Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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A New Era: “America First!”
By Neil A. Carousso
At 12 Noon ET, Donald John Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America.
A group hug for the First Family after President Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) President Trump was joined by First Lady Melania Trump, their child 10-year-old Barron, and the rest of the First Family, including Ivanka, Donald, Jr., Eric and Tiffany Trump, Mr. Trump’s son and daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.
Mr. Trump gave a brief, nonpartisan and unideological 1,433 word Inaugural Address to the nation promising a bright future under his Administration in which the President said he would not bend to political influences. Mr. Trump, in a contrast to President Barack Hussein Obama, was concise and direct in laying out his goals of prosperity, strength, peace and unity for the nation. Despite sharp opposition to his Presidency, Trump vowed to return power to the American people, as the framers intended.
“January 20th, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” said President Trump.
The “Movement” began on June 16, 2015 as Mr. Trump rode down his Trump Tower escalator with his wife Melania. (Courtesy: ABC News) A new era has begun as the man whom everyone underestimated since he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015 when Trump famously took a ride down his golden Trump Tower escalator in New York City.
What elitists didn’t realize was people were sick of establishment politics, the “all talk, no action” games, and the unkept promises. Furthermore, the “blue collar businessman” connected with Americans in the heartland of the country, many of whom have seen their jobs taken from underneath them in favor of globalist policies that Trump has promised to reverse. In fact, he has already created and saved American jobs; companies like Carrier, Sprint, Amazon, Alibaba, Ford and General Motors, among others, have made major economic announcements in a nod to President Trump’s favorable business and pro-growth policies, a stark contrast to the past 8-years of high taxes and restrictive business regulations that have stifled economic growth.
America currently has the lowest labor participation rate since the 1970s with 95 million Americans out of the labor force, 13 million more Americans on food stamps since 2009 and the lowest home ownership rate in 51 years.
“I will fight for you with every breath in my body – and I will never, ever let you down. America will start winning again, winning like never before. We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.” – President Donald J. Trump, Friday, January 20, 2017, Inaugural Address at The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Despite the minuscule amount of violence rioters and anarchists played-up by liberals and the press, President Trump was unifying in message, giving hope and pride to millions of Americans who have felt left out under the Obama Administration and encouragement to those who didn’t vote for the novice politician.
“When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.” – President Donald J. Trump, Friday, January 20, 2017, Inaugural Address at The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Personal politics aside in a politically divided nation, today is a wonderful day for the United States of America as the transition of power between 44th President Obama and 45th President Trump occurred when Mr. Trump took the oath of office at high noon. This only happens in a free nation. Former Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and his wife, Trump’s political opponent, former Senator, former First Lady, and former Obama Administration Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy Carter were present as well as the Supreme Court Justices, demonstrating continuity of our government. President George H.W. Bush been in a Houston, Texas hospital since Saturday. Shortly before his hospitalization due to pneumonia, the 92-year-old 41st President regretfully informed Mr. Trump that he would not be in attendance.
George H.W. Bush wrote a letter to then, President-elect Donald Trump ahead of the inauguration. 
“Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter,” President Trump’s ambitious agenda and promise to the American people. This is a time to give President Trump a chance to succeed. Patriotism means rooting for our President and rooting for our country.
Mr. Trump has published a “Contract with the American Voter,” which includes repealing and replacing The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a more affordable healthcare program consisting of personal health savings accounts and nationwide competition in the private sector to decrease premiums and deductibles. President Trump’s first executive order upon entering the Oval Office for the first time was titled “Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal.”
President Trump has promised to secure our borders with the wall being a necessary component of the nation’s security. Marine General John Kelly has been nominated and confirmed as Director of Homeland Security on President Trump’s first day in office. President Trump aims to vet refugees to ensure that radical Islamic terrorists and other foreign terrorists do not enter the U.S., deport criminal illegal immigrants, enforce our laws, support law enforcement and restore peace and creating opportunity for inner-city Americans, including supporting education controlled by the states and charter schools. American students are ranked 20th in reading, 19th in science and 31st in math compared to students in 35 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, dropping since 2009 from 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in mathematics.
