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Patriot Headlines | Grassroots Commentary Mid-Day Digest
March 14, 2016
THE FOUNDATION"I have not yet begun to fight!" —John Paul Jones (1779)FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSISThe 'Eye for an Eye' ElectionBy Nate Jackson
As Mark Alexander wrote last month, "Seven years of Obama's repressive regime has fomented despair, delusion and division among the ranks of Republican voters — so much so that some are willing to take leave of their senses and join a cultish movement with a self-promoting charlatan as its head. History is replete with examples of such movements, and the tragic result — the suppression of Liberty." The news that a Trump rally was canceled Friday night because of clashes between his supporters and protesters is a microcosm of the angst in the political arena. Trump's rise is, again, due in part to the Left's fascistic efforts to silence dissent, be it on climate change, same-sex marriage, or proposed gun confiscation, just to name a few. All of that is part and parcel with vast expanse of government and abuse of power. It's to Trump's credit that he canceled the Chicago rally. The leftist protesters clearly came ready for a fight, so things likely would have gotten even uglier, and more people would have been hurt. The blame for that lies squarely on the protesters planning their attack. But it shouldn't be surprising that Trump's people are itching to punch someone in the face, too. (Some of them actually have.) Especially when Trump is saying things of protesters like this in Las Vegas: "I'd like to punch him in the face." Or what he said in Missouri: "There used to be consequences to protesting. There are none anymore." Or there's this gem from an Iowa event: "So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of 'em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise." People believe everything else he says. Why not the promise to back them up for punching a leftist's lights out? Really, is it any wonder that Trump's ace of anger affirmation would be followed at rallies by the jack of clubs? Back to Obama, who has an authoritarian streak. Given his heated and petulant rhetoric over the years, he clearly views his opponents as evil and deserving of jail, exile or some other form of punishment. Often, the reaction to such authoritarianism is violence. So it's interesting that Trump is also an authoritarian. He advocates everything from loosening libel laws to the detriment of the First Amendment to violence to suppress dissent — in-kind retribution for the Left's tactics. His campaign manager allegedly manhandled a reporter for a friendly publication. But the overarching point is that Trump says he can fix all of the ills of the Obama era by making "better deals" — i.e., using his great authoritarian power to make government great again. People who put their faith in big government — whether Obama's or Trump's version — are probably more likely to resort to violence and other tactics of suppression. All of this said, Americans have a history of rowdy political displays, so this recent escalation isn't entirely new. Indeed, it's a bit much for Friday's news to have commentators looking for the nearest fainting couch. The original Boston Tea Party featured the destruction of private property. And the War for Independence began as a reaction to the British violently suppressing dissent — the colonists took up arms to stop them. This is a nation that split into two and fought a war over political disagreements. The 1968 election brought riots and two assassinations. What is new, however, is a leading presidential candidate essentially turning an "eye for an eye" into a major plank of his platform. Will that fix what ails our nation? Comment | Share BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
TOP RIGHT HOOKSTrump Gets One Delegate Saturday, Eyes Tuesday Wins
But the more significant races will be the contests for Florida and Ohio Tuesday, where the winner will take all of the Sunshine State's 99 delegates and The Mother of Presidents' 66. If Trump wins both, he will give John Kasich and Marco Rubio little excuse to stay in the race, and he would have amassed so many delegates that Cruz's chances of becoming the nominee border on the impossible. Kasich leads in his home state at 37.8% support, with Trump coming in second with 31.8%. In an all-out effort to stop a Trump nomination, Rubio has told his Ohio supporters to cast their votes for Kasich. Trump is leading the Florida polls, but Kasich will not tell his Florida supporters to cast a strategic vote for Rubio in order to stop the real estate mogul. The polls have Trump pushing 40%, with Rubio struggling at 24%. Kasich's 9% support could give Rubio a chance at preventing Trump from scooping up 99 delegates, but as Kasich said, "I'm not into a stop Trump as much as I am be-for-Kasich movement." And he calls himself "the prince of light and hope." Comment | Share How Close Is U.S. to Declaring ISIL's Genocide?
