The Patriot Post Digest 8-13-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-13-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Aug. 13, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/57624-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.” —Thomas Jefferson (1781)

IN TODAY’S EDITION

The Leftmedia drummed up the so-called “alt-right” to promote a race narrative.
Alex Jones may not be worth listening to, but silencing him is wrong.
Antifa thugs caused serious trouble around the nation in recent days.
Opposing Andrew Cuomo’s anti-NRA crusade.
Pope Francis declared the death penalty unjust. Is he correct?
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists, and Short Cuts.

IN BRIEF
MSM Makes Mountain Out of White Nationalist Molehill1

Thomas Gallatin

Leading up to the nothingburger of a white supremacist rally that saw less than two dozen white nationalists show up in Washington, DC, on Sunday, the mainstream media sought to inflate the significance of the event in an attempt to further its long-running “Donald Trump is a racist” narrative. Prior to the event, which was intentionally scheduled to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville riot2, Trump issued a statement condemning all racism: “The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division. We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!” That wasn’t good enough for the Leftmedia, which stoked division anyway.

Also showing up for the poorly named “Unite the Right II” rally — poorly named because it serves the MSM’s conflation of white racism with conservatism — were thousands of counterprotesters who stood shouting down both the white supremacists and Trump. The leftist, violence-seeking agitators known as antifa3 also showed up clearly prepared for a fight. They screamed chants such as, “Any time, any place, punch a Nazi in the face.” Fortunately, the strong police presence combined with the minuscule size of the white-nationalist contingent proved to thwart their efforts.

Meanwhile in Charlottesville, hundreds of leftist activists took to the streets to ostensibly protest white nationalism and racism — a protest in which no white supremacists were given permission to rally and none showed up. It became increasingly apparent that protesting the police was also on the menu, as numerous protesters chanted, “Cops and Klan go hand in hand,” while others toted a banner that read, “Behind Every Cop, A Klansman.” The irony was that unlike last year, when police presence was severely limited and much fighting was allowed to occur unchecked, the police presence this year was heavy and clearly aimed at preventing any violence.

If anything, this past weekend demonstrates just how vacuous is the MSM’s assertion of Trump’s presidency being responsible for stoking latent masses of white racists. The identity politics of promoting and provoking racial grievances is embraced by Democrats and the Left. It is clearly not popular with conservatives and the vast majority of Trump supporters, no matter how much the Leftmedia claims otherwise.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57621-msm-makes-mountain-out-of-white-nationalist-molehill

Social Media Hive Mind Eliminates Jones4
Nate Jackson

The social media censors were at it again last week. Facebook deleted four pages operated by provocateur Alex Jones, while Apple, YouTube, Vimeo, and Spotify all scrubbed the Infowars host’s content. Why the sudden crackdown and why this particular target?

Right up front, we’ll say that Jones falls into the category of what we call 10% substance and 90% fragrance. His conspiracy theories are as legendary as they are loony, and some are downright offensive (like his accusing Sandy Hook victims of being “crisis actors5”). He occasionally starts with legitimate stories or concerns, but he often blows them so far out of proportion that they become falsehood. Other times, his rantings are so phony they don’t deserve the time of day. His own lawyer described him as “a performance artist” who’s “playing a character.” That’s his bread and butter.

But that wasn’t the reason social media thought police gave for their censorship; rather, each platform categorized Jones’s content as “hate speech.” That made for an interesting setup to the hype about the so-called — and grossly misnamed — “alt-right” rallies over the weekend. After all, Jones’s listeners tend to fall on the conservative end of the political spectrum, which Big Tech and the Leftmedia are incessantly endeavoring to cast as uniformly racist bigots. Working in concert, the Leftmedia can now cite as “evidence” the censorship of their allies in Silicon Valley.

We aren’t arguing that private companies can’t set rules for use of their systems. The First Amendment does not force companies into subserviently providing a platform for any speech. But the tech giants have engaged in a documented pattern of suppressing conservative speech, and they’re using leftist smear machines like the Southern Poverty Law Center6 to justify it. “Hate speech” = anything leftists don’t like.

Meanwhile, elected Democrats are cheering them on. “These companies must do more than take down one website,” declared Sen. Chris Murphy (C-CT). “The survival of our democracy depends on it.” Using the government’s power to curtail speech — even advocating it as Murphy does — crosses the First Amendment line. If no one speaks up for Jones, when will they speak up? Or will they be able to?

