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« on: August 10, 2015, 06:28:30 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 8-10-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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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. |
