Find out How Many Jobs Your State Could Lose With a $15 Minimum Wage

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Following legislation in New York and California raising their statewide minimum wages to $15 an hour, a new study has found that such statewide mandates would lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses.

According to a new study from The Heritage Foundation, proposals at the state and federal levels to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour would lead to job losses in nearly all states and the District of Columbia.

Conducted by James Sherk, a research fellow in labor economics, the study found that state minimum wage hikes would lead to the loss of 9 million jobs across the country.

States like Texas, California, and Florida would see the highest number of job losses in 2021, with Texas and California losing more than 900,000 jobs, and Florida losing more than 700,000.

In California, 34 percent of wage and salaried workers would be impacted, compared to 38 percent and 40 percent of wage and salaried workers in Texas and Florida, respectively.

Additionally, though states like West Virginia and South Dakota would lose 52,000 jobs (West Virginia) and 22,000 jobs (South Dakota), more than 37 percent of those states’ wage and salaried workers would be impacted.

Other states, like New York and North Carolina, could see job losses topping 434,000 and 367,000, respectively.

A federal minimum wage hike to $15 an hour would lead to fewer job losses nationwide—approximately 7 million.

Sherk said this difference can be attributed to the statewide minimum wage proposals that have already been signed into law. States like California and New York, for example, would see fewer job losses since those states are phasing in state minimum wage hikes through 2022. By 2021, California’s minimum wage will be $14 an hour, according to state law, which means the state would lose 134,000 jobs that year.

Additionally, Sherk said federal minimum wage proposals typically exempt those in the agricultural sector, while state laws do not.

A $15 an hour federal minimum wage would hit Texas the hardest, with the state projected to lose more than 900,000 jobs in 2021. Florida, meanwhile, would lose 594,000 jobs, according to Sherk’s analysis.

“In general, it’s bad for places like Texas that are low cost of living states,” Vance Ginn, an economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told The Daily Signal. “Employers are going to want to let go those who are the least skilled and the least educated, which ends up hurting the people we are trying to help along the way instead of letting the market forces work.”

Both Sherk and Ginn agreed that a $15 an hour minimum wage would impact states with lower costs of living—like Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina—more than those that are more expensive to live in.

“In states with lower living costs and lower wages, you’re going to see a strong effect,” Sherk told The Daily Signal.

Sherk said that a worker would have to produce approximately $18.60 an hour in value or the company loses money in hiring them.

“Forcing businesses to pay starting wages at $15 an hour makes less-skilled workers and less-experienced workers unemployable. The worker has to be able to produce at least as much in value through their labor as they’re getting paid in wages as well as the employer share of payroll taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, and the Obamacare mandate,” he said.

“A $15 an hour starting wage mandate means those workers are unemployable,” Sherk continued. “Businesses would lose money hiring them and they’re not going to do that.”

Over the last few years, labor unions have been pushing to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Since then, groups like Fight for $15, made up largely of fast-food workers, have staged strikes in cities nationwide to protest for wage hikes.

The group argues that while their employers are “multi-billion corporations,” they are forced to live in poverty.

Earlier this year, Democratic Govs. Jerry Brown of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York signed bills in their respective states raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years.

California’s wage hike will be phased in over a five-year period, bringing the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. New York’s $15 an hour minimum wage will go into effect in New York City first by 2019, and will take hold statewide by 2021.

“This is about creating a little tiny bit of balance in a system that every day becomes more unbalanced,” Brown said at the bill’s signing.

Already, states and cities with a $15 an hour minimum wage are beginning to see the impact of the higher minimum wage.

American Apparel, for example, said in April it is going to begin outsourcing some of its manufacturing, taking with it 500 Los Angeles jobs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Additionally, small business owners in San Diego told The Daily Signal earlier this year they would have to either raise prices or close their doors to compensate for the increased labor costs a $15 an hour minimum wage would bring.

And some fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and Panera Bread have begun installing self-service kiosks.

(For more from the author of “Find out How Many Jobs Your State Could Lose With a $15 Minimum Wage” please click HERE)

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Men Are Getting Weaker — Because We’re Not Raising Men

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If you’re the average Millennial male, your dad is stronger than you are. In fact, you may not be stronger than the average Millennial female. You’re exactly the kind of person who in generations past had your milk money confiscated every day — who got swirlied in the middle-school bathroom. The very idea of manual labor is alien to you, and even if you were asked to help, say, build a back porch, the task would exhaust you to the point of uselessness. Welcome to the new, post-masculine reality.

