The Patriot Post Digest 8-10-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-10-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Daily Digest

Aug. 10, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honor, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions.” —John Adams, letter to Mercy Warren, 1776

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

EPA Poisons Animas River1

The Environmental “Protection” Agency started a three-million-gallon, man-caused disaster Thursday when the agency accidentally released a deluge of toxic sludge from a Colorado mine it was trying to clean up. The EPA was investigating leakage from Gold King Mine, trying to break down the heavy metals in the water by raising the acidity of the liquid in settling ponds. But while it was using heavy machinery, the water flowed free into the Animas River. As the soup of lead arsenic, zinc, copper, iron and, oh yes, water, flowed downstream at a rate of 500 feet a minute, residents in Durango2 watched as the yellow-orange liquid washed into town, destroying the tourist trade and possibly the river’s aquatic life. A state of emergency3 was declared, as water pumps were shut off and bottled water was shipped in. No word yet on when the river can reopen and what the long-term effect to the environment will be. Will the “protector” of the environment get investigated? If the EPA was a private business, it would be facing the threat of millions of dollars in fines and the accident would prompt a round of regulation.

Anniversary of Michael Brown Shooting Ends in Violence4

A year ago in Ferguson, Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown and sparked weeks of protests that were more about rioting and looting than justice. The windows of small businesses were smashed and the contents of the store looted. Unrest ruled the nights. Police showed up in military garb and clouded the streets of the St. Louis suburb with tear gas. Despite a grand jury clearing Wilson, ruling the shooting justified self-defense, the incident sparked the “hands up, don’t shoot” movement. The myth gained the sympathy of a vast swath of the media landscape and liberals like Barack Obama. Ferguson marked the anniversary of the shooting5 Sunday, but the remembrance with its four-and-a-half minutes of silence and doves6 was shattered when a man opened fire on a group of plainclothes police officers. The police returned fire, critically injuring the man. Businesses were vandalized. A glass bottle was thrown at police. Officers responded by showing up in riot gear. What happened to that year of activism, of protest for a better relationship between police and the policed? The Department of Justice can’t swoop in and change the situation in Ferguson, no matter how many investigations they start. A community reaps what it sows.

Just Mismanagement at the IRS? Hardly.7

No “smidgeon of corruption” at the IRS, right? That’s what Barack Obama wants us to believe. But the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance released a report8 confirming bias and corruption at the agency. Committee chairman Orrin Hatch said, “This bipartisan investigation shows gross mismanagement at the highest levels of the IRS and confirms an unacceptable truth: that the IRS is prone to abuse. The Committee found evidence that the administration’s political agenda guided the IRS’s actions with respect to their treatment of conservative groups. Personal politics of IRS employees, such as Lois Lerner, also impacted how the IRS conducted its business. American taxpayers should expect more from the IRS and deserve an IRS that lives up to its mission statement of administering the tax laws fairly and impartially — regardless of political affiliation.” While Democrat Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the committee, agreed reforms are needed “to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” he attributed the problem to “pure bureaucratic mismanagement without any evidence of political interference.” Wrong. Using the tax system to suppress the speech of certain political groups is not mere “mismanagement,” it’s gross abuse of power for partisan gain. If the IRS had done the same thing but managed it better, perhaps that would suit Wyden just fine. Remember during the Bush administration when “dissent was patriotic”? Those were the good old days.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Alternate-Reality TV Candidate9

By Nate Jackson

If you were one of the record 24 million Americans who tuned in to watch the Republican presidential candidates The Donald debate on Thursday night10, you saw the tense exchanges between Trump and the moderators — particularly Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

Over the weekend, that tension bubbled over as Trump did what Trump does. He “called it like he sees it” and went after Kelly for what he thought were unfair questions. For the record, the moderators certainly weren’t perfect — though the question of standing behind the eventual nominee was an entirely legitimate question given Trump’s third-party rumblings, it should have been saved for last, not used to kick off the night. But to accuse Fox of undermining his candidacy is not plausible. On the contrary, the network profited quite handsomely from astronomical ratings due to his presence in the debate. Kill the Golden Goose? Hardly.