President Trump aims to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent while reducing the amount of personal tax brackets to 3 brackets. The Republican President’s agenda includes getting rid of restrictive regulations, repatriating money for a low 10 percent tax in order to create economic opportunity for Americans who have lost their jobs to outsourcing. Trump is promising to bring back and create more American jobs even more than he already been able to take credit for as a result of his pro-business and pro-growth policies. Trump intends to implement ethics reforms like term limits for members of Congress. Mr. Trump will also be tasked with appointing a Supreme Court Justice to replace Antonin Scalia who passed away last February.
In terms of foreign policy, President Trump’s has been specific in his action plan to enhance the U.S. Armed Forces, including updating dilapidated military equipment and providing monetary support, leading by “peace through strength,” an ode to the President Ronald Reagan foreign policy mantra. General James Mattis, another Marine, has been confirmed as the Chief Executive’s Defense Secretary. Trump has also been vocal and active in his support for U.S. veterans. He has promised to reform the Veterans Affairs Administration and allow vets to seek medical care in any hospital they choose to be reimbursed by the federal government.
“We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.” -President Donald J. Trump, Friday, January 20, 2017, Inaugural Address at The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Other items on Trump’s agenda include renegotiating trade deals to ensure Americans have priority in American jobs and are not being “ripped off” by countries like China, which devalues its currency and sees tremendous growth of about 6.8 percent of GDP in the 3rd quarter of 2016 while U.S. growth was 3.5 percent of gross domestic product. Trump has said he will renegotiate or scrap the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed by President Clinton in 1994, in favor of “smart” trade policies with a greater benefit for American citizens. President Trump is also planning on abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal that many argue hurts American workers. Democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also said he would kill NAFTA and TPP if he was elected president.
Trump also seeks to accomplish energy independence by using our own resources as opposed to dealing with terror sponsored nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia that are rich in oil. President Trump says he will reevaluate our commitments to the United Nations and NATO for which the United States spends the majority of dues without enough reward to the U.S. and its allies, many would argue.
This is an ambitious agenda, emphasizing “American exceptionalism;” if President Trump can implement these policies, continue to create and save American jobs, restore peace and unity and truly be the President for all Americans, Mr. Trump, and by extension, the country succeeds.
“When you succeed, the country succeeds.” – President Barack Obama to President-elect Donald Trump, November 10, 2016, The White House
Let’s pray and support President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and the United States. Now it’s time to get to work and “Make America Great Again, greater than ever before!”
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump share a dance at the Liberty Ball. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst) “We always felt we are going to do it. It’s a movement like they have never seen anywhere, anytime in the world. And now the work begins. There is no games. We are not playing games. The work begins. We love you, we are going to be working for you and we are going to be producing results.” – President Donald J. Trump, Friday, January 20, 2017 Liberty Ball, Walter Washington Convention Centre in Washington, D.C.
God Bless America!
Featured Image Courtesy: Associated Press.
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115th Congress Convenes Today, Are Priorities in Order?
By Neil A. Carousso
This post has been updated for breaking news.
The 115th United States Congress convened today in the nation’s capital. Are lawmakers’ priorities in order? President-elect Donald J. Trump doesn’t think so.
Shortly after new members of Congress were sworn into office, House Republicans reversed course on weakening the independent ethics watchdog following pressure applied by Trump via Twitter.
Mr. Trump tweeted earlier about the importance of Congress using its time wisely.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
……..may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
“With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority. [sic],” Mr. Trump tweeted in the 10 AM ET hour, continuing, “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS““DTS” is an acronym of his campaign promise to “drain the swamp,” meaning to rid Washington, D.C. of corruption, private dealing and optics that benefit the elitists at the expense of regular, hard-working Americans.
Just after new Congress members were sworn in on Capitol Hill, though, House Republicans, in an emergency meeting in the Capitol basement, scrapped plans to gut the OCE. Representative Charlie Dent (R-PA) confirmed that President-elect Trump’s Tuesday morning tweets were a factor in the decision to scrap the controversial amendment.
BREAKING: Two Republican lawmakers say House GOP drops rules change gutting ethics office .
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) January 3, 2017
McCarthy asked Rs to pull the ethics change by unanimous consent. Told them GOP didn't have the votes to pass the rules package, per Dent
— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 3, 2017
News: Dent tells reporters that Trump factor was discussed by House leadership… told Rs that pres-elect was opposed to OCE change
— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 3, 2017
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (Courtesy: AP/J. Scott Applewhite) “Republicans claim they want to ‘drain the swamp,’ but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”
The Goodlatte Amendment would dictate that investigations be conducted by the same politicians who would come under scrutiny for ethical violations. In other words, the House would police itself.
