The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2019

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 29, 2019

https://patriotpost.us/digests/64594-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth — and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts.” —Patrick Henry (1775)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/64593-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

The president’s criticism of Baltimore is actually right on the money.1
Trump wins twice on immigration.2
Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Opinion in Brief6, Short Cuts7, Memes8, and Cartoons9.

IN BRIEF

The Demos’ Baltimore Race-Card Diversion10

Once again, President Donald Trump lit another social-media firestorm on Saturday as he blasted Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) over his bullying behavior. “Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of [the] Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA…” Trump wrote. He then defended the Border Patrol’s work on dealing with the border crisis, noting, “As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded.” Trump then described the Baltimore district Cummings represents as “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” before declaring, “If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.”

Cue the leftist outrage machine, which appears to have become little other than a broken record repeatedly screeching “racist” each time Trump lands a well-placed political jab. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asserted, “Donald Trump, once again, is a racist who makes ever-more outrageous, racist remarks.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, who back in 2015 called Baltimore a “Third World country” with “hundreds of buildings that are uninhabitable,” derided Trump as “a racist president who attacks people because they are African-Americans.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) waved the race canard as well, lecturing, “We all reject racist attacks against [Cummings] and support his steadfast leadership.”

Unfortunately, once again there were some members of the conservative media who couldn’t help but bemoan what they saw as racism in Trump’s message. So accurately highlighting the horrible living conditions of a longtime Democrat-run urban poverty plantation11 like Baltimore equates to racism if those elected officials responsible are minorities? When exactly did speaking the truth become “racist”? Evidently, Baltimore’s own black Democrat mayor must be a “racist” as well. Just last year, when touring the city’s violence-riddled, trash-filled neighborhoods, she was caught on camera expressing her disgust: “What the hell? We should just take all this s—t down. … Whoa, you can smell the rats… You can smell the dead animals.”

Getting down to brass tacks, Trump has effectively responded to undeserved and politically motivated attacks by Cummings against Border Patrol officials who are simply trying to do the best they can while they receive nothing but condemnation and ridicule from Democrats and the Leftmedia. As the commander-in-chief, Trump is clearly unwilling to sit on the sidelines and let Democrats like Cummings grandstand with their vacuous virtue signals at the expense of these Border Patrol officials’ reputations. So Trump stepped in, redirecting the Left’s arrows toward himself, and in so doing he effectively exposed to the American people who the Democrats really are.

As with the Gang of Four flap12 two weeks ago, Trump has successfully brought into the light the fact that the Democrat Party has sold out to the extreme Left. He has shown that Democrats are now fully invested in transforming the U.S. into a socialist state at the cost of the Constitution and individual Liberty. Trump has also laid bare the fact that the vast majority of the mainstream media has become the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party. Trump is a brawler, whose seemingly wild verbal swings effectively hit the target more often than many within the Washington Beltway realize or understand.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/64590-the-demos-baltimore-race-card-diversion

Trump Wins Two Key Border Victories13

It’s not often President Donald Trump secures a judicial win on the issue of immigration. But the Supreme Court ruled Friday that Trump can use military funds to expand the border barrier. The Wall Street Journal reports, “In a 5-4 decision, the justices of the U.S. high court said President Trump can shift about $2.5 billion in military funds to construct an additional 100 miles of wall at the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to seal off the U.S. from illegal immigration.”

In February, Trump declared the border crisis a national emergency14, which included an executive move to shift available Pentagon funds to build a border barrier, which we’d argue is a legitimate way to address a crisis of national security. The ecofascist Sierra Club and its allies immediately sued to stop him, alleging that a wall would infringe on “recreational and aesthetic interests” like “hiking, birdwatching, [and] photography.” They prevailed at every level until Friday.

Left unsettled, however, is the question of the president’s authority. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the lawsuit filed by House Democrats seeking to block the funding on the grounds that Congress has specifically declined to authorize this barrier money.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi groused, “For months, the President has sought to undermine our military readiness and steal from our men and women in uniform to waste billions on a wasteful, ineffective wall that Congress on a bipartisan basis has repeatedly refused to fund. The Supreme Court’s decision tonight to allow President Trump to defy the bipartisan will of the Congress and proceed with contracts to spend billions of dollars on his wall undermines the Constitution and the law.”

