, it said, also exceeded Mr. Obama’s statutory authority