Investigations under this proposed amendment would be required to be completed within a limited time frame. The office would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, replacing the Office of Congressional Ethics that was established in 2008, and would “be subject to the authority and direction of the Committee on Ethics,” a standing committee of the House of Representatives.
It would also prohibit the board of the news office from employing a spokesperson and openly discussing ethics investigations. Criminal violations will be sent to the Ethics Committee first.
The Trump Effect and the Power of his ‘Beautiful’ Twitter Account in an Effort to ‘Drain the Swamp’ and Put American Workers First:
President-elect Trump has proposed and promised “six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, D.C.” in his “Contract with the American Voter” with the goal of enacting “new ethics reforms to drain the swamp and reducethe corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.”Before the House GOP dropped the rule change to gut the ethics watchdog committee, Ford Motor Company canceled plans for a $1.6 billion new plant in Mexico, safeguarding approximately 3,500 American jobs. Ford will also create the new Manufacturing Innovation Center at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. Ford announces it will invest $700 million during the next four years, adding 700 U.S. jobs during Mr. Trump’s first term in office.
Employees at the expanded plant will build the “all-new small utility vehicle with extended battery range as well as the full autonomous vehicle for ride-hailing or ride-sharing – along with the iconic Mustang and Lincoln Continental.”
Instead of driving jobs and wealth away, AMERICA will become the world's great magnet for INNOVATION & JOB CREATION.https://t.co/siXrptsOrt
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
The “Trump Effect” is on full display as the 115th Congress convenes for the first time, 17 days before Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America.
Featured Image: File photo courtesy of Reuters.
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President Obama Portrays a Tough-Guy Persona by Sanctioning Russia but His Failed Policies Indicate Otherwise
By Neil A. Carousso
President Barack Hussein Obama has just imposed 9 different sanctions on Russia, which could “box in Trump,” wrote The New York Times.
Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Reuters and the Associated Press are reporting that Obama has expelled 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the Russian embassy in Washington. D.C. and the Russian consulate in San Francisco. The President has also ordered the closing of 2 Russian compounds in the nation’s capital and New York City as a result of the alleged Russian “hacking” into the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Russian intelligence officials have 72 hours to leave and will no longer be able to access the compounds as of noon on Friday, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke with Reuters anonymously.
The Russian foreign ministry said the U.S. sanctions are “counterproductive and will harm the restoration of bilateral ties,” reported Interfax news agency, citing Konstantin Dolgov, Foreign Ministry commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says Moscow regrets the new U.S. sanctions and will consider retaliatory measures. On Thursday, the Kremlin vowed retaliation to the U.S. sanctions that will be “adequate,” but Friday morning Putin, in a statement on the Kremlin’s website, said, “While we reserve the right to respond, we will not drop to this level of irresponsible diplomacy, and we will make further steps to help resurrect Russian-American relations based on the policies that the administration of Trump will pursue.”
While it may seem like a strong and necessary move from an inherently weak leader, who is on vacation in Hawaii, it may cause major problems in the United States during this period of transition from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration. The sanctions do not include economic holds or an impact on Russian oil reserves, and many believe the Russian compounds should have been closed a long time ago.
Simply put: Obama waited this long to punish Russia, starting what he cannot finish in office. This is another problem for President-elect Trump to resolve starting on January 20 when he is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
Liberal Democrat and Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky said on the air Thursday afternoon that it was a “disgraceful and weak move by the Obama Administration,” adding that Obama’s sanctions are “feckless.” The perplexity is bipartisan.
Really, President Obama? Kicking out a few Russian intelligence agents? How about exposing and freezing Putin and inner circle assets. #weak
— Julie Roginsky (@julieroginsky) December 29, 2016
Clip: @julieroginsky is 'disgusted' by the administration's 'weak and feckless' sanctions against Putin… pic.twitter.com/VAP33lm2wR
— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) December 29, 2016
The fact is that the election was a repudiation of President Obama’s policies and leadership by the American voters. Obama even tied his legacy to Mrs. Clinton on the campaign trail saying that he would consider it a “personal insult” if Clinton was not elected.
