The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Mid-Day Digest

Apr. 4, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Susan Rice of Benghazi fame was the one “unmasking” Trump folks over Russia.
The Air Force Academy faces its latest challenge — lesbian nominated as its commandant.
Democrats are filibustering Neil Gorsuch, so now it’s up to Republicans.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?” —Thomas Jefferson (1781)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

So, Susan Rice Was the One ‘Unmasking’1

Bloomberg’s Eli Lake has a critical update2 on the kerfuffle3 involving Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Devin Nunes, U.S. intelligence and Russia.

White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The pattern of Rice’s requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government’s policy on “unmasking” the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like “U.S. Person One.”

The relevant intelligence reports pertained largely to conversations between foreign leaders regarding the Trump administration’s transition, though some of those conversations involved members of Trump’s team. And, as Lake notes, Rice’s behavior highlights the issue so many Americans have with the wide net of government surveillance — trusting those who are doing the surveilling.

It doesn’t help that back in March she insisted4, “I know nothing about this.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the one leading the congressional investigation into the whole affair, has been embattled by controversy because of a visit to the White House to review relevant material. Unfortunately, he’s come off looking more like a Trump surrogate than an independent investigator. But Lake explains why that visit wasn’t what it seems:

The news about Rice also sheds light on the strange behavior of Nunes in the last two weeks. It emerged last week that he traveled to the White House last month, the night before he made an explosive allegation about Trump transition officials caught up in incidental surveillance. At the time he said he needed to go to the White House because the reports were only on a database for the executive branch. It now appears that he needed to view computer systems within the National Security Council that would include the logs of Rice’s requests to unmask U.S. persons.

Knowing what we know about the Obama administration, political considerations trumped all other concerns. So while Rice may have acted within the law, a legal battle may also ensue to determine where she was acting in the interest of national security or Obama’s political objectives. The overarching thing to remember is that Democrats are heavily invested in the “Russia hacked the election” narrative so as to delegitimize Donald Trump. Whatever Rice did was almost surely motivated in part by that objective. Readers will recall how adept Rice is at shaping narratives — she was the first to trot out the “YouTube video” excuse for Benghazi5…

The Air Force Flies Over the Rainbow6

Col. Kristin Goodwin, who is openly lesbian, has been nominated to become the next commandant of the U.S. Air Force Academy. She was included on a list7 of several military officers in an announcement from Secretary of Defense James Mattis of nominees for rank increase and position appointments made by Donald Trump. Should Goodwin’s nomination be confirmed, she would be the second openly homosexual service member reaching a significantly high position since Barack Obama repealed the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell8” policy.

Goodwin’s appointment has greatly troubled former Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, who heads the Pray in Jesus Name Project. He is concerned9 over the impact her appointment will have upon religious liberty at the Air Force Academy — a legitimate concern after the AFA’s “So Help Me God10” episode. Klingenschmitt blames the nomination on Barack Obama’s appointees, saying, “Obama’s bureaucrats in the Pentagon are still running the show. Obama is gone. Why does he still have this power?”

While the announcement of Goodwin’s nomination in an Academy article makes no mention of her gender disorientation pathology11, this may be an attempt to fly her under the radar in order to secure Senate approval later this year. In all probability, Goodwin was chosen by Obama lackeys in the Pentagon based primarily upon the fact that she is openly homosexual. In other words, it’s possible she was promoted to this position not despite her sexual orientation but because of it. This is all part of a continuing effort by the Left to fundamentally transform society and culture, and Obama’s effort to destroy military morale12 through social engineering.

The Goodwin choice also highlights the obstructionism game of Democrats13 to slow down the confirmation of Trump’s nominees. Continuing to have Obama appointees entrenched in the government will only prove to further hinder Trump as he seeks to implement his aggressive policy changes.

Top Headlines14

White House to unveil new ObamaCare repeal deal Tuesday. (Washington Examiner15)

Democrats are applying litmus tests to Gorsuch their favorite justices wouldn’t pass. (The Federalist16)

Newspaper editorials pan Democrats' attempt to filibuster Gorsuch, encourage confirmation. (The Washington Free Beacon17)

Trump ready to tackle North Korea alone. (RealClearDefense18.)

