The Patriot Post Digest 8-11-2016

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 8-11-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Mid-Day Digest

Aug. 11, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“Whereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.” —Federal Farmer (1787)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Hillary’s Second Amendment Technicality1

Nuance is seemingly lost on the Leftmedia — at least that’s what they act like when challenged by statements that cut to the root of a leftist cause. Case in point is Donald Trump’s recent statement2, “Hillary wants to abolish … essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, [there’s] nothing you can do, folks.” The media went into attack mode, calling Trump’s statements false by pointing to the fact that Hillary Clinton has never publicly said that she wants to abolish the Second Amendment. Technically, that’s true. But it’s also abundantly clear that Hillary is no friend to our sacred right to keep and bear arms.

According to her policy adviser Maya Harris, “Clinton believes [the 2008 Supreme Court ruling in] Heller was wrongly decided in that cities and states should have the power to craft common sense laws to keep their residents safe.” Clinton has deliberately misinterpreted the Heller ruling, which clarified that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms; a right which city and state governments are not free to take away. Heller did not invent a right, as did leftists' favorite abortion and same-sex marriage decisions. Recall just last year at a town hall meeting in Keene, New Hampshire, Hillary opined that she’d be willing to consider gun control methods similar to those used in Australia3, which banned certain guns and initiated a government mandated gun buy-back program. What kind of Second Amendment support is that?

Hillary’s views on the right of individuals to own firearms would make the most ardent anti-gun nut proud. She has said that arming people is not an appropriate response to terrorism. She supports reversing laws that protect gun manufactures — “let them be sued.” Clinton favors a national gun registry and creating more ways to limit access to firearms.

It is clear, though the Leftmedia seeks to deny it, that Clinton desires to so restrict the Second Amendment — via legislation or likeminded judges — as to make it essentially a dead letter. Oh, she’ll never publicly call for the repeal of the Second Amendment, not so long as she can say she supports it while at the same time seeking to undermine it by pushing for restrictive “common sense” laws. But Donald Trump is exactly right, and Clinton and the Leftmedia know it.

Clinton Pay-to-Play Smoking Gun4

Judicial Watch has released more Hillary Clinton emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that indicate Clinton did not abide by her promise to not take action on behalf of the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of state. These emails bring greater clarity to what has long been known — that Hillary did indeed use her influence as secretary of state to establish essentially a “pay-to-play5” scheme between her “charitable” foundation and individuals seeking to gain greater access and influence with U.S. policymakers.

One example: Bill Clinton’s staffer asked Hillary Clinton’s staffer to set up a meeting between a U.S. ambassador and a Foundation donor, who by the way was a felon. Former Clinton adviser Dick Morris calls that a “closed loop” and a “smoking gun” that rebuts any assertion Clinton did not engage in pay-to-play behavior.

Recall that in 2009 Clinton pledged to remove herself from any Clinton Foundation business while she served in official capacity. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, had this to say: “The State Department and the Clinton Foundation worked hand in hand in terms of policy and donor effort. There was no daylight between the two under Mrs. Clinton, and this was contrary to her promise.”

And the Obama Justice Department blocked an investigation into the Foundation, because he’d rather not answer those questions.

There is no doubt — and no surprise — that Hillary moonlighted for the Clinton Foundation, breaking her promise. But what about what we don’t know from the 30,000 emails that she and her staff selected for deletion? What other crimes or corruption did she cover up? Those emails are gone; the FBI does not have them. So in that sense, it’s astounding that there is a smoking gun at all.

Will this new information lead to any formal action taken against Clinton? Don’t count on it. All this does is continue to confirm what many have known for a long time: Hillary has a hard time telling the truth.

Fracking Drives U.S. Emissions to Two-Decade Low6

Evidence continues to show that fracking is not just financially beneficial, but safe. In 2014 the Institute for Energy Research reported7 findings estimating a high-end energy cost relief of a remarkable $248 billion in 2013 as a direct result of fracking. Meanwhile, in April, yet another study8 failed — as myriad other studies have — to link fracking to environmental contamination (naysayers, by the way, tried desperately to conceal this).

