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on: December 12, 2019, 12:44:57 PM
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The Patriot Post Digest 12-12-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
OPINION IN BRIEF
Jeff Jacoby: “About 36.4 million Americans receive food stamps, and under the new rule about 688,000 of them, less than 2 percent, will be required to work in order to remain eligible. The changes apply only to able-bodied adults without children. They won’t affect any recipient who is 50 or older, who has a disability, or who has dependents (like the teen-aged student AOC was in 2008). Rarely has it been easier for a motivated worker to find a job. The unemployment rate is at an all-time low. According to the Labor Department, there are just 5.8 million unemployed adults in the country, while the number of available jobs is over 7 million. There couldn’t be a better time to ensure that work requirements aren’t flouted. Federal law is clear: Healthy, unencumbered adults can collect food stamps only if they’re working. Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to support fellow citizens who can work but won’t. The administration’s new rule will belatedly give some adults the push they need to find a job, restoring to their food stamps the purpose Congress intended: to help the needy up from dependency, not drag them further into it.”
SHORT CUTS
Upright: “Conservatives who defend libertinism as liberty misunderstand what our Founding Fathers meant. We all love freedom. But freedom has a higher purpose, as should conservatives.” —Michael Knowles
Observations: “Without the whistleblower, there would be no impeachment. Did [Adam] Schiff orchestrate a phony scandal, once the Mueller investigation led nowhere? It’s alarming to hear Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, speculate that perhaps witnesses are not needed. And Senator Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., express reluctance to compel a House member to testify. The nation needs to know. Trump’s already gotten a raw deal in the House. He deserves fairness in the Senate.” —Betsy McCaughey
Lecturing the Leftmedia: “All they do is enable him, and that is really a sad thing. I’ve said to many of my friends in the press, ‘You’re accomplices, whether you want to be or not,’ [and they say,] ‘If he’s saying it, then it’s news.’ I don’t think it’s news, but it monopolizes the airwaves. So there is a lot of responsibility to go around in terms of the creation of whatever that is in the White House.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who wants you to believe the mainstream media is not a Democrat propaganda arm
Why impeach now? “The argument, ‘Why don’t you just wait?’ amounts to this: ‘Why don’t you just let him cheat in one more election? Why not let him have foreign help one more time?’” —Adam Schiff, alluding to the debunked conspiracy theory about Trump colluding with Russia to win in 2016
Astounding: “We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems.” —House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler
Braying jenny: “[Bill Clinton] was sleeping with Lewinsky. This guy’s sleeping with Putin. It’s a little different.” —"The View’s" Joy Behar
The BIG Lie, continued: “But here’s the big deal. Where I come from, I don’t like people telling me what I have to choose. So, the 160 million people who have busted their neck, walked down picket lines, gave up pay, took hits in order to get significant healthcare available, you get to keep it under my plan. You don’t have to give it up. The important thing on ObamaCare … is you get to keep your doctor and all that kind of thing. This is a totally different issue. You get to keep the healthcare plan you have and you want.” —Joe Biden
And last… “If it offends or bothers you that a 16-year-old on the world stage is criticized, then stop pushing her onto the world stage.” —Steven Crowder
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67326-thursday-short-cuts-2019-12-12
TODAY’S MEME
https://patriotpost.us/memes/67322-this-is-why-2019-12-12
For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union44.
TODAY’S CARTOON
https://patriotpost.us/cartoons/28050
For more of today’s cartoons, visit the Cartoons archive45.
Join us in prayer for our Patriots in uniform and their families — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way, and for our nation’s First Responders. We also ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the Spirit of Liberty46 in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis |
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on: December 12, 2019, 12:43:48 PM
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The Patriot Post Digest 12-12-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
However, Nadler’s statement couldn’t have made it more clear what the Democrats’ real motivation for impeachment has been the entire time. In their articles of impeachment, Democrats offer no actual crime, nor even an unconstitutional action on Trump’s part, despite their impassioned rhetoric claiming otherwise. Their argument boils down to this: Trump is dangerous because we don’t like him, and we can’t trust the American people to judge if he’s fit for office, so we must take him out ourselves. This is what is classically referred to as a coup.
Today, the committee is expected to vote to move impeachment to the floor of the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to hold a vote next week before Congress breaks for the holidays. So, it’ll be another week before this fraudulent charade is finally out of Democrat hands. That in itself is a Christmas gift we can all look forward to.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67330-impeachment-inquisition-dems-divert-from-fbi-fisa-scandal
Growing Anti-Semitism: Trump’s EO and Jersey City17
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the growing problem of anti-Semitism, particularly on American college campuses. As The Washington Free Beacon reports, “The new order … will clarify portions of the Civil Rights Act to empower federal agencies to consider anti-Jewish bias when it investigates potential hate crimes. The order will effectively ensure that federal investigators consider anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic motivations when investigating infractions related to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race and national origin.” The order does not18, as The New York Times erroneously reported, classify Jews as a race or nationality; it prohibits discrimination motivated by race or nationality.
