The Patriot Post Digest 5-17-2019

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The Patriot Post Digest 5-17-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
May 17, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/digests/63086-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules.” —Thomas Jefferson (1801)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/63084-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Trump’s new merit-based immigration plan.1
Democrats are set to pass the tyrannical “Equality Act.”2
Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Opinion in Brief6, Short Cuts7, Memes8, and Cartoons9.
IN BRIEF

Trump Refocuses on Immigration Overhaul10

Immigration was arguably the biggest campaign issue that propelled President Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016. Now, as 23 (and counting!) Democrat hopefuls jockey for their party’s nomination to challenge him in 2020, Trump is looking to refocus attention on the issue that, despite all his rhetoric, he’s had little success in tackling — albeit largely because he’s been thwarted by Congress and an activist judiciary. On Thursday, he rolled out a new merit-based points system for immigration.

Introducing his plan, Trump stated, “We are proposing an immigration plan that puts the jobs, wages, and safety of American workers first. Our proposal is pro-America, pro-immigrant and pro-worker. It’s just common sense.”

The Washington Examiner reports, “Under the Trump plan, the share of legal immigrants permitted entry based on job skills would rise from 12% to 57%. Family bonds as a justification for legal entry would fall from 66% to 33%. Asylum and diversity admissions would fall from 22% to 10%.” Trump also noted, “Future immigrants will be required to learn English and to pass a civics exam prior to admission. Through these steps we will deliver an immigration system that respects and even strengthens our future, our traditions, and our values.”

A senior administration official offered an olive branch: “[The plan] can be what [Democrats] want it to be. If [Democrats] don’t want to engage, then it will be part of the election. If they want to engage, then it could be part of a negotiation. That’s going to be up to them.” Trump hopes his proposal will help to unite congressional Republicans and in so doing pressure Democrats into serious policy engagement.

And make no mistake, “This is his proposal,” the official added. “[President Trump has] been intimately involved in crafting it. We’ve shown him kind of where some of the criticism might come from on the Right, and his response is, ‘I’m happy to talk to them and I’ll convince them of why this is the right thing.’”

Predictably, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Trump’s plan to be “dead-on-arrival” because … it’s Trump’s. In a complete about-face from her own advocacy11 for a merit-based immigration system back in 2013, Pelosi fallaciously blasted Trump’s plan as “greenlighting the Administration’s barbaric family detention policies, reviving the President’s ineffective and wasteful wall, completely abandoning our patriotic and determined Dreamers and gutting our asylum and refugee protections, which the evangelical community has called the ‘crown jewel of American humanitarianism.’” Pelosi then sought to spin her own past support for merit-based immigration, insisting, “To say that this plan’s application criteria are ‘merit-based’ is the height of condescension.”

Clearly, Democrats have no intention of taking up the issue, as they’d rather divide Americans with their “Hate Trump” agenda. That’s why this is effectively Trump setting up a prominent issue on which to campaign in 2020.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/63061-trump-refocuses-on-immigration-overhaul

The ‘More Equal Than Others’ Act12

House Democrats will likely pass their so-called “Equality Act” today. Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims it will bring America “closer to equal liberty and justice for all,” but the truth is just the opposite. As Mark Alexander wrote last week13, “This Orwellian legislation dictates that our individual and corporate views must comport with those of the Left, under penalty of law.” In fact, he adds, “This is not about equality, and all is most certainly not equal.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also decried the bill, saying, “The Democrats’ latest piece of legislation is another mirage, packaged with a deceiving title, that ultimately chips away at our religious freedoms, would jeopardize Title IX sports programs, and puts our children at risk by eliminating parental consent in life-altering medical procedures.”

What does the Equality Act do? It updates the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of protected characteristics. But McCarthy is exactly right about its effects.

Religious liberty would suffer greatly. The Heritage Foundation’s Ryan Anderson lists several ways14 this would happen. For example, “The Equality Act would force employers to pay for sex ‘reassignment’ procedures in their health insurance plans, and require medical professionals to perform them.” That goes for the military, too. Anderson adds that it would “force all schools and businesses to open their women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and sports teams to boys who ‘identify as’ girls and to men who ‘identify as’ women.” Faith-based adoption agencies would be forced to place children in homes they deem unfit. The alternative will be to shut down entirely.

