The Patriot Post Digest 1-6-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-6-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Jan. 6, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

If the Russians did anything, it’s help Democrats delegitimize Trump.
The Chicago Facebook beating and the Left’s “only whites are racist” narrative.
“Progressives” worked for decades to dumb down and feminize men. It’s been disastrous.
And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.” —Alexander Hamilton (1793)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Hacking Trump1

If anything related to email impacted the 2016 election, it was Hillary Clinton’s completely insecure private email server. But that’s the 800lb. — make that 8,000lb. — gorilla in the room Democrats and the Leftmedia would rather ignore as they scramble to delegitimize Donald Trump with stories of Russian hacking and influence in the election.

James Clapper, Barack Obama’s outgoing Director of National Intelligence, testified before a Senate committee Thursday about alleged Russian hacking. “I don’t think that we have ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process,” Clapper said. And it went all the way to the Kremlin, he asserted: “We assess that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized the recent election-focused data thefts and disclosures, based on the scope and sensitivity of the targets.”

According to CBS, “Clapper reiterated the Obama administration’s public accusation that Moscow orchestrated the computer attacks that hit the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton campaign operatives, leading to a WikiLeaks dump of embarrassing internal emails that ousted top Democratic National Committee leaders and destabilized Clinton’s campaign in the final months.”

So, if CBS has accurately reported the claim, we can conclude that sharing with voters what leading Democrat operatives like Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta actually said behind closed doors hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign. That’s an interesting excuse…

But even then, it’s really just a Leftmedia framing of what Clapper and other intelligence officials actually said. Clapper told Congress that suspected Russian hacking “did not change any vote tallies or anything of that sort,” adding that “there’s no way for us to gauge” whether the hacking affected voters' choices.

That won’t stop the narrative2 that the Russians wanted to help Donald Trump win. Never mind that the hacks occurred before he became the GOP nominee.

Naturally, Trump is intensely skeptical of any accusation or insinuation that his election was unfair or unduly influenced, and as is his custom, he’s taken to Twitter to heckle the intelligence community for it.

But Republicans and conservatives in general should also be extremely cautious3 in following Trump’s lead when discussing Vladimir Putin and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. One is the cold-blooded ruler of our geopolitical rival — a man whose journalistic critics and political opponents often end up dead. The other is what House Speaker Paul Ryan called a “sycophant for Russia” — a subversive leaker of classified information who doesn’t think twice about putting lives at risk. Neither is a friend of the United States or Liberty, and neither has our nation’s interests at heart. Whatever they’ve done has been for their own ends. And those ends might just include helping Democrats by providing a big, fat target to focus American political attention for the next few months and to delegitimize the incoming U.S. president.

Race in America: The Chicago Facebook Beating4

By now most Americans have at least heard about — if not seen — the Facebook Live streamed video of four black young adults torturing a mentally disabled young white man. The four have been arrested and the city of Chicago has charged them with a “hate crime,” along with kidnapping, unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

News coverage of the crime revealed just how committed the Leftmedia are to the “progressive” narrative on racism in America — namely that only white people can truly be racist. Even with clear video evidence of the four perpetrators declaring their racist motivation — yelling, “F— white people” as they tortured the young man — the media questioned whether or not race was a factor. One of the most egregious examples came from CNN’s Don Lemon, who wouldn’t even agree that the actions were evil, suggesting it was a result of “bad home training.” This wasn’t a breach of etiquette; it was a heinous and violent crime. And it calls to mind the even more evil crimes against Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom5 in 2007.

The story also highlights the problem with the so-called “hate crime” categorization of criminal intent. This rather dubious classification has always been problematic, for it’s meant to inject a form of political motivated subjectivity into determining the guilt level of a criminal act. In other words, it’s an attempt to make a crime more evil should it be concluded that some form of hatred motivated the act, all in order to justify harsher sentencing in the name of Social Justice™.

Finally, it’s beyond question that racial tensions in America have increased significantly since Barack Obama took office — and he bears much responsibility for it. The Left’s suggestion that Obama’s presidency would usher in a new era of greater unity and an end to racial prejudice has proven not to be the case. In fact, he stubbornly insisted just yesterday, “I think the overall trajectory of race relations in this country is actually very positive.”

