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Title: The Patriot Post Digest 4-30-2018 Post by: nChrist on April 30, 2018, 05:09:01 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 4-30-2018 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest Apr. 30, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/55665-mid-day-digest IN TODAY’S EDITION Is it any wonder why Americans distrust and dislike the Leftmedia? Trump is facing some big decisions regarding Iran, and Europe is pushing him to cave. The kerfuffle over Kanye’s recent comments reveals the Left’s plantation mindset. Or maybe global warming won’t be as bad as predicted… Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts. THE FOUNDATION “If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it, whenever our legislators shall please so to alter the law and shall chearfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself.” —Benjamin Franklin (1789) IN BRIEF The Mean-Spirited White House Correspondents’ Dinner1 Thomas Gallatin Ever since Donald Trump won the election, the mainstream media has publicly bemoaned the growing lack of trust the American people have in the press. Much of the MSM insists the cause for the public’s lack of trust is Trump himself, often pointing to his caustic relationship with the media and his often-leveled charge of “fake news.” However, as we have regularly noted, the Leftmedia brought this problem upon itself; Trump has simply served as a leading agent exposing the extent and degree of the MSM’s leftist bias. But rather than take a serious introspective evaluation, the MSM has chosen to simply double down. And this doubling down serves only to produce spectacles like the grotesque display at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — an event Trump wisely avoided, opting instead to speak at a campaign-style rally in Michigan. Leftist “comedienne” Michelle Wolf was chosen to speak at the event and her monologue proved not only to be predictably biased against Trump and members of his administration but vulgar and mean-spirited. Wolf’s most controversial comments were aimed at White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who was in attendance. Wolf “joked,” “We are graced with Sarah’s presence tonight. Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited. I’m not really sure what we’re going to get, you know? A press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. … I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies.” That’s just the stuff mild enough for us to print. The rest included profanity, references to feminine hygiene products, and so on. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders’ father, took exception to the abusive “jokes” directed at his daughter. “The WHCD was supposed to celebrate the 1st Amendment,” he said. “Instead they celebrated bullying, vulgarity, and hate. They got all dressed up so they would look nicer when they had a hired gun savagely attack their guests. Do they really wonder why America has no respect for them? Sad!” Trump’s former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, called it “an R/X rated spectacle” that made everyone in the room “uncomfortable” and witnessed that both “Trump lovers and even a large number of Trump haters were pretty miserable.” Several journalists agreed, as demonstrated by Peter Baker of The New York Times, who commented, “Unfortunately, I don’t think we advanced the cause of journalism tonight.” And Meg Kinnard of the Associated Press noted, “If the #WHCD dinner did anything tonight, it made the chasm between journalists and those who don’t trust us, even wider. And those of us based in the red states who work hard every day to prove our objectivity will have to deal with it.” Predictably, there were those in the MSM who defended Wolf’s attacks on Trump. Most notable was CNN’s Jim Acosta, whose only complaint was that the event “did not really address the nearly constant attacks on the press from the president.” In the end it appears that it was Trump who had the last laugh. He declared that the dinner “was a very big, boring bust,” an “embarrassment,” and “the filthy ‘comedian’ totally bombed.” In fact, he said, “FAKE NEWS is alive and well and beautifully represented on Saturday night!” Status Quo on Iran Won’t Do2 On May 12, President Donald Trump will decide whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran — sanctions that were suspended as part of the 2015 nuclear deal — or to approve waiving those sanctions for another 90 days. When he extended the sanctions waiver in January, the president stated bluntly, “This is a last chance. In the absence of [a renegotiated] agreement, the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal.” With the recent arrival of Iran hawk John Bolton3 as national security advisor, and with Trump’s track record of negotiating aggressively, it seems highly unlikely that the president will waive sanctions again. Recently approved Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that on Friday — no waiver absent a “substantial fix” negotiated with European leaders. Not surprisingly, the pacifist Europeans who are wedded to the deal, as well as the Iranians who have benefited from the deal, have all been active in recent days and weeks trying to dissuade President Trump from reimposing sanctions. French President Emmanuel Macron came to Washington last week for a formal state visit, during which he and Trump offered their views on the nuclear deal. Macron made some conciliatory remarks, allowing that the deal could be improved, but the “four pillars” he suggested4 all amount to tinkering at the margins and do nothing to rectify the deal’s serious flaws5. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also met with President Trump last week, and she, along with UK Prime Minister Theresa May, acknowledged6 Macron’s suggestions for improving the deal. Iran of course continues its defiant position that the deal is binding on the United States, warning of various dire results should President Trump withdraw. It’s worth reiterating at this point that President Trump has said all along that his preference is to improve the nuclear deal, not simply blow it up and walk away. His critics, foreign and domestic, continue framing the issue only in terms of Trump killing the deal, whether to dismantle his predecessor’s legacy out of petty spite or to appeal to his base, but his goal is to negotiate a better deal. Timing would appear to be on his side, as Iran’s domestic stability and economic health have both plunged over the last year, leaving the Iranians vulnerable to the increased economic pressure sanctions would impose. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 4-30-2018 Post by: nChrist on April 30, 2018, 05:10:06 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 4-30-2018 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ But as they say, time waits for no man. Both the Europeans and the Iranians likely hope to run out the clock on the Trump administration the same way they ran out the clock on George W. Bush. President Trump’s own position is likely to be weakened and even imperiled by the 2018 midterms, making it imperative that he and his supporters in Congress keep the pressure on Iran and the Europeans. As we have noted before7, it may prove impossible to negotiate an improved deal. But even that eventuality would be better to deal with now, before Iran follows North Korea into the nuclear club. Of the three options — the current deal, an improved deal, or no deal — the status quo is unquestionably the worst. Top Headlines8 House Intelligence Committee Republicans absolve Trump of collusion (National Review9) Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid tell Democrats to shut up about impeaching Trump (Washington Examiner10) Trump calls on Democrat Sen. Jon Tester to resign for falsely smearing Adm. Jackson (The Hill11) Drama at the border: “Caravan” kept from entering U.S. (CBS News12) Trump to pull feds out of K-12 education (The Washington Times13) Warm February: proof of global warming. Cold April: just random weather (The Resurgent14) Banks, credit-card companies explore ways to monitor gun purchases (The Wall Street Journal15) RSC budget plan would fundamentally shift the budget course (The Daily Signal16) Parents release statement announcing baby Alfie’s17 passing (The Daily Wire18.) Kim Jong-un thrown into labor camp for attempting to cross border into South Korea (The Onion19) Policy: Trump can close a key taxpayer abortion funding loophole (Washington Examiner20) Policy: The government should change how it regulates marijuana (The Daily Signal21) For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report22. FEATURED ANALYSIS Kanye Hear Me Now23 Arnold Ahlert “Black people don’t have to be democrats.” —Chance the Rapper24 In the mind of modern-day progressives, the above statement is tantamount to racial treason. Yet it wasn’t Chance who ignited a firestorm in the progressive fever swamps. It was fellow rapper Kanye West. A blizzard of Tweets that began with expressing support for black conservative commentator Candace Owens — who infuriates leftists with her talk25 about the “ideological civil war” occurring in the black American community, which she refers to as the “victim mentality versus victor mentality” — soon evolved into something far “worse.” West began tweeting support for President Donald Trump, including one26 with a picture of himself wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, accompanied by the caption “we got love.” Love is the last thing Kanye got in return. “It’s nice to see black people and white people coming together to be complete freaking lunatics,” tweeted “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn. “That’s mighty white of u Kanye !Nigga if u don’t snap out of it Get out part 2,” offered rapper Snoop Dogg. “So, they’re streaming music in The Sunken Place?? That’s got Be where the audience @kanyewest is courting is gonna buy that new release!