Lest we forget this isn't political posturing, the Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians released a report detailing the torture, extortion and murder Christians experience by the hands the Islamic State. The 278-report, complied with a legal brief and the statements of 44 Iraqis, was submitted to the State Department. The timing of this report, and the movement toward finally labelling the destruction of ISIL, couldn't come at a better time. Such a declaration would add energy to the fight against this jihadi threat, and it comes as an Islamic State defector revealed the names and data of 22,000 of its members. With this information, the countries fighting the Islamic State can do everything from stamping out homegrown terrorism to pinpointing drones to conduct assassination strikes of the group's top leaders. After months of half-hearted bombing runs and vows of no boots on the ground, it appears the West has the tools to bring the group to its knees. Comment | Share Clinton v. The National Rifle Association
In a high-school gymnasium in North Carolina, Clinton vowed to take on lobbyists, Wall Street and big business. "But you know what the strongest lobby is?" Clinton said, "It's the gun lobby, which intimidates people, threatens elected officials. It is time my friends, we stand together and say enough. I stand with the families of Sandy Hook." If/when Clinton gets the Democrat nomination, her tough-on-guns stance will only encourage more firearm purchases in the nation, as citizens will be worried she will want to curtail the right to bear arms. Furthermore, this hard stance against the pro-gunners is statistically a less-than-advantageous position. In January, CNN published a poll that found 54% of Americans disapproved of Obama's executive actions on gun control. Perhaps she should also recall the lesson of 1994, when her husband pushed gun control only to lose a landslide in the midterm election. Comment | Share
MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE
TOP HEADLINES
OPINION IN BRIEFHans von Spakovsky: "In news that should shock and anger Americans, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that not only has she discussed internally the possibility of pursuing civil actions against so-called 'climate change deniers,' but she has 'referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which we could take action.' ... The absurdity of this would be laughable if it were not so serious and so dangerous. The very idea that the FBI, the most powerful law enforcement agency in the United States, has had a referral from the attorney general of the United State to investigate whether those who disagree with the climate change theory meet the legal 'criteria for which' the Justice Department 'could take action' is evocative of Franz Kafka's chilling novel, 'The Trial.' As I have noted before, this is also reminiscent of the old Soviet Union, where Joseph Stalin persecuted those whom he thought had the 'wrong' scientific views on everything from linguistics to physics. Both Lynch and Whitehouse might want to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book, 'In the First Circle,' in which he outlined the Soviet government's suppression of dissenting scientists and engineers. Or perhaps General Lynch should review the Inquisition's persecution of Galileo Galilei for disagreeing with the consensus of his time and advocating the Copernican theory of the universe. Level-headed, objective prosecutors should not be interested in investigating or prosecuting anyone over a scientific theory that is the subject of great debate."Comment | Share SHORT CUTSThe Gipper: "They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that 'the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits — not animals.'"Upright: "Trump is not the problem. He is also not the cure. He's the symptom. The Republican Party is sick, and has been for a long time. For a generation Republican voters have consistently pulled the lever for whatever Republican has been trotted out; they are only now realizing they don't have a lot to show for it. Voters are angry. ... And at least some of this anger is justified. ... Unfortunately for Republican voters, in their anger at their party leaders, they've missed the fact that they have even more reason to be distrustful of Trump. And they are running out of time to recognize their mistake." —Caleb Verbois Jack of clubs: "I would like to see a little more violence from the innocent Trump supporters set upon by violent leftist hoodlums." —Ann Coulter Candid admission: "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." —Hillary Clinton Demo-gogues: "We're the only advanced democracy in the world that makes it harder for people to vote. ... [I]t is much easier to order pizza or a trip than it is for you to exercise the single most important task in a democracy, and that is for you to select who's going to represent you in government."—Barack Obama Missing the point: "You cannot take an absolutist view on this. If your argument is strong encryption no matter what, and we can and should create black boxes, that I think does not strike the kind of balance we have lived with for 200, 300 years, and it's fetishizing our phones above every other value." —Barack Obama Late-night humor: "A reporter claims she was pushed down by one of Donald Trump's campaign advisers. Isn't that crazy? Donald Trump has a campaign adviser." —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. |
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