The Patriot Post Digest 3-21-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-21-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Mar. 21, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Gorsuch provided insight into the true role of a judge during his confirmation hearings.
U.S. foreign policy balance: Confronting China while seeking its help with North Korea.
Comey’s congressional testimony provided little info, and lots of bad press for Trump.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“To preserve the republican form and principles of our Constitution and cleave to the salutary distribution of powers which that [the Constitution] has established … are the two sheet anchors of our Union. If driven from either, we shall be in danger of foundering.” —Thomas Jefferson (1823)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

The Humble Judge1

When even those who disagree with Judge Neil Gorsuch’s political views voice their praise of his character and record and offer support for his confirmation — as Barack Obama’s former solicitor general Neal Katyal did — it can be difficult to convince others that he is dangerous and unfit to server on the Supreme Court. But Democrats tried anyway.

Gorsuch gave his opening statements on Monday, expressing both a humble recognition of the role a judge plays in society and his committed respect for the Rule of Law. He began by stating, “These days we sometimes hear judges cynically described as politicians in robes, seeking to enforce their own politics rather than striving to apply the law impartially. If I thought that were true, I’d hang up the robe. … I saw judges and juries — while human and imperfect — striving hard every day to fairly decide the cases I put to them. As a judge now for more than a decade I’ve watched my colleagues spend long days worrying over cases. Sometimes the answers we reach aren’t the ones we personally prefer. … But the answers we reach are always the ones we believe the law requires. And for all its imperfections, I believe the Rule of Law in this nation truly is a wonder, and that it’s no wonder that it’s the envy of the world.”

He also gave a pointed and yet respectful refutation of Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) absurd comments. Leahy labelled originalism, the doctrine of interpreting the Constitution and the law according to what was originally meant, as “outside the mainstream of moderate constitutional jurisprudence.” Gorsuch said, “If judges were just secret legislators, declaring not what the law is but what they would like to be, the very idea of a government by the people and for the people would be at risk. And those who came before the court would live in fear, never sure exactly what the law requires of them, except for the judge’s will.”

Gorsuch made it clear that he believes the character of a judge should be “patient, impartial, and decisive,” as he quoted from Increase Sumner, a colonial-era judge whom he admires. In his closing comments, Gorsuch said, “When you become a judge, you fiercely defend only one client — the law.”

Proverbs 28:4 states, “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them.” Judge Gorsuch is a man who embodies a commitment to this principle.

North Korea: A Ticking Time Bomb2

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Asia over the weekend. On Friday, he was in South Korea visiting the Demilitarized Zone that separates South Korea from its menacing neighbor to the North3. Tillerson quickly made it clear that the time had come for a change from former U.S. policy with North Korea under Barack Obama. “Efforts toward North Korea to achieve peaceful stability over the last two decades have failed to make us safer,” the secretary of state declared. “Let me be very clear, the policy of strategic patience has ended. We’re exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures. All options are on the table.”

North Korea’s despot Kim Jong Un hasn’t been doing himself any favors by continuing to inflame tensions with his perpetual violations regarding missile testing. While the North’s saber rattling is nothing new, the reality is there have been no consequences. The U.S. and the rest of the world have watched the country become a nuclear power, and now we’re watching the hermit kingdom work toward greater deliverability of its nuclear weapons.

In the meantime, South Korea finds itself in a rough period of political upheaval after former President Park Geun-hye was impeached and forced from office. The election of a new president could significantly change the South’s foreign policy and its geopolitical commitments. It’s becoming apparent that the Far East has degraded into a foreign policy minefield for the U.S. — one that Trump will need to tread through carefully and yet forcefully.

In diffusing North Korea’s growing threat, Tillerson’s words were primarily intended not for the North, but for China. The “People’s Republic,” North Korea’s lifeline, has the power to significantly clamp down on the Kim regime. But with China’s recent ignoring of international maritime law by expansion into the South China Sea4, the task of confronting China over its aggression while simultaneously seeking its help with North Korea is a difficult balancing act. Given Kim Jong Un’s undeterred development of missiles with the capacity of reaching U.S. territory, it’s no longer merely a regional concern with America’s allies but, also, fast becoming a direct threat to the U.S.

