The Patriot Post Digest 1-11-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-11-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Daily Digest

Jan. 11, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“I should consider the speeches of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus, as preeminent specimens of logic, taste and that sententious brevity which, using not a word to spare, leaves not a moment for inattention to the hearer. Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.” —Thomas Jefferson, 1824

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Ahead of SOTU Address, Obama Plays Game of Chairs1

In his final State of the Union Address Tuesday night, Barack Obama will continue his tradition of echewing directives found in the Constitution in favor of using the address as a platform for his agenda. He claims Congress is deadlocked, but it’s his inability to work with anyone lacking his political stripes that has caused political gridlock. Obama’s Communications Director Jennifer Psaki said, “Last year, he spoke to Congress. This year, he’ll be speaking more to the American public.” So while the Constitution charges the president to “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” [emphasis our own], Obama will play a political game, trying to shape the presidential race for his successor, defend his action against the Islamic State and the economy, and play up the pomp and circumstance.

As a silent symbol of his agenda, the first lady will be sitting next to an empty chair to symbolize the people killed by guns in America. In doing so, the Obamas are signaling that those deaths — caused by accident, violence and suicide — are more valuable than other deaths. Hey, gun accidents matter, politically speaking. The Obama administration may take more executive action2 against the Second Amendment in the future. As further indications of their priorities, the Obamas also invited a Syrian refugee3, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy because he raised his state’s minimum wage, and Major Lisa Jaster because she was one of the first women to graduate from Ranger School. But unless Obama works with Congress’s conservative leadership, his last year in office will be like the seat in the gallery — empty.

Editor’s note: Stay tuned for Mark Alexander’s annual rebuttal to the State of the Union on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Police Officer Ambushed4

If only we had expanded background checks to prevent something like this from happening (via CBS Philly5): “Authorities say a Philadelphia police officer is recovering after he was shot several times during an ambush late Thursday night in West Philadelphia. Philadelphia police commissioner Richard Ross says the officer, identified as 33-year-old Jesse Hartnett, was sitting in his patrol car around 11:30 p.m. at 60th and Spruce Streets when a gunman fired 11 shots through the driver’s side of the car. Police are calling it an ‘attempted assassination.’”

Oh, wait. Scratch that background check theory: “In a press conference, Commissioner Ross said the gun used in the attack was a stolen police firearm. ‘It was stolen back in October of 2013. It was reported, and that is one of the things you regret the most when an officer’s gun is stolen, when it is used against one of your own.’”

It gets worse. During questioning with police, the assailant, as is becoming all too familiar, declared allegiance to the Islamic State, and new reports indicate the attack was only part of a broader crime spree aimed at police. NBC10 reports, “An anonymous tipster told officers that ‘the threat to police is not over’ and that the man who shot Officer Jesse Hartnett is ‘part of a group that consists of three others,’ adding that the alleged shooter ‘is not the most radical of the four.’” But Mayor Jim Kenney on Friday was careful to stipulate, “In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with” the carnage. Surely, the Religion of Peace™ does indeed play a part in this crime, as so-called “lone wolves” attack based on their shared ideology of hate, but so might Barack Obama’s vilification of law enforcement bear some blame. Recall the two officers assassinated in New York6 in 2014. Obama has greatly increased the risks facing those who already put their lives on the line in service to the citizenry. Obama’s sentiments toward Muslims and police have created ripe conditions for what we saw Thursday night.

Hillary’s Highlight Reel Continues7

The State Department finally got around to dumping a few thousand more of Hillary Clinton’s emails Friday, and there are at least a couple of real doozies. For starters, there are another 66 emails sent or received that containing classified material, bringing the total of such emails to 1,340. Remember that time she insisted, “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email,” or her promise, “There is no classified material”? Good times.

Another revelation is that she instructed Jake Sullivan, her deputy chief of staff at the time and now her campaign foreign-policy adviser, to strip classification from some material and fax it to her over an unsecured channel. “Turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure,” she told him in what can only be construed as a direct order to violate the law8 regarding sensitive or classified information.

Less serious — indeed, more humorous — she expressed dismay, again to Sullivan, that someone at the State Department was … wait for it … using a personal email account. “I was surprised he used personal email account if he is at State,” she wrote from her private email account and server. Oh, and by the way, that particular email was marked classified.

