The Patriot Post Digest 1-29-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-29-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Jan. 29, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/53768-mid-day-digest

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Hillary Clinton’s tone deaf “feminism” is still unbelievably hypocritical.
Trump’s message for Davos was that “America is open for business.”
The morally pretentious #MeToo movement is just too much.
Make American Infrastructure Great Again — part of tomorrow’s SOTU.
Fake school shooting statistics just keep showing up.
The NFL makes an attempt at appeasing the military.
Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason.” —Benjamin Franklin (1735)

IN BRIEF

Hillary Clinton, the Faux Feminist1

By Thomas Gallatin

The New York Times reported Friday that, during the 2008 campaign, Hillary Clinton essentially gave a pass to one of her close advisers who was accused of sexual harassment. The Times alleges, “Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager at the time recommended that she fire the adviser, Burns Strider. But Mrs. Clinton did not. Instead, Mr. Strider was docked several weeks of pay and ordered to undergo counseling, and the young woman was moved to a new job.”

While a member of Hillary’s 2008 campaign team, Strider was known as Clinton’s “faith guru” for his daily practice of sending her Bible passages. After the campaign, Strider went on to co-found a faith-based organization called the American Values Network. Five years later he joined David Brock’s pro-Clinton super PAC, Correct the Record, as a senior adviser, though he lasted a mere six months before he was fired for sexually harassing a young aide.

Hillary’s response to the Times story was unsurprisingly tone deaf and obtuse. She tweeted, “A story appeared today about something that happened in 2008. I was dismayed when it occurred, but was heartened the young woman came forward, was heard, and had her concerns taken seriously and addressed. I called her today to tell her how proud I am of her and to make sure she knows what all women should: we deserve to be heard.”

Once again Hillary’s hypocrisy is on full display. When did she ever “hear” and “take seriously” the rape accusations2 leveled against Bill Clinton by Juanita Broderick, or charges of various sexual misconduct by Paula Jones and Kathleen Wiley? And with this latest revelation, Hillary was in position to fire the offender, but she kept him in place and moved the victim. How’s that for defending women?

On a related note, a video also surfaced Friday of Hillary telling feminist supporters, “Thanks for your feminism, for your activism, and all I can hope is you keep up the really important, good work.” Then, when directed from off camera, she repeated with a chuckle, “And let me just say, this is directed to the activist b-tches supporting b-tches, so let’s go.” Nothing like a demeaning and deplorable comment to boost support.

While Hillary may run ads pronouncing her support for women, hearing them and standing up for them, the reality is that Hillary is about what she has always been about — promoting herself as she angles for power.

Trump in Davos: ‘America Is Open for Business’3

By Nate Jackson

As we noted last week4, President Donald Trump became the first president since Bill Clinton to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ahead of his speech there, USA Today ran a “news” story headlined, “President Trump May Be Giving a Speech to an Empty Room in Davos.” Evidently, “sources” told the paper of a boycott call by some Africans, but it turned out to be fake news. Trump addressed a packed auditorium, and the line to get in was hours long. Indeed, even CNN got it right that Trump received “rock star attention” at Davos.

So without further ado, here are some of his remarks:

The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America. I’m here to deliver a simple message: There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest, and to grow in the United States. America is open for business, and we are competitive once again.

The American economy is by far the largest in the world, and we’ve just enacted the most significant tax cuts and reform in American history. …

Now is the perfect time to bring your business, your jobs, and your investments to the United States. This is especially true because we have undertaken the most extensive regulatory reduction ever conceived. Regulation is stealth taxation. …

America is the place to do business. So come to America, where you can innovate, create, and build. I believe in America. As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like the leaders of other countries should put their country first also.

But America first does not mean America alone. When the United States grows, so does the world. American prosperity has created countless jobs all around the globe, and the drive for excellence, creativity, and innovation in the U.S. has led to important discoveries that help people everywhere live more prosperous and far healthier lives.“

As we said Thursday, long gone are the Barack Obama days of apologizing for America and weakening our bargaining position. "America First” was apparently a welcome message on the world stage, too.

Top Headlines5

Pelosi: Immigration framework is a “campaign to Make America White Again” (Hot Air6)

Sanctuaries: 675 jurisdictions wouldn’t turn over criminal aliens to ICE (CNS News7)

Census Bureau rejects Obama’s proposed racially divisive changes (The Daily Signal8.)

