The Patriot Post Digest 7-25-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-25-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 25, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Kushner slams the Leftmedia for “ridiculing” Trump voters with Russia nonsense.
The real collusion is between Moscow and the ecofascists to block fracking.
Democrats trot out “brand new” ideas straight from the 1930s.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“It is a happy circumstance in human affairs that evils which are not cured in one way will cure themselves in some other.” —Thomas Jefferson (1791)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Kushner Denies Russian Collusion1

On Monday, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner publicly refuted any notion of having engaged in collusion with the Russians. We know that’s shocking. He stated unequivocally, “I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else on the campaign who did so.” Earlier in the day Kushner also answered questions in a closed-door meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Much of this latest mainstream media churn regarding the Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy transpired due to Donald Trump Jr.‘s admission of a previously undisclosed meeting2 he had with a Russian lawyer. While nothing nefarious came from the meeting, the Leftmedia targeted Kushner for having also attended.

Kushner’s statements to the press as well as his 11-page document detailing the four meetings he had with various Russian officials highlight once again the purely witch-hunting nature of the Demo/MSM’s collusion delusion. Regarding the meeting with the Russian lawyer, Kushner said that he quickly realized the meeting was of no value and described how he got out of it. He said, “I actually emailed an assistant from the meeting after I had been there for 10 or so minutes and wrote, 'Can u pls [sic] call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting.’”

The rest of Kushner’s now-public record makes it patently clear that there was no attempt at collusion. Kushner also had this impressive piece of analysis to offer the press: “Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign, and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him.”

The crime for which Trump has been found guilty is defeating Hillary Clinton, and the Demo/MSM is bound and determined to hold him accountable. No stone will go unturned and no fallacious story unreported until Trump is branded a traitor and removed from office. That is really what this whole Russian conspiracy story is all about, and the Leftmedia is only furthering Vladimir Putin’s objective to sow division and discord among Americans in order to weaken our nation.

Russia Colludes With Ecofascists to Oppose Fracking3

With the mainstream media’s continuous churning of the Donald Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy, one can easily become callous toward any news related to allegations of actual Russian collusion. But to do so would be to ignore the reality that Vladimir Putin does indeed pose a credible threat to Western nations. And it’s not beyond reason to recognize that Putin is still invested in pushing the message of Russian election interference if only to further sow the seeds of division and distrust among Americans regarding the integrity of our electoral system. Leftmedia propaganda outlets are his willing accomplices4.

Another of Putin’s most effective propaganda tools turns out to be environmentalist groups.

For several years now the Russians have invested heavily in the anti-fracking crusade, but not out of any high-minded concerns over the environmental impact. Lacking their own resources or technological development, many Eastern European countries have been forced to look to Russia for their fuel needs. But with the development of fracking technology, several European nations have explored using the technology to reach previously untapped energy reserves on their own soil. This poses a threat to Moscow’s near monopoly over the regional energy market.

For example, in 2012, Bulgaria issued a permit to allow Chevron to engage in fracking. Environmental activists protested, presenting dubious claims of contaminated drinking water and other pollution. Eventually, the Bulgarian government caved to the ecofascists and voted to ban fracking. Guess who swooped in to offer a 20% discount for a 10-year natural gas contract — Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy company.

Putin played a similar game in Romania in the funding of environmentalist groups that were successful in stopping any fracking there. In 2014, several European nations banned fracking after protests prompted then-NATO Secretary General Fogh Anders Rasmussen to warn, “Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organizations — environmental organizations working against shale gas — to maintain dependence on imported Russian gas.”

Even Hillary Clinton noted that while she was at the State Department, “We were up against phony environmental groups. And I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand up against any effort. ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of that money supporting that effort was coming from Russia.”

Russia hasn’t stopped its anti-fracking campaign. In 2015, Russia’s state-run media outlet produced no fewer than 60 anti-fracking stories purporting to show studies that determined fracking was “dangerous.” Recently, two Republican representatives wrote a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin demanding that he investigate a shell company accused of funneling millions from the Russian government to a private environmentalist group — the Sea Change Foundation. The tip of the proverbial iceberg.

