The Patriot Post Digest 3-31-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-31-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Mar. 31, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump can’t afford to take on both conservatives and Democrats.
An elitist academician shows real contempt for uniformed American Patriots.
A new DOJ report sheds light on just how much money civil asset forfeiture brings in.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself.” —Benjamin Franklin (1771)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Is Trump Playing With Fire?1

As Ronald Reagan once said, “There you go again.” On Thursday morning, Donald Trump took to his favorite medium, Twitter, to sound off on the recent Republican failure to repeal and replace ObamaCare2. Just as we warned before it failed, he blamed conservatives: “The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!”

He’s actually right about the first part. As Mark Alexander wrote Wednesday3, “If our Republican conference conservatives pursue an ‘all or none’ strategy, they should just give the keys to the Democrats now.” In other words, letting the perfect be the enemy of the good is going to hamper the GOP majority’s ability to enact its agenda. It would be suicidal for Republicans to underestimate the importance of unity within their caucus; the Democrats and their Leftmedia allies are in lockstep, and they’ll spin any sign of GOP infighting to their advantage.

There’s some indication that Freedom Caucus members get this. “We are not an independent group,” said Rep. Joe Barton. “We are part of the Republican conference. We have an obligation to govern.”

But this is a two-way street. When the president effectively declares war on his own party, that’s a yuge problem. Of course, Trump’s core supporters wanted him to wage war on Republicans at least as much as, if not more than, on Democrats. But his enemy was allegedly the same establishment4 opposed by … the House Freedom Caucus, which is composed of the GOP’s most conservative legislators. “The two themes Trump ran on is the forgotten man and draining the swamp,” said Rep. Dave Brat. “The Freedom Caucus is all of that.” Nevertheless, with his typical huff and bluster, Trump is clearly playing to his own constituency by attacking his right flank.

That’s not leadership. It’s showmanship.

Trump can’t afford to fight both conservatives and Democrats. There are 32 members of the House Freedom Caucus. House Republicans currently have a 34-seat advantage. Yet between his various threats and his exasperated declaration to Freedom Caucus members that they should “forget the little s—t” in the health care bill, it seems as if Trump is trying to drive a permanent wedge between himself and these true conservatives. If that happens, it will be all that much harder for his presidency to succeed at anything but dominating the 24/7 news cycle.

A Professor’s Resentful Tweet5

There is a reason elitist academicians have a less-than-stellar reputation among the general population. These Ivory Tower inhabitants love to project themselves as being smarter and therefore superior to others. But the reality is this proudly expressed superiority most often serves to mask a deeply seated inferiority complex.

An example of this elitist arrogance was recently displayed via a Twitter message from Drexel University Professor George Ciccariello, who, on a commercial airline flight tweeted, “Some guy gave up his first class seat for a uniformed soldier. People are thanking him. I’m trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul6.” Yes, Ciccariello — the same guy who in December tweeted “All I Want For Christmas Is White Genocide” — is disgusted with acts of kindness shown to the American Patriots who sacrificially serve and protect our nation. But why?

The answer may be found in what motivates most leftists — their profound resentment of those whose work ethic, self-reliance and commitment to abiding by the law have proven to produce success. In other words, envy.

The envy of the Left is not merely about wanting more money, success or power but of something much more significant and enduring. It is a lusting for honor — true and genuinely earned honor. When Ciccariello tweeted that he felt like “vomiting,” it’s because he was angered at witnessing an act of respect and honor given to one who defends this great nation. The American soldier never demands honor and yet most Americans instinctively recognize one who deserves it. We honor our heroes. Ciccariello craves the honor he knows he has not earned and out of envy and resentment he tweets, to his own dishonor. As the old proverb says, “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.”

Top Headlines7

The GOP can confirm Gorsuch without changing the rules. (PoliZette8.)

Manchin, Heitkamp become first Senate Dems to back Gorsuch. (Fox News9)

NSA set to provide classified communications intercepts to House committee. (The Washington Free Beacon10)

Mike Flynn offers to testify in exchange for immunity. (The Wall Street Journal11)

Federal debt held by public now at highest level since World War II. (The Washington Free Beacon12)

General: Air Force might “have to stop flying” for six weeks. (Washington Examiner13)

Senate passes bill to let states strip funding from Planned Parenthood. (The Washington Times14)

Trump administration appeals court ruling on revised travel ban. (CBS News15)

Environmentalists file first wave of lawsuits against Keystone Pipeline. (The Daily Signal16)

North Carolina transgender “bathroom bill” altered by lawmakers. (Fox News17)

Policy: There’s a new space race on courtesy of the free market. (Investor’s Business Daily18.)

Policy: The real threat is environmental extremism. (U.S. News & World Report19)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report20.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Billions in Civil Asset Plunder21

By Michael Swartz

Our federal government has spent nearly a half-century fighting a “War on Drugs” with varying levels of success. One tactic introduced early on22 was the seizing of assets of those who were demonstrated to have acquired them through illegal means. Over the years, government at all levels has managed to make it even easier to secure billions of dollars of alleged profits from an illegal industry — the drug trade.

Yet while the fight against drugs has shifted over the years, from the marijuana and hallucinogens of the late 1960s, to the crack and cocaine of the 1980s, to a more recent surge in methamphetamines, the current opioid epidemic23 is different. It doesn’t necessarily affect the same younger, lower-class peer group as the previous drugs of choice did, nor does it have the same sort of distribution system as other narcotics. But the federal government continues to utilize asset forfeiture as a tactic, despite long-standing24 abuse of the process and past attempts to both document it25 and rein it in.

Loopholes in the current system allow for local law enforcement to partner with the federal government to assure that both get a nice piece of the action. This money has, in turn, allowed local investment in assets like drug-sniffing dogs, new police cars and equipment, and other paramilitary gear that police departments claim assists them in getting drugs off the streets. And seizure is politically popular, since people assume that only criminals are having their assets seized and therefore deserve it.