This morning, the Washington Post highlighted a study showing that the grip strength of a sample of college men had declined significantly between 1985 and 2016. Indeed, the grip strength of the sample of college men had declined so much — from 117 pounds of force to 98 — that it now matched that of older Millennial women. In other words, the average college male had no more hand strength than a 30-year-old mom.

Yes, I know it’s only one study. Yes, I know that grip strength is but one measure of overall physical fitness. But as the Post noted, these findings are consistent with other studies showing kids are less fit today. (For example, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than it did 30 years ago.) Simply put, we’re getting soft — and no cohort is getting softer faster than college men. (Read more from “Men Are Getting Weaker — Because We’re Not Raising Men” HERE)

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REVEALED: Soros Money Led Directly to Passage of Senate “Gang of Eight” Amnesty Bill

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Left-wing billionaire George Soros’ non-profit network, the Open Society Foundations (OSF), is confident about the future success of its work in the field of immigration activism and may embark on a massive campaign on immigration issues in the near future.

That’s according to a candid 62-page document reviewing OSF’s work on immigration reform discussed in May at the group’s board meeting in Montgomery, Ala.

The document, which is one of 2,500 stolen from OSF in a massive hack and released over the weekend, shows that the Soros group believes that its $7.7 million investment in groups pushing for immigration reform was responsible for the passage of the Senate’s 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill.

The bill, which was introduced by a bi-partistan group of senators known as the “Gang of Eight,” passed the upper chamber 68-32.

Though the measure was quashed by House Republicans, Soros’ group believes that pro-immigration groups were made stronger because of the investment in activists, alliances, infrastructure and media outreach, the document shows. (Read more from “REVEALED: Soros Money Led Directly to Passage of Senate “Gang of Eight” Amnesty Bill” HERE)

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Muslim Dem Blames Trump ‘Racists’ for Her ‘Bigamy’ Problem

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America’s soon-to-be first female Muslim legislator has a problem on her hands.

She’s accused of being married to two men, at the same time, including one who may be her brother. The second marriage was allegedly a sham, meant to deceive the U.S. government’s immigration system, allowing him to emigrate from the United Kingdom, according to local Minneapolis media.

But Ilhan Omar, a 33-year-old Somali refugee who was the victor in Minnesota’s Aug. 9 Democratic primary, denies the story, issuing a statement calling it “categorically false” and based on “absurd rumors that don’t bear repeating.” She charged those raising the issue are “racists” using “Donald Trump tactics” to drive a wedge between various demographic segments of Minnesota voters.

Omar defeated 44-year incumbent liberal Democrat Phyllis Khan. Since the district is made up primarily of an area of Minneapolis populated by immigrants and college students, Omar is considered a shoe-in in the November general election again her GOP opponent.

But local attorney Scott Johnson, an author of the well-read PowerLine blog, dropped a bombshell a few days after the primary with a story so shocking that the local media was forced to emerge from its euphoric coverage of Minnesota’s “first female Muslim refugee legislator” and acknowledge that this candidate has legitimate questions to answer. (Read more from “Muslim Dem Blames Trump ‘Racists’ for Her ‘Bigamy’ Problem” HERE)

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HUMA ABEDIN’S MOTHER: An Advocate for Islamist Terror and Repression

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Hillary Clinton’s closest and most powerful aide is Huma Abedin.

Abedin’s parents have been tied to wide range of terrorist activity and Islamist repression.

In 2012, the Center for Security Policy published a comprehensive review of Abedin’s mother’s work (PDF). Given Ms. Abedin’s proximity to a possible future President, these connections and beliefs are well worth exploring.

…Saleha Abedin, was described in Foreign Policy misleadingly as a “leading voice on women’s rights in the Muslim world” for her work on Islamic women’s issues. The content of that work, however, turns the western concept of women’s rights on its head; Abedin’s mission is the promotion of doctrinal shariah in family life and justification of the brutal and objectively anti-women practices commonplace everywhere that shariah is enforced…

…An organization Abedin founded and chaired, the International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC), advocates for the repeal of Egypt’s Mubarak-era prohibitions on female genital mutilation, child marriage, and marital rape, on the grounds that such prohibitions run counter to Islamic law, which allows for their practice. As shariah justification for this position, the IICWC quotes infamous Hitler-praising Muslim Brotherhood chief jurist Yusuf al Qaradawi, long banned from entering the United States for advocating the murder of Americans in the Middle East.