Never mind Trump’s decidedly not conservative debate remarks bragging about buying and selling favors with politicians or praising single-payer health care, the real kerfuffle surrounded his tense exchange with Kelly about his past misogynist comments.

On Friday, Trump attacked Kelly, saying, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her — wherever.”

Naturally, a firestorm ensued over whether he was referring to Kelly’s menstrual cycle. He was disinvited11 from the RedState Gathering and the other GOP candidates universally rebuked him.

But Trump dug in, first saying he meant “whatever,” then arguing he meant “nose” but “just got on [with my] thought.” He continued the defense, saying, “I cherish women.” Yes, all three of his wives would surely plead his case there.

“I said nothing wrong whatsoever,” he insisted. “Do you think I would make a stupid statement like that? You almost have to be sick to put that together.” Furthermore, “Only a deviant would think [I meant] anything else.”

For our part, while Trump’s remark could indeed be interpreted as meaning what nearly everyone took them to mean, we’re not sure he’s clever enough to come up with that on the fly. But then again, we might be giving him too much credit, and when you give The Donald too much credit he files for bankruptcy and you lose all your money.

He is the quintessential “shoot from the hip” kind of guy, firing off his mouth and (maybe) thinking about it later. That’s why he can say things about making the Mexicans pay to build a wall or “just taking” Middle Eastern oil. No policy thought, just off-the-cuff spouting.

But such mindless pronouncements aren’t conservative in the least. Nor is being rude, crass and an ungentlemanly pig. Which prompts some questions for Trump’s supporters (Trumpsters): Is this what “telling it like it is” looks like? Is this what “true” conservatives must support?

We in our humble shop have been actually telling it like it is since 1996 — just before Fox News launched, as a matter of fact — and yet when we tell the truth about this particular candidate, the Trumpsters who claim to want the truth told call us all sorts of names far more unpleasant than anything Trump is now under fire for saying.

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-10-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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But most of them won’t have read this far.

That’s unfortunate, but it’s the result of a siege mentality after years of being beat down by the Left and the GOP establishment. Many conservatives are demoralized not just by the tyrannical regime of Barack Obama but by the utter failure of the Republican establishment in Washington to do much in the way of stopping Obama’s onslaught, much less advancing conservative causes. That’s why Trump resonates. But he’s taking advantage of this disillusionment to carve up the conservative marketplace at a time when we should be united.

As The Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes writes12, “Those who still remain Trump supporters seem to be beyond shame. It doesn’t matter that they’re angry about the incompetence in Washington. Turning to Trump to solve the problems in Washington is like turning to an ape to fix a broken refrigerator. It’s embarrassing, but rather than embarrassment, the Trump followers will feel more anger and their pose will shift from self-righteousness to victimhood. And many of them will dig in further. More worrisome, for conservatives and for the country, so will Trump.”

Rude and boorish insults combined with vacuous policy pronouncements aren’t going to win the White House in 2016, but, more importantly, they don’t advance Liberty. And if we’re not primarily concerned with that, we might as well pack up the circus tents and go home.

TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US

ANALYSIS: The Kids Are Not Alright13
How Bad Is Our Syria Strategy? ‘Abject Failure,’ Says Pentagon14
Planned Parenthood Defunding Advances in the States15
Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ May Encourage Weight Gain16

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Ken Blackwell: Who Will Stop the Sanctuary Madness?17
John Goodman: What Does It Mean to Be a Democrat?18
Peggy Noonan: Fireworks at the Republican Debate19

For more, visit Right Opinion20.

