Pastor Darrell Scott and Henry Davis

photo credit: foxbusiness.com

The first time I saw Pastor Darrell Scott was in March 2016,when he introduced Donald J. Trump as a GOP candidate for President out at the IX Center. Pastor Scott was a showstopper at the Cleveland Tea Party “Spirit of America” rally in support of President Trump in March 2017. 

Pastor Scott is really something, and so is a man named Henry Davis from Missouri. Mr. Davis loaded up a 2-minute Twitter video of himself expressing his gratefulness and pride as a black man living and witnessing today the extraordinary accomplishments of the Trump presidency and what it means for minority employment, opportunity, and the possibilities for the future.

After Pastor Scott saw the video, he tweeted a message -- not just in support of Mr. Davis, but also promising to invite him to the White House to discuss joining the Urban Revitalization Team. Then he picked up the phone and called Mr. Davis to make the arrangements.

Vivek Saxena has the story and a link to the video here at BizPacReview. 

# # #

Cleveland Terror plot foiled

photo credit: myajc.com

Fox News at cleveland.com reports:

A man who pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda sought to kill members of the military and conducted reconnaissance in downtown Cleveland for a planned attack on July 4 -- but the Independence Day plot was foiled after a months-long investigation, federal officials said Monday.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen Anthony said Demetrius Pitts, also known as Abdur Raheem Rahfeeq, was arrested at 10 a.m. Sunday by the joint terrorism task force. Authorities were initially notified about Pitts in 2017, when he lived in Cincinnati and allegedly made statements supporting Al Qaeda and advocating violence against U.S. military members.

. . .

Besides the alleged plan to attack on July 4, officials said Pitts wanted to also harm military members and families of service members. Herdman said Pitts discussed giving remote control cars packed with shrapnel to children of military members. 

When he was asked by the undercover FBI agent if he was worried about injuring children, Pitts said, "I don’t care and I have no regrets," according to Herdman.

Anthony said the arrest came after multiple conversations showed that Pitts had a desire to do harm. Pitts was born and "radicalized" in the U.S., and wanted to commit violence in the name of Al Qaeda, he added. Pitts faces up to 20 years in prison.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said while the alleged plot was foiled, the public should still contact authorities if they notice anything suspicious.

See the rest of the report here.

# # #

Steve Hilton on the genius of America's founders

image credit: floridatoday.com

We celebrate our Independence Day this coming Wednesday. Steve Hilton published a thoughtful piece on what we love about America entitled “I didn’t get the true genius of America’s founders till I moved here. Here’s what worries me now.” The full article is here, but below are a few excerpts:

It wasn’t until I actually lived in the U.S. that I started to understand the true genius of America’s founders and what they put in place two-and-a-half centuries ago. I saw it in the way that contemporary political debates are conducted with reference to the framers’ intent. I saw it in the huge importance of Supreme Court rulings – reported and debated with a prominence commensurate with the judiciary’s status as a co-equal branch of government – but totally alien to someone familiar with the British system.

And I saw the genius of the Founding Fathers most vividly of all in a family visit to Philadelphia a couple of years ago. While there, I took my two sons to the National Constitution Center, a truly wonderful place that all Americans should visit if they can.

The highlight of the Constitution Center is a regular live performance telling the story of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the years leading up to the Constitutional Convention – and then of the momentous deliberations that produced the U.S. Constitution itself.

That performance literally moved me to tears as it brought to life in the most immediate and powerful way the beautiful idea at the heart of America: liberty under the law, an idea that had never before been expressed and guaranteed by any nation.

From that idea, and from those incomparable founding documents, come all the things that are special about America – things that are so different to (and, frankly, so much better than) what you find where I grew up, in England. And of course vastly better than what my parents experienced where they grew up in Communist Hungary.

. . .

The melting pot; decentralized government; a republic of equals; a Constitution enshrining the precious ideal of people power. It is all under threat this Fourth of July – and we need to fight for it.

# # #

Protesting immigration law enforcement

About those protests over immigration on Friday:

message /art via Lucianne.com

# # #

Support ICE and our Border Patrol

Our friend and colleague Arzella reports that there is a “Prayer Walk for Children, Families, and Neighbors at Risk” in Painesville this Friday at 6pm. This march is to bear “witness to the plight of the over 2000 children recently separated from their families through ICE raids...” Click here for the Facebook announcement.

On Friday, June 29, you can join Arzella who

. . .will be standing at 100 Main Street in Painesville at 6:15 P.M. on Friday with a sign in support of ICE and Border Patrol.

Calling all Cleveland Tea Party people who can join Arzella to support law enforcement and legal immigration. Make your sign and head to Painesville on Friday.

Click here for a map (click on the map itself to embiggen).

