The Patriot Post Digest 7-11-2017

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 7-11-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 11, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Did James Comey leak classified information? Either way, his intent was to hurt Trump.
Government scientists make bold climate claims citing data that relies on deceit.
Leftists say Republicans vote against their constituents’ interests. That’s dead wrong.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.” —Samuel Adams (1749)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Comey’s Double Standard?1

So the latest news is that four of the seven memos former FBI Director James Comey2 wrote following his meetings with Donald Trump contained classified information — “secret” or “confidential,” but not “top secret.” Whether any of them were the ones he then subsequently leaked to The New York Times is unclear. If that were the case, it could land Comey in hot water — or at least it should.

At the time of his testimony before the Senate, Comey insisted that his memos were personal and therefore he did not consider them to be government documents. However, the FBI concluded that all of the memos were in fact deemed to be government documents, and therefore government property. The Hill reports3, “FBI policy forbids any agent from releasing classified information or any information from ongoing investigations or sensitive operations without prior written permission, and it mandates that all records created during official duties are considered to be government property.” It would appear that Comey was playing fast and loose with the rules. We certainly know his intent from his own mouth — he wanted to bring about a special prosecutor.

In an interview with Fox News, White House Counsel Kellyanne Conway said, “The boy scout, choir boy defense doesn’t hold up here because if it contains classified information, he is apparently violating, at the very least, what all FBI members sign. They sign a document saying you will not do something like this. He was the director of the entire bureau.” She continued, “The irony, to me anyway … is that this is exactly the problem that Hillary Clinton had with her illegal server — the handling of classified and confidential information that Jim Comey was meant to investigate, if not prosecute.”

Far from being an apolitical law-and-order kind of a guy, Comey is looking more and more like an individual who was heavily invested in securing his own position of power in the Swamp. His application of rules regarding those he deemed to be the political power players like Hillary Clinton reveal why he bent over backwards to let her off. It also now appears that he saw himself as one positioned above the rules. It will be interesting to see where this news leads.

Revisionist History Augments Global Warming4

Global temperature chicanery is a substantiated and metastasizing problem5. And the longer these shenanigans go ignored, the more taxpayers all over the world are being embarrassingly duped into forking over money to address an obscure, perhaps even non-existent, problem. In a new study6, well-known researchers Dr. James P. Wallace III, Dr. Joseph S. D'Aleo and Dr. Craig D. Idso explore and affirm the issue of revisionist temperature data, the results of which significantly tarnish the “settled science” narrative.

“The objective of this research,” the team writes, “was to test the hypothesis that Global Average Surface Temperature (GAST) data, produced by NOAA, NASA, and HADLEY, are sufficiently credible estimates of global average temperatures such that they can be relied upon for climate modeling and policy analysis purposes.” What the researchers discovered was “that each new version of GAST has nearly always exhibited a steeper warming linear trend over its entire history. And, it was nearly always accomplished by systematically removing the previously existing cyclical temperature pattern.” In other words, much like how the Left constantly revises history to advance its ideology, government scientists are making bold climate claims citing data that relies on conjecture or, worse, outright deceit.

The study continues, “The conclusive findings of this research are that the three GAST data sets are not a valid representation of reality. In fact, the magnitude of their historical data adjustments … are totally inconsistent with published and credible U.S. and other temperature data. Thus, it is impossible to conclude from the three published GAST data sets that recent years have been the warmest ever — despite current claims of record setting warming.” As Dr. D'Aleo explained to one media outlet, “Nearly all of the warming they are now showing are in the adjustments. Each dataset pushed down the 1940s warming and pushed up the current warming.” Scientists who demand that we place unbridled trust in their integrity are proving just why so many of their assertions are tossed into the “fake news” category.

Top Headlines7

Mosul reclaimed: ISIS routed from Iraqi city by U.S.-led coalition. (Fox News8.)

