The Patriot Post Digest 10-19-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-19-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Oct. 19, 2016

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Gun grabbers once again stand on the caskets of children to take away our rights.
Hillary’s latest news dump involves a bus, a storm drain and human waste.
Big Labor leaders are spending historic amounts to elect Clinton — a disconnect with workers.
Just how “rigged” is the election? And what is Trump’s real point?
And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun.” —Thomas Jefferson (1785)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

The Faux ‘Toddler Gun Epidemic’1

Those who advocate for stricter gun control and even gun confiscation know that preying on emotions plays a critical part in advancing their campaign. We see it every time there’s a mass shooting or domestic terrorist attack and even when accidental gun deaths occur. You’ll especially hear references to “think of the children,” which is a narrative the Left commonly uses to strengthen policy agendas. That narrative was supplied additional ammo last week by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

The anti-gun lobbying group posted a video warning, “Americans are shot by toddlers at least once a week.” The video then took a shot at the Republican Party in general: “It’s time we did something. We need to lock them up. Not the guns — that’s just un-American. The toddlers. Round them up, deport them, get them out of our country. And keep them away from our guns. Guns don’t kill people; toddlers kill people.”

The Brady Campaign is of course no stranger to inflammatory productions. In April it featured a video of Alice in Wonderland shooting herself in the face2. In a follow-up, it was Peter Pan who took a bullet3. With respect to the new ad, Brady Campaign president Dan Gross says, “This PSA is satire. But the public health crisis it calls attention to is anything but. Whether the trigger is pulled by a toddler, a convicted felon, domestic abuser, or terrorist, we have a problem in America with guns too easily falling into the wrong hands.”

Even if we accept the premise that gun deaths constitute an epidemic, the Brady Campaign falls short in advocating more gun control. Make no mistake: Standing on the coffins of children is an egregious stunt that’s intended to wholly eradicate the Second Amendment. Are there some parents who are careless in how they teach (or don’t teach) their children about guns? Absolutely. But that’s not a gun control issue. The reality is that the vast majority of lawful gun owners and their kin are safety literate. In fact, children who are taught how to properly use firearms save far more lives than the mainstream media cares to report4.

Clinton Unloads on Georgia Voters5

Campaign log: 20 days until Election Day. A Clinton campaign bus was caught disposing of human waste down a storm drain in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Evidently, Team Clinton finds it difficult to discern the difference between a storm drain on a Georgia roadway from a waste station. Witnessing the bus’s unauthorized movement, a local businessman snapped pictures of the incident. He said, “I don’t care who you are. That’s just wrong.” The Georgia state EPA sent investigators to determine the extent of the environmental impact the bus’s dump had on local bodies of water, and a HAZMAT team was dispatched to clean up the mess as a “foul smell” emanated from the drain next to the roadway littered with toilet paper.

To bring back one of Hillary’s most infamous lines about her private server, it was evident someone, er, wiped with a cloth or something. Is it any wonder she looked flushed at her campaign appearance? The embarrassed DNC issued an apology using one of Clinton’s favorite explanations — it was an “honest mistake.” In a normal election, this might be the bottom story of the day, but in this rank affair it’s just the latest Clinton news dump.

Hence you’ll notice the positioning in today’s Digest: Number two.

Hillary’s Big Labor Super PAC6

As the election race rounds the final bend before heading down the home stretch, Big Labor has put the pedal to the metal in their effort to ensure a Hillary Clinton victory. From January 2015 through August of this year, labor unions have spent a record $110 million on the election. This is a 38% increase from 2012 and almost double what was spent in 2008 — no small feat given unions' declining membership.

Most labor unions have come out in support of Hillary Clinton, proving themselves to be the same old super PAC for Democrats they have been for decades. Although Donald Trump has proven to be a heavy favorite among white, non-college educated workers, union leaders have warned of losses of labor rights should Trump be elected. Union bosses point to the recent Supreme Court deadlock over a case that would allow public sector union members to opt out of paying compulsory dues, as well as the fact that Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, is a major proponent of right-to-work legislation as reasons to support Clinton.

