Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks before the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to the Value Voters Summit, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Rudy Giuliani, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, confirmed on Fox News late Saturday that Trump had previously asked him how to legally implement a Muslim immigration ban in the United States.
Speaking with Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro, Giuliani explained that Trump had asked him to convene a panel of lawmakers and lawyers with the intent of finding a solution that would legally allow them to implement a temporary Muslim ban. But he later disputed that Trump’s executive order signed Friday amounts to a ban on Muslims.
“I’ll tell you the whole history of it: We he first announced it, he said ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up, he said, ‘put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally,'” Giuliani said.
Giuliani then explained he did exactly that: he put together a commission with “expert” lawyers and lawmakers to try and find a way to legally implement a ban.
“And what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger — the areas of the world that create danger for us, which is a factual basis, not a religious basis,” he said. “Perfectly legal, perfectly sensible.”
Giuliani went on to reiterate that the ban is not based on religion, but rather “substantial evidence.”
He also explained why Saudi Arabia wasn’t on Trump’s list of Muslim-majority countries whose people are temporarily barred from entering the U.S.
Because “it is not the old Saudi Arabia,” Giuliani said, explaining that the new Saudi prince understands the threat that is radical Islamic terror.
However, Giuliani said he had no idea why Pakistan wasn’t on that list, considering that the 2015 San Bernardino shooters had ties to the country.
“That troubles me a little bit,” Giuliani said of Pakistan’s exclusion.
Trump issued an executive order on Friday temporarily halting the U.S. refugee resettlement program for at least 120 days until the administration can develop a process to better vet refugees. The executive order also temporarily bars people from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Syria — from entering the U.S. for at least 90 days.
Notable exceptions to the list included both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan for unknown reasons.
Every week in Lansing, big businesses lobby Michigan legislators for more and larger tax breaks and subsidies. As they do, regular taxpayers shouldn’t forget that Michigan already pays out hundreds of millions of dollars to favored firms.
Politicians justify those wealth transfers by pointing to promises of big employment gains in the future. But citizens should take note that the state’s job picture is already strong — and for reasons that have nothing to do with corporate welfare handouts for a few lucky developers and business owners.
STAY ENGAGED
People who watch the economy look at the numbers for employment and unemployment. Those monthly snapshots hide the significant amount of job turnover that occurs. The most recent monthly report said that in 2016, Michigan employment increased by 5,000 people from November to December. But even more people were hired, fired, retired, transferred or found employment elsewhere in those two months. A lot more.
The most recent figures show Michigan’s private sector employers added 218,793 jobs in the second quarter of 2016. They also shed 194,637 jobs. That’s a turnover of one out of every 19 jobs in a three- month span.
Compare these figures to the job announcements made by the state agency that administers the business subsidies. In the same three-month period, the agency announced subsidy agreements with companies that pledged to create 2,679 jobs.
The number of real jobs created was 81 times the number of subsidized jobs promised. The number of real jobs lost is 72 times more. And those promises need to be taken with a grain of salt: Companies rarely create all the jobs promised in the press releases that announce their subsidy agreements.
And even if they did, there is no evidence that taking money from many taxpayers and giving it to a relatively few favored firms creates more jobs than letting taxpayers keep it in the first place.
Real economic growth does not come from political deal-making. It comes from the thousands of people figuring out how to best look out for their families’ prosperity. State policies that make broad-based improvements to the business climate, like lowering taxes ordecreasing the burdens of state occupational licenses, can help them.
The first 50 bills introduced in the Michigan Senate this year contain many proposals dealing with criminal justice.
These are the latest iterations of ideas that have been hotly debated in Lansing for several years. All of the following bills also appeared within a bundle of 2016 Senate proposals that occupied lawmakers and lobbyists well into December.
They didn’t pass, but they’re already on the table for this year. Several of them echo last year’s focus on data collection.
Three bills define the word “recidivism” as it is used in various places in Michigan’s law books. They also make a distinction between some violations of parole and probation — “technical” violations — and others and then describe how data about the former violations should be gathered.
