The Patriot Post Digest 11-30-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 11-30-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Nov. 30, 2016

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Why is ESPN hemorrhaging views? It’s simple: Leftist politics.
The duplicate green card fiasco has thousands of bogus cards out in circulation.
What can we do to convince my fellow Americans to value limited government.+
And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society.” —John Adams (1811)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

ESPN Is Losing … Bigly1

Over the last two months, ESPN has lost an astounding 1.176 million subscribers. October and November have set records in losses for the sports network, which now has a total number of cable and satellite subscribers at 88.4 million — down from well over a 100 million just a few years ago. ESPN, the largest provider of sports coverage in the nation, will see at least a $100 million loss in revenue this year thanks to this hemorrhaging of subscribers.

There are several contributing factors, such as changing demographics and competition from other sports networks like Fox’s FS1. However, the largest contributing factor may be that the Entertainment Sports and Programming Network has changed into a leftist propaganda rag, unabashedly mixing sports broadcasting and commentary with the promotion of leftist social activism and politics. It’s the old leftist ploy of co-opting everything as a means of promoting and instilling their politically correct worldview into the populace, with the expressed purpose of excluding other perspectives. It’s Orwellian.

But American sports fans don’t want to be lectured to on how “brave” Bruce Jenner2 was for declaring himself a woman, or listen to the glorification of Colin Kaepernick3 for disrespecting the national anthem. The history of sports in America is one of entertaining competition, not of “social justice” causes. There is no question that sports have had significant impact upon American culture, but conflating “social justice” with sports entertainment only turns people off. ESPN is learning the hard way that sports and politics just don’t mix.

The Duplicate Green Card Fiasco4

The Department of Homeland Security released a new report which found that over the last three years the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has produced at least 19,000 green cards that were duplicates or contained erroneous information. Over this same period, thousands of green cards were sent to incorrect addresses, creating another potential security risk. The report stated, “In the wrong hands, Green Cards may enable terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens to remain in the United States and access immigration benefits.” The report disclosed that green card errors cost taxpayers $1.5 million in 2015 alone. Furthermore, the report also noted that, in 2013, more than 2,400 immigrants who were approved for two-year conditional stays in the U.S. “were inadvertently issued cards allowing them to stay for 10 years.” The government has had some difficulty in tracking down some of the immigrants who received these incorrect green cards.

In 2014, some 5,280 green cards were printed “with incorrect names and/or dates of birth,” and some applicants received cards that were printed “No Given Name.” Earlier this year, 18,000 green cards were sent out and reported as missing; 95% of them were delivered. Between 2013 and 2015, U.S. Customs and Border Control listed at least 4,600 cases of individuals who were using “imposter green cards.”

While mistakes will always occur, what is truly concerning is the significant rise in the number of mistakes being made by the USCIS over the last three years. Experts claim the rise is due to an immigration system that has simply become overwhelmed and is unable to handle even some of the most basic administrative tasks. Mistakes that are allowed to continue with little or no attempt to correct, indicate a management or leadership lacking concern over the ramifications of those errors. Honestly, it’s not surprising given Barack Obama’s stance on illegal immigration that these problems were not seriously addressed. It may be that, from Obama’s perspective, they weren’t really problems.

Top Headlines5

Welcome to our retooled Top Headlines section. Our objective is to save you time by reviewing hundreds of news and policy sites every morning. In addition to our top-of-the-fold Right Analysis and Hook summaries, here are more of today’s top stories.

Trump names former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao (wife of Senate Leader Mitch McConnell) Transportation Secretary. (USA Today6)

Trump picks Wall Street investment guru Steve Mnuchin to lead Treasury. (Wall Street Journal7)

Trump deals with Carrier to keep jobs in America — a key campaign promise and he is not in the White House yet. (Bloomberg8.)

