The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 29, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled.” —Mercy Warren (1805)

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Clinton Says, ‘We’ll Fix It!’ Well, Who Broke It?1

By Nate Jackson

The 2016 Democrat National Convention began with a conspicuous lack of American flags. Oh, a few were burned outside the hall, and other flags made an appearance, but it wasn’t until Thursday night that Democrats finally tried to appear really patriotic. Big flags were distributed throughout the hall for Hillary Clinton’s speech. Predictably, however, she was the weakest part of her own convention. She slammed Donald Trump and promised to fix all that ails the country. But that message was severely undermined by remembering who broke it in the first place.

Here are the lowlights:

“America is stronger because of President Obama’s leadership.”

    The night’s first lie. America is anything but stronger because of the Obama-Clinton governing duo.

“I want to thank Bernie Sanders. … You’ve put economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong. And to all of your supporters here and around the country: I want you to know, I’ve heard you. Your cause is our cause. Our country needs your ideas, energy and passion. That’s the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America. We wrote it together — now let’s go out there and make it happen together.”

    She fought off more heckling from Bernie’s folks during her speech, but she’s right in one sense — the Vermont socialist helped push the party further left2.

“My friends, we’ve come to Philadelphia — the birthplace of our nation — because what happened in this city 240 years ago still has something to teach us today. We all know the story. But we usually focus on how it turned out, and not enough on how close that story came to never being written at all. … By the time they left Philadelphia, they had begun to see themselves as one nation. That’s what made it possible to stand up to a king. … Remember: Our Founders fought a revolution and wrote a Constitution so America would never be a nation where one person had all the power.”

    It just doesn’t work for Clinton to co-opt our Founders, who crafted documents severely limiting the power of the federal government. Democrats advocate ever-increasing and unlimited government power into every facet of our lives, and nearly everything they push and do is contrary to our founding. No one has done more to trash the Constitution than Obama, who Clinton wants to emulate.

“[Donald Trump has] taken the Republican Party a long way — from ‘Morning in America’ to ‘Midnight in America.’”

    No, Trump didn’t take us there — Democrats ruling from Washington did.

“I’ve been your first lady. Served eight years as a senator from the great state of New York. I ran for president and lost. Then I represented all of you as secretary of state. … The truth is, through all these years of public service, the ‘service’ part has always come easier to me than the ‘public’ part. I get it that some people just don’t know what to make of me.”

    Clinton’s humble-brag is obnoxious. She regularly tries to portray herself as the Most Qualified Candidate Ever™ while simultaneously some misunderstood private person. She is and always has been about one thing: acquiring power. The truth is every American knowns Hillary, and few trust her, even if they will blindly vote for her.

“No one gets through life alone. We have to look out for each other and lift each other up. [My mother] made sure I learned the words of our Methodist faith: ‘Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can.’”

    She’s right — on an individual level. Jesus never advocated big government and forced income redistribution to achieve those ends.

“Too many people haven’t had a pay raise since the crash. There’s too much inequality. Too little social mobility. … Now, I don’t think President Obama and Vice President Biden get the credit they deserve for saving us from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. Our economy is so much stronger than when they took office. … But none of us can be satisfied with the status quo. … I’ve heard from so many of you who feel like the economy just isn’t working. Some of you are frustrated — even furious. And you know what? You’re right. It’s not yet working the way it should.”

    So which is it? Economic malaise, or incredible and underappreciated prosperity? GDP grew just 1.2% in the second quarter, continuing a historic streak of sub-3% growth under Obama’s policies. So why is she running as the status quo candidate?

“Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all. … We’re not only going to make all these investments, we’re going to pay for every single one of them. And here’s how: Wall Street, corporations and the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes.”

    “Free” stuff on the backs of those who already pay the lion’s share of the taxes is a familiar and tiresome refrain. But it sure works for young people who stand to benefit.

“We need to appoint Supreme Court justices who will get money out of politics and expand voting rights, not restrict them. And we’ll pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. … I’m not here to repeal the Second Amendment. I’m not here to take away your guns. I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place. We should be working with responsible gun owners to pass common-sense reforms and keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and all others who would do us harm.”

    She attacked both the First and Second Amendments. Citizens United was a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling upholding free political speech as the Founders intended. She promises to overturn it, trampling the First Amendment. And her gun control proposals3 infringe on the Second Amendment while failing to solve any problems, all while framed in such a way as to make it seem as if Republicans favor giving guns to criminals and terrorists.

“I’ve laid out my strategy for defeating ISIS. … It won’t be easy or quick, but make no mistake — we will prevail.”

