Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Backfires Hurting Low Income Workers

Legal Insurrection  “increase led to steep declines in employment for low-wage workers”

"The progressive city of Seattle pushed its minimum wage up to $15 dollars an hour but a new study from economists at the University of Washington suggests the measure is hurting the very people it was intended to help.

"This is an issue the left often refuses to understand. If you force a higher wage than the market demands, employers are forced to adjust in ways that are less favorable.

"Ben Casselman and Kathryn Casteel report at FiveThirtyEight:

Seattle’s Minimum Wage Hike May Have Gone Too Far

As cities across the country pushed their minimum wages to untested heights in recent years, some economists began to ask: How high is too high?

Seattle, with its highest-in-the-country minimum wage, may have hit that limit.

In January 2016, Seattle’s minimum wage jumped from $11 an hour to $13 for large employers, the second big increase in less than a year. New research released Monday by a team of economists at the University of Washington suggests the wage hike may have come at a significant cost: The increase led to steep declines in employment for low-wage workers, and a drop in hours for those who kept their jobs. Crucially, the negative impact of lost jobs and hours more than offset the benefits of higher wages — on average, low-wage workers earned $125 per month less because of the higher wage, a small but significant decline.

“The goal of this policy was to deliver higher incomes to people who were struggling to make ends meet in the city,” said Jacob Vigdor, a University of Washington economist who was one of the study’s authors. “You’ve got to watch out because at some point you run the risk of harming the people you set out to help.” . . .

From Joe Newby:

"The $15 minimum wage has motivated McDonald’s toward an automated kiosk strategy, laying off up to 2500 minimum-wage workers. This has sent stocks soaring. This is what you get with liberalism."

Even Trump Can't Make Goldman Sachs Popular

Ann Coulter   "Having pulled off the monumental achievement of getting elected with zero help from Wall Street, President Trump is at risk of throwing it all away. He seems to be turning his White House over not only to liberal Democrats, but to the very type of liberal Democrats he railed against on the campaign trail. 

"It's like voluntarily getting an AIDS transfusion. 

"Until Trump, voters had two choices: A Republican beholden to Wall Street or a Democrat beholden to Wall Street. 

"But Wall Street despised Trump, and he despised them. This allowed him the luxury of denouncing both Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton for their ties to Goldman Sachs, especially Hillary's six-figure "speeches" to that investment bank. 

"Ninety percent of Wall Street's money went to Hillary's campaign. Wherever the other 10 percent went, it didn't go to Trump. 

"What does that mean? 

"[Fox News' Sean Hannity frantically waving his hand]: I know! I know! Since he owes them nothing and they're universally reviled, he needs to turn the keys of the kingdom over to Wall Street bankers! 

"No, actually. It means that he should stay the hell away from them. 

"The Democrats, who are evil but not stupid, know what a gift it was for Trump to have had no Wall Street support. And they are already plotting to win Trump's voters back. 

"A hand grenade has recently been tossed into Trump's camp in the form of Stanley Greenberg's mostly-overlooked report for Democracy Corps. Greenberg, the Yale professor-turned-Democratic pollster, has conducted extensive, in-depth interviews with the beating heart of Trump's working-class support: the voters of Macomb County, Michigan, which went for Obama twice, but then flipped to Trump. 

"They were impossible to move. They love Trump, have no regrets about their vote, disbelieve the media and detest career politicians like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. They just "pray he keeps his promises and succeeds.' " . . .

Cubs Fans! One of your stars flipped the bird in his Oval Office meeting!

UK Daily Mail

A Chicago Cubs outfielder flipped the bird while posing with President Donald Trump during an Oval Office meet-and-greet with the World Series champions on Wednesday.

Albert Almora, Jr, the Cubs center fielder, extended his middle finger while standing just a few feet from Trump as the president sat down at the Resolute Desk.

Almora has his hands in his pocket, but the left middle finger is clearly extended.

The photograph was snapped by the Chicago Sun Times and later posted on Twitter. 

Before arriving at the White House, Almora told the Sun Times he was looking forward to meeting Trump.

'I just look at it as it’s not every day you get to meet the President of the United States,' he said. 

'And in a year I get to meet two.'

Trump welcomed the manager and several players from the Cubs to the White House.

The president met with manager Joe Maddon and some Cubs on Wednesday, and he calls the Cubs a 'great team'.

"Since taking office, a number of professional athletes have expressed displeasure over the prospect of visiting the polarizing Trump in the White House, but Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo above said it was 'an honor'   Read more.

Alleged NSA Leaker Reality Winner Appears in Federal Court, Trial Date Set

NBC News  "The young intelligence industry contractor accused of leaking a top-secret report to journalists made her second appearance in federal court on Tuesday, as a judge set her trial date for the fall.

"Reality Winner, 25, entered court Tuesday shackled at her ankles and wrists wearing an orange jumpsuit as two U.S. Marshals escorted her in. The handcuffs were removed and she sat quietly at the defense table for the rest of her status conference in federal court Tuesday afternoon.

