The Patriot Post Digest 2-1-2019

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-1-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Feb. 1, 2019

https://patriotpost.us/digests/60919-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.” —Thomas Jefferson (1821)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/60916-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Payrolls grew by 304,000, shattering low expectations after shutdown.1
Measles outbreak reveals the problem of the anti-vaccination trend.2
Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Memes6, Cartoons7, Opinion in Brief8, and Short Cuts9.

IN BRIEF

Turns Out the Shutdown Didn’t Kill the Economy10

Nate Jackson

Thanks to the 35-day partial government shutdown11, many economists were warning that the January jobs report would be, as The New York Times put it, “a mess.” Bloomberg’s prediction survey12 expected just 165,000 jobs created.

Well, so much for predictions.

“Job growth in January shattered expectations, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 304,000, the Labor Department reported Friday,” reports13 CNBC. Now, it wasn’t all great news. CNBC also notes, “December’s big initially reported gain of 312,000 was knocked all the way down to 222,000, while November’s rose from 176,000 to 196,000.” The headline unemployment rate ticked higher to 4%, and the fuller measure of unemployment rose to 8.1% from 7.6%, the result of layoffs due to the shutdown and also more people entering the workforce to find jobs. But one interesting note: Employment by the federal government actually rose by 1,000.

Well, so much for the shutdown.

A couple of observations: First, despite the massive entanglement of the federal government in the economy, even five weeks of a partial shutdown didn’t do much to drag down job growth, even if there was somewhat of a negative economic impact14. President Donald Trump’s administration has done important deregulatory work that stimulates growth by getting government out of the way. Second, as we wrote yesterday15, it’s now tax-filing season. That will help millions of individuals, but it will also help small-business owners who file taxes as individuals. Those small businesses are the real drivers of job creation and wage increases (3.2% over the last year), and they will see some breathing room from lower taxes. So we’ll go out on a limb and suggest the experts might just be wrong in predicting weaker economic growth in 2019.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/60915-turns-out-the-shutdown-didnt-kill-the-economy


Measles Outbreak Reveals Problem of Anti-Vaccination Trend16

Thomas Gallatin

A measles outbreak17 in Washington state has led Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency. Meanwhile, health officials in Georgia, Hawaii, Oregon, and New York have also confirmed cases of measles in their states. This follows major outbreaks in several states over the last few years. There are a growing number of cases of the highly contagious disease that just 18 years ago was declared by the Centers for Disease Control to have been eradicated from the U.S. So what has led to these new cases?

In Washington, the cause is clear: non-vaccinated individuals. This fact has shown a bright spotlight on an increasingly heated debate over the broader societal health risks posed by the growing anti-vaccination trend.

As we’ve said before18, those who opt out of vaccines benefit from what’s known as herd immunity. In other words, as long as about 90% of people are vaccinated, the “more enlightened” few may choose to avoid doing so and suffer little consequence. But there is a mathematical limit to this gamble, and it’s often upper-class liberals who are rolling the dice. In the affected areas of Washington, vaccination rates are only about 75%.

Anti-vaxxers blame vaccinations for the supposed rise in rates of certain autoimmune disorders, but this belief is born out of a rejection or misunderstanding of mainstream medical practice due in part to debunked pseudo-scientific explanations19. This skepticism is coupled with a strong antipathy toward corporations or a deep distrust of governmental authority, and there’s a growing belief among some Americans that vaccinations are more of a health problem than a solution.

While a majority of Americans may disagree with anti-vaxxers and see their views as dangerously foolish, the First Amendment protects their right to hold and express them. However, the real rub comes when one’s individual beliefs may have direct impact upon the physical health and well-being of society at large. The current outbreak of measles demonstrates this balance and raises the question: When does protecting public health supersede the freedom of the individual to live according to how they see fit? Or to put it another way, when does the government have the right or responsibility to compel individuals to conform to certain behavioral expectations irrespective of personally held beliefs? As 19th-century physician Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” The choice to refuse vaccination — when rooted in vain conceit rather than medical reality — endangers others.

Frankly, given the devastating history of diseases like the measles and polio and the amazing medical breakthroughs that have (or had) virtually eradicated many of these diseases, profoundly improving the lives and health of all Americans living today, it is mind-boggling that this is even an issue up for debate.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/60918-measles-outbreak-reveals-problem-of-anti-vaccination-trend

[nChrist]

________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 2-1-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY

Featured Analysis: Attacking Christian Schools20 — But they’re producing citizens who are compassionate, thoughtful, fair-minded, and principled.
Dems Know Nothing About the Appeal of Howard Schultz21 — The former Starbucks CEO is a loyal Democrat, but he’s a straight, white, wealthy male.
Colorado Dems Push LGBT Sex-Ed Requirements22 — Indoctrination into leftist sexual ethics will be the only perspective allowed in public schools.
Video: Pro-Life or Just Pro-Birth?23 — The challenges of having children are real and legitimate but shouldn’t justify killing children.