    As the chief diplomatic agent of Obama’s foreign policy, Clinton bears significant responsibility for the current disaster in the Middle East. The Islamic State exists because Obama and Clinton abandoned Iraq, wasting American blood and treasure for political gain. She led the charge to create a haven for the Islamic State in Libya. So it’s nice that she now wants to defeat it, but she helped create it.

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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“Tonight, we’ve reached a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president.”

    The problem is that it’s this woman4.

Heaven knows we could rebut more of her speech, but we’ll grant mercy and stop there. This woman should never again step foot in the Oval Office, though the unfortunate reality is that it’s at least a 50/50 chance that she will occupy it.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    Erick Erickson: What New Right Is This?5
    Mona Charen: Where Does a Patriot Turn in 2016?6
    Michael Reagan: Forgiving John Hinckley7

For more, visit Right Opinion8.

TOP HEADLINES

    Economy Grew Just 1.2% in Second Quarter9
    Seven States Have Had Consecutive Quarters of Negative Growth10
    Navy to Name Ship After Gay Activist Harvey Milk11

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report12.

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

It’s Pay-to-Play at the Clinton Foundation and DNC13

Among the extensive DNC emails exposed by WikiLeaks14 is one that implies yet another pay-to-play scheme. This one involves donors and their chances of landing lucrative positions allotted by White House officials. On April 20, Jordan Kaplan, the DNC National Finance Director, requested in a staff email: “This is the last call for boards and commissions; if you have someone [in mind], send to [Finance Chief of Staff Scott] Comer — full name, city, state, email and phone number. Send as many as you want, just don’t know how many people will get to.” Six days later, a list of 23 prospects was transferred to Amanda D. Moose, the Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel. Interestingly, not a single one of the possible recruits gave any financial contributions to the Sanders campaign.

The Daily Caller highlights a particularly suspicious finding: “One entry on one iteration of the DNC donor spreadsheet is telling as it suggests that one party donor expressed his desire to someone at the DNC about an appointment to the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors. Next to the name of Democratic donor David Shapira is the acronym ‘USPS.’ The CEO of Giant Eagle, Inc., a supermarket chain, Shapira was nominated by Obama to the USPS board of governors last year. The pick was blocked by Congress, however.” The timing is purely coincidental, we’re sure.

Meanwhile, speaking of pay-to-play, the IRS is finally embarking on an investigation it should have begun long, long ago regarding the activities of the Clinton Foundation. IRS Director John Koskinen announced15 that his agency’s Exempt Organizations Examinations program would look into the foundation following a July 15 request16 from members of the House GOP.

As Jazz Shaw observes17, “The timing of this next phase of the ongoing investigation into the affairs of the Clintons could hardly come at a worse time.” That’s for a number of reasons, not the least of which has to do with WikiLeaks' pledge to reveal emails that, allegedly, incriminate the Clinton Foundation.

No wonder, The Wall Street Journal points out, Bill Clinton avoided the topic during his DNC address earlier this week: “No doubt the foundation does some charitable good, but this is incidental to its main purpose of promoting the Clinton political brand,” the editors deduce18. “Since its creation in 1997, the nominal nonprofit has served as a shadow Super Pac, designed to keep the Clintons in the national headlines, cover their travel expenses, and keep their retinue employed between elections.” How appropriate it would be, then, if the Clintons' so-called “charity,” created to foster their own ego and ambitions, is finally what brings them down.

If Minimum Wage Goes Up, Jobs and Economy Go Down19

A new report on the economic impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour shows what we’ve always stressed — it will cost jobs. This $15 per hour minimum wage was a prominent message in Bernie Sanders' campaign, and the new, higher dollar amount has gradually been adopted by Democrats in their quest to create what they’ve dubbed a “living wage.” According to the new study, however, this would have the net effect of seven million jobs lost, as companies would need to trim their work force to afford the higher wages. Generally speaking, those workers most likely to be laid off would be younger and less skilled20. Once again, the Left’s views have little in common with sound economic principles and more to do with the Marxian ideals of fairness.

Meanwhile, there’s grim news from one of the leading economic indicators on the health of the economy. Paul Westra, a research analyst for Stifel Financial Corp., recently said that he was “decidedly bearish” on the restaurant industry, which he believes is beginning to reflect the start of a recession. He goes on to explain that restaurants are “like the canary that lays the recessionary egg.” Restaurants aren’t the cause of recessions, but they’d certainly feel the effects of a $15 minimum wage.

