The Patriot Post Digest 4-6-2016

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 4-6-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Mid-Day Digest

Apr. 6, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character.” —Noah Webster (1789)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Frontrunners Foiled Again1

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are still leading their respective presidential nomination contests, but they are the weakest frontrunners in recent history. Trump certainly has deep and loyal backing, but it’s not wide, and Clinton has only grudging support as the “inevitable” nominee. That was made more apparent when both were trounced in Wisconsin Tuesday. Clinton secured just 43% of the Wisconsin vote against Bernie Sanders, who won with 56% (he’s now won seven of the last eight contests). Trump garnered just 35% in a three-way field despite being the runaway favorite just a couple of weeks ago. Ted Cruz won 48% of the vote, and 36 of the Badger State’s 42 delegates. John Kasich, who has won only his home state of Ohio, continues to siphon votes from both Cruz and Trump in a bid to be kingmaker at what’s increasingly likely to be a brokered GOP convention2. Kasich surely kept Cruz from reaching 50% in Wisconsin, but he will also likely keep Trump from doing so in the upcoming proportional states of New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It’s not clear that Cruz would benefit most from Kasich dropping out.

Trump has yet to win 50% in any state, undercutting one of his prime arguments — that he’s winning because he’s winning. After his latest loss, his campaign was left to argue that Cruz is “worse than a puppet — he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump.” That argument might have worked with Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush, but Ted Cruz? The ultimate thorn in the establishment’s3 side?

Some prognosticators view Wisconsin as somewhat of a watershed moment in both races. Obviously, that remains to be seen because there’s a long way to go.

Delegate count — Republican needs 1,237 to win (769 remain), Democrat needs 2,383 (1,977 remain):

Trump 739
Cruz 502
Rubio 171 (no longer running)
Kasich 143

Clinton 1,279 + 469 superdelegates
Sanders 1,027 + 31 superdelegates

500 Cuban Dissidents Jailed During Obama’s Trip4

In December, Barack Obama asserted, “What I’ve said to the Cuban government is, if … we’re seeing some progress in the liberty and freedom and possibilities of ordinary Cubans, I’d love to use a visit as a way of highlighting that progress.” He added, “If we’re going backwards, then there’s not much reason for me to be there.”

Well, he’s both blind and naive. Just shortly after Obama concluded his trip to the communist enclave5, a new report demonstrates just how callous is Obama. The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation says, “In the days of the historic and friendly visit to Cuba of President Barack Obama, the island’s government, instead of ensuring an atmosphere of public tranquility, unleashed a true wave of political repression and uncounted intimidating actions.” Here’s what the commission found: More than 1,400 dissidents (a conservative estimate) were imprisoned in the month of March, 498 of whom were jailed while Obama was present.

Fox News interestingly notes: “The figure of 1,416 arrests, most of them lasting just hours, is one of the highest monthly totals registered in the past five years, exceeded only by the 1,447 arbitrary arrests recorded in November 2015.” Is that what Obama calls “progress in the liberty and freedom5 and possibilities of ordinary Cubans”? No wonder the Cuban dictator tried raising the American dictator’s hand. Because when it comes to Cuba, there’s limp-wristed leadership6 on one side, and an iron-fist on the other.

The Rainbow Mafia’s Corporate Hitmen7

PayPal canceled8 its plans this week to create a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the state passed a law9 requiring people in the state to use the bathroom appropriate for the equipment God gave them. In doing so, the company joined the legions of other big corporations that have become hitmen for the Rainbow Mafia. More than 120 corporations have demanded that North Carolina repeal its bathroom law, a number unheard of nearly a decade ago, according to10 Washington Post columnist Jena McGregor. “Corporate America’s evolution on gay rights appears to have reached a tipping point, one where so many companies have taken a stand on the issue that the risk of speaking out has been superseded by the risk of not doing so,” McGregor wrote. “What was once exceptional has become, in other words, almost expected.”

These corporations wield real power to do the bidding of a tiny fraction of the population. It was the corporate influence sitting on the board of the Boy Scouts of America that overturned11 the scouts' longstanding ban on homosexuals serving as leaders. The mafia took out Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich12 for supporting traditional marriage in California, after having attempted to do likewise with Chick-fil-A13. Such examples brought to heel big-brand monoliths like Disney, Apple, Time Warner, Intel, the NFL and the NCAA, which exerted enough pressure on Georgia Governor Nathan Deal that he vetoed14 the state’s bill protecting religious liberty in the face of same-sex marriage policies. The businesses are hopping on board the homosexual agenda because they find it good for business. Rights, Liberty and the tolerance of diverse opinions don’t matter when the irate leftist minority is threatening boycotts at every turn.

We Need Your Help

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.” —Thomas Paine

Our 2016 Patriots' Day Campaign15 is underway. The Patriot Post is not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization. Nor do we accept any online or email advertising. Instead, our operations and mission are funded by — and depend entirely upon — the voluntary financial support of American Patriots like you! Please help us meet our Spring funding goal by making a donation15 today. Thank you! —Nate Jackson, Managing Editor

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    Todd Starnes: Mississippi Has Taken a Bold Step to Defend Religious Liberty16
    Michelle Malkin: Requiem for a VA Victim17
    Jonah Goldberg: John Kasich: The Candidate Who Wouldn’t Leave18

For more, visit Right Opinion19.

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 4-6-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Why Fear a Brokered Convention?2

By Louis DeBroux

“Somebody said, ‘Well, there’s a rule and another rule.’ I don’t care about rules, folks. … We win, we get the delegates.” —Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump

That, in a nutshell, summarizes the Trump campaign’s approach to winning the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Trump, with virtually no traditional political organization to start, relied on sheer force of will and a larger-than-life personality to rise in the polls. Trump’s faux pas and unapologetic coarseness seemed only to increase his popularity. Trump has been the frontrunner in the race almost from the day he announced.

His non-traditional strategy has worked well thus far, but recently, like Achilles' heel, Trump’s lack of grassroots political organization has proven a serious liability. By contrast, long before he announced his own candidacy, Ted Cruz was working in the political ditches, recruiting grassroots activists and local elected officials at the county and district level to serve as campaign chairs and eventually as delegates during the Republican convention cycle. It has paid off. The race has come down to the strength of Trump’s cult of personality versus the breadth and depth of Cruz’s grassroots campaign organization.

A month ago, Trump looked unstoppable. However, after Cruz’s strong showings in recent weeks, and unforced errors on Trump’s part (like saying that women who have abortions need to be punished20), what seemed an inevitable Trump run to 1,237 (the number of delegates needed at the convention to win the nomination) now seems increasingly in doubt. Trump supporters are livid at the possibility that the nomination will be “stolen” from their man by a mysterious, nefarious cabal of political insiders.

While there are certainly a large number of Republicans openly and vigorously opposing a Trump nomination, the reality is that there is nothing nefarious or mysterious about what is going on in the GOP primary race. The nomination process has been in place since Lincoln won the nomination at a contested convention in 1860, and the current convention rules have been in place since Ronald Reagan almost knocked off21 a sitting president of his own party in 1976.

The furor from the Trump supporters comes from the realization that Cruz has out-strategized Trump. If Trump was able to win the nomination outright by sheer force of will, then he looks brilliant. But with Cruz using the rules to his full advantage, and gaining delegates as a result, Trump is likely denied a win on the first ballot.

For example, though Trump beat Cruz in Louisiana last month by 3.6%, Cruz could end up with as many as 10 more delegates than Trump. That is because Louisiana’s rules allocated both Trump and Cruz 18 delegates based on the popular vote, but with Marco Rubio’s exit from the race his delegates can go where they want, and the state’s five other unbound delegates are also free to choose their candidate. Early indications are that nine, and possibly all 10, of the “free agent” delegates will align with Cruz. That is the benefit of having gone out and recruited supporters among potential delegates more than 18 months ago. This type of ground game is what has helped Cruz secure unbound delegates in North Dakota and Colorado this month, which also has Trump frustrated and angry.

There is a lot of anger and paranoia floating around right now based on a lot of procedural ignorance and misinformation, so let’s separate fact from fiction regarding delegate election and allocation, and what can happen at the Republican National Convention.

First, we live in a republic, not a democracy. The nominees for each party are chosen not by the popular votes cast in each state, but by the votes of the convention delegates at the convention. How those delegates are chosen, and how they must vote at the convention, are up to the party rules and election laws of each state. The vast majority of the delegates are required to vote for their state’s or district’s winner on the first convention ballot. In the event that the first ballot does not produce a winner, a little over half the delegates are “unbound” on the second ballot, free to vote for the candidate of their choosing. By the third ballot almost all delegates are unbound. A small percentage of the delegates (from North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, American Samoa, and Guam) are unbound from the start.

Trump now protests that the delegates are being pressured and influenced to vote against him, but 1) his bound delegates have no choice on the first ballot but to vote for him, and 2) almost none of the delegates are yet known, because the vast majority of the states have not held their district and state conventions where the delegates will be chosen. The method of choosing delegates was established by the states and filed with the RNC no later than Oct. 15, 2015, back when the field was still extremely crowded. There is no mechanism at this point for changing how delegates are chosen. Additionally, unlike the Democrat Party, all of the delegates of the Republican Party are chosen by the grassroots at the county, district and state conventions. There are no “superdelegates,” party elites who essentially have veto power over the grassroots delegates.

The other fear the Trump supporters have expressed is that the convention rules will be changed and rigged against Trump. Again though, this shows ignorance of the process. At the convention, the will of the delegates reigns supreme. The convention rules will be established by the delegates at the convention, not by the RNC, not by “the establishment3,” but by the delegates. You can have an entire hotel filled with cigar-smoking fat-cats scheming and planning, but unless the delegates vote to implement their plans, it is for naught. And since the vast majority of the delegates will be Trump or Cruz supporters, what is the likelihood that they will willingly rig the game so that someone else can win?

