The Patriot Post Digest 12-2-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 12-2-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Dec. 2, 2016

IN TODAY’S EDITION

    James “Mad Dog” Mattis is an outstanding pick to lead the Pentagon.
    Gun sales have long been trending upward, but 2016 set another record. Already.
    How will Trump’s Treasury nominee handle Wall Street, being an insider?
    And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” —George Washington (1790)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Mattis: Another Great Nominee1

Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis has been tapped by Donald Trump to head the Defense Department. Mattis is an outstanding pick for a number of reasons, not least of which is the message sent to our enemies by having the Pentagon under the charge of a man nicknamed “Mad Dog.” Mattis was forced into “early retirement” by Barack Obama because he wouldn’t play along with the Iran “nuclear deal2” charade. He’ll will inherit a post facing serious challenges thanks to the malfeasance of that same former boss. So what did Mattis do in retirement? He got in his car and drove across our nation, trying to personally visit the families of Marines who died under his command.

He will require House and Senate waivers for the seven-year moratorium on military officers taking a civilian appointment at the Pentagon, but that’s unlikely to be a problem given the high esteem in which he is held on Capitol Hill. Some of the congressional cupcakes, however, might wet themselves over some other observations from the man also known as the “Warrior Monk”:

“I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.”

“The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some a—holes in the world that just need to be shot.”

“You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”

“Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they’re so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact.”

“No war is over until the enemy says it’s over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote.”

“Demonstrate to the world there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.” (Mattis' letter To 1st Marine Division)

On a final note, consider how different our response to Iran’s hijacking of our Navy vessel3 and its seamen would have been, if a Marine named “Mad Dog” was at the helm. Those Iranians would have been toast. Of course, if “Mad Dog” was at the helm of DOD, Iranians never would have gotten within range of that boat.

Hillary’s Greatest Economic Contribution4

Elections have consequences, as Barack Obama so emphatically emphasized upon taking office. He was correct, but in ways that he may not have anticipated. Over his time in office, gun sales in the nation surged. Why? He never took his finger off the trigger with his anti-gun rhetoric. But in 2016, the U.S. is seeing gun sales blow through the record highs set in 2015. Through November of this year, the FBI has processed 24,767,514 background checks — 160,000 more than last year and there’s still a month to go. So, what’s responsible for the surge? Or rather, who’s responsible?

That’s simple: Americans can thank Hillary Clinton. With her long record of pushing for continually increased anti-Second Amendment “reasonable gun-control” measures, many Americans took her threats seriously and prepared for what many thought was to be her inevitable victory. In fact, November set the single month record for gun sales at 2,561,281. Which is interesting given that historically it’s the month of December, due to the holiday season, which typically sets the high for the year in gun sales.

This is an important lesson for leftists: Threatening to take away Americans' fundamental constitutional rights only encourages citizens to aggressively double-down in protecting them.

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.

    Democrats doubt “rigged” election and insist Clinton has a “good chance” in the contested recount. (Hot Air6)

    Senators promoting full legal status for illegal immigrants — a.k.a. future Demo voters. (Washington Times7)

    The latest pollaganda: Only 1 in 4 want Trump to repeal ObamaCare. Don’t believe it. (CBS News8.)

    Anti-Defamation League: Ellison’s past remarks about Israel “disqualifying.” (The Hill9)

    The Rainbow Mafia is ganging up on the Gaines family10, but are silent on Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison and his anti-homosexual imam. (National Review11)

    Latest VA no-accountability incident — 600 veterans at risk of HIV and Hepatitis infection. (Miami Herald12)

    The Ohio State jihadi was taking a class about microaggressions. Either it didn’t work … or it did. (Reason13)

    Dakota Access pipeline protesters accused of destroying the environment — no irony here, move on… (Washington Times14)

    Congress ignores Obama’s threat, overwhelmingly passes new Iran sanctions. (Washington Free Beacon15)

    Disgraced French president Hollande is forgoing re-election. Has France had enough socialism?(Reuters16)

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    David Harsanyi: You Opposed Donald Trump, So Why Aren’t You Freaking Out?17
    Charles Krauthammer: After a Mere 25 Years, the Triumph of the West Is Over18
    Erick Erickson: The Bigotry of Liberal America19
    Mona Charen: Fidel Castro: 60 Years of Fake News20

For more, visit Right Opinion21.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Plugging the Swamp Drain at Treasury?22

By Michael Swartz

For more than 16 months, Donald Trump ran a populist campaign based on supporting Main Street instead of Wall Street. But a sign that the rhetoric isn’t going to meet reality was Trump’s appointment of Steven Mnuchin, a onetime partner of the much-maligned Goldman Sachs, as his finance chairman. Once elected, it was no surprise that Trump tapped Mnuchin for his treasury secretary. He’s made many smart cabinet moves to shore up various constituencies, and with this one, he’s thrown Wall Street a bone.

Remember, this was the candidate who accused fellow Republican Ted Cruz23 on Twitter: “Goldman Sachs owns him, he will do anything they demand. Not much of a reformer!” Add to this the facts24 that Mnuchin is second-generation Goldman Sachs, worked for a time for a firm controlled by radical leftist financier George Soros, and has donated millions of dollars to Democrats25 over the years, and it seems a curious choice. Then again, Donald Trump admitted he wasn’t running as a conservative26, so this shouldn’t be completely unexpected.

