Thursday, July 2, 2020

The Success Is There; It WILL Pay Dividends!



America added 4.8 million jobs
 in June—the largest monthly increase ever recorded, according to today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With 7.5 million jobs added over the past two months, America’s economic comeback from the Coronavirus is taking off well ahead of schedule.

🎬 President Trump: Today’s report is “spectacular news” for America

“There’s not been anything like this—record setting,” President Trump said at a press briefing this morning. “We’ve implemented an aggressive strategy to vanquish and kill the virus, and protect Americans at the highest risk, while allowing those at lower risk to return safely to work. That’s what’s happening.”

After May and June ranked as the two largest monthly jobs gains in history, an estimated one-third of all job losses from March and April have now been recovered.

“Our work won't be done until every single American who lost their job because of COVID gets back to work,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said today.

June’s job gains were spread broadly across American industries, with the hard-hit leisure and hospitality sector seeing the biggest turnaround:
  • 2.1 million leisure & hospitality jobs
     
  • 740,000 retail jobs
     
  • 568,000 education & healthcare jobs
     
  • 357,000 service jobs
     
  • 356,000 manufacturing jobs
The Great American Comeback is reducing unemployment for a number of historically marginalized groups, too. African-American workers saw historic gains with more than 400,000 jobs added last month. Hispanic-American employment is up by 1.5 million, and the unemployment rate for women fell even quicker than the rate for men.

On top of that, “workers with a high school education or less made the biggest strides of all,” President Trump said.

There is more work to do in the months ahead as we rebuild the strongest economy on Earth together. The incredible, expectations-busting jobs reports in May and June, however, should give every American hope that we’re heading toward a bright future.

🎬 President Trump: Stock market is soaring with best gains in 20 years

READA Record 4.8 Million Jobs Created in June

President Trump hosts ‘Spirit of America’ showcase!


President Trump welcomed small business leaders to the White House today to spotlight their incredible work as America reopens from the Coronavirus pandemic.

“The small businesses represented in this room continue a great and noble American heritage,” he said. “You’re entrepreneurs, artisans, creators, craftsman who forge your own path, made your own products, and provide good-paying jobs for our citizens.”

Eighty percent of U.S. small businesses are now open, and new business applications have doubled since March. Thanks to President Trump’s Paycheck Protection Program, many American workers have stayed on the payroll during the pandemic, lifting incomes and helping to spark a quicker economic comeback.

🎬  President Trump: 80% of small businesses are now open

Photo of the Day

President Trump tours the Spirit of America Showcase at the White House | July 2, 2020

Go Ahead, Keep Laughing, Joe; We're Booming!

America's New Pop Culture Heroes?

Why Won't CNN Cover The Great Economic News?



EVERY major news outlet covered today's GREAT economic news.
Every one EXCEPT CNN.
Why?
In a word: spite!

Great Jobs Numbers As Economy Heats Up!


“The economy has added around 7.3 million jobs in the past two months. The increase in the ranks of employed workers shows that companies ramped up hiring as the economy reopened and consumers came back to stores, restaurants, and other businesses that had been shuttered,” John Carney writes for Breitbart.

“The Trump administration’s aid programs appear to be working.”


Click here to read more.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is deploying a special federal unit across the country for the July 4 weekend in order to protect federal monuments and statues from a possible fresh wave of vandalism . . . The move marks an aggressive response by the Trump administration to push back against the violence and vandalism seen aimed at monuments in recent weeks,” Adam Shaw reports for Fox News.
“Much too frequently of late, I have grieved with the family of an officer who took his or her own life. Our valiant police officers have one of the most perilous, stressful duties around, and from what I have seen in my nearly dozen years here, they do it with care, compassion and competence,” Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan writes in the New York Post.
“Though we have faced unparalleled economic adversity in recent months, there remains light at the end of the tunnel thanks to President Trump’s United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA) . . . Americans from all walks of life will benefit from a more favorable economic environment and increased job growth,” Lt. Governors Adam Gregg (IA), Jeanette Nuñez (FL), and Matt Pinnell (OK) write in The Hill.

Occasionally, He Emerges - But Then . . . .

SHOCKER: Is Today America's REAL Birthday?

The 4th of July isn't really America's birthday.
Instead, the 2nd of July.
That's right: The 2nd of July is America's actual birthday.
So, America is really two days older than she says she is.
How could this be?

