The Patriot Post Digest 2-15-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-15-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Feb. 15, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Michael Flynn didn’t so much fall on his sword as have one plunged into his back.
Trump’s early record on his campaign promises is promising.
It turns out that actually enforcing immigration law makes leftists really angry.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.” —Thomas Jefferson (1807)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Flynn: Not Suicide, but Political Assassination1

As it turns out, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn didn’t so much fall on his own sword2 as he had one plunged into his back. Former Bill Clinton adviser turned conservative pundit Dick Morris explained3, “The Obama appointees still inhabiting the bowels of the State and Justice Departments orchestrated the coup that brought down General Michael Flynn.” They did so by leaking to the press the transcripts of Flynn’s December 29 phone conversation with a Russian official about Barack Obama’s sanctions. This was followed by dire warnings of Flynn’s susceptibility to potential blackmail by the Russians. (As if Hillary Clinton wasn’t the biggest blackmail risk in the history of the United States.) “The leaks of the content of an intercepted communication are felonies,” said former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova. “All of the disclosures to the Washington Post are federal crimes.” That’s not to excuse any deception on Flynn’s part4, but clearly the bigger story is the leaks.

Flynn worked for Obama, too, and he became one of the most vocal opponents of Obama’s foolish nuclear deal with Iran. Think that didn’t stick in Obama’s craw? So, three weeks into his new job with Donald Trump, Flynn found himself on the receiving end of some carefully timed discrediting leaks — retaliatory hacks by Obama’s hacks5. The larger Democrat narrative here is the same as it’s been for months: The Russians handed Trump the election, and he’s now fulfilling his end of the bargain. Unfortunately, this narrative probably isn’t entirely fabricated. There’s more news to sort through about members of Trump’s campaign coordinating with Moscow, and that bears watching.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by Republican Devin Nunes, plans to investigate the leaks. “There does appear to be a well-orchestrated effort to attack Flynn and others in the administration,” Nunes said. And this is just the beginning. “First it’s Flynn,” Nunes warned. “Next it will be Kellyanne Conway, then it will be Steve Bannon, then it will be Reince Priebus.” Indeed, right now the military and intelligence ranks are full of Obama hacks who are leaking classified information. These are not hacks from the outside; these are insiders.

A final point: Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather claimed “this Russia scandal” might end up being as “big as Watergate.” Rather, who was forced to resign from CBS after he fabricated stories about George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service record, had this to say about Flynn: “Watergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now. It was the closest we came to a debilitating constitutional crisis, until maybe now. … We may look back and see, in the end, that it is at least as big as Watergate. It may become the measure by which all future scandals are judged. It has all the necessary ingredients, and that is chilling.”

Watergate is exactly what all Leftmedia want this to be — taking down a Republican president was euphoric for the Left, and they want to relive the glory days. Trump and all his people clearly better watch their backs.

Trump’s Novel Political Ideal: Keep Your Promises6

Donald Trump is almost one month into his presidency and one characteristic is fast becoming his most definitive one. Trump is a man of his word. This fact is so obvious that even the Leftmedia has conceded it, albeit with hyperbolic angst coupled with warnings of imminent disaster should he continue to implement his campaign promises. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation have done an excellent job in detailing 13 specific campaign promises7 Trump has acted on thus far.

These could be categorized under the following three broad areas of the economy, security and the cleaning up and reforming the government to once again serve Americans.

On the economy, Trump has created the Manufacturing Job Initiative, which, for example, has so far resulted in the creation of 3,000 jobs in Chandler, Arizona, with an estimated increase of 10,000 “indirect” jobs coming to the city. The two pipeline projects Barack Obama stopped or stalled, the TransCanada Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines, have been given the green light by Trump, bringing thousands of jobs and cheaper energy. Trump has issued executive orders to roll back unnecessary regulations that have crippled businesses especially in the energy sector. He has also issued EO’s to aggressively cut regulations8 by requiring two regulations removed for every new one created.

On security, Trump ordered the “immediate construction” of a wall on the southern border9. He has scaled back10 government funding of “sanctuary” cities and has rescinded restrictions Obama put on immigration enforcement, freeing the DHS to better do its job11. He called for the “rebuilding of the U.S. Armed Forces” and signed a memorandum on it. He imposed 25 sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile tests.