"Judge Brian Epps set a proposed trial date of October 23 for Winner, who is charged with leaking classified information to the media while she was a government contractor working with the National Security Agency.

"She has pleaded not guilty to the charge of "willful retention and transmission of national defense information."

" 'It's a quite simple case, one count, one defendant,” Epps said during the Tuesday hearing, adding, “I don't want classified action to delay the case.' ” . . .

O’Keefe Drops Part 2 CNN Undercover Bombshell=> Van Jones: Russia is a “Big Nothing Burger”

The Gateway Pundit  James O’Keefe strikes again!

Project Veritas just dropped part two of their bombshell undercover videos of CNN dubbed ‘American Pravda’.

Part two is undercover video of one of CNN’s most prominent left-leaning political commentators admitting that the Russia story is a ‘Nothing Burger’.

"As TGP previously reported, James O’Keefe released part one of his ‘American Pravda’ series with CNN. O’Keefe says his goal is to expose the real motivation behind the decision making process in our dominant media corporation. The Russia story has dominated CNN. Since the inauguration, CNN has mentioned Russia on air nearly 16,000 times.

"In part one of the series released late Monday night, CNN Producer John Bonifield admitted the Trump-Russia story is B.S. but they continue to push the false narrative for ‘ratings’.

"James O’Keefe teased his Twitter followers Tuesday evening about the Wednesday release of part 2, “Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday. We will be blowing the candles out around noon, unwrapping ‘American Pravda: CNN, Part II’ "

. . . 

We all know that there is no Trump-Russia story. The media knows it and so do all the Democrat leaders. Shame on the mainstream media for pushing a false narrative for ‘ratings’ and to undermine the President of the United States. CNN should have their White House press credential stripped immediately.

VIDEO of Van Jones via Project Veritas:

UPDATED: Man destroys new Ten Commandments statue at Arkansas Capitol (Video)

UPDATE:  Man livestreams himself 'destroying Arkansas' new six-foot Ten Commandments monument' less than 24 hours after it was erected"   
Chutzpah manifested: "Prior to ramming the monument, Reed shared another video on his Facebook page where he said his intent to start a GoFundMe to buy a new car afterwards."  

. . . "During his interview with authorities at the time, he said 'voices in his head' and 'Satan' told him to urinate on the monument, and to 'smash it.'  

"He also had admitted that he was a Satanist.

"Reed was released from an Oklahoma hospital in January 2015 'under an agreement with Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater for continued treatment and family support. He is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder,' the Arkansas Times reported. ". . . 

This man is ISIS material through and through.

Pictures and video added by TD

Yahoo  "A man yelled "Freedom!" as he crashed his vehicle into Arkansas' new Ten Commandments monument early Wednesday, nearly three years after he was arrested in the destruction of Oklahoma's monument at its state Capitol, authorities said.

"The privately funded Arkansas monument had been in place outside the state Capitol in Little Rock for less than 24 hours before it was knocked from its plinth and smashed to pieces.

"Michael Tate Reed, 32, of Van Buren, Arkansas, was booked in the Pulaski County jail shortly after 7:30 a.m. on preliminary charges of defacing objects of public interest, criminal trespass and first-degree criminal mischief. An arrest report lists his occupation as "unemployed/disabled."

"Authorities did not know whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf, and a video arraignment was set for Thursday morning, a Pulaski County sheriff's spokesman said.

"Arkansas Secretary of State's Office spokesman Chris Powell said officials believe a Facebook Live video posted on a Michael Reed's Facebook account that depicted the destruction is authentic." . . .

To vet or not to vet

James Clapper suggests the U.S. set up a diplomatic mission in North Korea. The problem is, he wants to let Kim Jong-un do the same

"Not in Our Best Interests"

Weekly Standard   "James Clapper has this right: An "alternative approach" to North Korea is needed. The former director of national intelligence made the claim in Seoul this week at a seminar hosted by the Joongang Ilbo (a major South Korean newspaper) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"The historical record speaks for itself: Bill Clinton's administration struck a supposed non-proliferation deal with the Kim regime in 1994, which the nominally socialist state quickly proceeded to cheat on. George W. Bush then pursued a quasi-schizophrenic good-cop, bad-cop routine, one day (excellently) declaring he "hated" Kim Jong-il, then later, disgracefully, removing the terror-sponsoring state from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama, for his part—the man Clapper served for six and a half years—practiced what was euphemistically referred to as "strategic patience," also known as "sitting around and hoping the Kims shape up." They didn't, and here we are. North Korea is now nuclear-armed and remains the human rights horror show it's always been." . . .

California’s ‘Soft Secession’ Grows More Aggressive

California has it’s own particular kind of crazy, but his one takes
 the cake! Students from public universites will be stopped from 
raveling to “anti-LGBT” . . .

David French at National Review

Imagine if the governor of Texas called his state a ‘separate nation.’