Village Idiots: Hollywood liberals to offer alternative State of the Union (The Resurgent9)

Three high-tax states sue to fight legislation that cuts deductions (NBC News10)

Shock, Las Vegas mogul has sex scandal history: RNC finance chair resigns over misconduct (Fox News11)

Feminist Grammys? Only one woman — Alessia Cara — won a main award (Daily News12)

Hillary Clinton helps politicize Grammy Awards, reading Fire and Fury (The Daily Wire13)

15 times major media outlets used a statistic about plastic straws based on research by a nine-year-old (Reason14)

Humor: Facebook now requires blood sacrifice before anyone will see your page’s posts (The Babylon Bee15)

Policy: The key points Trump will talk about in first State of the Union (The Daily Signal16)

Policy: Is $1.7 trillion too much to rebuild America? Not at all (Investor’s Business Daily17)

For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report18.

FEATURED ANALYSIS
A Morally Pretentious #MeToo Movement19

By Arnold Ahlert

One of the leading voices of the feminist movement is being excoriated20 for taking on the insufferably self-righteous perpetrators of the #MeToo movement.

“I want, I’ve always wanted, to see women react immediately,” Germaine Greer stated during an interview21 in London, preceding a gala where she was named Australian of the Year in Britain. “In the old days, there were movies — the Carry On comedies, for example — which always had a man leering after women. And the women always outwitted him — he was a fool. We weren’t afraid of him and we weren’t afraid to slap him down.”

“What makes it different is when the man has economic power, as Harvey Weinstein has. But if you spread your legs because he said, ‘Be nice to me and I’ll give you a job in a movie,’ then I’m afraid that’s tantamount to consent, and it’s too late now to start whingeing about that,” she added.

“Whinge” is the British version of “whine,” and there was no shortage of whining in response to Greer’s assertion. Columnist Tracy E. Gilchrist insists22 Greer appears “stuck in another era,” and that she “victim-blamed in the middle of making the point.” Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, who believes older generations of feminists blazed a path for today’s social justice warriors, nonetheless characterizes23 Greer as “some older woman or other [who] is brought in to tell anyone who will listen how stupid the whole [#MeToo] endeavour is.”

Stupid? Selective is more like it, and in that regard Greer herself is rightly taken to task for giving Woody Allen a pass regarding allegations by stepdaughter Dylan Farrow that the director molested her when she was seven. “It was 20 years ago, so you want him to stop making movies now? It might be a good idea because he’s probably no good anymore,” Greer stated.

But why single out Greer? Many of the #MeToo warriors themselves also gave Allen a pass for years. And as it is with Harvey Weinstein, their newfound outrage24 demonstrates the same ex post facto hypocrisy of working for Allen first, and criticizing him afterward. Moreover, there’s no shortage of hypocrisy with regard to convicted child rapist25 Roman Polanski: Activist Natalie Portman, who champions her solidarity with sexual harassment victims, once signed a petition calling for Polanski’s pardon.

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-29-2018
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Nonetheless, Greer and other critics of the #MeToo movement, including Catherine Deneuve and 100 prominent French women, are getting hammered26 for suggesting #MeToo is rapidly devolving into a witch hunt. And as it must be for a generation marinated in progressive ideology, “intersectionality” drives that criticism. Thus New Yorker columnist Lauren Collins bemoans27 the fact that Deneuve, et al, are “mostly, though not exclusively, white members of the professional and artistic classes,” whose petition wasn’t signed by “housekeepers or bus drivers.”

For those insufficiently attuned to modern-day feminism, a 2014 column by Ava Vidal reveals what such “intersectionality” is all about. “There is no one-size-fits-all type of feminism,” she writes28. “For example, I am a black woman and as a result I face both racism and sexism as I navigate around everyday life.”

In other words, today’s feminism is less about expanding the boundaries of independence or strength, and more about expanding the boundaries of victimhood.

Why the seeming paradigm shift? “Previous generations understood that our decisions, our whims and consents, had to be ordered by a larger purpose. But the millennial ‘nones’ are the least likely to understand that,” columnist Daniel Greenfield explains29.

The term “nones” is a reference30 to those who do not identify themselves as having any religious affiliation. Tellingly, 36% of Millennials identify as such, a total double that of similar-minded Baby Boomers.

Why is a lack of religion important? “The history of human civilization is built on societies ordering the various states of human emotions to a higher purpose. That is one of the fundamental gifts of religion,” Greenfield explains. “Philosophers across thousands of years sought answers and offered solutions. And then in the last few generations, we tossed them all on the rubbish heap and exchanged them for Marxist pottage.”

That Marxist pottage swaps a higher purpose for “states governed by the emotions of the moment,” and a moral code “based on an academic analysis of power relationships between races, genders and sexual orientations.” As a result, leftists have created an environment “in which consent could be obtained with sufficient pressure,” but also one where “what can be obtained with sufficient pressure can also be withdrawn with sufficient pressure.”

Thus, as Greenfield and Greer have noticed, “retroactively withdrawn consent” drives far too many members of the #MeToo movement — and infuriates them when they’re called on it.

