Governor Greg Abbott [this week] signed House Bill 483 (Capriglione, R-Southlake; Kolkhorst, R-Brenham) to establish a state gold bullion depository administered by the Office of the Comptroller. The law will repatriate $1 billion of gold bullion from the Federal Reserve in New York to Texas. The bullion depository will serve as the custodian, guardian and administrator of bullion that may be transferred to or otherwise acquired by the State of Texas. Governor Abbott issued the following statement:
“. . .I signed HB 483 to provide a secure facility for the State of Texas, state agencies and Texas citizens to store gold bullion and other precious metals. With the passage of this bill, the Texas Bullion Depository will become the first state-level facility of its kind in the nation, increasing the security and stability of our gold reserves and keeping taxpayer funds from leaving Texas to pay for fees to store gold in facilities outside our state.” (“Texas to Take Back $1 Billion in Gold From the Fed”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-20 03:58:262016-04-11 10:59:49Texas to Take Back $1 Billion in Gold From the Fed
Nearly 5,000 Arizona immigrant detainees with criminal records were released from custody, a federal agency has acknowledged . . .
The National Review reported that the Department of Homeland Security said that the detainees charged with murder had been jailed and let out from 2010 to 2014.
A letter from the director of Immigrations and Customs, Sarah Saldana, to U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley was recently made public.
The senators asked asked for details surrounding the release of Valley resident Apolinar Altamirano, who was charged with the shooting death of a Mesa convenience store clerk in January. Altamirano was awaiting a deportation hearing.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had taken Altamirano into custody in January 2013 after he was convicted on burglary charges. (Read more from “Feds: 5K Immigrant Detainees in Arizona Have Criminal Records” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-20 03:57:592016-04-11 10:59:495,000 Illegal Alien Detainees in Arizona, Released by the Feds, Have Criminal Records
By Tom Tillison. When Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in June 2008, he talked about it being a moment “when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”
While acknowledging the journey would be difficult, Obama said he would “face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people” . . .
With Obama now in the sunset of his second term as president of the United States, he expressed frustration Thursday about his inability to deliver lasting change while speaking at a Los Angeles fundraiser.
But he made it clear it wasn’t his fault. Oh, no, of course not.
“When I ran in 2008, I in fact did not say I would fix it. I said we could fix it,” Obama said, according to The Washington Post. “I didn’t say, ‘Yes, I can.’ I said, ‘Yes, we can.’” (Read more from “Obama’s ‘Limitless Faith’ in Us Turns out to Have Limits: He’s Failed, and It’s Your Fault!” Read more from “Obama Blames the People for his Failure” HERE).
By Patrick Howley. President Barack Obama accidentally compared himself to a prisoner stuck in the White House while speaking at a Beverly Hills fundraiser at filmmaker Tyler Perry’s house Thursday.
“We should be reforming our criminal justice system in such a way that we are not incarcerating nonviolent offenders in ways that renders them incapable of getting a job after they leave office,” Obama said, effectively comparing being in prison to being in office.
“Little slip of the tongue there. Little Freudian slip,” Obama said after making his gaffe. “Tyler is going to give me a job once I leave.” (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-20 03:57:442016-04-11 10:59:49At California Fundraiser, Obama Blames the People For His Failure to Totally Transform Nation
A Pennsylvania high school teacher is suing the state’s largest teachers union for violating her right to free speech.
Linda Misja, a 35-year veteran high school teacher, alleges that the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) is discriminating against her by refusing to allow her to donate dues money to People Concerned for the Unborn Child, a pro-life charity.
“The PSEA engages in the practice of perpetuating the charity selection process indefinitely, imposing viewpoint-based restrictions on her speech and association, and stripping her of protections consistent with Pennsylvania law,” the suit says.
Misja is one of 200 religious objectors affiliated with PSEA, a status that allows her to abstain from full membership in the union. Pennsylvania, which is not a right-to-work state, has a policy that requires religious objectors to contribute the equivalent of dues payments to charity . . .
Misja’s suit claims that denying her the ability to give to a cause of her own choosing represents an unconstitutional violation of her conscience and due process rights. The ordeal began in 2011 when her local school district negotiated a contract with the PSEA that made schools a closed-shop system, mandating that all teachers pay fees to the union. (Read more from “Suit: Union Withholds Teacher’s Charitable Contribution to Pro-Life Organization” HERE)
As evidenced in the past few months with Ferguson and Baltimore, Black and minority communities are looking for answers to confront real issues in their cities. The anguish in America’s hard hit communities are a result of policies and leadership that has compelled children to feel trapped in neighborhoods and schools where they often have limited mentorship and incentives to propel forward.