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
That's when America actually declared itself separate and apart from Great Britain.
The day was thought to be very momentous. Thus, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Of course, two days later the formal Declaration of Independence was finalized and promulgated and it contained the date, "July 4, 1776" and so that's the date that came to be celebrated.
But July 2nd is, technically, America's birthday.
And it all happened in Philadelphia -- the city that came to be known as the Cradle of Liberty.
May all Philadelphia -- and all of America -- celebrate! Well, may they celebrate as best as they can in the middle of the dreaded virus.

And that reminds me that this also happens to be a very special birthday for former Philadelphia Bar Association executive director Ken Shear. We won't say how old he is but we will tell you it's significant.
Happy Birthday, Ken -- and many, many more!
May all Philadelphia -- and all of America -- celebrate!

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Here's A Video You Don't Want To Miss!

An Open Letter To VU President, 'Father Peter'



To: Father Peter M. Donohue, OSA
       President, Villanova University

I have both your e-mail/letter of May 29 written in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's killing in which you reiterated definitive Catholic teaching that "all human life is sacred" and your followup email/letter of June 6 in which you addended your original letter with the phrase "Black lives matter."

I've thought quite a bit about this. And while I understand that you felt you needed to amend and expand upon your initial statement, what I've discovered in the very eventful weeks since your second letter gives me cause for concern about a phrase and a movement with potentially ominous implications.

"Black lives matter" connotes a lot more than it would seem at first glance. For example,  on its own website, Black Lives Matter (BLM) vows to "disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure." They also declare their intention to "foster a queer‐affirming network." And, I'm sure you must know that BLM is the driving force behind the "defund the police" movement, having called for a "national defunding of police." Furthermore, when one clicks on "donate" at the BLM website, one finds that the donate link appears to be affiliated with ActBlue, a fund-raising mechanism for Democrats -- the same party that booed the mere mention of God at its last national convention; the same party that advocates abortion on demand even up to the time of birth, and beyond.

Now, you will say that you're simply stating that "Black lives matter" and that this should not be confused with the organized movement. But, day-by-day, the phrase and the movement have become increasingly synonymous and the three words have morphed into a sort of mob mantra -- a growing, menacing and dangerous call to mayhem. 

Father, these are avowed revolutionaries. Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a BLM co-founder and strategic advisor has declared: "we are trained Marxists." Shaun King, another BLM leader has called for the destruction of statues of Jesus, declaring them "a form of white supremacy." In response to King's call, Catholic Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin said: "Depictions of Jesus are holy to Christians,  they are physical manifestations of God’s love, and remind us of the nearness of the divine. The secular iconoclasm of the current moment will not bring reconciliation, peace, and healing, " he added. "Such violence will only perpetuate the prejudice and hatred it ostensibly seeks to end . . . Only the love of Christ can heal a wounded heart, not a vandalized piece of metal,” Bishop Hying concluded.

In California, defacement and destruction of statues of St. Junípero Serra prompted an outcry from Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who said: “I’ve been feeling great distress and a deep wound in my soul when I see these horrendous acts of blasphemy … and disparaging of the memory of Serra, who was such a great hero, such a great defender of the indigenous people of this land; someone who was very much a part of my life growing up." The Archbishop even performed an exorcism at the sight where a statue once stood, declaring: “This is the activity of the evil one who wants to bring down the Church, who wants to bring down all Christian believers. "

And, there's more! In a recently issued “platform,” more than 60 groups that form the core of the Black Lives Matter movement went out of their way to single out the State of Israel, among all foreign nations and accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid. Professor Alan M. Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter professor of law, emeritus, at Harvard Law School says that singling Israel out and falsely accusing it of “genocide” can be explained in no other way than blatant hatred of Jews and their state. It's antisemitism, pure and simple.

There are many, many other examples that I could cite, including attempts to destroy the statue of Saint Louis in front of St. Louis Cathedral in the city of the same name as well as outright physical assaults on Catholic defenders of the faith in various parts of the country. The bottom line is that BLM has significantly contributed to the wrenching discord that our nation is now witnessing. Furthermore, their aims and core beliefs are at odds with much of Catholic teaching if not openly hostile to the faith itself.

Father, I think you will agree that, at a time like this, Villanova's vaulted Augustinian heritage and revered values are of little use if applied in the service of virtue-signaling catch phrases that may be little more than a front for anarchists and revolutionaries. For, what's the point of being Villanova in the first place if we rush to mouth the same mantra as all the other universities and embrace the same buzzwords as the incessant chattering guardians of secular humanism?

Trusting in and thankful for all that the good Augustinians taught me over so many hours in so many classes (including four years of theology) I remain,

Faithfully yours,
Daniel A. Cirucci
CAS, '68

All Lives Matter? This Harvard Coed Will STAB You!