Top Headlines5

Leahy instructs Judge Gorsuch, “Originalism … remains outside the mainstream of moderate constitutional jurisprudence.” (CNS News6)

House Republicans unveil changes to their health-care bill. (The Washington Post7)

VA Inspector General: Suicide hotline left some veterans on hold up to 30 minutes. (Hot Air8.)

Sanctuary city slip-ups as LA released arsonist, Philadelphia released murder suspect. (The Washington Times9)

“Student” on “alien removal” list charged with raping 14-year-old girl in high school bathroom. (CNS News10)

Malibu votes to be a sanctuary city because without illegals “no one’s houses would be cleaned.” (Washington Examiner11)

While Trump talks tough, U.S. quietly cutting nuclear force. (Associated Press12)

Tourism thriving, economy expanding in North Carolina despite bathroom bill desertions. (The Washington Times13)

Obama’s IRS gave “Satan Club” creator fast tax-exempt status. (The Washington Times14)

University of Arizona “safe space” guidelines for college cupcakes. (The Washington Free Beacon15)

Policy: Why Trump’s budget proposal for the State Department makes sense. (The Daily Signal16)

Policy: The Meals on Wheels lie keeps rolling along. (Investor’s Business Daily17)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report18.
Don’t Miss Patriot Humor

Check out Surveillance19.

If you’d like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here20.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
This Just In: The FBI Is Investigating21

By Paul Albaugh

FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress Monday. He discussed the allegations of Russian meddling with our recent presidential election, as well as Donald Trump’s accusations of being wiretapped22 by Barack Obama and the possibility of a foreign ally being involved with that alleged wiretapping during the presidential campaign.

During his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey acknowledged23 that his agency is conducting an investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin in a “counterintelligence probe that could reach all the way to the White House and last for months.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-21-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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This, of course, is not the “breaking news alert” the Leftmedia couldn’t wait to trumpet. We’ve known for weeks that there is an investigation, and it began in July 2016. And, as Mark Alexander wrote two weeks ago24, “Despite all the fake media hysterics, keeping the ‘Trump and Putin rigged the election’ myth alive has nothing to do with facts. But it has everything to do with delegitimizing Trump’s stunning victory, keeping his administration off-balance and derailing his agenda.”

On that note, it’s all well and good to investigate, but the most important objective for U.S. intelligence is stopping the leaks that have plagued Trump’s first weeks in office. Intelligence leaks perpetrated by Obama’s deep state operatives are so far the only crime uncovered in any of this mess.

During the hearing, Comey also dismissed Trump’s foolish and distracting Twitter claims of wiretapping at Trump Tower. Comey stated that there is “no information that supports those tweets.” Comey added, “We have looked carefully inside the FBI” and there are no agents who have found anything to support Trump’s claim.

On Friday, the Justice Department provided documents25 to Congress, which, according to several high-ranking members of the House Intelligence Committee, offered no proof that Obama had ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower.

As if Obama would be so careless as to get caught ordering the Code Red.

We still wonder if this isn’t a case of innocence on a technicality — that Trump’s wording was too specific and just wrong enough to provide an escape hatch.

Unfortunately, despite providing no proof of his claims, Trump continued to make noise on Twitter and even added more fuel to the fire late last week when he accused the British26 of being involved with the alleged surveillance on his campaign. He even attempted to joke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying, “As far as wiretapping, I guess by this past administration, at least we have something in common.” Trump was referring to reports that Obama’s National Security Administration had tapped Merkel’s phone in 2010. Merkel wasn’t the least bit amused.

Unfortunately, Trump’s wiretapping claims served only to derail his own momentum after his well-received address to a joint session of Congress27. That sort of self-inflicted wound is going to be a recurring theme with this president.

But it’s not all bad news for Trump. As National Review’s David French points out, the confirmation by Comey that the FBI is conducting an investigation into possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign is good news28 for three reasons:

“First, by making this announcement, the FBI has ended months of sometimes-irresponsible speculation about its activities. Second, the FBI is informing America that it is doing its job.” We should want the FBI to investigate thoroughly into whether a foreign government interfered with a presidential election and we should want them to follow all of the evidence.