Wrong. The nation has witnessed a rebirth of tribalism, with racial differences taking on primary importance. In order for racism to be truly diminished, the politics of racial grievance must die. The color of one’s skin must stop being anything other than a recognition of the wonderfully diverse palette God used in filling His creation.

Top Headlines6

Obama’s legacy update: 2016 ended with the slowest job creation since 2012. (Washington Examiner7)

Record 95,102,000 Americans not in labor force; Number grew 18% since Obama took office in 2009. But he saved the economy! (CNS News8.)

Republican Study Committee introduces plan to replace ObamaCare. (The Washington Free Beacon9)

Hillary Clinton might run for mayor of New York. (Red State10)

Sheriff proposes to build Trump’s wall with inmates community service hours. (The Washington Times11)

Obama seized and federalized land three times the size of Texas over last 8 years. (Media Research Center12)

“Non-partisan” IRS prioritized ObamaCare over taxpayer customer service, IG report says. (The Washington Times13)

Obama freed 75% of Gitmo terrorists — most are out killing again. (The Washington Free Beacon14)

Six alarming findings in House panel’s Planned Parenthood probe. (The Daily Signal15)

Transgender woman sues Catholic hospital for refusing to make her a “man.” (Associated Press16)

South Korea plans “decapitation unit” to take out Kim Jong Un. (New York Post17)

“Why I married myself.” Now so-called “self-marriage” is trending. (Good Housekeeping18.)

Policy: Why the GOP must repeal and replace ObamaCare, not repeal and delay. (Washington Examiner19)

Policy: The anti-pipeline anti-environmentalists. (Investor’s Business Daily20)

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Masculinity: Being a Man in a ‘Pajama Boy’ Age21

By Michael Swartz

One of the enduring symbols of the Obama years may be that of the “pajama boy.” In an effort to get younger people to sign up for health insurance, in December 2013 Organizing for Action tweeted out22 the now-infamous photo of a young hipster with the caption, “Wear pajamas. Drink hot chocolate. Talk about getting health insurance.” Whether it was a present-day indication or a sign of things to come, college-age men are now told about “toxic masculinity”23 and warned that “the ‘three most destructive’ words a boy can hear growing up are ‘be a man.’” In terms of biology, boys have little choice but to become men, but their behavior as such is influenced by their culture and role models.

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-6-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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During the 2016 presidential campaign, we were told that it was time for the first female president to break the “glass ceiling” men had created. Hillary Clinton was even set up with a heel suitable for a WWE event: an opponent in Donald Trump who made headlines from decade-old remarks about his prowess in grabbing women he desired as sexual objects — remarks that were kept on ice by the Leftmedia until they could be released to devastating effect24 as an October surprise.

Intentionally or not, Trump has fit himself into one of the primary stereotypes Hollywood has created for male characters — that of the boorish, bigoted cad with little redeeming social value. He’s an even less sympathetic version of Archie Bunker. When leftist Norman Lear created spinoff shows from the popular “All in the Family,” he also created similar male characters like Walter Findlay (husband of “Maude”) and George Jefferson. “Seinfeld” had a different take on this with Frank Costanza, George’s dad.

From that style of behavior, we go to another Hollywood favorite: the incompetent dad who screws everything up, leaving the female lead to solve the problems. (Think Ray Barone of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Homer Simpson or “Family Guy” Peter Griffin.) Another variation of this: the complete loser. (Think Al Bundy of the ‘80s sitcom “Married With Children.”)

A second media creation about how to “be a man” comes from the hardcore rappers who endlessly work out rhymes that call women some equivalent of the b-word or another that rhymes with “so.” (Some raunchy female artists do this, too, and then richly complain about objectification of women25.) Over the years that mentality has led to millions of children born to unwed mothers who have no father in their life26 — meanwhile, the “baby daddy” may have several other children by multiple women. It’s the virility of being “macho” but without the virtues of decency, maturity or responsibility.

With these portrayals of fatherhood, it’s obvious our mass media celebrates an era of “girl power” that leaves younger boys as afterthoughts bereft of good role models. They can’t even pretend to be a good male Disney character anymore27 — the media giant hardly crafts such male role models any more.

