The Patriot Post Digest 4-25-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-25-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Apr. 25, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“It behooves you, therefore, to think and act for yourself and your people. The great principles of right and wrong are legible to every reader; to pursue them requires not the aid of many counselors. The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.” —Thomas Jefferson, 1775

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Romney Was Right: Cruz and Kasich Align to Defeat Trump1

The campaigns for Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced2 they are coordinating their campaigns in at least three upcoming primaries in order to hurt Donald Trump’s ability to collect delegates before the Republican National Convention. In statements released Sunday evening, the campaigns said that Kasich would pull his campaign from Indiana’s May 3 primary to give Cruz a better chance of beating Donald Trump. Likewise the Cruz campaign agreed to step back and let Kasich surge ahead in Oregon and New Mexico, which hold their primaries on May 17 and June 7, respectively. The campaigns are finally listening to Mitt Romney.

In February, the former presidential candidate argued that3 the campaign playbook that governed past primaries was “shredded.” He suggested candidates gang up against Trump, and for conservatives to cast strategic votes in their respective states for the best-performing candidate whose name doesn’t rhyme with “chump.” That way, delegates could choose an actual conservative at a contested convention. Currently, neither Cruz nor Kasich can collect 1,237 delegates in the 12 weeks before the convention. Their only hope is for a contested convention. Now, it might be a little too late. This strategy could have worked well in last week’s New York primary where Cruz got 15% of the vote and 0 delegates, while Kasich got four delegates to Trump’s 89 (with a couple still undecided).

Naturally, Trump is none-too pleased by the coordination, something he calls unfair. He said in a statement4 on his website, “It is sad that two grown politicians have to collude against one person who has only been a politician for ten months in order to try and stop that person from getting the Republican nomination.” It’s because Cruz and Kasich are seasoned politicians that they know the advantage of temporary alliances, and that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Obama Threatens to Send Ally to Back of Economic Queue5

Barack Obama was in England this weekend to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, but also to discourage the country from declaring independence from the European Union. Of course, he didn’t say his reason for the visit was to sway British subjects ahead of the nation’s June referendum on whether to leave the EU, but the signs were there. In a Telegraph op-ed6, Obama said the UK’s membership in the EU “helped spread British values and practices.” But that’s a load of bullocks, according to London Mayor Boris Johnson, who pointed out7 it’s the EU that writes the majority of British law. Furthermore, Johnson said Obama was downright hypocritical because America would never stand for the meddling, open borders and loss of sovereignty that comes with a membership in the EU. Well, Obama would…

But the most notable empty threat from Obama came when he warned that Great Britain would lose out economically if it decided to distance itself from the rest of Europe. “I think it’s fair to say that maybe some point down the line, there might be a U.K.-U.S. trade agreement,” Obama said during a press conference with Prime Minister David Cameron by his side, “but it’s not going to happen anytime soon, because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done, and the U.K. is going to be in the back of the queue.” The trade deal with the EU isn’t even popular8, but that’s not going to stop Obama from dissing allies and lecturing the world on how he thinks it should work.

Turning Virginia Blue9

Virginia Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe just gave Hillary Clinton a big gift ahead of the November election. McAuliffe signed an executive action granting voting rights to 200,000 ex-felons, and people with criminal records tend to vote Democrat. Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said in a statement, “The singular purpose of Terry McAuliffe’s governorship is to elect Hillary Clinton President of the United States. This office has always been a stepping stone to a job in Hillary Clinton’s cabinet.” But given that Hillary herself should be a felon, this was the obvious move. McAuliffe’s action won’t help only Clinton, either, but every down-ballot Democrat in Virginia.

For his part, McAuliffe told Republicans to get over it: “Well, I would tell the Republicans, ‘Quit complaining and go out and earn these folks’ right to vote for you. … I think some of the language that has come out of the Republicans — I would tell them to be very careful at how they frame this, very careful of their rhetoric.” Fair enough, but Democrats are all too happy to paint Republicans as racist homophobes who oppress the poor, and their Leftmedia mouthpieces repeat the charge loudly and often. Defending Rule of Law is the harder position to defend when your opponents are emotionally demo-goguing the issue.

Meanwhile, recall that Barack Obama’s Justice Department released a few thousand10 nonviolent federal prisoners late last year, with thousands more on the way. In general, Democrats treat prison reform and voting rights as a method of gaining more votes for themselves. But they “care.”

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    John Goodman: What if the Left Doesn’t Really Want to Achieve Its Policy Goals?11
    George Will: The ‘Settled’ Consensus Du Jour12
    Peggy Noonan: That Moment When 2016 Hits You13

For more, visit Right Opinion14.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Department of Extortion15

By Robin Smith

Despite Barack Obama’s repeated public statements identifying his primary regret while in office as not “healing the divisions” in Washington, he has done more to cause the problem than anyone. Take for example his recent actions rewriting a bipartisan education law. In short, he’s proving that South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson was accurate when he interrupted Obama’s 2009 State of the Union Address to thunder, “You lie!”

In what has happened only a few times during Obama’s tenure, bipartisan legislation was passed — this time to rewrite No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in December 2015. Obama declared at the signing that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was “a Christmas miracle.” Further, Obama noted, “Today, I’m proud to sign a law that’s going to make sure that every student is prepared to succeed in the 21st century.”

