The Patriot Post Digest 2-13-2019

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-13-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Feb. 13, 2019

https://patriotpost.us/digests/61142-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state.” —Alexander Hamilton (1790)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/61138-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump called the U.S. economy “the envy of the world.” It is.1
California’s high-speed derail is bad news for the Green New Deal.2
This just in: There was no collusion between Trump and Russia.3
Daily Features: More Analysis4, Columnists5, Headlines6, Opinion in Brief7, Short Cuts8, Memes9, and Cartoons10.

IN BRIEF

MAGA: Quality of Life and Optimism Soaring to New Heights11

Jordan Candler

In his State of the Union Address last week, President Donald trump heralded12 the “thriving” U.S. economy, which he called “the envy of the world.” Some have called the president’s characterization of the economy hyperbole, but there’s a plethora of evidence proving he’s right: The economy is changing Americans’ quality of life and stimulating confidence.

The IBD/TIPP Quality of Life Index is one metric that backs the president. The index has been tabulated for 17 years now, and it “asks the public whether they think their quality of life will be better, worse or the same over the next six months,” as explained13 by Investor’s Business Daily. The full-span average is 56.2. By that measure, Barack Obama’s 53.7 rating was subpar. But the index balloons to 59.3 halfway through Trump’s first term. The most interesting variable is independents. According to IBD, “Their quality of life averaged 52 under Obama. It’s averaging 58.8 under Trump.”

This segues nicely into Gallup polling regarding Americans’ confidence. Gallup reports14 that “Americans’ optimism about their personal finances has climbed to levels not seen in more than 16 years, with 69% now saying they expect to be financially better off ‘at this time next year.’” This percentage is bested only by the 71% registered in March 1998. Moreover, “Fifty percent say they are better off today than they were a year ago.”

Clearly, the Trump economy isn’t limp like it was under Obama. And that’s due to a combination of heavy deregulation, impressive job creation, and tax reform. Amazingly, Democrats are trying to spin all of these — but especially tax reform — as detrimental. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris even asserted, “The average tax refund is down about $170 compared to last year. Let’s call the President’s tax cut what it is: a middle-class tax hike to line the pockets of already wealthy corporations and the 1%.”

Fortunately, most Americans are rejecting this snake oil because they understand15 more take-home pay as a result of less tax withholding means a lesser refund come tax filing. And their quality of life and optimism are the better for it.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/61117-maga-quality-of-life-and-optimism-soaring-to-new-heights

California’s High-Speed Derail16

Nate Jackson

Green New Deal17 proponents have some big dreams. One of them is “investing in … clean, affordable, and accessible transportation; and high-speed rail.” The FAQ section says the plan aims to “build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.” Fortunately, we have a real-world example of high-speed rail in America to see how well it will work. Let’s go to the tape.

“The project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long,” declared Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom in his State of the State Address this week.

Oh.

So, after current construction on one leg is done, Newsom laid the track for abandoning the boondoggle, though state Democrats rushed to insist he’s not killing the statewide plan.

Reason’s Scott Shackford writes of the California train18, “Voters approved a ballot initiative in 2008 that set aside a $10 billion bond to begin the project of building a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco with the promise that more funding would come through from the feds or from private sources, that the train would not require subsidies to operate, and that it would help fight climate change.” Indeed, Barack Obama’s infamous “stimulus” redistributed $3.5 billion to California for the train. Gavin’s not entirely giving up primarily because he’s “not interested in sending” that money “back to Donald Trump.”

Not to be completed until at least 2033, the latest estimate for the train’s price tag was $77 billion after initial estimates pegged it at $33 billion. In reality, it would probably end up costing well over $100 billion.

Newsom’s lack of enthusiasm for his predecessor Jerry Brown’s beloved project isn’t new, but the timing of his comments couldn’t have been worse for Green New Deal proponents. Doubly so as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared (with a smirk) that the chamber will actually vote on the resolution to “give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.”