Congress has indeed been derelict in its duty to secure America’s borders, and both parties are guilty. But Democrats undermine military readiness at every opportunity, along with promising “free” stuff to the migrants who can make it across our borders illegally. Moreover, they’ve effectively surrendered any right to talk about defending the Constitution and Rule of Law. It is certainly true that the office of the president has taken too much power, but it is also true that Congress has deliberately ceded that authority because its members are more concerned with reelection than with their constitutional duties.

Trump’s second victory Friday was regarding asylum. The Washington Times reports, “President Trump inked a deal with Guatemala on Friday to crack down on migrants who cross that country’s territory en route to the U.S. to claim asylum, with Guatemala’s government agreeing to take them back.” That means primarily Hondurans and Salvadorans would be required to first seek asylum in Guatemala or Mexico before proceeding to the U.S. Guatemalans are not affected by the deal, though more of them are crossing the U.S. border than any other nationality.

The deal is similar to an agreement with Mexico that is working quite well15 to stem the tide of Central Americans overrunning the U.S. border, often with bogus claims of asylum16.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/64588-trump-wins-two-key-border-victories

ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY

Featured Analysis: The Biggest Swamp of All17 — Far from campaign promises of fiscal responsibility, politicians continue major deficit spending.
Capital Crimes, Capital Punishment18 — AG Barr lifts the moratorium on the federal death penalty. Here are the first five offenders.
Grassroots Perspective: Obama Derailed the Democrat Party19 — And his political supporters are left on the tracks. For that, we can thank him.
Video: Monitor Dangerous White Men Rather Than Islamists?20 — Ilhan Omar said Americans should be “more fearful of white men” than the threat of “jihadist terrorism.”
Video: Climate Change Wasn’t About the Environment at All21 — So you thought climate change was about the environment? Tucker Carlson says it’s not.

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-29-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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TOP NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

COATS OUT: “Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats will leave his position next month, President Trump announced Sunday, capping a tumultuous relationship in which the two were often at odds over the wisdom of negotiating with Russia, the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and the severity of foreign threats to U.S. elections. Trump said in a tweet that he would nominate Rep. John ¬Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), a third-term congressman and prominent supporter, to replace Coats.” (The Washington Post23)

RUSSIAN HACKING REPORT: “The Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Friday that Russian hackers targeted election systems in all 50 states in advance of the 2016 elections, but did not attempt to alter any vote totals. … While it was previously known that hackers targeted a handful of states in the run up to the election, the report revealed that the effort was more widespread that previously understood.” (National Review24)

HARRIS TOES THE LINE: “Sen. Kamala Harris, who has spent some time clarifying her stance on ‘Medicare for All,’ is now proposing her own version of the single-payer insurance plan. … Harris has proposed to double the transition period from the current health care system to the single-payer system, to reduce [Bernie] Sanders’ proposed tax on middle-class families to pay for the plan, and she would allow private insurance companies to offer Medicare options.” (CBS News25)

CALIFORNIA SHOOTING: “Three people were killed and at least 15 others injured Sunday after a shooting that sent panicked people running at an annual food festival in Northern California. Also dead is the shooter, who used a rifle and gained entry to the packed festival by cutting through a fence to avoid the tight security, including metal detectors, police said. … Police confronted the [assailant] within a minute of shots being fired.” (KTLA26)

COVINGTON LAWSUIT DISMISSED: “A federal judge in Kentucky dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed against the Washington Post by a Covington Catholic High School student. Nicholas Sandmann and his family sought $250 million in damages over the newspaper’s reporting about a confrontation between Sandmann and a Native American man in January.” (Washington Examiner27)

