The Patriot Post Digest 6-12-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 6-12-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Jun. 12, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/56506-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?” —Thomas Jefferson (1801)

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump’s real strategy with North Korea is beyond the Leftmedia’s framing.
Rainbow Mafia tolerance is on display again for “Pride Month.”
American leadership is still needed on the world stage.
Bill Maher joins Democrats in hoping for recession to hurt Trump.
Dangerous people are teaching your kids.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

IN BRIEF

Trump’s Real NoKo Strategy1

Thomas Gallatin

As any good coach will tell you, never take your eye off the ball. In the world of geopolitics, the same advice holds true: Define the goal, focus on reaching it and avoid rabbit trails. For President Donald Trump, his stated goal for North Korea is to see its regional and global nuclear threat ended via denuclearization. Everything else, such as an official end to the Korean War, is secondary. In the light of this clear goal, the historic Trump-Kim summit was a successful first step in the right direction.

The groundwork for future developments in North Korean denuclearization was laid, but it’s also important to note that there’s still a long way to go. On Tuesday, in Singapore, Trump and Kim Jong-un signed an agreement2 that essentially lays out four goals both agreed to pursue going forward:

The United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity
The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula
Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

As with any negotiation, both sides conceded and received something out of this initial meeting. Obviously, Kim received a huge boost to his public image and perception on the world scene as a legitimate leader worthy of time with the American president. Yet, as many have noted, Kim is a brutal dictator, and all the positive optics at the summit featuring his meeting with Trump are unpleasant to say the least. However, if offering positive rhetoric and prestige motivates Kim to give up his nukes, then it is well worth it. (Whether it was worth it to cease military exercises with South Korea, as the North demanded and Trump granted, is up for debate.) For Kim, it is much more than presenting a good image; he’s desperate to hold on to power, and with his country on the brink of starvation, giving up his nukes and making nice with the U.S. may be his only option. His life quite literally could be on the line, depending on how this all goes down.

For Trump, this is also a golden opportunity to do what no U.S. president has been able to accomplish in over 60 years — bring about an end to the long-running regional and global threat of North Korean militaristic aggression. Again, however, the concession is allowing Kim to retain his totalitarian rule. In fact, a deal further establishes that rule, so long as Kim continues to abide by his commitment to denuclearize. Such is the messy game of diplomacy, albeit without the $150 billion3 Barack Obama gave Iran to make his deal.

Finally, as noted earlier, this process is far from over, and there are bound to be some setbacks. But always keep in mind the endgame — a denuclearized North Korea. The big question is verifying that denuclearization. And don’t forget the biggest behind-the-scenes player in this whole drama is China4. You can bet Trump hasn’t forgotten it.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/56500-trumps-real-noko-strategy

Rainbow Mafia to Christians: ‘Shut Up’5

Nate Jackson

The headline greatly sanitizes what the Rainbow Mafia is actually telling those who run afoul of the approved Tolerance™. We’ll start with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who wasn’t even taking a stand for traditional morality. All he did was eat at Chick-fil-A and then tweet a “boost” for the chicken chain (“boosting” is essentially a cash rewards program). “This is an interesting company to boost during Pride month,” responded well-known journalist Soledad O'Brien. That was mild. Twitter erupted with shouts of “bigotry” and “hate,” eventually prompting Dorsey to cave and apologize for his offense. “You’re right,” Dorsey conceded. “Completely forgot about their background.”

Chick-fil-A, you see, doesn’t make delicious chicken sandwiches provided with top-notch and friendly customer service; the chain sells anti-gay hatred, according to the actual purveyors of hate in the “Pride” movement. The fast-food chain must never be forgiven6 for its Christian CEO, Dan Cathy, defending traditional marriage in 2012. You know, the same position even Barack Obama held until he decided political advantage was to be had from becoming the most faith-intolerant regime7 in American history. Any leftist who forgets Chick-fil-A’s background, as Dorsey evidently did, will be beaten into submission.

But you know what else is part of that background? After numerous homosexuals were victimized in the Orlando massacre8, Chick-fil-A opened specifically to cook food for blood donors. On Sunday.

The other story actually cost someone far more than a throwaway Twitter apology. CrossFit executive Russell Berger was fired for tweeting, “As someone who personally believes celebrating ‘pride’ is a sin, I’d like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfiltrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout.” (Backstory here9.) CrossFit founder and CEO Greg Glassman ripped Berger as a “zealot” in need of “a big dose of ‘shut the f—k up.’” It seems there’s some irony in the company’s name being CrossFit.

Berger summed up10 the consequences: “Simply by expressing those views, which again have been pretty standard views for the historic Christian faith over thousands of years, that view is no longer tolerated and in fact it’s a view that’s so divisive and so intolerable that it’s the kind of thing you can’t say and expect to keep your job.”

Indeed, “Pride Month” 2018 has become an episode of what then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas called a “high-tech lynching.” Anyone who dissents from the Rainbow Mafia’s approved thinking will be silenced and punished. The Supreme Court may have just backed the baker11, but religious liberty faces serious threats.

As a final thought, this need among belligerent homosexual activists to enforce not just benign tolerance but affirmation, celebration and “Pride Month” is rooted in their own deep insecurity12. Intolerant hatred can’t fix that.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/56498-rainbow-mafia-to-christians-shut-up

Top Headlines13

Jeff Sessions sets higher bar for asylum claims (The Washington Times14)
Feinstein admits she ignored immigration issues under Obama, now criticizes Trump on it (The Daily Wire15)
U.S. launching office to identify citizenship cheaters (The Washington Times16)
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow in good condition following heart attack (CNBC17)
Credit service shuts down payments on all gun purchases (New York Post18.)
California man has home raided, guns confiscated after trying to register firearms (The Washington Free Beacon19)
Supreme Court gives Ohio right to purge thousands of voters from its rolls (NBC News20)
Study: Welfare benefits, minimum-wage hikes might harm poor neighborhoods (National Review21)
Seattle City Council to consider repeal of head tax22 less than a month after approving it (The Seattle Times23)
Bottom story of the day: Why North Korea has to hide Kim’s poop (Washington Examiner24)
Policy: Six big questions about what comes after the Trump-Kim meeting (The Daily Signal25)
Policy: What do test scores really mean for the economy? (Education Week26)

For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report27.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/56505-tuesday-top-headlines

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

56502 56492 56491 56485 56482

For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion30.

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The Patriot Post Digest 6-12-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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FEATURED ANALYSIS
American Leadership Is Still Necessary in the World31

Lewis Morris

As President Donald Trump wrapped up a rocky G7 summit32 in order to begin a meeting with the tyrannical leader of North Korea, speculation swirls about the current state of America’s foreign policy. Is the U.S. still the world’s preeminent power? Does the world even want American leadership?

Of course, America is still the most powerful country in the world. Our military remains the most technologically advanced and is funded well beyond the means of nearly any other nation. Our cultural influence outmatches that of any other country. Our economy remains the most dynamic and has the world’s richest consumer market. Every other country in the world desires to do business with the U.S.

But do other countries still want America’s leadership? If you listen to the Never-Trumpers and the global elites after the powwow in Quebec32, the answer would be no. They believe that Trump’s recent actions on trade, his domestic policy stances, his foreign policy views, and his existence in general are a drag on the leftist world order.

And they’re right.

Surely, the other members of the G7 would be more comfortable with American leadership33 if the U.S. was more closely aligned with European priorities. Germany, Great Britain, France and Canada in particular are happy with American leadership so long as America leads like they want us to. In other words, they really miss Barack Obama.

Obama was tailor made for the global elite. He talked a great game but didn’t back it up with anything, and he didn’t ask anyone to make any hard choices (except when he expected Americans to forget about the Constitution and Congress and let him rule by his phone and pen). He was an internationalist, seeing the global “good” as more important than the needs of the country he was elected to serve. And that global good, defined by elites with no input from the people who elected them, has no room for the messy details of free markets, national pride and Liberty.

Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau and their arrogant ilk look down their noses at Donald Trump and the American voters who elected him. This doesn’t trouble Trump, nor should it. Much of the world’s view of America is based on which party is occupying the White House. In the early 2000s, American popularity with global elitists was at a low point. In the early half of this decade, it was high. Now it’s low again. It doesn’t take a PhD in world politics to see the pattern.

Our traditional allies in the G7 thought they had America right where they wanted us. During Obama’s presidency34, he came on board for the Paris Climate Accord, joined the international order at shaking its collective fist at Syria, and made a deal with Iran to curb certify its nuclear program.