On cleaning up and reforming government, Trump put a temporary freeze on government hires. He issued an executive order requiring federal agencies to demand “ethics commitments” from all employees hired since he entered office and any new hires going forward. He nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch12 for the Supreme Court, a solid judge who is an originalist in his judicial philosophy.

As a final note, the most significant hurdle yet to Trump fulfilling one of his biggest campaign promises — the repeal of ObamaCare — may ironically be Republicans, as several appear to be getting cold feet. But stay tuned, there’s progress in progress.

Top Headlines13

Trump is considering retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, retired Gen. David Petraeus, and retired Adm. Robert Harward to replace Michael Flynn. (The Daily Signal14)

Flynn resignation called for due to lack of trust. (Washington Examiner15)

Pelosi, top Democrats hold press conference touting fake Flynn Twitter quotes. (The Hill16) 

Small business optimism highest since Dec. 2004, sustains “stunning climb” since election. (CNS News17)

House conservatives draw hard line on ObamaCare repeal bill. (The Daily Signal18.)

Mexico fires back against Trump with plan to target U.S. farmers. (Reason19)

Long-in-limbo cronyist Ex-Im Bank welcomes Trump’s sudden support. (Government Executive20)

U.S. drops insistence on two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (The Wall Street Journal21)

Russia tests Trump, deploys ground-based cruise missiles in violation of arms treaty. (Hot Air22)

Muslim groups in U.S. rejecting grants to fight extremism. (The Sacramento Bee23)

Poll: Majority of Americans say Trump keeps promises and is a strong leader. (Gallup24)

Policy: U.S. economic freedom has hit a historic low. What happened? (The Heritage Foundation25)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report26.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Enforcing Immigration Law Yields Predictable Outrage11

By Thomas Gallatin

U.S. authorities announced that they had arrested more than 680 illegal immigrants in several raids conducted last week. The news brought a predictable outcry from immigration activists groups who had become accustomed to Barack Obama’s increasingly limited enforcement policy on illegal immigration — they called the actions a “campaign of terror.” Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, wailed, “This is a new day. This is the deportation force that [Donald Trump] has been threatening since the campaign.” She should settle down while we look at the facts.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly pushed back against the outrage machine, framing the raids as being both in keeping with the agency’s standard operating procedures and focused on criminal illegal aliens. Kelly said, “President Trump has been clear in affirming the critical mission of DHS in protecting the nation and directed our department to focus on removing illegal aliens who have violated our immigration laws, with a specific focus on those who pose a threat to public safety, have been charged with criminal offenses, have committed immigration violations or have been deported and re-entered the country illegally.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-15-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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While the leftist narrative is that Trump has enacted a new draconian anti-immigrant policy, the reality is that he has simply removed the overly restrictive limits Obama imposed upon the Department of Homeland Security. “Trump really is, so far, just a return to normalcy in immigration enforcement,” says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “It was Obama that was the radical break.”

Not surprisingly though, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanded answers for the raids. In a letter, he wrote, “Targeting law-abiding innocent immigrant families whose only wrongdoing was crossing the border to give their children a better life, instead of focusing on removing those who have been convicted of violent crimes is a waste of limited resources and undermines law enforcement in communities across the country. ICE must come clean.” It is true that most illegal immigrants are not guilty of violent crime, but by definition they are guilty of committing a criminal act. Yet Schumer seemingly has little respect for the laws of our nation.

There are an estimated 11.1 million27 illegal immigrants living within the U.S. A week of raids netting 680 of them — aliens who were targeted by ICE officials specifically for engaging in criminal activity beyond their illegal resident status — was enough cause for the Left to engage in hyperbolic and dishonest rhetoric. But what else is new?

We should mention that in fiscal 2013 alone the Obama administration deported a record 438,421 illegal aliens28. Yet Obama released tens of thousands of criminal aliens, while sanctuary cities protected them10. So what’s the deal with the over-the top outrage coming from his constituents now?

Two reasons.

1) Trump Derangement Syndrome. Democrats and the Left are still so incensed by Trump’s shocking election victory they have made it their mission to resist and obstruct him at every opportunity. That includes creating outrage over any potentially controversial issue, irrespective of its merits, so as to destroy Trump.

2) Political strategy. Democrats have pretty much given up on winning back white middle America and have instead set their sights on creating a new voting block out of the nation’s fastest growing and largest minority group — Hispanics. If they can build a large enough coalition of minority groups, they can then afford to ignore white middle America, a group they despise anyway. This is nothing more than identity politics — supporting illegal immigration, especially if it leads to some form of “comprehensive reform” — and it plays well with Hispanics. After all, the same thing worked with blacks. Why not try again?