But never mind all that, she told us when the scandal blew up. “What I did was legally permitted.”

Clinton’s campaign insists, “It is false that Hillary Clinton asked for classified material to be sent over a nonsecure system.” Furthermore, she said what she requested of Sullivan was “common practice.” So we suppose that’s a Clintonesque “meaning of is” parsing.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Heart of the GOP9

By Robin Smith

There’s no shortage of ink (both literal and virtual) spilt analyzing the danger, disruption and fear of destruction underway within the Grand Old Party. The presidential primary features a mobilized base of voters who appear through their support of “outsider” candidates like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina to be ready to end the current practice of governing by Republicans. And make no mistake: The establishment is panicking.

It’s fascinating that the glare of the spotlight is fixated on the personalities of these political novices. The establishment argues that these candidates' lack of experience should disqualify them for the highest elected office in the world. Yet voters see their inexperience as a positive attribute, and largely favor the solutions these candidates offer.

The Leftmedia and the governing elites cringe when Trump proposes a pause in the immigration of individuals whose countries of origin are either in the heart of the Islamic State or in close proximity. However, average Americans don’t want terrorists entering our nation among the masses who truly are displaced by Islamic extremism. The Islamic Trojan horse10 is a serious threat.

December’s passage of latest spendthrift budget11 by Republican majorities in the House and Senate was praised by Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. And why not? It funded everything Obama wanted, including his Syrian refugee plan. In part, Republicans were budgeting for a GOP president12 — to remove the budget as a political weapon in the 2016 race — but most grassroots conservatives simply feel betrayed. Again. Still.

Likewise, governing Republican majorities have made no progress in securing the border or making reasonable policy regarding even legal immigration. But pesky outsiders, again, led by Trump, speak the language of average Americans13 on the issue, promising to protect the jobs of the working class that have been undercut by artificially low wages due to cheap, illegal labor.

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-11-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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In the mind of the average voter, illegal immigration has become both the foremost national security and economic issue facing America. Yet Beltway Blindness, Potomac Fever, or whatever malady one prefers to blame tends to afflict most elected “representatives.” This inability to see the obvious has permitted Trump’s effective message to draw Democrats, Independents and Republicans of all races and incomes to his camp.

The message of Trump, Carson, Fiorina and also Ted Cruz is off the script of DC consultants and pollsters. Yet, Beltway anger is likely rooted in embarrassment for their failed effort to “grow the party” by ignoring the organization’s very platform, which is largely based on constitutional conservative principles.

For the record, the problem we in our humble shop have with Trump is the perplexing conundrum that his message also doesn’t have anything to do with constitutional conservative principles. His nationalism certainly has (understandably) wide appeal, as does his promise to break down politically correct barriers to getting things done. But he is not conservative or constitutional14.

Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan argues15 that’s not the point: “Mr. Trump’s supporters don’t care if he’s classically conservative. Doctrinal purity is not the story this year.” Which isn’t to say issues don’t rule. “Issues do matter,” Noonan writes, “and Mr. Trump has functioned this year not as a great communicator or great compromiser but as the great disruptor. He brags that he has brought up great questions and forced other candidates to face them and sometimes change their stands — and he has.”

Ironically, the Republican National Committee long has been very “flexible” in embracing leaders and nominees that depart from the stated beliefs of the GOP — the party’s platform. Reagan was, unfortunately, only an exception, in that he actually embodied what Republicans say they believe. Yet the GOP has been comfortable overlooking the activity of elected “public servants” whose bona fides could be challenged when viewed through the lens of the party platform.

It’s time for a brutally honest assessment of the political class. Even with divided government, perhaps excepting perhaps the Contract with America days of the Republican Congress, the result is malignant and dangerous spending, a message on legal immigration that’s redefined and controlled by the hard Left and Big Business, and a public that trusts no one in any branch of government.

Many Americans have had their fill of the lines being dished out. They’ve lost their appetite for pretentious decorum and collusion dressed up as collaboration. Through years of disappointments, failures and lies, both the Democrats and the GOP have created the environment for a candidate such as Trump to succeed.

Contrary to the assertion16 of Washington Post columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, Trump’s nomination won’t “rip the heart out of the Republican Party.” The GOP long ago abandoned its heart — and its spine.

It’s interesting to note that Bush’s speechwriter doesn’t understand that. Reagan’s speechwriter, on the other hand, does. What better illustration of the disconnect?

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: A Multiculturalist-Enabled Grope Fest17
If the Left Could Take Away Guns, It Would18
Was 2015 Really America’s Second Warmest?19
IRS Drops Rule to Verify Nonprofit Donations20
Cover-Up of Chicago Police Shooting Goes to the Top21
Is Bill Clinton a Sociopath?22
Congratulations North Korea!23

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Jeff Jacoby: State of the Union Spectacle Would Appall Thomas Jefferson24
George Will: A Chance to Mend First Amendment Rights25
Stephen Moore: The Difference Between Obama’s Recovery and Reagan’s26

For more, visit Right Opinion27.

TOP HEADLINES

Officials Investigate New Islamic Threat to Philadelphia Police28
Justices Weigh Future of Public Sector Unions29
Pennsylvania Mayor Pulls Police From NRA Gun Show30

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report31

OPINION IN BRIEF

Jeff Jacoby: “On Tuesday evening, amid much splendor and spectacle, the president of the United States will be welcomed by a joint session of Congress, there to be cheered and applauded like a homecoming conqueror, and, before an audience of lawmakers, diplomats, military officers, and dignitaries, to deliver his State of the Union oration in a live nationwide broadcast. It is the most preposterous and gaudy ritual in American political life. Thomas Jefferson will be turning in his grave. … Jefferson detested the ‘pompous cavalcade’ to Capitol Hill, which in his view smacked disturbingly of the British monarch’s annual ‘Speech from the Throne.’ Very early in his presidency, therefore, he let it be known that his first annual message to Congress, ‘like all subsequent ones,’ would be in writing. … Jefferson’s innovation became the unvarying norm. For the next 112 years, every American president … fulfilled the constitutional mandate by sending written reports to Congress. And then, alas, came Woodrow Wilson. … What the Constitution’s framers intended as a matter-of-fact directive — that presidents supply lawmakers with useful information and policy proposals — has become an antidemocratic extravaganza that would have horrified Jefferson. The State of the Union broadcast fuels the cult of the presidency. It encourages the delusion that the nation’s ‘state’ can somehow be embodied by a single individual, a Great Leader capable of crafting a sweeping political agenda that will bring the millennium. The lone saving grace of the modern State of the Union Address is its reputation for tedium.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.”

Under control? “North Korea has never been left unattended to, not for one day. … That premise is absolutely inaccurate, it’s without foundation.” —John Kerry, who’s more worried about the global thermometer than rogue nations with nuclear weapons

Demo-gogues: “There are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12- or 13-year-old to purchase a gun, and cheaper, than it is for them to get a book.” —Barack Obama

The BIG Lie: “Seven years ago, the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse. … Some said it was too late to turn things around. But I refused to turn my back on so many of the workers that I’d met. … Our plan wasn’t popular. Critics said it was a ‘road to socialism,’ or a ‘disaster’ waiting to happen. But I’d make that bet again any day of the week. Because today, the American auto industry is back.” —Barack Obama, taking credit where it isn’t due

Braying Jenny: “American women are there scratching their heads thinking why do the Republican leadership hate us so much? Why is it they want to take away our rights? Why is it they want to take away the very services that actually protect life? Planned Parenthood protects life by providing more than 900,000 cancer screenings a year, and millions more receive services through Planned Parenthood.” —Rep. Jackie Speier

Non Compos Mentis: “The real question we should be asking is not whether there is something inherently wrong with the refugees, but whether Germany is doing an effective job of integrating them — and if not, whether something can be done to change that.” —New York Times contributor Anna Sauerbrey on the Cologne, Germany, sexual assault epidemic17

Late-night humor: “Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson announced he is running for president as a Libertarian and he supports legalizing marijuana. You can tell he’s pro-marijuana, because he was supposed to announce he’s running four months ago."—Conan O'Brien

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.