Situations have heightened as we look at the moral decay in our minority communities and are told that the government is not doing enough to help them. That is why we believe that we must come together to PRAY and applaud the efforts of the tireless work of dedicated pastors and leaders to first PRAY and then collaborate to help bring solutions to these issues.
[Listen to Star Parker talk about what happened in Baltimore and why:]
This multi-ethnic prayer event is scheduled for today, noon to 5 p.m.
The following leaders are participating: Rev. Derek McCoy from C.U.R.E. will join Bishop Angel Nunez (Bilingual Christian Church), Bishop Marcus Johnson (New Harvest Ministries), Bishop Clifford Johnson/ Pastor Darryl Brace (Mt. Pleasant Church), Bishop Willard Saunders (Created For So Much More), Pastor Matt Stevens (Somebody Cares), Lt. Col. Melvin Russell (Chief, Community Partnerships Baltimore Police), Bishop Harry Jackson (The Reconciled Church), Bishop Mike McDermott (Life Source Int’l), Bishop Monroe Saunders (Transformation Church), Pastor Toni Draper (Freedom Temple AME Zion), Bishop Abel Palomo (House of Prayer), Pastor Benjun Uybengkee (River of Life Int’l), Rev. Dr. Harold Carter, Jr., (New Shiloh Baptist), Rev. Dr. Errol Gilliard (Greater Harvest/President, Baptist Ministers Conference.
To learn more, contact Jadan Horyn with Center for Education and Urban Renewal, 610.674.7444
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-20 03:56:562016-04-11 10:59:50Star Parker: Join Our Multi-Cultural, Multi-Ethnic Prayer Movement to Combat Baltimore’s Most Violent Month in 40 Years [+video]
As the nation reels from the June 17 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, that left nine people dead, President Barack Obama said he mourned the slain and touched on the subject of gun control.
“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” Obama said from the White House Briefing Room. “It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it” . . .
“I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now,” Obama said. “But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point, it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively” . . .
“Michelle and I know several members of Emanuel AME Church. We knew their pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight others, gathered in prayer and fellowship and was murdered last night, and to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community doesn’t say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel,” he said. (Read more from “President Obama Politicizes Charleston Church Shootings, Addresses Gun Control” HERE)
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could be in for a rough ride when they go before the House Armed Services Committee this week to explain the Obama administration’s strategy toward Iraq.
There is a widespread and growing criticism that the “No Boots on the Ground Plus Light Airstrikes” approach has failed to drive ISIS back from its gains in Iraq and has enabled the radical Islamist terror group to achieve record recruiting.
The administration is under pressure to change its failing strategy for Iraq and to at least articulate a more effective approach. So far, President Obama has refused to go beyond the use of trainers (no combat role), some equipping and air support seemingly disconnected from the local actions on the ground.
[Listen to the head of the Heritage Foundation’s team of foreign policy experts, Dr. James Carafano, describe the ISIS catastrophe]
There is a responsible middle ground between the fairly “thin” investment made by Obama and a full reinvasion of Iraq, and some in Congress are ready to explore that. The Heritage Foundation has outlined one such approach, modeled on the successful operations in Afghanistan from late 2001 through early 2002. Heritage has called for embedding American and allied Special Operations forces with local ground units (Iraqi, Kurdish, and eventually Syrian), supported by heavy airpower controlled by the Special Operations embeds. This model drove the Taliban from power and has the potential to do the same to ISIS.
Instead, ISIS continues to take territory, including Ramadi last month. The limited U.S. air campaign and the 3,100 non-combat advisers have done little to slow its march. The terrorists have been stopped in some areas, but not all, and very few towns have been “liberated.” They now recruit from across the Muslim World, including the West. And until America summons the will to defeat them, they will continue to win the propaganda war. Much more must be done.
Last week, the administration approved 450 more advisers, but it essentially doubled down on the current failed plan. The new advisors still are prohibited from combat operations or from being embedded with frontline units. This is not a game changer, and in fact only 50 of the 450 are advisors. The others will provide logistical support and security for the 50.