The right to live and work in the U.S. is reserved only for those who are citizens of our nation. It is a privilege for foreigners. Any attempt to unlawfully apply this right beyond the clearly defined law of the land, no matter how emotionally justified, is to do violence to Rule of Law and to the rights of all citizens. And those politicians who willfully promote and advocate those who break the law should be held to account. Unfortunately, the problem has gone on for so long with little being done to address it that when someone like Trump comes along to simply enforce the law, he is deemed extreme. Thankfully, Trump is serious about fixing the problem and has been sticking to his guns on the issue.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Sorry, Audi, but America Is a Fantastic Place for Women29 — Rebutting the bleak and hopeless vision of our nation in the carmakers latest ad.
Revisionist History Strikes Yale30 — Leftism’s history rewrite continues to spread at universities.
Cummings' and Pelosi’s Embarrassing Fake News31 — Leftist are experts at peddling misinformation.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Michelle Malkin: Bumps in the Road: Trump vs. Obama32
John Stossel: Repeal! No, Wait!33
Walter Williams: Pawns of Liberals34
Hans von Spakovsky and John Fund: Why Trump’s Probe of Voter Fraud Is Long Overdue35

For more, visit Right Opinion36.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Ed Feulner: “According to independent estimates, regulation costs us more than $2 trillion annually. Yes, ‘trillion,’ with a ’t' — 12 zeroes. That’s more money than the Internal Revenue Service collects in income taxes each year. In just the past eight years, the Obama administration issued more than 22,700 rules, with just the biggest ones increasing the annual regulatory costs by some $120 billion. Add in the regulatory burdens imposed during the last Bush administration and the annual cost of red tape has increased by at least $200 billion in the past 15 years. The cost to taxpayers of government administering all that red tape is high. Fiscal 2017 figures put it at $70 billion, an amount that has almost doubled since 2000. Much of that increase is what we pay the regulators, all 279,000 of them. Put another way, we’re paying regulators plenty to enforce regulations that cost us more than ever. … Given not only the size of the regulatory state but the exponential pace of its growth, who can really blame the president for wanting to cut regulation ‘massively’?”

SHORT CUTS

Upright: “The resignation of national security advisor Michael Flynn has the anti-Trump media declaring the new administration a ‘mess,’ in ‘turmoil’ and thrown into ‘chaos.’ Funny, these same Chicken Littles barely shrugged their shoulders during the turmoil-laden first 100 days of Barack Obama’s first term. … A dishonest media and preening political establishment pretending there’s something ‘unprecedented’ about such stumbles only discredit themselves.” —Michelle Malkin

Food for thought: “The media is saying that [Mike] Flynn’s conversation with the Russian ambassador back in December could have left him open to blackmail. Are we serious about this? Flynn was open to blackmail? Who was it that the Drive-Bys wanted to see as president? That would be Hillary Rodham Clinton, who could have been blackmailed six ways from Sunday by the Russians and who the heck else we know. … What you voted against — the reason you voted for Trump — is exactly what you’re seeing day to day now from the Left and from the Democrat Party and from the media.” —Rush Limbaugh

For the record: “Right now, the campus is plagued by several interrelated pathologies: staggering student debt and costs, administrative bloat (often in conjunction with the vast investment in race/class/gender politics), an increasing absence of free speech and due process, and a shallow and therapeutic curriculum that does not guarantee the indebted students even basic literacy upon graduation.” —Victor Davis Hanson

Alpha Jackass: “The bottom line is that most years in the U.S., ladders kill far more Americans than Muslim terrorists do. Same with bathtubs. Ditto for stairs. And lightning. Above all, fear spouses: Husbands are incomparably more deadly in America than jihadist terrorists. And husbands are so deadly in part because in America they have ready access to firearms, even when they have a history of violence.” —NY Times' Nicholas Kristof (But by all means, let’s glorify an ideology that promotes marital rape, genital mutilation and “honor” killings.)

Out on a limb: “Let’s be VERY clear: Flynn DID NOT make that Russian call on his own. He was INSTRUCTED to do so. He was TOLD to reassure them. Arrest Trump.” —Michael Moore

And last… “Is it now the official policy of the Democratic Party that there is no difference between legal and illegal immigration?” —Frank Fleming

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.