The Patriot Post Digest 3-1-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-1-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Mar. 1, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/54484-mid-day-digest

IN TODAY’S EDITION

The president’s televised meeting with lawmakers to discuss gun measures didn’t go well.
After Oakland’s mayor warns of ICE raids, Nancy Pelosi defends “patriotic” illegals.
When activism replaces education, you get the rise of “New Civics.”
There’s a Golden State homeless epidemic.
Another reason leftists don’t want guns in schools — kids would no longer be afraid.
Google misses the mark by censoring the word “gun.”
Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” —Thomas Jefferson (1774)

FEATURED ANALYSIS
Trump Shoots From the Hip on Gun Policy1

By Nate Jackson

President Donald Trump held a televised meeting with lawmakers Wednesday to discuss gun measures. Don’t panic, but there’s plenty to criticize, so we’ll quote him and then get to that criticism.

The statement Trump made that’s rightly getting the most attention is this: “Take the guns first, go through due process second.”

It was a retort to Vice President Mike Pence, who addressed the concept of gun violence restraining orders, which provide an avenue for law enforcement to take away guns from potentially violent individuals after proper court proceedings. “Allow due process, so that no one’s rights are trampled,” Pence said. Trump interrupted by seeming to chuck the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, too. “Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court,” he said. “Because a lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida. … To go to court would have taken a long time.”

Trump wasn’t done. “It would be so beautiful to have one bill that everybody could support as opposed to, you know, 15 bills,” he said. What did he mean? He was referring to previously defeated background check measures and mental health provisions, for starters. But he even encouraged Sen. Dianne Feinstein to throw in her ban on semi-automatic rifles: “Dianne, if you could add what you have also — and I think you can — into the bill…” She was utterly giddy at the prospect.

Evidently, however, that “so beautiful … one bill” has its limits. Trump rejected Rep. Steve Scalise’s2 proposal to include national concealed carry reciprocity (which the House has already passed3) in the bill, saying, “If you add concealed carry to this, you’ll never get it passed. We want to get something done.”

“What surprises me more than anything else is that nothing’s been done for all of these years,” Trump marveled. “Because I really see a lot of common ground. … It’s time that a president stepped up.”

Trump still wasn’t done. His next target was the NRA4. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who sponsored some of the aforementioned background check legislation, did not include a provision raising the age for rifle buyers, which the NRA opposes. Trump told him, “You know why? Because you’re afraid of the NRA.” Trump continued, “They have great power over you people. They have less power over me. … Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can’t be petrified.”

Whew — that was quite a barrage of rhetoric that should upset even the most ardent Trumpist. So, a few observations.

Regarding Trump’s dismissal of due process, Reason’s Nick Gillespie notes5, “This comes from a president who only a few weeks ago wondered aloud on Twitter, ‘Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?’” That was when White House aide Rob Porter was under fire6 for domestic abuse. So there’s that.

Now? Due process is subject to his visceral and emotional response to a truly horrific school attack. Anybody who feels anything wants to prevent any such attack from ever happening again. Trump, with his ill-considered musings, wanted to show he cares that a guy who was known by law enforcement7 to be a threat was still able to obtain firearms and attack a school.

That said, even if we’re to take Trump “seriously but not literally,” and even if he merely expressed an idea poorly, authoritarian pronouncements are inexcusable.

The same goes for his nonsense about the NRA. Trump was elected in part with some heavy lifting by the NRA, but he rejects being seen as anyone’s tool. That he threw his fellow Republicans under the bus for standing for their own Second Amendment beliefs, however, is petty and pathetic.

As for the “get something done” line, Trump is a big-picture guy, and he’s looking at the November election thinking that it will be bad if Republicans once again “do nothing” on guns. He wants a deal, and the details matter less than the perception of a political “victory” for him.

For some parting thoughts, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said in a statement: “Strong leaders don’t automatically agree with the last thing that was said to them. We have the Second Amendment and due process of law for a reason. We’re not ditching any Constitutional protections simply because the last person the President talked to today doesn’t like them.”

