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Patriot Headlines | Grassroots Commentary Daily Digest
January 25, 2016
THE FOUNDATION"Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country." —George Washington, 1783TOP RIGHT HOOKSSentinel at the Tomb — The Story Behind the Image
At the time, we knew the photo was about 30 years old given that Sentinels now wear a winter cap instead of the barracks cover seen in the photo. We determined this Sentinel was SGT Charles Lee "Chuck" Gauldin, Tomb Badge #248, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). However, we were not able to locate him or his family. Within days of posting this image, though, we received the following message: "Thank you so much for posting the picture of the Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. You see that man — my late husband — meant the world to me then as he does now. That picture was taken when I was pregnant with the first of our two children. Charles died unexpectedly in 1997. His family and I are touched and honored by the picture and thank you and The Patriot Post staff for posting it. What a sweet, sweet memory for us."In the most recent storm to hit the East Coast, national media outlets promoted our Sentinel image and the spirit of honor it reflects, but did not acknowledge who he was. Now you know. God bless the Gauldin family! Comment | Share Sanders Beats Trump?There is a possibility that despite the most conservative and qualified GOP field in recent history, the Republican nominee may be former Democrat Donald Trump. And it's also possible he'll face not the inevitable Hillary Clinton but rather admitted socialist Bernie Sanders. If so, voters will stand at the ballot box come November and ask themselves: What kind of big government do we want? Clinton may face prosecution for her illegal mishandling of classified information, which leaves the avowed socialist holding his party's nomination by default. Trump and the followers of his personality cult think this is great news. Nothing, Trump says, can shake his high-flying standing in the polls. "The polls, they say I have the most loyal people," Trump boasted at an Iowa campaign rally Saturday. "Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It's, like, incredible." Additionally, a Gallup poll from last year found that 50% of the nation wouldn't vote for a socialist.But Sanders too is feeling confident. "There would be nothing more in this world that I would like to take on Donald Trump," Sanders recently said. "We would beat him and we would beat him badly." He might be right. A recent survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and NBC say that it would be Sanders who would win in a Sanders/Trump general election — by a 15-point margin. The pollsters asked respondents from Jan. 9 to 13, "If the election for president were held today, and Donald Trump were the Republican candidate and Bernie Sanders were the Democratic candidate, for whom would you vote?" Sanders got 54% of the support and Trump received 39%. There are a lot of 'if' and 'buts' associated with that poll question. We haven't even had the first presidential debate between Republican and Democrat — and that will be a game changer. Furthermore, polls this early in the game (heck, even exit polls on Election Day) are unreliable, especially polls about hypothetical situations. Often, they amount to "pollaganda," or the use of polls to influence public opinion instead of describing it. And you wonder why the media is doing everything it can to keep Trump front and center. Comment | Share 'Every Single One of Us'?On the Roe v Wade anniversary Friday, Barack Obama declared he would defend abortion laws against "efforts to undermine or overturned them." He also said, "In America, every single one of us deserves the rights, freedoms and opportunities to fulfill our dreams."Apparently not "every single one of us." Slaves and indentured servants lacked Civil Rights in America in the 19th century because their standing was considered less than human. In "Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation," Ronald Reagan wrote, "Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion." Jews lacked Civil Rights in Russia and Germany between 1917 and 1945 because their standing was considered less than human. Indeed, history is replete with the slaughter of innocents who were considered less than human. The killing of 58 million unborn children since Roe is now one of the ugliest chapters in that history. Meanwhile, the Leftmedia generally ignored the fact that tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC, Friday — undaunted in the face of the oncoming blizzard — to March for Life. The Washington Post called it "a small, faithful crowd." It's true the crowd was smaller than in previous years, though with the weather shutting down many transportation methods that's to be expected. What is also completely expected by now is for the national media to ignore the movement of public opinion on the issue of life. Comment | Share FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSISCause and (Ferguson) Effect?By Arnold Ahlert
