The Patriot Post Digest 1-26-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-26-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Jan. 26, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

An executive order on interior immigration enforcement takes aim at sanctuary cities.
How much voter fraud exists? The Leftmedia doesn’t want to know.
Leftists think they own the trademark on science. That just isn’t so.
And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“Energy in government is essential to that security against external and internal danger and to that prompt and salutary execution of the laws which enter into the very definition of good government.” —James Madison (1788.)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Trump Puts Sanctuary Cities on Notice1

As we’ve noted already this week, President Donald Trump has taken the issue of immigration head on. First it was the border wall2. Then came Trump’s executive order on interior enforcement, which includes pulling funding from so-called sanctuary cities. According to3 The Washington Times, the order “calls on Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly and the new attorney general to cut off all federal funding they control under existing federal laws.” Anything further will require congressional action. Trump also ordered DHS to create a “name and shame” list of sanctuary cities, including publicizing the names of aliens who’ve been released and the crimes they’ve committed.

“Cities” is an understatement. California, Colorado, Connecticut and New Mexico do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, as is the case with cities and counties4 in 25 other states and DC. Yes, that’s right, the seat of the federal government is a “sanctuary city.” Leftists in these jurisdictions like to frame their actions as simply not cooperating — as in police not checking immigration status when making arrests or traffic stops. But it’s far more insidious. These cities often actively resist when federal authorities come looking for specific illegal aliens.

The horrific results are clear, as illustrated by the widely reported murder5 of Kate Steinle by a five-time-deported illegal alien felon two years ago in San Francisco. But that’s just one case. The Obama administration released6 thousands upon thousands of illegal alien criminals. Over a two-year period, more than 66,000 illegal alien criminals were set free — and there were 166,000 convictions among them, including 11,000 rapes and 395 homicides. Thousands of them were rearrested after committing further crimes.

Yet leftists insist they’re the compassionate ones.

It’s important to note that Trump isn’t making law here. Everything he’s called for is already the law — the wall, deportation, all of it. Enforce the law and you solve most of the problem. He’s off to a good start.

Just How Much Voting Fraud Does Exist?7

Early this week Donald Trump leveled the claim that three to five million illegal votes were cast during this past election, and he has called for an investigation into voter fraud. That stunning accusation — stunning only for the high numbers claimed — predictably brought howls of outrage from the Leftmedia, which lambasted Trump for yet more fake news and baseless claims. Hypocritically, the Leftmedia offered no evidence to prove that Trump’s accusation was “baseless.”

And it’s not as if there are no facts supporting at least the need for a greater investigation into voter fraud, as several recent lawsuits brought by the Public Interest Legal Foundation demonstrate. In fact, why did the government see fit to pass the National Voting Registration Act of 1993 if it wasn’t intended to combat potential voting fraud? In other words, it would be ridiculous to assert that voter fraud didn’t happen. The real question is just how bad of a problem it is. If no comprehensive investigations are done, then the argument merely continues to be the spitting contest it currently has become.

It’s rather dubious for the Leftmedia to call out Trump as a liar and yet argue against investigating his claims. The truth is, the Leftmedia isn’t interested in knowing the actual number of illegal immigrants who voted or how many votes dead people cast or how many individuals voted multiply times. So long as official data is unavailable, leftists can continue to claim voter fraud is really not a problem — that it’s simply the boogie man conservatives like to drag up as a political scare tactic designed to disenfranchise minority voters. The Leftmedia’s stance essentially cheapens the unique privilege of American citizenship.

Top Headlines8

Americans have viewed the economy more positively since President Donald Trump’s election in November than they did in the nine years prior. (Gallup9)

House Speaker Paul Ryan slates ObamaCare repeal for spring. (The Daily Signal10)

Felony charges for journalists arrested at inauguration protests make New York journalists afraid for press freedom. But a journalist is not above the law. (The New York Times11)

Women’s March national co-chair: Sharia law is “reasonable,” “misunderstood.” (CNS News12)

Thousands of terrorists and foreign fighters tried to enter America, new data shows. (The Washington Free Beacon13)

State Department reviewing Obama administration’s decision to send Palestinians $221M. (Fox News14)

Obama CDC study: Silencers are the best option for noise reduction at gun ranges. (The Truth About Guns15)

New Planned Parenthood ad celebrates woman who… decided against having an abortion. They’re now trying the honey approach. (Hot Air16)

Waitress surprised with 625% tip, message of unity from Trump supporter after inauguration. (CBS News17)

Tender snowflake college student reports seeing KKK hood in a classroom, but actually saw lab equipment cover. (The Washington Times18.)