Reversing another Obama policy, Trump pulls funding for UN Population Fund. (CNS News19)

California Senate OKs statewide illegal immigrant sanctuary bill. (The Washington Times20)

NCAA lifts ban on hosting events in North Carolina over “bathroom law.” (Mediaite21)

Number of people who owe over $100,000 in student debt has quadrupled in 10 years. (Market Watch22)

New Yorkers shocked to find that people are fleeing their city in droves. (Hot Air23)

Trump donates 1st quarter salary to National Park Service. (Hot Air24)

Policy: The god that failed: Communism & socialism then and now. (The Center for Vision & Values25)

Policy: If Nuclear Deterrence Fails, What’s The Plan? (RealClearDefense26)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report27.
Don’t Miss Patriot Humor

Check out Twice28.

If you’d like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here29.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Politics, Not Qualifications, Decide Gorsuch Nomination30

By James Shott

Senate Democrats are doing the Stanky Legg Two-step in order to dance away from confirming a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Why? He’s a federal judge provably as devoted to following the U.S. Constitution and the body of federal law as any nominee in many years. The Democrats' plan to filibuster Judge Neil Gorsuch is unprecedented for a simple reason: There’s no basis for it except partisanship.

The question now is, will Republicans go “nuclear” and end the filibuster?

Gorsuch, whose record on the bench of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals is as nearly perfect as one can hope to achieve, is precisely the type of judge the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Constitution. He’s a man in the mold of the late Antonin Scalia31, whose vacancy he has been nominated to fill.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gorsuch said his law clerks had compiled information about his 10 years on the bench of the Tenth Circuit Court, which covers about 20% of the U.S. He has participated in more than 2,700 appeals, 97% of those cases were decided unanimously, and he was in the majority 99% of the time. How much more mainstream can one be?

His record clearly identifies him as a mainstream appellate judge, as has the American Bar Association, not an ideologue, or someone who plays favorites. Nevertheless, an exercise designed for confirming a qualified person to sit on the nation’s highest court has devolved into a political war.

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-4-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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U.S. law is a system of rules that govern behavior. Rules and laws must be followed and not following laws has penalties. In the U.S. laws are not static; they can be amended or repealed, but they must be amended or repealed through a specific process. However, some people — primarily liberal Americans — believe that this process may be circumvented by the rulings of activist judges when laws get in the way of their inclinations.

Gorsuch’s adherence to the law is Democrats' primary objection to his nomination. Secondarily, it’s retribution for Republican refusal to even grant hearings to Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland32.

This, too, points to a Democrat anomaly. A principle relating to this situation arose in the Senate in 1992, when then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Joe Biden said that filling Supreme Court vacancies “that would occur in the full throes of an election year,” must be held to a different standard. Citing “a majority of his predecessors,” Biden said that the president, George H.W. Bush, should delay naming a replacement, which would de-politicize the nomination, at least for a while.

In March of last year, “in the full throes of an election year,” Barack Obama ignored the advice that Biden, then his vice president, had offered on the matter years before and nominated Judge Garland. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, liked Biden’s theory, and would not schedule hearings for Garland.

Democrats want judges who decide legal issues on whether their decisions fit the passions of the moment or have their preferred impact on the people. It’s outcome-based judicial activism. Therefore Democrats disapprove of judges who follow the Constitution and the law.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now leading a filibuster to block a vote to confirm the highly qualified and squeaky-clean Gorsuch as retribution for Garland.

Schumer spent 20 minutes on the Senate floor urging his fellow Democrats to oppose Trump’s nominee. Gorsuch, he said, “was unable to convince me he would be a mainstream justice who could rule free from the biases of politics and ideology.” And Gorsuch “is someone who almost instinctively favors the powerful over the weak, corporations over Americans,” Schumer said. “He declined to answer question after question with any substance,” he complained, referring to Gorsuch’s refusal to express his political beliefs or to prejudge issues that may come before the Court.

Others have equally irrelevant objections:

Sen. Kamala Harris: “As U.S. senators, we have an obligation to also examine a nominee’s legal approach and ask whether he or she considers the impact of those decisions on our society and the daily lives of our people.”

