The Patriot Post Digest 8-31-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-31-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Aug. 31, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will.” —Thomas Jefferson (1792)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Kerry to Media: Ignore Terrorism1

Speaking in Bangladesh, Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Remember this: No country is immune from terrorism. It’s easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. But if you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise.” Then came the truly baffling portion of his speech: “Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on.” According to the State Department transcript, those in attendance applauded Kerry’s remark.

National Review’s Jim Geraghty explains2 the significance: “This applause came during Kerry’s remarks at the Edward M. Kennedy Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a joint project between the Bangladeshi Liberation War Museum and the U.S. Embassy. The Center is ‘committed to open dialogue, informed action, individual and artistic expression, and personal and professional development.’ So people applauded ‘people wouldn’t know what’s going on’ at a center devoted to open dialogue and informed action.”

Unfortunately, part of the government’s anti-terrorism approach has been to normalize what isn’t. When Kerry says “the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover [terrorism] quite as much,” he’s advocating for more than just a way to excuse the Obama administration’s bungled response to terrorism; he’s also saying the victims' lives aren’t worth commemorating. One big problem the media does have is the absurd amount of time it devotes to the perpetrators and not the victims. And that’s the point Kerry and the media would rather you not know is happening.

Surprise! Clinton Benghazi Emails Unearthed3

New shocking — ok, not so shocking — information has come to light that at least 30 emails recovered from Hillary Clinton’s private email system have connections to Benghazi. This is news in that Hillary had previously claimed in congressional testimony that none of the emails on her servers contained classified information, which after the FBI’s investigation proved to be a lie. She had also stated that none of the emails she deleted contained information on Benghazi, which is also evidentially proving to be a lie as well.

These 30 emails were part of 15,000 that the FBI was able to pull from her private servers — these are not part the 30,000 emails Clinton turned over in late 2014 to the State Department, claiming at the time that these were the only emails that contained work-related material. This is important in that it establishes yet another specific instance of Hillary lying. The State Department has asked Judge Amit Mehta for another 30 days to review these emails before making them public, which seems to be yet another stalling tactic. Judge Mehta has given the State Department a week to explain why they need 30 days to review such a small number of emails.

It is not known if there is any information contained in these emails that will shed any more light into the whole Benghazi scandal. However, the fact remains that Clinton’s attempt to hide these specific emails and lie about it reinforces that her explanation on the whole Benghazi fiasco is simply not trustworthy.

In a separate, and yet related issue, Hillary must submit within 30 days her answers to 25 questions explaining her reasons for setting up a private server. Her answers to these questions will be viewed by the court as sworn testimony. It will be interesting to hear how she answers in a more serious legal context, as opposed to how she handled her congressional testimony. Will she contradict her testimony, or the FBI’s findings?

Senate Holds the Line on SCOTUS4

In the wake of the surprising death5 of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia this past February, there was much concern among conservatives as to the possibility and even probability that the balance of the court would swing to the Left, since Barack Obama was in position to appoint his replacement — he nominated Merrick Garland6, a reliable leftist. The GOP Senate for once quickly rejected7 the notion that a lame duck president would be allowed to so impact the High Court’s balance mere months before his presidency was to end. But would the GOP that had so often promised to stand up to Obama only to wilt under the heat of the critical Leftmedia do so again this time?

So far the answer is an encouraging “no.” With most of the media’s attention focused on presidential polls, it might be easy to miss the fact that the Senate GOP has stuck to its commitment. The Senate broke for summer recess in July, but the GOP has maintained a pro forma session. Twice a week a single law maker gavels the Senate into session, reads a brief announcement and sets the next meeting time. It takes all of 30 seconds. In other words, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Co. have been practicing a bit of political gamesmanship. As McConnell’s spokesman Don Stewart said, “This will ensure there’s no recess appointment of the president’s nominee. The Supreme Court has our back on that one.” Conservatives have a rather unusual source to thank for the tactic currently being employed by the GOP. After all, it was then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who crafted and implemented this same strategy against George W. Bush. In any case, the future of the Supreme Court is far too critical to entrust to either Obama or his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Ben Shapiro: We Have Nothing Left Holding Us Together8
Jonah Goldberg: In Denouncing Alt-Right, Hillary Treads Where GOP Will Not9
Thomas Sowell: A Gem in Chicago10

For more, visit Right Opinion11.

TOP HEADLINES

IRS Doesn’t Report 1 Million Stolen SSNs12
‘Blue Alert’ Bill Stalled in Obama’s Justice Department13
11% of Americans Remain Uninsured14

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report15.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Hillary’s Mentally Ill Plan16

By Lewis Morris

Hillary Clinton’s campaign announced a comprehensive plan17 this week to address mental illness, citing the lack of access that people have to quality mental health care and the need to integrate mental health into the national health care system.

Mental illness affects millions of Americans and their families and friends. According to Mental Health America18, a nonprofit advocacy group, 57% of adults nationally with mental illness receive no treatment for their condition. There has been a 1.3% increase in youths with severe depression, and 64% of all youths are not receiving any treatment. Furthermore, the federal government claimed in 2014 that one in five adults experienced some form of mental illness the previous year.