Policy: Are for-profit colleges magical mobility machines? (American Enterprise Institute19)

Policy: The Republicans' slippery slope on ObamaCare. (Real Clear Policy20)

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Essential Liberty — Revisited21. We need your help for the next printing of our Essential Liberty Guides.

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here22.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Blending Science With Propaganda23

By Allyne Caan

On election night, leftist elites were shocked to learn that a large swath of the country doesn’t think like they do. After all, these self-appointed intellectual rulers deem themselves the sole purveyors of sound political reasoning. Turns out political thought isn’t the only thing the Left wants to dictate. No, these folks also think they hold the trademark on Science™.

Consider, for example, President Donald Trump’s putting the kibosh on the social media accounts of certain federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The restrictions came just as Trump moved to approve the Keystone pipeline24 — a project the climate change propagandists at the EPA have, of course, viewed none too kindly. It’s not without precedent for incoming administrations to ensure the messaging from federal agencies is consistent with White House messaging. Indeed, as John Sexton notes25, “The Trump administration does not want progressives in these agencies joining ‘the resistance’ using government social media accounts.”

That’s just what some government employees have done. And they have allies in the press. For example, Reuters reported it this way26: “Employees from more than a dozen U.S. government agencies have established a network of unofficial ‘rogue’ Twitter feeds in defiance of what they see as attempts by President Donald Trump to muzzle federal climate change research and other science.” The @RogueNASA account styles itself the arbiter of “science and climate news and facts. REAL NEWS, REAL FACTS.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-26-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Amidst the hoopla of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” don’t miss the overtones of resistance fighters bravely and nobly opposing the evil empire.

What’s also entertaining here is the apoplectic reaction. Liz Purchia, EPA public affairs head under Barack Obama, wailed, “It’s a dark time now. People are nervous and they are scared about what they can and can’t do.” Another government source said (with a straight face)27, “The idea of bad stuff being tweeted from EPA was not likely.” Of course, this is because the EPA assumes its opinions of climate change are settled Science™ and not simply theory. After all, if the Left says it’s true, it must be true.

The EPA isn’t alone. Soon after the gag order, the National Park Service took up the climate change mantle, with Badlands National Park posting a series of tweets28 bemoaning carbon dioxide. Those tweets were subsequently deleted. But in a telling sign that offended leftists within the agency are not confined to one park, staff at several parks are pursuing what the Chicago Tribune calls29 a “campaign against Trump,” tweeting out messages warning about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. After all, the Left and only the Left can control scientific thought.

Of course it doesn’t stop with the government. Some in the lofty, ivory towers of academia want to use these unproven scientific theories as the plumb line to determine “fake news.” Next, we’ll use a slinky to draw a straight line.

Social psychologists at Cambridge, Yale and George Mason universities attempted30 to essentially inoculate individuals against “fake news” by feeding them climate change “facts” as well as “a small dose of misinformation.” Among the conclusions: “False information presented on its own was … shown to have a potent effect at spreading doubt about the veracity of the overwhelming scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.”

That “overwhelming consensus” must be referring to the overwhelmingly overused myth31 that 97% of scientists believe climate change is man-made and an impending global disaster.

Oh, but government agencies and universities don’t have anything on the press. The Washington Post outdid itself last week with a headline32 that will almost make you feel embarrassed for the paper — almost. The Post claimed “David Gelernter, fiercely anti-intellectual computer scientist, is being eyed for Trump’s science advisor.” Alas! Who is this anti-intellectual Philistine? Well, as the article itself notes, he’s “a pioneer in the field of parallel computation, a type of computing in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously.” Gelernter also developed a programming language that “made it possible to link together several small computers into a supercomputer, significantly increasing the amount and complexity of data that computers can process.” In fact, he’s a genius.