Marine plane crash in Mississippi kills 16. (ABC News9)

China’s spy network in United States includes 25,000 intelligence officers. (The Washington Free Beacon10)

Lawmakers cite evidence Russia “colludes” with U.S. green groups to block fracking. (The Daily Signal11)

ObamaCare impact: 22% of small businesses are hiring few workers or reducing salaries. (The Washington Free Beacon12)

Democrats hatch plans A, B, and C to impeach Trump. (The Daily Signal13)

U.S. Post Office spent big bucks to federal employees while they campaigned for Clinton. (Hot Air14)

Federal prosecutors step up probe of land deal pushed by wife of Bernie Sanders. (The Washington Post15)

Linda Sarsour’s call for “jihad” against President Trump is a call for treason. (The Federalist16)

Humor: Shocking new study suggests disagreeing with gay, trans people not same as hating them. (The Babylon Bee17)

Policy: Sharp partisan divisions in views of national institutions. (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press18.)

Policy: The Child Tax Credit is no elixir for family policy. (National Review19)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report20.
Don’t Miss Patriot Humor

Check out Riddle Me This21.

If you’d like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here22.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Do Republicans Really Work Against Their Constituents’ Interests?23

By James Shott

It’s not news — not even fake news — that the political Right and the political Left don’t see things the same way; they are different. The Left frequently sees things as problems that the Right doesn’t regard as problems, and vice versa. And even when the two sides agree that something is a problem, they have vastly different ways of addressing it. The gulf between the two factions is arguably wider today than ever before.

The idea that Republican voters sometimes/often vote against their own interests is a Democrat talking point, and this myth was the subject of a recent New York Times podcast. The podcast host, Times managing editor Michael Barbaro, interviewed domestic-affairs correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg, who cited the situation in Kentucky, one of the states that suffered mightily when the war on coal put enough people out of work to run Kentucky’s coal jobs to the lowest level in 118 years.

The out-of-work miners, forced onto Medicaid by the war on coal, benefited greatly from ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion, Stolberg said, “yet, its Republican senators are leading the charge for ObamaCare repeal, including for Medicaid reform. How can that be?”

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 7-11-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

The answer to that question comes from the different ways of looking at the world and at life from opposite sides of the political spectrum.

Which of the following sets of ideas do you most closely observe?

The nuclear family is an antiquated idea, traditional ideas of morality and culture are oppressive, sexual autonomy is a virtue, and we just can’t get by without government “help.”
We graduate from high school and possibly college, find a job to sustain ourselves, marry, and then have children and raise a family.

If you chose 1, you almost certainly lean toward the political Left; if you chose 2, you likely lean toward the political Right. These different views of how to live our lives define why Republicans vote against what seem to be their “interests.”

“Now, between the two parties, which one has centered its appeal around married parents with kids and which party has doubled down on single moms?” National Review’s David French asks24. “Even worse, the Democrats’ far-left base has intentionally attacked the nuclear family as archaic and patriarchal. It has celebrated sexual autonomy as a cardinal virtue. Then, when faced with the fractured families that result, it says, ‘Here, let the government help.’”

How does this relate to Kentucky’s Republican senators? They’re voting on their ideas of what makes America great, and according to French, those interests “depend on the complex interplay between our faith, our families, and our communities.” It’s all about core values.

New York Times columnist David Brooks traces25 these values back to American frontier towns, where life was “fragile, perilous, lonely and remorseless,” and where a “single slip could produce disaster.” As a result, the frontier folk learned to practice “self-restraint, temperance, self-control and strictness of conscience.”

Those values are at the heart of the American experience of carving a powerful and free republic out of a wilderness, a nation that has as a result led the world for decades. They reflect the Biblical values brought here and cultivated during America’s first turbulent and troubled decades, and which formed the basis of the government created following the “Colexit” of the Colonies from Mother England’s repressive grasp.

Republicans, or at least those who are true conservatives, honor the ideals of Liberty, personal responsibility, self-reliance, and limited government, and to a less-than-perfect degree — but a far greater degree than those who call themselves liberals, progressives, or socialists — try to live by these values.

