Students of history know that governments rarely give up power without a fight. To paraphrase Edmund Burke, those who have been intoxicated with power never willingly abandon it. Yet, last year, the federal government passed a new education law which returns a significant amount of power and decision-making authority to states, districts and schools.
The bi-partisan passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act creates a unique and exciting opportunity for improving American education. The law explicitly bars the Department of Education from dictating or influencing standards or curricula at the federal level, and states and districts have a wide range of new liberties when it comes to developing accountability systems, testing and content.
But with this newfound freedom from Washington comes a newfound responsibility for excellence at the state and district level. We cannot confuse local control with laissez faire. State and local leaders must embrace this opportunity and lift expectations, not relax them.
Trump: ‘In America we don’t worship government, we worship God’
TheHill.com
Speaking to a friendly crowd at the country’s largest Christian university on Saturday, President Trump told the graduating class that “in America, we don’t worship government, we worship God.”
“America has always been the land of dreams because America is a nation of true believers,” Trump told those gathered at Liberty University.
“When the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they prayed. When the founders wrote the Declaration of Independence, they invoked our creator four times. Because in America, we don’t worship government, we worship God.”
“It is why our currency proudly declares, ‘In God We Trust,'” Trump continued. “And it is why we proudly proclaim that we are one nation, under God, every time we say the Pledge of Allegiance.
Allendale NJ, The White House announced Tuesday afternoon that FBI Director James Comey was fired. Comey the seventh Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) , and served from 2013 until his dismissal by President Donald Trump on May 9, 2017.
Comey tenure had come under pressure by both Clinton supporters ,claiming his actions cost her the election and Trump supporters finding the continued “Russian Collusion” investigation given the confirmation that “there was no evidence of Russian Collusion with the Trump Administration” was purely politically motivated . In recent testimony Comey seemed a bit out of his depth and over his head .
“Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. “President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”
According to Wikipedia James Comey was Born in Yonkers, New York, but Comey grew up in Allendale, New Jersey, the son of Joan and J. Brien Comey. His father worked in corporate real estate and his mother was a computer consultant and homemaker. Comey is of Irish heritage. He attended Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale. Comey graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1982, majoring in chemistry and religion. His senior thesis analyzed the liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and the conservative televangelist Jerry Falwell, emphasizing their common belief in public action. He received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985.
Washington DC, We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something big. President Trump has made tax reform a priority, and we have a Republican Congress that wants to get it done. This is something that Democrats should support too because it’s good for the American people.
The President is going to seize this opportunity by leading the most significant tax reform legislation since 1986 – and one of the biggest tax cuts in American history.
The President has focused on three things since his campaign: job creation, economic growth, and helping low and middle-income families who have been left behind by this economy. He understands that there are a lot of people in this country that feel like they work hard and still can’t get ahead. They are sick of turning their paychecks over to Washington and having no idea how their tax dollars are spent. They are frustrated by a tax code that is so complicated that they can’t even do their own taxes.
That’s why tax reform is such a big priority for this President. He cares about making the economy work better for the American people.
We are going to cut taxes for businesses to make them competitive, and we are going to cut taxes for the American people – especially low and middle-income families.
In 1935, we had a one-page tax form consisting of 34 lines and two pages of instructions. Today, the basic 1040 form has 79 lines and 211 pages of instructions. Instead of a single tax form, the IRS now has 199 tax forms on the individual side of the tax code alone. Taxpayers spend nearly 7 billion hours complying with the tax code each year, and nearly 90% of taxpayers need help filing their taxes.
We are going to cut taxes and simplify the tax code by taking the current 7 tax brackets we have today and reducing them to only three brackets: 10 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent.
We are going to double the standard deduction so that a married couple won’t pay any taxes on the first $24,000 of income they earn. So in essence, we are creating a 0 percent tax rate for the first $24,000 that a couple earns.
The larger standard deduction also leads to simplification because far fewer taxpayers will need to itemize, which means their tax form can go back to that one simple page.
Families in this country will also benefit from tax relief to help them with child and dependent care expenses.
We are going to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT creates significant complications and burdens by requiring taxpayers to do their taxes twice to see which is higher. That makes no sense; we should have one simple tax code.
Job creation and economic growth is the top priority for this Administration, and nothing drives economic growth like capital investment. Therefore, we are going to return the top tax rate on capital gains and dividends to 20 percent by repealing the harmful 3.8 percent Obamacare tax. That tax has been a direct hit on investment income and small business owners.
