The Patriot Post Digest 3-10-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-10-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Mar. 10, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Optimism in the economy is all part of the Trump effect.
Likewise, the drastic decrease in border crossings is because there’s a new sheriff.
How goes the fight with the Islamic State? A look in at the progress.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“To cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying the objects of enterprise, is not among the least considerable of the expedients, by which the wealth of a nation may be promoted.” —Alexander Hamilton (1791)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Trump Effect: Job Market Improves1

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest jobs numbers today, and the news is good. The U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs in February2, while the headline unemployment rate decreased slightly to 4.7%. The Labor Department also revised jobs numbers for December and January, increasing those numbers by 9,000 jobs.

Average monthly job growth under Barack Obama was just 109,000. And even if you begin counting where he always did — after job losses stopped — it’s still less than 200,000 monthly. Trump’s off to a good start, and it appears the economy is coming out of the stagnation levels it maintained over the past eight years.

It’s important to note, however, what may sound counter intuitive: As the economy strengthens, expect to see the headline unemployment rate actually increase3 due to more people entering the workforce after years of sitting on the sidelines. People leaving the job market under Obama helped drive down that incomplete unemployment measurement.

It’s not merely the increasing jobs numbers boosting hope in America’s economic outlook. Small business optimism has surged to record levels4 not seen since the summer of 1980. And consumer confidence has reached a 10-year high5. Much of this economic optimism can be credited to Donald Trump and his pro-business promises of deregulation and lowering the cooperate tax rate. On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office released a study showing the real U.S. corporate tax rate to be 39.1%6, the highest of any G20 nation. Lowering it would go a long way to realizing all this optimism, which is currently based on what Trump promises to do.

America is getting back to work, and is clearly excited for what the economic future holds. And one can be assured that Trump will continue to do all in his power to stoke that American economic engine.

Trump IS the Wall7

Maybe all our porous southern border needed was an 800-pound gorilla in the room. According to a new report8 from Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly, “From January to February, the flow of illegal border crossings as measured by apprehensions and the prevention of inadmissible persons at our southern border dropped by 40 percent.” The report continues, “This change in the trend line is especially significant because CBP historically sees a 10-20 percent increase in apprehensions of illegal immigrants from January to February. Instead, this year we saw a drop from 31,578 to 18,762 persons — a 40 percent decline.”

This appears not to be coincidental, either. Critically, the report notes, “This is encouraging news as in the period from Oct 1, 2016 to the Presidential inauguration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 157,000 apprehensions of illegal immigrants — a 35 percent increase over the previous fiscal year, with family units increasing by more than 100 percent. However, since President Trump took office on January 20, we have seen a dramatic drop in numbers.” In other words, a sharp pre-Trump administration increase turned abruptly into an even sharper decrease.

The Left is trying to spin this report by injecting an array of potential variables, and other elements could certainly be contributing. But it’s just about impossible not to conclude that our new president is the primary deterrent. After all, what’s the point in crossing the border when you’re almost guaranteed to be sent back? In the Obama years, you at least a decent chance of staying put. That’s not the case now. However, Republicans shouldn’t let this development compel them to think twice about erecting a wall. Trump won’t be president forever, and if a Democrat succeeds him, a wall will at least serve as a permanent barricade. Unless, of course, the Democrat Party wants to test the will of the American electorate by trying to tear it down.

Top Headlines9

Hmmm: Comey meets with top members of Congress to discuss the alleged wiretapping of Trump Tower. (Hot Air10)

Report: FBI monitored server in Trump Tower, but “no intercepts of Trump’s phones or emails.” (CNS News11)

U.S. government websites “fail to meet basic standards,” new report says. (Reason12)

Pentagon: Russia, China able to launch catastrophic cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure for next 10 years. (The Washington Free Beacon13)

Former Trump aide Flynn consulted with Turkish business — nothing illegal. (Associated Press14)

Poll: Americans rank dissatisfaction with government as country’s top problem. (Gallup15)

U.S. household net worth reaches record $92.8 trillion. (The Wall Street Journal16)

American diplomats' comfort with Tillerson gives way to unease. Good! Let ‘em shake in their boots. (Bloomberg17)

Billionaire George Soros fuels Democrats’ push to lower voting age to 17. (The Washington Times18.)

South Korean President Park Geun-hye ousted from office amid corruption. (The Wall Street Journal19)

Policy: Five reasons the GOP’s ObamaCare plan isn’t real repeal. (The Daily Signal20)

Policy: Why nobody has a right to health care. (The Federalist21)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report22.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Will More American Troops Finally Finish ISIL?23

Trump is listening to his military advisers; Obama never did.

By Michael Swartz

In 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood at Mosul’s Great Mosque and declared himself the “caliph,” the ruler of all Muslims. His bold assertion came at a time when the Islamic State had taken the city as part of an offensive that expanded its reach from the center of Syria to the outskirts of Baghdad, with the Syrian city of Raqqa acting as its capital. While it had no set borders, at the time the Islamic State caliphate controlled much of the desert frontier that composes the eastern sections of Syria and northern region of Iraq, with Mosul being its largest population center.

After a long run-up to battle, late last year Iraqi forces — with American logistical assistance — began to retake Mosul, and they now control the eastern half of the city. As the Iraqi regulars work their way westward24, American observers are beginning to feel optimistic25 that Mosul will soon fall. “The game is up,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Isler. “They have lost this fight and what you’re seeing now is a delaying action.” Mosul’s capture would effectively wipe out the Iraqi portion of the Islamic State, leaving Raqqa as their last, most heavily fortified stronghold.

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-10-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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That battle for Raqqa may be joined by a limited number of American troops. In a drastic departure from Barack Obama’s methods of political agenda first, last and always, Donald Trump is deferring more to his military experts in the field. They’ve already made one key strategic decision in preparation for taking the Syrian city and are weighing the benefits of a second.

