While there is much pontification and opinion about a judicial ruling by New York Judge Ann Donnelly, the decision is actually quite narrow.  The judge’s involvement is specifically and narrowly only targeted to current permitted visa holders who were in the limbo zone between travel (during XO) and the denial of entry upon landing.
Despite the insufferable airport protests being promoted on U.S. MSM, there are less than 200 people nationwide who were in the limbo zone.  The ruling stops DHS from forcibly turning around a group of currently valid visa holders arriving from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  Nothing more.
NEW YORK […]  U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly ordered a halt to any removal of refugees or others who hold valid visas to enter the United States—meaning those who have arrived at U.S. airports from the seven predominantly Muslim countries named under the President’s executive order can remain, for now.
The judge did not rule on the legality of the executive order, nor did she say that others who have not yet arrived in the U.S. can be allowed to proceed.  [She’s simply clearing the airports.] (more…)

Why would the text of President Trump’s Executive Order suspending travel visas be readily available on CNN (HERE), New York Times (HERE), Wall Street Journal (HERE),  but not on White House page (HERE)?
I don’t think it’s accidental.  The limiting Visa program was President Obama’s action, not President Trump.

If you review the actual text of the executive order (copied below in full) what you will immediately notice is the order doesn’t specify ANY countries to be included in the Visa suspension (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen).
President Trump is not suspending visas from countries his team selected, they are simply suspending visa approval from countries President Obama selected.  Additionally, Trump is suspending ALL visa applications from those countries – nothing to do with Muslim applications.
• In 2013 President Obama suspended refugees from Iraq for six months.  • In 2015 Congress passed, and Obama signed, a law restricting visas from states of concern; • and in 2016 Obama’s DHS, Jeh Johnson, expanded those restrictions.  …. all President Trump is doing is taking the same action as Obama 2013, and applying Visa restrictions to the nation states Obama selected in 2015 and 2016.
From the Executive order:
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President Donald Trump initiates three more campaign promises today via executive action:

♦  A five year ban on lobbying for all White House officials. An order banning administration officials from ever lobbying the U.S. on behalf of a foreign government and imposing a separate five-year ban on other lobbying.

♦  An order to begin restructuring the White House National Security Council. Aides said the changes would help the council better adapt to cyber, digital, terrorist and other modern-day threats.

♦  A request for the Department of Defense, via the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to deliver a preliminary strategy to defeat ISIS within 30 days to the President.

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Pay close attention to the sequencing of events, even within the day, which stem from delivered and deliberate action and policy of President Trump.  There is a strategic sequencing which builds upon a much larger Trump policy agenda.

President Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had their first official talk today vowing to strengthen diplomatic and economic relations and to work together to defeat the Islamic State terror group, the Kremlin said.

(Via Fox News) […] The White House has yet to release details of the conversation.
The Kremlin said the world leaders talked about Ukraine, Iran’s nuclear program, North Korean aggression and better trade and economic ties but made no mention of the sanctions.

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President Donald Trump’s first weekly address:

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Many people are wondering why suspend visas relating to travel from: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  Why those countries specifically?  What’s this all about.
The answer to that question and many other questions surrounding the recent executive actions of President Trump can be answered deliberately by looking forward, not backward.

Due mostly to the action of Russia, Islamic extremism is currently in retreating position from Syria.  In the weeks and months to come, radical Islamic extremists of various factions will be facing even more defeats as their strongholds  are recaptured.  In addition to their current geographic locations, where will the extremist elements go in retreat? Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Do not forget that between the November 8th, 2016 election and the January 27th, 2017 signing of these executive actions, President Trump and the incoming security/intelligence apparatus have been in contact with mid-east envoys who historically understand the predictable fall-back plans of the violent extremists within the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood is the political face of the various extremist factions. International partners for the U.S. including King Abdullah (Jordan), Fattah Abdel el-Sisi (Egypt), and Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), hold a time-tested understanding of where the extremist elements within Islam exist and where their moves can be predicted.
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In yesterday’s executive action (full script not yet released) President Trump suspended the visa travel program with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days in order to assess the screening process for immigrants, and visitors.
Additionally, as reported by Reuters, President Trump put a four-month hold on the State Department refugee program, while the vetting process is reviewed and security practices put into place to enhance the screening process.


The reaction from the left-wing open-border globalists was entirely predictable.  However, even though their response was predictable, it is still incredible to see the complete lack of cogent understanding within their arguments.   This quote from CAIR is a case study in abject moonbattery:

(Reuters) […]  The order seeks to prioritize refugees fleeing religious persecution, a move Trump separately said was aimed at helping Christians in Syria. That led some legal experts to question whether the order was constitutional.
One group said it would announce a court challenge on Monday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] said the order targets Muslims because of their faith, contravening the U.S. Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Kevin Appleby is a well known pro-refugee advocate from The Center for Migration Studies; essentially an advocate and lobbying group for the business end of refugee resettlement.
Most CTH readers are familiar with Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) and/or Catholic Charities, both groups gain hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds for their various refugee programs. “Hundreds of millions”. This is big business.
Tucker challenges Appleby on his expressed narrative, and by doing the well designed questioning approach – well, Appleby’s argument just collapsed. Watch:

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This (also see below for data), is one of those areas where Rex Tillerson can have a massive common sense impact as *Secretary of State.

*NOTE* CTH is prudently deferring any additional research and discussion threads on the U.S. Department of State until after the Tillerson confirmation vote.

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