UPDATE:

If you are planning to join Arzella in Painesville on Friday, I am linking to an article by Judicial Watch at Canada Free Press that reports what the mainstream media is not reporting:

While the mainstream media and much of the nation are preoccupied with sob stories about the shelter accommodations of illegal immigrants, the U.S.-Mexico border remains a cesspool of crime where federal agents have confiscated more than 360,000 pounds of drugs, arrested thousands of individuals with criminal convictions and busted hundreds of violent gangbangers so far this year. The latest statistics issued by the Border Patrol are downright disturbing and illustrate the urgency of properly securing the famously porous southwest border.

The full report is here. 

 # # #

Internet Sales Tax: a proposed solution

image credit: blog.dawog.net

Yesterday Scott French and Elizabeth Slattery at The Daily Signal reported further on the horrible SCOTUS decision to permit sales tax on Internet transactions across state lines. They also suggested a solution. Unfortunately, they identify Congress as the branch of government that can legislate that solution. Here’s the gist of it:

Unfortunately, small businesses will suffer the most from the ruling. [Chief Justice John] Roberts explained:

One vitalizing effect of the Internet has been connecting small, even ‘micro’ businesses to potential buyers across the nation. People starting a business selling their embroidered pillowcases or carved decoys can offer their wares throughout the country—but probably not if they have to figure out the tax due on every sale.

Most small businesses are not equipped to handle being subject to every taxing authority in every location where they have a customer. There are more than 10,000 state and local taxing jurisdictions in the country. And these jurisdictions have different tax rates, rules governing tax exemptions, product category definitions, and standards for determining whether an out-of-state seller is subject to sales tax in the first place.

Roberts pointed to a few examples of how confusing state taxes can be:

New Jersey knitters pay sales tax on yarn purchased for art projects, but not on yarn earmarked for sweaters … Texas taxes sales of plain deodorant at 6.25 percent but imposes no tax on deodorant with antiperspirant … Illinois categorizes Twix and Snickers bars—chocolate-and-caramel confections usually displayed side-by-side in the candy aisle—as food and candy, respectively (Twix have flour; Snickers don’t), and taxes them differently.

Further, the cost of compliance is beyond the means of most small businesses. Implementation and integration of software to calculate taxes in all these jurisdictions alone is estimated to cost up to $250,000.

The good news is that, under its authority to regulate interstate commerce, Congress has the power to fix this problem. Congress is the branch of government best able to consider the competing interests at stake, not unelected federal judges.

Congress should codify the physical presence rule to protect small businesses from being subject to mandates from states where they have no physical connection and whose policymakers face no accountability for the tax and regulatory costs that they impose on out-of-state businesses.

If state borders truly do matter, Congress must limit states’ ability to reach beyond their borders to place regulatory burdens on out-of-state businesses.

Sounds feasible on paper. But perhaps so many small businesses will suspend sales that Congress will have to respond to their constituents – for once. We’ll see. (The full report is here.) 

# # #

Amnesty vote this week

Neil Munro at Breitbart has the update on the delayed vote on amnesty:

House Speaker Paul Ryan cancelled the planned Friday vote on his amnesty bill, and will add some business-first and populist concessions to help win votes prior to a debate and vote next week [week of June 25]

. . .

Democrats are expected to unite against the guest-worker program and E-Verify, in part, because they want the 11 million resident illegals to become citizens and vote Democratic.

If the modified bill is passed by the House, the bipartisan cheap-labor caucus in the Senate is expected to strip out Ryan’s modest reductions in immigration numbers because companies want to maximize the inflow of foreign consumers, workers and renters.

Any amendment adding the E-Verify system also will be opposed by Senate Democrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because it would penalize roughly 8 million working illegal-migrants.

We’re looking at yet more wrangling amongst Uniparty members of Congress, both –R and –D, and their loyalties to – not their constituents - but their donor masters.

Cleveland Tea Party’s Ralph King posted this on his FB page:

Patriots - it is time to rise up and be loud!

We need to keep President Trump from making any deals on DACA and the Wall! We need to let him know we elected him to stand strong and we will stand with him on NO Deal for DREAMERs!

Besides the left we also have enemies within that would love President Trump to cave and give out backdoor amnesty for DREAMERs in exchange for Wall funding. We know the left is going to fight against it - but we must not forget forces in the Swamp that want the same thing!

The Open Border, illegal immigrant, low-wage loving GOP donor class, the US Chamber & Koch Brothers (American's for Prosperity) all who control Paul Ryan and the Establishment GOP would love and want amnesty for the DACA DREAMERs. They always have.

Exchanging Amnesty for DACA DREAMERs is a trap and sucker bet. Soon as the DREAMERs are allowed to vote they will vote Democrat across the board and there goes any continued funding for building the wall.

We cannot allow President Trump to be swayed by the Establishment Swampers!

We cannot allow President Trump to be fooled, swayed and/or duped like Ronald Reagan was with the Immigration Reform & Control ACt of 1986 (Simpson - Mazzoli Act)! In short - Reagan compromised on immigration and got screwed. We must learn from history!

We need to let President Trump know NO DACA Deal! Do NOT Trade the Wall funding for DACA Nightmares!

You can call or email the White House:

PHONE NUMBERS

Comments: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414

White House contact page with email option here. 

# # #