David Thornton writes8, “It would be an unhappy irony for gun owners if Donald Trump, endorsed by the NRA even though he was a former Democrat who had supported gun control in the past, became the Republican president who overcame the gun lobby to enact the first significant gun control legislation since the 1990s. Stranger things have happened.”

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) referred to Trump’s reality TV background when he said of the meeting, “I thought it was fascinating television.”

“Many ideas, some good & some not so good, emerged from our bipartisan meeting on school safety yesterday at the White House,” Trump tweeted this morning. “Background Checks a big part of conversation. Gun free zones are proven targets of killers. After many years, a Bill should emerge. Respect 2nd Amendment!” Let’s hope he listens to his own advice.

Unpatriotic Pelosi Criticizes ICE Raids9

By Thomas Gallatin

The Democrat mayor of Oakland, California, Libby Schaaf, issued a public announcement Monday warning illegal aliens of an impending raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Schaaf defended her illegal action stating that it was her “duty and moral obligation as mayor to give those families fair warning when that threat appears imminent.” By Wednesday, ICE had conducted its sweep and was able to collect 150 illegal aliens, though another 864 criminal aliens targeted for arrest were able to avoid capture.

Following the raid, ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan publicly blasted Schaaf, stating, “The Oakland mayor’s decision to publicize her suspicions about ICE operations further increased the risk for my officers and alerted criminal aliens — making clear that this reckless decision was based on her political agenda with the very federal laws that ICE is sworn to uphold.” Homan added, “However, 864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large in the community, and I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor’s irresponsible decision. Unlike the politicians who attempt to undermine ICE’s critical mission, our officers will continue to fulfill their sworn duty to protect public safety.”

Schaaf sought again to defend her actions with an absurd and contradictory statement: “I do not regret sharing this information. It is Oakland’s legal right to be a sanctuary city and we have not broken any laws. We believe our community is safer when families stay together. We know that law-abiding residents live in fear of arrest and deportation every day. My priority is for the long-term well-being of Oakland, and I know that our city is safer when we share information that leads to community awareness.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-1-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The mayor’s claims here would be frankly laughable if the situation wasn’t so criminal. With her references to having not broken any laws, the mayor must believe that she is a law unto herself, not bound by any laws outside of her own ideals. The fact is Schaaf has broken the law, as Hot Air’s Jazz Shaw clearly points out10, and she needs to be held to account. The Justice Department is looking into it11. While her willful cognitive dissidence regarding what constitutes legal versus illegal should be shocking, unfortunately it has become par for the course among California’s Democrats.

Enter House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She jumped to Schaaf’s defense and railed against Donald Trump and his commitment to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, claiming that Trump was abusing his law enforcement power, using it “indiscriminately” and in a “cowardly” fashion against those “hard-working, law-abiding … patriotic” illegal aliens. Both Pelosi and Schaaf redefine and reverse the definitions of the terms “lawful”, “legal” and “safe” to fit their own political agendas. But Pelosi has taken it a step further. Recall that just last week she labeled the Republican tax cut “unpatriotic12.” Now here she is describing non-citizen, illegal aliens as “patriotic.” By definition, illegal aliens are law-breakers who don’t pay taxes and are taking advantage of community benefits13 afforded by taxpaying Americans. How exactly is that patriotic, Nancy? Stealing, lying and cheating, which every single illegal alien is guilty of, let alone the more serious crimes14 that many have been caught engaging in, are not what constitutes patriotism.

Top Headlines15

Billy Graham16 honored in the halls where he witnessed (The Daily Signal17)

Walmart raises minimum age to purchase guns, ammunition to 21 (The Washington Times18.)