Well, he was mighty proud until it became apparent his unelected federal bureaucrats couldn’t make demands of your state education departments and your local school districts through the extortion of funding. And now the Obama Department of Education is rewriting rules to circumvent the law to return to their previous modus operandi: “Do what we say to get your money.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-25-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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The ESSA, while emphasizing the need for standards and testing, placed that responsibility and the specific details with the states, versus a federal set of rules driven by a glut of student testing and Common Core16. The law requires that states use their own “college-and-career ready standards” to measure mastery and preparedness for postsecondary education, with an intervention protocol for areas of concern. ESSA also leaves the process of testing, as well as how the scoring is interpreted, up to state governments.

The biggest disruption to any reign of political or bureaucratic power is to change its role in appropriating money — to remove the marionette strings. And ESSA significantly altered the status quo of the education dollar returned to states. Forget the fact that the average funding from the federal government back to individual states comprises only about 12% of direct education expenditures. This coveted sum is always sought by the never-ending needs (and “needs”) of education.

Education Week opined, “Congress has redefined the federal role in elementary and secondary education. And it’s done so in a way that aims to enhance the authority of states and school districts that had long chafed at the strictures of ESSA’s predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act.”

Simply, ESSA now dictates a supplement-not-supplant use of federal funding. It equalizes funding to low-income and “disadvantaged” schools through the states‘ administration of Title I funding. According to The Heritage Foundation, that funding has been increased from “$14.4 billion to an authorized level of $15 billion in 2017, and to $16.2 billion by 2020.”

Yet, citing civil rights concerns that states would fail to fully fund certain schools, the newly-but-barely-confirmed Secretary of Education John King (parroting Obama’s talking points) was clear — he supported Obama’s disregard for the law. King’s 49-40 confirmation vote on March 14 demonstrated the forgotten bipartisan approach to education reform from just three months prior.

King argued that the revisions of ESSA presented by the Department of Education were meant to ensure that a Title I school “receives at least as much in state and local funding as the average non-Title I school.”

Now, let’s break this down into its most essential ingredients. If the Education Department ignores ESSA, it intends to fully fund schools that fit an income and racial designation regardless of merit of a school and its students. Ever hear of the term “funding failure?”

The law intentionally left criteria in place to require states regarding comparability but never intended performance measures to be stripped away.

While the legislative attempt was made to send block grants back to the state to put the education of students closer to the parent and teachers in the classroom, it is abundantly clear that two problems remain in Washington, DC. One, we have a president who not only disregards the law, but his crony collaborations reveal a lack of integrity and honesty. Two, the only way to allow states to control the education of their students is to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education.

There is no area of government or policy that Obama and his band of militant progressives have left intact that could possibly restore the confidence of the America public that their government works for them. Our Republican Congress must now rise to immediately change the appropriations of the Department of Education via the power of the purse.

It’s apparent these educrats live by the power of extortion. So, Republican Congress, speak their language and tighten their strings.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

    ANALYSIS: Moral Surrender Is Not an Option17
    'New York Values’ on Display at 9/11 Memorial18
    IRS: ‘Budget Cuts Prevent Us From Doing Our Job’19
    Armenian Genocide? Obama Looks the Other Way, Again.20
    Most Americans Enjoy Global Warming21
    The Terrorist Threat From Unvetted Airport Workers22

TOP HEADLINES

    250 U.S. Ground Troops Being Deployed to Syria23
    ISIL Suspect Reveals Plans to Open Up Route Through Mexico24
    Feds Access Another iPhone Without Apple’s Help25

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report26

OPINION IN BRIEF

John Goodman: “We naturally assume that that public policy advocates actually want to achieve the things they advocate. But there are a lot of people both on the right and the left — but especially on the left — for whom that probably isn’t true. Suppose you could wave a magic wand and eliminate global warming forever. You might think that all the environmental organizations and all the environmental scientists would get out the champagne and cerebrate. More likely their offices would look like a wake. Causes are vehicles to money and power. They generate millions of dollars in donations. They create high paying jobs. They motivate millions in research grants and millions in campaign contributions. If the cause goes away, money and power go away with it. … Ditto for race relations. What would Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton do if there were no more racial discrimination? They couldn’t Mau Mau any more corporations. They couldn’t shake down any more rich white guys. They would have to … well … they would have to go find an honest job.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “I know it’s hard when you’re up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp.”

It takes a Village Idiot: “It matters to me that my mom also recognizes the role the Supreme Court has when it comes to gun control. With Justice Scalia on the bench one of the few areas where the Court actually had an inconsistent record relates to gun control. … My mom is the only person running for president who … has a strong record on gun control and standing up to the NRA.” —Chelsea Clinton

Like #BringBackOurGirls? “You can hashtag all over Instagram and Twitter, but those social medial movements will disappear faster than a Snapchat if you’re not also registered to vote.” —Michelle Obama

Non Compos Mentis: “[Adding 200,000 ex-felons to the Democrat voting bloc] was the right thing to do legally, and most importantly … it wasn’t politics. It was the right thing to do morally. And I know these Republican legislators think it’s politics.” —Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe

Braying Jenny: “[Gov. Bruce] Rauner is the new ISIS recruit. Yes, I said it, and I’ll say it again. Bruce Rauner is a liar. And, you know, I’ve been reading in the news lately all about these ISIS recruits popping up all over the place — has Homeland Security checked this man out yet? Because the things he’s doing look like acts of terror on poor and working-class people.” —Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis

And last… “You might be a liberal if college adults need a safe space, but North Carolina children in a bathroom don’t.” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor

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.