The Patriot Post Digest 4-25-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-25-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Mid-Day Digest

Apr. 25, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump turns up the heat a little further on nine “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
Obama’s Iran deal is getting worse all the time, as Trump is discovering.
100 days: How’s Trump doing on this ritualistic American measuring stick?
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience.” —Alexander Hamilton (1787)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Nine ‘Sanctuary’ Jurisdictions Face Defunding1

The Department of Justice has singled out and distributed a missive to nine jurisdictions2 alerting them to the financial consequences of continuing to shield illegal immigrants. According to the DOJ, “The letters remind the recipient jurisdictions that, as a condition for receiving certain financial year 2016 funding from the Department of Justice, each of these jurisdictions agreed to provide documentation and an opinion from legal counsel validating that they are in compliance with Section 1373.”

That law stipulates: “A Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.” You’ll recall last month3 when Attorney General Jeff Sessions pre-empted Friday’s action: “The Department of Justice will require that jurisdictions seeking or applying for DOJ grants to certify compliance with [U.S. Code 1373] as a condition of receiving those awards.” Obviously, Sessions is signaling that he isn’t bluffing on the sanctuary city crackdown.

To be clear, “These letters are not demanding that police and municipal governments assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in rounding up illegal immigrants subject to deportation orders,” Reason’s Scott Shackford explains4. “The federal government cannot force cities to help them enforce immigration laws. It’s important to understand that, just as they can’t force cities to enforce the federal ban on marijuana possession or consumption.”

Shackford adds, “There is, however, a federal immigration regulation that this small group of cities may be violating. Federal regulations forbid any state or local government from prohibiting its employees from communicating with the feds about any person’s immigration status. So, for example, if a local police officer arrests somebody he knows is an immigrant in the United States illegally, he cannot be prohibited from passing that information along to ICE. The targets of these letters are cities — New Orleans, Miami, Chicago (and Cook County), Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, New York City, Sacramento (California) — that have policies or ordinances that prohibit this communication.”

And that defiance is a big reason the DOJ says that “many of these jurisdictions are … crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime5.” These jurisdictions are actively shielding illegal immigrants, some of whom are felonious. And by doing so they are essentially telling officers of the law to disregard their conscience. That’s a total disregard for Rule of Law.

Words matter. And when word gets around that jurisdictions will defy immigration statutes, it only emboldens illegal immigrants. But words matter when it comes to enforcement too. Donald Trump’s and Sessions' hardline stance on illegal immigration is the driving force for why illegal border crossings are down significantly6. In that sense, the status quo has already been shattered. And cities that pretend otherwise do so at their own peril.

This Iran Deal’s Getting Worse All the Time7

During the campaign, Donald Trump trashed Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran as the “worst deal ever negotiated,” and rightfully so. It was, after all, the sum of all lies8. So when the Trump administration announced a review of the deal and that Iran was currently in compliance with it, leftists smugly responded, “We told you so.” As if that proved the genius of the deal.

National Review’s Jonathan Tobin explains9, “Those who focus on Iranian compliance are missing the big picture about both the consequences of the nuclear deal and the chances for reversing the colossal mistake Obama made with Iran. As Trump and his foreign-policy team are realizing, the issue isn’t so much whether the letter of a deal that will expire within a decade is observed as it is what role Iran is playing in the region while its economy recovers and its nuclear program remains a long-term problem. The threatening talk from Washington isn’t a flimsy cover for a flip-flop. It’s a recognition that the Iranian threat was actually exacerbated by Obama’s gambit.”

How so? Well, for starters, Iran got to keep its nuclear infrastructure, including the ability to continue enriching uranium, all while inspecting itself at its primary weaponization facility. That’s right — Iran can advance its program while still “complying” with the deal. Eight years from now, Iran is free to finish its development of nuclear weapons effectively with the stamp of approval from the West. And as long as Iran is in “compliance,” Trump is going to find it difficult to justify rescinding the deal. Besides, North Korea already has the bomb, meaning our allies are less interested in revisiting the Iran agreement than dealing with the crazy guy firing missiles every other week.

Moreover, Obama paid the mullahs $1.7 billion in clandestinely delivered cash10 in a hostage deal — in which he also released Iranian spies. Flush with that money and some sanctions relief, Iran has no reason to rush, and every reason not to. Iran is gaining regional hegemony, including propping up Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, which the deal did not address at all. Iran thus has practically everything it wanted. Trump’s challenge is figuring out how to renew pressure on Iran and advance U.S. national security interests in the region. Simple enough, right?

