The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
What next with North Korea?
by Cal Thomas
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Trump Tackles Visas
Donald Trump signed another executive order Tuesday — this one aimed at overhauling the H-1B visa program used by American tech companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers and bring them into the U.S. Trump has been critical of the program, claiming that it disadvantages American workers. His point is made more real when companies hire foreigners to replace American workers and make those Americans train their replacements. Trump's action may make it more difficult for domestic companies to hire foreign workers.
By Trump's estimation, the visa program has become too permissive, allowing in low-skilled, lower-paid foreign workers who have displaced American workers. As one administration official said, the "abuse" of the visa program that "brings in a worker not because you need their skill or talent, but for the purpose of undercutting the American worker" needs to be addressed. Trump's aim is to ensure that the original intent of the H-1B visa program is honored — namely that it is used only to bring in highly skilled foreign workers for highly specialized positions and needs.
His "Buy American, Hire American" order directs the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security and Labor to draft "new rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse," and to initiate a thorough review of the program in order to provide recommended legislative changes to Congress. It also instructs federal agencies to use American-made goods.
Trump's policies are already changing things, even in some cases if only by perception. The Washington Free Beacon reports, "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Monday that the number of H-1B visa applications dropped about 16 percent over the past year, marking the first such decline since 2012."
In related news, the Washington Post attempted to call out Trump for targeting "non-criminal" illegal aliens with a story headlined, "ICE immigration arrests of noncriminals double under Trump." However, when the statistics are more closely examined and compared against Barack liar-nObama's record, the story becomes markedly different. It is true that under Trump immigration officials have cracked down on illegal immigration to a greater extent than during liar-nObama's tenure. But the percentage of illegal aliens with criminal records arrested by ICE since Trump took office is 75%; under liar-nObama it was 60%. That means immigration officials under liar-nObama were less discriminating in who they targeted for arrest. Once again, The Washington Post has published an article that is grossly misleading. ~The Patriot Post
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US military considers shooting down
North Korea missile tests, sources say
{theguardian.com} ~ The US military is considering shooting down North Korean missile tests as a show of strength to Pyongyang, two sources briefed on the planning have told the Guardian... Amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, the Pentagon is looking for ways short of war to pressure the country into denuclearization, particularly if Pyongyang goes forward with a sixth nuclear test. The defense secretary, James Mattis, has briefed Congress on the option, but the military has not yet decided to intercept a test missile... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/18/us-military-shoot-down-north-korea-missile-tests
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Another Supreme Court Vacancy On The Horizon –
Senator Grassley Lets It Slip
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ There is speculation sparked by a comment made by Senator Chuck Grassley to a local Iowa paper in which he stated his belief that there will be a vacancy on the Supreme Court this summer... Grassley is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The reporters believe that likely vacancy will occur as the result of the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee who is often the swing vote on the court. Jonathan Karl note the comment made by Grassley in the Muscatine Journal, in which he stated on April 18th, “I would expect a Supreme Court]resignation this summer. Karl notes that Grassley’s chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee is significant because that is the body where hearings would be held for President Trump’s next nominee. He says, “If there is anybody in Congress who would know about such things, it is Chuck Grassley.” Karl also adds that it is consistent with what he has been hearing “in conservative legal circles for weeks, that Justice Kennedy has been telling friends and colleagues that he intends to retire this year, possibly after the current term of the Supreme Court is up on June 30th.”...