The order couldn’t come at a more timely moment in the wake of Tuesday’s deadly attack in Jersey City in which four people were murdered, including a police officer. The two assailants were killed in a gun battle with police. After murdering a cop, the assailants intentionally targeted a kosher grocery store, where they killed three more people. At least one of the murderers appears to have been a former follower of the racist Black Hebrew Israelites, the group most recently infamous for protesting the MAGA-hat-wearing Covington boys19 at the DC Mall. Officials found anti-police and anti-Semitic writings on his social-media account, and it seems obvious that anti-Semitic hatred was a significant motive for this despicable crime. But since these are Black Hebrew Israelites perpetrating the attack, don’t hold your breath for federal “hate crime” charges or further Leftmedia coverage.
Meanwhile, many on the Left continue to parrot the false narrative that Trump is either an outright racist or at best that his rhetoric is responsible for racism and anti-Semitism. But aside from this executive order, remember that Trump made good on his promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem20, a move long been sought by Israel and promised by previous American presidents. As many conservatives have sarcastically observed, if Trump were a racist Nazi, then he’s really, really bad at it. Well, unless you are so afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome that you think Trump’s order protecting Jews actually makes him just like Hitler21.
As a footnote, a prime example of leftists peddling the fallacious anti-Trump narrative irrespective of the actual facts comes curtesy of America’s favorite socialist, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She linked a partial and out-of-context transcript of Trump’s recent speech to the Israeli American Council and claimed, “This is outright and atrocious antisemitism coming from the President, and it is dangerous.” And what was Trump’s supposed anti-Semitic comment? It was a joke mocking the Leftmedia’s intentionally false coverage of his presidency, and the largely Jewish crowd laughed along with Trump. Of course, any humor that mocks the Left is a bridge too far for the likes of AOC, who has no problem defending actual anti-Semites like her fellow “Squad” pal Ilhan Omar.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67308-growing-anti-semitism-trumps-eo-and-jersey-city
ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY
Featured Analysis: The Spread of Pornography Is a Public Health Crisis22 — Conservatives debate the question of how much government action is needed.
Democrats Embrace ‘Principled’ Totalitarianism23 — Hypocrisy is only a byproduct of Democrats’ insatiable quest for power by any means.
American Spirit: 93-Year-Old Makes Hundreds of Toys for Needy Children24 — With the help of local police, he distributes his wooden toys throughout the community.
Video: Adam Schiff’s Worst Impeachment Argument Yet25 — Democrats don’t have a case for a serious crime, or even a minor ethical breach.
Video: Do Afghanistan Papers Prove Officials Lied?26 — Did the government really waste huge sums of money on an effort it knew was fatally flawed?
Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column
Read The Latest Assault on Religious Liberty in the Armed Forces27. Leftists demanded that the DoD stop allowing the production of Shields of Strength with military logos.
If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email every Wednesday, update your subscription here28.
TOP NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PANEL VOTE LATER TODAY: The House Judiciary Committee launched a lively, marathon session Thursday ahead of voting on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump (Associated Press30)
JUDICIAL TRANSFORMATION: Trump secures 50th appellate court appointment, with another 9th Circuit judge confirmed (Fox News31)
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: During congressional testimony, Inspector General Michael Horowitz rips FBI “failure” in Russia probe, says nobody vindicated by report (Fox News32)
IT’S NOT A REVENUE PROBLEM: Feds collect record taxes through November, still run a $343.3 billion deficit with second-highest spending in nation’s history (CNSNews.com33)
“SCRATCHING THE SURFACE”: Education Department uncovers $1.3 billion in foreign university funding (Washington Examiner34)
SAD REALITY: Jersey City gunman was a Black Hebrew Israelite, so don’t expect to hear much more about the shooting (Washington Examiner35)
“SO STUPID”: Naval Air Station Pensacola shooting leads Navy instructor pilots to tell top brass: “Arm us” (Fox News36)
“THE CITY IS NOT PERMITTED TO RESTRICT POLITICAL SPEECH”: Federal judge blocks enforcement of Los Angeles law requiring city contractors to disclose NRA ties (Associated Press37)
AND HE WOULDN’T HAVE TO ADMIT WRONGDOING… Harvey Weinstein reaches tentative $25 million settlement; some accusers understandably object (NBC News38)
LEFT COAST INSANITY: In Spokane, 649 rape kits are awaiting attention, an opioid crisis is raging, and a serial killer hasn’t been caught, yet the city is throwing the book at a pastor who objects to a sexual minstrel show performed for children (The Federalist39)
POLICY: How to hold colleges accountable for the education they provide (Manhattan Institute40)
POLICY: How the biggest farms are getting more per acre in trade-war subsidies (MarketWatch41)
HUMOR: Trump’s popularity surges after nation learns he may have obstructed Congress (The Babylon Bee42)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights43.
The Patriot Post is a certified ad-free news service, unlike third-party commercial news sites linked on this page, which may also require a paid subscription.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67327-thursday-top-news-executive-summary-2019-12-12 |
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on: December 12, 2019, 12:42:34 PM
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The Patriot Post Digest 12-12-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Dec. 12, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/digests/67335-mid-day-digest-2019-12-12
THE FOUNDATION
“The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.” —James Madison (1788)
https://patriotpost.us/fqd/67329-founders-quote-daily-2019-12-12
IN TODAY’S EDITION
Horowitz testifies of “inexplicable” decisions about investigating Trump.1
Democrats impeach because they don’t trust Americans.2
Anti-Semitism, Trump’s executive order, and Jersey City.3
Daily Features: More Analysis4, Columnists5, Headlines6, Opinion in Brief7, Short Cuts8, Memes9, and Cartoons10.
