The Patriot Post Digest 12-18-2019

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 12-18-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Dec. 18, 2019

https://patriotpost.us/digests/67467-mid-day-digest-2019-12-18

THE FOUNDATION

“There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.” —George Washington (1795)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/67466-founders-quote-daily-2019-12-18

IN TODAY’S EDITION

    Trump sends a blistering letter to Pelosi hammering impeachment.1
    More regulation of FISA won’t stop political lies.2
    Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Opinion in Brief6, Short Cuts7, Memes8, and Cartoons9.

IN BRIEF

Democrats Have ‘Full-Fledged Case of 'Trump Derangement Syndrome’10

The House will “debate” for six hours today before voting on whether to impeach President Donald Trump. The outcome is a foregone conclusion — in fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi never would have even begun entertaining the idea of impeachment if she wasn’t sure she had the votes to do it. The constant churn speculating otherwise is nothing more than political theater.

The vote will likely occur during or just before Trump holds a campaign rally in Michigan. Out on a limb — that’s not a coincidence.

But the real news is yesterday’s blistering letter from Trump to Pelosi11. Here are some key excerpts:

    This impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequaled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history.

    The Articles of Impeachment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation, or jurisprudence. They include no crimes, no misdemeanors, and no offenses…

    You are offending Americans of faith by continually saying “I pray for the President,” when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense.

    Everyone, you included, knows what is really happening. Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227), and you and your party have never recovered from this defeat. You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome12. …

    Speaker Pelosi, you admitted just last week at a public forum that your party’s impeachment effort has been going on for “two and a half years,” long before you ever heard about a phone call with Ukraine. … This impeachment drive has nothing to do with Ukraine, or the totally appropriate conversation I had with its new president. It only has to do with your attempt to undo the election of 2016 and steal the election of 2020! …

    You and your party are desperate to distract from America’s extraordinary economy13, incredible jobs boom, record stock market, soaring confidence, and flourishing citizens. Your party simply cannot compete with our record14. …

    You are the ones interfering in America’s elections15. You are the ones subverting America’s Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain.

    Before the Impeachment Hoax16, it was the Russian Witch Hunt17. …

    Our Founders feared the tribalization of partisan politics, and you are bringing their worst fears to life.

    Perhaps most insulting of all is your false display of solemnity. You apparently have so little respect for the American People that you expect them to believe that you are approaching this impeachment somberly, reservedly, and reluctantly. No intelligent person believes what you are saying. Since the moment I won the election, the Democrat Party has been possessed by Impeachment Fever. There is no reticence. This is not a somber affair. You are making a mockery of impeachment and you are scarcely concealing your hatred of me, of the Republican Party, and tens of millions of patriotic Americans. The voters are wise, and they are seeing straight through this empty, hollow, and dangerous game you are playing.

    I have no doubt the American people will hold you and the Democrats fully responsible in the upcoming 2020 election. They will not soon forgive your perversion of justice and abuse of power.

And that adequately sums up this farcical proceeding. The president nailed it in his letter, punching back hard for what he correctly sees as a morally bankrupt partisan charade.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67462-democrats-have-full-fledged-case-of-trump-derangement-syndrome

More FISA Regs Won’t Stop Political Lies18

In a rare move, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) issued a stinging public rebuke of the FBI over FISA abuse in its surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, which was uncovered by Inspector General Michael Horowitz17. Judge Rosemary Collyer wrote, “The frequency with which representations made by FBI personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable.”

Furthermore, the FISA court ordered the FBI to present plans for what the agency has done and will do “to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

What this unusual public action taken by FISC makes clear is that the court is furious over how it was repeatedly lied to and used by politically motivated members of the FBI in order to secure surveillance warrants. The court gave the FBI a deadline of Jan. 10 to present its proposal for “fixing” this problem. But therein lies the real problem: How does one fix the unfixable? This is not a problem that can be fixed simply by adding more regulations. No amount of new regulations will prevent unscrupulous individuals with biased political motivations from lying in the future.

Meanwhile, how many of these individuals within the FBI who lied and engaged in deceitful actions to hide information from the FISA court are currently under prosecution? What are the consequences for this gross abuse? To this point, virtually none. However, all hope is not lost, as prosecutor John Durham’s criminal investigation may bring indictments against some of these corrupt individuals.

Leftmedia outlets quickly either brushed aside this huge story for not comporting with their anti-Trump narrative or they spun the court’s rebuke as little more than an argument for overhauling the FISA application process. The New York Times falsely asserted that Horowitz’s report “debunked the claims by President Trump … that senior FBI officials were part of a political conspiracy.” Horowitz debunked nothing; he simply noted that he had no hard evidence proving that the 17 “significant errors or omissions” made by individuals within the FBI and Justice Department19 were made either with intentionality or gross negligence. That’s a long way from “debunking” any of Trump’s claims, and the FISA court’s rebuke indicates as much.

To all honest observers, there was a clear pattern of politically motivated behavior from the agents involved. The facts are that the FBI targeted the political campaign of the party not in power by knowingly using dubious information to garner a surveillance warrant. This is illegal and criminal abuse of the FISA court. How can any American trust the FBI going forward?