GENDER-NEUTRAL ILLINOIS: “On April 11, the Illinois state Senate voted 53-0 in favor of SB 556, otherwise known as the ‘Equitable Restrooms Act,’ which would have all single-occupancy restrooms in ‘places of public accommodation’ be labeled as gender-neutral. On May 21, the state House passed the bill on a 109-5 vote, and on Friday, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the legislation into law.” (The Daily Wire28)

RHODE ISLAND PAY-TO-PLAY: “Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo is facing criticism after her administration awarded a no-bid billion-dollar contract to a gaming company that is represented by the treasurer of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) which Raimondo chairs.” (The Washington Free Beacon29)

POLICY: How Republicans can appeal to the white working class (National Review30)

POLICY: The minimum wage is not about helping the poor; it’s a boon to organized labor (Commentary31)

HUMOR: Ilhan Omar introduces resolution condemning racism, white men, and the Jews (The Babylon Bee32)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights33.

The Patriot Post is a certified ad-free news service, unlike third-party commercial news sites linked on this page, which may also require a paid subscription.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/64587-monday-top-news-executive-summary

OPINION IN BRIEF

David French34: “What is recent history teaching us about the human condition on this planet? It gives us both cause for concern and reason for hope. One does not have to buy the doomsday scenarios — including the predictions that we have a decade (or less) to save the planet — to be concerned about humanity’s impact on the climate and the climate’s impact on humans. I am concerned, and I do believe we should take reasonable measures to mitigate that impact. But we should not give into dystopian thinking. The same human ingenuity and industry that has extended life expectancies, slashed extreme poverty by 74 percent in 25 years, and also reduced carbon emissions in numerous advanced economies can advance the twin, interconnected goals of human flourishing and planetary flourishing. … Quiet climate policy depends on understanding not only that a challenge exists but also that panic is counterproductive and polarization should be shunned. It also depends on a few fundamental assertions — we are not doomed, human beings should flourish, and our God-given ingenuity and creativity can craft the instruments of our own environmental rescue.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?” —Ronald Reagan

Political futures I: “The conventional wisdom is that Nancy Pelosi has been battling with members of her caucus who want to vote impeachment articles against President Trump. … I am not sure any such conflict exists. Pelosi may very well consider this a best case scenario: hotheads like [Jerry] Nadler keep yammering about impeachment, holding hearings, etc., thereby keeping the base riled upon and impeachment in the headlines, while Pelosi never actually brings impeachment up for a House vote, and thereby avoids antagonizing moderates. If you are a Democrat, what is wrong with this picture?” —John Hinderaker

Political futures II: “The enemy keeps postponing when the recession is going to come. They’re dying to have a recession.” —Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

Upright: “The right to life is the foundation of freedom itself.” —Rep. Kevin McCarthy

Thought experiment: “I’m taking a stand against bigotry tonight by marching through West Baltimore with a wad of cash sticking out of my pocket. I will prove that it is a safe and wonderful place with lots of peaceful people. Who’s with me?” —Matt Walsh

Bureaucrooks: “I do believe our GDP will rise … when we raise the minimum wage and people have more purchasing power, because these are people who will spend, inject demand into the economy, and therefore our GDP will rise.” —Nancy Pelosi (Fact check: Raising the minimum wage will eliminate millions of jobs.)

Collusion delusion: “No, I’m not trying to run out the clock [on impeachment]. … We will proceed when we have what we need to proceed — not one day sooner.” —Nancy Pelosi

Annals of the absurd: “I would never even say there was a hatchet.” —Nancy Pelosi belittling the AOC squabble

Non Compos Mentis: “Ban Antifa? I’ve Met Golden Retrievers Who Scared Me More.” —singer-songwriter Tae Phoenix

The BIG Lie: “But for voter disenfranchisement, Stacey Abrams would be the governor of Georgia.” —Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

And last… “Trump’s pajamas rage-tweeting is bad for the country. But pointing out that Baltimore is one of the worst run cities in America, rife with crime and plagued by poor living conditions, isn’t racist. It’s evident to anyone with two eyes and a functioning pre-frontal cortex.” —Ben Shapiro

https://patriotpost.us/articles/64581-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