Kentucky’s Republican senators dislike the government’s solution to the problem that the government itself created when it over-regulated nearly everything, and so they see a vote against maintaining this absurdity as a virtuous one. They prefer a system freeing Americans to make their own decisions about health care and health insurance without the one-size-fits-nobody concept Democrats created that we commonly call ObamaCare.

Their vote seemingly punishes those they should most want to help: their constituents and supporters. But the bigger picture shows instead the desire to free their constituents from the damaging big government policies that put them on the government dole. They want to create an environment where they can find another job that can sustain them above the poverty line, and off of Medicaid.

Republicans want to do away with this Democrat-created problem. Their fundamental goal is to free Americans from this horrible, failed big government mechanism. Democrats’ aim is to ultimately create a single-payer, totally government-controlled health care system that would mirror the British system. You know the one: It recently took control of decisions on seriously ill infant Charlie Gard’s care away from his parents, and effectively ordered Charlie’s death26.

That case demonstrates precisely how government-run health care will degenerate into death panels — a system where government makes decisions about who lives and dies based on numbers on a spreadsheet. And that explains why Republicans seem to vote against their constituents’ interests. They’re not voting against them at all, but for their Liberty.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

The Enigma of Syrian Policy27 — The situation is as complex a foreign policy dilemma as any administration will face, but Trump must make a plan.
Obama Transgender Military Regs Put on Hold28 — Defense Secretary James Mattis stops implementation of new regulations to conduct a six-month readiness impact analysis.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Stephen Moore: Why the Greens Hate Nuclear Power29
Gary Bauer: Comey’s Crimes?30
Dennis Prager: The Atlantic Publishes All You Need to Know About the Left31

For more, visit Right Opinion32.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Stephen Moore: “Nothing exposes the insincerity of the global climate change movement as does the Left’s hatred of nuclear power. We can save the planet from climate change and have all the power we need at affordable prices. But just as the greens are against clean natural gas and fracking, they also oppose nuclear power. The radical environmentalists are insisting that the only energy alternative that will save the planet is wind and solar power — the two options guaranteed to most decelerate modern industrialization and economic progress across the globe. Perhaps that is what the far Left really wants: to force mankind to slow down growth and human advancement. If that is their real agenda, then forcing businesses and families to use inferior and expensive energy is a smart strategy.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.” —Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

Non sequitur: “My grandfather went into World War I on a horse. … But nobody rides a horse … for a living [now]. … Everything changed in two decades. So let’s change everything. We can do this people. Let’s go.” —climate alarmist Bill Nye

Non Compos Mentis: “My discomfort with the gender-reveal party goes beyond my standard objection to fanfare surrounding gestational markers… The issue with gender-reveal parties in particular is: Aren’t they potentially damaging to said tiny humans? For starters, gender-reveal parties don’t actually reveal gender — they reveal anatomy. Gender is a wholly different thing, inextricably tied to the social constructs around it.” —Diane Stopyra in the Cosmopolitan piece, “Dear Parents-to-Be: Stop Celebrating Your Baby’s Gender”

Friendly fire: “In defense we took a wide range of actions [on Russian meddling]. But I don’t think — I think it’s quite clear that that was not sufficient.” —former Obama Secretary of Defense Ash Carter

Alpha Jackass: “The Trump administration is deporting Latinos to make the streets safer. You wanna make the streets safer deport the police!” —comedian George Lopez

Braying Jackass: “I know there’s trouble in this country and we need a guy who can fix that trouble. I wish it was Trump, but it’s not, so let’s just stop whining about what a goon he is and figure out a way to take him aside and put him in a home.” —David Letterman

Belly laugh of the week: “Each day, the Florida senator is quoting a verse from Proverbs, the GOP’s favorite part of the book. Why?” —professor Joel Baden in a byzantine Politico piece titled, “Marco Rubio Is Tweeting the Most Republican Part of the Bible”

And last… “I don’t think Solomon had yet joined the GOP when he wrote the first 29 chapters of Proverbs.” —Marco Rubio responding to Politico

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.