These facts alone are enough to raise serious questions about why ecofascists have launched an assault on fracking, a technology they supported before it became a concrete solution to the world’s purported environmental calamities. But there’s another area fracking benefits that garners hardly any attention, though it should for those who claim to be concerned about the greenhouse gas effect. The Energy Information Administration says carbon dioxide emissions are currently on pace to hit a 24-year low in the United States, according to the Washington Examiner9:

Carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to be less than 5.2 billion metric tons this year, the lowest since 1992, said Adam Sieminski, the head of the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical and analysis arm. “The drop in CO2 emissions is largely the result of low natural gas prices, which have contributed to natural gas displacing a large amount of coal used for electricity generation,” he said, commenting on the agency’s latest monthly energy forecast released Tuesday.

This should be welcome news for the International Olympic Committee considering it approved Rio’s making a big deal10 of CO2 and “climate change” at Friday’s opening ceremonies. Actually, America is doing just great. But Brazil sure could use some work11 — starting with less deforestation and cleaning up its junk-ridden water.

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Clinton v the ‘Unfit Candidate’?12. Voters are tasked with electing a candidate who is less unfit than the other, but we may end up with a “kakistocracy,” a government under the control of the most unqualified and unprincipled charlatan.

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here13.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Hans von Spakovsky: Texas Gets the Best Deal It Could on Voter ID14
Victor Davis Hanson: Hillary’s Neoliberals15
George Will: Illinois Exemplifies Our Fiscal Foolishness16

For more, visit Right Opinion17.

TOP HEADLINES

Hack of Democrats' Accounts Was Wider Than Believed18
Appeals Court Blocks Wisconsin Voter ID Changes19
ObamaCare Problems Deepen as Insurers Scramble to Stem Losses20
Black Pastors Are Breaking the Law to Get Clinton Elected21

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report22.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Another ‘Racist’ Police Department?23

By Allyne Caan

From the administration that’s squandered seven years of opportunity to mend racial divides — scratch that; the administration that’s fomented racial divides — comes a new report that threatens to drive the wedge of racial tension even deeper. This week, Barack Obama’s Social Justice™ Department issued a report concluding that the Baltimore Police Department is systemically racist. Not facing occurrences of racism. Not occasionally having some officers display racist actions. Downright racist — the whole department.

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 8-11-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

The Associated Press, which is more than happy to perpetuate the Left’s racial grievance narrative, reports24, “With startling statistics, a federal investigation of the Baltimore Police Department documents in 164 single-spaced pages what black residents have been saying for years: They are routinely singled out, roughed up or otherwise mistreated by officers, often for no reason.”

Certainly, it would be naïve to claim racism doesn’t exist or that all cops are saints — but categorically declaring the police department of an entire major city as the KKK in blue suggests there’s more to the story than the so-called “startling” statistics.

Indeed, when you consider what’s missing from the report from this 15-month federal investigation, the statistics may seem more selective than startling. For example, while the investigation was prompted by the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, the Washington Post notes25 that “Justice Department investigators did not focus … on Gray’s death in particular. That is part of a separate, ongoing federal investigation. Instead, they assessed generally how police do their jobs in Baltimore.”

You’ll recall that all six Baltimore officers involved in the Gray case were either acquitted or had charges thrown out, despite the city’s settling with Gray’s family for an astounding $6.4 million26. That notwithstanding, the city’s mayor was cheered as she gaveled in the Democrat National Convention last month.

Nevertheless, the city’s police are racist. This is strikingly similar to Ferguson, Missouri, where the Justice Department cleared police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown yet still concluded27 Ferguson’s police are racist all the same.

Also intriguing, to say the least, is that numbers provided by the Baltimore Police Department showed more than half of the city’s active duty police officers are minorities — black, Hispanic, Asian or Native American — including more than half of the city’s police officers with the rank of captain and higher.