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-31-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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It’s no surprise, then, that yet another government review — the latest was put out this week by the Inspector General’s Office at the Department of Justice — delivers a scathing look at a practice that, by this estimate, raked in $28 billion of assets over the last 10 years. That’s a big revenue stream, and thus the real answer for why the practice continues to expand.

The IG’s 74-page review26 notes that the vast majority of these funds come from the efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Yet, according to the report, out of 100 asset forfeiture cases selected for further review by the Inspector General’s office, “the DEA could verify that only 44 of the 100 seizures, and only 29 of the 85 interdiction seizures, had (1) advanced or been related to ongoing investigations, (2) resulted in the initiation of new investigations, (3) led to arrests, or (4) led to prosecutions. When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not ultimately advance an investigation or prosecution, law enforcement creates the appearance, and risks the reality, that it is more interested in seizing and forfeiting cash than advancing an investigation or prosecution.” In other words, the majority of those who had their assets seized were, essentially, found guilty without due process.

And it’s the perception of “policing for profit” that civil libertarians have seized on in trumpeting the report27.

“This report only further confirms what we have been saying all along,” added28 Institute for Justice attorney Darpana Sheth. “Forfeiture laws create perverse financial incentives to seize property without judicial oversight and violate due process.” Sheth added that the “only solution” to the issue would be to end the use of asset forfeiture entirely. The Institute has long been an advocate against the practice, with their second (and most recent) report29 on “Policing for Profit” released in 2015.

Ending civil asset forfeiture, however, would leave law enforcement with a fiscal hole to fill — in some jurisdictions, a massive one. No one wants to call for a tax increase, and seizures act as easy money: once assets are seized, there is about an 80% chance30 that no recovery will be sought by the owner, and even the majority of those efforts are unsuccessful. Others might simply consider it the price of doing business or may be embarrassed by how those assets obtained.

But the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment prohibits illegal search and seizure for a reason, and it stands just as clearly now as it did when the Bill of Rights was first adopted 226 years ago. Carrying a large sum of cash is not illegal, and there are many who do so for legitimate reasons. (The same goes for certain cash transactions, although the IRS has begged to differ31 on that subject.)

Shaking down innocent people for cash would be called extortion if a criminal did it, so why should it be legitimate for governments to do the same? It’s indeed time to end this plunder once and for all.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

What Is It About Vladimir Putin?32 — Views of Russia’s strongman have divided both Right and Left.
British Embrace Sovereignty33 — The UK’s exit from the EU has officially begun.
Breaking: Democrat Rejects Minimum Wage Hike34 — Baltimore’s beleaguered leadership takes a surprising turn.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Jonah Goldberg: Reaction to Pence Story Shows Traditional Christians Face Double Standard35
Mona Charen: Democratic Vendetta36
Charles Krauthammer: The Road to Single-Payer Health Care37

For more, visit Right Opinion38.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Jonah Goldberg: “The Washington Post ran a profile of Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen, and lots of people are outraged or repulsed that two evangelical Christians do things that are fairly normal for evangelical Christians to do. Specifically, Mike Pence apparently doesn’t dine alone with women or attend events where alcohol is served if his wife doesn’t accompany him. … It’s a very strange place we’ve found ourselves in when elites say we have no right to judge adultery, but we have every right to judge couples who take steps to avoid it. But ultimately, I don’t think the important double standard is about marriage or adultery. It’s about traditional Christians. If the Pences were Muslims and followed similar rules, as devout Muslims indeed might, I doubt there’d be anything like this kind of liberal scorn. Of course, that’s unknowable. But liberals spend a lot of time and energy defending accommodations for religious Muslims — burqas, veils, gender segregation, etc. — that they would never make for committed Christians.”

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “[With Neil Gorsuch,] Democrats have muffed a clear opportunity to contrast themselves with the fumbling GOP and left Americans with a choice between a party struggling to govern and another absolutely refusing to do so.” —Ed Morrissey

Braying Jenny: “Shocking, almost sinful — really sinful — to be so degrading of God’s creation. The administration’s attack on science and the Clean Power Plan will not bring back jobs to the coal country. It will only poison our air and undermine America’s ability to win good-paying, clean jobs of the future.” —Nancy Pelosi

Braying Jackass: “This is such a nonsensical, and stupid, and dangerous approach. It’s almost indescribable, Look, the scientific community is virtually unanimous. While Trump and his friends may think climate change is a hoax, what the scientists are telling us [is that] it is real, it is caused by human activity.” —Bernie Sanders

Non Compos Mentis: “The human population [is] getting so big that we are raising so many farm animals. It’s very reasonable that we’re creating a tremendous amount of extra methane that wouldn’t otherwise be there in the atmosphere. And that is causing global warming and climate change to happen more rapidly than it would otherwise. … It’s also reasonable that agriculture researchers are going to produce or breed farm animals that produce less methane by changing the bacteria that are in their stomachs.” —Bill Nye

Friendly fire: “It’s disturbingly aggressive for [California Attorney General Xavier] Becerra to apply this criminal statute39 to [pro-lifers] who were trying to influence a contested issue of public policy, regardless of how sound or popular that policy may be. … The state doesn’t need to threaten the pair with prison time.” —Los Angeles Times editorial

Just sayin': “China is the only one that can control Kim Jong Un, this crazy fat kid that’s running North Korea.” —John McCain

And last… “The real reason that people want ObamaCare repealed is because their premiums went up. They could care less about the policy. … Let’s face it, it’s not an ideological argument that says ObamaCare is inherently bad because it’s named ObamaCare. It’s because premiums went up.” —House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows

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.