The Patriot Post Digest 1-23-2017

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 1-23-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Mid-Day Digest

Jan. 23, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

    The women’s march on Saturday is hardly “the liberal tea party” in the making.
    Trump begins the process of repealing ObamaCare.
    Federal government cuts are on the way — just how much remains a question.
    And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.” —Thomas Jefferson (1781)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Raucous Leftist Women Pitch a Fit1

Our new favorite satire website, The Babylon Bee, headlined the weekend’s women’s march more appropriately than any (ahem) real news outlet did: “March Defends Women’s Right To Choose Conformity With Only One Political Viewpoint2.” Of course, we noted a similar theme last week — that Some Women Are More Equal Than Others3. So you get the point: Saturday’s march wasn’t about empowering all women, but rather about a bunch of aggrieved leftist loudmouths with nothing productive to do on a Saturday.

The march wasn’t confined to Washington either, but spread to cities around the world. Marches in the U.S. had a distinctly anti-Trump flavor, helped by the timing one day after the inauguration. Some estimated that more than one million people marched in Washington, with millions more in other cities. If you ventured onto social media this weekend, though, you already knew this, thanks to your obnoxious relatives and friends reveling in “speaking truth to power” or whatever.

But how did women speak this truth and demand due respect? With posters about their body parts or sexual proclivities that are far too vulgar to reprint or even paraphrase in this family publication. And they did it with speeches from Hollywood celebrities — symbols of the rich, famous and powerful. Actress Ashley Judd boasted, “I’m a nasty woman — a loud, vulgar, proud woman.” She elaborated on why, but we’ll leave that detail for her unfortunate audience. She also warned of “Hitler in these streets” (meaning Trump and his supporters) and other explicit Nazi references. Don’t leftists ever tire of comparing normal American conservatives to Nazi socialists? Maybe it’s because the comparison makes no sense whatsoever that they continue to make it.

Madonna, another poor, persecuted celebrity, declared that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.” How such terrorism advances the interest of women was left unsaid.

Sympathetic media coverage could propel this ragtag band to movement status and make it a factor in 2018. The Washington Post thinks4 “the liberal tea party movement has begun.” But whereas the Tea Party was unified around standing for Liberty and Rule of Law and opposing the unconstitutional abuses of the Obama administration, these women (and men) who marched weren’t there to advance any particular cohesive idea. No, they were largely there to pitch a collective fit.

Trump Begins the Repeal of ObamaCare5

One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to make good on one of his biggest campaign promises: the repeal of ObamaCare. On Friday, Trump signed executive orders directing Health and Human Services and other federal agencies to “exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act that would impose a fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products or medications.”

One may question whether Trump has the power to issue this directive. The short answer is yes, due to way the law was written and implemented, giving the HHS secretary broad authority in deciding on application of the law and in the granting of waivers. Recall how Barack Obama early on slowed implementing some of the more controversial aspects of ObamaCare in order to establish the more favorable aspects of the law before the general public experienced the negative aspects. It was a shrewd political move by the Democrats at the time, but now those “chickens have come home to roost.”

Trump directed an attacked on the very core of ObamaCare — the most objectionable and offensive part of the entire law — the individual mandate. Does this mean that overnight every American is exempt? No, the law with its individual mandate is still in effect. What Trump has done is largely symbolic, with one major caveat — the contraception mandate. The law was not specific on this issue, which allowed Obama to run roughshod in forcing his leftist views onto the American public, precipitating a slew of lawsuits currently working their way through the courts. Trump could rescind the mandate immediately, but it might behoove him to allow the courts to determine the legality of the mandate in hopes of ruling it unconstitutional, thereby preventing future attempts at a mandate.

Trump’s actions on Friday by no means end ObamaCare, but he took a good first step, and effectively paved the way for Republicans in Congress to act quickly.

Top Headlines6

    Trump’s nominees face “unprecedented” Democrat obstructionism. (The Daily Signal7)

    Gen. James Mattis, Gen. John Kelly confirmed for Trump Cabinet spots. (Fox News8.)

    Manpower shortage threatens Donald Trump’s hopes to rebuild military. (The Washington Times9)

    Obama was first president to spend more on welfare than defense. (CNS News10)

    Obama administration spent billions on failing schools, achieved nothing. (Hot Air11)

    Obama’s biggest whoppers — some of them anyway, considering the source… (The Washington Post12) Yes, the Post discovered Obama lied.

    Trump at the CIA — he “couldn’t resist turning the event into an extended and self-centered riff” about crowd size and dishonest media. (The Wall Street Journal13)

    Trump greets Comey: “He’s become more famous than me.” (The Hill14)

    Trump definitively forsakes his promise to release his tax returns. (Reason15)

    Supreme Court won’t rescue Texas voter ID law. (USA Today16)

    Policy: Should we want a bipartisan FCC? (Tech Policy Daily17)

    Policy: Fixing health care the free-market way. (Washington Examiner18.)