“My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot.” – President Barack Obama, Saturday, September 17, 2016, Congressional Black Caucus Dinner.“Hacking” neither affected Americans’ votes on their ballots nor the Electoral College votes. There is no proof that Russia affected the election results in any way.Russia’s “hacking” is a distraction to undermine and delegitimize President-elect Trump and avoid discussion about the failed and rejected Obama policies that have led to the decimation of the Democratic party in terms of lost seats across all levels of government, including losing the party majority of members in Congress in 2010, and 948 lost state legislature seats since Obama took office in 2009. The GOP controls the most state legislative seats since the 1920s. Republicans, now, have 31 sitting governors, compared to just 18 Dems, after losing 12 governorships.
“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior,” President Obama said in a statement, calling out the highest levels of the Russian government for their alleged involvement in the U.S. election.
Obama has said that these sanctions are just the beginning, but not all acts will be made public. It is suspected that the U.S. will engage in a counter-cyber attack. The U.S. should also update cyber-security systems and strategy and upgrade computer software that dates back to the 1950s, according to the United States Government Accountability Office.
President-elect Donald Trump makes an economic announcement on Wednesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Courtesy: Evan Vucci/AP. While Russia should be held accountable for any involvement or intent to influence the election, Obama’s consistent lashing out of spite of Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton, is immature and unpresidential, and perhaps, jealousy of Trump’s early success in the name of tax and business policies of the President-elect, who has saved 1,100 American jobs that Carrier was sending to Mexico, announced that Sprint is bringing back 5,000 jobs to the U.S. that were sent overseas, and new company, OneWeb’s announcement that it is creating 3,000 jobs in the U.S., which is associated with Korean-Japanese businessman and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s guarantee to invest $50 billion to create 50,000 American jobs.
Just in the past two weeks, Obama has signed an executive order banning offshore drilling in the Arctic, policy that continues oil dependency on terror-sponsored nations, and officially dumped an entry-exit registry for immigrant men. Last week, Obama decided to abstain from a United Nations resolution to sanction Israel over settlements in the West Bank. This has been seen as a betrayal of the United States’ strongest ally in the Middle East and “anti-Israel” by many, including most Republicans. David Keyes, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Fox News that Israel has “ironclad information” that the Obama Administration worked with Egypt to draft the resolutions, which has been denied by the White House. Important to note that President Obama worked to unseat Netanyahu during last year’s parliamentary elections by spending $350,000 in American taxpayer grants to oust the Israeli prime minister, a congressional report concluded last summer.
“Russian Reset:” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after she gave him a device with red knob during a meeting on March 6, 2009 in Geneva. Courtesy: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images. Now, Obama is punishing Russia after a failed 8-years of Russian foreign policy, started with the “Russian Reset” in March 2009 while Clinton was Secretary of State, and punctuated by three transactions of a total of 20 percent of American uranium to Russia, between 2009-2013, that made “Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.”
With President-elect Trump taking office, U.S. foreign policy will be approached differently from the abominable past 8 years under Obama. “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” said Trump in a statement issued Thursday evening. “Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation.”
Featured image: President Obama (right) met with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18, 2012. Courtesy: REUTERS/Jason Reed.
Last updated: Friday, December 30, 2016 at 11:10 AM ET.
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Getting Real on Immigration with a Retired Federal INS Agent
By Neil A. Carousso
Michael Cutler is a retired federal agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and a senior fellow at Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS). Basia and this host discuss legal and illegal immigration from a common sense perspective with Mr. Cutler, a Democrat from Brooklyn who is a descendant of Russian immigrants.
Featured image courtesy of Scholastic.
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Walking in an Army Veteran’s Shoes
By Neil A. Carousso
Rance Mangum enlisted in the U.S. Army on March 15, 1988, proudly serving the United States of America for over 5 years.
Rance Mangum at 34-years-old. “People’s lives depended on you,” said Mangum.
When he returned home to Long Island in 1992 from his tour in Germany, Mangum was homeless, moving in with his grandmother, who raised him since he was 3-years-old. His grandmother, who died in 2012, was his inspiration for dedicating himself to life of service. He spent 14 years as a firefighter, upwards of 30 years in various medical roles, including an EMT, EKG technician and a Certified Nursing Assistant in private Army duty in Florida.