To be an acceptable man in our culture is to have those elements as a beta male, allowing yourself to get in touch with your feelings. Being a strong male — not necessarily the John Wayne caricature, but simply a man with the mental and physical strength to be a provider, husband, family leader and thoughtful Patriot — is now frowned upon, to the lament28 of those who recall a time when men weren’t so “vulnerable.”

Good male role models are a requirement, though, for a boy to have the best chance at leading a happy, fulfilling life. Yes, boys can have a strong single mother and succeed — and millions have done so despite the odds being against them. But in our worldly base of knowledge that shakes its fist at tradition and insists that an enlightened few know better, we’ve devolved to living like the pajama boy.

Changing that requires much more than a new president. It requires looking past those emasculating “experts” who would tell our boys how to be men and finding good role models and mentors who do it the right way every day. Fortunately, such role models are still out there — if we would only look for them.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

The ObamaCare Conundrum29 — Democrats prepare their best defense for the GOP’s repeal efforts.
Court Shows Political Favoritism in Wisconsin30 — Leftists will look anywhere and everywhere to shut down the state’s Republican uprising.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

David Harsanyi: Russia Isn’t Our Friend, but That Doesn’t Make the Democrats’ Conspiracy Theories True31
Charles Krauthammer: Cold War Relic, Present Day Threat32
Rich Lowry: The Sessions Smear33
Michael Barone: Government by Faculty Lounge Subject to Repeal34

For more, visit Right Opinion35.

OPINION IN BRIEF

David Harsanyi: “In politics, proving something isn’t nearly as important as feeling it. So it’s not surprising that a recent Economist/YouGov poll found that 52 percent of Democrats believe Russia ‘tampered with vote tallies’ — not that it leaked real emails to the public but that it altered the outcome of the ballots in the presidential election. There is no proof of this happening, or that it was even attempted. The fact is, Democrats are now more likely to believe the Russians installed Trump into the presidency than Republicans are to have ever believed President Barack Obama is a Muslim. It’s unsurprising that losers of an election would attempt to minimize its validity. It happens all the time. But for the same people who were lamenting our deteriorating trust in democratic institutions — all the rage not long ago — to now embrace this kind of conspiratorial rhetoric is unprecedented. It’s a lot more damaging than the Podesta hack. It also undermines genuine concerns about Russian activity. Because Russia is not our friend. (It is not today, and it was not when Dems were mocking Mitt Romney, or when Obama was promising them space.) Julian Assange is not our friend. And Russia has nothing to do with the predicament in which Democrats find themselves. A person can believe all those things.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.” —Confucius (551-479 BC)

Upright: “Russia clearly tried to meddle in our political system. No two ways about it. … [But] Russia didn’t tell Hillary Clinton not to go to Wisconsin or Michigan. They didn’t put the server in her basement or put the stuff on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. [Trump] won the election fair and square, clearly and convincingly, okay?” —Paul Ryan

Non Compos Mentis: “We can’t callously call things ‘hate crime.’ Is this [attack in Chicago] hate for Donald Trump or pure hate of white people? That matters.” —CNN contributor Symone Sanders, who, if the shoe were on the other foot, would no doubt be yelling “hate crime” with the rest of the Leftmedia

Dezinformatsiya: “Colin Powell Can Be Elected President of The United States on January 6.” —a Huffington Post headline eventually deleted by the editors (but not before embarrassing themselves)

Blame-shifting: “What is happening today in Syria has nothing to do with the dropping or not dropping [of bombs].” —John Kerry downplaying the effects of not enforcing Obama’s “red line”

No really, have you seen the world right now? “Almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago.” —Barack Obama

Braying Jenny: “Make no mistake, [repealing ObamaCare] is about health care. This is about denying women health care but it’s about more than that. It is about disempowering women and taking away our agency to build healthy, thriving families, which is good for everyone in this country. The last thing I will tell you is that we stand ready.” —NARAL president Ilyse Hogue

And last… “If Planned Parenthood has money to throw celebrity galas and award shows, they have money to survive without public funding.” —Stephen Miller

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.