The so-called Ferguson effect refers to the shooting of Michael Brown by then-Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson, and the subsequent rioting that followed. The ongoing unrest was engendered in large part by an utterly irresponsible mainstream media that enshrined the "hands up, don't shoot" lie thoroughly debunked by a grand jury, and a subsequent Justice Department civil rights investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Both exonerated Wilson, but the lie itself lives on. Comey was not the only Obama administration official taking that stance. Last November, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Chuck Rosenberg said Comey's assessment was "spot on." "I've heard the same things," Rosenberg said. "I think it's worth talking about. I don't know if it will turn out to be right or wrong. That's why Comey called for better data. The data that we have is limited. It just is." Not any more. According to released figures, murder has increased 9.9% in the Midwest, 8.6% in the South, and 1.3% and 1.6% in the Northeast and West, respectively. Nonetheless, the Justice Department pushed back, with spokesman Patrick Rodenbush insisting "it is too early to draw any long-term conclusions," further noting the overall violent crime rate remains historically low. Low overall crime rates are likely to bring little solace to those in the eye of the criminal storm. As Heather Mac Donald chronicled last May, "gun violence" is skyrocketing in a year-over year comparison of cities like Baltimore, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Atlanta, Los Angles, New York and Chicago. MacDonald also notes that St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson refers to the Ferguson effect, which he described as police "disengaging from discretionary enforcement activity," allowing the criminal element to feel "empowered." Thus in many of the same cities, arrests have decreased substantially. The cause and effect is a double dose of reality. First: "Almost any police shooting of a black person, no matter how threatening the behavior that provoked the shooting, now provokes angry protests," Mac Donald explains. Second: "Acquittals of police officers for the use of deadly force against black suspects are now automatically presented as a miscarriage of justice." The Left's "solution" to the problem? More gun control measures — apparently by any means necessary. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, for one, made that clear when she told congressional lawmakers that Barack Obama's executive actions are "consistent with the Constitution" and "laws passed by Congress." Senate Appropriations subcommittee chairman Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) wasn't buying Lynch's assertion. "It's clear to me that the American people are fearful that President Obama is eager to strip them of their Second Amendment rights," he said. "Let me be clear. The Second Amendment is not a suggestion." Naturally, Democrats defended the executive overreach. "No one is immune from gun violence," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), "whether you are a congresswoman trying to meet with your constituents named Gabby Giffords, whether your children go to elementary school in the wonderful suburban community called Sandy Hook, whether you're just simply going to movies, or going to a community college, or sitting in a Charleston church." Mikulski is apparently immune to both irony and reality. With the possible exception of Giffords, every other incident was one where the shooter could kill with impunity because victims had no way to defend themselves. For sentient Americans, it remains beyond comprehension how progressives believe any criminals will abide by any gun control laws. And if there is anything that demonstrates their complete disconnect with reality more than posting signs or issuing public edicts about "gun free zones," one is hard-pressed to imagine what it is. Which brings us to Chicago. Despite having some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation, the Windy City is now America's foremost example of an urban dystopia. One where only 10 days into 2016, more than 100 people had been shot, including 19 who were killed (the number is up since then, too). During the same period last year, 40 people had been shot, with 9 people killed. Last year, Chicago was the nation's homicide leader with 468 murders, compared with 416 in 2014. That represents a 12.5% increase. 2015 also saw an astronomical 2,900 shootings, representing an increase of 13% over 2014, and a 29% increase since 2013. The latest carnage won't show up until next year's Justice Department statistics are released. Adding insult to injury, on Jan. 20, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel headlined the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where he spoke about how to reduce violence and restore the peoples' trust in the police. That would be the same Rahm Emanuel whose administration withheld for more than a year damning video evidence showing police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting Laquan McDonald as he lay on the ground. Moreover, the administration paid McDonald's family $5 million to keep the video under wraps, so it wouldn't negatively affect Emanuel's re-election chances. A judge ordered its release, and Van Dyke was charged with murder. As a result, Emanuel has zero credibility with the people of Chicago, especially black residents living in de facto war zones. Moreover, it's impossible to say when, if ever, the overwhelming majority of decent police officers, whose reputations have taken an almost irreparable hit, will be greeted with anything other than suspicion and hostility by those residents. Residents who need their protection the most. Unsurprisingly, in an editorial entitled "Political Lies About Police Brutality," The New York Times referred to Comey's remarks as "incendiary" and insisted there is "no data suggesting" the Ferguson effect is real. Rather, Comey was doing nothing more than playing "into the right-wing view that holding the police to constitutional standards endangers the public." Now statistics are available, and there is little doubt the Left will do whatever they can to assure Americans they have nothing to do with the Ferguson effect, and that police brutality is a widespread phenomenon. Yet whether one uses the term Ferguson effect or not, one thing is certain: This cycle of "greater reluctance on the part of police officers to engage with suspects for fear of being criticized for alleged abuse or discrimination" is likely to get far worse before it gets better. And the people who will bear the brunt the most are innocent black American men, women and children who will remain in the crosshairs of drug and gang violence, while the racial arsonists known as Black Lives Matter (BLM) exacerbate that cycle. A BLM movement dedicated to demonizing law enforcement, aided and abetted by Obama and other administration officials, who were "privately irritated" with Comey's candor. In the end it will be up to the people themselves to decide whether leftist-enabled police demonization, coupled with racial polarization serves their best interests. Unfortunately, it appears they will be forced to do so, even as the amount of mayhem and murder increases. Comment | Share
MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
TOP HEADLINES
 OPINION IN BRIEFThomas Sowell: "However puzzling the fervent support for Donald Trump may be today, given how little basis there is for it, such blind faith is not unique in history. Other dire or desperate times have produced other charismatic leaders to whom desperate people have turned, with hopes of deliverance. Trump is certainly different from establishment Republicans, but it that enough? ... Former governor Jeb Bush looked like the front runner at the outset, especially with his impressive amount of money in his campaign chest. But it is not nearly as easy to buy an election as some commentators seemed to think, so perhaps we can take some solace from the discrediting of that notion. We might also take some solace from the support received by Dr. Ben Carson, despite the media-fed notion that conservatives are racists. Even after his brief time leading the candidates in the polls has passed, Dr. Carson remains the candidate with the highest favorability rating among Republican voters who were polled. But there are few other things to feel positive about as the primaries approach. Common sense by the voters may be the best we can hope for. And that can save the day, after all. In fact, they may be all that can save the day."Comment | Share SHORT CUTSThe Gipper: "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles."For the record: "The notion that world-wide weather is becoming more extreme is just that: a notion, or a testable hypothesis. As data from the world's biggest reinsurer, Munich Re, and University of Colorado environmental-studies professor Roger Pielke Jr. have shown, weather-related losses haven't increased at all over the past quarter-century. In fact, the trend, while not statistically significant, is downward. Last year showed the second-smallest weather-related loss of Global World Productivity, or GWP, in the entire record." —Patrick J. Michaels Pretty much true: "The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It's like incredible." —Donald Trump The BIG Lie part I: "We know that oil prices are low. We know that China's economy is still growing, but at the lowest rate since a quarter of a century ago. So I think we just have to be a little bit patient. Our economy is doing pretty good. You know, creating a lot of jobs." —Harry Reid (After seven years of Obamanomics, Americans are running low on patience.) The BIG Lie part II: "The president has spent $108 billion on border security, and we have been successful." —Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Village Idiots: "[T]he way I read what [Michael Bloomberg] said was if I didn't get the nomination, he might consider [running]. Well, I'm going to relieve him of that and get the nomination, so he doesn't have to." —Hillary Clinton Isn't diplomacy great? "Your job was excellent, interesting and timely and, in fact, we must consider this incident as an act of god, who brought Americans into our waters so they would be arrested through your timely action and in that manner, with their hands held above their heads." —Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Uh, no: "Those of us who claim to support gun reform efforts — the majority of the country, according to recent polls — have to be as loud or louder to be heard (though perhaps more civil). ... Americans not only want tighter controls on gun ownership but also more controllable guns." —Baltimore Sun's Tricia Bishop Late-night humor: "Rapper Will.i.am is supporting Hillary Clinton for president, whereas rapper Killer Mike said he endorses Bernie Sanders. When told all of this, Sanders said, 'What the hell are you talking about?'" —Conan O'Brien Comment | Share Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis! Managing Editor Nate Jackson Join us 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. |
Monday, January 25, 2016
PATRIOT POST 01/25/2016
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