Mangum holds a picture of him and his grandmother that was taken months before she died in 2012. “She made sure that I had my principles and know right from wrong,” said Mangum. “My grandmother says that you have to help others to help yourself.”
About 11 percent of the adult homeless population are veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 39,471 vets are homeless on a given night, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Furthermore, homeless vets are younger on average than the total veteran population with 41 percent of homeless vets between the ages of 31 and 50, according to the VA.
“The transition [from military service to civilian life] depends on the person, their educations, their situations, their past,” said Mangum, adding, “Sometimes all a person needs is a chance, just a chance to start their life over. Just don’t look at them as a homeless person or a street person walking around, you have to look at the person themselves.”
Mangum, 62, recently signed a rental lease at a home in West Babylon, NY and is seeking employment in the MTA, driving New York City buses after he completes his Class B driver’s license test in December.
“We had a lot of training, because we didn’t know if we were going to Iraq,” said Mangum, who finds civilian work more difficult due to the lack of respect for military members by some employers.
“In the military, you’re in charge of millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment, you are, and you come back here to the United States and civilians look at you for a couple of thousands of dollars, because they don’t think you can handle it,” adding that some employers have a condescending attitude towards veterans who say they can handle tasks.
“Take a couple steps in my shoes.” – Rance Mangum, U.S. Army Veteran
There are 495,000 unemployed veterans in the United States as of the end of last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Vets over the age of 45, like Rance, account for a 57 percent unemployment rate in their age group. Furthermore, female veterans are more likely to be unemployed than males.
Mangum also suffers from some medical conditions, including a benign tumor on the side of his head. With much national discussion centered around the treatment of veterans at the VA, Mangum, who lived at the United Veterans Beacon House at the Northport VA on Long Island for a few months until he moved to West Babylon, said he was treated well and views situations in an optimistic manner, a lesson he has learned in his lifetime.
“Some of these [vets, living and being treated at the VA], you don’t know how intense it was in Iraq [and] Afghanistan,” said Mangum, who added that those veterans who “come back to the United States and don’t have a job, don’t have a place to live, have alcoholic problems, have drug problems and also have symptoms from post-war syndrome” oftentimes just need someone to talk to in order to feel better.
Carol Klein, co-founder with her husband of “Our Heroes Night Out,” supports homeless veterans by hosting gatherings at the Beacon House in Nortphort.
“Sometimes it’s just easier for people to say ‘well, I’ll give you a check for 25 dollars’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t want your money, I want your time,’” said Klein to which Mangum nodded in agreement. “I just say, could you please just come and spend a little bit of time with these guys. It’s all they need – share your talent, share your time.”
Klein’s brother served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, her son-in-law is a Marines veteran and her nephew is going into the U.S. Navy this month.
Carol Klein, right, devotes her time and energy giving back to those who keep us safe. “Carol is a big part of happiness there,” recalled Mangum. “Everybody loves this lady, they look forward to her.”
Veterans are overjoyed when they receive visits to the VA and letters from people, expressing their gratitude and talking about subjects unrelated to the military and war. Mangum enjoys talking about sports, especially his favorite NFL team, the New York Jets, and even engage in civil political discussions and debate.
Rance’s first great-grandchild. Mangum has family he is close with, including one of his sisters, his two kids and several grandchildren, one who just welcomed in Rance’s first great-grandchild into the world. Many veterans, though, find comfort in their military peers.
“Military has a family-type situation,” said Mangum, who has befriended vets who he has lived with at the Northport VA and continues to keep in contact with Army veterans who he served with via Facebook. “I don’t care if you’re a Navy, Army, Air Force guy, you have that camaraderie of military person.”
There are 21,681,000 veterans living in the United States, according to the latest VA data. New York ranks fifth on total veteran population with three-quarters of the Empire State’s vets having served in wartime.
New York’s veteran population is highly concentrated east of the City, where roughly 20 percent of vets live on Long Island, where Rance has called home for the better part of 50 years, between duty overseas and private duty service in other states.
“Let them know that you care,” said Mangum about how people can help those who served to protect our nation’s freedom, sovereignty and values. “It gives them inspiration to do better to help themselves. Sometimes people don’t want to take the time to do that.”
One can get involved in supporting our veterans through “Our Heroes Night Out” by contacting Klein via her website.
