The Patriot Post Digest 11-13-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 11-13-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest

Nov. 13, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“It is an unquestionable truth, that the body of the people in every country desire sincerely its prosperity. But it is equally unquestionable that they do not possess the discernment and stability necessary for systematic government. To deny that they are frequently led into the grossest of errors, by misinformation and passion, would be a flattery which their own good sense must despise.” —Alexander Hamilton, 1788

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Don’t Look to Students to Solve University Problem1

There is a problem in higher education and students know it. College students from the University of California, Berkley, to Northeastern University in Boston, who called themselves the Million Student March, took to the streets2 Thursday to express their dissatisfaction with the state of American higher education. The march’s proposed solution was to, well, let’s hear what one national student organizer, Keely Mullen, told3 Fox Business Network:

“Well, so the movement, the Million Student March, um, is a movement for a more, um, equitable and fair system of education, as opposed to, um, the really corporate model that we have right now. Uh, so the three core demands of the National Day of Action are free public college, a cancellation of student debt, and a 15-dollar-an-hour minimum wage, um, for people who work on the campus. … The 1% of people in society that are hoarding, um, the wealth and really sort of causing, um, a catastrophe that students are facing. I mean, we have a relationship right now where 1% of the population owns more wealth than the 99% combined.”

Stunning analysis right there. If the students wanted to be intellectually honest, they should have all slapped Bernie Sanders buttons to their chests while they marched, as the Democrat Socialist candidate for president has gained traction in his campaign for promising a whole goodie bag of free stuff for Americans if he is elected. But the marchers do have a point: Ballooning student loans have hampered4 graduates' ability to save for retirement. The problem is worse at Christian colleges — many of them conservative in nature — where students often have to borrow even more than their public university counterparts in order to study their faith at a deeper level. However, the students' proposal to rob the 1%, who are already being milked for everything Democrats can think of, completely disregards Economics 101. Contrary to this philosophy of envy, the 1% are not a never-ending well of untapped money. Meanwhile, it’s primary season: Where are the Republicans' fiscally sound solutions to rising student debt? One candidate, at least, has a plan5…

Groberg Receives Medal of Honor6

On Nov. 12, Captain Florent “Flo” Groberg became the tenth living Medal of Honor recipient for actions while serving in Afghanistan. Groberg, who became a naturalized citizen in 2001, was serving as the brigade personal security detachment commander for 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. On Aug. 8, 2012, Groberg spotted a suicide bomber headed for his patrol. According to the Army’s account of his actions7:

Groberg rushed the suspect and shoved him away from the patrol. Groberg then immediately confirmed the individual was wearing a suicide vest, and with the help of Sgt. Andrew Mahoney … grabbed the suicide bomber, physically driving him away from the formation and down to the ground.

While on the ground, the bomber’s explosive vest detonated. The explosion caused a second suicide bomber, who remained hidden behind a small structure near the road, to detonate his vest prematurely. Most of the blast of the second bomber’s suicide vest went straight into a building, adjacent to the patrol.

Groberg’s actions disrupted both bombers from detonating as planned, saving the majority of lives he was charged with protecting.

“It was the worst day of my life,” he said, “because even though we defeated the enemy, I lost four of my brothers.”

Four Americans were killed by the blasts, but the damage would have been much worse without Groberg’s selfless act. He suffered significant injuries and spent nearly three years at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Still, he says, “The proudest thing I have ever done in my life is to wear this uniform and serve my country.”

Before Thursday’s ceremony, Groberg said, “I would give anything to have all these guys back — anything. This medal … I’d turn it right back in, right now, say, ‘No, thank you. Bring my guys back right here.’ But it’s combat. It’s Afghanistan. We understand when we raise our right hand … [that] we are volunteering to defend our nation. And we will go where they send us.”

Typical of the humility of such heroes, Groberg added, “I’m just a lucky man to have had the opportunity to stand next to these men. And they’re the true heroes in this. I am just a courier. ‘Cause that medal doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to them, to the true heroes. It belongs to their families.”

AP Publishes Another Monotonous Hit Piece on Carson8

Now that Ben Carson sits near or at the top of the Republican presidential field, the gloves are off. On Friday, Politico launched a defamation assault9 on the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon by erroneously accusing him of fabricating his decades-old West Point account. At worst, Carson used ambiguous language. What he didn’t do was lie — an allegation the Left still makes. Now the Associated Press has joined the fray with its own hatchet job10.

Carson “called for harsh criminal penalties for health care fraud, but the Republican presidential candidate and his wife also have kept millions invested with a close friend who admitted defrauding insurance companies,” according to an AP review. “Pittsburgh dentist Alfonso A. Costa pleaded guilty to a felony count of health care fraud after an FBI probe into his oral surgery practice found he had charged for procedures he never performed, according to court records. Though the crime carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison, Costa was sentenced to house arrest and probation after Carson helped petition a federal judge on behalf of the man he described as 'one my closest, if not my very closest friend.’” The trial took place in 2008.

The AP says, “Investments that Carson and his wife made through Costa earn the couple between $200,000 and $2 million a year, according to financial records that Carson was required to file when he declared his candidacy.” And just like that, we have an outright scandal of monolithic proportions. Or so the Leftmedia wants us to believe. “The government urged the judge to make an example of Costa,” according to the AP. The judge, for whatever reason, evidently felt differently. Yet the AP implies Carson’s role in the trial was all about the money without a smidgen of evidence. What was Carson supposed to do, throw him under the bus? If the AP is hunting for cases of financial impropriety, there’s always the Clinton Foundation, which has landed lucrative donations through nefarious practices. And did we mention one of its founders faces the possibility of felony charges? And where was the AP when news surfaced that Chicago slumlord and convicted felon Tony Rezko secretly helped the Obamas buy their Chicago mansion for $300,000 below asking price?

Your Support Matters

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Starbucks' Christmas Roast12

By Kelly Bartlett

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet and already the anti-PC police are out in full force. But there’s the war on Christmas and there’s the “war on Christmas.” The distinction is important.

On Nov. 5, self-described “evangelist” and “social media personality” Joshua Feuerstein posted a rant on Facebook13 complaining about Starbucks taking “Christ and Christmas off of their brand new cups.” Believing that employees weren’t allowed to say “Merry Christmas,” he pranked Starbucks by ordering a coffee and when they asked for his name, he said it was “Merry Christmas,” which the barista dutifully wrote on his plain red cup. “So guess what, Starbucks, I tricked you into putting Merry Christmas on your cup,” he boasted. Hoping to start a “movement,” he challenged everyone to take their “own coffee selfie” at Starbucks and share it using the hashtag #MerryChristmasStarbucks. To further “offend” the coffee chain, he wore his Jesus Christ T-shirt into the store “because they hate Jesus” and carried his gun because they “hate the 2nd amendment.” Ho ho ho!

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The Patriot Post Digest 11-13-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Feuerstein did his best to drum up angst; the first three comments on his Facebook post were his own — a hashtag reminder, a link to his own website and tags to possibly sympathetic conservative media. (He’s no stranger to manufacturing controversy, either, having tried to get a bakery to make a cake with a message against same-sex marriage.) But did Feuerstein sabotage his wish for a boycott by triggering a buying spree as consumers charged to Starbucks to get an unadorned cup for themselves to share in the outrage?

The media was happy for some controversy to add to its round-the-clock coverage. Even Donald Trump joined the fray, saying, “Maybe we should boycott Starbucks. I don’t know. … If I become president, we’re all going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.” Perhaps Trump wanted to join the bandwagon he thought evangelicals were on so as to boost his cred with that voting bloc. (Then again, why did he go after Ben Carson so personally14 and call Iowa voters — largely evangelicals — “stupid”?)

But the herd mentality shifted direction as quickly as buyers' remorse hits Americans when they see their credit card bills in January. Soon all red broke loose on social media as the folks who weren’t offended by the poppy-colored cups quickly outnumbered those who were, spawning their own anti-movement, placing the festive red cup in everything from tweets to memes as users jockeyed for least offended. Sure, Feuerstein’s video went viral, but of the 16,000,000 hits, how many viewers scoffed at this caffeinated method of evangelization: tricking baristas into saying Merry Christmas?

Starbucks — not exactly the most conservative company to begin with — never had Christ on the cup. Instead, they had previously ushered in the holiday season with different colored cups and designs such as snowflakes and reindeer. “In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cups designs,” the company explained. “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.” It’s a free market; Starbucks could put a blue dreidel on their cups if they choose. Jesus, was, after all, Jewish.

Comedians such as Stephen Colbert15 joined the holiday fun: “We’re about to enter the season of getting angry that there’s not enough talk about Christmas.”

Unfortunately, Feuerstein’s fauxrage obfuscates a real assault on Christmas, as crèches are removed from the public square and religious songs banned from school concerts. Perhaps the greatest assault, however, is the commercialization of Christ’s birth — the Advent calendar is replaced by shopping sales. Consumers are shuffled from Halloween jack-o-lanterns directly to Christmas trees bedecked with ornaments and holiday sales with a slight nod to Thanksgiving as the day before Black Friday.

There is a real war on Christians, too. Barack Obama’s government battles The Little Sisters of the Poor in court and removes16 “So help me God” from military oaths. Meanwhile, the government funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortion.

Around the world, the Islamic State persecutes and beheads Christians, Syrian refugees flood Europe, and Christianity in the Middle East could be purged17 within a decade — all while Obama frets about “terrible deeds”18 done by Crusaders a thousand years ago in their quest to regain the Holy Land (after it was invaded by Muslims).

Feuerstein isn’t giving Starbucks a bad name; by battling colored cups, he’s making Christians look unfocused and whiny. With all this free publicity, the coffee emporium is well on its way to a very merry and profitable Christmas.

Don’t let a Grinch steal your Holly Jolly Christmas. Enjoy your coffee and your cups. And most of all, appreciate your freedom, family and faith.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: Government: Your Tax Dollars at Waste19
Proven Serial Liars on the Left Get a Pass20
Mizzou Prof. Didn’t Follow His Own Advice When He Resigned21
Student Loans Can Endanger Retirement Savings4
Substitute Teacher Played NSFW Show to Second Grade Class22

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Mona Charen: Snowflakes or Fascists?23
David Harsanyi: The First Amendment Is Dying24
Jonah Goldberg: Netanyahu’s Framing of Middle East Situation Is Spot-On25

For more, visit Right Opinion26.

TOP HEADLINES

‘Jihadi John’ Believed Killed in Airstrike27
Nanny Feds to Ban Smoking in Public Housing28
California College Dean Resigns Amid Racial Issues29

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report30

OPINION IN BRIEF

Mona Charen: “There was a much-beloved quote circulated among leftists, often attributed to Sinclair Lewis, that ‘when fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.’ In light of recent episodes of mob action on American campuses, the quote needs updating: When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in ‘diversity’ and demanding ‘safe spaces.’ … During what liberal academics praised as the ‘idealistic’ 1960s, American students (sometimes armed) seized buildings, held a dean hostage, looted research files and committed promiscuous vandalism. Nazi students (egged on by professors) ‘cleansed’ Heidelberg and other universities of Jews and others. Russian universities became incubators for radicals who took their ideas into the streets. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s faithful pupils subjected their teachers to ’re-education' and even occasionally cannibalized them. Students are natural radicals. The job of academics in a free society that hopes to remain so is to instill respect for freedom of thought and expression. Our problem is that many of the students who were burning professors' research notes in the 1960s are now on the faculty.”

SHORT CUTS

Observations: “The thousands of other University of Missouri students … could have held a counter-protest against dimwitted fascists cloistered in safe spaces. Where are those student groups? Why was there no pushback from those kids — and really, there was none as far as I can tell, at either Missouri or Yale — against the bullies who want administrators fired for thought crimes? … People are scared. They’re scared to be accused of bigotry or racism, an ugly accusation that is easy to level but impossible to disprove. It’s a lazy but effective method of intimidation.” —David Harsanyi

Even some liberal academics get it: “[Students today] don’t want to hear diverse views on college campuses. … They want complete freedom over their sex lives, over their personal lives, over the use of drugs, but they want mommy and daddy dean and president to please give them a safe place [to] protect them from ideas that may be insensitive. … You have to call these things what they are: double standards, hypocrisy, bigotry, McCarthyism, and the fog of fascism is descending quickly over many American universities.” —liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz

Alpha Jackass: “[Ben Carson wrote that] he’s got a pathological temper. That’s a big problem, because you don’t cure that. … As an example, child molesting. You don’t cure these people. You don’t cure a child molester. There’s no cure for it. Pathological, there’s no cure for that. … How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?” —Donald Trump unloading on his leading rival and insulting Iowa voters at the same time

Not so fast: “They’re not going to be legally binding reduction targets like Kyoto or something.” —John Kerry on the upcoming Paris climate summit (Au contraire, says French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius: “The fact that a certain number of dispositions should have a practical effect and be legally binding is obvious so let’s not confuse things, which is perhaps what Mr. Kerry has done.” French President François Hollande adds, “If the agreement is not legally binding, there is no agreement.”)

Braying Jenny: “I was raised a Republican, but I just can’t imagine supporting a party that doesn’t support women’s basic rights. It’s 2015 and gay people can get married and we think that we’ve come so far, so, yay! But have we?” —actress Jennifer Lawrence

Late-night humor: “Hillary Clinton this week has begun telling the story of her attempt to join the Marines in 1975. But the closest she ever came to the Marines was buying a pantsuit at Old Navy.” —Seth Meyers

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.