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« on: May 10, 2016, 08:18:19 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 5-10-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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Mid-Day Digest
May 10, 2016
THE FOUNDATION
“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.” —James Madison (1792)
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Facebook Suppressed Conservative News1
According to former employees of Facebook, the world’s social media behemoth routinely downplayed conservative-sourced news whenever it started trending on the website. Millions of people turn to the site every day as a virtual watering hole, and it’s often the biggest driver of web traffic to news publications. In turn, that information affects Americans' opinions about government and policy. To help facilitate the discussion, Facebook keeps a running sidebar of subjects that are trending on the site. In the past, people assumed Facebook’s algorithm dispassionately highlighted stories with the most buzz and writers would create snappy descriptions of the event or video or subject. But according to former curators2, Facebook leans on the scale when it came to what’s trending.
“I believe it had a chilling effect on conservative news,” one said. For example, stories about the late SEAL sniper Chris Kyle3 were ignored while on slow news days, the Facebook curation team would push out stories about the Black Lives Matter movement or incessant and pointless speculation on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — even as interest in those stories waned. And when a conservative news site broke a story, Facebook curators would marginalize their efforts by looking for Leftmedia news sites that wrote about the same topic.
In responding to these accusations, Facebook said a statement: “We take allegations of bias very seriously. Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum. … There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality.”
So that would be a non-denial. But make no mistake: Facebook wields real power in politics. In March, more than a few Facebook employees wanted a discussion with founder Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s “responsibility” for stopping Donald Trump’s candidacy. And if a down-to-the-wire election occurred like it did in 2000, Facebook could be a factor4 in boosting voter turnout — by using its algorithm to remind certain (read: pro-Hillary) voters to head to the polls. Or it could smother pro-Trump stories from the site. More important, how would we know Facebook is doing it?
More Welfare Going to Immigrants Than U.S. Citizens5
The average American household receives $4,431 a year in federal welfare, including food stamps and cash. That’s plenty of evidence for Barack Obama’s poor economic record, but it gets worse. Illegal immigrants take in an average $5,692 from the federal government a year. Who are the people paying taxes? The numbers6 were crunched by the Center for Immigration Studies, which last year also discovered7 that 51% of immigrant households take in some sort of federal aid compared to 30% of native households.
“It is difficult to imagine sitting down to craft an immigration policy that will benefit the American people and coming up with one in which immigrants consume more welfare than natives,” wrote8 Jason Richwine, the analyst who crunched the numbers. “It’s a strong indication that current policy is not working.” Immigrants — both legal and otherwise — take in more welfare because they often have more children and attained less education than people born here in the United States. America may be the land of opportunity, but it should present its opportunity through work and enterprise, not creating a whole class of people dependent on the government.
Obama to Successful Blacks: ‘You Didn’t Build That’9
Out of the myriad lectures commencement speeches Barack Obama has given, perhaps none was as disheartening as the one he gave Saturday at Howard University. The message was twofold: Obama’s presidency failed to bring racial healing, and when it comes to blacks who are living successful lives, it’s not really because of hard work so much as it is luck (i.e., they didn’t build that).
We begin with racial discord, of which Obama is washing his hands. “No, my election did not create a post-racial society,” he said. “I don’t know who was propagating that notion. That was not mine.” Uh, yeah it was.
Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh responds, “There are … white people who voted for Obama hoping to end [racial discord]. They think it’s tearing the country apart. … Nobody thought that meant more welfare or more benefits or more dependence, but that actual, quality standard of living improvements would take place. And there haven’t been any, at large.”
Next, recall these remarks spoken by Obama four years ago: “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Now see if you if you can find a resemblance to Saturday’s second damning remark:
“We have to not only question the world as it is, and stand up for those African-Americans who haven’t been so lucky — because, yes, you’ve worked hard, but you’ve also been lucky. That’s a pet peeve of mine: People who have been successful and don’t realize they’ve been lucky.”
Hot Air’s Larry O'Conner says, “No, it’s more than a pet peeve of his, it’s an ideology.” Furthermore, Limbaugh opines: “That’s a hell of an inspirational message. I’d be really motivated. Okay, so I’ve spent four years or however many years here in this university trying to equip myself for success, and now I’m told that’s not a factor. I gotta go out and learn luck. Where do I go to study luck? Where do I go to get my degree in luck? And the unspoken message is: If you’re black, you aren’t gonna have it, ‘cause the people in charge of luck aren’t gonna pass it out to you.”
Besides, what does all that talk about luck say about Obama’s ascendance to the White House?
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BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
Tony Perkins: Objections Sustained! Alabama Suspends Chief Justice12
David Limbaugh: Trump Might Want to Rethink Snubbing the Base13
Thomas Sowell: Dry Rot in Academia14
For more, visit Right Opinion15.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
A Candidate Divided Against Himself…16
By Nate Jackson
If Donald Trump wins in November, which Donald Trump will assume the Oval Office? By that question, we mean to point out how often the presumptive Republican nominee disagrees with himself on the issues.
To be sure, stubbornly sticking with bad policy doesn’t make it good policy (e.g., Barack Obama’s entire presidency), so the “flexibility” that Trump boasts of can be useful, especially when negotiating “great deals.”
But this is getting ridiculous. “As for the idea of unifying behind the Trump agenda,” Jim Geraghty muses, “that’s harder than it sounds because he keeps changing his positions. He’s already reversed positions on tax increases, the minimum wage, self-financing, and paying down the debt, and suggested the United States might tell its creditors it needs to renegotiate what it will pay back, despite contractual obligations.” And that’s just since he became the presumptive nominee last week.
During the primary, Trump made a big deal out of not raising money from other people (especially special-interest groups) in favor of paying his own way. That attracted people to his banner because he “couldn’t be bought,” while his opponents were “puppets.” Of course, he did more fundraising than he let on, but the image mattered.
Facing Hillary Clinton’s billion-dollar juggernaut, however, has necessitated Trump changing course. He is seeking to tap into the Republican National Committee’s fundraising structure in an effort to fund what he says may be a $1.5 billion campaign. Then again, if Trump is worth as much as he says he is17, continuing to self-fund shouldn’t be a problem. Easy for us to say, we suppose. Worse, Trump hired longtime Clinton donor and George Soros investment professional Steven Mnuchin to be his finance chairman. Trump has also given loads of cash to Democrats, so this was not a surprise. |
