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Trump: ‘Time Is Right for Immigration Bill,’ Open to Giving Some Legal Status

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President Donald Trump, who staked his campaign on a hard-line approach to illegal immigration, now says he is open to considering possible legal status for some undocumented immigrants as part of a compromise to overhaul the nation’s immigration system.

“The time is right for an immigration bill, as long as there is compromise on both sides,” Trump told news anchors and correspondents attending a White House luncheon today.

The president is floating the idea ahead of his first address to a joint session of Congress tonight, signaling a willingness to negotiate on an issue that has pitted Democrats against some Republicans for years. It was not immediately clear whether the president would raise the issue in his speech.

Trump indicated openness to moving beyond a strict focus on law enforcement to addressing the legal status of some of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. – including a possible path to citizenship for “DREAMers,” who were brought to the country illegally as children. (Read more from “Trump: ‘Time Is Right for Immigration Bill,’ Open to Giving Some Legal Status” please click HERE)

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Trump Pledges Boost in Military and Infrastructure Spending, Cut in Foreign Aid

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President Donald Trump’s first budget will boost military spending by $54 billion and pay for it by scaling back nondiscretionary spending—including cuts to foreign aid—the president and his budget director said.

“This defense spending increase will be offset and paid for by finding greater savings and efficiencies across the federal government,” Trump said Monday morning announcing his budget proposal.

“We’re going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable to the American people,” Trump said. “We can do so much more with the money we spend.”

The budget blueprint lays out administration priorities for each agency to follow. The full budget proposal will be presented in May, according to Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“It is an America first budget,” Mulvaney told reporters during the White House press briefing. “It will show the president is keeping his budget and doing exactly what he said he was going to do when he ran for office.”

Mulvaney said the budget will also secure the border, take care of veterans, and increase school choice.

“It does all of that without adding to the currently projected [fiscal year] 2018 deficit,” Mulvaney said.

Top-line defense discretionary spending will be $603 billion, a $54 billion increase for the military. Top-line nondefense discretionary spending will be $462 billion, which is a $54 billion savings, under the pending proposal. That’s the largest proposed budget reduction since the Ronald Reagan administration, Mulvaney said.

More details will come in Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. But, during his Monday morning remarks in a National Governors Association meeting, Trump pledged the budget would include infrastructure funding.

“We spend $6 trillion in the Middle East and we have potholes all over our roads,” Trump said. “So we are going to take care of that. We are going to start spending on infrastructure big.”

The Daily Signal asked how committed the administration is to a border adjustment tax for the budget.

“I’m not going to get into tax reform today. The president has said we will have an outline soon,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer responded during the White House press briefing.

Spicer continued:

What I will say is he has talked about the concerns he has with current regulatory and tax policy that benefit people for moving out of the country and shipping product back in while shedding American workers. He will continue to fight for policies that promote manufacturing and job creation in the United States and supports American workers. I don’t want to get ahead of policy. There has been a lot of input, as I mentioned.

The Trump budget seems to have broken the wall between defense discretionary and nondefense discretionary spending, said Romina Boccia, deputy director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.

“Previously, defense increases were used as an excuse for domestic increases,” Boccia told The Daily Signal. “This is more responsible than what we’ve seen from the Obama administration.”

Boccia said Congress and the administration must demonstrate a willingness to cut programs in order to build credibility for entitlement reform. (For more from the author of “GOP Governors Say Real Threat Comes If Obamacare Not Repealed” please click HERE)

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Witches Seek Curse on President Trump; Christians Respond With Spiritual Warfare Prayer

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Christians have traditionally followed the command that the Apostle Paul gave to Timothy:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

If the early Christians could pray even for Roman rulers who persecuted them, how much more should we pray for political leaders whom we have a hand in choosing. But the call to prayer is even more urgent now, when some occultists who oppose President Trump have started to gather to do him harm — calling for people to perform a ritual to curse President Trump, “bind” him and eventually remove him from office.

By the light of the waning crescent moon last night, self-described witches united to cast a spell on President Trump and his supporters with a ritualistic ceremony. It’s a ritual they plan to repeat every month, and they’ve encouraged others to join them. A Facebook event page, posted by a group that prefers to “remain anonymous,” states, “A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him: Every Waning Crescent Moon at Midnight Beginning February 24, 2017, Ending when he is driven from office.”