Dan McLaughlin quips, “If something is too expensive to build once, why not build it everywhere in the country instead?” He’s obviously joking, but don’t be surprised if that’s exactly the argument trotted out by GND chief engineer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/61136-californias-high-speed-derail

No Evidence of Trump/Russia Collusion, but MSM Still True Believer19

Thomas Gallatin

“If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don’t have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) stated recently. And it appears that is exactly what the Senate Intelligence Committee will do. Burr added on Tuesday, “There is no factual evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.”

So, after two years of an investigation that was instigated by Hillary Clinton’s opposition-research smear, the Senate has concluded — as President Donald Trump has steadfastly insisted the entire time and as the House concluded last year — there was no collusion20.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media has ignored newly released FBI emails obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that reveal former FBI Director James Comey sought to work a quid pro quo deal21 with Barack Obama’s State Department in exchange for going easy on Hillary Clinton with her private email server22.

Back in October 2016, Fox News first reported the allegations of a quid pro quo deal, which former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) called at the time “a flashing red light of potential criminality.” He further explained, “In return for altering the classification, the possibility of additional slots for the FBI at missions overseas was discussed.” It’s now clear that individuals within the FBI, including former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, were involved in discussing a quid pro quo arrangement, though there is no indication it was ever implemented.

On top of this comes Tuesday’s revelation that the Federal Election Committee (FEC) has refused to investigate allegations of Clinton’s campaign-money laundering scheme. The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland explains23, “[The] complaint charged that, during the 2016 presidential election, Democrats illegally funneled approximately $84 million through the Hillary Victory Fund to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which then illegally coordinated with the Hillary Clinton campaign.” Nothing to see here; move along, says the FEC.

Once again, with all the thick, steady smoke emanating from Clinton and the DNC, it’s almost laughable the lengths to which the MSM goes in ignoring or outright denying that there is any scandal there, while at the same time fixating on a fictional Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy that has yet to produce one iota of actual evidence.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/61137-no-evidence-of-trump-slash-russia-collusion-but-msm-still-true-believer

ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY

Featured Analysis: Anti-Trump Press Spins Bigger Paychecks as a Bad Thing15 — Tax refunds may be smaller, but that’s because we paid less in taxes all year.
Sexual-Abuse Scandal Rocks the SBC24 — A new exposé reveals decades of sexual abuse within America’s largest protestant denomination.
Humor Video: Bad Lip Reading the SOTU25 — Trump makes his way to the podium, while Pence and Pelosi wait patiently…

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The Patriot Post Digest 2-13-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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TOP HEADLINE SUMMARY

President Donald Trump is reportedly leaning toward tolerating27 this week’s budget deal — a House vote is slated for Thursday28 — but that doesn’t mean he’s acquiescing to the deal’s lackluster allocation of border-barrier funding. According to The Daily Caller29, “Trump said Tuesday that he is ‘looking over all aspects’ of the border security deal dreamed up by a bipartisan congressional committee to avoid another partial government shutdown.” Marc Thiessen proposes utilizing the sequester30.
“The national debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, a milestone that experts warned is further proof the country is on an unsustainable financial path that could jeopardize the economic security of every American,” USA Today reports31. The piece editorializes that “the national debt has been rising at a faster rate following the passage of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax-cut package,” but runaway entitlement and welfare programs are and will continue to be the primary driver of debt, which, unfortunately, neither party will address. Erick Erickson rightly says32, “More so than climate change, the national debt is a national security issue.”
Bipartisanship and conservation are good, but when is enough federal land enough? “The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes including Civil War soldiers and a civil rights icon. The 662-page measure, which passed 92 to 8, represented an old-fashioned approach to dealmaking that has largely disappeared on Capitol Hill.” (The Washington Post33)
Troll level: Master: “Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that the Senate will vote on the Green New Deal resolution,” National Review reports34. “‘I’ve noted with great interest the Green New Deal. And we’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal,’ McConnell said with a sly smile during a Tuesday press conference.” Ironically, its sponsors fiercely object35.
According to CBS Miami36, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “blamed budget shortfalls on the state of Florida. He said New Yorkers are fleeing to the sunshine state to save big time on taxes.” Census Bureau data affirms this. American Legislative Exchange Council chief economist Jonathan Williams, in a piece titled “Americans continue their march to low-tax states37,” says, “Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Arizona led the way this past year in overall population growth as a percentage of population. Once again, Texas and Florida were the big winners in overall population gains, with the Lone Star State gaining more than 379,000 residents from 2017-18 and the Sunshine State posting a gain of more than 322,000. The big net losers from the report were New York, which lost a total of 48,510 residents, and Illinois, which lost 45,116.”
Following 35 hours of deliberations by a Brooklyn federal jury, former drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman “now faces life in a maximum-security federal prison,” the New York Post reports38. El Chapo was a serial prison escapee in Mexico who raked in billions of dollars via drug trafficking. Sen. Ted Cruz recommends funneling that money toward a border barrier39.
Policy: “The Social Security 2100 Act doesn’t live up to the rhetoric,” Andrew Biggs contends in National Review. Read more on “Why Social Security Expansion May Stiff the Poor40.”
Policy: “Twenty-nine states have reformed their civil-forfeiture laws since 2014. Fifteen states now require a criminal conviction for most or all forfeiture cases. And the recent skirmish over forfeiture laws here in Mississippi — a ‘law and order’ state by any measure — illustrated that the voting public does not believe there is a contradiction between upholding due process and enforcing the law.” (National Review41)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights42.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/61141-wednesday-top-headline-summary