This is the real Russian meddling story that Congress should be investigating.

Top Headlines5

Trump calls Jeff Sessions “very weak” on Clinton crimes. (Washington Examiner6)

Ailing from brain cancer, McCain to return to Senate in time for ObamaCare repeal vote. (The Washington Free Beacon7)

112,000,000: Medicaid enrollees set to climb 40,000,000 under ObamaCare. (CNS News8.)

IRS doled out more than $24 billion in potentially bogus refunds, audit says. (The Washington Times9)

“Over 60 leaks in the first six months” of Trump administration, likely courtesy of Obama holdovers in the intel community. (CNS News10)

Obama holdovers at the State Department are removing references to ISIS “genocide” against Christians and other religious minorities. (The Washington Free Beacon11)

Christie signs bill requiring NJ schools use preferred pronouns for transgender kids. (The Daily Signal12)

Minnesota is pushing gender identity debate on kindergartners. (The Daily Signal13)

Berkeley radio station cancels Richard Dawkins event over his criticism of Islam. (Hot Air14)

More U.S. cars are being made in Mexico. (Paywall — The Wall Street Journal15)

Policy: The Left’s backward-looking racial narrative. (National Review16)

Policy: Federal Trade Commission unshackles licenses to opportunity. (E2117)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report18.
Don’t Miss Patriot Humor

Check out Political Slogan of the Year19.

If you’d like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here20.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Democrats’ ‘Better Deal’ — Same as the Old New Deal21

By Paul Albaugh

Donald Trump has been president for six months now and if you listen to Democrats and the Leftmedia, you might conclude that he and the Republican-controlled Congress are destroying America. But perhaps there is no better indicator of Trump’s performance thus far as president than to hear Democrats rail about how terrible a job he has done and how horrific his policies are.

Democrats remain dumbfounded at his election and they’re even more confused that the last four special elections ended with Republican victories. Their “progressive” proposals22 and the millions of dollars they’ve wasted on campaigns haven’t worked.

That said, at least Chuck Schumer has enough sense to tell Hillary Clinton to stop blaming everyone else23. “When you lose to somebody who has 40% popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Schumer said. “And the number one thing that we did wrong is … we didn’t tell people what we stood for.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-25-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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So, this week, Democrats introduced their “Better Deal” for America. But you’d be forgiven for thinking it sounds just like everything they’ve been saying for 80 years. As Jonah Goldberg quipped24, “I mean, the word ‘Deal’ is hardly subtle.”

Their beloved highness Nancy Pelosi wrote an opinion piece25 in The Washington Post to lay out this supposedly better deal. Predictably, Pelosi starts by ripping Republicans for wanting to dismantle the (Un)Affordable Care Act, claiming that they’re “trying to raise Americans’ health costs to fund tax breaks for billionaires.” Naturally, she leaves out the details of the Democrats’ health care takeover. The mandate to buy health insurance policies that cover a long list of (often unwanted) required services caused premiums to skyrocket, squeezing the very voters she’s trying to reach with this noxious class warfare.

Trump wants ObamaCare gone, though Senate Republicans failed to accomplish any meaningful repeal and so, for now, we’re stuck with the Democrats’ terrible law.

Aside from this, Pelosi and her fellow Democrats are offering three empty slogans: better jobs, better wages and a better future. All of these sound like fantastic proposals for Americans, but the methods Democrats want to use to accomplish these goals are the same ideas that had the opposite effect and brought on the 2008 financial crisis26.

On jobs, Pelosi writes, “Democrats are pledging ourselves to the goal of creating good-paying, full-time jobs for 10 million more Americans in the next five years.” When is the last time that a politician created a job? Government cannot create jobs without taking money from those who are already working in order to pay for it. Her proposal offers a new tax credit for companies that train and hire skilled workers and offer them a good wage (read: higher minimum wage). Aren’t successful companies already doing this and without a tax credit?