Economy likely won’t top 3% for the year — goodbye, Barack Obama. (Washington Free Beacon9)

Trump’s difficult transition from business to the presidency. (USA Today10)

Nancy Pelosi survives challenge, retains failed Democrat leadership role. (Washington Post11)

Keith Ellison, leading candidate for the DNC, took a 2008 trip to Saudi Arabia to meet with a radical cleric and a bank that funds suicide bombings. (Washington Free Beacon12)

Surprise! Obama’s “Iranian nuke deal13” is working as planned — U.S. cash has already been diverted to armies. (Washington Times14)

While Veterans suffer… a grinch at the VA is busy trashing an employee’s Christmas tree. (Washington Examiner15)

Free speech update: Web hosting company shuts down conservative site boycotting Target stores. (Daily Signal16)

“Ready for Michelle” PACs urge the first lady toward a 2020 run. Ready for another Obama? (The Hill17)

And for fun, a little satire: U.S. Christians brace for a brutal onslaught of “Happy Holidays” attacks. (Babylon Bee18.)

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Star Parker: DeVos: Great Pick for Education Secretary19
Michelle Malkin: Justin Trudeau: Baby-Faced Commie Apologist Unmasked20
Walter Williams: Let’s Fight Tyranny21

For more, visit Right Opinion22.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
GOP Has Golden Opportunity to Expand Liberty23

By Louis DeBroux

For those who work to restore constitutionally limited government — as we in our humble shop do daily — a recent Quinnipiac poll24 is daunting. It shows large majorities or pluralities of Americans oppose reducing regulations, oppose across-the-board tax cuts, and favor increased federal spending on infrastructure and other goodies.

Leaving aside the accuracy of the poll (Quinnipiac had Hillary Clinton +7 nationally less than two weeks before the election), the polling reveals a paradox in the mindset of the American electorate. Every American — Republican and Democrat, men and women, young and old, black, white, Hispanic or Asian, rich or poor — wants government to mind its own business … except for their preferred program or regulation.

John Stossel writes25, “Few people bother to go to Washington to ask for spending cuts. Even though America is heading toward bankruptcy, 90 percent of congressional testimony comes from people who want more stuff.”'

What far too few Americans understand is that to empower government is to restrict individual liberty, and once you agree to grant government power over A, you have opened the door to granting government power to do B, C and D.

That is why the Founding Fathers strictly limited the power of the federal government, forbidding it from any and all actions not specifically authorized under the U.S. Constitution and, for emphasis, declaring in Amendments IX and X the primacy of the individual and the states over every sphere not listed in those enumerated powers.

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The Patriot Post Digest 11-30-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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The Founders understood the truth and wisdom in George Washington’s declaration: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master!”

Few Americans, for example, would disagree with the idea that everyone should have access to health care, but the devil is in the details. Without the vote of a single Republican, arrogant Democrats, invigorated by their electoral victories, passed ObamaCare, ostensibly to guarantee health care to every American. As a result, the IRS was granted access to our medical information, we were forced to buy an outrageously expensive product whether we wanted it or not, we faced a bevy of new taxes and burdensome regulations, and tens of millions of Christians were forced to fund abortion through their insurance.

Government is necessary to protect the rights of individuals, but it is the nature of government to expand and acquire power, and that power is acquired at the expense of individual liberties. As another Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, so eloquently put it, “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

Ironically, the very government that we empower to do our bidding against our neighbor ends up being the government that becomes our master.

Disagree? Keep in mind that when the 16th Amendment (the income tax) was proposed, its proponents promised that it would only affect the very rich. The bottom bracket was a 1% tax on income over $20,000 ($488,341 in 2016 inflation-adjusted dollars) and a top bracket of 7% for income over $500,000 ($12,208,535 in 2016 inflation-adjusted dollars). It was a way, its proponents argued, to make the rich pay their “fair share” (sound familiar?). Yet in a very short time the rates went up and the entry point for the bottom bracket went down, eventually capturing many more Americans in its web, and creating the IRS, possibly the most feared institution in American government, with the power to ruin your life and take everything you own.

Government is a necessary evil. As a third Founder, James Madison, argued in Federalist No. 5126, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.”

Thus, individual liberties are safest when government is smallest, and when the power of government is closest to the people. As constructed by the Founders, the vast majority of government is enacted at the local and state level, with only a small portion belonging to the federal government.

When they held the White House, Senate, and House under George W. Bush, the Republicans blew a golden opportunity. Instead of reducing the size and scope of government, they doubled government spending and gave us Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, and an expansion of nearly every federal department and agency27.

In 2016, Republicans get a do-over. While Democrats claim the GOP has no mandate because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Republicans can counter with the fact that the GOP won a 3.2 million national popular vote majority28 in House races, and under Barack Obama, Republicans have won a net 11 Senate seats, 63 House seats, 14 governorships, and roughly 1,000 state legislative seats.

Republicans have a rare opportunity to reduce the size and scope of government at every level, and return to the form envisioned by the Founders, where government is limited and individual liberty is vast. It’s in the best interests of every American to encourage them to do just that. Our job is to educate our fellow Americans accordingly.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Finally, a Real Opportunity to Repeal ObamaCare29 — Trump’s pick of Tom Price to head HHS is a good sign.
Trump’s Swamp-Draining Lobbyist Ban30 — You know, the one Clinton rescinded on the way out of office.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Star Parker: “If the teachers unions are outraged by Donald Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos as the new secretary of education, our president-elect must have made a good choice. … For those with the least power, the poor, parents are totally locked into failing schools controlled by bureaucrats and unions. If giving parents education choice was a bad idea, why do so many want it? … Betsy DeVos' special interest is advancing freedom by bringing education opportunities to poor children. The unions' special interest is keeping a stranglehold on public schools and looking out for their members and their left-wing agenda. … A headline on the National Education Association website says, ‘Transgender students thrive in supportive schools.’ Can you imagine the NEA worrying about Christian children getting biblical values? Parents should be free to choose a school embracing transgender values or Christian values. It should be up to them, not unions or bureaucrats. Having known Betsy DeVos for years, I am confident that unions will find their fears justified, and that our new secretary of education will provide leadership to significantly improve education in our country by bringing freedom and choice to families.”

SHORT CUTS

Upright: “[Flag burning is] a First Amendment right. But you do it in front of me, I’m going to beat the hell out of you.” —Sen. Joe Manchin

For the record: “[An estimated] 83 fires are currently raging across 6 southeastern states. Eighteen of those are classified by NIFC as large and uncontained. If you get most of your news from national TV networks, this is probably the first you’ve heard of any of this. … Because it’s not happening in New York or D.C. or Los Angeles, it doesn’t really count as news. When a few snowflakes begin to fall in Washington, it’s a national emergency. When Los Angeles has a lot of traffic on Thanksgiving, it requires an international APB. But when tens of thousands of acres are burning in the South following months of drought, it barely warrants a shrug.” —Sean Davis

Alpha Jackass: “That kind of dictatorship, that kind of authoritarian leader [referring to Fidel Castro] is very similar to Trump. They lie, they cheat, they are false prophets, they promise many things but are not going to be able to comply.” —former Mexican President Vicente Fox

Eternal fate: “Fidel Castro created hell on earth for the Cuban people. He will now become intimately familiar with what he wrought.” —Sen. Tom Cotton

Vacating the narrative: “To me, I never thought Donald Trump, and I still don’t believe it today, was a racist. I don’t believe that he’s anti-African-American.” —Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET)

Non Compos Mentis: “Maybe there will be a movement where people wear the head scarf in solidarity. You know, even if you’re not Muslim.” —CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota31

Easy for him to say: “I think moving to a popular vote system [to elect presidents] is not without peril, is not without problems. It’s not a simple one choice is all good, the other is all bad. It’s a balancing act. But I think the balance has shifted, in my mind at least, and I think that we should go to a popular vote.” —Al Gore

And last… “Wasn’t one vapid pretty boy named Justin from Canada enough? At least Justin Bieber is eye candy without the heartburn. Justin Trudeau, on the other hand, is the twinkly-eyed boy toy who makes informed adults wanna hurl.” —Michelle Malkin

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.