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
America First — Trump’s Inaugural Address19

By Nate Jackson

“America First” pretty much sums up the message from Donald Trump’s inaugural address20. The speech was a profoundly bold and brash populist manifesto, and it was quintessential Trump. National Review’s Rich Lowry called it21 a “slightly more subdued version of his stump speech.” Trump lauded our country and promised, of course, to make it great again. He also set the bar high with promises, and many Americans are eager to see what he’ll do as the 45th president of the United States.

Trump began with confidence and promise. “We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people,” he said. “Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come. We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.”

“We.” That word showed up nearly 50 times in the speech, while “I” appeared just three times. That’s a change from Barack Obama’s self-centered speeches.

Then he set about painting a picture of the damage done to our great nation by eight years of Barack Obama22. And that began with a pointed rebuke of his predecessor sitting just behind him.

[nChrist]

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 1-23-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

    For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.

    Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

    That all changes — starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country.

Trump spoke with righteous indignation — shared by millions of voters — of rampant inner city poverty, “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones” around the nation, and an education system “flush with cash” but failing our children. He lamented how we’ve allowed our military to suffer depletion and lost our wealth to the rest of the world. He decried rising crime, which he called “American carnage” — a phrase that sent most Leftmedia talkingheads to the fainting couch.

“But that is the past,” he declared. “And now we are looking only to the future. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first.”

By that, he meant that we will make things and buy the things we make. We’ll restore alliances and build new ones, all while eradicating the threat of radical Islamic terrorism — yes, he was bold enough to utter those words.

Former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, who spent last year traveling the country to learn what makes Trump supporters tick, put it this way23: “He presented himself not as a Republican or a conservative but as a populist independent. The essential message: Remember those things I said in the campaign? I meant them. I meant it all.”

Finally, he appealed to unity in a way that must have made Obama cringe:

    When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. …
 Whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of Patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American flag.

    And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.

Unity is tough to come by these days, and we aren’t holding our breath for Obama to lead his fellow leftists in any kind of display of it. But Trump hit some important notes in his speech and we hope his aspirations for a stronger and more prosperous America come to fruition.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

    The Axman Cometh24 — Trump takes office with an ambitious agenda.
    Chicago Loses Another Gun Battle25 — Court rules an anti-gun range law unconstitutional.
    How About Those Record Temperatures?26 — Remember, there’s always more than meets the eye.
    Stonewall Jackson27

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    Peggy Noonan: President Trump Declares Independence23
    John C. Goodman: The Left Is Panicking Over Donald Trump28
    Caroline Camden Lewis: Inaugural Protesters: Just Pass the Potatoes29

For more, visit Right Opinion30.

OPINION IN BRIEF

John C. Goodman: “How can we explain a women’s march to protest the Trump inauguration? Or blacks who tell other blacks they are a ‘disgrace to their race’ if they participate in the inauguration? One thing seems likely. It has nothing to do with Donald Trump. … If you think about the recent election, only one candidate ran on issues. And you probably won’t have to think very hard to remember what some of Trump’s issues were: trade, taxes, immigration, the way we treat veterans. Can you say with any certainty what Hillary Clinton’s position is on international trade? How about what she would do with the corporate income tax? How would she reform immigration policy? What would she do differently with the VA? I bet you don’t know. And even if you think you know, I bet that almost no one else you know knows — not even your spouse. There is a reason for that. Hillary Clinton in particular and the Democratic Party in general did not run in this last election on issues. They ran on identity politics. And when they lost, people who bought into their message felt their identity threatened.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “This is the issue of this election: whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”

Upright: “I did not vote for Obama either time, and in fact I cried both times he was elected. I had no ‘safe space’ on my college campus, nor did I seek out Obama voters to yell at them or bash their cars. Sometimes your team doesn’t make it to the Super Bowl. But you accept it and you move on. … Unity will not happen until we clearly see truth and falsehood for what they are. Unity will continue to elude us until we realize that there is no ‘right’ to be evil or to do evil things. Unity will never be our reality until we recognize the leftist façade of lies that purposefully pit brother against brother.” —Caroline Camden Lewis

Legacy: “Barack Obama was the first president of the United States to spend more on ‘means-tested entitlements’ — AKA welfare — than on national defense, according to data published by his own Office of Management and Budget.” —Terence Jeffrey

Braying Jenny: “Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.” —Madonna

Braying Jackass: “This election really showed that we’ve ignored the misogyny and the sexism that is still so prevalent and ingrained. And ingrained in many of the victims, the 46% of women that [sic] voted for Trump, and the 53% of white women that voted for Trump. … That just says that we’ve got more work to do and we’ll keep doing it.” —Michael Moore

And last… “This is not hard. When Trump does good things, praise him. When Trump does bad things, condemn him. Basic decency is not tough.” —Ben Shapiro

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.