TOP HEADLINES

Trump administration officially suspending nuclear treaty with Russia (The Hill25)
White House preps emergency wall plan while Congress negotiates (Politico26)
Pelosi suggests Normandy fence for the border, but not a wall (Washington Examiner27)
Largest-ever U.S. border seizure of fentanyl made in Arizona (Reuters28)
Most 2020 Democrats back an abortion bill just like Virginia’s (National Review29)
Ben Sasse reintroduces Abortion Survivors Act (The Daily Signal30)
Weird: No Democrats in Congress seem to have heard Ralph Northam’s infanticide comments (Hot Air31)
Cory Booker launches 2020 campaign for president (The Inquirer32)
Trump may be about to flip the Ninth Circuit (The Resurgent33)
Not humor: “A border wall is immoral,” says political party advocating for infanticide (The Babylon Bee34)
Policy: Seven topics Trump should address in the State of the Union (The Daily Signal35)
Policy: Sanders’s new estate tax plan is inherently immoral (Washington Examiner36)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights37.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/60911-friday-top-headlines


OPINION IN BRIEF

Jonah Goldberg: “If you don’t think late-term, post-viability abortions are morally troubling, you might want to ask yourself why we are only one of seven countries in the world that allow elective abortions after 20 weeks. It’s unclear how many countries allow abortion at 40 weeks, mid-delivery, but it’s possible that the U.S. and North Korea would be the only members of that club. … In almost every other sphere of debate where progressives claim the moral high ground, they are categorical. ‘If it saves just one life, it’s worth it,’ they say about gun control, health-care reform, police abuse, etc. Imagine if I were to argue that since lynchings are so rare, we don’t really need strict laws against lynching. Infanticide, like racism, murder and rape, is a moral category. It’s not less evil if it’s rare. It is rare — thank God — because we’ve agreed to treat it as evil. … In debates over the death penalty, there is one thing virtually everyone agrees upon: It’s profoundly wrong to execute the innocent. Our criminal justice system is rightly crammed with all manner of checks to minimize the risk of a terrible mistake. Well, a viable baby is surely innocent, too. And yet, among abortion rights maximalists, it is considered the morally sophisticated position to remove as many checks as possible from preventing infanticide. If you think it’s worth tolerating a certain number of baby killings to protect abortion rights, you should say so. But please don’t pretend the moral ground you’re standing on is very high.”


SHORT CUTS

Observations: “I don’t know which is worse, the left having lied for so many years about their intentions on social issues … or the reality that they don’t feel like they have to lie anymore.” —David Limbaugh

For the record: “Here you have videos of Democratic politicians making at least seemingly shocking statements on a controversial issue where their party is way on the wrong side of public opinion. … Yet somehow the same kind of mainstream (not left-wing) journalists and editors who were commissioning thinkpieces about white supremacy within an hour of the Covington video managed to control themselves, to resist tweeting the story, to hang back, to ask for context … and then finally to write news stories framed as stories about ‘conservative backlash.’” —Ross Douthat

Braying Jenny: “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what he said.” —Nancy Pelosi when asked about infanticide comments by Virginia’s Democrat governor

Pass the bill to find out what’s in it: “I made a mistake, and all I know to do is to admit it, tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may. If you follow my newsletter or have written to me to ask about my votes, you know that I do my best to read and research every bill I vote on. But I did not read a bill I agreed to co-patron and that wasn’t smart or typical. I will work harder and be better for it.” —Virginia Del. Dawn Adams, whose indifference toward life inside the womb was reason enough to “unwittingly” support infanticide40

Tone-deaf: “I was really surprised by the line of questioning that I got.” —Virginia Del. Kathy Tran, author of the Repeal Act

Non Compos Mentis: “Our children & grandchildren should grow up in a world where they can breathe the air & drink the water — and go outside without risking their lives in extreme temperatures. It’s time to protect our planet & pass a Green New Deal. #PolarVortex2019” —Elizabeth Warren (Since when were temperatures a linear measurement?)

And last… “Please stop killing undocumented infants who are trying to cross the border of the birth canal in hopes of a better life. Every undocumented infant deserves a chance at the American dream.” —Matt Walsh

https://patriotpost.us/articles/60914-friday-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