What is the Justice Department really getting at by targeting the department with accusations of racism? In the end, like everything Barack Obama does, this is about one thing: control. As Jazz Shaw observes28, “In perhaps the most chilling section of the account, the Attorney General is said to be seeking a court-enforceable consent decree to force the police agency to commit to improving its procedures in order to avoid a lawsuit. … Local policing, traditionally under the control of the state or municipal government, will be met with lawsuits brought against these same local entities if Washington doesn’t approve of their performance.”

Yes, Baltimore, you must now conform to the federal government’s dictates — or else.

Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. This is the same federal government that wants to control kids' education29, make neighborhoods comply with federal racial quotas30, dictate Americans' health care31, force nuns to pay for contraception and abortion32, require schools to let boys in girls' locker rooms33… and the list goes on.

Just like community policing, all of these are either local, state, or “none of the government’s business” issues. But when it comes to control, Washington recognizes no boundaries.

Meanwhile, following Obama’s pattern of attacking the men and women in blue34 who keep us safe every day, Hillary Clinton isn’t even trying to earn the endorsement of the National Fraternal Order of Police, which represents 335,000 members. The union’s president rightly observed that this “sends a powerful message” — and not a good one.

It seems the Left’s new hallmark is opposing the members of the Thin Blue Line who, despite the snub, continue putting their lives on the line, even for those who least appreciate it35.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Obama’s Latest Effort to Disarm America36
Gun Owners Are Model Citizens37

OPINION IN BRIEF

Hans von Spakovsky: “It looks as if Texas, the Justice Department, and all of the other parties, including the NAACP, involved in the challenge to the state’s voter ID law have worked out an interim settlement — and the district court judge approved the deal … after a telephonic hearing Wednesday morning. … The parties have agreed that Texas voters who don’t have one of the acceptable photo IDs under the statute will still be able to vote if they: ‘present a valid voter registration certificate, a certified birth certificate, a current utility bill, a bank statement, a government check, a paycheck, or any other government document that displays the voter’s name and an address and complete and sign a reasonable impediment declaration.’ … Texas actually managed to get better terms than either North or South Carolina since, in addition to completing a ‘reasonable impediment’ declaration, the voter will have to show some kind of document such as a utility bill or bank statement with his name and address. … It is not as good as a government-issued photo ID, but this is probably about the best that Texas could get given the federal judges it is dealing with in the 5th Circuit. And it is difficult for the Justice Department to claim that a requirement modeled on a federal voting requirement is discriminatory.”

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “Many Democrats, it’s no secret, see these perversities [in ObamaCare] as a feature and not a bug — bringing closer the day when Washington will take charge of health care entirely. It’s their article of faith, impervious to experience, that the solution to government screwing up health care is to give government more power over heath care.” —Holman W. Jenkins Jr.

Observations: “To appease radical activists in the Black Lives Matter movement, [Baltimore] police pulled back from their aggressive practices in high crime neighborhoods. Guess what happened? The murder rate spiked dramatically. And in a city that is overwhelmingly black, most victims of crime are also black. When those statistics came out, people were critical of the police for ‘not doing their job.’ So what are the police to do? If they lower the crime rate through aggressive policing, they are accused of racism. If they back off and the crime rate goes up, they are accused of neglecting minority communities. You just can’t win if you’re wearing blue.” —Gary Bauer

Alpha Jackass: “The death of [Justice] Scalia saved labor from a terrible decision. And I don’t wish anyone ill, but it happened at a good time because once that decision had been made, it would have been tough to reverse it.” —Ted Strickland, former Ohio governor and current senatorial candidate

Consider the source: “Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington. … Our sources take risks.” —WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on yet another death for crossing a Clinton38 (Not that Assange is a trustworthy source…)

Demo-gogues: “[Hillary Clinton] disagrees with his views and disavows his support. … This individual wasn’t invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event.” —Clinton’s campaign finally getting around to disavowing the support of Seddique Mateen, father of Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen, after he photobombed her rally39

And last… “When you cry ‘But SCOTUS!’ you don’t seem to comprehend what you’ve done. Like someone crying ‘My photos!’ after setting [their] own house on fire.” —Frank Fleming

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.