Clearly, the administration is not being serious about defeating ISIS. The White House spokesman even has tried to portray this fight as solely an Iraqi issue, rather than the threat to U.S. national interests it truly is. ISIS is pushing the entire region toward a potentially disastrous Sunni-vs.-Shia conflagration as well as greatly increasing transnational terrorism.
The U.S. needs to ease restrictions on use of forces to increase effectiveness of air power and include possible combat operations, especially for special operations forces. The administration should stop removing further use of American forces from the table of options. This self-imposed limitation is a huge hindrance that almost guarantees failure.
To excuse his unwillingness to consider stronger action, Obama has used the old saw that “if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” True enough, Mr. President. But if the problem is a “nail,” throwing the hammer away is simply unwise. (“The White House Is Not Being Serious About Defeating ISIS”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-19 03:45:232016-04-11 10:59:50Experts: Obama Is Not Serious About Defeating ISIS
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a Marine veteran, and eight year member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, is also an ordained minister. He preaches frequently in churches across America. In early 2009, Tony preached on “The Quest for Change” at a large evangelical church in Southern California. At the time, the term “change” was fresh in the popular mind of Americans. President Barack Obama had highlighted the word “change” in his presidential campaign theme – “Hope and Change.”
Yet Tony’s message was not a call to political change; but to a central message of the Bible: Repentance. It is a message found in the Law and the Prophets (2 Kings 17:13; Acts 28:23), Jesus in his earthly ministry (Matt 4:1), John the Baptist (Matt 3:2), the Disciples (Mark 6:12), Peter (Acts 2:38), Paul (Acts 17:30-31); the New Testament churches (Jude 1:3 ff; and the risen Christ in his apocalyptic warning to the churches of Asia Minor (Rev. 2-3).
Tony’s text was Matthew 4:17, Jesus’ call to “repent” (i.e., change) for “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” His call to action was from 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.”
Birth of the Call2Fall
In several services that Sunday morning, over 50 people had made professions of faith in Christ. Afterward, church folks lined up to greet Tony. An elderly woman came up to Tony and said: “You have the message that the Church needs to hear. You have the answer to what we are facing.”
She went on to say that when she had come in that morning, the Holy Spirit had told her to get on her knees during the worship, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to be embarrassed. She said she had to later repent for being disobedient. Her focus was on the bowing of the knee. She said, “You need to call churches across the nation to get on their knees, literally, before God.”
Tony writes, “I politely told her I would pray about it. She then became insistent that this message was “of the Lord” and “the Church needed to respond.”
Later that evening while Tony was flying home, he picked up a book he had been reading earlier – a biography of Samuel Adams by Ira Stoll. “I was at the place where the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for a day in July of 1775 for “public humiliation, fasting and prayer; that we may, with united hearts and voices, unfeignedly confess and deplore our many sins; and offer up our joint supplications to the all-wise, omnipotent, and merciful Disposer of all events; humbly beseeching him to forgive our iniquities, to remove our present calamities, to avert those desolating judgments, with which we are threatened…”
Responding to the results of that day in 1775, Patriot James Warren wrote his friend, Founding Father Samuel Adams: “Three millions of people on their knees at once, supplicating the aid of Heaven, is a striking circumstance, and a very singular one in America.”
“At that point I remembered my earlier conversation with the elderly lady and my request of God earlier that morning for an answer to the dilemma America faces… For weeks I studied and meditated upon the book of Joel, which is 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 in book form.”
Both the book of Joel and the passage in 2 Chronicles speak of God’s temporal judgments on a sinful nation. Are we not facing similar threats in America today? There are natural calamities as well as man-made calamities and a list of sins too numerous to list. Then there is an over-reaching big government that robs our families via profligate spending, borrowing and confiscatory taxes; government’s scandalous violation of our constitutionally guaranteed rights, including religious liberty, and our sacred liberty of conscience. These are massive cosmic and systemic societal problems that require the direct intervention of Almighty God. Bottom line: America’s problems cannot be fixed without God’s help.
Tony asks, “What if on one Sunday in churches all across the nation, Christians literally fell on our knees before God as an act of humility, acknowledging our absolute dependence upon God’s mercy, crying out for the nation in intercession and confessing our sins? Would God not hear such prayers from His people, forgive our sin and heal our land?”