Even with the record spending and dire warnings of the loss of labor rights, some union leaders worry of low enthusiasm among union members. Mike Knisley who runs a union of plumbers and pipe-fitters in Lima, Ohio played identity politics: “I never thought I’d have a harder time selling a white woman candidate than a black candidate, but there you have it.” AFL-CIO Arkansas chapter president Alan Huges complained, “I think a lot of [union members] are turned off. You worry — are they going to go to the polls and vote?” Union members, like most Americans, are simply tired of being told one thing by politicians only to see those same politicians become seduced by the same old power-hungry Washington elitism that justifies the passing of ever-more burdening regulations, tax hikes and limits to individual freedoms, all in the name of “social justice.” The union leaders might be in the pocket of the DNC, but the workers know how Barack Obama’s policies have decimated the economy, and they’re not crazy about more of the same from Clinton.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Michelle Malkin: Debate Depressive Disorder7
Terence Jeffrey: Washington’s War Against Your Air Conditioner8
Walter Williams: Freedom to Work9

For more, visit Right Opinion10.

TOP HEADLINES

Europe Steps Up Effort to Deport Migrants11
Clinton Doc Dump Blocked by Ecuador12
Court Rules Against EPA in Coal Case13
Students Told Term ‘Be a Man’ Represents Toxic Masculinity14

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report15.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Election Is Rigged … Sort Of16

By Louis DeBroux

Donald Trump has recently ramped up controversy by claiming the race between him and Hillary Clinton “looks like a rigged election17,” and that this theft is occurring “at many polling places.” Indeed, “rigged” has become a recurring campaign theme for him.

Trump, not much of a stickler for details, leaves the parameters of what constitutes a “rigged election” largely undefined, making references to millions of dead people on voter registration rolls, Philadelphia precincts in 2012 where not a single vote for Romney was recorded, etc.

Trump is both right and wrong, depending on how you define “rigged.” If he is referring to, as some have asserted, a nefarious cabal with the power to manipulate voting machines nationwide and change the digital ones and zeros of electronic ballots in order to switch a Trump vote to a Hillary vote, then no, there is no evidence that’s happening. (The Leftmedia gleefully runs “fact checks” on this at every opportunity.) While fraud does occur, the system is too decentralized for widespread manipulation of voting machines.

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-19-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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On the other hand, there is a reason why so many people joke about how Democrats “vote early and vote often.” Democrats are vociferously opposed to any and all attempts to guarantee ballot integrity. They oppose laws requiring voters to present identification at polling places, claiming such laws are racist and discriminatory. Odd, then, that these same people are not outraged that these same would-be voters are required to show ID to open a checking account, get married, rent a hotel room, purchase alcohol, enter a government building, or — and no, we’re not making this up18 — to march in a Democrat protest of voter ID laws.

Yet undercover videos prove fairly convincingly that not only is voter fraud a real problem, but it is a problem that Democrats encourage because voter fraud significantly benefits Democrats. Alan Schulkin, a Democrat Elections Commissioner in NYC, admits as much in an undercover video, stating, “There is a lot of fraud19. … The law says you can’t ask for [ID], which they really should be able to do.” Project Veritas and others have done outstanding work on exposing20 the ease with which voter fraud is committed, yet Democrats still fight tooth and nail to preserve it.

Leftist agitators also appear to be coordinating. A key Clinton campaign operative bringing protesters to Trump rallies just happened to have visited the White House 342 times since 2009.

Another aspect of the claim of “rigging” is the impact of a leftist mainstream media that operates essentially as a super PAC for Democrats. The Leftmedia has abandoned all pretense of objectivity and is waging an all-out assault on Donald Trump. CNN’s Chris Cuomo was more open about it21 than most, admitting, “We couldn’t help Hillary any more than we have. I mean, she’s just gotten a free ride so far from the media. We’re the biggest ones promoting her campaign.”

Other media figures have openly called for22 “journalists” to destroy Trump. That is why they obsess23 over Trump’s vile comments from 11 years ago, but give Hillary a free pass regarding her cover-up of her husband’s serial rapes and sexual assaults, even going so far as to attack the victims. Not to mention her email scandals, Benghazi, pay-to-play at the Clinton Foundation, etc.

It should come as no surprise to any objective person to discover that 96% of all campaign contributions from journalists, reporters, news editors, or TV news anchors — as shown in FEC filings — went to Democrats.

Of course, it is a bit disingenuous for Trump to now complain of a biased media. After all, he benefited during the primaries from an eye-popping $2 billion in free media24, making it nearly impossible for any other candidate to gain any traction or be heard in the tsunami of Trump coverage.

That’s hugely significant now, because, as Greg Gutfeld of Fox News declared with exasperation, “True, the media is rigged, but it was rigged for Trump all damn year. He got more free media than the weather. … If it wasn’t for the media who fell over Trump every time he sneezed we would have a different candidate. So, yeah, it was rigged and that rigging gave us Trump. He should be extremely grateful. … Of course now he gets the same coverage but it’s soaked in opposition research. Was he set up? Could it be the media propelled him to the top of the heap knowing he would be easy to bring down later? Short answer, yes; long answer, hell yes.”

But Trump isn’t exactly the first candidate to complain of rigging. “They’ll do anything to rig the system,” complained Barack Obama. “The game is rigged,” griped Elizabeth Warren. We live in “a rigged economy,” asserted Bernie Sanders. “People say the game is rigged,” said none other than Hillary Clinton. Only when a Republican complains about it do Democrats head for the fainting couch.

Finally, the biggest rigging occurred with the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton. If the State Department, attorney general, FBI director and even the president himself hadn’t put their thumbs on the scales — or even if Clinton had a different surname — she’d be in prison, not running for president. And if just about any other Republican was running, Clinton would be on her way to defeat because of the obvious corruption.

So, long story short, the election is rigged … sort of. Trump is right to a point, but, as a terrible candidate running a pitiful campaign, he’s also setting up an awfully convenient scapegoat.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

The Mosul Offensive Brings Hope for Iraq25 — Pushing the Islamic State out is an important strategic objective.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Michelle Malkin: “For the past three cycles — 2008, 2012, and 2016 — I’ve chronicled the depressing, systemic bias of left-leaning partisans whom the Commission on Presidential Debates routinely installs as ‘moderators.’ It would be one thing if these activists posing as journalists were upfront about their political preferences. But they continue to star in phony debate theater wearing their dime-store costumes of objectivity. The even bigger farce? Masochistic Republican Party bosses let them get away with it year after year after year. Note to President Obama: This is not ‘whining.’ This is truth-telling. I find it rather rich that the complainer-in-chief who spent two terms incessantly attacking Fox News and conservative talk radio is now wagging his waggy-licious finger at anyone else who bears grievances against hostile media and its enablers. … Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. It’s the fuel that sustains the Fourth Estate’s undeserved superiority complex and monopoly over the debates. What would be so wrong with allowing open, transparent, informed partisan journalists from all sides of the political aisle a bite at the presidential debate apple? Abandon the pretenses. Put all the ideological cards on the table. Make the debates honest and tolerable again. The problem isn’t the partisan press. It’s the poseur press.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men’s natural abilities as to restrain them.” —Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)

Upright: “No politician is supposed to have messianic powers. The more we see our president as a sort of economic or societal savior, the more power we invest in him — and the more likely we are to see a corrupt, power-swollen leader rise to the presidency. Balance of powers? The importance of federalism and limited government? Unfortunately, all these traditional American principles have faded in importance. Instead, we seek a king.” —Gracy Olmstead

About the Braying Jenny: “Prior to Clinton’s tenure, being an agent on the Secretary of State’s protective detail was seen as an honor and privilege reserved for senior agents. However, by the end of Clinton’s tenure, it was staffed largely with new agents because it was difficult to find senior agents willing to work for her.” —FBI interview documents

The BIG lie: “I think you’ve heard directly from both the FBI and the State Department that the notion or the accounts that have been put out there [alleging criminal collaboration in the Clinton email case] are just not true.” —Barack Obama

Alpha Jackass: “I’d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.” —Barack Obama

The truth comes out: “There are things [Antonin Scalia] said on the bench where if I had a baseball bat, I might have used it.” —Justice Sonia Sotomayor

And last… “After we settle the issue of whether the media is biased, maybe we can get back to debating the color of the sky.” —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.