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What’s in the New liar-nObamacare Deal That
Could Unite Conservatives, Centrists
by Melissa Quinn
{dailysignal.com} ~ Conservative and centrist Republicans in the House are working on a deal that some say could unite the two factions and attract enough votes to pass the stalled bill to repeal and replace liar-nObamacare... But amid increased pressure from the White House to move forward with the plan to unravel the 2010 health care law, some conservatives have questions about the changes. News of the deal comes as President Donald Trump nears his 100th day in office, and just days before lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., to hash out the details of a bill funding the government... http://dailysignal.com/2017/04/20/whats-in-the-new-obamacare-deal-that-could-unite-conservatives-centrists/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTmpRMVptWXdZMkU0WWpFdyIsInQiOiIrTXRYd0RKbEVSUlwvQUkrbzNvc0dTZnB4aFlMaGd1KzBrUEFSZDBmMDA4UlBqYm5BejFQczdDY0hENG9ZUXhLNW1QQTRxSmZ1am9MRmdYaUxxT3NYZEpSMFZjNlVmS3p0XC8zN2x0NFpyaEpRdlFOOFwvQ1RXTUtFRXF4aGNcL1VcL1h3In0%3D
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What North Korea Should Teach Us about Iran
by Alan M. Dershowitz
by Alan M. Dershowitz
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ We failed to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. As a result, our options to stop them from developing a delivery system capable of reaching our shores are severely limited... The hard lesson from our failure to stop North Korea before they became a nuclear power is that we MUST stop Iran from ever developing or acquiring a nuclear arsenal. A nuclear Iran would be far more dangerous to American interests than a nuclear North Korea. Iran already has missiles capable of reaching numerous American allies. They are in the process of upgrading them and making them capable of delivering a nuclear payload to our shores. Its fundamentalist religious leaders would be willing to sacrifice millions of Iranians to destroy the "Big Satan" (United States) or the "Little Satan" (Israel). The late "moderate" leader Hashemi Rafsanjani once told an American journalist that if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, they "would kill as many as five million Jews," and that if Israel retaliated, they would kill fifteen million Iranians, which would be "a small sacrifice from among the billion Muslims in the world." He concluded that "it is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality." Recall that the Iranian mullahs were willing to sacrifice thousands of "child-soldiers" in their futile war with Iraq. There is nothing more dangerous than a "suicide regime" armed with nuclear weapons... https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10233/north-korea-iran
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“Ghost Soldiers” –funded by your tax dollars
by Sharyl Attkisson
{sharylattkisson.com} ~ Hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars have been wasted funding soldiers and police in Afghanistan that don’t exist... Lisa Fletcher digs into the problem of sex trafficking of minors in the U.S. and finds predators using tactics to recruit children that are similar to tactics used by Islamic extremists to radicalize fighters... https://sharylattkisson.com/ghost-soldiers-funded-by-your-tax-dollars/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SharylAttkisson+%28Sharyl+Attkisson%29
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by Cal Thomas
{jewishworldreview.com} ~There was a moment at Press Secretary Sean Spicer's White House briefing Monday that was significant. Asked by a reporter about North Korea's missile launch last weekend, Spicer said the administration was aware of the launch and that "it failed." End of story. Next question, please.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Conservative foreign secretary in Britain, might provide an explanation for Spicer's tight-lipped response. Rifkind told the BBC Sunday that "...there is a very strong belief that the U.S. -- through cyber methods -- has been successful on several occasions in interrupting these sorts of tests and making them fail."
At present, there are no direct links to a cyberattack on North Korea from the U.S., but that hasn't stopped media outlets from reporting the possibility of one.
Last month, the U.S. began sending the first elements of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to South Korea, though China opposed the move. When it becomes operational will it, along with cyberattacks, be enough to deter North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un from conducting new missile tests capable of hitting the U.S. with a nuclear warhead, which he has repeatedly threatened to do? Kim has said he will conduct missile tests "weekly" in response to U.S. threats.
On a recent visit to South Korea, Vice President Mike Pence vowed that "the era of strategic patience is over," a strategy adopted by the liar-nObama administration to explain its long-term view on global conflict resolution. Pence added, "North Korea would do well not to test President Trump's resolve -- or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region."
How much of this is bluster on both sides no one can say for sure. After President Trump's meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, there is some optimism that China might be able to exert sufficient pressure on its unpredictable ally to pull back from a direct confrontation with the U.S. Of greatest concern for the Trump administration, in addition to South Korean civilians who would likely suffer massive casualties should there be a North Korean invasion, are the more than 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Kim has threatened to attack them and flood South Korea with his ground forces.
What is our goal with North Korea? Is it regime change? If so, who and what would follow if Kim is ousted? Kim, his father and grandfather have established such an atmosphere of complete control and cult-like obedience with North Koreans who have been cut off from all outside information that it is hard to predict how the people would react. It's a good bet political prisoners in North Korea's prison camps would be overjoyed if the regime fell and they were set free.