Currently, nearly 9,000 people are following the page. And the #bindtrump effort has clearly reached into the entertainment industry. Pop singer Lana Del Rey will said she would join the event as well, posting dates and times of the rituals on Twitter. The liberal music magazine Rolling Stone, tongue only part-way in its cheek, was also on board, saying so far nothing else has worked to stop Trump, “so maybe a little witchcraft isn’t such a bad idea, after all?”

While some may claim that magic — or at least tonight’s effort — is nonsense and powerless, the Bible is full of scriptures condemning the practice nonetheless. Galatians 5:19-21 is one example:

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (My emphasis).

Deutoronomy 18:10-12 puts it plainly:

And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.

For those who practice the occult, Revelation promises that “their place will be in the lake the burns with fire and sulfur.”

Christians Fighting Back in the Spirit

As Rolling Stone reports, one group of Christians is performing spiritual warfare of its own to combat the spells — and calling all Christians to do the same. The Christian Nationalist Alliance, on their website, has declared a Day of Prayer for each of the spell-casting days.

This is a declaration of spiritual war and it requires a response. … We beseech all Christian soldiers to answer this call to action by reading from Psalm 23. We ask you to join us in praying for the strength of our nation, our elected representatives and for the souls of the lost who would take up Satanic arms against us.

Psalm 23 (RSV) says:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever.

Dave Kubal, President of Intercessors for America (IFA), told Charisma News, “Whether or not this call for spells pans out and people act on it, we feel compelled, as the Body of Christ and intercessors, to come against this evil with immediate and powerful prayer.” (For more from the author of “Witches Seek Curse on President Trump; Christians Respond With Spiritual Warfare Prayer” please click HERE)

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At CPAC, Panelists Discuss Role Vetting, Assimilation Play in National Security

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Extreme vetting and a border wall are the key issues facing the country under President Donald Trump’s administration—but aren’t the silver bullet solution to immigration, experts and members of Congress said Saturday.

“Extreme vetting is something that applies to the refugee side of this debate,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., during a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC.

The forum was titled “If Heaven Has a Gate, a Wall, and Extreme Vetting, Why Can’t America?” and covered a number of illegal immigration issues, from the national security impact to the economy.

On Jan. 27, Trump signed an executive order for a 120-day pause to temporarily block immigration from seven Middle Eastern terrorism hot spots—Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen.

Buck said the United States either shouldn’t take refugees from those countries, or take them only after doing adequate background checks.

“Really, what the president was talking about, what Congress was talking about, is when we’re dealing with countries that are hot spots of terrorism that are destabilized as a result of civil war, we don’t have the ability to go into those countries and find records to determine if someone has health issues, or criminal background, or is radicalized in some ways,” Buck said.

The Trump administration calls this approach “extreme vetting,” but critics charge it is a “Muslim ban.”

After judicial setbacks, the Trump administration will take a dual track of defending the current order, while also drafting a new order, White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said.

Washington state and Minnesota sued to stop the president’s executive orders. A federal judge in Seattle suspended enforcement of the order. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld that temporary restraining order.

Multiculturalism prevents a common national identity and language, said Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

“This issue of multiculturalism has to be solved no matter what we do with immigration,” Gonzalez said. “We can do all the vetting we want, but if people come in and they are assimilated into groups, we are going to have a problem unless we take care of that.”

This extends into national security, he said, because often the younger generations are taught multiculturalism in schools.

“This is true for radicalization,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not really the immigrant, the guy who comes in. It’s his child or the second generation that becomes radicalized.”

This largely has been a government construct, he said.

“We have always been multiethnic. We have never been multicultural,” Gonzalez said of America. “Immigrants are pressed into ethnic groups that form the building blocks of multiculturalism.”

On Jan. 25, Trump signed other executive orders regarding immigration. One order called for “immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border, monitored and supported by adequate personnel so as to prevent illegal immigration, drug and human trafficking, and acts of terrorism.”