TOP HEADLINES

Prosecutors Accused of Hiding Evidence in Freddie Gray Case21
U.S. Consulate in Istanbul Targeted in Terror Attacks in Turkey22
Target Removes Gender Labels From Kids Sections23

OPINION IN BRIEF

Ken Blackwell: “Primarily, the administration’s policies are aimed at protecting and rewarding citizens of other nations who want to work illegally in the U.S., many of whom commit additional crimes like identity theft to do so. That in itself is an abrogation of the president’s duty to American workers and families. But the policies do more than carve out exceptions to the law for economic migrants seeking illegal employment. They inevitably shield violent criminals from the law as well. … According to the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the criminal aliens released by the Obama administration over the past four years went on to kill someone at a rate of once every 12 days. And that doesn’t count the crimes committed by illegal aliens … who are routinely released because they don’t meet the administration’s priorities. I would like to hear the Republican candidates state unequivocally that the priority in immigration policy and enforcement should be the citizens of the United States. Open-borders advocates who support the idea of a sanctuary nation argue that illegal aliens are less prone to violence than legal immigrants or citizens. That obfuscates the point: These are lives that should not have been lost and would not have been lost if federal immigration agencies were allowed to do their jobs.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influence abroad, and the collapse of imperial Communism. Great nations have responsibilities to lead, and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile, because they might just wind up lowering our flag.” —The Gipper

Upright: “If Bill Clinton had said what Trump said, we’d be treated to weeks of analysis regarding the audibility and epistemology of ‘whatever’ versus ‘wherever’; Clinton’s indignant denials that anything offensive was intended would be accepted as dispositive by plenty of media folk. Eventually, we’d be somewhere between ‘I’m sorry if you misunderstood me’ and ‘mistakes were made,’ and the commentariat would ‘move on.’ … Trump should apologize because a gentleman does not speak the way he spoke; it was uncivil and unmanly. Trump has obnoxiously attempted to cover his asininity in the glory of a crusade against ‘political correctness.’ Insisting on gentlemanly behavior, however, is not political correctness — it is correctness.” —National Review’s Andrew McCarthy

Good question: “How can we have Tea Party conservatives in our country think somehow Donald Trump is going to help us? He’s the consummate insider. What’s wrong with Washington? People buying and selling politicians. What’s Donald Trump known for? Buying and selling politicians.” —Rand Paul

Doubling down: “The reason that Mitch McConnell and the rest of the folks in his caucus who oppose [the Iran nuclear deal] jumped out and opposed it before they even read it, before it was even posted, is reflective of an ideological commitment not to get a deal done. In that sense, they have a lot in common with [Iranian] hardliners who are much more satisfied with the status quo.” —Barack Obama

The BIG Lie: “We’ve actually looked at the data … [and] almost nobody wakes up saying, ‘I’m going to go vote in somebody else’s name.’ Doesn’t happen. So the only reason to pass [voter ID laws], despite the reasonableness of how it sounds, is to make it harder for folks to vote.” —Barack Obama

Dezinformatsia: “Are Color-Coded Cops the Solution to Police Brutality?” —Yahoo! News' Eugene S. Robinson

And last… “The Obama administration announced that it is moving to investigate the death of Cecil the Lion. I’m sure Ambassador Stevens' family noted the sad irony.” —Fred Thompson

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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.

Links

1 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36896
2 http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_28595759/animas-river-contaminated-by-1-million-gallons-contaminated
3 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-of-emergency-declared-in-colorado-over-mine-spill/
4 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36889
5 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shots-fired-during-protest-in-ferguson/
6 http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/one-year-michael-browns-death-4-1-2-minutes-silence-n406721
7 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36877
8 http://www.finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=11f4db1f-9986-4ecb-ba61-f3a8abeb2672
9 http://patriotpost.us/articles/36895
10 http://patriotpost.us/alexander/36875
11 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-kicked-out-of-redstate-gathering/article/2569865
12 http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/how-trump-campaign-will-end_1007525.html?nopager=1
13 http://patriotpost.us/articles/36886
14 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36878
15 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36874
16 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36879
17 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/36864
18 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/36882
19 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/36866
20 http://patriotpost.us/opinion
21 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/freddie-gray-case-attorneys-say-prosecutors-hid-evidence/
22 http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-consulate-in-instanbul-targeted-in-terror-attacks-in-turkey-1439196354
23 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-07/target-removes-gender-labels-from-kids-sections-after-complaints