Finally, an irony: By literally conspiring to suppress Jones’s speech, these tech giants are bolstering his conspiracy-theory brand and rallying his followers even more to his flag. Or maybe Jones conspired with social media to achieve just that result, and they’re all having a grand laugh.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57619-social-media-hive-mind-eliminates-jones

Top Headlines7

FBI fires Peter Strzok8, months after anti-Trump texts revealed (Fox News9)
Senate Judiciary announces Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing (The Hill10)
U.S. sanctions Russia over nerve-agent attack in Britain (The Washington Free Beacon11)
Underreported: What tax reform “crumbs” meant for these blue-collar workers (The Daily Signal12)
Anti-Semitism soars on U.S. college campuses (The Washington Free Beacon13)
Trump to sign Confucius Institute funding ban (Campus Reform14)
Pence lays out plans for “Space Force15” sought by Trump (The Wall Street Journal16)
FBI agent acquitted of lying about shots fired at rancher in Oregon standoff17 (NBC News18)
Billionaire drops quest to split California19 into three parts (Associated Press20)
Good news: There are a lot of reasons to feel optimistic about America’s future (National Review21)
Humor: Ocasio-Cortez appears on “Sesame Street” to debate economic plan with the Count (The Babylon Bee22)
Policy: The merits of criminal justice reform (The Washington Times23)
Policy: Getting ready for China (National Review24)
For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report25.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57622-monday-top-headlines

FEATURED ANALYSIS
Anarchy’s Cast of Enablers29

Arnold Ahlert

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” —John Adams, 1798

“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” —Barack Obama, 2008

Next November, Americans can either vote for preserving our founding principles or abet the continuing cultural degradation, promoted as “social justice,” that energizes the American Left. These leftists increasingly embrace outbursts of violence and intimidation they and their increasingly corrupt media allies legitimize by calling it “The Resistance.”

Anarchy is more like it.

Leftist thugs rioted in three American cities in recent days. On Aug. 3 in Providence, Rhode Island, a conservative group calling itself “Resist Marxism” staged a “Providence Freedom Rally” at the Rhode Island State House. It was met by leftist thugs who assaulted the attendees, damaged their equipment, and prevented Rhode Island congressional candidate Daniel Guilmette from speaking.

On Aug. 4 in Portland, Oregon, hundreds of “alt-right” protesters were attacked30 by antifa counterprotesters throwing rocks and bottles. Four days later, left-wing thugs protesting police brutality at that rally stormed Portland City Hall, assaulting31 one security guard and fighting with several others.

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-13-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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On Aug 5 in Berkeley, California, antifa thugs smashed32 the windows of a Marine Corps recruiting post, damaged 21 city vehicles, tossed explosives at Berkeley Police and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office officers, and clashed with alt-right protesters. Twenty arrests were made33 and dozens of weapons were confiscated.

These leftist groups invariably justify their violence with the same assertion: Those who engage in “hate speech” must be silenced, even if it requires breaking the law to do so.

Thus on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, and yesterday in Washington, DC, police maintained a heavy presence to prevent a similar outbreak of violence that occurred2 in Charlottesville last year. Violence the ACLU says34 was abided by police ordered to “not intervene until given command to do so.”

Law enforcement officials’ seeming disinterest in protecting the “wrong” Americans, or allowing the “right” ones to riot, hasn’t been confined to Charlottesville. Police backed off35 during a 2017 antifa protest in Berkeley, and the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is allowing36 a lawsuit to proceed against the San Jose Police Department and the city for allegedly endangering the lives of Trump supporters at a 2016 rally at the McEnery Convention Center. Despite several exits being available, police allegedly directed rally attendees to leave from a single exit where anti-Trump thugs were waiting. And despite Trump supporters being beaten or struck by objects, no one was arrested except three people who assaulted the police.

All of these incidents pale in comparison to the machinations37 of Portland Democrat Mayor Ted Wheeler. For 38 days, a mob was allowed to maintain a makeshift camp from which they emerged to lead protests against ICE and demand the agency’s abolition. Signs were displayed calling ICE employees “Nazis” and “white supremacists.” Vandals wrote the names of staffers on a wall and encouraged others to publish agents’ private info online. One staffer was followed when he went to pick up his daughter, and protesters showed up at his home. Both ICE officials and area locals were harassed38, including a 53-year-old disabled resident whose wheelchair was damaged.