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The Patriot Post Digest 12-2-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Nor is the Goldman Sachs-to-Washington connection stopping with Mnuchin. High on Trump’s short list for a high-level position is Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn. We also shouldn’t forget that the much-reviled Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon spent time there in the 1980s. It’s a series of selections that’s turning heads, and bringing some to ask27: How much Goldman Sachs is too much?

And while Trump’s pick for Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, isn’t a Goldman Sachs alumnus, he’s associated with Rothschild, another Wall Street firm. But Ross, until recently a longtime Democrat donor as well, made his billions buying and selling distressed businesses in the coal and steel industries, among others.

Assuming all of Trump’s selections are confirmed, the finance portion of his cabinet will look more like Wall Street than Main Street. Obviously they will be experts in the financial field, but the question is whether they will be using the same playbook Trump used to win election. This holds especially true for Trump’s tax plan, which Mnuchin said would be the “largest tax change since Reagan”28 while warning that the changes would not address the extremely progressive nature of the tax code. “Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions, so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class,” said Mnuchin29. While it sounds like those in the top 1% of households are greedy because they make 17.2% of the income, they pay more than their fair share according to the Tax Policy Center — 28.7% of all federal taxes. In any case, it’s a sure bet Democrats will be restoring their mantra of “no tax cuts for the rich” no matter what Mnuchin does.

And if nothing else, the incoming treasury secretary is already on the Democrats' bad side: As an investor in several blockbuster films (as part of a financial entity called RatPAC-Dune Entertainment), he was a backer of the film “American Sniper.” Some colleges banned the film from campus because a few Muslim students were offended.

Donald Trump won election by cutting against the political grain. That doesn’t mean he’s always going to cut against that grain. And his election doesn’t mean the swamp will be drained overnight. The question about his money men is whether they’ll help drain it.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

    November Jobs Numbers Are Mixed30 — Economic numbers show more of the same.
    Why We Need Enhanced Interrogation31 — Until the threat of jihadist-inspired terrorism is ended.
    Fake Rape Protagonist Condemns Fake News32 — Obama’s interview with Rolling Stone was just a little bit hypocritical for the rag.
    Princeton University’s Non-Sanctuary Sanctuary Campus33 — The Ivory Tower solution to Trump’s promise of rescinding Obama’s DACA.

OPINION IN BRIEF

David Harsanyi: “Trump’s crony bailout of Carrier Corp. is disturbing because it sounds a lot like the ‘economic patriotism’ agenda of the left. It’s the standard cronyism in which we’ve seen one administration after the next indulge. Cronyism. Bullying. It’s a bad deal for American workers in the long run, but sadly, ‘picking winners and losers’ is not outside the norm of big-government politics. If Obama had pulled off the Carrier deal, the same people would have been complaining on opposite sides of the issue. Moreover, Trump’s contention that giant infrastructure bills and government spending are economic drivers is also something conservatives should oppose. But that doesn’t make this the era of Trump; it means we’re still in the era of Washington, D.C. Freak out accordingly.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Everybody is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.” —Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

For the record: “Candidates must shape policies that appeal to a broad range of people, not just coastal liberals or southern conservatives. Just how badly did Hillary Clinton fail in that regard? In a nation of 3,142 counties, parishes, and boroughs, Hillary Clinton won less than five hundred of them. The left’s interpretation of that loss is to attack Trump voters as bigots, racists and homophobes. But increasingly we are seeing true bigotry on the left. They are, on a near daily basis, affirming so many people’s votes for Donald Trump. —Erick Erickson

A bridge too far: "BuzzFeed can’t argue that the same-sex-marriage issue is ethically settled, because it isn’t for a sizable population of our country and our world. It is no longer okay — indeed, it never was — to write cutesy articles shaming religious people as homophobic for simply being one of the many millions of Americans in 2016 who attend a religious congregation that does not support same-sex marriage. That is not a good move for activism or journalism.” —homosexual Brandon Ambrosino in The Washington Post

Wishful thinking: “I thought I’d just come by and tell you how exhilarated I am by the strong vote that I have from my colleagues as we go forward. … This is so much bigger than politics. It’s about the character of America, the responsibility to the people, our obligation to our founders, our gratitude to our men and women in uniform and our respect for the aspirations of America’s children and our families.” —Nancy Pelosi

Braying Jackass: “I know that the president-elect has indicated that he deserves credit for … [the Carrier] announcement, and I guess what I would observe is that if he is successful in doing that 804 more times, then he will meet the record of manufacturing jobs that were created in the United States while President Obama was in office. There were 805,000 manufacturing jobs that weren’t just protected or saved, but actually created while President Obama was in office.” —Josh Earnest

And last… “The death of Fidel Castro reminds us that the respectable press, the ‘two-sources’ press, the press that enforces standards and performs reality checks and practices ‘shoe leather’ journalism and all that, has been peddling ‘fake news’ about Cuba and Castro for 60 years.” —Mona Charen

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.