IN BRIEF
Who Influenced 2016 More: Russia, or a Small FBI Cabal?11
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday about his lengthy report12 on the FBI investigation into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and early administration. Because Democrats and the Leftmedia would rather focus on impeachment, however, you have CNN and MSNBC cutting away13 from hearings so viewers would not be exposed to the opening statement from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). What a contrast from the wall-to-wall coverage of House Democrats during impeachment hearings.
Graham’s remarks were particularly salient, as were Horowitz’s responses.
Regarding the “dossier” written by Christopher Steele and paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, Graham asked, “Christopher Steele — is it fair to say that he had a political bias against Donald Trump?”
Horowitz responded that “there was a bias that should have been disclosed to the [FISA] court.” How much bias? Steele “was desperate to prevent Mr. Trump’s election.”
And why does that matter? Former FBI Director James Comey was asked in April 2018 how important the fake dossier was to obtaining the FISA warrant and opening the investigation against Trump. “[The Steele dossier] was part of a broader mosaic of facts that were laid before the FISA judge in order to obtain the FISA warrant [on Carter Page],” he insisted at the time. “The dossier was part of that but was not all of it or a critical part of it.”
Actually, as Horowitz made plain in his report and in his testimony yesterday, “We concluded that the Steele report played a central and essential role in the decision to seek the FISA warrant.” Indeed it did, as the House and Senate reported last year14.
As for the conduct of the handful of high-level FBI officials responsible for targeting Trump and besmirching the reputation of the entire FBI, Horowitz said some of the conduct was “inexplicable” and that he’s “not ruling out” political bias. He explained, “I think it’s hard to look at all 17 of these events and conclude it was complete incompetence.” That’s a diplomatic understatement if we ever heard one.
Horowitz also says he has referred the actions of the “entire chain of command” in the FISA warrant process for review by supervisors “for consideration of how to assess and address their performance failures.”
Graham noted that “Comey said this week that your report vindicates him,” before asking, “Is that a fair assessment of your report?”
Horowitz flatly rejected such an absurd notion: “You know, I think the activities we found here don’t vindicate anybody who touched this.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) cut to the chase, saying, “A lawyer at the FBI creates fraudulent evidence [and] alters an email that is in turn used as the basis for a sworn statement to the [FISA] court that the court relies on. Am I stating that accurately?”
“That is correct,” replied Horowitz. “That is what occurred.”
Cruz then made an astounding point about equal application of the Rule of Law: “If a private citizen did this — fabricated evidence — would that private citizen be prosecuted?” asked Cruz.
Horowitz answered, “They’d certainly be considered for that.”
A final assertion really sums up the issue at the foundation of Horowtiz’s report. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) noted, “The FBI effectively meddled in an ongoing presidential campaign.” Thus, he asked, “Which is worse? Is it worse to have a foreign government trying to meddle in our elections, or is it worse to have our own government meddling in the election?” He marveled, “To get the FBI to launch [and] pursue surveillance of a rival presidential campaign and then into the newly elected president’s term I think is just extraordinary. I think it is an extraordinary thing when the most powerful law-enforcement agency maybe in the world is able to effectively intervene and influence a presidential election at the behest and with the cooperation of another political party.”
Indeed, the collusion of this cabal of deep-state actors to interfere in a presidential election was far more consequential than anything Russia could have dreamed of doing. And Democrats are perpetuating that with their impeachment charade.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67328-who-influenced-2016-more-russia-or-a-small-fbi-cabal
Impeachment Inquisition: Dems Divert From FBI FISA Scandal15
The report on the FBI’s FISA abuse12 from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz is damning. In fact, the evidence showing that biased individuals within the FBI essentially engaged in election meddling in 2016 against Donald Trump is so damning that the Democrats are timing their partisan impeachment charade to work as a distraction. And their Leftmedia cohorts are more than willing to do their part in ignoring the more serious story. Yet the Democrats’ impeachment gambit still must be covered — not because of its legitimacy (it lacks any) but to expose just how far Democrats are willing to go in their purely partisan efforts to see Trump removed from office.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jerry Nadler (D-NY), held phase one of its mark-up process. And it was once again more of the same Democrat sham that has been on display ever since Adam Schiff’s orchestrated “whistleblower” complaint16 was first reported.
Nadler opened the proceedings by making a ridiculous claim: “We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems when the president threatens the very integrity of that election.” Really? Just hours earlier on the other side of the Capitol building, the Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing from IG Horowitz11 about how members of the deep state within Barack Obama’s Justice Department engaged in an illegal spying operation against the Trump campaign. Americans should be worried — not about Trump’s supposed “threat” but over the very real problem of unelected bureaucrats using their power to meddle in an election. |
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on: December 12, 2019, 11:28:46 AM
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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 12-11-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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The Patriot Post® · The Latest Assault on Religious Liberty in the Armed Forces
By Mark Alexander · Dec. 11, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/alexander/67306-the-latest-assault-on-religious-liberty-in-the-armed-forces-2019-12-11
“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.” —George Washington1 (1789)
On a daily basis, some boorish leftist organization wins the headlines jackpot with top billing after having said or done something so absurd and obnoxious that the Leftmedia bobble heads2 are compelled to report it.
