The Patriot Post Digest 12-13-2019

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The Patriot Post Digest 12-13-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Dec. 13, 2019

https://patriotpost.us/digests/67360-mid-day-digest-2019-12-13

THE FOUNDATION

“If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected.” —Thomas Jefferson (1821)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/67359-founders-quote-daily-2019-12-13

IN TODAY’S EDITION

House Judiciary approves impeachment on party-line vote.1
Another Brexit election has lessons for America.2
Bernie’s broadband bonanza.3
Daily Features: More Analysis4, Columnists5, Headlines6, Opinion in Brief7, Short Cuts8, Memes9, and Cartoons10.

IN BRIEF

Party-Line Impeachment for Day-Time TV11

Donald Trump was inaugurated president 1,056 days ago, which, coincidentally, is exactly how long Democrats have been trying to impeach him. Well, if you don’t include their rumblings before he even took office. Today brings a major marker: The House Judiciary Committee voted 23-17 along party lines to advance two articles of impeachment12 to the full House for a vote next week.

That vote came after more political theater last night, as House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler abruptly ended a hearing and announced the committee would not vote until this morning. “It is now very late at night,” Nadler declared shortly before midnight. “I want the members on both sides of the aisle to think about what has happened over these last two days, and to search their consciences before we cast their final votes. … Let history be our judge.”

Hearing Democrats talk about “consciences” is pretty amusing.

Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the committee, complained that Nadler’s move was a violation of the rules and “the most bush-league stunt” he had ever seen. Collins also aptly noted what really matters to Democrats: “They know it’s all about games. It’s all about the TV screens. They want the primetime hit.” The flip side of that coin is that Democrats knew they couldn’t hold a vote at midnight under the cover of darkness without leaving themselves open to new Republican attacks. Now they’ve set up the weekend TV talkingheads while giving the rest of America a Friday news dump.

One major factor for Democrats in their delay is that there are 31 “moderate” Democrats who won districts Trump won in 2016. Most of them have declined to indicate how they’d vote when the full House takes up the issue. (Notably, the six Democrats who took the stage earlier this week to “somberly” announce impeachment articles were all from California and New York. This is why we have the Electoral College13.) Those 31 Democrats could be waiting for their own quid pro quo. What will their district receive in exchange for their impeachment vote?

Democrats can lose only 16 of their members and still succeed in impeaching Trump. They will almost certainly gain no Republicans, and the Senate is a virtual lock to acquit the president. So House Democrats are about to spend a lot of political capital on a losing proposition.

Footnote One: During Judiciary debate, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) named the alleged whistleblower14, reported to be Eric Chiaramella15. Gohmert rattled off a list of people who should have testified but were prevented from doing so by Democrats. Chiaramella was among them. Leftmedia outlets who name and make famous every mass shooter have stubbornly refused to name the whistleblower, though by reporting that Gohmert named him they’ve effectively confirmed it.

Footnote Two: The one thing members of both parties can seem to agree on is more spending. Congressional negotiators just announced a deal for $1.3 trillion in discretionary spending for 2020, avoiding a government shutdown for Christmas. Reason notes16, “The deficit for fiscal 2019, which ended in September, was $984 billion. Total outlays clocked in at $4.447 trillion, with revenues reaching $3.462 trillion, both record amounts.” Moreover, “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is now projecting annual deficits in excess of $1 trillion in each of the next 10 years.”

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67356-party-line-impeachment-for-day-time-tv-2019-12-13

UK Voters Demand to ‘Get Brexit Done’17

There’s big news from across the pond as the British people have once again voiced their approval for Brexit18 (the United Kingdom exiting the European Union). The UK held national parliamentary elections yesterday to determine whether the conservative Tory Party led by current Prime Minister Boris Johnson would stay in power, or if the liberal Labour Party led by socialist Jeremy Corbyn would take control. Johnson, who took over as PM earlier this year after Theresa May’s repeated failure for over two years to deliver a Brexit deal, campaigned heavily to “get Brexit done,” and Britons responded by giving him a historic victory.

“This election means that getting Brexit done is now the irrefutable, irresistible, unarguable decision of the British people,” Johnson said. President Donald Trump voiced his enthusiasm over the election results, stating, “Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN! Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT! This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the E.U. Celebrate Boris!”