. . . "The political answer — to the extent one truly exists — to this alarming trend is a healthy federalism. In other words, states should protect the fundamental constitutional rights of all their citizens at the same time they enact economic, environmental, and social policies consistent with the state’s ideology and values. In short, let Massachusetts be Massachusetts and Tennessee be Tennessee, but only within the bounds of the federal Constitution. 

"And that brings us to the state of California, which not only is increasing its resistance to the Trump administration but also is increasingly belligerent against other states and increasingly hostile to fundamental constitutional rights. In other words, it’s turning healthy federalism into a “soft secession” (to borrow Jason Willick’s excellent phrase). California is violating fundamental constitutional rights at the same time that it tries to use its economic power to coerce other states to adopt its social policies. To Golden State progressives, California should be California, and Tennessee should be California, too. 

"Take, for example, California’s ever-expanding “travel bans.” Last week California “restricted publicly funded travel” to Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, and South Dakota. California now restricts travel to eight states, including my home state of Tennessee. Their sins? Enacting robust religious-liberty protections that California deems insufficiently progressive. For example, Tennessee passed a law that protected counselors from counseling or serving a client “as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with the sincerely held principles of the counselor or therapist.” Under the law, counselors are required to arrange a referral to another counselor, one who has no conflict. In other words, it’s a win-win. Clients get counseling, and counselors are protected from compelled speech. That’s worth a travel ban? 

"It is when California progressives believe that every citizen has to bend the knee to the sexual revolution. " . . .

Study: TV News Is Obsessed With Trump-Russia Probe

MRC   "How much has the media’s obsession with the ongoing Russia investigation smothered the rest of the Trump policy agenda? A Media Research Center study of every broadcast network evening newscast in the five weeks since the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller on May 17 found a whopping 353 minutes of airtime devoted to the Russia probe, or 55 percent of all coverage of the Trump presidency during those weeks.

"The networks’ relentless coverage of Russia meant little airtime was spent on important policy topics, as the investigation garnered 20 times more attention than the new health care bill, 100 times more attention than the administration’s push to improve the nation’s infrastructure, and a stunning 450 times more coverage than the push for comprehensive tax reform."

. . . "Given the disconnect, it should be no surprise that half of all voters see the media as biased against Trump, compared to only four percent who think the media are pro-Trump, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, with two-thirds of Republican respondents (68%) saying media coverage of the President is “poor.' ”

Trump backers hold sit-in at Starbucks after staff mocks woman in Trump T-shirt

"Hart, who did not participate in the Saturday event, told FOX 46 Charlotte she walked out when other people noticed and other baristas laughed. She said she believed she was being bullied for wearing the shirt. “I just found it really sad that I can’t wear a T-shirt with our president without being made fun of,”  . . .

The Charlotte Observer

"A group of Republicans turned the tables on a Charlotte Starbucks Saturday, after its staff was accused of mocking a customer for wearing a Donald Trump tee-shirt.

"Starting at 2 p.m., more than 50 T-shirt wearing Trump backers staged a peaceful gathering at the Dilworth coffee house, filling chairs, tables and even the parking lot at one point.

"The group told TV station Fox 46 the sit-in was a little tense at the beginning, when a throng of people filed through the door. But the mood lightened as more and more people ordered coffee using the names of different members of the Trump cabinet, including Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions.

“ 'I gave them the name Trump and...they were very gracious about it,” Shellie Anderson told Charlotte TV station Fox 46. “We just wanted to reverse the little negativity...It’s really good to come together and take something negative and just come in here and be respectful.”

"The group presented no demands. Instead, its members sought to take a stand against any business disrespecting customers based on their politics, said James Tatro, a MeckGOP board member who participated in the event.

"While it has been described as a sit-in, Tatro says the crowd was made up of paying customers and not just “people who were filling chairs.”

“ 'We wanted the staff to see that Trump supporters are just as human as anyone else,” . . .

"Obama’s Criminal Enterprise Collapsing"

Daniel John Sobieski  "As former FBI Director James Comey’s best friend, Robert Mueller, stocks hisSeinfeld investigation-about-nothing with every Democratic lawyer and Hillary and/or Obama donor he can find, we are treated to the delicious irony of collusion with Russia being confirmed -- and the colluder-in-chief being Ex-president Barack Hussein Obama.

Even Obama’s Democrat supporters are now acknowledging he knew about Russia’s hacking of the DNC and Podesta emails. They are acknowledging that he did nothing but are not acknowledging the reason why – that he thought Hillary Clinton was going to succeed him and he wanted to do nothing to offend the Russians to whom he had once famously promised more “flexibility.”AsFox News Politics reported:

President Trump criticized his predecessor for allegedly doing “nothing” about reports that Russia interfered in last year’s presidential campaign, in a recent interview.“I just heard today for the first time that (former President) Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it,” Trump said in the interview set to air Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” “The CIA gave him information on Russia a long time before the election. … If he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? . . .

Isn't this collusion with Russia?

And this?  Obama abandons missile defence shield in Europe 

No negotiating, no quid pro quo from Russia, just a free gift from a president ashamed of his country.