Trump said he will ask Congress for an initial payment to build a wall at the border with Mexico—a project already authorized under the 2006 Secure Fence Act. After that, Trump said, he will seek reimbursement from the Mexican government.

Trump also issued an order scaling back funding for “sanctuary cities,” the term for municipalities that refuse to cooperate with federal officials in enforcing immigration law.

Immigration can’t be addressed without reintroducing the idea of a guest worker program, said Helen Krieble of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation, who was the biggest advocate of the gate referred to in the title of the forum.

“You will never deport 11 or 12 or 15 million illegal immigrants,” she said.

An audience member shouted, “Why not?”

“Because you can’t. It’s logistically impossible,” Krieble responded. “If that person has got a self-supporting job, has never committed a crime in the United States, they have no path to citizenship, no path to a green card, and no use of our social services, to allow him to apply for a simple work permit so that they are here legally is a good idea.”

However, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., insisted: “You build the wall and plan for the gate. We have to secure the border. That has to be job one.”

He added:

That takes a wall, that takes technology, that takes boots on the ground. That takes all this administration says they are committed to doing. Similarly, they are talking about, I think President Trump calls it, a beautiful gate. He wants a gate. He wants people to have access. But, if folks are here, and they are then applying for these jobs that Helen is talking about, that has the potential to be very problematic.

If you are going to move in that direction, that’s why I say you have to do three things first—border control, internal enforcement, and you have to take away their inducements. But if you have inducements to come to America and apply for this card, then you have an inducement to be here, perhaps even illegally. If you’re going to allow this kind of program, you would want them in your home country to obtain that card and then work it out that way.

CPAC, the largest annual national gathering of conservative activists, runs from Wednesday to Saturday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington. (For more from the author of “At CPAC, Panelists Discuss Role Vetting, Assimilation Play in National Security” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Where Conservatives Are in the Trump Era: 15 Takeaways From Their Biggest Conference

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Five weeks into President Donald Trump’s presidency, the first time in eight years a Republican has been in the White House, where do conservatives see the country going?

Here are highlights from The Daily Signal’s coverage of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, the largest annual gathering of conservatives:

1. Trump talks policy objectives.

In his speech, Trump emphasized a variety of issues that conservatives care about, saying, “We will build the wall and we are going to start soon,” as well as promising “a substantial upgrade for the military.” He also took aim at regulations:

We are going to put the regulation industry out of work. By the way, I want regulations. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety. I want all the regulations we need, and I want them to be so strong and so tough. But we don’t need 75 percent of the repetitive, horrible regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs, make us noncompetitive overseas with companies from other countries.

2. The filmmakers behind the “Gosnell” movie discuss the real story.

Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, whose clinic was dubbed a “house of horrors,” hasn’t received the attention his case deserves. Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney talk about this “serial killer.”

3. Gov. Scott Walker urges GOP lawmakers to keep their promises.

“It’s not only conservatives and Republicans who like that, but what we found in Wisconsin is that independents and, yes, even some discerning Democrats, like it when you do the things you say you were going to do,” said the Republican governor, no stranger to Democrat protests. “Commonsense conservative reforms work, they actually work, and people respond to them.”

4. British politician Nigel Farage calls 2016 “the beginning of a global political revolution.”

Farage, who campaigned with Trump during the election, said the message of sovereignty and nationalism that drove United Kingdom voters to choose Brexit last June mirrors the populist vision that has taken power in Washington,” wrote Josh Siegel in his report.

“When in years to come, the generations that follow us study the history of this period, there is one year that will stand out,” Farage said. “That year is the year of 2016. Because in 2016 we witnessed the beginning of a global political revolution, and it’s one that is not going to stop.”

5. Gov. Sam Brownback talks about refugees.

The Kansas Republican made the case that it isn’t about the number of refugees, but whether they are vetted sufficiently before coming to America. “You can’t bring people in the United States who want to kill us,” he told The Daily Signal.

6. Kellyanne Conway predicts the conference could become “TPAC.”

Trump’s winning campaign manager and adviser suggested Trump was having an impact on the conservative movement. “This will be TPAC,” Conway said. “He has brought this infusion of energy. He made people feel from the beginning they are part of a movement. People felt so energized as they had a seat at the table. … He replaced this fiction of electability with this revelation of electricity.”