Top Headlines11

Sen. McConnell to assemble Senate at White House Wednesday for classified briefing on Pyongyang’s nuclear sociopath, Kim Jong Un. (Fox News12)

U.S. sanctions hundreds of employees of Syrian research center over chemical attacks. (Reuters13)

Thanks to oil boom, McMullen County, Texas, now has the highest average adjusted gross income in the U.S. (Money14)

After three months, Senate finally confirms Perdue as agriculture secretary. (The Washington Post15)

It’s official: Berkeley hit with lawsuit over Coulter lecture. (Washington Examiner16)

Middlebury professor apologizes … to rioters for inviting Charles Murray. (The Federalist17)

Chelseamania!18 Could the latest extension of the Clinton brand be good for U.S. politics? (The Wall Street Journal19)

Democrats to pro-lifers: You are unwanted and may be discarded. (National Review20)

Arkansas executes two inmates in one night, first state to do so since 2000. (Fox News21)

Poll: More Americans now prefer a bigger government with more services to a smaller one with fewer services. (Pew Research Center22)

Policy: The administration must change the Obama narrative that policing is the problem. (City Journal23)

Policy: “Communism for Kids24” turns deadly ideology into a fairy tale. (The Daily Signal25)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report26.
Don’t Miss Patriot Humor

Check out Offended27.

If you’d like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here28.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
100 Days: How’s Trump Doing?29

By Todd Johnson

“No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days.” Really? Let’s evaluate this boast from Donald Trump.

This Saturday, April 29th, will mark 100 days since Trump put his hand on the Bible and took the presidential oath of office on the Capital steps. In the days leading up to this milestone there will be a proliferation of media coverage focused on what he and his administration accomplished since that rainy, overcast day in January. Though there have been a fair number of successes, unfortunately for Trump and his team, the retrospectives will primarily look back at missed opportunities, self-induced wounds, and outright failures. In any case, past is not prologue, and if Trump is able to learn how to influence the governing process from the executive branch he still has the chance to score some real progress before next year’s mid-term elections.

Before examining Trump’s first three plus months as the nation’s chief executive, it’s important to understand why politicians, the media and the American people have put an emphasis on the early days of a modern presidency. Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to the benchmark in a speech in 193330, it has been used to measure presidential progress. It stands to reason that a new president has the best chance to be effective early on in his tenure since he’s coming off a victory. As historian Anthony Badger wrote in his book, “FDR: The First 100 Days,” “The first hundred days of the New Deal have served as a model for future presidents of bold leadership and executive-legislative harmony.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-25-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Candidate Trump set the bar quite high for himself, issuing his Contract With the American Voter31 last October.

As president, he’s accomplished much of the executive side of the list. Trump supporters point especially to his successful Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch, and the 17-year-low on U.S.-Mexico border crossings6. There are also the numerous executive orders32 covering diverse topics from the suspension of the Syrian refugee program to directing the Treasury secretary to review the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law.

The Daily Signal has a list of regulations33 Trump has rolled back so far, from the coal industry to education to welfare requirements to gun restrictions. And he’s reportedly preparing a flurry of new executive orders34 covering things from the VA and oil exploration to health care, tax reform and more. If all goes according to plan, he will have signed more executive orders in his first 100 days than any other president — many of them undoing the power grabs of the previous administration.

But, thanks largely to GOP infighting, he’s utterly failed to accomplish anything with Congress, and that’s where the real meat of his agenda is stuck. In some cases, the blame lies mostly with Congress. Yet Trump hasn’t even introduced several of his priorities. No wonder he now downplays the 100 days mark: “It’s an artificial barrier. It’s not very meaningful.”

To be fair, Trump was elected as an agent of change and his candidacy was the equivalent of a political pyroclastic flow meant to rid Washington, DC, of the old order. And while Trump’s fiery and scorched earth rhetoric may have appealed to disaffected voters during the campaign, he soon discovered that governing is a vastly different proposition than winning the Electoral College. He experienced that dynamic first hand with his inability to find enough support within his own party to pass a health care bill in the House of Representatives, let alone the Senate. More importantly, Trump saw the limitations of his power and hopefully he realized that he couldn’t engender an adversarial relationship with the one institution that can make or break him.

Which leads to a very important question. What does President Trump need to do over the next few months to facilitate his agenda? First, he needs to take note of the congressional calendar, specifically the House’s. A cursory look reveals that there are roughly 44 working days until the August recess, and then only 47 more working days until the end of the year. That isn’t a lot of time, so Trump needs to work with Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on pushing legislation that can quickly pass both the House and the Senate.