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67463-more-fisa-regs-wont-stop-political-lies-2019-12-18

[nChrist]

________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 12-18-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
_______________________________

ON OUR WEBSITE TODAY

    Featured Analysis: As 2019 Ends, Trump Economy Running Full Speed Ahead20 — Try as they might, Democrats have been unable to derail the economic growth.
    Judges in GA and WI Okay Voter-Registry Cleanup21 — States can move forward on ensuring their voter rolls are up to date and accurate.
    Grassroots Perspective: Person of the Year Award22 — If we’re truly honest, the only deserving recipient of the award is President Donald Trump.
    Video: The Case Against Socialism23 — Rand Paul takes on socialist arguments about Venezuela, Scandinavia, and “fairness.”
    Humor Video: ‘Full House’ (San Francisco Real Estate Parody)24 — “Everywhere you look, there’s a tarp — a sheet to hold on to. Everywhere you look…”

TOP NEWS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DAY OF RECKONING CONNIVING : House opens session ahead of historic vote on Trump impeachment (Reuters26)

NO HOLDS BARRED: Trump tells Pelosi in blistering letter that Democrats are “declaring open war on American Democracy” (Fox News27)

MIKE LEE WAS RIGHT: FISA court issues rare public order condemning FBI for Russia-probe abuses and demanding reforms (National Review28)

MOUNTING EVIDENCE: New attestation shows Hunter Biden-Ukraine payments flagged as “suspicious” in early 2016 (The Daily Wire29)

SPENDING BILLS ADVANCE: Senate sends $738 billion defense bill to Trump; House approves $1.4 trillion spending package (The Hill30)

THEN: Much of “Trump country” was in recession during 2016 campaign (Reuters31)

NOW: Dow Jones officially exceeds 28,333, up 10,000 points since Trump’s election despite doomsday predictions (The Federalist32)

D'OH! Vox Media fires hundreds of freelancers due to law trumpeted by Vox (The Washington Free Beacon33)

CLASS-ACTION SUIT: New York clergy sex abuse victims are suing the pope — claiming in a landmark lawsuit filed Tuesday that he and the Vatican were aware that a significant number of priests were molesting children and kept it secret (New York Post34)

STOMPING ON THE “SOLE” OF AMERICA: New Nike Kaepernick shoe honors date he first sat for national anthem (The Daily Wire35)

POLICY: USMCA will have a surprising effect on commercial real estate (Washington Examiner36)

POLICY: Omnibus spending bill misses the mark on nuclear-energy leadership (The Heritage Foundation37)

HUMOR: “Look, is that Trump committing an impeachable offense?” Mitch McConnell says, distracting Democrats while more conservative judges sneak by (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/67465-wednesday-top-news-executive-summary-2019-12-18

OPINION IN BRIEF

Gary Bauer: “As this sham process moves forward, I want to point out just one example of how deceptive Democrats are being in their attempt to impeach the president. ‘Abuse of power’ is one of the charges against the president. To support that charge, many Democrats have repeatedly tried to portray the president as a dictator, someone who believes he can do anything he wants to do. … This president has been subjected to more nationwide injunctions issued by liberal judges blocking his agenda than any president in history. If Trump believed he could do anything, why would he tolerate these unelected judges getting away with their outrageous abuses of power? Instead, the president has respected the limits of his authority and the Constitution by appealing their injunctions to the Supreme Court, where he has, thankfully, frequently prevailed. If Democrats are willing to lie about something like this in their fevered pursuit of impeachment, their entire impeachment report shouldn’t be trusted.”

SHORT CUTS

Upright: “Journalists cannot serve two masters. To the extent that they take on the task of suppressing information or biting their tongue for the sake of some political agenda, they are betraying the trust of the public and corrupting their own profession.” —Thomas Sowell

Observations: “We arrive at Impeachment Day, the day everyone who has always opposed the President and wanted him impeached finally impeach without having persuaded anyone else and then decided all those people are racists. Instead of persuading, they ran a campaign of shame and yelling louder.” —Erick Erickson

For the record: “Do we know enough, have we learned enough after listening to all this that we want to vote on the two very weak articles of impeachment? Or, do we want to have a show trial in which both sides try to embarrass the other and put on an embarrassing scene, frankly, for the American people? … Obviously, I think we’ve heard enough. And, after we’ve heard the arguments we ought to vote and move on… We know how it’s going to end. The president is not going to be removed from office.” —Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Demo-gogues: “Anyone in America watching this would draw the same logical conclusion — that the president has something to hide and Republican senators, too many of them, are intent in helping him hide it. It appears Leader McConnell … has already made up his mind about the Senate impeachment trial. It’s clear that Senator McConnell wants to use the Senate to help participate in a coverup.” —Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

A blast from the past I: “What began 25 years ago with Watergate as a solemn and necessary process to force the president to adhere to the rule of law has grown beyond our control, so that now we are routinely using criminal accusations and scandal to win the political battles and ideological differences we cannot settle at the ballot box.” —Chuck Schumer during Bill Clinton’s impeachment ordeal — except that Clinton actually committed impeachable offenses

A blast from the past II: “There must never be a narrowly voted impeachment or an impeachment supported by one of our major political parties and opposed by the other.” —Rep. Jerry Nadler exactly 21 years ago

And last… “Election tampering is treasonous sedition, unless done by Democrats impeaching a GOP president over hurt feelings with 3.5% unemployment months before the citizenry votes.” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor

https://patriotpost.us/articles/67461-wednesday-short-cuts-2019-12-18

TODAY’S MEME

https://patriotpost.us/memes/67450-choices-2019-12-18

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

TODAY’S CARTOON

https://patriotpost.us/cartoons/28067

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