I’ve branded the motivation for this idiocy “The PETA Principle” (as distinguished from “The Peter Principle,” regarding the tendency of organizations to promote people to levels beyond their competence).
As you know, PETA is that so-called “animal rights” cabal of emotionally unstable individuals who manifest Media Attention Deficit Disorder (MADD) pathology. No, that’s not the inability to pay attention, but rather, the inability to tolerate not being the center of media attention.
In PETA’s case, when the acute desire for more media attention hits, the organization inevitably does something absolutely ludicrous — like selling “Wool Hurts” Christmas sweaters with bloody lambs – its latest campaign against the use of wool. (PETA, in our parlance, is an initialism for “People Eating Tasty Animals.”)
PETA Principle provocateurs are an obnoxious lot who have broad appeal among other emotionally unstable cadres, most notably those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS3). They tend to make a lot of noise but, fortunately, that’s generally the sum total of their contribution to society.
Occasionally, however, those afflicted with MADD do things to generate attention that actually have broader consequences for all of us — even for our Constitution and its protection of Liberty4, particularly religious Liberty.
This month, anti-Christian agitator Mikey Weinstein and his socialist sidekick, Christine Rodda, demanded that the Department of Defense5 cease the licensing of service-branch logos to our partner organization Shields of Strength6. SoS is, in large part, a military ministry outreach operated by my faithful friend Kenny Vaughan7, who also produces Shields of Strength for those in other high-risk occupations.
Longtime Patriot Post readers know that for the last 15 years, Operation Shield of Strength8 (OpSoS) has been part of our Mission of Service9 to our nation’s warriors, veterans, and their families. The Shields are dog tags, many with a service-branch emblem on one side and Joshua 1:9 on the other: “I will be strong and courageous. I will not be terrified, or discouraged; for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go.”
Through the Patriot Foundation Trust10, we’ve distributed hundreds of thousands of Shields at no charge to military units, their family support groups, and veterans nationwide.
In the first month of our OpSoS deliveries, a note I received from a young Air Force fighter pilot on his first deployment with Operation Iraqi Freedom11 helped put into perspective the importance of our mission providing these tags. Landing at an airbase in the region, he wrote: “I was very unsettled. I was well trained to be in dangerous environments, but what was most unsettling is that I knew nobody. But then I noticed that the Airman who greeted me as I was raising the canopy was wearing the same Shield of Strength I was wearing. And there was great comfort in that.”
Last year, I wrote about Gunner Gilbert Bolton12, a highly decorated Marine veteran who received the Silver Star for his heroic actions on Hill 25 in Vietnam. The gunner attends every USMC School of Infantry-West graduating class, and he tells young Marines, “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” He has personally presented every SOI graduate with a small gift, one of our Marine Shields of Strength13. At last count, he’s handed out more than 30,000 Shields to Camp Pendleton’s SOI graduates.
Aside from their official flag insignias, these Shields are the most commonly carried item among our military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. And for the families of those who never return from combat, these Shields are much more than dog tags14.
But Weinstein and Rodda want no more of that, and they’ve demanded that the DoD order Kenny Vaughan to stop producing the tags15 with military emblems.
That demand is now being challenged by First Liberty16, a legal-defense organization that is genuinely concerned about religious liberty. Its mission notes: “As our Founding Fathers declared, religious liberty is our first and most foundational right. It serves as the catalyst of all subsequent freedoms. When religious liberty is threatened or attacked, every other freedom is endangered. And once our First Freedom is lost, it will be gone forever.”
First Liberty’s mission is diametrically opposed to that of Weinstein and Rodda, who operate the deceptively misnamed “Military Religious Freedom Foundation17.” They claim their mission is to ensure “all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.” More accurately, they devote their energy to ensuring that those in the military are free from any exposure to religion. They base that mission on the erroneous “separation of church and state18 doctrine, which actually undermines the endowed Rights of Man19 outlined in our Declaration of Independence20 and enshrined in our Constitution21.
I’ve had dealings with Weinstein previously, when my son was at the United States Air Force Academy. The Academy is Weinstein’s favorite target, and I suspected his fingerprints were on a subversive effort in 2012 that removed the words "So Help Me God” from the cadet and officer handbook oaths “to support and defend22” our Constitution. The Patriot Post exposed that subversion23 and, with the help of veteran members of Congress, put an end to it with a letter to the Academy superintendent24.
If the leftists had gotten away with that deliberate deletion, they would’ve then sought to remove those words from all military oaths — with the help of the most faith-intolerant regime25 in our nation’s history.
Now, according to Weinstein26, “Shields of Strength is clearly following the Great Commission,” referring to the Christian mandate to spread the Gospel. “The problem is, there’s a conflict between the Great Commission and the Great Constitution.”
Of course, that conflict exists only in Weinstein’s delusional America-hating imagination.
In fact, “What Shields of Strength is doing is perfectly permissible under the Constitution and the law,” said Michael Berry, director of military affairs at First Liberty. Berry added, “These are men and women who put their lives on the line defending our freedoms, which include our right to religious freedom and religious expression. And to take that away from them … that’s insulting, it’s cowardly, and it’s cruel. It’s just wrong.” (For the record, nobody is forcing anyone to wear Shields of Strength, as Berry and Vaughn noted in this Fox News interview27.)