But, as the Washington Examiner’s T. Becket Adams notes32, Gelernter is also “a fierce critic of academia” who believes too many universities “promote and support the idea that opposing thoughts should be silenced and expelled.” Hence to the liberal Post, he’s clearly “anti-intellectual.” Because, as we’ve learned, the Left thinks it owns the trademark on Science%trade;, of which academia is a part.

This makes it all so devilishly amusing when anyone on the Left bemoans the spread of “fake news.” Because if there’s one thing leftists are universally experts on, it’s not science, but fakery.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Soros: The Great Divider33 — A look at how the leftist billionaire funds all manner of leftist upheaval.
Supreme Court Justice Coming Soon34 — Trump will announce his Supreme Court nominee next week.
Obama’s Parting Shot: Lead Ammo Ban35 — But will it survive?
The FCC Is Getting a Makeover36 — Which means net neutrality could be on the chopping block.
Schumer’s Poor War of Words37 — Sen. Tom Cotton gives the old Demo guard a royal smackdown.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Larry Elder: Under Republican President Trump, the Media Rediscovers Its Purpose38
Veronique de Rugy: The Greatest Debt Producer That God Ever Created?39
Victor Davis Hanson: The World Turned Upside Down40

For more, visit Right Opinion41.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Larry Elder: “Many in the media counterattacked and accused [Sean] Spicer of peddling ‘falsehoods,’ one even nicknaming him ‘Baghdad Sean,’ likening him to Saddam Hussein’s information minister, ‘Baghdad Bob,’ who blithely assured Iraqis that all was well as that country fell to U.S. troops in 2003. Left-wing pundits on cable said things like, ‘How do you cover an administration that has such a casual relationship with the truth?’ The answer is quite simple. Just do as you did when President Obama peddled falsehood after falsehood for the last eight years. … After the 2000 election, The Wall Street Journal’s OpinionJournal.com introduced what it called the ‘Homelessness Rediscovery Watch’ to point out that with a Republican in the White House the media would print more stories about the homeless. Now that a Republican — especially one as disliked as Donald Trump — is in the White House, the media rediscovers its aggressiveness and zeal to ‘hold the president accountable.’ The New York Times even used the word ‘lie’ in a headline about Trump’s assertion that he would have won the popular vote but for millions who voted illegally. Welcome back, media. We missed you.”

SHORT CUTS

Upright: “Many have argued that Trump is the product of political correctness (PC). This is true only in part. Rather, both PC and Trump’s response to it are fruits of the postmodernism that has long ascended to the heights of our culture: the nihilism in the common presumption that all truth is relative, morality is subjective, and therefore all of our individually preferred ‘narratives’ that give our lives meaning are equally true and worthy of validation.” —David Ernst

Forewarning: “President Trump has repeatedly said he won’t touch Social Security or Medicare — the two programs the CBO says will be responsible for most of the spending growth in the next decade if nothing changes. … To be fair, Trump wants to see fundamental tax reforms and deregulation implemented. However, it’s hard to see how these policies, no matter how great they are, could generate enough growth — and hence revenue — to compensate for all that new and old spending. That is why, in four years, Trump may be able to truthfully call himself, not Barack Obama, the biggest debt creator of all time.” —Veronique de Rugy

Non Compos Mentis: “I was raised Catholic, became Episcopalian & found out later my family was Jewish. I stand ready to register as Muslim in #solidarity.” —Madeleine Albright

Village Idiots: “On Saturday, we watched women and men across this country and the globe stand up, speak out, and peacefully march for those values with one voice. It was awe-inspiring. We have to keep up the momentum.” —Hillary Clinton

Braying Jenny: “I’m asking that the vote for Sen. Jeff Sessions be held over until next week. … I believe it’s important to reflect on this nomination in light of the demonstration we saw this weekend.” —Sen. Dianne Feinstein, using the women’s march to block Sessions' confirmation as attorney general

And last… “Do terms like ‘civil liberties’ and ‘human rights’ mean something specific or are they kind of like meaningless expletives now? I mean, you can say lots of negative (and true) things about the wall, but ‘violates civil liberties’? Why is Trump’s opposition so dumb?” —Frank Fleming

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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