Sen. Patty Murray: “I cannot trust that President Trump is acting in the best interest of our country or our democracy and I cannot support moving forward with his choice for the Court.”

Virginia Democrat and former vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine opined, “After meeting with Judge Gorsuch and reviewing his testimony and past decisions, I’ve observed that he has repeatedly taken an activist approach to cases involving a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her health.” Kaine clearly does not understand the definition of judicial activism.

Senate Democrats reportedly have the votes in place to sustain a filibuster to prevent a confirmation vote. Unless…

Following the lead of former Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republicans can use the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules so as to allow a simple majority vote to confirm Gorsuch. Majority Leader McConnell has pledged that one way or another, Gorsuch will be confirmed this Friday. The question is whether McConnell has enough votes for even that. With moderates like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski on the loose, McConnell may not be able to carry through on his promise.

Schumer and Co. must figure it’s a win-win. Republicans either don’t have the votes for the nuclear option and Gorsuch is blocked, or the GOP forever bears the “blame” for nuking the filibuster. Beyond that, however, Democrats aren’t getting anything. Gorsuch replaces Scalia, keeping the previous balance on the court, and Democrats may not have the filibuster in the future when, say, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat is at stake.

Perhaps if Ted Kennedy hadn’t character-assassinated Robert Bork, leading to highly ideological and personal Supreme Court confirmation battles, we wouldn’t be here today.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Trump’s Executive Order Is an Energy Boost33 — Undoing the Clean Power Plan is a great move.
Visualizing Sanctuary County Lawlessness34 — Here are the areas most likely to face major financial repercussions.
Equal Pay Day Hypocrisy35 — By all appearances, even Elizabeth Warren privately thinks the “wage gap” is bogus.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Cal Thomas: Gorsuch and The Ghost of Harry Reid36
Stephen Moore: What Congress Can Learn From the Rhode Island Miracle37
Joe Bastardi: Elation and Frustration38

For more, visit Right Opinion39.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Cal Thomas36: “‘Power’ is defined as the ‘ability to do or act’ and having the ‘capability of doing or accomplishing something.’ As long as Republicans have the majority, they should consider using their power. They have the numbers so they have the ability. The question is, are they capable enough to confirm Gorsuch with little support from Democrats? Sometimes it appears Republicans are more concerned about negative press coverage, which they will get simply because they are Republicans, than about the wrath of voters. All politicians use power to advance their agenda. And now that Democrats are in the minority, they are using what little power they have, aided by their like-minded media colleagues, to stymie the Republican agenda. If the nuclear option is necessary to confirm Judge Gorsuch, Republican senators should use it. And they should keep it for all federal judges, just as Democrats did with President Obama’s nominees. This is what Democrats fear most, because with a clear conservative majority on the Supreme Court and more conservatives on lower courts they could no longer expect judges, rather than legislators, to advance their agenda and they would have to be accountable to voters. Sounds to me like a good option.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “To educate a man is to unfit him to be a slave.” —Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)

For the record: “You’d be hard-pressed to find a more poorly designed program in the federal budget than Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans. The costs are shared between the states and the feds, which means that the more money a state wastes under Medicaid, the bigger the check Washington writes to the state. No wonder the program costs keep spiraling out of control.” —Stephen Moore

Observations: “We are in a golden age of people feeling smug and arrogant. It’s not enough to disagree with people, but you have put them in a full nelson and beat their face into the pavement with your moral, epistemological, and theological superiority.” —Nick Gillespie

Equal Pay Day hypocrisy: “The gender pay gap in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D., Mass.) [office] is nearly 10 percent wider than the national average… Women working for Warren were paid just 71 cents for every dollar paid to men during the 2016 fiscal year.” —The Washington Free Beacon

Dezinformatsiya: “Let us be very clear about this. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Trump team … was spied on illegally. There is no evidence that backs up the president’s original claim. And on this program tonight, we will not insult your intelligence by pretending otherwise, nor will we aid and abet the people who are trying to misinform you, the American people, by creating a diversion.” —CNN’s Don Lemon

And last… “Susan Rice denies exposing the names of Trump staffers under gov surveillance. She claims it was a YouTube video that exposed the names.” —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.