General of the Army George C. Marshall once wrote, “The soldier’s heart, the soldier’s spirit, the soldier’s soul are everything. Unless the soldier’s soul sustains him, he cannot be relied upon and will fail himself, his commander, and his country in the end.”
To that end, I’m reminded of a humble man, small in stature only, who earned the Medal of Honor28 for his incredible display of courage on Okinawa’s Hacksaw Ridge. My old neighbor, Desmond Doss29 (RIP), said these words each time he went back, unarmed, through relentless fields of fire to retrieve another wounded American soldier: “Lord, please help me get one more man.”
I am certain that Desmond would have supported Operation Shield of Strength and condemned Weinstein’s objections.
May God bless our men and women in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — who have stood for generations and continue to stand in harm’s way. For their steadfast devotion to duty, honor, and country, we, the American people, offer them and their families our humble gratitude and heartfelt thanks. For those who have moved beyond this life, let us, in the words of Gen. George Patton, “Thank God that such men lived.”
Footnote: Patriots, one of the most cost-effective investments you can make to promote Liberty is to support The Patriot Post. We rely entirely on voluntary funding by Patriots like YOU. Please support The Patriot Fund’s Year-End Campaign today. Thank you.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776 |
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on: December 12, 2019, 11:27:17 AM
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The Patriot Post Digest 12-11-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY
Houston Police Chief Goes on Anti-2A Tirade27 — The chief blames GOP senators and the NRA for the murder of his fellow officer by a known criminal.
The Air Force Made Its Bombers More Vulnerable28 — The retirement of the AGM-86C missile is a step in the wrong direction for capability.
Grassroots Perspective: Animal Lovers or Human Haters?29 — The total lack of forgiveness for former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is astounding.
Video: The IG Report Bombshell!30 — The IG Report has vindicated Trump. Of course, Democrats are trying to spin it their way.
Video: Biden Lost on the Campaign Trail31 — Poor Joe Biden appears to not know where he is while on the campaign trail.
TOP NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
UPPING THE ANTE OF A SPENDING BILL: Clinton-appointed judge bars Trump from building border wall with military funds (Bloomberg33)
NO EVIDENCE OF MISLEADING: New York judge rules in favor of Exxon in climate-change fraud case (National Review34)
SPEEDY TRIAL: Republicans prepare to call no witnesses during Senate impeachment trial (National Review35)
FOR AFTER THE TRIAL: Senate will not take up new NAFTA deal this year, declares McConnell (The Hill36)
*WORST. HOMOPHOBIC. PRESIDENT. EVER. Senate confirms openly gay Trump nominee to 9th Circuit (The Washington Times37)
*WORST. NAZI. PRESIDENT. EVER. Trump to sign executive order combating anti-Semitism (The Washington Free Beacon38)
*(Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds for the taglines.)
SAUDI SECURITY REVIEW: U.S. grounds Saudi pilots, halts military training after base shooting (Reuters39)
ENSURING REGULATORY CONFORMITY: Defense Department Inspector General’s office to probe use of military personnel on U.S.-Mexico border (National Review40)
PRONOUN WARS: “They” declared 2019 “Word of the Year” by Merriam-Webster (The Daily Wire41)
CREATING AND ENABLING A VICTIM: Greta Thunberg named Time magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year (ABC News42)
OUTBREEDING THE INFIDELS: For the first time ever, Muhammad has made the list of top ten baby names in America (PJ Media43)
POLICY: Paid family leave: Avoiding a new national entitlement (The Heritage Foundation44)
POLICY: The cost of America’s cultural revolution (City Journal45)
HUMOR: Report: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were actually detained under the Obama administration (The Babylon Bee46)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights47.
The Patriot Post is a certified ad-free news service, unlike third-party commercial news sites linked on this page, which may also require a paid subscription.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67297-wednesday-top-news-executive-summary-2019-12-11
OPINION IN BRIEF
Walter Williams: “In a free market society, income is neither taken nor distributed. Income is earned by serving one’s fellow man. Say I mow your lawn. When I’m finished, you pay me $50. Then, I go to my grocer and demand, ‘Give me two pounds of sirloin and a six-pack of beer that my fellow man produced.’ In effect, the grocer asks: ‘Williams, what did you do to deserve a claim on what your fellow man produced?’ I say, ‘I served him.’ The grocer says, ‘Prove it.’ That’s when I pull out the $50. We might think of dollars as ‘certificates of performance,’ proof of serving our fellow man. Free markets are morally superior to other economic systems. To have a claim on what my fellow man produces, I’m forced to serve him. Contrast that requirement to government handouts, where a politician says to me: ‘You don’t have to get out in that hot sun to mow your fellow man’s lawn. Vote for me and I’ll take what your fellow man produces and give it to you.’ … In a word or so, our protest should not be against capitalism. People should protest crony capitalism, where people use the political arena to buy government favors. If millennials and others want to wage war against government favors and crony capitalism, I’m with them 100%. But I’m all too afraid that anti-capitalists just want their share of the government loot.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “There can be no public or private virtue unless the foundation of action is the practice of truth.” —George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906)
For the record I: “Abuse of power is the most ambiguous, vague reference to an impeachment that you could ever have. You can make it anything you want. You don’t like [that] the president got up and wore a red tie? That’s abuse of power.” —Rep. Doug Collins