Wheeler’s response? “I do not want the @PortlandPolice to be engaged or sucked into a conflict, particularly from a federal agency that I believe is on the wrong track,” tweeted the mayor, who conveniently doubles as the city’s police commissioner. “If [ICE is] looking for a bailout from this mayor, they are looking in the wrong place.”

Even when federal police mobilized from out of state moved to reopen the office on June 28, Wheeler remained defiant. “I join those outraged by ICE actions separating parents from their children, and support peaceful protest to give voice to our collective moral conscience,” he asserted in a statement.

Collective moral conscience? Try government-endorsed thuggery.

One might think such overt lawlessness would elicit a response by the Department of Justice. Unfortunately, the DOJ is headed by a seemingly comatose Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Thus, as the Left moves seamlessly from law-defying sanctuary cities to consequence-free actions against ICE employees — employees whose 911 calls were deliberately ignored39 — one is left to conclude similar incidents will be forthcoming.

And while the nation waits, the “get in their faces” exhortations40 of a reliably unhinged Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) remain the order of the day.

Americans need to ask themselves why a “blue wave” might even be a possibility when 54% of Democrats41 support giving illegal aliens the right to vote, party leaders have called42 for abolishing ICE, and Democrat officials openly embrace43 socialism and tacitly embrace44 anti-Semitism.

In other words, where is the GOP? One gets the disquieting sense Republicans are either rank cynics who believe being the lesser of two really odious evils is good enough to maintain their congressional majority absent an all-out effort to do so, or insufferable hypocrites willing to lose that majority as a “reasonable” trade-off for reinstating the status quo upended by Trump’s America First agenda. And if GOP losses in November enable an impeachment-addicted Democrat Party to upend Trump’s presidency as well?

You have to break a few nationalist, patriotic eggs to remake a globalist, Ruling Class omelette.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57618-anarchys-cast-of-enablers

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Why We Should Oppose Andrew Cuomo45 — His anti-NRA crusade shows that a tyrannical government is possible unless voters stand for Liberty.
The Death Penalty and Christianity46 — Pope Francis declared to the world that the death penalty is never an appropriate punishment.
Video: What Was the Cold War?47 — It was cold only in the sense that the Russians and the Americans never came to direct blows.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Burt Prelutsky: “Mark Twain is credited with being the first person to say that rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated. In the case of God, it’s Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th-century German wisenheimer, who first spread the rumor of His demise. It’s alleged that God replied, ‘I happen to be alive, but you’re kaput.’ Be that as it may, religion is definitely on the decline in the West. Both here and in Europe, young people are saying they refuse to believe in fairy tales or in things they can’t see. What makes it so odd is that a majority of the youngsters voice their belief in socialism, the biggest fairy tale of all. In many parts of the world, children have gone to sleep while their parents read to them tales of big rock candy mountains with soda pop streams and cotton candy trees only to wake up in Russia, China, Cuba, and Venezuela to find their legs and brains in shackles. These poor souls claim, in their rejection of God and all His trappings, that they are of a scientific bent, prepared to believe only what they can see with their own two eyes. But they then turn around and insist there are more than two genders, thus proving they don’t even believe what they can see.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing.”

Braying Jackass: “We’re not supposed to be the story; that’s not why I’m out there.” —CNN’s Jim Acosta, who routinely makes himself the story

Censorship: “Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart. These companies must do more than take down one website. The survival of our democracy depends on it.” —Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Haters gonna hate: “Look, I think these guys are bad guys. … And if they went away, you know, I would offer my thoughts and prayers.” —New York Demo Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the NRA

Yep, he’s tone-deaf: “Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen, a Harvard University-educated man worth up to $358 million and the owner of five homes, has diagnosed his party with an ‘elitist’ problem.” —The Washington Free Beacon

Huh? “The whole country is further left than Congress. The whole country. The electorate is way further left than Congress, and we have low voter turnout.” —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Non Compos Mentis: “Americans have the sticker shock of health care as it is, and what we’re also not talking about is why aren’t we incorporating the cost of all the funeral expenses of those who died because they can’t afford access to health care? That is part of the cost of our system.” —Ocasio-Cortez

And last… “Hey, by the way, a group of Muslims set up a compound in an American state where they trained a bunch of kids to carry out school shootings. This actually happened in real life and should be the biggest news story of the month, if not the year.” —Matt Walsh

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57620-monday-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