7. Katie Pavlich highlights the myths about gun suppressors.

The author and Fox News contributor talked to The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness about guns—and puppies.

8. Carly Fiorina says conservatives should work on “growing support.”

“Substantial change inspires substantial resistance, and boy, is there substantial resistance out there,” Fiorina said. “If change is not accompanied by growing support, the substantial change is never sustained.”

“We have to bring people along now, so that the changes we all believe in will be sustained,” the former Republican presidential candidate added.

9. Jim DeMint says conservatives must achieve the “impossible.”

“Our job as conservatives, and as the national conservative movement, is to make possible what the establishment says is impossible,” the former South Carolina Republican senator who is president of The Heritage Foundation said. He warned:

They’re saying you can’t build a wall and control our borders. You have to give amnesty and citizenship to the people who are here illegally. They’re saying you can’t repeal Obamacare. Tax reform is just too controversial. You can’t ever balance the budget. And of course, you must reopen the big, crony, corrupt Export-Import Bank. That’s what [Republicans] are hearing behind closed doors right now.

10. John Bolton thinks it’s time to end the Iran nuclear deal.

“With respect to Iran, and its support for international terrorism and its nuclear weapons program, candidate Trump described everything that was wrong with Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran,” the former United Nations ambassador said.

“He should abrogate that deal, end that deal as soon as possible,” Bolton added. “We need a clear statement of leadership by the United States that this was a strategic debacle for our country and we don’t intend to let it persist.”

11. Police chief Stephen Mills makes the case for civil asset forfeiture reform.

“President Trump, I want to thank your administration for your support of law enforcement,” Mills, whose story was told last year by The Daily Signal, said in his remarks. “I know you’re being told by other members of law enforcement and associated groups that asset forfeiture reform is a bad idea, that it’ll help the cartels and terrorists. I want you to know there are many of us out in the field who don’t agree with that sentiment.”

12. Conservatives call for Obamacare repeal.

“It’s going to happen,” said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, referring to repeal of the health care law.

“What [the 2015 repeal bill] demonstrated to me was that if you got the right president in the White House, you could send that bill back down to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, and you could repeal large pieces of the Affordable Care Act.”

13. Rep. Andy Biggs talks about illegal immigration.

Is this the year the wall on the border is actually going to happen? The Daily Signal’s Rob Bluey talked to the Arizona Republican about that and more.

14. Mike Pence discusses Obamacare replacement.

In his speech, the vice president talked about Obamacare repeal and replacement, saying he and Trump want all Americans to have “access to quality and affordable health care insurance, which is why we’re designing a better law that lowers the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government.”

Pence added:

We’re going to let Americans purchase health insurance across state lines, the way you buy your life insurance, the way you buy your car insurance.

We’re going to make sure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to health insurance and the security they need, and we’re going to give states the freedom and flexibility to take care of the least fortunate in the best way that will work in their state and in their community.

15. Ted Cruz pushes term limits.

From the report by The Daily Signal’s Rachel del Guidice:

“This election was the American people saying, ‘Enough already with the corruption in both parties, Democrats and Republicans who have been here too long,’” Cruz [R-Texas] said.

Cruz told attendees of CPAC that one significant way politicians could deliver on “draining the swamp” is by paving the way for term limits for Congress.

“President [Donald] Trump campaigned on draining the swamp,” Cruz said. “We have majorities in both houses. I think we ought to demonstrate that we have heard the voters; we bring up term limits, pass it, send it to the states for ratification.”

CPAC, the largest annual national gathering of conservative activists, ran from Wednesday to Saturday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington. (For more from the author of “Where Conservatives Are in the Trump Era: 15 Takeaways From Their Biggest Conference” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

President Trump’s CPAC Speech Sounded Great … But Was a Total Disappointment. Sad!

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Friday morning, President Donald Trump addressed CPAC for the first time since becoming president of the United States. At a time when conservatives need leadership from the president, his speech was a disappointment.

“It’s great to be back at CPAC,” the president said to an adoring crowd. “I wouldn’t miss a chance to talk to my friends … and we’ll be doing this next year. And the year after that.”