This was all a farce, and President Trump knew it to be so. Since taking offices, he’s gone about systematically undoing Obama’s bad decisions. He pulled out35 of the Paris climate deal because it was unfair to American businesses and it was ineffective at its ostensible goal of combatting climate change. When proof was found that Syria used chemical weapons, Trump sent in36 the U.S. military to destroy Syrian chemical weapons facilities. He also exited37 the Iran agreement, recognizing that it was a terrible deal that never should have been made in the first place.

Now Trump has sat down with Kim Jong-un to see what can be done about bringing North Korea to heel with its nuclear weapons program. Trump went in face to face without looking to traditional American allies to back him up. While there are concerns giving Kim that “legitimacy,” frankly, it’s probably better this way. America’s allies east and west — along with Kim’s nuclear puppet master China4 — have not done much to bring North Korea under control. Maybe the art of the deal should have a shot.

The North Korea summit could still turn out to be a disaster. Or Kim could play nice now and double-cross the U.S. down the road. The odds are slim that this meeting will be a smashing success. And even if it is, Kim is a murderous dictator who will go back home still in charge of his family’s Hermit Kingdom.

Leftists are not even remotely optimistic about the outcome. While they fell all over themselves to praise Obama over the heap of lies38 he delivered on Iran, they labeled the Trump-Kim meeting a failure before it even took place. Only Trump Derangement Syndrome can explain this, since leftists always support any opportunity to meet with dictators and give them whatever they want.

Perhaps the best example of America’s power is that the U.S. is the only country in the world that could sit down with North Korea and be taken seriously. The global elites may not have much respect or desire for American leadership, but everyone is still going to have to deal with it just the same.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/56494-american-leadership-is-still-necessary-in-the-world

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Bill Maher Hopes for a Recession41 — He believes that democracy is dying under Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Video: Dangerous People Are Teaching Your Kids42 — They are indoctrinating young minds throughout the West with their resentment-ridden ideology.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Dennis Prager: “The latest victim of the Left is the Miss America contest. The Miss America board announced that contestants will no longer wear swimsuits or evening gowns because Miss America will no longer be about physical beauty. It will be about ‘the hopes and aspirations’ of 52 women contestants. My first reaction is: Why stop there? To be consistent with its new ideals, the event should no longer be televised but rather broadcast on the radio. Only then will the contestants’ looks be truly irrelevant. The Left, which has brought ‘sex week’ to almost every college campus, which has introduced coed dormitories with coed showers and bathrooms, and which has told young women that sex without any commitment should be as much fun for them as it is for men, is now the guardian of modesty at the Miss America contest. … One irony is feminists have argued for decades that women should be allowed to walk around topless, just as men can. Another irony is that when non-Muslims argue that Muslim women wearing a chador is dehumanizing, the Left charges them with intolerance and Islamophobia. A third irony is women are as interested in seeing beautiful women in swimsuits as men are. … Inside of a few weeks, the Left has gravely damaged the Boy Scouts, probably destroyed the Miss America pageant and pounded another nail into the coffin of art. That’s what the Left does best — ruins whatever it touches. That’s pretty much all it does.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.” —A.A. Hodge (1823-1886)

Food for thought: “Imagine the Nazi flag in place of the North Korean flag. Kim is the closest thing to Hitler on the planet today. We put our flag alongside his, and Trump praised him fulsomely. That better reap some dividends.” —Ben Shapiro

Who knew “Don’t be Hillary Clinton” required coaching? “President Obama has reportedly met with 2020 presidential hopefuls and is advising members of the Democratic Party about how to run against President Trump.” —The Washington Times

The BIG Lie: “[Trump] works for Putin, and instead of looking for collusion, we need to look for a W-2.” —radio host Mark Thompson

Non Compos Mentis: “I think the norms have really changed in terms of what you can do to somebody against their will, how much you can crowd their space, make them miserable at work.” —Bill Clinton, digging his #MeToo hole43 even deeper

Braying Jackass: “[Donald Trump’s] wrong-headed protectionist policies & antics are damaging our global standing as well as our national interests. [His] worldview does not represent American ideals. To allies & friends: Be patient, Mr. Trump is a temporary aberration. The America you once knew will return.” —former CIA Director John Brennan

Braying Jenny: “I understand the frustration and outrage around the president. I’m sure I shout some of those words in the shower.” —MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle dismissing Hollywood’s profanity toward Donald Trump

And last… “We’re at the point where it’s more acceptable to curse the president at an awards show than to insult murderous MS-13 gang members.” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor

https://patriotpost.us/articles/56495-tuesday-short-cuts

Join our editors and staff 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