The Patriot Post Digest 4-24-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-24-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Apr. 24, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/55546-mid-day-digest

IN TODAY’S EDITION

The Toronto van attack again reveals it’s the murderous crime, not the tool.
A tale of two neo-Nazi rallies illustrates a lot.
Some of that caravan of refugees has arrived, seeking asylum.
American ingenuity has the U.S. beating other nations at emissions reductions.
Trump may be reconsidering the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.” —John Adams (1798.)

IN BRIEF

Toronto Van Attack — It’s the Crime, Not the Tool1

Nate Jackson

“Pure carnage” was how one emergency medical response member in Toronto responded to Monday’s attack that left 10 dead and 15 injured. The assailant used a rental van to mow people down on a sidewalk before he was stopped and subdued by police.

The immediate thought for most rationale people is to consider all the other attacks in recent years perpetrated by jihadis with vans or trucks plowing into crowds of people to kill as many as possible. Even The New York Times reported2, “The carnage was reminiscent of deadly attacks by Islamic State supporters using vehicles that have shaken up Nice, France3, Berlin4, Barcelona5, London6 and New York7.” The attack in Nice left 85 people dead.

Yet Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said, “The events that happened on the street behind us are horrendous, but they do not appear to be connected in any way to national security based on the information at this time.” In other words, authorities aren’t convinced this was radical Islamic jihad. Instead, indications are the perpetrator is mentally ill. At the same time, said Toronto Police Service Chief Mark Saunders, “We don’t rule out anything.” Witnesses described the attack as deliberate, so we’ll await the investigation.

One thing is certain: If this man had killed 10 people with a gun instead of a van, we’d be hearing calls to ban the tool he used rather than address the underlying issue.

Tale of Two Protests8

Thomas Gallatin

Over the weekend, a small band of approximately two dozen neo-Nazi white supremacists gathered for a public rally in Newnan, Georgia, a small town just 38 miles southwest of Atlanta. Similar to the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville9, Virginia, last year, counterdemonstrators showed up to protest against the white supremacists. Many of those counterprotesters were members of the violent, extreme leftist group antifa. Recall that last year’s rally turned violent as members of both groups clashed, leading to the death of one young woman who was murdered by a white supremacist when he drove his vehicle into a group of counterprotesters. The incident created a national outcry10, especially from Democrats and the mainstream media, who blamed President Donald Trump for creating a toxic environment and for failing to condemn white supremacists. Trump did in fact condemn11 the message and behavior of white supremacists, but he also called out the violence of antifa, something the MSM would not tolerate.

Back to the recent Newnan rally, which, thanks to advanced planning by city officials, included a heavy police presence and clearly designated areas for protesters. That helped prevent any opportunity for violent clashes, and only 10 antifa counterprotesters were arrested for failing to remove their masks. Prior to the event, Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. (and gubernatorial candidate) Casey Cagle said he was “praying for Newnan.” He added, “We must condemn the bigotry spread by hate groups. Our thoughts are with Sheriff Yeager, city officials, and all law enforcement officers who are working to protect residents and we hope the protests remains nonviolent.” Since the rally and counterprotest occurred without any violence, the mainstream media gave it little national attention.

So what made the outcomes between Newnan and Charlottesville so different? The simple answer is politics. In Charlottesville, leftists, led by a politically motivated mayor, saw an opportunity to conflate the controversy surrounding the decision to remove Confederate statues12 with those advocating white supremacy — they rolled it all together and indicted Trump for stoking racism. City officials sympathetic to their cause took little action in keeping the protesters and counterprotesters from violently attacking each other. It resulted in an escalation that left one young woman dead. After the violence, Democrats and the MSM laid blame for it solely at the feet of the white supremacists while excoriating Trump for his statement that both sides bore blame.

Newnan city officials by contrast preserved both civility and Americans’ First Amendment rights. It’s exactly what we should expect from our elected officials — not political posturing, but enforcement of the law. The trouble is no one will remember Newnan, while the narrative surrounding Charlottesville lives on.

Bluffing at the Border13

Harold Hutchison

The first 50 of as many as 1,500 refugees from a notorious caravan14 making its way through Mexico toward the United States have reached the border. According to some reports15, they are claiming asylum. In a sense, they are all but saying they believe President Donald Trump’s tough talk about illegal immigration and securing the border was just talk — and they are calling what they see as a bluff.

Mexico, with its officials standing aside, also seems to think the same thing. President Trump responded by declaring16 that he might include demands on immigration and border security in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Specifically, Mexico may be forced to act against migrants passing through that country to the United States to keep NAFTA. This is leverage — the Art of the Deal as applied to NAFTA.

President Trump also instructed17 the Department of Homeland Security to deny the caravan entry into the U.S. The caravan did disperse18 to a degree after Trump deployed19 the National Guard to the border. In essence, these migrants found out he wasn’t bluffing. The problem is, we can’t indefinitely use soldiers and airmen for a job that requires more Border Patrol agents. The wall is part of that solution, and the $1.6 billion recently authorized for it is a start, but there are hundreds of miles of border wall to build.

Meanwhile, it’s obvious that some countries in Central and South America have real problems. Venezuela’s been run into the ground by dictators Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador have rampant violent crime. We can understand why people want out — and why they don’t want to wait for paperwork.