The Patriot Post Digest 9-22-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 9-22-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Sep. 22, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“We are teaching the world the great truth that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion Flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.” —James Madison (1822)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

The Self-Perpetuating Cycle of Violence1

Charlotte, North Carolina endured a second night of rioting after a crowd turned violent while protesting the police shooting of a black man on Tuesday. Rioting has become all too common when news of police shooting a black man hits the headlines. The interesting thing in Charlotte is that seemingly everyone involved in this current situation is black — from the officer who shot to the chief of police — and yet the excuse for justifying the rioting is still the same: “cops are racists.”

So how do so many people come to view those who commit crimes and resist police, or who riot and loot, as the victims, while declaring the villains to be those who pledge to enforce the law often at great personal risk? The answer lies in the fact that the Left has long peddled the narrative that law enforcement is inherently racist2. Misleading statistics that depict a significant discrepancy in the percentage of whites versus blacks convicted of crime or in prison are provided as evidence to bolster the case that blacks are being unfairly targeted by law enforcement. The latest example of this was yesterday’s Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling which concluded that black men have a legitimate reason to run from the police — fear of racism. The court cited a 2014 ACLU study that found 63% of those stopped by Boston’s stop and frisk law were blacks, even though the black population in Boston sits at 24%. The charge was that the Boston police were “over policing” black neighborhoods. Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans said that the ACLU study was “heavily tainted against the police department” and “didn’t take into context who was stopped and why. That report clearly shows that we were targeting the individuals that were driving violence in the city and the hot spots.”

The court’s ruling only serves to perpetuate the false narrative. The fact that blacks commit crimes at a higher rate is not due to the police. The idea that blaming the police for the poverty and high crime experienced within many poor, inner-city black neighborhoods is baseless. These rioters in Charlotte have been drinking the “cops are racists and I’m a victim” Kool-aid for their entire lives. Their race-hustling leaders have birthed a movement in Black Lives Matter that cares little for the truth and advocates outright racism as despicable as anything perpetrated by the KKK. Their message isn’t reconciliation or responsibility or self-reliance but a message of victimhood, accusation and revenge3. If the truth is not honestly confronted, preached and responded to, then this cycle of rioting and violence will only continue.

The Staggering Cost of Immigration4

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released a report laying out its findings from a study on immigration’s impact on government expenditure. The findings of the study, which calculated the cost burden of both legal and illegal immigration, run counter to the oft repeated claims by Barack Obama and Democrats that the economic benefits of immigration far outweigh any negative cost. The study used eight different scenarios and found that the immigration burden experienced by federal, state and local governments cost anywhere from $43 billion to $296 billion per year.

The report noted that in some of the scenarios the federal government’s revenue in taxes did outweigh spending for benefit programs, but those same scenarios also witnessed state and local loses surpassing the total amount of federal government revenue. In other words, an overall loss. The report stated, “Fiscal impacts vary strongly by level of government. States and localities bear the burden of funding educational benefits enjoyed by immigrant and native children. The federal government transfers relatively little to individuals at young and working ages but collects much tax revenue from working-age immigrant and native-born workers.”

This report seems to support Donald Trump’s assertion that immigration, specifically illegal immigration, is hurting the American worker. As the report states, “Although the extra labor causes the aggregate amount of output to rise, per-capita output — output divided by the new, higher number of people in the economy — initially declines.”

Another interesting highlight is the number of immigrants both legal and illegal that have entered the country since the turn of the century. From the year 2000 to 2014, more than 42.3 million people have immigrated to the U.S. — a number accounting for 13% of nation’s entire population. Of the 42.3 million, it is estimated that approximately 11.1 million are illegal immigrants, with an average of 400,000 arriving each year. Immigration will only continue to grow as a problem as taxpayers are increasingly burdened with paying for more and more government benefit programs such as ObamaCare.

Asking a Minority for Help? You’re a Microaggressor!5

At Gonzaga University, students are being indoctrinated under the watchful eye of the microaggression police. According to a detailed list of one course’s “Examples of Racial Microaggressions,” inquiries like “Where are you from?” and statements like “You are so articulate” send derogatory missives to Hispanics along the lines of “You are not American” and “It is unusual for someone of your race to be intelligent.” Also off-limits? “Asking an Asian person to help with a math or science problem.” The sheet flags this as inappropriate because it suggests “All Asians are intelligent and good in math/sciences.”

Just so we’re clear: It’s demeaning to suggest Hispanics are intelligent because their knowledge could possibly come across as “unusual.” But on the other hand, assuming every Hispanic is smart is also wrong. Good luck finding the middle ground. As if that weren’t ridiculous enough, National Review reports6 that the guide was distributed in a “gender studies class.” That’s half the problem right there.

“Context makes all the difference in these situations,” writes Katherine Timpf, “and context is exactly what lists like this ignore. In fact, without considering the role of context, such a list actually runs the risk of inhibiting communication — it can freak people out about saying things that they really don’t have to be freaked out about saying. Discussions about sensitivity are one thing, but making definitive claims that a particular phrase always has a particular meaning is not the way to deal with something as nuanced as language.”

Higher education is supposed to encourage thought and generate knowledge to help students flourish in the real world. Instead, universities are being held hostage by leftists who implant in their acolytes the absurd belief that avoiding “microagressions” and diving into gender studies will provide important life lessons. The reality is that it’s making the next generation equally dimwitted.

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Democrats Despise ‘We, the [Deplorable] People’7. Statist Democrats don’t trust “We, the People.”

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here8.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Cal Thomas: More Terror, More Denials9
Victor Davis Hanson: A Hard Rain Is Going to Fall10
Veronique de Rugy: Anatomy of a Multi-Government Shakedown11

For more, visit Right Opinion12.

TOP HEADLINES

IRS’s Koskinen: ‘Impeachment Would Be Improper’13
Obama Seeks Pathway for Future ‘Ransom Payments’ to Iran14
Up to 15% of Noncitizens in U.S. Are Voting, Alleges Expert15

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report16.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Chasing a Legacy at the UN17

By Allyne Caan

We’re not sure if Barack Obama’s speech this week at the United Nations should be described as his last UN speech as president — or his first campaign speech in his quest to become UN secretary general18. Given the former option signals an end to the Obama era, let’s go with that.

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The Patriot Post Digest 9-22-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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At some point, it becomes difficult to describe an Obama speech without sounding abrasively repetitive. That’s because his speeches generally are exactly that. Certainly, he’s a charismatic orator. But beyond that, if you apologize for the evils of America (past, present, future and imaginary), laud European progressivism, claim certain future defeat of the Islamic State (recent attacks in your own country notwithstanding), insult conservatives and take credit for preventing a nuclear Iran (while subsidizing Iran’s nuclear program19), you’ve pretty much got an Obama speech.

If that’s the criteria, Tuesday’s speech didn’t disappoint. Consider Obama’s partial laundry list of attacks on the nation he purportedly leads: “Yes, in America, there is too much money in politics; too much entrenched partisanship; too little participation by citizens, in part because of a patchwork of laws that makes it harder to vote.” As National Review’s Jim Geraghty rightly observes20, “It’s pretty insufferable for the guy who raised a billion dollars for his reelection campaign to lament ‘too much money in politics,’ and for President ‘I won’ to lament the entrenched partisanship.” But we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Obama often bemoans the very things he propagates.

Note, for example, his observation that “too often, in capitals, decision-makers have forgotten that democracy needs to be driven by civic engagement from the bottom up, not governance by experts from the top down.” We’re to believe Obama has an aversion to top-down, bureaucratic government? Does the word, “ObamaCare” mean anything?

And we mustn’t overlook Obama’s obligatory attack on the “rich” and his call to tame the “excess of capitalism.” “A world in which 1% of humanity controls as much wealth as the other 99% will never be stable,” he said. “A society that asks less of oligarchs than ordinary citizens will rot from within.”

Of course, Obama repeatedly ignores the fact that the income required to make that “top 1%” in the world is actually about $32,400 per year21. This means about 50% of Americans are in the 1%. What’s the economic system that’s allowed them to get there? Wait for it… Yep, capitalism.