That fury can’t obscure the reality that the women who allowed Harvey Weinstein to exploit them made the choice that an acting career was worth compromising their integrity. That doesn’t mean Weinstein, and the rest of overwhelmingly leftist predators with power to procure sexual favors, aren’t utter low-lifes. It just means a lot of women need to be honest about what their priorities were.

And are. It’s worth remembering that after many of them became stars — and thus economically comfortable — the only real downside to outing these predators would have been having a harder time getting additional roles — often from the same predators.

That doesn’t mean outing them retroactively isn’t a good thing. Going forward, women will undoubtedly benefit from what appears to be a permanent alteration of a contemptible dynamic that has played itself out for far too long.

But telling America what paragons of integrity they are now? It is revealing that both Rose McGowan and Asia Argento, the two women who accused Harvey Weinstein of rape, and are arguably the primary catalysts of the #MeToo movement, both insist31 they weren’t invited to the 2018 Golden Globes, the awards-show-turned-paean32 to sexual harassment, in all its black gowns-only glory.

Thus, despite all of the ostensible high-mindedness championed by the current generation of feminists, perhaps “states governed by the emotions of the moment” — with an ample dose of hypocrisy added to the mix — is the best we can expect.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Make American Infrastructure Great Again35 — Donald Trump plans to announce some major infrastructure plans in his State of the Union.
NY Times Peddles More School Shooting Deception36 — School shootings are no doubt heartbreaking. But the bigger story is the Times is complicit in its own immorality.
NFL Seeks to Appease Military37 — To save face, commissioner Goodell announces that Medal of Honor recipients will make the Super Bowl coin toss.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

David Harsanyi: The Russia ‘Fake News’ Scare Is All About Chilling Speech38
Ken Blackwell: Scrapping the Bail System Is a Bad Idea39
James Thrasher: What’s the Purpose of Higher Education?40
Todd Starnes: Grade School Uses Sex Columnist to Promote Gender Identity41
Peggy Noonan: The Lies of ‘The Crown’ and ‘The Post’42
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion43.

OPINION IN BRIEF

David Harsanyi: “Lots of people in the United States seem pretty impressed by how they do things in Europe. In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May is launching a ‘rapid response unit’ run by the state to ‘battle the proliferation of "fake news” online.’ The ‘national security communications unit’ will be tasked with combating misinformation — as if it has either the power or ability to do so. In France, President Emmanuel Macron is working on a plan to combat ‘fake news,’ which includes the power to institute an emergency block on websites during elections. What could possibly go wrong? Me? I’d rather we live with Russian troll bots feeding us nonsense than authoritarian senators dictating how we consume news. I mean, has anyone yet produced a single voter who lost his free will during the 2016 election because he had a Twitter interaction with an employee of a St. Petersburg troll farm? Or do voters tend to seek out the stories that back their own worldviews? If your argument is that Americans are uninformed and easily misled, I’m with you. Just look at all the people who believe that a $46,000 buy on Facebook by the Russians was enough to destroy the pillars of our democracy. But if you want to live in a free and vibrant nation, you have to live with the externalities of that freedom.“

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: "Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends.”

Upright: “There is a cooling and there is a heating. I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. That wasn’t working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place.” —Donald Trump

For the record: “It’s possible Mueller has damaging evidence of Russian collusion and subsequent obstruction that we’re not aware of. But, from the outside, this increasingly looks like an investigation about an investigation.” —Rich Lowry

Broken clock… “Well, sure. Everybody should be pleased when any worker gets a raise.” —Sen. Bernie Sanders

Race bait: “[Donald Trump’s immigration] plan is a campaign to make America white again. They are changing the character of our country with what they are putting forth. They bring a tear to the eye of the Statue of Liberty and fear to the hearts of people who are here playing by the rules.” —Nancy Pelosi playing the race card and laughably claiming Republicans are targeting “those who are here playing by the rules.” (“You know what, we don’t need that type of rhetoric on either side, from Nancy, Paul Ryan or anybody else.” —Sen. Joe Manchin)

The BIG Lie: “People don’t understand — the one problem I think the current occupant of the White House — they don’t understand that sanctuary cities is [sic] what helps law enforcement. It helps public safety.” —Nancy Pelosi

Braying Jackass: “Personally, I just won’t believe [the claim on Trump’s weight] until he produces his long-form girth certificate.” —John Kerry

Cultural rebuttal: “Don’t ruin great music with trash. Some of us love music without the politics thrown in it.” —Nikki Haley on Hillary Clinton’s tone deaf Grammys appearance44

And last: “This is just too serious. This is how you lose a country — when the Department of Justice becomes ‘just us.’” —Rep. Louie Gohmert on apparent FBI bias and corruption

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. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher