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Title: The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2018 Post by: nChrist on April 04, 2018, 05:04:19 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2018 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest Apr. 4, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/55143-mid-day-digest IN TODAY’S EDITION Round two on tariffs with China is still part of a larger gambit. Leftist knives are out for EPA Chief Scott Pruitt because he’s so effective. Trump takes on Bezos and Amazon. Fake statistics keep showing up when it comes to guns. Criminal Dem IT staff avoided background checks. Two big confirmation battles loom for Pompeo and Haspel. Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts. THE FOUNDATION “Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favours or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed; in order to give trade a stable course.” —George Washington (1796) IN BRIEF China Tariffs: More Moves and Counter Moves1 By Thomas Gallatin On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, specifically targeting electronics, aerospace and machinery products. These new 25% import tariffs are designed to penalize China for its policies that force American companies to surrender their proprietary technology to the Chinese government. In calling for these tariffs, Trump noted again that China has long engaged in unfair trade tactics with the U.S., including stealing American trade secrets and technologies via cyber theft. As Trump foresaw, Beijing was quick to hit back, announcing that it will level $50 billion in tariffs against U.S. goods, specifically agricultural products, such as soybeans and beef, as well as the auto industry. The Wall Street Journal notes2 that China focused on “goods that were chosen to hit U.S. states that supported President Donald Trump.” News of the tariffs sparked fears of an escalating trade war, which sent stocks plummeting again. However, it’s important to note that none of these tariffs have been enacted, and there is likely a lot of wheeling and dealing that will occur before any are imposed. Trump responded to fears of a trade war, tweeting, “We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!” One interesting factor here is the clear motivational differences behind the tariff threats between Trump and Beijing. Trump is right about the unfair trade imbalance and Chinese theft of U.S. company intellectual technologies, and his intent is to rectify the situation. Beijing on the other hand is seeking to keep the gig going and has reacted with tariffs specifically designed to hurt Trump politically. China isn’t interested in fair trade; rather the totalitarian government is aiming to weaken Trump politically so that he is forced to capitulate to its abusive trade practices. It is the twisted “advantage” a totalitarian government has over that of a representative democracy. The Chinese governing elites are free to force their will on their populace with little political blowback. In a representative democracy, however, the president is ultimately beholden to the will of the people, and therefore Trump’s options are limited. That said, while politically speaking Beijing may have an advantage, China is still behind the eight ball on this issue economically — it has much more at stake than does the U.S. Jianguang Shen, an economist at Mizuho Securities, notes, “Beijing is facing a difficult time now as it has resorted to its core weapons, such as soybeans and cars. If the disputes escalate, what else can Beijing use?” In other words, in the geopolitical chess match, Beijing is countering with a big move in the hopes of creating enough political blowback in the U.S. to force Trump to back off his tariff threats. Will it work? Leftist Knives Are Out for Scott Pruitt3 By Nate Jackson EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is under fire of late for alleged ethical missteps. One incident was during his transition to the job, when he paid $50 a night for a room in a DC condo, only paying for the nights he stayed there. Democrat and media critics (but we repeat ourselves) allege that the arrangement amounted to, in the words of Democrat Representatives Ted Lieu of California and Don Beyer of Virginia, “an impermissible gift under federal regulations” because he paid “far below market value.” Even two Republicans, Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both of Florida, want Pruitt to step down. Never mind that the career ethics official at the EPA cleared the arrangement. Another “scandal” surrounds Pruitt’s travel and beefed up security. He flies first class rather than coach and considered the use of a private plane, and he spends a lot of money on security. Why? Because ecofascist psychos have leveled death threats4 against him, along with other lesser physical threats. Never mind that Barack Obama’s EPA chiefs, Lisa Jackson (a.k.a. “Richard Windsor”) and Gina McCarthy, spent more on travel, violated transparency and broke laws. Long story short, leftists hate Pruitt almost as much as President Donald Trump because he’s been very effective in threatening the Left’s Church of Climate Change Dogma. Mollie Hemingway notes5, “When he was attorney general of Oklahoma, he sued the EPA more than a dozen times to get the powerful regulatory agency to stay within its legal authority.” Since taking office at the EPA, a rundown of Pruitt’s accomplishments is impressive. He stewarded the agency through the withdrawal6 from the Paris climate accord, rolled back Barack Obama’s clean water7 and clean power8 regulations, cut costs by $1 billion9, pushed through transparency reforms10 on how the EPA uses science, and, just this week, scrapped Obama’s vehicle-emissions rules11. No wonder ecofascists hate him. Make no mistake: Environmentalism of the type followed by statists is a religion, and Pruitt is worse than at odds with its teachings; he’s directly challenging its tenets and undoing its sacraments. That’s why we’re seeing a coordinated effort to discredit and oust him. Fortunately, Trump called Pruitt Tuesday to tell him to “keep fighting” and that “we have your back.” The Swamp needs draining and that’s why Pruitt must stay. Top Headlines12 Fifty years after MLK’s death, U.S. civil rights leaders lament Trump’s rise — because Democrat urban poverty plantations13 have worked out so well (Reuters14) Iranian woman of the Baha'i faith, angry over demonetization of militant vegan/animal rights vlogs, attacks YouTube headquarters, wounds three and kills herself (Heavy15) Trump: “We’re going to be guarding our border with the military” (CNS News16) Organizers of U.S.-bound immigrant caravan accuse Trump of “bullying,” “threats of mass violence” (Fox News17) Gun sales soar, set new record in March amid push for more gun control (The Washington Free Beacon18.) Deerfield, Illinois, bans some semiautomatic weapons; owners face steep fines (CBS Chicago19) Does gun control reduce murder? Let’s run the numbers across the world (The Federalist20) Attorney Alex van der Zwaan, first person sentenced in Mueller probe, gets 30 days in prison (NBC News21) Mueller told Trump’s attorneys the president remains under investigation but is not currently a criminal target (Chicago Tribune22) Middle-Earth announces heavy tariffs on Narnian imports (The Babylon Bee23) Policy: The real source of teachers’ struggles (National Review24) Policy: Why leaving Syria early would be a disaster (National Review25) For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report26. FEATURED ANALYSIS Trump vs. Bezos Is a Clash of the Titans27 By Louis DeBroux Donald Trump versus Jeff Bezos. The world’s most powerful man versus the world’s richest man. A battle royale. To his enemies and critics, President Donald Trump is an infuriating enigma. Far from destroying Trump, their attacks seem to make him stronger. Even more disconcerting and baffling for those used to Republicans rolling over and playing dead, Trump fights back, and hard. He embodies the Malone character from “The Untouchables,” who told Prohibition Agent Elliot Ness how to take down the mobster Al Capone: “They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.” The renewed dust-up28 between President Trump and billionaire Jeff Bezos is the latest example of Trump’s willingness to fight back ruthlessly when attacked. Bezos became the world’s richest man — worth more than $115 billion — by leading Amazon’s revolution of retail marketing. E-commerce is still in relative infancy, but Bezos and Amazon control nearly half of the e-commerce market. With his rapidly growing wealth, Bezos bought The Washington Post, one of the top players in the news media market. And this is where the friction between Trump and Bezos took root. The Post has given up any pretense of objective journalism regarding Trump. Instead, Bezos has used his newspaper to attack Trump relentlessly and often falsely. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2018 Post by: nChrist on April 04, 2018, 05:05:26 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2018 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ Over the last couple of years, the Post has repeatedly published stories that have subsequently been debunked — for example, falsely claiming former FBI Director James Comey was fired for requesting more funds to investigate Russian collusion, and falsely claiming Asst. U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein threatened to resign. The “journalism” has been so shoddy that Post reporter Josh Rogin published three stories in 10 days that were completely wrong on major points. Not once did these “errors” favor Trump. Another Post reporter, Janell Ross, not only attended a secret meeting29 of the Democracy Alliance — bankrolled by billionaire socialists like George Soros — she was a presenter. The group’s stated goal30 is to destroy “modern conservatism … free enterprise, limited government, and traditional family values.” This is not remotely objective journalism. For his part, Trump has attacked Bezos where it really hurts — his wallet, by way of Amazon. Trump launched a counteroffensive on Twitter, criticizing Amazon and Bezos four times in the last week, including tweeting that The Washington Post should register as a lobbyist. Following Trump’s tweets, Amazon stock lost $16 billion in value31 as investors learned that Trump is reviewing changes to Amazon’s tax treatment. In his tweets, Trump attacked Amazon and its delivery contract with the U.S. Postal Service, claiming the USPS loses $1.50 for each Amazon package it delivers, arguing this is essentially a taxpayer subsidy. The USPS disagrees32, claiming it actually makes money from the deal and pointing out that, by law, it can’t deliver packages for less than its delivery costs. Trump argues that Amazon is hurting brick-and-mortar retailers, but so long as the playing field is level, that should not be a consideration. The automobile effectively destroyed the market for farriers and wagon-makers, but that doesn’t mean we should go back to the horse and buggy. The net result of the Amazon/USPS arrangement is up for debate. While Amazon deliveries have brought in more than $2 billion in additional revenue for USPS, an analysis by Citigroup of USPS delivery costs reports that each parcel delivered by the Post Office should charge an additional $1.46 to reflect the “true economic cost” of delivering. It should be noted that Amazon is just the biggest of many companies taking advantage of the USPS’s bulk parcel service, and the Post Office has been losing money for years, mainly due to exorbitant labor and pension costs. But that is another story for another day. In truth, Amazon is just the latest33 in a long line of revolutionary companies that have completely changed the way we live, and for the better. That should be applauded. It is what Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction,” whereby new technologies destroy existing industries by being more efficient and offering newer, better, less expensive goods and services. Though difficult to envision today, Amazon will one day fall to some new start-up and go the way of Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, Blockbuster Video, and Kodak, all once the dominant players in their fields. Trump is right to be concerned about the Bezos empire though; just not for its contract with USPS. Amazon has a contract with the CIA to host cloud services for extremely sensitive data. This creates a massive conflict of interest with The Washington Post. Rather than being a watchdog against government corruption, the Post would become a lapdog with a vested interest in protecting the government as a major client. Not to mention the fact that, while leaking classified information is a felony, it is not a crime for the media to publish state secrets once leaked. This makes Jeff Bezos enormously powerful in ways that go far beyond his financial assets. It puts Bezos in a position of vast power politically, allowing him to influence a nation by framing the narrative of media stories through his progressive worldview34, while masquerading as objective journalism. That combination of vast wealth, political activism and massive influence over the collective national consciousness is a danger to a free society. MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST Background Checks Take a Back Seat With Dem IT Aides37 — The problematic Awan family completely avoided scrutiny from any Democrat. MSM Peddles More Fake News on Guns38 — Relying on misleading statistics and emotions, the Leftmedia continues to insists that guns are the cause of evil. Video: No Right to Bear Bullets?39 — Debbie Wasserman Schultz has solved the gun violence problem: Let’s just ban bullets! Two Big Confirmation Battles Loom40 — Pompeo for secretary of state and Haspel for CIA director are critical positions and both face opposition. BEST OF RIGHT OPINION Tony Perkins: Air Force Throttles Back War on Faith41 Michelle Malkin: Caravans, Churches and Criminal Sanctuaries42 Marc A. Thiessen: Trump Tried Going Big on DACA. Now He Should Go Small.43 Betsy McCaughey: Marching Orders for Trump’s New VA Secretary44 Rich Lowry: Amazon Isn’t a Villain45 For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion46. OPINION IN BRIEF Tony Perkins: “For combat pilot Leland Bohannon, it’s been a turbulent year. One promotion shy of his first general’s star, the Air Force colonel watched his 24-year career flash before his eyes last May when he was asked to sign a certificate of appreciation for a same-sex couple. When his religious accommodation wasn’t granted, Bohannon asked a higher-ranking officer to sign it instead. Now, months after wondering if he’d ever be able to return to the military he loved, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson gave him the answer he’d been waiting for: yes. For Bohannon, who’d been grounded, suspended, and virtually guaranteed that he’d never be promoted for his beliefs on marriage, the news of his reinstatement was almost as shocking as his temporary dismissal. As most service members understand all too well, religious hostility in the military didn’t disappear when Barack Obama did. President Trump has had to walk a long and determined road to weed out the bureaucrats still loyal to the intolerance of the last administration. And thankfully, he has leaders like Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson to help him do it.” SHORT CUTS Insight: “In order that all men might be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.” —Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) The BIG Lie: “I think the Second Amendment is being badly interpreted; it’s not consistent with what our founders intended. What’s happened here is the nation as a whole has decided it can no longer, in my view, continue to turn a blind eye to the prostitution of the Second Amendment here and can no longer turn a blind eye to the enormous damage being done not just in our schools but on our streets.” —Joe Biden badly interpreting the Second Amendment You’ll gladly use them as pawns: “[March for Our Lives] was totally … on the part of the students. There was no adult inspiration for this. They insisted and that’s why guys like me who led in the gun issue did not show up to speak. We wanted to make sure everybody knew this was a spontaneous, thoroughly spontaneous effort on the part of young people.” —Joe Biden Braying Jackass: “Another shooting. I’m going to politicize the f—k out of it, and so should you. The NRA is a terrorist organization.” —supposed comedian Michael Ian Black Race bait: “Given Trump’s history, you can guess that there might be racial undertones there.” —former Obama aide Jen Psaki on Trump’s use of the term “Cheatin’ Obama” Facepalm: “Don’t let a dog be put to death, adopt it, the president of the nation’s largest abortion provider suggested Tuesday. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards made the pitch on Twitter, employing the #AdoptDontShop hashtag advocating dog adoption over pet store purchases. … Ironically, Planned Parenthood performs 113 abortions for every adoption referral it provides.” —CNS News’ Craig Bannister For the record: “This [Scott] Pruitt flap is absurd. Obama EPA officials spent as much or more on travel. And career EPA ethics officials say he paid ‘reasonable market value’ for the condo, and leasor had no business in front of EPA. The press might at least try to pretend it didn’t have two standards.” —Kimberley Strassel Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen. Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis Nate Jackson, Managing Editor Mark Alexander, Publisher |