Humanrights.gov estimates between "80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners and family members are detained in these camps, where starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape, forced abortion and infanticide are commonplace."
Those who wish to hold off on further challenges to North Korea must ask themselves a question. Given the erratic behavior of Kim Jong-Un and his bellicose promises to strike the U.S. with a nuclear missile, is it better to take him seriously and stop him now, or wait until he has the capability to carry out his threat?
Last week, Hawaii's House public safety committee passed a resolution calling for the state's defense agency to repair hundreds of fallout shelters that have not been updated since the 1980s and restock them with medical supplies, food and water.
We haven't yet reached the tension level of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which put the United States in direct confrontation with the Soviet Union and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, but the current tension between the U.S. and North Korea could quickly spiral downward.
Will the "peace through strength" doctrine of the Reagan administration, which suggested that military power could help preserve peace, work today? During the Reagan years, Soviet leaders were not unstable, as Kim Jong-Un appears to be, and a nuclear confrontation was avoided. Perhaps a demonstration of what the U.S can do with cyberwarfare, a missile defense system and help from China will be enough.
One can only hope.
What next with North Korea?
by Cal Thomas
{jewishworldreview.com} ~There was a moment at Press Secretary Sean Spicer's White House briefing Monday that was significant. Asked by a reporter about North Korea's missile launch last weekend, Spicer said the administration was aware of the launch and that "it failed." End of story. Next question, please.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Conservative foreign secretary in Britain, might provide an explanation for Spicer's tight-lipped response. Rifkind told the BBC Sunday that "...there is a very strong belief that the U.S. -- through cyber methods -- has been successful on several occasions in interrupting these sorts of tests and making them fail."
At present, there are no direct links to a cyberattack on North Korea from the U.S., but that hasn't stopped media outlets from reporting the possibility of one.
Last month, the U.S. began sending the first elements of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to South Korea, though China opposed the move. When it becomes operational will it, along with cyberattacks, be enough to deter North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un from conducting new missile tests capable of hitting the U.S. with a nuclear warhead, which he has repeatedly threatened to do? Kim has said he will conduct missile tests "weekly" in response to U.S. threats.
On a recent visit to South Korea, Vice President Mike Pence vowed that "the era of strategic patience is over," a strategy adopted by the liar-nObama administration to explain its long-term view on global conflict resolution. Pence added, "North Korea would do well not to test President Trump's resolve -- or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region."
How much of this is bluster on both sides no one can say for sure. After President Trump's meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, there is some optimism that China might be able to exert sufficient pressure on its unpredictable ally to pull back from a direct confrontation with the U.S. Of greatest concern for the Trump administration, in addition to South Korean civilians who would likely suffer massive casualties should there be a North Korean invasion, are the more than 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Kim has threatened to attack them and flood South Korea with his ground forces.
What is our goal with North Korea? Is it regime change? If so, who and what would follow if Kim is ousted? Kim, his father and grandfather have established such an atmosphere of complete control and cult-like obedience with North Koreans who have been cut off from all outside information that it is hard to predict how the people would react. It's a good bet political prisoners in North Korea's prison camps would be overjoyed if the regime fell and they were set free.
Humanrights.gov estimates between "80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners and family members are detained in these camps, where starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape, forced abortion and infanticide are commonplace."
Those who wish to hold off on further challenges to North Korea must ask themselves a question. Given the erratic behavior of Kim Jong-Un and his bellicose promises to strike the U.S. with a nuclear missile, is it better to take him seriously and stop him now, or wait until he has the capability to carry out his threat?
Last week, Hawaii's House public safety committee passed a resolution calling for the state's defense agency to repair hundreds of fallout shelters that have not been updated since the 1980s and restock them with medical supplies, food and water.
We haven't yet reached the tension level of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which put the United States in direct confrontation with the Soviet Union and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, but the current tension between the U.S. and North Korea could quickly spiral downward.
Will the "peace through strength" doctrine of the Reagan administration, which suggested that military power could help preserve peace, work today? During the Reagan years, Soviet leaders were not unstable, as Kim Jong-Un appears to be, and a nuclear confrontation was avoided. Perhaps a demonstration of what the U.S can do with cyberwarfare, a missile defense system and help from China will be enough.
One can only hope.
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