But this election result arguably has far more positive and significant implications for America’s relationship with Great Britain than a big trade deal. Should Corbyn have won, his anti-American and pro-Iranian positions would have presented a major problem for the two nations’ close intelligence-sharing relationship. As the Washington Examiner notes, “On both sides of the Atlantic, top intelligence officials such as the CIA’s Gina Haspel and her friend and counterpart, Alex Younger, would have to mitigate this suspension of sharing intelligence on trust that Corbyn would not receive specifics on sources and methods.”

The big picture of this UK election is very much the same one the American people gave Washington in electing Trump. The government is supposed to represent the interests and will of the people, not be used as a mechanism for elitists to force their agenda and control onto the people. American Democrats have spent three years trying to undo the 2016 election. Britain’s elites have done the same thing ever since the June 2016 Brexit vote. Likewise, as that vote served as a precursor to Trump’s election victory five months later, this latest UK election may signal a big win coming for Trump in 2020 as the people reject the elites.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67355-uk-voters-demand-to-get-brexit-done

Bernie Sanders Wants to Nationalize the Internet19

It should come as no surprise that Bernie Sanders wants the government to control … well, just about everything — including the Internet. Yes, the socialist senator from Vermont has a plan dubiously entitled “High-Speed Internet for All.” Too many Americans lack access to high-speed Internet, Sanders says, which is unacceptable for something he considers “a basic human right.” (“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Netflix”?) Sanders’s plan would solve this “crisis” by classifying the Internet as a public utility, effectively giving Washington total control of a “publicly owned and democratically controlled, co-operative, or open access broadband network.”

So, how bad is this high-speed Internet crisis? Well, currently only 94% of people living in the U.S. have access to broadband. That might explain why the Federal Communications Commission doesn’t see it as a crisis at all. Last year, the FCC concluded that “broadband services are now being deployed to all Americans on a reasonable and timely basis.” Furthermore, rapid expanse of broadband services has come about almost entirely via private enterprise. Got that, Bernie?

In fact, far from quickly delivering broadband access to that remaining 6%, nationalizing the Internet would only serve to slow it down. As the Washington Examiner notes, “The unnecessary Obama-era internet regulation misleadingly dubbed ‘net neutrality’ led to a massive decline in private sector broadband investment during the brief period while it was in place. According to the FCC, ‘In the following two years, after [net neutrality] was adopted, new developments dropped 55 percent.’ But after its repeal, investment has ticked back up by a whopping $1.5 billion.”

Leave it to socialists like Sanders to conjure up crises for which Big Government is the only solution.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67338-bernie-sanders-wants-to-nationalize-the-internet-2019-12-13

________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 12-13-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________

We Hear You

At this time each year, as we kick off the two most critical months in which we raise about half of The Patriot Post’s annual operations budget, my staff tends to receive a few complaints about our fundraising efforts. Don’t get me wrong — I’m very aware that we do a lot of “asking” in order to meet our operations budget. We appreciate your patience with these requests because, as a donor-based organization, without the asking, we wouldn’t be here. Even if we do meet our budget goal, we depend on a great deal of volunteer efforts to keep The Patriot Post running. If you aren’t in a position to help, we understand. But for those who can, please make your donation today. Every penny of your support goes toward our daily operations budget into 2019. Thank you for standing with us. —Christy S. Chesterton, Director of Advancement

ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY

Featured Analysis: Universities Build Massive Endowments, Students Take Big Loans20 — “US families owed $1.5 trillion in student debt, while the well-endowed hoarded $617 billion.”
Weinstein’s Wrist Gets Slapped21 — The Hollywood mogul doesn’t have to admit guilt for sexual sins, nor will he pay personally.
Grassroots Perspective: Constitutional Malpractice22 — Democrats claim to defend the Constitution via impeachment while they trample it.
Video: Pelosi — Impeachment For Over Two Years!23 — The speaker admitted the impeachment process has been going on for “two and a half” years.
Video: Megan Rapinoe Wins ‘Athlete of the Year Award’24 — She wins Sports Illustrated award only to scold the publication for their lack of diversity.