We are going to repeal the death tax. The threat of being hit by the death tax leads small business owners and farmers in this country to waste countless hours and resources on complicated estate planning to make sure their children aren’t hit with a huge tax when they die. No one wants their children to have to sell the family business to pay an unfair tax.
We are going to eliminate most of the tax breaks that mainly benefit high-income individuals. Home ownership, charitable giving, and retirement savings will be protected – but other tax benefits will be eliminated.
This is not going to be easy. Doing big things never is. But one thing is for certain: I would not bet against this President. He will get this done for the American people.
Gary Cohn is the chief economic advisor to President Donald J. Trump and Director of the National Economic Council.
By Philip Rucker and Karen DeYoung April 20 at 10:34 PM
An Egyptian American charity worker who was imprisoned in Cairo for three years and became the global face of Egypt’s brutal crackdown on civil society returned home to the United States late Thursday after the Trump administration quietly negotiated her release.
President Trump and his aides worked for several weeks with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi to secure the freedom of Aya Hijazi, 30, a U.S. citizen, as well as her husband, Mohamed Hassanein, who is Egyptian, and four other humanitarian workers. Trump dispatched a U.S. government aircraft to Cairo to bring Hijazi and her family to Washington.
Hijazi, who grew up in Falls Church, Va., and graduated from George Mason University, was working in Cairo with the Belady Foundation, which she and her husband established as a haven and rehabilitation center for street children in Cairo.
Ridgewood NJ, yesterday, President Donald Trump claimed on twitter that former President Obama had his phones tapped during the 2016 presidential election. This revelation released a firestorm of accusations including the claim that if the wire tapping is true this will be a bigger scandal than Watergate.
After months of Democrat run media attacks on the President claiming Russian involvement in the 2016 election, no hard evidence has as of yet come to light to prove the accusations.
But the Obama wire taps on Trump are a totally different matter and this is what we know so far :
1, The Intelligence Community -at the direction of President Obama- made a request to a FISA court for the NSA to spy on Donald Trump in June 2016. It was denied.
2, In October the Intelligence Community (NSA) -at the direction of President Obama- made a second request to the FISA court for the NSA to spy on Donald Trump. It was approved.
3. At around the same time (October), as the second request to FISA, (Def Sec) Ash Carter and (DNI) James Clapper tell President Obama to dump NSA Director Mike Rogers.
4. A week after the election, Mike Rogers makes a trip to Trump Tower without telling his superior, James Clapper; which brings about new calls (November media leaks to WaPo) for President Obama to dump Mike Rogers.
5, According to the Executive Order rule changes DNI James Clapper signed off on December 15th.
6. General Michael Flynn spoke to the Russian Ambassador on December 29th
Dec 29th 2016 – Obama announces sanctions on Russia
7, VERY IMPORTANT January: Obama expands NSA sharing. As Michael Walsh later notes, and as the New York Times reports, the outgoing Obama administration “expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.” The new powers, and reduced protections, could make it easier for intelligence on private citizens to be circulated improperly or leaked.
8. Jan 3rd 2017 – Loretta Lynch signs off on rule changes for phone taps.
9. Jan 12th 2017 – WaPo reports On Phone Calls Anonymous Intel Sources
10. Jan 15th 2017 – VP Pence appears on Face the nation.
11. Jan 20th 2017 – Inauguration
12. Jan 23rd 2017 – FBI reports nothing unlawful in content of Flynn call
13. Jan 26th 2017 – Sally Yates (acting DOJ) informs President Trump there might be a conflict between VP Pence’s stated TV version (was told by Flynn), and what Intel community communicate to Yates that Flynn actually expressed to Russia.
14, Jan 27th 2017 – White House counsel begins investigation to discrepancy.
15 January: Times report. The New York Times reports, on the eve of Inauguration Day, that several agencies — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Treasury Department are monitoring several associates of the Trump campaign suspected of Russian ties.
Occam’s Razor. NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers didn’t want to participate in the spying scheme (Clapper, Brennan, Etc.), which was the baseline for President Obama’s post presidency efforts to undermine Donald Trump and keep Trump from digging into the Obama labyrinth underlying his remaining loyalists. After the October spying operation went into effect, Rogers unknown loyalty was a risk to the Obama objective. 10 Days after the election Rogers travels to President-Elect Trump without notifying those who were involved in the intel scheme.
Did NSA Director Mike Rogers wait for a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) to be set up in Trump Tower, and then notify the President-elect he was being monitored by President Obama?
Here is my personal favorite, President Obama found his private moment of political candor caught by a live microphone on Monday as he told President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia that he would have “more flexibility” to negotiate on the delicate issue of missile defense after the November election. So what is really going on with the Democrats?
Sometimes a speech is just a speech. And sometimes it heralds the prospect of a great national revival.
Donald Trump gave the best speech of his short political life last night, and it had nothing to do with grand oratory. He was thoroughly presidential, speaking plainly and yet masterfully in projecting an optimistic vision of the America he aims to build.
It is a vision so optimistic and encompassing that even steaming Democrats had to join boisterous Republicans in the applause at times.
Anything you could possibly want, he served it up in a feast of ideas and promises. Trump was at turns resolute, as when he talked about the “broken promises” of ObamaCare.
And he never once mentioned the media or fake news. Hallelujah!
His speech was well written, and well delivered, chock full of initiatives and full of changes in mood.
Trump was aggressive when he wondered how Democrats opposed to border control would feel if they talked to an American who lost his job and maybe a loved one because of an illegal immigrant.
He showed flashes of humor and talked with compassion about the power of school choice to save children from failing schools while recounting the story of a young woman in the audience. She was one of several nonwhites he singled out in a display of diversity that most Dems couldn’t resist.
A strong majority of Americans say the U.S. economy is running strong, and most believe the upward trend will continue under President Trump, according to a Harvard-Harris poll provided exclusively to The Hill.
The survey found that 61 percent view the economy as strong, against 39 percent who say it is weak.
A plurality, 42 percent, said they believe the economy is on the right track, versus 39 percent who said it is on the wrong track.
Trump and congressional Republicans have claimed credit for the turnaround, noting numerous polls in 2016 that showed that many Americans wanted change in the nation’s capital. Democrats counter that former President Obama handed a healthy economy to Trump and point out that the unemployment rate has dropped under 5 percent. At a press conference on Thursday, Trump said he inherited “a mess.”
Among Republicans surveyed in the Harvard-Harris poll, 60 percent are satisfied with the economic trajectory, versus 23 percent who are dissatisfied. Only 33 percent of Democrats said the economy is on the right track, while 48 percent said it is headed in the wrong direction.
At 65 percent, Trump voters are the likeliest to say the economy is headed in the right direction.
“It’s really a surprising turnaround given how negative voters have been about the economy since 2009,” said Mark Penn, co-director of the Harvard-Harris poll. “But jobs remains the number one issue and a lot of the change in sentiment anticipates tax cuts and infrastructure programs.”
Washington DC, On Thursday , President Donald J. Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 38) to stop the costly “Stream Protection Rule” from further harming coal workers and the communities that depend on them.
H.J. Res. 38 blocks an overly burdensome regulation from harming the coal industry.
The regulation was expected to reduce coal production, leading to fewer coal jobs across the country.
The blocked regulation threatened the coal industry with millions of dollars in compliance costs.
Complying with the regulation would have put an unsustainable financial burden on small mines, most of which are in the Appalachian Basin.
The blocked regulation would have duplicated existing regulations already in place to protect Americans.
GIVING COAL COUNTRY RELIEF: Since 2009, the coal industry has declined, leaving workers and communities without a lifeline.
Since January 2009, the coal mining industry has lost over 36,000 jobs without any relief in sight.
From 2009 to 2015, coal production declined by over 177,000,000 tons across the country.
From 2009 to 2015, over 600 coal mines closed.
A PROMISE TO COAL WORKERS: Before President Trump’s inauguration, he promised coal workers he would support them and reverse the harmful actions of the past administration.
November 21, 2016, the Trump-Pence Transition Team pledged to “end the war on coal” and review harmful regulations created under the Obama Administration.
September 22, 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump called out harmful coal regulations: “I will rescind the coal mining lease moratorium, the excessive Interior Department stream rule, and conduct a top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama Administration.”
August 8, 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump pledged to the American people: “We will put our coal miners and steel workers back to work.”
GETTING GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY: President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burden on all Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses.
President Trump has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
President Trump has placed a moratorium on all new regulations by executive departments and agencies that are not compelled by Congress or public safety.
President Trump directed the Commerce Department to streamline Federal permitting processes for domestic manufacturing and to reduce regulatory burdens on domestic manufacturers.
President Trump signed an Executive Order expediting the environmental review and approval processes for domestic infrastructure projects.
President Trump signed legislation to eliminate a costly regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage.
President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a full review of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to ensure associated, burdensome regulations receive proper scrutiny.
President Trump ordered re-examination of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, to make certain that it does not harm Americans as they save for retirement.
Washington DC, Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 41) eliminating a costly regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage.
This creates a level playing field with companies like BP who were formed solely for the purpose of bribing, ie political contributions, PILOT, jobs, taxes and so on foreign governments to exploit the natural resources.
Critics of the Gulf Oil spill have long claimed BP bribed its way out of trouble in the gulf with a huge payment to the Obama Administration.
H.J. Res. 41 blocks a misguided regulation from burdening American extraction (oil )companies.
By halting this regulation, the President has removed a costly impediment to American extraction companies helping their workers succeed. This legislation could save American businesses as much as $600 million annually in regulatory compliance costs and spare them 200,000 hours of paperwork. The regulation created an unfair advantage for foreign-owned extraction companies.
BUILDING ON PRESIDENTIAL ACTION: President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burden on everyday Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses.
President Trump has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
President Trump will initiate fundamental changes to the United States healthcare system to reduce the financial burden on Americans by getting the government out of the way.
President Trump has placed a moratorium on all new regulations by executive departments and agencies that are not compelled by Congress or public safety.
President Trump directed his Secretary of Commerce to streamline Federal permitting processes for domestic manufacturing and to reduce regulatory burdens on domestic manufacturers.
President Trump signed an Executive Order expediting the environmental review and approval processes for domestic infrastructure projects.
President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a full review of Dodd-Frank to ensure associated, burdensome regulations receive proper scrutiny.
President Trump ordered re-examination of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, to make certain that it does not harm Americans as they save for retirement.
Governor says officials from communities that lose federal funding will have to explain revenue loss to local residents
President Donald Trump has threatened in an executive order to strip federal aid from so-called sanctuary cities that harbor undocumented immigrants, meaning some communities in New Jersey could stand to lose millions of dollars.
But Democratic legislative leaders, harking back to New Jersey’s historic role in welcoming immigrants to the United States, want to make sure state funds are available to replace any resources that would be lost if the new president follows through on his threat against sanctuary cities.
A review of information compiled by a Senate committee in 2016 reveals that 72 individuals from the seven countries covered in President Trump’s vetting executive order have been convicted in terror cases since the 9/11 attacks. These facts stand in stark contrast to the assertions by the Ninth Circuit judges who have blocked the president’s order on the basis that there is no evidence showing a risk to the United States in allowing aliens from these seven terror-associated countries to come in.
In June 2016 the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, then chaired by new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, released a report on individuals convicted in terror cases since 9/11. Using open sources (because the Obama administration refused to provide government records), the report found that 380 out of 580 people convicted in terror cases since 9/11 were foreign-born. The report is no longer available on the Senate website, but a summary published by Fox News is available here.
The Center has obtained a copy of the information compiled by the subcommittee. The information compiled includes names of offenders, dates of conviction, terror group affiliation, federal criminal charges, sentence imposed, state of residence, and immigration history.
The Center has extracted information on 72 individuals named in the Senate report whose country of origin is one of the seven terror-associated countries included in the vetting executive order: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The Senate researchers were not able to obtain complete information on each convicted terrorist, so it is possible that more of the convicted terrorists are from these countries.
The United States has admitted terrorists from all of the seven dangerous countries:
According to the report, at least 17 individuals entered as refugees from these terror-prone countries. Three came in on student visas and one arrived on a diplomatic visa.
At least 25 of these immigrants eventually became citizens. Ten were lawful permanent residents, and four were illegal aliens.
These immigrant terrorists lived in at least 16 different states, with the largest number from the terror-associated countries living in New York (10), Minnesota (8), California (8), and Michigan (6). Ironically, Minnesota was one of the states suing to block Trump’s order to pause entries from the terror-associated countries, claiming it harmed the state. At least two of the terrorists were living in Washington, which joined with Minnesota in the lawsuit to block the order.
