The Patriot Post Digest 4-3-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-3-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Flynn, unlike Nunes, has been off the public radar since he was fired25 from the National Security Advisor position by President Trump when it was leaked that Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about contacts that he had with the Russian ambassador during the transition period. Flynn’s trustworthiness has continued to be questioned since his removal, most recently when it was discovered he failed to disclose payments from Russian related entities in 201526.

While both men’s objectionable behavior leaves much to be desired, the media are missing the more important story. Rather than focusing on Nunes' and Flynn’s transgressions, they should be devoting resources to why the federal government’s intelligence reports are being leaked and how information from foreign collection is being distributed through the White House.

The House Intelligence investigation into Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election and whether there was inappropriate monitoring of the Trump campaign by Barack Obama’s administration marks an important inflection point in our nation’s history. It marks the first time in the 21st century that the federal legislative branch is devoting significant amounts of time and resources to determining whether a foreign adversary tried to influence a national election. But, more importantly, this could determine whether a sitting president’s administration leveraged information collected on U.S. citizens through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to adversely affect an incoming administration.

The FISA program has been around since 1978 and it has been amended over the years, most substantively in 200827. A significant section of FISA, Section 702, is set to expire by the end of the 201728 unless Congress takes action. A debate is starting to brew between staunch advocates of the program and those who feel it cuts at civil liberties. Backers in both the intelligence community and federal government laud FISA as an indispensable tool against those who would do harm to the United States. Proponents argue that this program has made the homeland more secure from attack, but at what cost?

Abuses have occurred, most recently in 2015, when members of Congress were caught up in the National Security Agency’s surveillance of Israeli government officials29 during the U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations. Last week, syndicated columnist Eli Lake noted30 that this experience enabled the Obama administration to “learn about the strategy of its domestic political opposition through legal wiretaps of a foreign head of state and his aides.”

Hence the reason why Nunes has tried to determine if the same thing happened to Trump and his associates during the transition period. Additionally, Nunes wants to ascertain who leaked Flynn’s name and the contents of his phone call to the Russian ambassador.

While Nunes insists he has seen evidence that the Obama administration surveilled31 Trump’s incoming administration, he hasn’t been able to back up his claims. Only time will tell what facts will be uncovered. That’s why it is imperative that Nunes and his colleagues be given the opportunity to explore all avenues to ascertain whether any criminal activity took place in the last days of Barack Obama’s presidency.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Criminalizing the Truth to Protect Cultural Degeneracy32 — Another Planned Parenthood video, while CA prosecutes the video maker.
How Socialism Ruined My Country33 — Brazilian journalist Felipe Moura Brasil sets the record straight.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Peggy Noonan: Mistakes, He’s Made a Few Too Many34
Hans von Spakovsky and Grant Strobl: Terry McAuliffe, Virginia’s Voter-Fraud Guru35
Burt Prelutsky: The Un-United States of America36

For more, visit Right Opinion37.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Hans von Spakovsky and Grant Strobl: “Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, is at it again, vetoing six bills aimed at preventing voter fraud and illegal voting. …McAuliffe is nothing if not consistent. He has vetoed every bill passed in the current legislative session that would improve the integrity of the state’s election process. In 2015 he vetoed House Bill 1315, which would have required county jury commissioners to send general registrars information on individuals who were disqualified to serve as jurors because they were not U.S. citizens, were no longer residents of Virginia, had been convicted of a felony, or had been adjudicated as incapacitated. There was no reason to veto this bill unless the governor wanted to make it easy for ineligible voters to continue to vote illegally and not get caught. Why has Governor McAuliffe vetoed every reasonable effort to ensure honest and fair elections in Virginia? Well, the overwhelming number of felons vote for Democrats. Non-citizens also favor Democrats over Republicans. Could it be that the governor believes that illegal voting benefits his political party? Yet surely no governor would be more concerned with his party’s success than with ensuring that every legal vote cast by an eligible American truly counts. Would he?”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

Alpha Jackass: “Republicans don’t give a s—t about people.” —DNC Chief Tom Perez

Braying Jackass: “I’m infuriated by President Trump’s bigotry. I’m enraged by his disregard for Americans' well-being. I’m livid that he spreads lie after lie. … Either we sit by and fume as President Trump destroys all we care about. Or we rise up, create a massive wave of support, and fight to take back our government.” —Keith Ellison

Braying Jenny: “I cannot support Judge Gorsuch because a study of his opinions reveal a rigid ideology that always puts the little guy under the boot of corporations. He is evasive, but his body of work isn’t. Whether it is a freezing truck driver or an autistic child, he has shown a stunning lack of humanity.” —Sen. Claire McCaskill

Dezinformatsiya: “Judge Gorsuch embraces a judicial philosophy that would do nothing less than undermine the structure of modern government.” —New York Times' Emily Bazelon and Eric Posner (Given the status of “modern government,” isn’t that a good thing?)

Demo-gogues: “Stop the sabotage… [Republicans] will try to defund the Affordable Care Act. That’s one way to sabotage it. They will try to not enforce the law in terms of the mandate and if you do those two things, if they did those two things, they would raise premiums about 30 to 35%.” —Nancy Pelosi

And last… “If the Senate needs an expert to speak at the hearings on meddling in another country’s elections, they should subpoena Barack Obama.” —twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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