As for women’s sports programs, they’re already in jeopardy because of the participation of biological males15. And we’ve documented numerous tragic cases of child abuse over supposed gender dysphoria. Instead of getting help, these children are being subjected to life-altering hormone manipulation and even physical mutilation — and then given “reality” TV shows, to boot. The Equality Act could end up taking away the rights of parents who want to stop this insanity. Think that won’t happen? Look to Canada16.

On a final note, amidst the nationwide fight over state abortion laws, the Equality Act would aim to trump them all. It does this by adding “pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition” to the aforementioned list of protected characteristics. Thus, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins warns17, “The Equality Act doesn’t just torch religious freedom and the First Amendment, it guts every pro-life protection ever passed into law.”

The good news is that the Equality Act stands no chance in the Senate of even making it to President Donald Trump’s desk. The bad news is that Democrats will campaign on it for years to come in their ongoing bid to dupe more women voters with appeals to emotion.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/63081-the-more-equal-than-others-act

Armed Forces Day

Tomorrow is Armed Forces Day18. We remain the land of the free because these Patriots — American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coastguardsmen — have stood bravely in harm’s way and remain on post today. For this, we, the American people, offer our heartfelt thanks and prayers for our nation’s warriors and their families.

The Patriot Post is proud to be one of the nation’s leading advocates for our Armed Forces and their mission. We do this by providing countless Americans with the right perspective on that mission and the demanding tasks our military personnel have carried out with unfailing courage and professionalism. In addition, we support our warriors through efforts such as Operation Shield of Strength19 — through which we have now distributed well over one million dog tags — our Support and Defend20 pages, and The Patriot Shop21, which carries an extensive collection of products bearing official military insignia, the proceeds of which support our mission of service to our Armed Forces.

________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 5-17-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY

Featured Analysis: Robocallers Now an FCC Target22 — Americans can all agree on one thing: Everyone hates spam phone calls.
There Are Heroes Among Us23 — Mass shooters are increasingly encountering brave people who are fighting back.
‘Transgender’ Agenda Claims Another Life24 — Hospital staff thought a pregnant woman was a man. As a result, her baby died.
New ‘Adversity Score’ Added to SAT25 — Schools seek to instill even more bias and victimitis into admissions testing.
Grassroots Perspective: Divide and Conquer26 — It seems the only strategy the Left has is to pit one group against the other.
Video: Mini Ocasio-Cortez ‘Picked Green Because…’27 — “I’m still learning my colors,” jokes the famous eight-year-old impersonator.
Video: The Threat of Leftist Court-Packing28 — Ilya Somin of “The Volokh Conspiracy” discusses the dangers of packing the Supreme Court.

TOP NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TEXAS PLAGUED BY ILLEGAL-IMMIGRANT SERIAL KILLER: “A Dallas man previously arrested in the death of an 81-year-old woman has been charged with killing at least 11 more elderly women whose jewelry and other valuables he stole, authorities said Thursday. … [Billy] Chemirmir [is] a Kenyan citizen who was living in the U.S. illegally.” (Associated Press30)
ICE SEEKS MIGRANT TRANSPORTER: “The Trump administration is looking to hire a private contractor that will be responsible for transporting approximately 225,000 migrant children and families to shelters across the country over the next five years as they wait for their asylum claims to be processed.” (Fox News31)
CALIFORNIA’S BUDGET TRAIN WRECK: “On Thursday, the Trump administration audaciously decided to flip a proverbial middle finger at the state of California and its socialite Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. The middle finger came in the form of Trump’s Department of Transportation nixing a whopping $928.6 million in previously loosely agreed-upon federal funding to help assist California’s fledgling high-speed rail project.” (The Daily Wire32)
TRUMP MANIFESTS PRUDENCE TOWARD IRAN: “President Donald Trump says he hopes the U.S. is not on a path to war with Iran amid fears that his two most hawkish advisers could be angling for such a conflict with the Islamic Republic.” (Associated Press33)
SAT FAILS WITH ‘ADVERSITY SCORE’: “The College Board, which oversees the SAT exam used by most U.S. colleges during the admissions process, plans to introduce an ‘adversity score’ which takes into consideration the social and economic background of every student.” (Fox News34)
FACEBOOK CENSORSHIP (CONTINUED): “Facebook blocked Trump 2020 campaign advisory board member Jenna Ellis Rives from sharing a screenshot of a tweet by citing ‘hate speech,’ but Rives believes this is a part of a deliberate attempt to censor conservative commentary until it is no longer timely.” (The Daily Caller35)
MORE OF MUELLER REPORT EXPOSED: “A federal judge has ordered portions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be unredacted and made public in the criminal case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan issued the limited order Thursday. Portions of the report relating to Flynn are redacted and would be made public under the order.” (Associated Press36)
POLICY: A $2 trillion mistake? Here’s what Washington must do to get infrastructure right (New York Post37)
POLICY: The Swedish lesson: Welfare states create moral hazard (National Review38)
HUMOR: Man identifies as woman just long enough to voice valid opinion on abortion (The Babylon Bee39)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights40.