In the 90s, Dr. Abedin and her late husband (and Huma Abedin’s father) published the Arabic edition of Women in Islam: A Discourse in Rights and Obligations by Saudi Islamist academic Fatima Umar Naseef…

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…The book includes 22 citations to works by Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966). Qutb has inspired both Islamist terrorist organizations (like al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad) and supplied the ideological basis for the Muslim Brotherhood’s ultimate political goals as well as their tactics.

Qutb advocated for the centrality of jihad, warfare of conquest against non-Muslims, the importance of the shariah state…

Emails recently released by Judicial Watch reveal Huma Abedin warning staffers that Hillary Clinton is “often confused”.

Should Hillary Clinton win the White House, Abedin will be in a position of significant power; she will be a “shadow president” not unlike Valerie Jarrett. (For more from the author of “HUMA ABEDIN’S MOTHER: An Advocate for Islamist Terror and Repression” please click HERE)

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We Dodged One ISIS Bullet. But Will America Be as Lucky Next Time?

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How many more terrorist bullets must we dodge before we finally come to our senses and deploy every possible legal tool against our jihadist enemies? Two news stories from earlier this month got somewhat lost in the turmoil surrounding the presidential election and the excitement of the Olympics, but together they tell us both about the bullet we just dodged and about the ones we can expect to face if Congress doesn’t act more aggressively in defense of the American people. In one story, the FBI announced the arrest of Nicholas Young of Virginia for trying to provide material aid to ISIS. In the other, the New York Times laid out the activities of the so-called “Emni,” a branch of ISIS that oversees its program to plant jihadists in western Europe and the United States.

Young’s history is sobering. A Metro cop since 2003, he was a convert to Islam who ventured twice to Libya to fight with the so-called rebels against Muammar Qaddafi — the same rebels who were later revealed as radical Islamic terrorists affiliated with ISIS. He stockpiled weapons and traveled with military equipment (which we apparently know because his baggage was searched) and had subsequent contact with terrorist sympathizers in the United States, as well as FBI agents posing as terrorist sympathizers. In addition, our allies clearly saw him as a threat — the Egyptian authorities actually prevented him from entering Libya on one trip, although he subsequently gained access through Tunisia. Still, for the six years the FBI had him under surveillance, there does not seem to have been an effort to restrict his movements or raise concerns about his work as a Metro cop, despite the havoc he could have wrecked given his position and jihadist training. The consensus seems to have been that he was kooky but not really serious about committing a terrorist act. Only when he was caught red-handed trying to provide untraceable communications cards to ISIS was he finally arrested for providing material support to a known terrorist group.

While we can all breathe a sigh of relief that this human time bomb is no longer a threat to the innocent commuters of our nation’s capital, the New York Times article should eliminate any sense of false security. Nicholas Young was not just crazy and he was not a lone wolf — he was the forerunner of a gathering pack, a “global network of killers,” that ISIS is mobilizing to attack America and our allies abroad. He is also flesh-and-blood evidence that United States citizens are traveling overseas, contacting terrorist groups, and returning here to plot against us.

For the past three years, our attention has been riveted by the horrific acts of violence carried out by ISIS in its claimed caliphate. Critics of the Obama administration’s ISIS policy have frequently pointed out the anemic pace and intensity of the air strikes against ISIS, and have urged a more rigorous, concerted campaign to actually destroy them. While there have been some recent advances, reports about the activities of a secretive branch of ISIS called “Emni” suggest that even the dissolution of the caliphate will not end the ISIS threat. Indeed, ISIS is already planning for the next phase of this long war, which will shift to their agents in the West — some infiltrating the waves of refugees pouring out of the Middle East, some radicalized online, and some our own citizens who have gone abroad to train with terrorist groups.

There are many red flags around the Young case that need to be addressed. If the Obama Administration continues to refuse to recognize the threat that he represents, hopefully Congress will start to take action on legislation to address the influx of refugees from the Middle East and the ability of the State Department to make joining with a terrorist group overseas grounds for denying re-entry into the United States. In light of the terrorist threat we face, these steps are only the most basic common sense and should enjoy bi-partisan support.

In the case of Nicholas Young, our law enforcement officers were able to keep track of him until he tipped his hand about his intentions. We got lucky in this case, but ISIS has taken note of our vulnerability. The threat is growing, not receding and we might not be so lucky the next time. (For more from the author of “We Dodged One ISIS Bullet. But Will America Be as Lucky Next Time?” please click HERE)

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American Journalism Is Collapsing Before Our Eyes

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Donald Trump may or may not fix his campaign, and Hillary Clinton may or may not become the first female president. But something else happening before our eyes is almost as important: the complete collapse of American journalism as we know it.

The frenzy to bury Trump is not limited to the Clinton campaign and the Obama White House. They are working hand-in-hand with what was considered the cream of the nation’s news organizations.