For the record II: “People are not making a big enough deal over the corrupt Dems’ sudden, whiplash-inducing shift from ‘bribery’ to ‘abuse of power.’ Just hours ago they swore they had an airtight case on bribery. THIS IS THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE US PRESIDENT & they’re just saying, ‘Never mind’?” —David Limbaugh
Upright: “America deserves an apology from Adam Schiff for all of the now confirmed lies in his infamous Schiff memo about FISA abuse. No one in the media should allow this fool on their network until he accounts for the myriad of lies in the document.” —Dan Bongino
Dezinformatsiya: “If I were a news director of a global reporting organization, I would devote a lot of resources and reporting energy to investigating the relationship between President Trump, his administration and business, and Saudi Arabia. I don’t think we have seen the full picture.” —fake newsman Dan Rather
Grand delusions: “Barr and Durham disagreeing with the IG report is merely a microcosm. The MUCH larger story is that Trump is slowly undermining (or replacing!) the individuals and institutions that hold him accountable. At some point, only loyalists will remain.” —Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis
Non sequitur: “Puppies aren’t separated from their moms until ~8 weeks. Less than that is thought of as harmful or abusive. One of the most common lengths of US paid family leave is ~6 weeks. So yes, when we ‘let the market decide’ on parental leave, ‘the market’ treats people worse than dogs.” —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Preborn babies at Planned Parenthood unavailable for comment…)
And last… “I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press. And I think that there were gross abuses of FISA and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI.” —Attorney General William Barr
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67296-wednesday-short-cuts-2019-12-11
TODAY’S MEME
https://patriotpost.us/memes/67294-vegan-cats-2019-12-11
For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union48.
TODAY’S CARTOON
https://patriotpost.us/cartoons/28049
For more of today’s cartoons, visit the Cartoons archive49.
Join us in prayer for our Patriots in uniform and their families — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way, and for our nation’s First Responders. We also ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the Spirit of Liberty50 in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis |
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6
on: December 12, 2019, 11:26:07 AM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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The Patriot Post Digest 12-11-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Again yesterday in “The DoJ FISA Report — Trump Was Right13,” I noted that “Hillary Clinton’s backers were high-ranking FBI bureaucrats” — as Wray identified in his report.
For the record, it was and remains Democrats who, by advancing this charade to take Trump down, have cast a cloud over the entire FBI — a cloud that will take years to dissipate. When Wray answers loaded media questions without redress, he also throws his whole agency under the bus.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67299-wrong-wray-its-not-the-whole-fbi-2019-12-11
Pelosi Announces Impeachment, Then Trump’s Trade Win25
One hour after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi somberly announced the Democrats’ articles of impeachment14 against President Donald Trump, she was back in front of the press happily announcing that Democrats had agreed to sign off on Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), an update to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “There is no question, of course, that this trade agreement is much better than NAFTA,” Pelosi declared, echoing Trump’s sentiments. However, Pelosi was quick to spin credit for the deal onto Democrats, asserting that the new USMCA deal was “infinitely better than what was initially proposed by the administration.”
The incongruent optics of Pelosi’s back-to-back announcements are enough to leave one suffering whiplash. How can the Democrats be moving to impeach Trump because he’s supposedly an imminent threat to the country and then turn around and give him one of the biggest policy wins of his presidency?
The answer many be found in the fact that the Democrats’ impeachment gambit hasn’t paid off. If anything, their gamble has cost them in the eyes of the American public, as there is no reasonable possibility that Trump will actually be removed from office. Republicans have taken advantage of Pelosi and company’s anti-Trump obsession and have painted them as “do nothing” Dems. Republicans wonder, “How has the Democrats’ impeachment crusade benefited the country?” And Pelosi knows that if the “do-nothing” label sticks, it could prove to be the most damaging result from their whole impeachment charade.
The public’s (accurate) perception is that while Trump and Republicans have been hard at work making America great (look at their success in spurring a booming economy), Democrats have become singularly focused on impeaching Trump to the neglect of everything else. When Americans elect a president from one party, they don’t want the opposing party in Congress to spend the entirety of his presidency doing everything in their power to derail his agenda and resist him at every turn. Americans expect a government that works for them, not a bunch of politicians fighting for power at all costs.
Pelosi’s calculation is to make sure Democrats can claim some credit for helping American workers and the economy by signing off on USMCA, even if it means giving Trump a win. She’s banking on this move dispelling the “do nothing” label.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67298-pelosi-announces-impeachment-then-trumps-trade-win
No, the Nativity Is Not About Immigration26
It’s no longer uncommon during the Christmas season to hear stories of “offended” leftists complaining over a publicly displayed Nativity scene. Often the “offended” people dubiously argue that the display infringes on the Constitution’s prohibition against government sanctioning of religion. The truth is the display of Jesus’ birth has little to do with politics; nor does it seek to force anyone into believing something against their will. The real offense to these leftists is the fact that there are Christians who are free to publicly share and display their faith, and remind everyone who cares to listen what Christmas is truly all about.