The stakes were high for this address. Weeks of controversy have plagued the new administration and have given the appearance of a failure to launch.

How so? The president’s first major action, an executive order on immigration, was poorly executed. Despite the president’s clear statutory authority to issue the order, the administration was unable to defend its action in court. The president’s first choice for national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, was forced to resign amid controversy over his communications with the Russians.

Campaign promises also remain unfulfilled. The president abandoned social conservatives by giving up on an executive order meant to undo an Obama-era directive that harms religious liberty. The president’s repeated pledge to undo President Obama’s illegal amnesty executive order seems dead now. Obamacare is still in place. Tax reform is delayed.

On top of all that several members of the president’s Cabinet are still yet to be confirmed amid Democratic obstruction in the Senate.

Perception is everything in politics, and the missteps from these first few weeks have overshadowed the administration’s successes. For the first time most Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance.

Trump’s appearance at CPAC was a time for the president to reset the agenda. Using his bully pulpit, Trump had an opportunity to assure his conservative base that the administration is moving to keep the promises President Trump made on the campaign trail.

Here was a chance to explain how he will make his vision of governance a reality; to identify how the Democratic party is obstructing the policies the American people voted to implement last November; to outline, for Congress and for the people, the way forward on achieving the repeal of Obamacare, tax reform, the border wall, and the steps necessary to deconstruct the administrative state.

Instead, the president gave a vapid campaign speech, complete with allusions to action in the future and assurances that conservatives will win again.

He began by, rightfully, criticizing the “fake news” media for publishing inaccurate stories. The liberal media certainly deserves to be criticized, but the president already did so last week.

When the president finally addressed the policies his administration will pursue, he did so using oft-repeated phrases from the campaign trail. The gist of the entire speech was presented in one passage:

We will reduce your taxes. We will cut your regulations. We will support our police. We will defend our flag. We will rebuild our military. We will take care of our great, great veterans … we will fix our broken and embarrassing trade deals … we will cut wasteful spending. We will promote our values. We will rebuild our inner cities. We will bring back our jobs and our dreams. And by the way, we will protect our second amendment.

The priority facing Republicans is keeping six years of campaign promises and fully repealing Obamacare. There are good plans for doing so introduced in Congress, but Trump didn’t mention them. “Obamacare doesn’t work … we’re changing it,” he said. “We’re gonna make it much better. We’re gonna make it less expensive.”

Those are great promises, but the American people don’t need promises. They need promises kept. This government needs leadership to ensure that they are kept. And so far the president is acting more like a cheerleader than a leader.

In this respect, the president’s speech highlights a problem with CPAC itself. Just what is the Conservative Political Action Conference conserving? What plans of action are in development to achieve conservative victory?

To be sure, there are breakout sessions where those conversations are happening. But panel attendance is slim. For every conservative looking for an opportunity to advance conservatism, there is someone else looking to make a quick buck. There are times at CPAC when one even wonders if the people speaking are there to promote a legislative agenda, or just to sell a new book or land a new job.

Conservatism has enough cheerleaders. Our movement needs leadership. When the president of the United States tells conservatives “Our victory was a win for everyone who believes in conservative values,” he has the responsibility to demonstrate how that is the case.

How can he lead? Start by pressuring this hesitant Congress to take immediate action to repeal Obamacare and endorse a replacement plan. Instruct Congress to end the liberal judiciary’s interference with executive branch’s legal authority to restrict immigration.

“The era of empty talk is over,” President Trump said. “Now is the time for action”

Those are words the conservative movement needs to apply to itself. Those are words conservatives want the president to live by. But if President Trump’s speech is an indication of things to come, you can’t always get what you want. (For more from the author of “President Trump’s CPAC Speech Sounded Great … But Was a Total Disappointment. Sad!” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Brexit Leader Nigel Farage Cheers Trump for Contribution to ‘Global Political Revolution’

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Nigel Farage, the British politician who led the successful Brexit movement to withdraw from the European Union, cheered on an auditorium full of American conservative activists who helped inspire what he views as a similar “political revolution” in the United States with the election of President Donald Trump.

Farage, who campaigned with Trump during the election, said the message of sovereignty and nationalism that drove United Kingdom voters to choose Brexit last June mirrors the populist vision that has taken power in Washington.

“Since the election of Donald J. Trump, every time I come to America I am feeling a little more American,” Farage said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, outside Washington Friday afternoon.

“When in years to come, the generations that follow us study the history of this period, there is one year that will stand out. That year is the year of 2016. Because in 2016 we witnessed the beginning of a global political revolution, and it’s one that is not going to stop.”

With elections scheduled for the Netherlands, France, Germany, and possibly Italy this year, Farage predicted that populist movements in those European countries would gain ground—and potentially take power. Farage suggested the political change could lead to the breakup of the European Union.

“This [movement] will roll out across the rest of the West,” Farage said, adding:

I don’t yet know whether the results in 2017 will be as dramatic as 2016. What I do know is even if challengers don’t get over the line, what they will do is shift the center of gravity of the entire debate. People across Europe are rejecting this form of supernational government. They are rejecting the idea of being governed by unelected old men in Brussels.

During the campaign, Trump expressed skepticism of the European Union, and his top political adviser, Stephen Bannon, has called himself an “economic nationalist” and is considered an intellectual force behind the president’s views.

But in a Thursday interview with Reuters, Trump announced support for the European Union as a governing body, saying, ‘I’m totally in favor of it.”

Farage, in his CPAC speech, credited Trump for fulfilling other parts of his campaign platform, such as withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

Trump has vowed to pursue bilateral trade deals, including one with Britain, once Prime Minister Theresa May’s government completes the Brexit process.

“What I am seeing is something quite remarkable,” Farage said. “An elected leader [Trump] trying to put in place a platform for which he was elected.”

“I’ve always believed we should govern our own country, that we should be free to reach out and make our own deals with our real friends in the world,” Farage added. “Our real friends in the world speak English, have common law, and stand by us in times of crisis.”

Farage, who spoke admiringly of Trump and the movement that carried him to the White House, even adopted the American president’s rhetoric as he closed his speech with a fist pump.

“We’ve got to be clear we aren’t against anyone based on religion, or ethnicity, but we are for ourselves, we are for our countries, and we are for making our people safe,” Farage said.

“That is what we are for,” Farage said. “We are for our country, we are for our people, and we are winning.”

CPAC, the largest annual national gathering of conservative activists, runs from Wednesday to Saturday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington. (For more from the author of “Brexit Leader Nigel Farage Cheers Trump for Contribution to ‘Global Political Revolution'” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

What the Mainstream Media Won’t Tell You About Donald Trump and Crime in Sweden

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President Donald Trump’s tortured relationship with the spoken word can lead to problems. Case in point, his remarks about Sweden at a rally in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday night. While Trump seemingly made a remark about a recent terrorist attack in Sweden, what he meant was the reported uptick in crime in migrant centers in the country. His remarks have ignited a firestorm online. I try to wade through it all to present to you what is exactly “going on in Sweden.”

If President Trump is right and there is a growing Islamic migrant caused crime wave in Sweden, the first step is to define when the surge in refugees from predominately Muslim countries started to spike in the country. Migrationsverket, the Swedish Migration Agency, has published country of origin data from 1980 to 2014 (pdf). This data does not include 2015, which saw the highest level of asylum seekers in the recent history of the nation.

Resident Permits Geneva Convention

Migrationsverket breaks out nine Muslim majority countries in their data set. Those countries are Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. It is clear that the Syrian civil war and ISIS has created a significant uptick in refugees from Syria, beginning in 2012. Prior to that year, immigration from that country was negligible. The second largest number of migrants come from the Horn of Africa with Eritrea and Somalia combining for close to 6,900 persons. The agency has not yet compiled country of origin for the roughly 160,000 asylum seekers that entered in 2015, but there are reports that have placed the Syrian number at over 50,000.

The recent surge in refugees caused Sweden, in the middle of 2016, to toughen its rules. The New York Times reported that Sweden took steps to curb the open door policy it had in place. The country was on pace to admit 200,000 refugees in 2016, or two percent of its population, the majority of whom were from Muslim majority countries.