But all is not doom and gloom. After all, with his presidency coming to a close, Obama is now desperate to create the illusion that his legacy is something other than economic chaos, global instability, racial tension, and abuse of governmental power. So, naturally, he touted22 things like the “end of two wars in the Middle East” (even though the other side is still fighting), a “global agreement to combat climate change” (despite a lack of agreement that man-made climate change even exists,“ and a "normalization of relations with Cuba, Burma and Laos” (as if relations with a communist regime is something to celebrate).

Truth be told, Obama’s in a race against time — or, more accurately, against the Election Day countdown. Few things would shout eight years of utter failure more loudly than a Donald Trump victory. It’s little wonder, then, that Obama is planning an “unprecedented23” campaign to get Hillary Clinton into the White House. After all, if Clinton wins, Obama’s legacy is safe — at least in the short term. If she loses, the loss would be even more devastating to Obama than it would be to Clinton, because it would prove the last eight years have been an utter failure.

As The Washington Post notes24, “White House officials have privately fretted about some of Clinton’s recent missteps. … Those mistakes and the narrowing polls have only intensified the president’s focus on the campaign. … In remarks in recent days, Obama has cast the election as central to his legacy, essentially placing himself on the ballot with Clinton.”

Of course, it’s unlikely his UN speech helped Clinton’s chances on the ballot. If eight years of the same formulaic speeches haven’t secured the White House for a Democrat, one more certainly isn’t going to tip the scales in the Left’s favor.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Democrats Will Abide Domestic Terror to Preserve PC25 — A reasonable level of domestic terror is the price all of us must pay.
Legacy Hungry Obama Stumps for Clinton23 — If you want something done right, you better do it yourself.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Victor Davis Hanson: “It would be a mistake to assume that war is impossible because it logically benefits no one, or is outdated in our sophisticated 21st century, or would be insane in a world of nuclear weapons. Human nature is unchanging and remains irrational. Evil is eternal. Unfortunately, appeasement is often seen by thugs not as magnanimity to be reciprocated but as timidity to be exploited. Someone soon will have to tell the North Koreans that a stable world order cannot endure its frequent missile launches and nuclear detonations. Someone could remind Putin that the former Soviet republics have a right to self-determination. Someone might inform the Chinese that no one can plop down artificial islands and military bases to control commercial sea lanes. Someone might make it clear to radical Islamic terrorists that there is a limit to Western patience with their chronic bombing, murdering and destruction. The problem is that there is no other ‘someone’ (especially not the United Nations or the European Union) with the requisite power and authority except the United States. But for a long time America has done more than its fair share of international policing — and its people are tired of costly dragon-slaying abroad. The result is that at this late date, the tough medicine of restoring long-term deterrence is as almost as dangerous as the disease of continual short-term appeasement.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “No man who is corrupt, no man who condones corruption in others, can possibly do his duty by the community.” —Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

For the record: “It’s time to change the narrative, because I can tell you from the facts that the story is a little bit different as to how it’s been portrayed so far, especially through social media. … [The deceased] exited his vehicle armed with a handgun as officers continued to yell at him to drop it. He stepped out, posing a threat to the officers.” —Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Chief Kerr Putney, who is black, on the black police officer who shot and killed a black man, which led to riots and looting in Charlotte

Upright: “If you’re Hillary Clinton, you have to figure a racially incendiary riot is not helpful to your campaign right now. … If you’re throwing rocks off an interstate overpass onto traffic, you’re not protesting anything. You’re just trying to hurt people. This is exactly the sort of environment that makes people who might otherwise reject Trump to offer a sympathetic ear to his ‘law and order’ message.” —Jim Geraghty

Braying Jenny: “‘Why aren’t I 50 points ahead?’ you might ask. Well, the choice for working families has never been clearer. I need your help to get Donald Trump’s record out to everybody. Nobody should be fooled!” —Hillary Clinton

The BIG Lie: “I’m the only candidate in this race who has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield.” —Hillary Clinton (First, that isn’t a “hard decision,” but second, she and Obama have returned terrorists TO the battlefield.)

Non Compos Mentis: “I accept that it is up to you to judge my overall record. But I believe that impeachment would be improper, it would create disincentives for many good people who serve, and it would slow the pace of reform and progress at the IRS.” —IRS Commissioner John Koskinen

And last… “Every horrible thing the left are saying now about Trump they said about Mitt Romney, which is why no one listens to them26.” —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.