“Third,” French adds, “since the Trump administration’s DOJ authorized this announcement, it is a sign to all Americans that the system is still working as intended.”

Whether it’s Russian meddling or Obama’s hacking or deep state leaking, what most Americans want to know is the truth. Right now, many people don’t know who to believe or trust, other than to view with intense skepticism the Leftmedia and career bureaucrats deep within the bowels of our own government. As it stands, we’ve got nothing but Trump and Democrats yelling “wolf!” at each other. Hopefully the FBI, DOJ and intelligence community will find out the truth, plug the leaks, and move forward.

Oh, and by the way, instead of Trump focusing on promoting his nominee to the Supreme Court — the whole reason most people voted for him — he’s fending off bad news about phony wiretapping claims and foreign election interference. The reality TV star has lost control of the script.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

When Judges Abandon the Constitution and the Law29 — Some things might as well be written in Klingon for how judges misinterpret them.
Debunking the ‘Gun Silencer’ Narrative30 — The Washington Post cries foul on leftists' disingenuous narrative.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Rich Lowry: A 140-Character Flaw31
Cal Thomas: Purity and Politics32
Stephen Moore: Trump Budget Drains the Swamp33
Dennis Prager: The Most Dangerous Addiction of Them All: Entitlements34

For more, visit Right Opinion35.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Cal Thomas: “Readers of a certain age may recall ads for Ivory Soap, which claimed to be 99 and 44/100ths percent pure. If the soap could have reached 100 percent purity, the company would likely have made the claim. Purity, apparently, is what some conservative Republicans are demanding in a health insurance bill… A recent Wall Street Journal editorial gets the politics right. ‘If conservatives fumble this repeal and replace moment,’ WSJ writes, ‘they won’t get another chance. And they’ll have squandered their best opening in a generation to control the size and scope of the federal Leviathan.’ If a Republican congressional majority and a Republican president can’t use their power of persuasion to convince enough members of their party to repeal and replace Obamacare, it will leave many people wondering why they are needed. Failure to at least take the first step in replacing a deeply flawed, government-mandated insurance program will leave a stain on the Republican Party that even the strongest and purest ‘detergent’ will not be able to remove.”
SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Political history is far too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction.” —W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

For the record: “Hoping to defeat Ronald Reagan, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) invited the Soviets to interfere in the 1984 election. Barack Hussein Obama spent eight years appeasing Russia. How can anyone take seriously the notion that the party of Bernie Sanders and Maxine Waters is suddenly losing sleep, worried that Russia might get away with something under Donald Trump?” —Gary Bauer

Braying Jackass: “While it has gained some popularity within conservative circles, originalism, I believe, remains outside the mainstream of moderate constitutional jurisprudence.” —Sen. Pat Leahy

Non Compos Mentis: “Judge Gorsuch has … stated that he believes judges should look to the original, public meaning of the Constitution when they decide what a provision of the Constitution means. This is personal, but I find this originalist, judicial philosophy to be really troubling. In essence, it means that judges and courts should evaluate our constitutional rights and privileges as they were understood in 1789. However, to do so would not only ignore the intent of the framers, but the Constitution would be a framework on which to build. But it severely limits the genius of what our Constitution upholds. I firmly believe the American Constitution is a living document, intended to evolve as our country evolves.” —Sen. Dianne Feinstein

The BIG Lie: “If these judgments when combined do not constitute super precedent, I don’t know what does. Importantly, the dozens of cases affirming Roe [v. Wade] are not only about precedent. They are also about a woman’s fundamental and constitutional rights.” —Dianne Feinstein (The “super precedent” isn’t a “right” to an abortion, it’s the fundamental right to life.)

Late-night humor: “Hillary Clinton is reportedly still considering a run for mayor of New York City. And, weirdly, this time she IS campaigning in Michigan and Wisconsin. Fool me once, right?” —Seth Meyers

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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