Americans and Russians fought a battle in Syria — it’s time to care (National Review19)

Russian spies hacked the Olympics and tried to make it look like North Korea did it, U.S. officials say (The Washington Post20)

Paul Manafort pleads not guilty to charges filed after Rick Gates plea deal (NBC News21)

Mike Lee and Bernie Sanders come together to end U.S. involvement in Yemen (Washington Examiner22)

YouTube secretly using Southern Poverty Law Center23 to police videos (The Daily Caller24)

Administration sends Congress framework for prison reform (The Washington Free Beacon25)

Hope Hicks resigns as White House communications director (Fox News26)

Humor: Delta pilot refuses to land until gun control legislation passed (The Onion27)

Policy: Union policies to blame for lower pay for good teachers (The Daily Signal28.)

Policy: BPA safety confirmed again (Independent Women’s Forum29)

For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report30.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

When Activism Replaces Education: The Rise of New Civics34 — So-called New Civics programs seek to replace traditional civics education with “service learning.”
Another Reason Leftists Don’t Want Guns in Schools35 — They don’t want their future gun-control enablers to become less fearful of firearms.
Google Misses the Mark in Censoring the Word ‘Gun’36 — By engaging in anti-gun virtue signaling, the Internet giant displays its leftist bias.
A Golden State Homeless Epidemic37 — As always for progressives, it’s all about a lack of money — and a lack of compassion.
Video: How to Protect Against ‘Anti-Freedom Loopholes’38 — “Disarmament isn’t just guns & the Second Amendment. Any human right can be disarmed.”

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Ken Blackwell: Anti-Gun Activists Attack Responsible Gun Owners39
Jeff Jacoby: Government Unions Play Politics With Unconstitutional Dollars40
Tony Perkins: Billy Graham: A Life of Honor Lies in Honor41
Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Generals Are Too Valuable to Be Dismissed42
Ed Feulner: The Legacy of William F. Buckley Jr.43
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion44.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Ken Blackwell: “In the short term NRA members will pay a price as companies run scared. However, in the longer term corporate cowards may come to regret their hasty capitulation to left-wing pressure. For instance, in Georgia Republican leaders have threatened Delta with the loss of a tax exemption on jet fuel. More important, a month from now anti-gun activists will have moved on to new causes and targets. They won’t be flying or buying more to reward firms that dumped NRA members. New businesses will come forward to serve the five million members and their families united by a commitment to the Constitution and individual liberty. And NRA members won’t forget who cut and ran. They will punish firms and associations that joined the anti-gun bandwagon, taking their business elsewhere. Gun owners have long memories. They know that protecting their Second Amendment rights is a permanent battle.”

SHORT CUTS

The BIG Lie: “Schools are meant to be safe — they are sites of growth and development for young people. But as of 2013, the United States has averaged nearly one school shooting per week.” —abortion mill Planned Parenthood, which not only lies about school shootings45 but has ensured that millions of babies are unable to attend these “sites of growth and development for young people”

For the record: “Interesting fact: Planned Parenthood has killed 330,000 more children than the NRA in the past year.” —Matt Walsh

Braying Jenny: “The Trump administration’s [immigration] raids were a shocking abuse of law enforcement power. Yet again, the White House has reached into our communities to indiscriminately detain scores of hard-working, law-abiding immigrants. … This raid was intended solely to terrorize innocent immigrant families and instill fear in the hearts of our communities — not to keep Americans safe.” —Nancy Pelosi, upset that Trump is enforcing the law

Braying Jackass: “I don’t think you can go too far. I think that I’m still doing a comedy show and I need to be funny and entertain my audience but I also think we’ve matured enough to the point where we can accept late-night talk-show hosts speaking about a serious subject, and I think that it’s almost necessary now.” —Jimmy Kimmel

Irony alert: “I say this as a former Secretary of State and as an American: the Russians are still coming. Our intelligence professionals are imploring Trump to act. Will he continue to ignore & surrender, or protect our country?” —Hillary Clinton, who used Russia to fill her coffers

Alpha Jackass: “Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out, turning men into women and women into men. … White folks are going down.” —Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, friend of Barack Obama and Keith Ellison46

Late-night humor: “Former President Obama recently said at a private speech that people didn’t hear about the drama in his White House. Like the time Joe Biden spilled Four Loko on the Constitution.” —Seth Meyers

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