Archive for June, 2017

Unemployed Americans: It Would Be Easier For Us To Find A Job With Less Illegal Immigration – Townhall

While the economic report for May was not as strong as it should be, we still added 138,000 jobs. Consumer confidence, which reached a nine-year high post 2016 election, has dipped slightly but remains at very healthy levels. Small business owners confidence also reached its highest levels since 2007. Yet, what about those people who havent been able to find a job? Well, politically, they favor Hillary Clinton, but want less illegal immigration and Obamacare out of their lives. Second, they havent succumbed to doom and gloom. Though they may still be in the waiting lines, 92 percent are hopeful. Express Employment Professionals, a headhunting organization, released a survey last month that polled 1,500 unemployed Americans over the age of 18 from March 14 to April 6 to gauge their feelings on the current economic climate.

They noted that 33 percent of this group agreed with the statement "Ive completely given up on looking for a job, which is down from 43 percent in 2016, 40 percent in 2015, and 47 percent in 2014. Also, more blame themselves for being unemployed than the factors impacting the economy. The poll found that 50 percent took responsibility for their situation, while 26 percent blamed the economy. The group noted this is part of a trend. Thirty-four percent blamed the economy in 2016, 37 percent in 2015, and 45 percent in 2014.

Bob Funk, the CEO for Express Pros, said in a statement that while hes alarmed that one-third of the American workforce has said theyve given up, there are signs of a positive trend from previous years; fewer have given up, more are hopeful, fewer blame the economy and fewer are unemployed due to layoffs. Funk was the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Concerning those who said they were jobless because of layoffs, 22 percent was the figure for 2017, down 23 percent in 2016, 28 percent in 2015, and 36 percent in 2014.

Now, in terms of politics, the unemployed favored Hillary over Trump in a 35/25 split. Thirty-four percent did not vote. Yet, even with unemployed America tilting towards Clinton, they want Obamacare gone by a 57/43 margin. Also, a substantial majority also thought that a crackdown on illegal immigration would help them find work by a 58/42 margin. Concerning whether government should spend more on a jobs program or cut corporate tax rates to spur job creation, more government spending is preferred but by a slim 52/48 margin. Its almost down the middle on that question.

Yet, one troubling indicator is the direction of the country; 40 percent of the unemployed said we were heading down the right path compared to 60 percent who disagreed. At the same time, while these voters broke for Hillary, theyre more aligned with Donald Trump on immigration and health care, which are two huge issues facing the country today. There are many inroads with these voters on economic issues and if Democrats craft a populist, job creating-centric agenda over the next couple of yearsthese people will vote for them. As Real Clear Politics Sean Trende has said in prior discussions about elections and demographics, there are many ways to skin the electoral cat. Republicans resonate with this group on illegal immigrants and Obamacare, while Democrats could gain traction with a serious job program. For now, the political Left seems more worried about Russia and whether were all going to die from global warming now that were withdrawing from a non-binding agreement with Europe. So, seriousness is not a quality visible in todays Democratic Party at present.

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Unemployed Americans: It Would Be Easier For Us To Find A Job With Less Illegal Immigration - Townhall

Trump says he’s calling it a ‘travel ban’ – CNN

(CNN)President Donald Trump on Monday emphatically referred to his executive order on immigration as a "travel ban" and said his Justice Department should not have submitted a "watered down, politically correct version" to the Supreme Court.

Trump's suggestion that changes to the ban -- which, among other things, temporarily restricts travel to the US from several Muslim-majority countries -- were due to political correctness could hamper his administration's legal argument that the executive order did not target Muslims. As a candidate, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslim immigration to the United States, and Justice Department lawyers have gone to great lengths to avoid calling it a "travel ban" in court, referring to it as a "temporary pause" or simply "the executive order."

"People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN," he tweeted at 6:25 a.m. ET.

"The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C." he added.

People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!

The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.

He then tweeted: "The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court - & seek much tougher version!" before adding, "In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!"

Last week, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow the ban after lower courts rebuked his national security justifications for the ban multiple times.

Sen. Ben Cardin said Trump's latest words attacking his own Justice Department revealed his true desire to use the ban to discriminate on religious grounds.

"It clearly shows his intent," the Maryland Democrat told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" Monday. "His lawyers try to justify it by saying it wasn't a travel ban, but it was extreme vetting. The President made that clear. It is a travel ban."

Trump admin defends travel ban in court 02:01

As Justice Department attorneys have worked to convince courts not to look at Trump's statements in weighing the legal justifications of the travel ban, the President is not backing down -- instead, he's commenting more.

While DOJ lawyers argue that the revised ban is a significant change from the original order, Trump is minimizing the differences by calling it a "politically correct version."

Challengers could read his statements Monday morning as intent to disfavor Muslims in the ban, a point that has doomed the executive orders in court so far. In court briefs, DOJ lawyers have said the orders are "religion-neutral" in operation, drawing "distinctions among countries based on national-security risks identified by Congress and the Executive Branch, not religion, and applies evenhandedly in the six designated countries."

WH adviser: Trump tweets aren't policy 01:44

It's also notable that the revised travel ban was authored by Trump's administration and signed by the President himself -- his Justice Department's role is defending its legality.

Sebastian Gorka, a White House national security aide, told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" Monday in the wake of the President's tweets that the travel ban was essential to protecting the US.

"The fact is, it's been the same since the beginning, from the first executive order to the second executive order. It's one thing, Chris: It's about protecting Americans," he said.

Monday afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union, which is serving as co-counsel representing the plaintiffs in the case before the Supreme Court, confirmed it was considering using Trump's morning tweets in its argument.

And Neal Katyal, who is representing the state of Hawaii, which successfully sued for a nationwide injunction to the revised executive order, rifled off his own tweet:

Tapper hits Spicer for scolding media on 'ban' 01:57

And Trump has previously complained about the revised order, which removed Iraq from the initial seven countries listed in the first ban.

"That's what I wanted to do in the first place," he added.

CNN's Laura Jarrett and David Wright contributed to this report.

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Trump says he's calling it a 'travel ban' - CNN

This Man Is Turning Donald Trump’s Tweets Into ‘Official’ Presidential Statements – TIME

As President Donald Trump 's tweets continue to jolt the world, a new parody account imagines what they'd look like in the format of official White House statements.

The transformation is a straightforward one: simply grab a direct quote from Trump's account and print it out in the font and style of the White House's press office. The account @RealPressSecBot started posting just that on Sunday night and had already gained 39,000 followers by Monday morning. By giving Trump's tweets a more traditional look, this sendup will take the Twitter-scrolling American citizen to a reality where Trump-style social media statements are underneath the White House letterhead under the header "Statement by the President."

It's the brainchild of Russel Neiss, an educator and software engineer. Neiss' inspiration came when Pat Cunnane, a former deputy director of messaging at the White House under President Barack Obama, tweeted Sunday that , "all of Trump's Tweets should be mocked up in the correct Presidential statement format. It's telling."

"Functionally his tweets are presidential statements," Neiss told TIME. "Formatting them as such gives them the gravity they deserve."

"I like using twitter as a platform for advocacy and for helping to raise a level of discourse, not merely to mock," he added of the new account's mission.

Neil said he uses Twitter's data tool called REST API to collect the tweets, and a code called Python to reformat them to churn out the images. He created the account quickly. "Pat Cunnane's tweet inspired me and I had an hour to kill while my kids napped and I was avoiding doing dishes."

This isn't the first Twitter robot to take on the President. There's a bot that automatically prints his 145-character missives and burns each one. Satirizing Trump has inevitably taken the form of Twitter parody accounts, so the Internet is racing to come up with ways to remix Trump's tweets.

See the tweets below.

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This Man Is Turning Donald Trump's Tweets Into 'Official' Presidential Statements - TIME

Kellyanne Conway Says Media Should Stop Covering Donald Trump’s Tweets – Newsweek

President Donald Trump went on one of his infamous early-morning Twitter rants on Monday, but Kellyanne Conway doesn't want you to read all about it.

Conway, the pollster turned counselor to the president, told anchors on the Today showthat the media has an "obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little of what he does as president."

Related: Conway and Priebus among those given ethics waivers for former lobby work

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Conway made the remarks while speaking with Craig Melvin and Savannah Guthrie. The latter had asked whether Trump owed London Mayor Sadiq Khan an apology for his reaction to Saturday's attack that killed seven people and wounded nearly 50 at London Bridge and Borough Market. As the news was breaking over theweekend, Trump took to Twitter to not only promote his executive order suspending travel for people from certain Muslim-majority countries but also to call out Khan.

"At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!'" Trump wrote.

He was apparently referring to a quote from Khan telling residents of London not to worry when they see an increased police presence. A spokesman for Khan shot back in a statement to CNN, saying the tweet was "ill-informed" and adding that "Khan]has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump's ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more policeincluding armed officerson the streets."

Today's Guthrie resurfaced the criticism on Monday, characterizing Trump's Saturday tweet as a "political attack" that quoted the London leaderin a misleading way.

But Conway was adamant that Trump didn't need to say he was sorry. She said the president was firmly behind the British people and had spoken to Prime Minister Theresa May to offer his condolences afterthe attack, for which the Islamic State group (ISIS) laterclaimed responsibility.

When pressed, Conway argued that Guthrie was trying to "make this about something other than what it's about."

"I'm not going to allow,a day and a half after terrorists did it again, whether they're ISIS-inspired or ISIS-directed. They're savage murderers. It's an evil slaughter, as the president said last night. I'm going to not let him be seen as the perpetrator here," Conway said. "For every time you said Russia,imagine if you said ISIS.Every time you said Twitter,imagine if you said terrorist."

Melvin struck back, saying that Twitter is Trump's "preferred method of communication with the American people," given that he hasn't been doing many press interviews lately. Melvin then pivoted to Trump's travel executive order, about which the commander in chief coincidentally tweeted Monday morning.

The Monday tweets also raised eyebrows because Trump used the words "travel ban" to describe the policyan apparent departure from his administration's stance.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters in January that "it's not a travel ban" but a "vetting system to keep America safe," according to The Hill. On Monday, Trump wrote,"People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!"

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Kellyanne Conway Says Media Should Stop Covering Donald Trump's Tweets - Newsweek

Donald Trump blasts Senate as ‘obstructionists,’ demands approval of his nominees – Washington Times

President Trump accused Senate Democrats Monday of blocking his nominees particularly ambassadorships from confirmation, issuing yet another Twitter challenge to Capitol Hill.

But Democrats fired back, saying the problem is that Mr. Trump has been slow in sending nominees over to Capitol Hill for action, and its up to him to get the ball rolling.

Its the latest flare-up in a relationship that has only deteriorated over the first four months of Mr. Trumps presidency.

Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals, Mr. Trump said on Twitter amid an outburst that spanned everything from the latest London terror attack to gun control to criticizing how his own Justice Department has mounted the legal defense of his extreme vetting policies.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer fired back, saying Mr. Trump has been the problem. He said there are more than 500 positions that require Senate confirmation, and Mr. Trump has only nominated 63.

Another 24 have been nominated but arent officially before the Senate, and 15 others have been announced but not formally nominated, Mr. Schumer said.

Just 39 have been confirmed.

Mr. Schumer defended his partys pace as an important check on Mr. Trump.

It was the Senates responsibility to give a thorough vetting for such important positions, with many of the nominees having conflicts of interest and incomplete ethics agreements when they were named. President Trump ought to roll up his sleeves and get to work rather than pointing false fingers of blame, the New York Democrat said.

He also pointed to a number of picks Mr. Trump announced then canceled, including his original Labor Department secretary and two different names for secretary of the Army.

Republicans chided Mr. Schumer for initially getting his numbers wrong, skipping over 24 nominations Mr. Trump has made.

And the GOP said those confirmations Mr. Schumer is touting only came after a series of roadblocks erected by Democrats on Capitol Hill. More than 60 percent of the presidents picks have faced Democratic-led filibusters, and his Cabinet saw the largest number of No votes of any president in modern history.

Democrats have used parliamentary tactics to try to delay many of Mr. Trumps appointments, asking for delays in committee and forcing filibuster voters on the Senate floor.

Mr. Trumps solicitor general and two other high-profile Justice Department appointments have been awaiting a vote in the Judiciary Committee for weeks, with Democrats exercising their right under committee rules to demand a delay.

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Donald Trump blasts Senate as 'obstructionists,' demands approval of his nominees - Washington Times