Clearly, mental illness is a problem that needs to be addressed. But Clinton’s plan, while seemingly well-meaning on the surface, should make us all wary about its reach and its ultimate goal.

The Clinton mental health plan aims to ensure that those in need of care will receive it so that no one slips through the cracks of our byzantine medical bureaucracy. But folding all those cases into ObamaCare is hardly the right solution. ObamaCare is responsible for building and cementing the byzantine medical bureaucracy we now have. Millions of people have already lost medical insurance coverage and are not receiving care because of the law. How can anyone guarantee with a straight face that adding millions of mental health patients to the system won’t strenuously tax that same system?

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-31-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Another major item of concern is that the centralization of all this information on the mentally ill gives the federal government reach into the medical history of millions of Americans. And what might they do with this information?

Consider Barack Obama’s January promise19 to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. He was, and remains perfectly willing to allow health care providers to share information on mentally ill patients with the FBI for its extensive, but pock-marked national database.

Knowing the track record of this administration, and the penchant for the federal government in general to bend the laws to suit a statist agenda, it doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to recognize that allowing health care providers to share this information is only one step away from compelling them to do so.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is supposed to protect the confidentiality and security of a patient’s health care information. Obama’s linking up mental illness to gun control puts HIPAA on shaky ground, because all it would take is a law enforcement action to claim that the police, the FBI, or the ATF should have access to a person’s mental health record. This would lead to a legal challenge that the gun grabbers would likely lose in court, but that depends in which jurisdiction the action takes place and the political leanings of the judge hearing the case. In other words, this is no slam dunk.

Some people with mental health issues could be a danger to themselves and others. No one is arguing that all individuals, regardless of circumstances, should own or operate firearms.

The problem arises in who gets to define who is mentally competent. If the federal government is overseeing the nation’s mental health, as Clinton proposes, then you can bet Washington will insist on having a say in how that definition is crafted and just who falls on which side of the line. Could the Obama administration or, perish the thought, a Hillary Clinton administration use its power to curb Second Amendment rights for people by arbitrarily claiming that they are not mentally competent to own a firearm?

Clinton has already defined a huge swath of the electorate — Trumps core supporters — as racist loons20. It’s but one more step to mentally incompetent.

If your kneejerk response to the question is, “No way,” think again. Obama a short time back attempted to strip seniors of their gun rights21 if they sought financial assistance.

The point here is that the Left has for years attempted to chisel away at our Second Amendment rights, and they have been creative, crafty and sometimes downright belligerent in their efforts. Broadening the definition that finds people unfit to carry firearms is yet another tactic for which they are laying the groundwork, and Clinton’s mental health plan could be an early step in that direction.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Kaepernick’s Offense Is Not Lack of Patriotism, but Ignorance22
Minnesota’s Gun Buyback Backfires23 — Not quite the success gun control advocates claim.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Ben Shapiro: “The two defining philosophical iterations of the modern left both make war with the ties that bind us together. In President Obama’s landmark second inaugural address, he openly said, ‘Being true to our founding documents … does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way.’ This is the kind of definition worshipped by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has singlehandedly redefined the Constitution. He said, ‘At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.’ But this means that liberty has no real definition outside of ‘stuff I want to do.’ And we all want to do different stuff, sometimes at the expense of other people’s liberty. Subjective definitions of liberty, rather than a common definition, means a conflict of all against all, or at least a conflict of a government controlled by some who are targeting everyone else. … The only way to restore the ties that bind us is to rededicate ourselves to the notion of liberty for which generations of Americans fought and died. But that won’t happen so long as the left insists that their feelings are more important than your rights.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote — a very different thing.” —Walter H. Judd (1898-1994)

Good question: “Rush Limbaugh made an excellent point about the controversy over San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the Star-Spangled Banner. The Dallas Cowboys wanted to put a decal on their helmets to honor five Dallas police officers killed by a sniper. But the National Football League denied the request. … If teams are required to be uniform with the league, why can’t they be uniform in respecting the national anthem?” —Todd Starnes

Demo-gogues: “The evidence of a direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign continues to mount. … The prospect of individuals tied to Trump, Wikileaks and the Russian government coordinating to influence our election raises concerns of the utmost gravity and merits full examination.” —Harry Reid, who also made false accusations against Mitt Romney in 2012 (Did we mention that Ted Kennedy appealed for Soviet help to defeat Ronald Reagan in 1984?)

The BIG lie: “Planned Parenthood is not a eugenicist organization. I think that is incredibly offensive.” —MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who rejects the fact that Margaret Sanger, PP’s founder, viewed eugenics favorably

Non Compos Mentis: “Detroit has 10,000 empty, structurally sound houses — 10,000. And lot of jobs to be had repairing those houses. Detroit just came out of bankruptcy and the mayor’s trying to do an innovative sort of urban homesteading program there. But it just gives you an example of what could be done. And I think any of us who have ever had any personal experience with either Syrian Americans or Syrian refugees think it’s a pretty good deal.” —Bill Clinton in February, notable now because Obama has met his goal of 10,000 Syrian refugees

And last… “The CEO of Wendy’s says the election is hurting the chain’s burger sales — people are spending less because they are worried about the future. Let’s be honest here, if you’re eating a Wendy’s Baconator, you’re probably not too concerned about the future.” —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.