The shameful display of naked partisanship by the elite media is unlike anything seen in modern America.

The largest broadcast networks — CBS, NBC and ABC — and major newspapers like The New York Times and Washington Post have jettisoned all pretense of fair play. Their fierce determination to keep Trump out of the Oval Office has no precedent. (Read more from “American Journalism Is Collapsing Before Our Eyes” HERE)

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‘ISIS Child Suicide Bomber’ Kills 50 at Turkey Wedding

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A suspected Islamic State child suicide bomber massacred at least 50 wedding guests dancing in a Turkey street.

President Tayyip Erdogan blamed the murders on Islamic State and said the killer, who wore an explosive belt, was between the ages of 12 and 14.

The sickening attack is the deadliest bombing this year in Turkey, which faces threats from militants at home and across the border with neighbouring Syria.

The country’s President Tayyip Erdogan said militants had carried out the late-night attack Gaziantep on Saturday.

The local governor’s office said in a statement 50 people were killed in the bombing, and more wounded were still being treated in hospitals around the province. (Read more from “‘ISIS Child Suicide Bomber’ Kills 50 at Turkey Wedding” HERE)

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Hillary Clinton Outspends Trump in White House Showdown

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Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump each raced to their strongest fundraising month of the campaign in July, but Clinton and her allies continue to outmuscle her GOP rival in the air and ground war for the presidency, according to new details of the candidates’ spending.

Clinton pulled in more than $52 million directly into her campaign last month and spent more than $38 million, according to her campaign’s filings Saturday with federal election regulators.

Trump raised nearly $36.7 million for his campaign and spent at a far slower pace than Clinton, reporting nearly $18.5 million in expenses in July as Clinton and her allies savaged him on the airwaves.

Trump, who has shunned much of the traditions of presidential campaigns, grew his staff modestly last month, employing 82 people, a USA TODAY review shows. Clinton, by contrast, employed 703 aides in July as she readied for her confrontation with Trump in key battlegrounds such as Ohio and Florida.

New campaign reports filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission show Clinton with another advantage: Super-wealthy Democrats are giving early and often to boost the former secretary of State’s presidential bid and to aid Democrats hoping to seize seats in Congress. Billionaires, such as California environmentalist Tom Steyer and financier George Soros, plowed millions into Democratic-aligned super PACs last month. (Read more from “Hillary Clinton Outspends Trump in White House Showdown” HERE)

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New Trump Campaign Manager: ‘To Be Determined’ on Whether Trump Will Relax Immigration Deportation Policy

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Donald Trump’s new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that it is “to be determined” whether Trump’s official immigration policy will include a deportation force.

After rumors began floating around yesterday that Trump was relaxing his position on illegal immigrants, host Dana Bash asked Conway for comment.

“What he supports,” Conway said, “is to make sure that we enforce the law, that we are respectful of those Americans who are looking for well-paying jobs, and that we are fair and humane for those who live among us in this country. And as the weeks unfold, he will lay out the specifics of that plan that he would implement as President of the United States.”

Pressing for further specifics, Bash then asked if Trump still plans to create a deportation force, to which Conway replied, “To be determined.”

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a leading immigration hardliner and prominent Trump backer,was also asked about the GOP presidential nominee’s immigration policy during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox & Friends. Host Tucker Carlson asked the senator if Trump had changed his position, which Sessions denied.

Carlson then asked Sessions if Trump still supports the so-called “touchback idea,” which would require illegal immigrants to be deported and then apply to reenter the states in a legal way.

“Well, I don’t know that he’s formally said that,” Sessions replied, “He’s discussed that, other people have discussed that. … I’m not sure that’s the best solution to the problem, but its one solution.” Sessions, chairs the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees, then recommended that we first “end the lawlessness. … Then you can begin to talk, more appropriately, about what to do with people who have been here a long time.”

Sunday’s comments come after some serious campaign shakeups, as well as a week in which the Republican Presidential nominee seemingly sought to soften his image — including a visit by Trump to flood-ravaged Louisiana.

If Trump has changed his deportation policy, it wouldn’t be the first time he has done so on immigration, an issue that helped skyrocket his campaign to the front of a crowded Republican primary field. After June’s mass shooting in Orlando by a suspected ISIS sympathizer, he walked back his call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration, saying he wanted policies to focus on nations with greater infiltration by terrorist elements. (For more from the author of “New Trump Campaign Manager: ‘To Be Determined’ on Whether Trump Will Relax Immigration Deportation Policy” please click HERE)

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