The White House says it expects the courts to restore President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on Syrian refugees and 90-day suspended visa status for travelers from seven countries, via an executive order founded on a claim of national security.
Despite the initial 9th circuit denial of the Trump administration’s request to immediately set aside a Seattle judge’s ruling that put a hold on the executive order nationwide, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (the most liberal and overturned appellate court in the nation) requested legal briefs from both sides by 6:00 pm EST today / 3:00 pm PST.

(Via AP) [4:30am EST]  Lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota have told a federal appellate court it would “unleash chaos again” if it lifted an order temporarily halting President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.

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Sorry #NeverTrumpers, but you don”t get to dismount your high horse and celebrate the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch today.  This is NOT your victory, this is ours!
There is a gobsmacking level of pontificating self-righteousness visible from the collective proletariat within your crony-conservative movement who made the decision to formulate their political argument from a position of opposition.

Perhaps it would be different if you framed your antagonism from a position of advocacy, but that wasn’t the direction you chose.  No, you chose a specific position of opposition as clearly evident within your chosen mantra “Never Trump”.
Perhaps it would be different if you ever had a come-to-Jesus moment and apologized immediately following the November election.  Then again, when your opinion of your own self-importance is this high, those humble words are just as foreign as your understanding of the movement that won.
You don’t get to frame the entire construct of your argument around opposition to a team, and then claim benefit to the outcome of victory.  Stay on your high-horse, move along and ride off into that proverbial land of irrelevance; you’re dead here.
Save your dismount for another defining “conservative” assembly where you can gather at CPAC again and give a standing ovation to House Speaker Paul Ryan a month after he eliminates the debt ceiling and passes a $2 trillion OmniBus spending bill, funding all of the progressive priorities you hypocritically claim to oppose; you’re good at that.
That particular circle of crazy just doesn’t sell here any longer.
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Today is really quite humorous.  MSM broadcasts are full of segments of falsity, fake news, and gobsmacking hypocrisy.  Temp Visa restrictions and Temp Refugee ban are two entirely separate issues.  Additionally:
♦ President Obama puts six month ban on Iraqi refugees in 2011 and media…. crickets.
♦ President Trump puts 120 day suspension on Syrian refugees 2017… media explodes.
♦ Obama selects 7 countries for enhanced visa security policy and media… crickets.
♦ Trump uses Obama law, same Obama DHS policy, and same 7 countries; for a 90-day visa suspension and media explodes.

For some reason it just doesn’t appear accidental. This parallel policy of Trump, which is almost identical to Obama policy, is too well constructed to be coincidence. This looks like a strategy and the MSM, along with all Trump opposition, are falling into a trap.
Here’s the DHS response:

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce all of President Trump’s Executive Orders in a manner that ensures the safety and security of the American people. President Trump’s Executive Orders remain in place—prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety. President Trump’s Executive Order affects a minor portion of international travelers, and is a first step towards reestablishing control over America’s borders and national security.

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Why would the text of President Trump’s Executive Order suspending travel visas be readily available on CNN (HERE), New York Times (HERE), Wall Street Journal (HERE),  but not on White House page (HERE)?
I don’t think it’s accidental.  The limiting Visa program was President Obama’s action, not President Trump.

If you review the actual text of the executive order (copied below in full) what you will immediately notice is the order doesn’t specify ANY countries to be included in the Visa suspension (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen).
President Trump is not suspending visas from countries his team selected, they are simply suspending visa approval from countries President Obama selected.  Additionally, Trump is suspending ALL visa applications from those countries – nothing to do with Muslim applications.
• In 2013 President Obama suspended refugees from Iraq for six months.  • In 2015 Congress passed, and Obama signed, a law restricting visas from states of concern; • and in 2016 Obama’s DHS, Jeh Johnson, expanded those restrictions.  …. all President Trump is doing is taking the same action as Obama 2013, and applying Visa restrictions to the nation states Obama selected in 2015 and 2016.
From the Executive order:
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There are multiple voices raising concern about President Trump not taking immediate Executive Action to reverse former President Obama’s DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program.  To those voices this message is intended.

Now is not the time to address DACA.  The UniParty and the UniParty friendly media are trying to bait President Trump into jumping into a politically charged issue they will use to slow, if not destroy, the larger agenda.
There are two Obama executive action constructs, DACA and DAPA.

♦ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), also known as “The Dreamers” executive order which has been implemented and carried out deferring immigration enforcement for the children of illegal aliens.

♦ Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), was the executive action found unconstitutional by Judge Hanen (Texas), blocked by injunction, and subsequently the injunction was argued through the appellate court all the way to SCOTUS – and upheld.

The Department of Homeland Security reluctantly halted DAPA implementation after they were defeated in the court system.   However, DACA, the deferred action for “dreamers” has been ongoing.  It is the DACA program that contains the largest political issue.
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Senator Marco Rubio exited the confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State nominee and, important to note – RUSHED TO CNN, to tell media he was “uncertain” and “doubtful” if he’d support Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State.
Moments earlier Senator Marco Rubio engaged in the following questioning of T-Rex:

Here’s a great example of how the media will get a story wrong 100 times, before they realize the reason they’re getting it wrong is due to the inherent political-ideological filters they use within every presentation.
Against a horrific year in Chicago for shootings and murders President-Elect Donald Trump sends out the following tweet:

Without thinking, and relying on their traditional filtering prism, immediately the media transmit a narrative of President-elect Donald Trump challenging (attacking) Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.   The MSM proceed to present their narrative accordingly.
However, the continually short-sighted media never pause to remind themselves that Emanuel traveled to Trump Tower less than a month ago; and consider the pragmatic effective approaches deployed by Donald Trump throughout his career.
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According to almost every media report, President-elect Donald Trump has selected Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as the nominee for Secretary of State.  The announcement is anticipated to take place this morning.  Here’s our previous outline anticipating T-Rex:
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Call it “the revenge of John Galt“, call it “the revenge of main street“, call it “the rebuke of the compliance department”, or call it something else…. but what’s brutally missing amid all the pearl-clutching punditry is an acceptance that President Trump is ushering back an era of The Titans of Capitalism.

A succinct comment by thesavyinvester cuts to the brutal heart of the matter:

How ironic… The last 8 yrs ( and frankly much longer ) the non producing bureaucratic state only focused on growing it’s own organisms ( like something Ripley fought against ) rather than fostering yours, will now be run by those that for eons that had to dot their I’s and cross their T’s for all these pencil pushers. Yikes, they will be more uncomfortable than Rodney Dangerfield constantly adjusting his collar and tie during his comedy routine?. No I am not tired of winning, grab the popcorn this will be fun.

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During a routine traffic stop a San Antonio police officer was ambushed, shot twice in the head, and killed near police HQ.  Suspect described as a 5’7″ black male, baggy pants, hoodie and a beard.  Suspect Vehicle:
Update:  The police officer has been identified as 50-year-old Benjamin Marconi a veteran police officer.  Twitter Feed Here.  It will tear at your heart to read his twitter feed…. sorry, I just can’t even write about it yet {{tears}}.

RIP – Officer Benjamin Marconi

San Antonio –  A San Antonio police officer was shot and killed while writing a traffic ticket, according to Police Chief William McManus.
The chief said that while the officer was writing a ticket, someone pulled up behind the squad car, stepped out of his vehicle and shot the officer twice, once in the head. The shooter then drove off. (more…)