OPINION IN BRIEF

Marc A. Thiessen: “To win, Trump needs to shift the debate to a place where he has real leverage: using the threat of a sequester, rather than a shutdown, to force the Democrats to give him his border barrier. In 10 months’ time, if Congress fails to act, then an automatic sequester will kick in that would reduce federal spending in 2020 to levels that Congress and President Barack Obama set in the Budget Control Act of 2011. Congress agreed to lift those spending caps for two years in 2018, increasing both defense and nondefense discretionary spending above sequester levels by $165 billion and $131 billion, respectively. But that deal runs out at the end of the year. If Congress does not lift the caps by December, then automatic $55 billion across-the-board cuts to domestic discretionary spending will take place, while defense spending will be cut by $71 billion. That looming deadline gives Trump leverage he needs to get his wall. Democrats may not fear another shutdown, but will they really sacrifice $55 billion for domestic priorities next year just to deny Trump a measly $5.7 billion for a physical border barrier? … He should take the deal on the table today, resist the temptation to invoke a national emergency and then get the rest of his wall money in December when he finally has the upper hand.”

SHORT CUTS

Throwing down the gauntlet: “Getting attention does not equal effective leadership. That is a reality that U.S. House Rep. Ilhan Omar urgently needs to grasp as she settles into her new role representing Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. … With an apology comes the expectation of change and personal growth. Omar’s two tweets from the past weekend made it clear that hasn’t happened43. The flippant tone of one of her statements also underscores doubts about her judgment, particularly when this latest communications crisis could have been easily avoided.” —Star Tribune editorial

Race bait: “Republicans have prospered as a party that has appealed to fear for years. … The appeals to fear are always sort of the man behind the screen, or now the man in front of the screen, in Republican Party politics. So because we don’t have candidates that do that and we don’t have a recent party history of doing that, we will not produce anybody like Donald Trump from a crowded primary field.” —Sen. Sherrod Brown

Braying Jackass: “The reason that they [ICE] are already 8,000 [beds] over their budgeted amount — so they’re violating the budget — is because of the president’s zero-tolerance policy that has turned everyone, regardless of their record, into a criminal. For example, if you cross the border undocumented, [Trump] has now made you a criminal. If a person has a driving while under the influence violation, he is now making that, saying that’s criminal.” —Sen. Bob Menendez

Non Compos Mentis: “Don’t let Mitch McConnell fool you: this is nothing but an attempt to sabotage the movement we are building. He wants to silence your voice so Republicans don’t have to explain why they are climate change deniers.” —Sen. Ed Markey complaining that McConnell will actually hold a Senate vote on the Green New Deal17

And last… “[The Green New Deal] sounds like a high-school term paper that got a low mark. It would shut down American energy. … It would shut down a little thing called air travel. How do you take a train to Europe?” —Donald Trump

https://patriotpost.us/articles/61133-wednesday-short-cuts

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Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher