The Patriot Post Digest 5-13-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 5-13-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

May 13, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to the suggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness.” —James Wilson (1791)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

It’s All About Federal Control1

In his latest foray into dictating cultural norms from the Oval Office, Barack Obama ordered today that all schools, colleges and universities that receive public funding must accommodate transgendered individuals with facilities and even sports teams. According to a letter from the administration, “To ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns. As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”

In recent months, the administration has ordered an Illinois school2 to accommodate a boy wishing to use the girls' facilities and sued North Carolina3 over its bathroom law4. This latest diktat is yet another solution in search of a problem, but Obama never lets an opportunity pass to further his far-leftist agenda. And nothing will be left to local or state governments; all things must be decreed at the federal level.

Are schools meant to educate kids or indoctrinate them in the cesspool of the leftist agenda? To ask is to answer. The agenda of one small but vocal group overrules the conscience of everyone else. The malleable feeling of gender “identity” must trump actual biological science.

Speaking of science, Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins Medical School explains5, “Transgendered men do not become women, nor do transgendered women become men. All (including Bruce Jenner) become feminized men or masculinized women, counterfeits or impersonators of the sex with which they ‘identify.’ In that lies their problematic future.” Furthermore he writes, “Ten to fifteen years after surgical reassignment, the suicide rate of those who had undergone sex-reassignment surgery rose to twenty times that of comparable peers.” Leftists think they’re removing the influences that cause that suicide rate, but they’re only enabling and normalizing a destructive pathology.

The bigger picture of Obama’s move is as we said just yesterday6: It is vitally important to understand that this is just part of the Left’s ongoing effort to fundamentally transform the United States of America — into a nation where their power is absolute. The ends are unassailable power. Power to enforce their agenda by any means necessary, and to ultimately prosecute those who refuse to kowtow.

On a final note, this is also a meaningful illustration of the Faustian bargain of taking federal funds. There are always conditions.

Congress' ObamaCare Win Sets Up Election Fight7

In another serious rebuke for Barack Obama’s executive overreach, Congress won its lawsuit taking issue with how Obama enacted ObamaCare. Specifically, a federal judge ruled8 Thursday the administration trod on the legislative branch’s power of the purse. Last year, the House, lead by then-Speaker John Boehner, sued the administration, arguing Obama had violated the Constitution when, without the approval of Congress, he gave money to insurance companies to offset the cost of skyrocketing premiums. Obama tried to downplay his action by saying the sides were quibbling over a federal statute. But Speaker Paul Ryan said9 in a statement: “This is an historic win for the Constitution and the American people. The court ruled that the administration overreached by spending taxpayer money without approval from the people’s representatives. Here, the executive branch is being held accountable to We the People, and that’s why this decision is very good news.”

Last year, Obama taunted Congress, daring the branch to sue him. When Boehner moved forward with the suit, he was criticized by some on the Right who worried his gamble might result in a lost court case and an emboldened executive branch. But this ruling is the third time this year that the courts have repudiated “the constitutional law professor’s” loose interpretation of our governing document, notes10 The Wall Street Journal, with the other rulings checking Obama’s executive actions on immigration and his Clean Power Plan.

The ruling moves the issue of Obama’s health care legacy to the forefront of this election cycle. Republicans will once again make the case why the system should not exist and Democrats will argue that destroying the subsidies Obama created would price many people out of the system allegedly designed to bring health care to everyone — and it’s all the Republicans' fault if it doesn’t work. If the House falls into Democrat hands this November, they will simply vote to drop this suit11. The Obama administration will also appeal, and the case has a chance of rising all the way to the Supreme Court, giving Chief Justice John Roberts another chance to save ObamaCare from the Constitution.

ICE Gets Tough on Deportations … For Now12

Women and children are the focus for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a series of raids scheduled for May and June. For the Obama administration the move seems antithetical to the Left’s strategy of courting the goodwill of illegal immigrants. What ever happened to getting the worst of the worst out of the country — the gangbangers, the rapists, the illegal immigrants who were deported multiple times yet continue to hop the fence? The administration was even failing with that, releasing13 almost 20,000 criminal aliens from its custody last year. It seems like a situation that gives the Left a field day to eviscerate the United States' immigration laws. After all, how is it defensible to let criminals go free while women and children are rounded up?

In a statement, ICE explained its planned raids14: “To promote and protect border security, our priorities include those apprehended crossing the border illegally after January 1, 2014. This includes single adults, as well as adults who bring their children with them.” Furthermore, the illegal immigrants ICE will target either ignored court orders to return to their country of origin or simply didn’t show up for their scheduled court appearances.

In other words, these illegal immigrants made their way into the country during the surge of unaccompanied alien minors and did not convince our legal system that they deserved asylum from violence in their home country. ICE is doing its job — enforcing Rule of Law. But the situation is designed by the Left to get as much political mileage as possible.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Hans von Spakovsky: Obama Administration Loses Key ObamaCare Case11
David Harsanyi: Obama’s Lawsuit Against North Carolina Isn’t About Civil Rights15
Jonah Goldberg: Millennials Embrace Socialism, but Do They Know What It Is?16

For more, visit Right Opinion17.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Great Republican Summit of 201618

By Lewis Morris

Thursday’s Trump-Ryan summit in Washington didn’t completely heal the rift between19 the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and the party’s leadership, but it certainly drew a lot of media attention. It also at least paved the way for a détente — even if it is only a façade. Or, in the words of Charles Krauthammer, a “sham marriage.”

Donald Trump, who used insults, bombast, poor form and just about every negative political tactic in the book to take the Republican nomination, now has to settle into general election mode. He may find the broader electorate not as susceptible to his “charms” as Republican primary voters, and despite his rhetoric, he’ll need the support of the Republican establishment20 if he wants to win. How so? Trump’s campaign will need data support, a solid grassroots ground game, and lots of money if he hopes to defeat the Hillary Clinton juggernaut in November.

The flip side of that coin is that this very same RNC and GOP leadership now needs Trump if they want to reclaim the White House. And they know full well how difficult it will be to follow eight years of Barack Obama with four or eight years of Hillary Clinton.

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The Patriot Post Digest 5-13-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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For months, Trump seemed like a joke, and throughout the debates and the early primaries, pundits on the Left and Right seemed to agree that his chances of winning the White House were like those of a snowball’s chance in … a campfire.

Well, like it or not, and a good number of Republicans don’t, Trump will almost certainly now be the standard bearer for the GOP in November. As such, his head-to-head polling numbers have improved to the point that Clinton must be getting nervous.

Trump’s trip to Washington on Thursday to meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan and other members of the Republican leadership was a step toward unifying a party21 that Trump has thus far been intent on blowing up for his own purposes.

Ryan remains undazzled by The Donald, saying after their meeting only that he would continue to look for common ground on policy issues. In their joint statement22, they promised to keep the dialogue open and find a way to overcome their differences:

The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents. That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning. While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal. We are extremely proud of the fact that many millions of new voters have entered the primary system, far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history. This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification.

At this stage, that is probably all anyone could have hoped for.

As Trump begins to collect endorsements from some Republicans on Capitol Hill, others are offering only grudging support. But Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who endorsed Trump earlier this year, asserted, “Donald Trump is unifying the party already. The party is the people who vote.”

Others are motivated to support Trump by the mere thought of a Clinton presidency. “As a conservative I cannot trust Donald Trump to do the right thing,” said Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, “but I can deeply trust Hillary Clinton to do the wrong thing every time.”

Trump also met with Reince Priebus of the RNC and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other members of the Senate leadership, but it was the time spent with Ryan that was the principle focus of attention.

The big takeaways were that Republicans wanted Trump to tone down his negative rhetoric and spend more time focusing on the stagnant Obama economy23. Whether Trump concedes to a change in tone is another matter. “You win the pennant and now you’re in the World Series — you gonna change?” he wondered. “People like the way I’m doing. … I think I have a mandate from the people.”

Indeed, don’t underestimate24 his support.

The lackluster economy and the growing entitlement problem can be winning issues for Republicans in the coming election. Unfortunately, Trump has been all over the map on these and other topics of concern, so he may be just as vulnerable as Clinton when it comes to debating the issues.