Thirty-three of the 72 individuals from the seven terror-associated countries were convicted of very serious terror-related crimes, and were sentenced to at least three years imprisonment. The crimes included use of a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit a terror act, material support of a terrorist or terror group, international money laundering conspiracy, possession of explosives or missiles, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
Some opponents of the travel suspension have tried to claim that the Senate report was flawed because it included individuals who were not necessarily terrorists because they were convicted of crimes such as identity fraud and false statements. About a dozen individuals in the group from the seven terror-associated countries are in this category. Some are individuals who were arrested and convicted in the months following 9/11 for involvement in a fraudulent hazardous materials and commercial driver’s license scheme that was extremely worrisome to law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies, although a direct link to the 9/11 plot was never claimed.
The information in this report was compiled by Senate staff from open sources, and certainly could have been found by the judges if they or their clerks had looked for it. Another example that should have come to mind is that of Abdul Razak Ali Artan, who attacked and wounded 11 people on the campus of Ohio State University in November 2016. Artan was a Somalian who arrived in 2007 as a refugee.
President Trump’s vetting order is clearly legal under the provisions of section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which says that the president can suspend the entry of any alien or group of aliens if he finds it to be detrimental to the national interest. He should not have to provide any more justification than was already presented in the order, but if judges demand more reasons, here are 72.
A majority of Europeans would support a Trump-style ban on further migration from mainly Muslim countries, according to a poll of more than 10,000 people in 10 countries.
An average of 55 percent of those surveyed for London-based think tank, Chatham House, agreed that immigration from Muslim-majority countries should be halted.
The poll released Tuesday comes after a bruising 18 months that have seen a string of terrorist massacres linked to radical Islam as well as record-setting levels of migration that have created social tensions across the continent.
Migrants wait to receive free food during a snowfall outside a derelict customs warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia on Jan. 9, 2017. Marko Djurica / Reuters, file
Majorities in all but two of the 10 countries polled supported a ban, ranging from 71 percent in Poland, to 53 percent in Germany, 47 percent in the United Kingdom and 41 percent in Spain. In no country did the percentage that disagreed surpass 32 percent.
President Trump’s Action to Delay Harmful Fiduciary Rule
February 04,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
WASHINGTON DC, Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Ann Wagner (R-MO), who were with President Trump today at the White House, made the following comments regarding the President’s executive action on the Obama Administration’s harmful fiduciary rule:
Chairman Hensarling: “I was proud to stand next to President Trump in the Oval Office today as he signed two important executive actions that represent the beginning of the end of the Dodd-Frank mistake and the start of a new day that will bring more freedom and economic opportunity to all Americans.
“No unaccountable Washington bureaucrats should get in the way of hardworking Americans and their ability to make financial decisions that work best for their families. Republicans want to empower Americans to make their own financial decisions, but the Obama administration’s so-called fiduciary rule instead empowered unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. That means costs will go up and choices will go down – just like with Obamacare. Republicans believe if you like your retirement planner, you should be able to keep your retirement planner. If you like your financial adviser, you should be able to keep your financial adviser.
Chairman Wagner: “Today is a great day for low- and middle-income American families. I applaud President Trump’s executive order to delay the Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule, listening to the concerns of everyday Americans and protecting their ability to access retirement investment advice. This delay will allow the Administration to potentially repeal the rule entirely, and within this time, I will continue working toward a permanent solution in Congress through legislation to help preserve investment choice, access and affordability while ensuring all families are receiving investment advice that is truly in their best interest.”
His message to America: Remember those things I said in the campaign? I meant them. I meant it all.
By
PEGGY NOONAN
Jan. 20, 2017 6:49 p.m. ET
Washington
I was more moved than I expected. Then more startled.
The old forms and traditions, the bands and bunting, endured. I thought, as I watched the inauguration: It continues. There were pomp and splendor, happy, cheering crowds; and for all the confounding nature of the past 18 months, and all the trauma, it came as a reassurance to see us do what we do the way we do it. A friend in the Southwest, a longtime Trump supporter, emailed just before the swearing in: “I have been crying all morning.” From joy.
I found myself unexpectedly moved during the White House meeting of the Trumps and the Obamas, at the moment Melania Trump emerged from her car. She was beautiful, seemed so shy and game. There are many ways to show your respect for people and events, and one is to present yourself with elegance and dignity.
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