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« on: May 15, 2019, 12:54:23 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 5-15-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
May 15, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/digests/63028-mid-day-digest
THE FOUNDATION
“If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)
https://patriotpost.us/fqd/63026-founders-quote-daily
IN TODAY’S EDITION
Barr appoints an investigator for the investigators in “Spygate.”1
Alabama hopes to challenge Roe v. Wade with abortion bill.2
Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Opinion in Brief6, Short Cuts7, Memes8, and Cartoons9.
IN BRIEF
America Deserves Spygate Answers10
Attorney General William Barr has appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. That’s a good thing, as is the inclusion of the heads of both the CIA (Gina Haspel) and FBI (Christopher Wray), along with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. Given that Robert Mueller’s report cleared President Donald Trump of collusion, investigating the investigators is also a very necessary thing. No wonder Democrats are panicking.
Why? Because the considerable resources of the United States intelligence community and federal law-enforcement agencies were turned on the political opponents of those in power before the 2016 election. As Barr put it last month11, “Yes, I think spying did occur.” This is the sort of thing we’d expect from the likes of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, and, of course, Vladimir Putin in Russia. In America, such abuse should raise grave concerns … even if the administration had a good reason for doing so, which it clearly didn’t.
Case in point: In 2007, Charles Stimson, a DOD official in George W. Bush’s administration, criticized the Gitmo Bar12 — a name for the attorneys representing the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay — and suggested that clients of those firms should make them choose between representing al-Qaida or corporate retainers. He was run out of office for that “offense,” even though the Gitmo Bar provided al-Qaida with far more13 than Jane Fonda gave the North Vietnamese.
Imagine if the Bush administration had turned the FBI on the Gitmo Bar the way Barack Obama’s administration turned the FBI on the Trump campaign. Does anyone think that MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post would be giving those investigators the same deference they demanded on Mueller’s behalf? If you believe that, we at The Patriot Post have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
We need answers. We needed answers about other problematic actions in the past, like Operation Fast and Furious, the IRS targeting of the Tea Party, and the targeting of journalists Sharyl Attkisson and James Rogan over their reporting, to name a few of Obama’s “non-scandals.” Of course, we never got those answers. All we got were whitewashes.
With the end of the Mueller probe, we now need to know what prompted the FBI’s actions before, during, and after the 2016 election. What evidence was used to justify spying on the opposition party’s presidential campaign? Why did investigators choose the techniques they chose? Were the omissions in the FISA applications honest mistakes, or was something more sinister involved? And what was behind the “unmasking” of American citizens caught up in surveillance?
Many conservatives have been understandably skeptical of the FBI’s conduct. If there were honest mistakes, let’s reveal them and make changes so they’re not repeated. And if there were deliberate abuses, let’s punish those responsible.
After all, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s only “crime” was running against — and defeating — Hillary Clinton for the presidency of the United States.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/63023-america-deserves-spygate-answers
Alabama Hopes to Challenge Roe v. Wade14
Georgia passed a law last week that makes abortion illegal once a baby’s heartbeat is detected in the womb, which is approximately six weeks after conception. On Tuesday, Alabama took it a step further as the state senate approved a bill that essentially bans all abortions except in cases of a mother’s health. It now remains to be seen if Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who has long supported the pro-life position, will sign it into law. Even if she should veto it, the Alabama legislature has the votes to override a veto.
Much of the Leftmedia’s reporting on the laws has been inaccurate at best and is at worst flat-out fake news. For example, reporting on the Georgia law, Business Insider’s headline falsely and ridiculously asserts, “Women could get up to 30 years in prison for having a miscarriage under Georgia’s harsh new abortion law.” Slate is no better, vacuously alleging, “Georgia just criminalized abortion. Women who terminate their pregnancies would receive life in prison.” Glamour also trumpets the same baseless nonsense, writing, “Women who have an abortion in Georgia could be sentenced to life in prison.”
Rich Lowry actually gets to the facts of the law, pointing out15, “The relevant section of Georgia abortion law makes it clear that it applies to third parties, and has been interpreted as such by the Georgia courts. Nor does it call for life imprisonment of anyone.” Likewise, Alabama’s law only holds penalties for those who administer an abortion procedure, making it a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison.
What everyone seems to see is that these laws are intended to push the issue of abortion back to the Supreme Court with the aim of reexamining the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. As Alabama House Republican Rep. Terri Collins, the bill’s sponsor, stated, “This bill’s purpose is to hopefully get to the Supreme Court and have them revisit the actual decision. … It’s to address the issue that Roe v. Wade was decided on. Is that baby in the womb a person?” Indeed, both Georgia and Alabama endeavor to define a baby in utero as a human being, which might be the legal key to undoing the damage of Roe.
Meanwhile, Democrat objections to reexamining Roe on the grounds that it set unassailable judicial precedent16 holds little historical weight, as past controversial landmark rulings such as Dred Scott v. Sandford or Plessy v. Ferguson were later challenged and rightly overturned. In any case, saving lives is a worthy battle for both Georgia and Alabama.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/63025-alabama-hopes-to-challenge-roe-v-wade |