Trump’s erratic and outrageous behavior on the campaign trail was supposed to doom him. Instead it actually enhanced his profile and made him more popular. Whether he can tack more to the right, or even the center, remains to be seen. His unusual (and that’s a kind word) campaign style has worked well for him so far, so in some respects he’s right not to change now.

But can Trump see the wisdom of being more of a team player for the general election? Does he even want to? What will happen to the support he’s received from people who were attracted to his damn-the-torpedoes strategy when he starts working more closely with the dreaded Washington establishment?

There are still a lot of questions about what Trump, Ryan and the rest of the Republican leadership will do in the coming weeks leading up to the Cleveland convention. We must all hope that differences can be minimized, and the better characteristics of all concerned will rise to the top. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the country depends on it.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: The Long-Term Effects of ‘Choice’ Come Home to Roost25
Abortion Rate Declining in Developed Countries, but Why?26
Automation Comes to Wendy’s27
Manufacturing’s Decline Squeezing Middle Class28
No Death Penalty for Benghazi Ringleader29
Feds Push ‘Racist Cop’ Narrative Again30

TOP HEADLINES

Senate Appropriations Bill Spends More Than Obama Requested31
For Oil Drillers, Obama Methane Rule Is Worse Than Proposed32
Wendy’s Serves Up Big Kiosk Expansion Amid Wage Hikes33

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report34

OPINION IN BRIEF

Jonah Goldberg: “The Soviet Union and its various cousins did much to discredit ‘scientific socialism,’ what with all the killing and totalitarianism. The fact that it didn’t seem to make people richer also undermined its appeal. ‘Scientifically,’ people didn’t want to be bullied, oppressed or impoverished. The unrealism of socialism spelled its undoing — for a time. The dilemma is that there is a reality underneath the fraud of scientific socialism. The first socialists were not economists or technocrats. They were romantics and nostalgists. They loathed the relentless logic of the market and its reward of merit and efficiency as judged by the marketplace. They wanted to return to the imagined Eden of the noble savage and the state of nature. They wanted to live in a world of tribal brotherhood and mutual love. Long before the math of ‘scientific socialism’ there were the emotions of socialism, both light and dark: egalitarianism and envy. Young people understandably are drawn by the promise of ‘being together.’ But they think the federal government can make it happen. If government planners can’t even provide goods and services efficiently, how will they ever provide togetherness?”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “There is no subjugation so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom for in that way one captures volition itself.” —Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778.)

Upright: “Leave it to President Obama to force local parents to have to abide by the moral decisions of one man — him. How such a sensitive matter could not be a local issue I have no idea. But, there you go. If you’re a parent and you don’t want your sixth grade middle school girl to see an eighth grade boy naked, well, screw you. I’d say it’s time to get that private school voucher bill moving again…” —Keith Koffler

Observations: “Trump should want to bring the party together. He makes sounds that he doesn’t need to, but he does and must know it or he wouldn’t have met with GOP leaders in the first place. A party fracturing all around him will only spread unease, increase tension, and intensify sourness.” —Peggy Noonan

Braying Jackass: “I’ve always shown myself willing to compromise — principled compromises that would still advance the interests of the American people. What we’ve seen within the Republican Party has been a refusal even to engage on a whole range of issues like climate change, for example, that are vitally important. The issue here has never been both sides stuck in a corner, unwilling to meet in the middle.” —Barack Obama on how he’s oh-so practical

Race bait: “We must acknowledge that our national security agencies have not yet drawn fully on the strengths of our great nation. Minorities still make up less than 20 percent of our senior diplomats. Less than 15 percent of senior military officers and senior intelligence officials. Too often, our national security workforce has been what former Florida Senator Bob Graham called ‘white, male, and Yale.’ In the halls of power, in the faces of our national security leaders, America is still not fully reflected.” —Susan Rice

Late-night humor: “Joe Biden said he is ‘confident’ that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. Then he said, ‘Of course, I also bet against the Mighty Ducks in all three movies, so what do I know?’” —Jimmy Fallon

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.