Tax reform is an issue that appeals to many in the Republican caucus but it’s probably going to be a major piece (or pieces) of legislation and, if Trump is serious about getting a bill signed into law, he will need to spend a considerable amount of his political capital on it. The last time serious federal tax reform passed was in 1986 and it required herculean efforts from both the executive and legislative branches. In their seminal book about the 1986 tax reform process, “Showdown at Gucci Gulch: Lawmakers, Lobbyists and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform,” authors Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Alan S. Murray identified multiple instances35 during the 18-month process where President Ronald Reagan and his cadre of experts worked with Democrats and Republicans on passing the bill. Tax reform in 2017 will require this same type of determination.

No president can achieve all of his campaign promises right away. So Trump must prioritize what items on his list can be accomplished right now by working with the Republican Congress. He has to build a foundation on one or two issues that will enable him to pursue the rest of his agenda later in his term. The good news is that as a man who has spent his life to creating buildings around the world that’s one concept he will have no problem understanding. For now, we can be glad for his executive success, and continue to push for legislative wins to go with it.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Death Penalty Debate Begins Anew36 — With multiple executions in Arkansas, capital punishment is once again a hot topic. We think it’s justice served.
Do Black Lies Matter? Do All Lies Matter?37 — No, there’s no typo. These are not rhetorical questions. Do black lies matter? Do all lies matter?
Dear America, Obama’s Still Disappointed in You38 — Who’s up for yet another lecture from the former bloviator in chief on the shortcomings of our nation?
The ‘Party of Inclusivity’ Shuns Pro-Lifers39 — “A woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health … is not negotiable.” Don’t dare think otherwise.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Dennis Prager: The Cowards of Academia40
Tony Perkins: Trading Replaces: House Rolls Out New Health Plan41
Ed Feulner: Reining the Big-Government Stampede42

For more, visit Right Opinion43.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Dennis Prager: “Now that student mobs at universities around America (and elsewhere in the West) have silenced conservative speaker after conservative speaker, it has dawned on a small number of left-wing professors that the public is beginning to have contempt for the universities. As a result, a handful of academics at a handful of universities have signed statements on behalf of allowing ‘diverse’ views to be heard at the university. … Next time you read a statement by some professors — virtually all of whom, remember, have been silent for decades — on behalf of allowing opinions other than their own to be expressed on their campuses, take it with a large grain of salt. It’s primarily because some alumni are finally withholding funds from their closed-minded alma maters, or because the students they have produced have become so violent even the mainstream media can’t ignore it. Until they line up to safeguard people like Ann Coulter and stop teaching their students that conservatives are deplorable human beings, their open letters aren’t worth the printer toner that prints them.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “As the national income grows, the federal government will ultimately end up with more revenues. Prosperity is the real way to balance our budget. By lowering tax rates, by increasing jobs and income, we can expand tax revenues and finally bring our budget into balance.” —John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Praise from the Left: “When Obama had press conferences, he had a single piece of white paper and he had six or seven organizations that he had pre-selected to call upon and a lot of them were pretty favorable to him too, you know, generically. And I think Trump’s free-ranging press conferences … are a lot more Democratic than the way that Obama conducted them.” —New York Times' Glenn Thrush

Hyperbole: “During [a recent town hall in Baltimore] a young lady got up and she said, ‘I’m 28 years old.’ She said, ‘The Affordable Care Act saved my life. But I get up every morning [wondering] whether I’m going to be able to get the medication to address my stage four colon cancer.’ So, in four years that lady could be dead. The four years that Trump would be in office.” —Rep. Elijah Cummings

Non Compos Mentis: “Look, we’re a big tent party as Nancy Pelosi said, but we are, let’s make no mistake about it, we are a pro-choice party. We’re a strongly pro-choice party. We think that’s where the American people are, and in fact, if anything, are moving even more in that direction.” —Chuck Schumer

Falling on deaf ears: “It’s important for those who support, as I do, immigration reform and pathways to citizenship for folks who are here not to assume that everybody who has trouble with the current immigration system is automatically racist. That’s an example of us being able to listen.” —Barack Obama

Late-night humor: “Chelsea Clinton recently said that when her mom traveled, she would leave a note for her every day that she was gone. Though every day the note just read, ‘Keep an eye on your father.’” —Jimmy Fallon

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.