A “technical” parole or probation violator is someone who hasn’t committed a new crime but has broken some rule of his parole or probation. Fully one-third of the people committed to Michigan prisons are there for technical violations, costing the state $160 million between 2008 and 2012.
STAY ENGAGED
Another proposal is the Parole Sanction Certainty Act. It would create a new parole system based on the same principles as a successful new probation system Michigan courts have implemented in many parts of the state over the last couple years. The idea is to build accountability by immediately punishing rule-breaking with short jail stays, reinforcing an attitude of discipline and a commitment to productive re-entry.
Another measure would offer incentives to parole and probation departments that reduce the number of offenders who re-enter prison. Still another measure would give money to businesses that hire parolees and probationers. A final proposal would require the Michigan Department of Corrections to create separate housing for younger prison inmates.
The Michigan House is expected to take up criminal justice reforms of its own, including presumptive parole. House Speaker Tom Leonard has also identified prison mental illness as a priority.
President Donald Trump's inauguration will cause God's enemies to be shattered, Faith Marie Baczko wrote for The Elijah List. (Reuters photo)
Faith Marie Baczko, pastor of Yahweh's House Fellowship and president of Headstone Ministries International and Schools of The Last Wine, shared a new word from the Lord about the year ahead, which she says will be a tremendous year for the U.S. that will "affect all nations and all peoples for the better."
In the prophetic writing, which she shared with readers of The Elijah List, she wrote, in part:
When I sought the Lord for His word for 2017, He gave me Psalm 68 with an emphasis on verse one: "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered ..." An unprecedented, momentous and extraordinary year has now shifted into full throttle with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. As the anointing of the presidency has now fallen upon him, a reprieve has begun, and God is moving to restrain and push back the powers of darkness.
In this time, God will thrust a prepared people in the body of Christ and in the secular world, into an hour of history prepared by God for a fresh outpouring of His life; this will come with a fresh release of divine strategies and breakthroughs in innovation, medicine, technology, industry and for clean air and energy—deception will be exposed and hidden truth revealed.
Doors will open for many Christians who have known the call on their lives and have been perplexed by the wait to see its fulfillment. Many have not understood that the coming forth of their ministries was timed for the great reprieve now coming on the earth—a time set to offer the world an opportunity to recognize and receive the living God—our King, Jesus Christ, and to gather in a great harvest of souls as His reward. For countless souls, this will be a great opportunity, hence an urgency for an army of harvesters—laid-down lovers of God—to run the race of strength set before them.
As I contemplated the words, "Let God arise," the Lord began to highlight some points related to this arising. I sensed both His question and His answer of, "How does God arise?"
God showed me that He can arise spontaneously in the earth, but more often than not He arises in His people. God highlighted the need right now for His people to be preparing themselves for His arising. I recently had an encounter in the middle of the night through which God began to address many issues to take note of in this new season.
The first was that as He moved to take His people to higher heights, with a greater measure of the Holy Spirit, the enemy would also increase his offensive. However, He reminded me that this is the year of victory ordained by God and showed me that the roar of Satan might be loud, as he intends to make a lot of noise and stir a lot of trouble, but that ultimately he is restrained and bound in his attempts to steal, kill and destroy.
Yes, there will be great battles, but we have been given the victory to accomplish the purposes and the will of God. God says that we are to stir up our faith to believe and stir the gifts given to us to accomplish our mandate. We are to fan into flames the passion He has deposited inside of us and begin to move out at His command without fear.
And also:
This will be a tremendous year for the United States of America that will affect all nations and all peoples for the better, if we so choose. God is about to arise over the land of America in extraordinary ways. This year on August 21st, the great American solar eclipse will occur. This will be the first total eclipse in four decades and will be visible only over continental United States—it will be the first time in 99 years an American eclipse is visible from coast to coast. The eclipse will cross 10 states beginning in Oregon and ending in North Carolina, crossing a stretch of 70 miles; the next one will be in 7 years.
In a year characterized by a multitude of sevens, God is marking this incredible year of the Trump presidency with the great American eclipse, a time where He will arise within and through this nation to do great and marvelous things for all.
"That they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other" (Is. 45:6).
"So shall they fear the Name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him" (Is. 59:19).
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