Does this dramatic uptick in migrants starting in 2012 have anything to do with crime in Sweden? That’s where it gets complicated. As Politfact noted, Swedish authorities do not break out crime data by immigration or refugee status. So it is impossible to determine if any crime increase can be definitively linked to migrants.

What is apparent however, despite the media cherry-picking two years 2014 and 2015, is the significant increase in the number of reported sexual assault and homicides that have coincided with the increased numbers of migrants. According to the Brå, which reports Swedish crime statistics, reported sexual assaults have increased from 17,077 cases in 2011 to 18,057 in 2015. They peaked in 2014 at 20,326, which was 19 percent higher than in 2011. Preliminary data from 2016 show a reported 20 percent increase in sexual “molestation” from 2015, according to Brå numbers. Rapes increased by 13 percent from 2015 to 2016 according to the same preliminary report.

Swedish sexual assault statistics

Similarly, according to Brå, lethal violence has shown an increase. Lethal violence is described as murder, manslaughter, or assault that results in death. In 2011 there were 81 instances of lethal violence reported; in 2015 there were 112 cases. This is an increase of 38 percent. From 2014 the increase was almost 29 percent. Lethal crimes data for 2016 will not be available until the end of March according to Brå.

swedish lethal violence

The data does show an uptick in violent crime, particularly sexual assault and lethal crimes that coincides with the increased migrant wave. That fact is undeniable and buttressed by the data from Swedish authorities. The media, who have cherry-picked the drop in reported sexual assaults from 2014 to 2015, are misleading with their reporting. But there are also two critical pieces of data missing: 2016 assault numbers, and a breakdown of crime by immigration status. Without those data points, both sides of the argument have cases to be made.

There is certainly a significant amount of anecdotal evidence to buttress the claims of increased violence by migrants in Sweden. Most significantly is the documentary by Ami Horowitz which kicked off the current news cycle. Horowitz was interviewed by Tucker Carlson the day before President Trump made his statement.

Horowitz, with on-the-ground reporting, shows a very different picture than what the MSM or Swedish authorities want you to believe.

In Norway, a bordering Scandinavian country, the authorities recently produced a guide on how migrants should treat women. This was a direct result of a rise in rapes that accompanied a similar increase in migrants.

A spring 2016 Pew poll showed that a whopping 88 percent of Swedes disapprove of the way the European Union, of which Sweden is a member, is handling the refugee crisis. That is the second highest number after Greece, which has been a first port of entry for many migrants as they make their way through Europe. The next highest is 77 percent in Italy.

No matter where the debate here in America stands on the issue, it is clear the Swedish people are concerned about migration to their country. That is why, as previously mentioned, the government took extraordinary means to limit refugee settlement after a long history of virtually open borders. This action happened shortly after the Pew poll was conducted.

The data clearly show an uptick in sexual assaults, and lethal crimes since the massive increase in refugees to Sweden from majority Muslim countries. It is careful to remember that correlation does not always equal causation. Until Sweden publishes data which includes the immigration status and country of origin in their crime statistics, on-the-ground experience will continue to drive the narrative. Politifact and other “MSM fact checkers” owe it to their readers to paint a complete picture. (For more from the author of “What the Mainstream Media Won’t Tell You About Donald Trump and Crime in Sweden” please click HERE)

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Trump Denounces ‘Bigotry and Hatred’ at African American Museum. The Left Didn’t Get the Memo

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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump denounced bigotry and racism in a short speech given at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The reaction to his speech on Twitter was, ironically, full of bigotry and racism.

“Today and every day of my presidency I pledge to do everything I can to continue that promise of freedom for African-Americans and for every American,” Trump said. He called his first visit to the museum “a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry and hatred and intolerance.”

Many on Twitter were vocally intolerant of Trump’s presence at the museum.

Dr. Ben Carson, the president’s nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was in attendance of Trump’s visit to the museum. The reaction to Carson’s presence was also hateful.

What was it that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said? “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

It’s a shame these folks won’t listen. (For more from the author of “Trump Denounces ‘Bigotry and Hatred’ at African American Museum. The Left Didn’t Get the Memo” please click HERE)

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Fact Check: Trump Is Right. Violence Is Rising in Sweden

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The media pounced on President Trump after he declared Saturday that large-scale immigration in Sweden is not working out. Appearing at a campaign rally in Florida, the President defended his ban on immigrants from dangerous countries.

