The Patriot Post Digest 3-9-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-9-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Mar. 9, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

The GOP’s individualism proves challenging when repealing Demo authoritarianism.
Clinton may think she just stuck to the issues, but her campaign focused on the personal.
The real problem behind the CIA’s WikiLeaks mess is trustworthiness with the data.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.” —Candidus (1772)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

The Challenge of Health Care Reform1

In the famous words of poet John Lydgate, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” This is the challenge Republicans face in their attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare. It’s akin to turning an aircraft carrier on a dime. The House Republicans' American Health Care Act (AHCA) is by no means a final solution2, but it does include steps in the right direction3.

One of the reasons repealing the “Affordable” Care Act is so challenging is the fundamental nature of the Republican Party. Historically, the GOP has generally championed the cause of protecting the rights of the individual and sought to limit government intrusion over and against the collectivist instincts inherent in the Democrat Party. In so doing, Republicans have lived with members who are much more free to deviate from party leadership — because conservatives are more individualist by nature. Democrats on the other hand espouse a much more authoritarian party structure where deviation from leadership is dealt with much more severely. Their goals favor communal rights over and against those of the individual.

When Democrats forced through ObamaCare, leadership made sure every Democrat was on board, even knowing that it would cost them dearly in the next election. The bigger goal of socializing health care was of greater importance, and they were willing to lose elections in order to get it done. As Fox News' Charles Krauthammer observes, “You cannot retract an entitlement once it has been granted. That’s the genius of the Left. There is no country in the West that has developed national health insurance and then revoked it despite all the problems.”

As Republicans work to stave off impending health care disaster created by Barack Obama’s ACA, they will have to work together and accept varying degrees of compromise. They will not be able to make all the people happy all the time. As the House’s AHCA bill works its way through the Senate, expect to see even more changes. For example, Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have said that any new bill must include a means of providing “stability for individuals currently enrolled in the [ACA] program.” Some may favor conservative concerns and others most certainly will not, but in order for progress to be made some compromise will be required. Conservatives aren’t likely to be happy with the final result, but that’s the ugly reality of the situation.

Clinton Chose Symbolism Over Substance4

Wesleyan University recently released a study it conducted on the two presidential candidates' campaigns. Researchers compared each candidate’s percentage of discussions that were policy based versus personally focused, and the results proved to be rather surprising given the popular public perception of each candidate. The study found that, by a significant margin, Donald Trump was the candidate most inclined to speak on policy issues, whereas Hillary Clinton spent far less time on policy and much more on both her and her opponent’s personality or “qualifications.”

Some $845 million was spent on campaign ads, with Clinton spending nearly two-thirds more than Trump. Hillary’s ads primarily focused on two things: exploiting Trump’s many cringe-worthy comments and attempting to humanize her own image.

This study, as with the gender switching5 presidential debate exercise, continue to expose just how bad a candidate Hillary proved to be. While the Leftmedia and Democrats continue to play up the unsubstantiated Russian interference as the main reason for Clinton’s defeat, once again the reality is that Hillary was a highly compromised and unlikeable candidate. She offered nothing new or inspiring to the American people, only more of the failing status quo. The truth is Hillary was never the most qualified person to ever run for the presidency, but she may have been one of the most distrusted and disliked.

Top Headlines6

Blank book called “Reasons to vote for Democrats” is a top seller on Amazon. (The Washington Times7)

Two years later, IRS locates 6,924 documents related to Tea Party targeting. (The Washington Free Beacon8.)

Answers to questions no one is asking: After “soul searching,” Hillary Clinton reemerging on national stage. (CBS News9)

Crackdown working? Report: Illegal border crossings down 40%. (Fox News10)

DREAMer decapitated his mother in front of siblings. (LifeZette11)

Official: Couple hundred U.S. Marines go into Syria. (Associated Press12)

More than 21 million women miss work for “A Day Without a Woman” — aborted women, that is. (NewsBusters13)

Satire: Nation’s liberals announce “Day Without A Protest” protest. (The Babylon Bee14)

Nine teens arrested after assault in downtown Baltimore caught on tape. (CBS Baltimore15)

U.S. Soccer’s new policy requires players ‘stand respectfully’ during national anthems. (Fox Sports16)

Policy: How President Trump can improve U.S. Syria policy. (The Heritage Foundation17)

Policy: Suggestions for improving the American Health Care Act. (New York Daily News18.)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report19.
Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read The Faking News Fakers: ‘Wiretaps? What Wiretaps?’20. The Trump/Putin myth — delegitimizing Trump’s election to keep the administration off-balance and derail his agenda.

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here21.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Real Problem With WikiLeaks22

By Allyne Caan

This week’s WikiLeaks bombshell has the Central Intelligence Agency scrambling, conspiracy theorists conspiring, and Edward Snowden undoubtedly smiling with glee.

It should also have every American concerned — very concerned.

In Tuesday’s release of 8,761 documents and files stolen from the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, WikiLeaks claims to have uncovered how the CIA hacks into devices including smartphones, smart TVs, and computer operating systems. What’s more, the leak also appears to show the CIA can carry out hacking activities while making it appear the breach came from another country.

Commenting on the leak, infamous NSA leaker Snowden23 tweeted that it’s “genuinely a big deal.” If the leaked information proves authentic, he’s right, unfortunately.

As the Wall Street Journal explains24, if authenticated, the leak “would be one of the biggest breaches in the spy agency’s history. … [While] Mr. Snowden’s leaks revealed names of programs, companies that assist the NSA in surveillance and in some cases the targets of American spying … the recent leak purports to contain highly technical details about how surveillance is carried out. … In one sense, Mr. Snowden provided a briefing book on U.S. surveillance, but the CIA leaks could provide the blueprints.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-9-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Americans should be alarmed for several reasons.