Evidently, Democrats would rather see seven million fewer jobs so long as they can notch the political win of a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

Baltimore Ends Witch Hunt Against Police21

It’s been an embarrassing and, hopefully, career-ending few months for Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby. That city’s witch hunt against six of its police officers charged with causing the death of career criminal Freddie Gray began falling apart almost immediately. First came the trial of Officer William Porter22. Then Edward Nero23, followed by Caesar Goodson24. Three trials, and not a single conviction. It appears the memo finally got through this week: Mosby ended her pursuit of criminal liability against the remaining officers. But what havoc she wreaked along the way.

Consider the cost. The Baltimore Sun reports25, “The state’s attorney’s office and Police Department, which bought riot gear and paid officers overtime in anticipation of protests, spent an estimated $7.4 million on the trials, city officials said Wednesday. In addition, the city reached a $6.4 million settlement26 last year with Gray’s family.”

Those millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted because one rogue prosecutor tried to make a name for herself. As The Wall Street Journal writes27, “This case has always defied easy stereotyping. Ms. Mosby is African American, but so are three of the six officers who were charged.” And the cost goes far beyond the financial. “The dramatic increase in murders since the Freddie Gray case is one indication of the price the people of Baltimore will be paying for some time to come,” the Journal adds, referring to the chilling effect the case has had on the city’s policing efforts.

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Yet Mosby insists the fault lies elsewhere. Wednesday she claimed, “What we realized very early on in this case is that police investigating police … was problematic.” Mosby went on to throw the police department and Judge Barry Williams under the bus: “There was a reluctance and an obvious bias that was consistently exemplified, not by the entire Baltimore Police Department, but by individuals within the Baltimore Police Department at every stage of the investigation. … The judge has made it clear that he does not agree with the state’s theory of the case and does not believe that any of the actions or inactions of these officers rise to the level of criminality.”

She concludes, “This system is in need of reform when it comes to police accountability.” It’s certainly in need of reform — beginning with removing a recklessly ambitious prosecutor.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

    Democrats: Forward to a Dark Place28
    McAuliffe: Clinton Does and Doesn’t Support TPP29
    What’s the Deal With Russia?30
    FBI & DOJ Practicing Partisanship in IRS Scandal?31

OPINION IN BRIEF

Erick Erickson: “By the 1990s — when Bill Clinton was president — we learned that some people could get comfortable living on a welfare check and checked out of work. Their children spiraled into a cycle of dependency and poverty. In Genesis, God put Adam and Eve to work in the garden. There is something soul nourishing about work. When we all get to Heaven we will all have jobs. Getting people comfortable not working sucks their souls away and destroys their families. But putting people to work and guaranteeing them a lifestyle does much the same. It encourages complacency and saps the desire to get ahead for many people. The reality is that many people can be given incentive to smother their ambitions. Guarantee a roof over their heads, enough money for cable television, and watch as they never strive to do better. Then watch as their children, likewise, accept complacency. Frankly, it is more immoral to set a floor of income and lifestyle below which someone cannot fall because it provides too many disincentives for too many people to never even try to get off the floor. Democrats claim we should do this for moral and compassionate reasons. The reality is that we should avoid doing it for moral and compassionate reasons.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Nailed it: “Trump spends his days describing what America looks like now, and says he’ll change it; Hillary spends her days describing what Trump is like now, and says she’ll keep things the same.” —Ben Shapiro

Observations: “The weakest part of the 2016 Democratic National Convention was the speech delivered by the party’s nominee for president. … It lacked the passion of Michelle Obama’s or Bernie Sanders’s speeches, had nothing of Joe Biden’s instinctual feel for middle-class language and anxieties, did not achieve the valedictory heights of Barack Obama’s appearance. … The Hillary mystique is her inflated and undeserved reputation for competence. She is her own worst enemy.” —Matthew Continetti

Upright: “The last Republican to win a national election has become an object of scorn and mockery in many quarters of the Republican world. … [George W. Bush] not only had a better record at judicial nominations than either his father or President Reagan, he handled an enormous amount of incoming hate and vitriol with class and dignity. Is he not worth respecting? Is he not worth honoring?” —David French

Village Idiots: “[My mother] never forgets who she’s fighting for.” —Chelsea Clinton (Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were unavailable for comment.)

Non Compos Mentis: “Republicans would have you believe that creating opportunity means giving tax breaks to corporations and the super wealthy. Well, I’ve met a lot of Americans in my life. And no one has ever told me that their ancestors came here looking for the lowest corporate tax rate.” —Rep. Joaquin Castro

But do give intelligence briefings to a woman who’s email illiterate? “How would the CIA and the other intelligence agencies brief this guy [Donald Trump]? How could they do that? I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous. Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.” —Harry Reid

Late-night humor: “Bill Clinton said the first two times he proposed to Hillary, she said no. Clinton then said, ‘So let’s stop all this talk about Hillary’s bad judgement.’” —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.