Currently underway is the introduction of a “couple hundred” Marines26 to the region surrounding Raqqa, in order to pre-position heavy artillery assets. Those Marines don’t count against the Obama administration’s limit of 503 total troops in Syria, because they’re only there on a temporary basis. That arbitrary limit may be the reason for considering the second strategic move27: placing about 1,000 troops in Kuwait as a reserve force that can rotate in and out of the region as needed.

A strategic move that’s not being considered is a hunt for al-Baghdadi, who has left his Islamic State fighters in the field and is reportedly on the run28 in northern Iraq, hiding out among Sunni tribal sympathizers in a widespread region of desert along the Iraqi-Syrian frontier. His last public communication, urging the Islamic State irregulars fighting for Mosul not to surrender but to fight to the death, was released in early November29, before the election. Yet al-Baghdadi seems somewhat more hesitant to meet his 72 virgins in paradise, apparently preferring to lead from behind.

One thing President Trump may find regarding his vow to defeat the Islamic State, though, is that few of his strategic decisions will escape the notice of the press. For example, the Marines' entry to Syria was first reported (with great detail) by the Washington Post30, an outlet that will certainly make sure all interested parties are aware of any American strategy they learn about. The old admonition that “loose lips sink ships” doesn’t seem to hold any water with the media these days, and apparently there are plenty of unnamed “defense officials” who don’t mind sharing this information.

Also of newfound interest to the press, now that we have a Republican commander in chief, will be the re-introduction of body counts, particularly as the fighting moves from the remoteness of rearward air support and logistics to house-to-house fighting like that in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago. Despite our best efforts to minimize casualties31, and despite President Trump’s moving tribute to the widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens during his address to a joint session of Congress32 last week, our jihadist enemies can now count on the American media to exploit our nation’s weak stomach for a bloody and extended asymmetrical fight.

Still, as an entity, the so-called Islamic State will be lucky to make it much beyond the third anniversary of al-Baghdadi’s pronouncement of its establishment. But the impact of the fight to suppress it — as the latest phase of a generation-long foray into the Middle East that began with Desert Storm a quarter-century ago and has continued nearly unabated since the 9/11 attack — will surely affect our foreign policy for decades.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Demo Mission to Delegitimize Trump Is Damaging Foreign Policy33 — They’re playing Russian roulette with America’s global standing.
U.S. Soccer Takes a Stand34 — Unlike the NFL, its athletes will stand for the national anthem.
Air Force: Words Like ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’ Could Be Offensive35 — The military is still infected with Obama-era political correctness.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

David Harsanyi: The GOP Repeal Plan Sucks. But Is it Better Than Nothing?36
Charles Krauthammer: Down the Conspiracy Rabbit Hole37
Michael Barone: America’s High-Risk Complacent Class38

For more, visit Right Opinion39.

OPINION IN BRIEF

David Harsanyi: “Halting federal funding of the nation’s largest abortion mill is a victory. Offering states more flexibility to run their own Medicaid programs is a victory. Expanded health savings accounts and the creation of real-life illustrations of successes is promising. Getting rid of the individual mandate is a victory, as is allowing consumers to purchase insurance across state lines. Repealing nearly all of Obamacare’s taxes — other than a postponement of the Cadillac tax — is a win. … Perhaps Obamacare Lite is preferable to Obamacare because it’s the best this crop of legislators is going to do. Also, as history has shown, making substantive policy changes doesn’t get any easier as a term wears on. This might be the last chance to do anything. Another infuriating aspect of this fiasco is that Democrats will treat any Obamacare ‘repeal’ bill as if it were an assault on all that is holy and patriotic. This rhetoric shouldn’t have inhibited Republicans; it should have freed them to pass bills that incorporate the ideas they supposedly believe in. Why would they let the same people who told America that Obamacare would be a political and functional success now lecture them on how unpopular a repeal bill will be? It’s just one of the many mysteries of the GOP.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Any man who tries to incite class hatred, sectional hate, hate of creeds, any kind of hatred in our community, though he may affect to do so in the interest of the class he is addressing, is in the long run with absolute certainty that class’s own worst enemy.” —Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Nailed it: “Replacing Obamacare is complicated. There are trade-offs. Somebody’s going to walk away convinced they got a bad deal. Even worse, whenever a legislator has the courage to tell the public that trade-offs and compromises are necessary, a political challenger will insist that it is not, that it represents lawmakers being stupid, or spineless, or selling out. … It is very easy to promise a better health-care system with no compromises and trade-offs; it is pretty much impossible to deliver it.” —Jim Geraghty

Upright: “The preferred free-market plan for health care policy should be no plan whatsoever. The idea that we need a federal top-down strategy to manage a huge chunk of the economy is at the very heart of the problem. We don’t need a federal plan for health care. Yet Republicans have allowed liberals to frame the entire health insurance debate in these anti-market terms.” —David Harsanyi

Braying Jenny: “[Republicans] don’t want the American people to see the facts. They’re always afraid of the facts. It’s just a remarkable thing.” —Nancy Pelosi

Busted: “Since 2012, The Fact Checker warned against politicians from language that implies women get mammograms at Planned Parenthood clinics. … [Chuck] Schumer’s claim is problematic because it says ‘millions of women’ turn to Planned Parenthood for ‘mammograms, maternity care, cancer screenings & more.’ He greatly exaggerates the universe of women who rely on Planned Parenthood for mammograms.” —The Washington Post awarding Schumer Three Pinocchios

Non Compos Mentis: “My moral compass is in my gotcha11.” —actress Cate Blanchett

And last… “Barbra Streisand says Trump-caused stress is making her fat. No word yet on what’s making her stupid.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest

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.