However, there are instances when a church’s message is more about politics than Scripture. A recent example comes via Claremont United Methodist Church in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. This past Saturday, the church began displaying an intentionally provocative Nativity scene in which Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus are separated — each in their own chain-link cage topped with barbwire. “Our intent is to focus on the asylum seekers and the ways they are being greeted and treated and to suggest there might be a more compassionate way to show God’s love,” explained the church’s pastor, Rev. Karen Ristine. She added, “I think as Christians we have a responsibility to proclaim a narrative that might be counter to what the world thinks.”
In an attempt to justify likening Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to the Central American migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S. southern border, Ristine points to the fact that the Holy Family fled to Egypt after being warned of King Herod’s desire to find and kill Jesus. Therefore, to leftists the point of Christmas is the promotion of leftist open borders and lawlessness. It appears that the reverend’s political inclinations are informing her beliefs, rather than Scripture guiding her worldview.
How about displaying the Nativity with the goal of directing people back to the historical Biblical account that transcends all earthly and temporal political concerns? How about addressing infinitely more important questions of who Jesus is and why He came in the first place? Furthermore, regarding the issue of immigration in the current U.S. context, the Biblical account of Joseph and Mary fleeing to Egypt with Jesus fails to support leftist “just let everyone in” agenda. Notice that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem obeying a decree by Roman Caesar Augustus, who had ordered all residents of his empire to go to their ancestral home towns to register for his census. When Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fled to Egypt, as they were directed to do by God via a dream, they fled as genuine refugees, and there is no indication that their action was in any way illegal.
Why continue to perpetuate the lie that only the Trump administration engaged in temporarily separating children from adults, when the Obama administration did exactly the same thing? Why ignore the fact that the separation of families is no longer practiced? Are Ristine and her fellow travelers really interested in telling the truth of Scripture, or are they more concerned with peddling an anti-Trump narrative?
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67278-no-the-nativity-is-not-about-immigration-2019-12-11
Help Us Finish Strong
We regularly request your support at this time each year and appreciate your patience with us during this current campaign. The generosity of readers like you has kept our doors open since 1996. Our funding deadline is close: Please help us finish this campaign today. We have approximately $175,000 left to raise in order to meet our operations budget into the new year. Thank you for your support! —Christy Chesterton, Director of Advancement |
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7
on: December 12, 2019, 11:25:00 AM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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The Patriot Post Digest 12-11-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________
The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Dec. 11, 2019 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/67302-mid-day-digest-2019-12-11
THE FOUNDATION
“How much more do they deserve our reverence and praise, whose lives are devoted to the formation of institutions, which, when they and their children are mingled in the common dust, may continue to cherish the principles and the practice of liberty in perpetual freshness and vigour.” —Joseph Story (1833)
https://patriotpost.us/fqd/67301-founders-quote-daily-2019-12-11
IN TODAY’S EDITION
FBI investigation of Trump was a “travesty,” says Barr.1
Wray is wrong about the FBI.2
Pelosi issues impeachment articles, then hands Trump a trade win.3
Leftists totally miss the point of the nativity.4
Daily Features: More Analysis5, Columnists6, Headlines7, Opinion in Brief8, Short Cuts9, Memes10, and Cartoons11.
IN BRIEF
Barr Hammers FBI Clinton Cadre’s ‘Gross Abuses’12
Two days after dropping his lengthy report13 on FBI malfeasance and incompetence in its efforts to surveil and investigate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning.
Meanwhile, Democrats chose yesterday to unveil their underwhelming two articles of impeachment14 against Trump, and the House Judiciary Committee will vote today to advance them. It’s quite the juxtaposition, given that it reveals one thing: The swamp has been out to get Trump for a long time.
Some of Horowitz’s testimony will no doubt focus on the fact that Attorney General William Barr challenged Horowitz’s assessment that there was no evidence of political bias at play in the FBI’s myriad mistakes. “No evidence” … other than the inconvenient fact that every single “mistake” the FBI made worked against the opposition candidate (Trump) and for the party in power.
Barr called the FBI’s Trump probe a “travesty” that relied on “rubbish” and for which there’s a possibility of “bad faith.” He argued, “I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press. And I think that there were gross abuses of FISA and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI.”
The attorney general noted that the Trump campaign was “clearly spied upon” and that it marked “the first time in history that this has been done to a presidential campaign.” Moreover, the investigation and spying continued into Trump’s presidency. The fundamental question Barr asks is this: “What was the agenda after the election that kept [FBI agents] pressing ahead after their case collapsed? This is the president of the United States.”
As for establishing evidence of political bias, Barr said, “That’s why we have Durham.” He’s referencing the more important and wider-ranging probe led by federal prosecutor John Durham, who is looking into the origins of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane15 counterintelligence probe into Trump (the one former FBI Director James Comey lied to Congress about having started). Durham’s probe has become a criminal investigation16, but Barr says Durham’s report is not due until “late spring, early summer” of 2020. Durham, too, publicly disagreed with Horowitz, and Barr rightly notes that’s because “he will have a broader appreciation of all the facts and a determination [on bias] can be made.” Until that report is out, Barr cautioned, “It would be premature to make any judgment, one way or the other.”
https://patriotpost.us/articles/67300-barr-hammers-fbi-clinton-cadres-gross-abuses
Wrong Wray — It’s NOT the Whole FBI17
On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray issued his response18 to the Justice Department’s FISA report13, concluding: “Finally, we will review the performance and conduct of certain FBI employees who were referenced in the Report’s recommendations — including managers, supervisors, and senior officials at the time. The FBI will take appropriate disciplinary action where warranted. Notably, many of the employees described in the report are no longer employed at the FBI.”
But in a follow-up interview, when asked if he had any evidence that the FBI unfairly targeted Trump’s campaign, Wray replied, “I don’t.” If his response was specifically related to the FISA report evidence that was limited in its scope, then Wray’s comments are in line. But if he was suggesting that there is no evidence of bias among “managers, supervisors, and senior officials at the time,” that assertion is ludicrous and earned this response from Donald Trump: “I don’t know what report [Wray] was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me.”
Moreover, Director Wray was asked a leading question as to whether he was offended by suggestions that the FBI is part of the “deep state.”
He took the bait on a broad question: “I think that’s the kind of label that is a disservice to the 37,000 men and women who work at the FBI who I think tackle their jobs with professionalism, with rigor, with objectivity, with courage … so that’s not a term I would ever use to describe our workforce and I think it’s an affront to them.”
Wrong, Wray — the question asked was absurd and disingenuous. He knows better and should have chosen his words much more carefully. The “deep state19” assertions have always been limited to a handful of FBI personnel Wray identified in his response — those high-ranking “managers, supervisors, and senior officials” with strong bias in favor of Hillary Clinton. This has never been about the FBI at large.
Almost two years ago, in “The FISA Memo and the Demos’ Deep-State Operatives20,” I noted:
Democrats21 and their Leftmedia outlets22 are promoting the diversionary false narrative that serious questions about the political motives of those who seeded the FISA warrants are a “broad assault on the Department of Justice and FBI” by President Trump and Republicans. According to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), “This wasn’t about oversight. This is about … attacking the DoJ and FBI, a transparent attempt to discredit these institutions.”
As I noted then, in fact, it is Democrats like Schiff who are broad-brushing the FISA memo inquiry to include “institutions” rather than “individuals.” The memo names a handful of corrupt Democrat deep-state operatives23 in the DoJ and FBI who colluded to help Hillary Clinton defeat Donald Trump and who, after his stunning upset, sought to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency.
As I also noted then: “The vast majority of the 12,484 special agents and 2,950 intelligence analysts in the FBI steadfastly abide by their oaths ‘to support and defend24’ our Constitution. They also strive to live up to the FBI motto: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity. Indeed, most FBI agents, whose reputations are being sullied by the corrupt actions of a few high-ranking officials, are both personally and professionally offended by that corruption.” |
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8
on: December 12, 2019, 11:05:30 AM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription
For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com
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The New Creation
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
In Romans 5:12 God tells us how we are all related to the first man, Adam:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin… so death passed upon all men…”
This verse clearly indicates that every child born into the world since Adam has partaken of Adam’s sinful nature.
Parents sometimes wonder why their children act as they do. The answer is simple! Every child is related to rebellious Adam by physical birth, and soon rebels like Adam, whose offspring he is.
In Scripture we are told that God “commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
When you are in trouble and someone comes to your aid, are you not automatically drawn to that person? Should we not then be attracted to the One who cared so much for us that He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7,8)?
Through natural birth we partake of the sinful natures of our parents back to Adam, and frequently we even have the same physical features as our parents. How touching, then, to know that the Lord Jesus Christ took on Him “the likeness of men” (apart from sin) and, as the God-man, died for our sins upon the cross, where sinful men (people like us) nailed Him! As we recognize this and place our faith in Him, a spiritual birth takes place and we become the children of God (John 1:12). More than this, we become members of the Body of Christ, God’s new creation, for “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation” (II Cor. 5:17). “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). |
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9
on: December 12, 2019, 11:03:45 AM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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Puckered sewing
(J.R. Miller)
There is a rich home which I visit, in which the most sacred and precious household treasure is a piece of puckered sewing.
A little child one day picked up the simple handkerchief which her mother was in the midst of sewing. After half an hour's quiet work, the child brought it to her, saying, "Mother, I's been helping you, 'cause I love you so."
The stitches were long and the sewing was puckered--but the mother saw only beauty in it all, for it told of her child's love and eagerness to please her. That night the little one sickened, and in a few hours was dead. No wonder the mother keeps that piece of puckered sewing among her rarest treasures. Nothing that the most skillful hands have wrought among all her household possessions, means to her half so much as that handkerchief with the child's unskilled work on it.
In the same way, the things we do out of love to God, though they may be marred and imperfect, are precious to Him!
"And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is My disciple, surely I declare to you, he shall not lose his reward!" Matthew 10:42 |
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10
on: December 12, 2019, 10:58:03 AM
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Started by nChrist - Last post by nChrist
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July 22.
"So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil for many days." 1 Kings 17:15
Had not the prophet come to the widow's door, she and her household would probably have perished in the famine. Or had the woman refused the prophet's request, saying, "I cannot spare anything for a stranger; charity begins at home, and I must look first after my own," she and her son would have starved before the rain fell. The meal wasted not, because she shared it with another.
The lesson is plain. There is a withholding that tends to poverty; there is a giving that enriches. The way to make sure of spiritual blessing is—to seek to be a blessing. If your love is growing cold, help someone, and it will become warm again. We cannot afford to shut our doors in the face of those whom God sends to us for sympathy and for the ministries of love. Such serving brings to us blessings which we must not miss. |
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