First, to leakers like Snowden and WikiLeaks Founder-in-Hiding Julian Assange, there is no such thing as an inappropriate leak. WikiLeaks has no desire to discern between what should be released and what shouldn’t. The Snowdens and Assanges out there may think they’re going to change the world by indiscriminately dumping sensitive data, but they are not friends of America, and they’re endangering lives. It’s one thing to hold our government accountable; it’s quite another to reveal to our nation’s enemies our national security tactics and methods.

Indeed, as the Journal reports, “The exposure, if genuine, is likely to disrupt or halt many ongoing intelligence operations … and could implicate the CIA in past operations, including some that might be under investigation in foreign countries where the agency was spying.”

As long as WikiLeaks is able recklessly to release national security secrets, Americans should be both concerned and outraged.

Second, this latest leak once again casts extreme doubt on our government’s ability to handle information in a way that protects Americans' rights. As Reason’s Scott Shackford writes25, beyond the nuts and bolts of what was leaked the fact that anything was leaked is the problem: “That our intelligence agencies cannot expect to keep their practices secret from the public at large (and other nations) should influence policy decisions on how much information they collect and how they prioritize infiltrating devices over revealing security risks.”

According to Reuters26, U.S. officials are looking at contractors as the possible source of the breach, with one official saying the number of contractors with access to highly secret information has “exploded” as a result of budget limitations.

Yet, if the CIA, NSA and other security agencies have classified tools for spying on America’s enemies, these agencies have a deep responsibility to ensure these tools are not leaked and made available to those very enemies.

In this regard, we actually agree wholeheartedly with Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, who noted, “You have to be loyal to America to work for an intelligence agency, otherwise don’t do it.”

Third, and perhaps most importantly, the leak once again raises the question of whether the government should be able to carry out mass surveillance in the first place. Granted, in the latest leak, reports have not indicated the CIA used any of these tools against Americans, but one of the reasons we objected to the NSA’s mass surveillance was we didn’t trust the Obama administration to handle the information in a way that protected Americans' rights.

A change in administration shouldn’t change our wariness of government’s ability to collect and retain massive amounts of information on Americans — which, incidentally, they can do this very minute. Indeed, if we are to remain vigilant about our rights, we should not fully trust any administration, regardless of party label, to spy on Americans.

As John Adams so presciently noted27, “The only Maxim of a free Government, ought to be to trust no Man living, with Power to endanger the public Liberty.”

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

One-State or Two-State Solution? Maybe.28 — Trump challenges the status quo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Small-Town Judge Punished Because of Her Religious Beliefs29 — LGBT activists demand complete allegiance and devotion.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Larry Elder: ObamaCare Can’t Be ‘Fixed’30
R. Emmett Tyrrell: What Has Gotten Into the Democrats?31
Victor Davis Hanson: Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff32

For more, visit Right Opinion33.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Larry Elder: “Because of regulations, the supply of doctors has been artificially limited. Economist Milton Friedman once compared the American Medical Association to a medieval guild that shuts out would-be practitioners and artificially protects the wages of doctors. … This is the argument Republicans should be making. The true replacement plan should be loosening regulations that prevent would-be doctors from entering the field, and prevent less-schooled and less-credentialed paraprofessionals from doing things that only licensed doctors can now do. We train battlefield medics in Iraq and Afghanistan to deal with battlefield trauma, saving countless lives. The Oscar-nominated film ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ depicted the true story of a medic with aspirations of becoming a doctor, whom the army trained to treat battlefield injuries. But that man, had he returned stateside and tried to set up a practice to treat victims of urban gun violence, would have been guilty of practicing medicine without a license. We advise developing countries to follow the well-worn path to prosperity — free markets, free trade, rule of law and property rights. Yet when it comes to nearly one-seventh of our economy— health care — we ignore our own advice. For health care, we don’t write ourselves the proper prescription.”

SHORT CUTS

Upright: “The modern Russians are not as clubbable as the Democrats found the Russians of the Soviet era. They are not even as agreeable as President Obama found them in 2012. Perhaps ordinary Americans, having read their history, can agree with me. These Democrats are mercurial. No wonder more and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that the country is in better hands with a real estate developer.” —R. Emmett Tyrrell

For the record: “I would be more bitter about the role of the House Republicans … except that in this case [overhauling ObamaCare], the Republican Party establishment34 is not really lagging behind the Republican base. The base has recently proved they don’t care all that much about rolling back the welfare state, because they elected, in the primaries and in the general election, a politician whose agenda has never included a rollback of the welfare state.” —Robert Tracinski

Observations: “The Republicans denounced the New Deal for 20 years. Eisenhower comes into office in 1953, and they don’t touch an element of it. Social Security remains intact. They were not suicidal, and they lived to govern another day. You cannot retract an entitlement once it has been granted. That’s the genius of the Left.” —Charles Krauthammer

But what about the years before? “Once [Republicans] had a blocking position in the Senate and then in the House, we couldn’t get the minimum wage increase, we couldn’t get increases into Social Security, we couldn’t get a more progressive tax bill.” —Elizabeth Warren accusing the GOP of obstructing Democrat prescriptions to income inequality under Obama

Braying Jackass: “The interesting thing is that with the Trump administration and many people who support Donald Trump, they think it is their country, that it is a white country and they are absolutely wrong. This is not a white country, this is not their country, it is ours.” —Jorge Ramos

And last… “Governors who cannot build a reservoir have little business fantasizing about 200-mph super trains. And dense celebrities who cannot open the right envelope should not be sought for cosmic political wisdom.” —Victor Davis Hanson

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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