The Patriot Post is certified ad-free, unlike third-party commercial news sites linked on this page, which may also be pay-walled.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/63083-friday-top-news-executive-summary

OPINION IN BRIEF

Michael Reagan: “When I speak to pro-life Christian groups I always point out that the preponderance of young girls who get abortions believe in God and come from Christian homes. How can this be? One reason is that too many young girls are getting abortions because they are being raised in good Christian homes by fathers who warn them over and over to never disgrace their family by getting pregnant. Because they know if they get pregnant they will be shunned by their family and friends, or in some cases no longer even welcome in their own homes, the girls find a way to secretly have an abortion. … It’s not complicated: Fathers need to have a loving, forgiving heart, as God had a loving, forgiving heart. When fathers become the loving, forgiving God in their home who embraces their child even though she has made mistakes, I tell the audience, their daughters will no longer feel they have to run to the government or Planned Parenthood to get a secret abortion. Instead, I say, they’ll be able to feel they can come home, be loved and embraced by their father as we are all loved and embraced by God — and have their baby.”

SHORT CUTS

For the record: “Both Alabama’s abortion ban and Georgia’s heartbeat law contain a key provision — they declare the personhood of the unborn child. This is a vital measure that is aimed directly at a key portion of the Roe v. Wade opinion. … In other words, Georgia and Alabama are saying: ‘We’ve read Roe, and we’re making the very legal statement that Justice Blackmun says would fundamentally undermine the case for abortion. Under our federal system, we can expand the legal definition of life.’” —David French

Trump Derangement Syndrome buzzkill: “[An impeachment campaign] depends [on] what comes out. It depends where the American people are, whether they want to go that way or not. I don’t want to make it sound as if we’re heading for impeachment. Probably we’re not.” —Rep. Jerry Nadler

Braying Jenny: “I tell my sister, Rashida Tlaib, that her [sic] and I have the strength to endure any of the mischaracterization or efforts to distort and vilify and mischaracterize our message. I think we are seeing what happens when people really see these kind [sic] of attacks for what they are. It is designed to silence, sideline, and almost eliminate [the] public voice of Muslims from the public discourse.” —Rep. Ilhan Omar

Alpha Jackass: “Can we look at a picture of the panel of men who did this? There it is. Gee, what do they have in common? They’re all men, all white guys. Maybe they should all be required to get a vasectomy — that group in particular.” —Joy Behar regarding Alabama’s pro-life state senators

Forewarning: “We must pass federal laws to protect women’s rights. We need to codify Roe v. Wade into law and fully fund Planned Parenthood. We must repeal the Hyde Amendment.” —Sen. Cory Booker

Define “take action”: “I will not appoint any justice that does not agree that they will support the precedent of Roe v. Wade or other judges. That is the law of the land, and I think both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lied to the Judiciary Committee when they said they would uphold precedent. And if they then go back on this … I think we should look towards what we will do to address it, because we need far more oversight and accountability over these Supreme Court justices, and if they lied in their hearings, then we should take action.” —Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

And last… “If your argument is that we should be killing babies because they might end up poor, I’m wondering what’s stopping you from wiping out the homeless population. If your standard of whether someone should live or die is their probable quality of life, why stop in the womb?” —Allie Beth Stuckey

https://patriotpost.us/articles/63080-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