The Patriot Post Digest 10-5-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-5-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Oct. 5, 2016

IN TODAY’S EDITION

    Mike Pence won last night’s VP debate. Here’s why.
    Are the Marines dumping “The Few, the Proud”?
    The IRS is still targeting the Tea Party.
    Hillary Clinton is the commander in chief in the true war on women.
    And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world.” —George Washington (1789)

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Case for Change1

By Nate Jackson

First of all, can we just take a minute and lament that these two men aren’t on the top of their respective tickets? Neither Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine nor Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has an enviable job — defending woefully unfit presidential candidates2 — but both played the way they had to. Kaine went on defense by playing offense, attacking Donald Trump rather than advocate for Hillary Clinton. It was an effort to lose the battle and win the war. On the other hand, Pence brought a positive message of change and fixing disastrous policies, making his ticket far more appealing. In our estimation, the clear winner was Pence.

Kaine was a repetitive, pre-packaged talking-points machine with half a stump speech ready to recite no matter what question was asked. He was, as Jonah Goldberg wrote3, “smarmy and smug, condescending and rude.” Pence called it part of an “insult-driven campaign” and an “avalanche of insults” — after all, Clinton called millions of Americans a “basket of deplorables4” — and, in response to those insults, he noted Trump’s primary appeal: “He’s not a polished politician like you and Hillary Clinton.”

The “discussion” format only helped Kaine in his tactic of constantly interrupting Pence with those talking points. He repeatedly brought up Donald Trump’s tax returns or mean things Trump had said (often distorting those things but getting the sense of them correct), and he made laughably false assertions about Hillary Clinton’s record. Overall, Kaine’s strategy from open to close was to paint Trump as a racist and a maniac and to tie him around Pence’s neck. Trump makes this far too easy, and Pence couldn’t rebut many of Kaine’s attacks. But Pence did an admirable job of making the case for American strength in foreign policy, Rule of Law concerning our borders and law enforcement, and an economy that rebuilds our nation after eight years of leftist tax-and-spend policies.

We’ll break down the debate into five general areas and sum them up.

Foreign policy

About Kaine’s most laughable assertions: He summed up Clinton’s record as having killed Osama bin Laden, stopped Iran’s nuclear weapons program, reduced Russia’s chemical and nuclear weapon stockpile, and brought American troops home.

Pence ably parried that bin Laden led al-Qaida and that the threat today is the Islamic State, which Clinton and Barack Obama practically created5 by refusing to negotiate a status of forces agreement to keep American troops in Iraq. The latter wasn’t George W. Bush’s fault or decision, as Kaine followed Clinton’s lead in falsely asserting; it was Obama’s and Clinton’s fault for putting politics ahead of national security. Clinton’s actual record on foreign policy is a disaster, and Pence nailed it.

A lot was said about Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin6. This is an obvious weakness for Trump, but Pence turned it around on Clinton’s foolish and failed Russian “reset.” He also offered one very effective line: Saying that “the small and bullying leader of Russia has been stronger on the world stage than this administration … is stating painful facts. That is not an endorsement of Putin. That is an indictment of the weak and feckless leadership of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.”

Immigration

On a topic that was inexplicably left out of the first presidential debate, Pence made the case that immigration reform boils down to three things: First, securing the border; second, prioritizing deporting criminal aliens; and third, enforcing the law when it comes to employment and visas (roughly half of all illegals are visa overstays). He called “comprehensive reform” Capitol Hill wordplay that’s effectively a bait-and-switch for amnesty. As for deportation, Pence noted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is our “deportation force,” and that ICE recently made the unprecedented step of endorsing Trump. Kaine made the issue a false contrast between Democrats' compassion and Trump’s mass deportation of Mexicans who he’s labeled “rapists and criminals.” Anything to paint Trump as a hater.

Economy

Before there was even a question about the economy, Pence highlighted it in his opening statement, saying, “We’ve seen an economy stifled by more taxes, more regulation, a war on coal, and a failing health care reform come to be known as ObamaCare, and the American people know that we need to make a change.” Moreover, he added, “Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want more of the same” — more taxes, more regulations and an expansion of ObamaCare.

Kaine not only didn’t rebut this, he practically certified it. He rolled out the same old leftist playbook — “invest” in infrastructure and manufacturing, offer “free” college tuition, enforce “fairness” via minimum wage and equal pay, and nailing America with tax hikes. And he had the temerity to insert “promote small business growth” in a list of things that will destroy small businesses. Furthermore, just as Clinton did last week, Kaine falsely blamed the Bush tax cuts for the 2008 financial crisis. Those tax cuts had nothing to do with it. The recession was caused by Bill Clinton’s easy mortgage lending policies7.

Trump’s taxes

As we noted, Kaine incessantly beat this drum all night long, but Pence effectively answered the false claim that Trump hasn’t paid taxes8 by noting Trump’s greatest strength: “Donald Trump is a businessman, not a career politician. He actually built a business.” And “he used the tax code just the way it’s supposed to be used.” Everyone in this country works to pay the least amount of taxes they’re legally obliged to pay. For Democrats to imply otherwise is nothing more than their typical fomenting of class envy among the half of Americans who don’t pay income taxes.

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-5-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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Clinton scandals

Finally, unlike the first presidential debate, last night began and ended with questions and discussion about Clinton’s character and trustworthiness because of her email and Foundation scandals. In his opening statement, Kaine asserted, “We trust Hillary Clinton.” And he argued that her entire life spent in public service has “always been about putting others first.” We don’t know about you, but we laughed out loud.

Pence hit a home run with one line: “If your son or my son [both in the military] handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did they’d be court-martialed.” Just so.

In summation, both of these men are better suited to lead the country than either Clinton or Trump, but that’s not the decision before the American people. Kaine jettisoned his nice-guy reputation in service of the only thing that will get Clinton elected — making Trump unpalatable. Pence didn’t waste time trying to defend Trump, focusing instead on making the case that it’s time for change. Maybe Trump will take his cue for the next debate.

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Dumping ‘The Few, The Proud’9

Lt. Col. John Caldwell, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command, said that the Marine Corps is looking into the possibility of changing its 40-year-old recruiting slogan, “The Few, The Proud, The Marines.” He stated, “‘The Few, The Proud’ does a great job of distinguishing ourselves from the other branches and making us prestigious to recruits, but it doesn’t say anything about what we do or why we exist.” Caldwell said that the new slogan would be based on three concepts of “fighting self-doubt to become a Marine, fighting the nation’s battles and fighting for what’s right in our communities.”

As the old adage says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This trial balloon raises the question: What is the primary motivation for seeking a slogan change that has been highly successfully for decades? Might this be yet another instance of Barack Obama and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus continuing to force leftist social engineering onto the military? With recent examples of transgender guidelines in the military and the Air Force’s new diversity-based demographic standards10, one can hardly be blamed for questioning the true motivation for this slogan change. It appears to be more of Obama’s M.O. — out with the old “bigoted” military and in with the new “progressive” social justice warriors.

IRS Still Targeting the Tea Party11

The Texas Patriots Tea Party (TPTP) has called out the IRS for continuing its practice of targeting conservative groups. In a move which Edward Greim, the lawyer representing the TPTP, called “unprecedented,” the IRS publicly released tax filing information on the TPTP. Greim has challenged that this move by the IRS may have violated section 6103 of the tax code, which prohibits the sharing of information from taxpayers' returns. (Memo to The New York Times re: Trump’s returns8.) However, some tax experts say that the IRS may be on safe ground, since the filing was made part of a court case. The IRS also sent a new round of probing questions that it’s requiring the TPTP to fully complete within 30 days or be in danger of having the application derailed. The TPTP applied for tax-exemption 41 months ago.

What is becoming more apparent is the fact that the IRS is committed to continue its practice of delaying the processing of conservative groups' applications. And why would anyone expect the IRS to change its ways, since no one at the IRS was held accountable for its illegal targeting of conservative groups? Unless those who did such things at the IRS face consequences, we can expect little change. Remorseless apologies without discipline and real change amount to nothing more than political pandering and obfuscating.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    Star Parker: Solving Fiscal Crises Through Personal Ownership12
    Michelle Malkin: Will Illegal Foreign Voters Steal the Election?13
    Walter Williams: Discrimination and Segregation14

For more, visit Right Opinion15.

TOP HEADLINES

    Obama DOJ Drops Charges Against Broker of Libyan Weapons16
    Yahoo Secretly Scanned User Emails17
    Troubled Phoenix VA Builds New Backlog18
    Russia Adds Hundreds of Warheads Under Nuclear Treaty19

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report20.

MORE ANALYSIS
Hillary Is Commander in Chief in the True War on Women21

By Louis DeBroux

In the waning minutes of the first presidential debate22, Hillary Clinton attempted to ambush Donald Trump by trotting out a two decade-old incident involving Trump and former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. It worked, but it shouldn’t have.

As the issue of the horrible Iranian nuclear deal was being discussed, Hillary made an awkward segue when she interrupted moderator Lester Holt so she could make a point about Trump’s history with women. She ranted, “But this is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs, and someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, who has said women don’t deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men. … And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest … he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy.’ Then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping.’”

In the aftermath of the debate, this exchange became the focus for both Trump and the media, who used it as a bludgeon against Trump, accusing him of being sexist, misogynistic, boorish and a bully. However, the tables were quickly turned when the bizarre history of the pageant winner saw the light of day. Machado, it seems, has a violent, troubled past. She was accused of being the get-away driver for her boyfriend, who murdered his brother-in-law23 at the funeral of his deceased wife. Though there was not sufficient evidence to convict her, neither has she denied being involved.

When asked about it recently in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she deflected the question by saying “I’m not a saint girl”24 and pointing out that the incident “happened 20 years ago” — not much of a denial. Machado, besides being an alleged accomplice in the murder, reportedly threatened to kill the Venezuelan judge who indicted her boyfriend. She was also identified as the mistress of a Mexican drug lord by a witness who was then placed in witness protection but later killed in Mexico City.