We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany. You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers, they’re having problems like they never thought possible.

Swedish authorities immediately responded with denials, and much of the media media fixated on his reference to “last night.” Trump clarified later that he was referencing an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, which had aired the night before.

Left-leaning news outlets like The Atlantic actually referred to Sweden as “low crime.” Trump addressed them as well in a tweet:

Rising Number of Rapes and Violence in Sweden, Largely by Muslim Immigrants

This was all an exercise in diversion from this glaring fact: Sweden’s increase in violence comes largely from the large influx of Muslim immigrants entering the country.

Rapes have increased by an alarming 250 percent since 2003, rising from 24.9 cases of reported rapes per 100,000 inhabitants to 66.5 last year. Reports of sexual molestation incidents increased by a “striking” 20 percent between 2015 and 2016, reaching 10,500 in 2016.

Örebro Police investigator Peter Springare says the crimes are mostly committed by Muslim immigrants. On February 3, he wrote on Facebook, “Mohammed, Mahmod, Ali, again and again.” Springare is now reportedly under criminal investigation for “incitement to racial hatred.“

In January, Malmö Police Chief Stefan Sinteus issued a desperate plea for help combating “the upward spiral of violence.” The city is composed of 32 percent immigrants. British UKIP leader Nigel Farage refers to Malmö as “the rape capital of Europe.”

Over the past 15 years, Sweden has taken in 650,000 immigrants seeking asylum. About 35,000 claimed to be “unaccompanied minors,” but could very well be young men disguising their age in order to improve their chances of not being deported.

Many are unemployed and jobless, straining the country’s welfare system. According to the Swedish Migration Agency, another 25,000 to 45,000 immigrants are expected this year.

Videos of the rioting and burning uploaded to YouTube reveal the extent of the violence, and contradict the media’s claims there has been no increase in violence. Rioters often outnumber the police, as they throw stones at the officers and beat them up.

What’s Really Happening

In the video below, a Swede in Rinkeby contradicts Swedish politicians and media reports. She says there isn’t a large police presence; they show up after the riots calm down. Law enforcement has set off 55 no-go zones, she reports. Law enforcement will not go into them unless in large patrols. The left-leaning media denies the existence of the no-go zones.

Videos show the radical Islamists plotting against law enforcement. They will plant a bomb in a trash can, then put it on fire. When the fire department comes to put out a fire, the bomb explodes on them. Similarly, they set traps for the police. They will report a rob and throw rocks at them.

The woman goes on to say that Trump’s remarks were accurate. In fact, the reason the violence doesn’t make the news is because it’s so prevalent. “There aren’t any headlines about this kind of stuff,” she explains, “since it’s so common.” Additionally, the Swedish politicians who deny it’s happening are “too proud … to admit they got it wrong. … They want to believe that they are so morally superior to everyone else that their multiculturalism can’t fail and that their feminism can’t fail.”

Rape as Jihad

Such violence by Muslim immigrants is not unique to Sweden. The problem is cropping in other European countries that have welcomed immigrants from Muslim countries. Writing in Algemeiner, Abigail R. Esman described the infamous New Year’s Eve attacks on women in Cologne, Germany, as “a different kind of terrorist attack.” Muslims in Europe have long exhibited misogyny, abuse and sexual exploitation of women, writes Esman, author of Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West.

All of these trends have paved the way for sexual violence as a natural weapon for jihad in the age of ISIS. Indeed, we’ve seen it used not just in the mass gang rapes in Europe in recent years, but in the sexual enslavement of Yazidi girls in Syria and Iraq. We’ve seen it further in ISIS propaganda that even encourages its male members to rape women to bring them “closer to Allah.”

Thirty years ago, political and media elites might have been able to hide this. But they can’t prevent ordinary citizens from recording violent riots and arson with their smart phones and uploading the footage to YouTube and Facebook. The truth will get out. (For more from the author of “Fact Check: Trump Is Right. Violence Is Rising in Sweden” please click HERE)

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