On better wages, beyond a higher, job-destroying $15/hour minimum wage, Pelosi wants government to crack down on large corporations and monopolies that she blames for Americans missing out on opportunities. Yet she calls for more of the same central planning that has never worked and never will work. In fact, to whip these large corporations into shape she wants tougher standards and even more regulations. Well, we just had eight years of excessive regulations and government standards, and such heavy-handed policy was the primary reason for the slowest decade of economic growth in our nation’s history.

On health care, Pelosi and her fellow Democrats want to take “unprecedented action to lower the costs of prescription drugs.” Prescription drugs are far more expensive than they should be, but the biggest reason is — you guessed it — government regulation. But, as usual, rather than rein in the overbearing regulatory commissars27 at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pelosi proposes doubling down. “We will leverage the power of Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices,” she writes, “force drug manufacturers to open their books and justify cost increases, and create a strong, independent enforcement agency empowered to end outrageous and unjustified prescription drug price-gouging.”

Instead, the best way to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for consumers is to keep government out. Let the free market work the way it should and allow companies to compete for better prescription drugs and the costs will go down. Democrats won’t hear of such things.

Every proposal that Pelosi and the Democrat Party have is part of the same old socialist agenda that has already been tested and failed. They want more control over the economy, more regulations, more taxes to pay for their ideas and more power over Americans. That is the Democrats’ vision for a “better” future. Nowhere in Pelosi’s proposal are the ideas of less government, more freedom and more individual rights and responsibilities. Hers is the collectivist, statist vision that is the antithesis to what our Founders intended. And it is an agenda that will make America lose, not win.

But hey, at least Pelosi didn’t blame Vladimir Putin or James Comey28.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Illegal Border Crossings Down, but Immigration Issues Remain29 — Trump’s policies and presence have been positive. Perhaps that momentum can be turned into reform.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Gary Bauer: Focus on Fusion GPS30
Stephen Moore: How to Fix the GOP’s ObamaCare Fiasco31
Cal Thomas: A Plan to Save Social Security32

For more, visit Right Opinion33.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Gary Bauer: “Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are testifying this week to various congressional committees investigating allegations of Russian influence in last year’s presidential election. These are very high-risk, high-profile events in the Left’s efforts to nullify the election results. One person who did not lose sleep last night is Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, the left-wing opposition research company that produced the now infamous Trump/Russia dossier. Simpson was subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify Wednesday. But his attorney informed committee leaders that Simpson would be ‘asserting his Fifth Amendment rights,’ meaning he won’t answer questions because he might incriminate himself. This is exactly what Obama administration officials and Clinton campaign operatives did repeatedly. And they got away with it. … It is … telling that big media, which has been able to learn every jot and tittle of phone conversations that appear to discredit Trump or his appointees, has not chosen to lay out … the highly suspicious circumstances surrounding Fusion GPS.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying ‘Amen’ to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.” —Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1895)

Political futures: “President Trump accomplished only one thing by railing at Attorney General Sessions: He added to the growing disinclination of quality people to work in his administration. No one with self-respect wants to work in a place where the boss not only won’t back you up when the going gets tough, but will turn on you with a vengeance — especially when there’s a need to divert attention from his own shortcomings.” —Andrew McCarthy

Getting the message? “Not one [of my constituents] has brought up Russia to me, not one has brought up impeachment. We have to figure out this heartland messaging if we’re going to get to 218 members of Congress by 2018.” —Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL)

Or not… “For me, the major criminal that exists in the United States of America is called Donald Trump. … And we’re going to take actions today, and we’re going to take actions tomorrow. And there will soon be a majority in the House of Representatives, and I’m going to make sure that I am there to make sure of one thing — that we write those articles of impeachment and take him to trial before the Senate and eliminate him as president of the United States of America.” —Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)

Riiiiiiiight: “Russia is a big story because … journalists love America and America was attacked last year.” —CNN’s Brian Stelter

The BIG Lie: “It’s good that [Trump’s] giving an interview to a, you know, down the middle, unbiased publication like The New York Times.” —CNN’s Poppy Harlow

And last… “Same folks who mocked government death panels kind of quiet about Charlie Gard.” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor

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.