All that makes the fact that she posed nude for Playboy and had sex live on a Spanish-language reality show seem downright boring by comparison. Though Hillary claims Trump was mistreating Machado, it seems Trump was actually trying to save her job25.

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-5-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
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Trump’s history with women is, to be sure, not good. On the one hand, he is an admitted (and proud) adulterer who has made countless rude, crass statements to and about a number of women, from leftist comedienne Rosie O'Donnell to Fox News star Megyn Kelly. On the other hand, he also has a long history of hiring women at his companies and elevating them to positions of power (unlike Clinton, who paid women working in her Senate office 28% less than she paid men26).

What is missing in this sensational, salacious equation is any balance in reporting by the media, and any mea culpas by the Democrats.

How can progressives, Democrats, the media, and feminists feign outrage at Trump’s treatment of women while supporting Hillary Clinton and other powerful Democrats, who have a far more damning history of abusing and mistreating women?

So, we ask of those who condemn Trump while defending Hillary…

Where is your outrage at Hillary, who has spent more than three decades defending and enabling the serial rapes and sexual assaults of her husband Bill? Where is the outrage over the fact that Hillary personally engaged in the cover-up or character assassination of the victims following the rapes or sexual assaults of Juanita Broaddrick, Dolly Kyle, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Eileen Wellstone, Carolyn Moffet, Sandra Allen James and Christy Zercher?

Where is your outrage over Bill’s adulterous affairs with Gennifer Flowers, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, and other women?

Where is your outrage at Hillary who, chillingly, is on tape laughing about how she convincingly portrayed a 12-year-old girl as a pre-teen slut obsessed with older men, all so that she could keep a child rapist out of jail27?

Where is your outrage at Bill Clinton, who on multiple occasions ditched his Secret Service detail so he could join his convicted pedophile billionaire buddy Jeffrey Epstein on the “Lolita Express,” his private jet that took him to countries that allowed him to have sex with underage girls28? Did Bill join in on these rapes of little girls? Are you even curious?

Where is your outrage at Hillary for accepting huge chunks of money from Saudi Arabia and other nations where women are abused and mistreated, and where they can be beaten for being in public without a male relative, or be stoned to death for the “crime” of being raped, or committing adultery.

One thing is for sure. Hillary does have experience as commander in chief in the true war on women29. She has led the assault on victims while defending her flank against those who would expose her for her hateful, callous treatment of women who have suffered enough.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

    Even Bill Clinton Thinks ObamaCare Is ‘Crazy’30 — Friendly fire is more evidence of trouble.
    Ferguson Protestors Lose Civil Rights Lawsuit31 — The message is clear: Rioting and defying authority is not excusable behavior.
    Colombian Surprise32 — Voters reject peace deal with FARC.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Star Parker: “In a study done several years ago by Peter Ferrara and William Shipman, they examined a theoretical case where a couple put their payroll tax in a private retirement account for 45 years, earning actual returns that the stock market paid over that period, and retired one year after the market crashed in 2008. Despite losing 37 percent of the value of their savings after the market crash, they still accumulated enough savings to pay benefits that were 75 percent greater than Social Security would have paid. The power of compound interest over 45 years coupled with the higher average returns that the stock market, over the long run, pays compared to Social Security makes all the difference. We should, at minimum, allow low-income Americans to opt out of paying the Social Security tax and get real returns through ownership and investing.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “I love agitation and investigation and glory in defending unpopular truth against popular error.” —James A. Garfield (1831-1881)

Upright: “Mike Pence demonstrated that Trump made the best possible choice out of his remaining options. The adjectives that keep coming up in the post-debate commentary were ‘unflappable,’ ‘solid’ and ‘reassuring.’ Pence knows his stuff, was completely prepared and articulated his arguments quickly – and he had to articulate them quickly because Tim Kaine interrupted him relentlessly.” —Jim Geraghty

Performance issues: “I think that Tim Kaine was asked to play a role here that he isn’t particularly comfortable with. Tim Kaine is a very positive, ebullient character and was asked to be kind of an attack dog here and I think he wasn’t entirely comfortable in that role and the strategy of interrupting I think was probably overdone.” —former Obama adviser David Axelrod

Dezinformatsia: “There’s been a lot of talk about Al Gore. Where is Al Gore? … [Team Clinton is] very close to announcing that Al Gore will be helping Hillary Clinton trying to win over those millennials who have been so reluctant to join forces with the Clinton campaign.” —Andrea Mitchell, notwithstanding Gore’s total absence from public discussion

Non Compos Mentis: “The fact that somebody can dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a foreign leader or a geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm’s way. … We elect people who can dot the i’s and cross the t’s on these names and geographic locations, as opposed to the underlying philosophy, which is, ‘Let’s stop getting involved in these regime changes.’” —Gary Johnson defending his ignorance on foreign policy

Late-night humor: “We’re just four weeks away from Halloween: people pretending to be somebody else, going door-to-door for handouts — or as that’s also called, running for president.” —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.