Good News On Jobs, A Day Without Women, Vermont's Refugee Rebellion

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Good News On Jobs

A jobs report released yesterday by ADP and Moody's Analytics estimated big gains last month -- 298,000 jobs. Let me give you some perspective on just how big that number is: During Obama's eight years in office, job growth averaged just 109,000 new jobs per month.

Granted, Mr. Obama's average was hurt by the depths of the Great Recession early in his presidency. So let's just focus on the best part of Obama's record. As National Public Radio notes, "But even if you average out Obama's 75 straight months of job growth, you get 199,000 jobs per month." Still significantly fewer than the first full month of the Trump Administration.

To be fair, the ADP report is not the government's official number, and it was way above expectations. So much so, in fact, that some commentators wonder if there was a flaw in the methodology.

But there is no doubt about this: Employers hesitate to hire unless they have a sense that they won't have to lay off anyone a few months down the road. The election of a conservative president and Congress convinced businesses that there won't be massive regulations and that taxes are likely to go down. The election has changed many attitudes from pessimism to optimism.

For example, small-business optimism posted its biggest monthly surge in 30 years following the election. And consumer confidence just hit its highest level in a decade.

Good News At The Border

The Department of Homeland Security reported yesterday that there has been an amazing drop in the number of people attempting to enter the United States illegally. The way we measure that is by the number of apprehensions or arrests at the border.

During a press conference yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly said that arrests were down approximately 40% for the first two months of the year. That is very significant because illegal border crossings usually spike during the cooler months. According to Secretary Kelly, border arrests are "trending toward the lowest monthly total in at least the last five years."

How can that be? Not one brick of the wall has been laid yet.

Well, for years Barack Obama repeatedly sent the message -- through his open borders rhetoric and his pro-amnesty policies -- that America wasn't serious about controlling its borders and enforcing its laws.

When Donald Trump took office he immediately reversed Obama-era orders that had handcuffed our Border Patrol agents. Illegal immigrants heard the new president's rhetoric and realized that tougher enforcement was on the way.

A Day Without Women

Every woman I know -- in my family, in my neighborhood, in the workplace -- showed up yesterday and did what busy American women always do. They juggled multiple tasks, nurtured their children, excelled at the office, and basically ignored the whining on the left that portrays women as victims.

The media, of course, focused on the one-tenth of one percent of women who tried to make some political point. Oddly enough, they underreported what happened at Trump Tower yesterday, where a mob of "progressive" women staged a sit-in. About a dozen were arrested.

Among them was Linda Sarsour, a radical anti-Israel, pro-Sharia law activist. Sarsour was also a leader of the anti-Trump Women's March that took place the day after Trump's inauguration.

Sarsour has parroted the radical Islamic line. For example, she is a conspiracy nut, blaming the New York Police Department for "manufacturing" terrorism cases against Muslims.

She also praised Saddam Hussein. When the Iraqi dictator was pulled from his spider hole in 2003, Sarsour lamented, "My Arab pride was hurt."

She praised Hussein, an enemy of the United States, for aiding the Palestinians against Israel. Hussein also supported Palestinian terrorism against Israel. He attacked the state of Israel during the First Gulf War. And, evidently, he was a source of pride for Sarsour.

Sarsour has also attacked women who have dared to speak out against radical Islam's abuse of women.

Apparently no one on the left thinks it is odd that a feminist leader is also an advocate of radical Islam, the most misogynistic faith in the world.

Vermont's Refugee Rebellion

Aftershocks are still rippling through the political landscape in Vermont after a stunning upset in Rutland's mayoral election this week. Five-term Mayor Chris Louras was thrown out of office after winning just 34%. Louras was defeated by a candidate he had beaten twice.

But one issue dominated the election: Mayor Louras' plan to bring 100 Syrian refugees to the tiny Vermont town. He told the Associated Press, "Rutland is a microcosm of the national conversation on immigration and refugees."

I hope the left is paying attention. Polls show that the American people overwhelmingly agree with President Trump.