Rumors have swirled in recent days of plans to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates he needs for an outright win and forcing a brokered convention, after which House Speaker Paul Ryan will be named the nominee. The problem with this is Rule 40(b), which requires the nominee to have received the support of the majority of the delegates of at least eight states. The only candidates that will qualify under that rule are Trump and Cruz. Granted, the Rules Committee can change that rule before the convention, and the delegates can vote to adopt the rule at the start of the convention, but with the vast majority of the delegates being Trump or Cruz supporters, why would they undermine their own candidates? Besides, even Ryan has repeatedly said that the eventual nominee should be someone who has run during the campaign.

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 4-6-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Though Trump supporters demand he be awarded the nomination if he gets “close enough,” claiming that to deny him is to deny “the will of the people” and “disenfranchise” them, no such thing will have occurred. He has yet to get the majority of the votes in any state, and while his support is entrenched and unshakeable, the fence-sitters have overwhelmingly moved away from Trump in the last month.

Trump claims to be the best negotiator in history. If so, he should have no problem convincing the voters of the remaining states to hand him the nomination outright or, at the very least, convince the majority of delegates at the Republican National Convention to award him the nomination.

However, much like the Electoral College, the nomination process and the convention are formulated so that we arrive at a candidate that can unify the party and win the majority of the states in a general election. If Trump can’t close the deal, and another candidate ultimately wins the nomination, that is not cheating, that is not being “disenfranchised,” that is the process at work.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

    ANALYSIS: There’s Tax Aversion, and There’s Tax Evasion22
    Kerry: Iran ‘Deserves’ to Be Rewarded23
    Woodrow Wilson Can Stay at Princeton24
    Feds Forecast 11,000 Climate Deaths by 203025
    Maine: Maybe Guns Can Be in Public Housing26
    Greece Returns Migrants, but Problems Persist27

TOP HEADLINES

    Russia Deployed Over 150 New Warheads in Past Year28
    Economy May Not Have Grown at All in First Quarter29
    Agents Raid Anti-Planned Parenthood Videographer’s Home30

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report31

OPINION IN BRIEF

Todd Starnes: “Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a religious freedom law Tuesday that will protect people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Religious Freedom Law will ‘protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government or its political subdivisions, which would include counties, cities, and institutions of higher learning.’ In other words, every Christian who owns a business in the state of Mississippi owes the governor a thank-you. … Before the Supreme Court decided to redefine marriage President Obama assured the nation that those who opposed same-sex marriage had nothing to fear. He promised us that gay marriage would have no impact on our lives or our religion. The president’s assurances turned out to be woefully wrong. It has become clear in recent days that such protections are necessary. Militant LGBT activists and their supporters have waged a war on Christian business owners from coast to coast. … Governor Bryant did his part and now we must do ours — by standing with lawmakers and corporations who defend the First Amendment and turning our backs on businesses that are enemies of religious liberty.”

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “For anti-Trump folks, Kasich may be useful to keep around if he can keep Trump’s proportion of the vote lower in places like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and so on. But let’s note that Marco Rubio suspended his campaign March 15; since then Arizona, Utah, and Wisconsin have voted … and Rubio is still a half-million votes ahead of Kasich. (Marco Rubio got more than 10,000 votes in Wisconsin last night.)” —Jim Geraghty

Perception: “The man is famously irascible, pugnacious and sanctimonious. He’s prone to defending his policies, such as his expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare in Ohio, by insinuating that he cares more about his eternal soul than his critics. A lot of people talk about how unlikeable Cruz is. Well, I’ve met both men, and I’d much rather have a beer with Cruz. Maybe Kasich’s denial stems from the fact that he’s never lost a race and can’t contemplate failing this time. I really have no idea. All I know is that it’s time for him to go.” —Jonah Goldberg

Village Idiots: “It’s fair for Iran to get what it deserves because it has kept its part of the bargain to date with respect to the nuclear agreement.” —John Kerry

Non Compos Mentis: “People are coming to understand that not all of us fit into the ‘girl’ box or the ‘boy’ box. … My way of respecting it just happens to be raising my cats gender neutral. You can choose your own.” —Lauren R. Taylor in a Washington Post piece titled, “Don’t laugh: I have a serious reason for raising my cats gender-neutral”

Non sequitur: “The reason why being pro-choice is the right way to go is because it is a choice, and hopefully a choice rooted in the thoughtfulness and care that women bring to this decision. So of course you can be a feminist and be pro-life.” —Hillary Clinton

The BIG lie: “Trump may be the most outrageous of the Republicans, but he is saying what all of them believe. They want abortion to be illegal, and they do want to punish women and doctors. Trump just committed the sin of having telling people what they think.” —Hillary Clinton

And last… “The New York Post reports that Mrs. Clinton and Sanders ‘are locked in a surprisingly competitive battle” for the Empire State — which she claims as her home even though he is a natural-born New Yorker. Her birthplace was in Illinois, which almost borders Canada.“ —James Taranto

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.