We already have a National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday in May, but Call2Fall reminds us that we need a national day of prayer in our churches, during Sunday worship and indeed every day. That is what God is looking for: A repentant people who are seeking His face daily in church, at home, at work and at all times. He wants men to pray everywhere, “lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting” (1 Tim 2:8).
Call2Fall is a token, an honest symbol, a church-oriented prayer meeting where every church in America can take a step toward becoming a “house of prayer for all people” – pointing toward a nation-changing Joel 2:12-18 style solemn assembly.
When Tony shared with FRC’s Pastors Council what God had shown him, some of those present argued for extended times of prayer and fasting, but the oldest, wisest members said: No, we need something every church can participate in, even at an entry level, to move people toward prayer and seeking God. Consequently, at minimum, we are calling on churches to spend at least 5 minutes on their knees, but they can do much more as the Holy Spirit leads them. Some spend just 5 minutes, but others spend their whole worship services crying out to God for America. Still others have set aside a week for fasting, prayer and the seeking of God’s face for our nation. We have marveled as members of hundred plus-year-old churches have gotten on their knees before God for the first time in their church’s history.
Last year nearly 1.5 million believers participated. Can we double that number during the next 4 weeks and match the number of Americans who bowed before the Lord on that Sunday in 1775 which was the precursor to the Declaration of Independence and victory in the Revolutionary War? Can we begin to win back our nation for the God our forefathers sought and for whom they gave their lives? Before we celebrate on July 4th, let’s gather on our knees across America to re-consecrate our nation to Him who Alone gives freedom. May we consecrate our churches and homes as Houses of Prayer on Sunday, June 30th for that purpose. May God hear the cry of our hearts and answer our prayers.
Please pray constantly between now and June 30th. Talk to your pastor and use social media to tell everyone you know about Call2Fall! Thank you for praying! (“FRC’s Call2Fall to Save the Nation Using Our Founders’ Incredible Example: Drop to Our Knees by the Millions, Repent”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-19 03:45:142016-04-11 10:59:50Family Research Council Says We Must Save the Nation, Use Founders’ Example: Drop to Our Knees by the Millions, Repent [+video]
Jeb Bush wants the American economy to grow faster. A lot faster. “So many challenges could be overcome if we just get this economy growing at full strength,” he observed in his presidential campaign kickoff speech. “There is not a reason in the world why we cannot grow at a rate of 4 percent a year.”
It’s an exciting idea that really would solve a lot of problems, allowing the country to expand opportunity down the socioeconomic ladder without needing to redistribute wealth away from those who already have in. Then again, if some obvious prescription existed to deliver that kind of rapid growth, you might think that Jeb’s brother or his father would have hit upon the formula.
But though the campaign promise is a bit silly — even the policy institute that cooked up the goal turns out to admit it’s more aspirational than real — the concept raises the important question of to what extent the United States can grow its way out of some of today’s problems. The answer tells us something important about the limits of economic theory, the American electorate’s hunger for unrealistic promises, and how well the Bush family understands both.
How unrealistic is this, historically speaking? It is pretty unrealistic. Since Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, the American economy has grown on average 2.7 percent per year.
Jeb is promising to do not just a little better than average, but dramatically better than average. And he’s promising to do so even though the aging of the population puts a natural check on growth, since as people become too old to work the economy loses output. (Read more from “Jeb Bush’s 4% Growth Promise Is 104% Nonsense” HERE)
Listen to Rachel Alexander, political analyst, give her assessment of the GOP field to-date:
In a razor-thin 218-208 vote, the House of Representatives just approved Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). The legislation guarantees that trade deals negotiated by the president will get a prompt up-or-down vote. President Obama has said the legislation is essential to completing work on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal being negotiated by about a dozen Pacific Rim nations.
However, it remains far from certain whether TPA will become law. The Senate has also passed a TPA bill, but that bill came with an extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), programs that help workers who lose their jobs due to international competition. For TPA to become law, congressional leaders need to either get the House to pass TAA or get the Senate to pass a TPA bill that doesn’t include TAA. (Read more from “The House Just Passed a Trade Bill, but Obama’s Trade Agenda Might Still Be Doomed” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-19 03:44:402016-04-11 10:59:52The House Just Passed a Trade Bill, but Obama’s Trade Agenda Might Still Be Doomed