…,” added actor Samuel Jackson. “*Gets inspired *Starts writing ‘Get Out 2’,” director Jordan Peele tweeted. “Get Out” and “Sunken Place” refer to the 2017 horror film “Get Out27,” directed by Peele. In it, a racist white family uses mind-controlling hypnotism to steal the bodies of black people. That mind control is illustrated by lead actor Daniel Kaluuya, shown helplessly falling through all-encompassing darkness, unable to resist. In other words, West can’t be free thinker, because a free thinker — especially a black American one — would never challenge the progressive worldview. A worldview that presently requires unquestioning hatred of Trump. Those who resist must be ostracized — and humiliated — because humiliation serves as warning to other potential “apostates.” If this seems familiar it’s because what progressives are doing to West comes straight out28 of Saul Alinsky’s list of 13 “Rules for Radicals” playbook. Rule number 13: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.” And how are progressives trying to hurt West? By emulating the worst excesses of communist tyranny personified by Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky. Snezhnevsky invented29 the term “sluggish schizophrenia” to describe those who opposed Communism as people who suffered from an “incoherent relationship to their objective social world.” In other words, one was either communist or mentally ill. Thus, two New York Post stories respectively refer to West suffering from an alleged30 nervous breakdown and a self-admitted addiction to opioids that precipitated the cancellation of tour dates in 2016. The Twitter-sphere is alive with speculation31 that West is bipolar, and Hollywood gossip rag RadarOnline insists32 it has “exclusively learned that wife Kim Kardashian and her famous family believe that drugs may be behind the rapper’s latest meltdown!” Thus, the Left and its media allies — the same bunch that has advocated33 for removing a “mentally unfit” Trump via the 25th Amendment — have already begun laying the same groundwork for West’s delegitimization. That delegitimization included a plethora34 of fake news stories declaring West had lost nine million of his 27.8 million followers. Celebrities went after West as well. On last Wednesday’s episode of “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert insisted35 that “Kanye has lost his mind.” Talk-show host Wendy Williams was a bit more creative, declaring36 that West has “really lost his mind.” These celebrities epitomize the reflexive hatred for dissonant voices that has always been a progressive staple. Yet that reality was unbeknownst to millions of Americans because it simmered beneath the surface — until Trump was elected president. Since then the dam has burst, and those who loudly and often proclaimed their commitment to tolerance and diversity have been revealed as utter frauds. Is West crazy? As New York Post columnist Ed Krayewski explains37, the rapper is “dominating the news cycle” at a time when he is involved with five albums “due for release in the next six weeks.” Yet West’s state of mind is largely beside the point. He was undoubtedly a leftist hero when he insisted38 “Bush doesn’t care about black people” during an appearance on NBC at a live benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief in 2005. Now that he has shown support for Candace Owens, along with pro-Trump39 “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams, he is not. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 4-30-2018 Post by: nChrist on April 30, 2018, 05:11:06 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 4-30-2018 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ Moreover, despite what some conservatives are naive enough40 to believe, his sudden “conversion” to the other side of the political divide might be nothing more than another self-serving effort to advance his own agenda, much of which depends on a steady diet of notoriety. Regardless, West has done the nation a huge favor by exposing the American Left’s state of mind. Yet if so many leftists truly believe he is crazy, why are they so outraged? West just “polluted” the air. He refuses to abide progressive dogma that insists millions of black Americans can either vote Democrat, or remain in a state of perpetual race-based victimization — and that anyone who says otherwise is perpetuating a “white supremacist” worldview. Yet perhaps what infuriates leftists the most is that, barring recantation, West resembles Trump: a highly flawed agent of change with a hysterical, hate-filled status quo aligned against him. And like Trump, recantation seems unlikely. His latest song, “Ye vs. The People” debuted Friday on a Los Angeles radio station. It includes the lyrics, “That’s the problem with this damn nation / All blacks gotta be Democrats/ Man, we ain’t made it off the plantation.” For the last half-century, an overwhelming majority of black Americans have been unquestioning supporters of the Democrat Party. Even a modest change in that status quo would wreak havoc among those whose financial livelihood and/or political aspirations depend on preserving the narrative that America is an endemically racist nation — with no end to the division in sight. Thus, West’s greatest “sin” comes down to a simple and contemptible reality: In terms of the racial grievance industry, he is bad for business. MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST Global Warming Not as Severe as Climate Models Project43 — New research shows that the IPCC’s predicted temperature increase is overblown. New Book: Clinton Was a Lousy Feminist 44 — New York Times reporter Amy Chozick recounts some telling episodes in the 2016 campaign. Video: Mark Steyn Takes on the Kanye Twitter Kerfuffle45 — Mark Steyn talks with Tucker Carlson about “free-thinking” Kanye West’s open praise of Trump. Video: Bad Lip Reading of Mark Zuckerberg46 — The guys at Bad Lip Reading have some fun with the congressional hearing with the Facebook chief. Video: Why I Won’t Call Myself A Feminist: It’s Hypocrisy47 — Allie Stuckey asks, “Why won’t I call myself a feminist? Because third-wave feminism isn’t progress.” BEST OF RIGHT OPINION Gary Bauer: Alfie Evans48 Heather Mac Donald: The Negative Impact of the #MeToo Movement49 Kathryn Jean Lopez: That’s the Power of Love50 Todd Starnes: School District Forbids Parents From Opting Kids Out of LGBT Lessons51 Burt Prelutsky: Coach Popovich Pops Off52 For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion53. OPINION IN BRIEF Gary Bauer: “England has a socialized health care system called the National Health Service. … What is happening in England is essentially what American conservatives argued would happen under Obamacare’s death panels. Government bureaucrats would be the ultimate arbiters of who lives and who dies. Some people have argued that Alfie [Evans] should be left to die because British taxpayers are the ones who’d have to pay for his care. But Italy has granted Alfie citizenship and a Catholic hospital in Rome has agreed to pay for his care and take all possible steps to save him. There’s a profound irony in these cases. In many Western countries, governments have enshrined the right of women to control the fate of their unborn children, even if it leads to the baby’s death. But in this case, the government is doing the opposite, telling Alfie’s mother that she has no right to control her baby’s fate. So much for women’s rights. The European Union considers the freedom of movement a basic right. That means once migrants from the Middle East cross into Europe they can move to any country they wish to find work. Meanwhile, parents who wish to seek life-saving care for their child in another EU country are being told no. This leaves me with a sad conclusion. What the British authorities are really worried about is not the costs associated with saving Alfie Evans. … Nor are they worried that the infant will die and that they will be accused of being heartless. Their real fear is that Alfie will be taken to Italy and live, which will expose them for the moral monsters they are.” SHORT CUTS The Gipper: “I hope that when you’re my age you’ll be able to say, as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom, we lived lives that were a statement, not an apology.” RIP: “Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30 am. We are heart broken. Thank you everyone for all your support.” —Kate James and Tom Evans, parents of 23-month-old Alfie Evans, announcing his death early Saturday morning — he was a victim of Great Britain’s socialized medicine17 Non Compos Mentis: “Do we really want peace? Then let’s ban all weapons so we don’t have to live in fear of war.” —Pope Francis (“Christ teaches that evil desires spring from the sinful heart of man, not inanimate objects (Mt. 15:19, Mk. 7:21). In the first recorded murder in history, Cain’s chosen weapon is never even mentioned, but his sinful anger is.” —Sean Davis) Braying Jenny: “I’d say to Michelle Wolf, ‘Hallelujah, girl. You should be the one getting the Nobel Peace Prize.’” —CNN’s Ana Navarro Dezinformatsiya: “Dear Justice Kennedy, As you have no doubt heard, rumors of your impending retirement are, for the second year in a row, echoing around Washington and across America. … How can we put this the right way? Please don’t go. … While a court with two Gorsuches would be quick to vote in favor of religious bakers, it would not be eager to broaden the constitutional rights of gays, lesbians and other vulnerable groups — let alone protect women seeking to control their own bodies. … This is your court, Justice Kennedy. It is facing an institutional crisis, and it needs you.” —New York Times editorial board Belly laugh of the week: “I’m still a Republican. I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me.” —Ohio Gov. John Kasich And last… “It’s funny to me that liberals who whine about Trump’s ego are the same people who tell us THEY know best how we should live our lives. Talk about ego.” —Liz Wheeler 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 |