TOP NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

POLITICAL OPTICS: Judiciary Committee votes to advance articles of impeachment against Trump to the full House — after Jerry Nadler delayed it for a daytime audience26 (CNBC27)

“BIGGEST MAJORITY SINCE MARGARET THATCHER’S WIN IN 1987”: British voters delivered a stunning victory to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party in Thursday’s general election, giving the Brexit backer a large majority in the House of Commons (NPR28)

TRADE PROGRESS: U.S., China agree to limited trade deal; new tariffs avoided (ABC News29)

PERPETUAL DEBT: Even in impeachment-crazed DC, it’s always a good time to borrow and spend! Donald Trump, Democrats, and Republicans agree on trillion-dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see (Reason16)

“DEADER THAN A DOORNAIL” IN THE SENATE: House Democrats pass bill to give government more control over drug prices (National Review30)

WHO NEEDS FACTS? Rashida Tlaib deletes tweet blaming “white supremacy” for New Jersey shooting — because the assailants were actually black supremacists (The Washington Times31)

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: U.S. envoy to Afghanistan announces “pause” in Taliban peace talks after attack on airbase (NBC News32)

UNANIMOUS DECISION — TO ERDOGAN’S CHAGRIN: Senate passes bill to recognize Armenian genocide (New York Post33)

“THERE ARE GOING TO BE CONSEQUENCES”: Virginia governor offers “veiled threat” against state’s Second Amendment sanctuary cities (The Daily Wire34)

THE SWAMP: Nine of 20 richest counties are DC suburbs; Virginia suburbs beat Silicon Valley (CNSNews.com35)

POLICY: How two years of tax cuts have supported our strong economy (The Daily Signal36)

POLICY: Can we avoid collateral damage in the 5G battle with China? (Hudson Institute37)

HUMOR: Poll finds most people would rather be annihilated by giant tidal wave than continue to be lectured by climate-change activists (The Babylon Bee38)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights39.

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/67357-friday-top-news-executive-summary-2019-12-13

OPINION IN BRIEF

Rich Lowry: “Ultimately, impeachment is going to get swallowed up by the news cycle like everything else. It will leave a mark, becoming a line in Wikipedia and any other capsule account of the Trump presidency. In short order, though, it will seem like an event from a distant epoch. A new outrage will emerge, dominating press coverage for a few days, to be replaced by another in the well-established pattern of the Trump era. How historic is an event, really, if a month afterward the course of American politics is completely unchanged?”

SHORT CUTS

Food for thought: “Unless Saudi Arabia has a conversion moment that credibly repudiates the extreme wing of Islam it has practiced and taught for decades, one has a right, even a duty, to question its sincerity in the matter of the Pensacola killer.” —Cal Thomas

Political futures: “Trump’s many enemies fear he will be re-elected in 2020, given a booming economy and peace abroad. They know that they cannot remove him from office. And yet they fear that the more they try to stain him with impeachment, the more frustrated and unpopular they will become. Yet, like end-stage addicts, they simply cannot stop the behavior that is consuming them.” —Victor Davis Hanson

For the record: “If ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ now includes factoring domestic politics into dubious foreign-policy decisions (see, e.g., Obama’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq), maybe, to save time, we should start impeaching presidents before they take office — because every one of them will surely be impeachable.” —Andrew McCarthy

Belly laugh of the week: “Has there ever been a less consequential person picked to be [Time magazine’s] Person of the Year? I doubt it. I mean, Wallis Simpson, 1936’s Person of the Year, got King Edward VIII to abdicate the throne. [Greta] Thunberg can’t even get you to abdicate your air-conditioning.” —David Harsanyi

Dezinformatsiya: “I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history. He has done everything he can to undercut the media, to try and delegitimize us, and I think his purpose is clear: to raise doubts when we report critically about him and his administration that we can be trusted.” —Fox News’s Chris Wallace, who seems to have missed the fact that the mainstream media largely cannot be trusted, particularly in its reporting on Trump

Braying jackass: “This is heartbreaking. White supremacy kills!” —Jew-hating Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on the Jersey City murders … except the assailants were actually black supremacists

The BIG Lie: “Reagan had it wrong: Our problem isn’t big government; our problem is a government that’s been captured by the rich and the powerful.” —Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Tone deaf: “If we did not [impeach Trump], he would continue to undermine our elections. Nothing less is at stake than the central point of our democracy, of a free and fair election not to be disrupted by foreign powers.” —Nancy Pelosi, whose impeachment charade is all about “undermining our elections”

And last… “It’s encouraging to see that the Brits still understand that electing a communist anti-Semite to the PM would be a bad idea.” —Ben Shapiro

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67352-friday-short-cuts-2019-12-13

TODAY’S MEME

https://patriotpost.us/memes/67348-white-2019-12-13

For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union40.

TODAY’S CARTOON

https://patriotpost.us/cartoons/28053

For more of today’s cartoons, visit the Cartoons archive41.

Join us in prayer for our Patriots in uniform and their families — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way, and for our nation’s First Responders. We also ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the Spirit of Liberty42 in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis