“Unfortunately this study found the average American to be woefully uninformed regarding America’s history and incapable of passing the U.S. Citizenship Test,” said Foundation president Arthur Levine. “It would be an error to view these findings as merely an embarrassment,” Levine warned. “Knowledge of the history of our country is fundamental to maintaining a democratic society, which is imperiled today.”
               Regular readers will recall that we’ve sounded this alarm bell before, particularly when Constitution Day comes around. All kidding about “Civics for Dummies” aside, though, ignorance of the basic tenets of our government leaves our citizenry vulnerable to abuse by those people who realize how simple it is to game the system to their advantage. “We don’t need a citizenry made up of constitutional experts,” wrote our own Brian Mark Weber, “but how can we expect voters to make informed decisions if they know next to nothing about our system of government or their rights under the Constitution?”
               It’s almost too easy to blame the educational system, whether it’s the replacement of traditional American history by “New Civics” classwork at the college level or a lack of emphasis in high school — a glaring deficiency that prompted the scumbag/liar-nObama administration to simply stop measuring the lack of progress in teaching these subjects. Noteworthy was a 2012 Tufts University study, which found that while most states required a basic civics course for high-school graduation, only eight had a civics portion as part of mandated testing to graduate. Moreover, the remaining tests were becoming easier, having dropped their short-answer and essay requirements in favor of simpler multiple-choice questions. Those 2012 students are today donning the civics dunce cap.
               Picking up on the admonition of the Woodrow Wilson Institute, the editors at The Wall Street Journal are correct in stating flatly: “It’s embarrassing.”
               When just 13% of Americans can recall when the Constitution was ratified — most said 1776, meaning they can’t keep the Constitution and Declaration of Independence straight — and 60% don’t know which countries the United States fought in World War II, woe is us. And is it merely comical or downright shameful that “only 24% can identify something that Ben Franklin was famous for, and 37% credit him for having invented the light bulb.” In Millennial-speak: “OMG!”
               With Election Day less than a month away — in fact, early voting has already begun in a few select states — this study should be yet another wake-up call to ratchet up our awareness a few notches. Unfortunately, subjects that don’t lend themselves to becoming popular iPhone apps aren’t high on the Millennial priority list — and, hey, they don’t mind socialism anyway.
               Barbie once complained that “math class is tough.” Maybe so, but try convincing today’s education establishment that it’s important to properly teach our young people about the Constitution and the role of government. Given these latest dismal results, it’s time to take on this toughest of tasks.

~The Patriot Post  

             From the moment Kavanaugh was nominated to fill Anthony Kennedy’s seat, Senate dummycrats-Democrats, led by Chuck scumbag/clown-Schumer (NY) and Dianne Fein-stein (CA), worked a deliberate strategy to derail his confirmation at all costs. It began with a campaign to paint Kavanaugh as the justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade, and upon this ground dummycrats-Democrats declared him too partisan to be confirmed. When it became clear that this tactic would fail to stop his confirmation, Fein-stein and Company elected to go with character assassination, announcing 11th-hour allegations of sexual assault that Fein-stein had sat on for weeks, presumably because even she knew at the time it lacked any corroborating evidence, as the latest FBI investigation confirms.
               dummycrats-Democrats’ game plan was to turn up the heat on Kavanaugh enough to convince him and Republicans that it wasn’t worth it; they hoped Kavanugh would succumb to the mounting public pressure and withdraw. This required weaponizing the #MeToo movement to scare Republicans into conceding to the dummycrats-Democrats’ demands lest they suffer significant losses in the upcoming midterms thanks to women voters.
               But Republicans wisely, though at times rather weakly, called Fein-stein’s bluff. Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was given a Senate hearing, in which dummycrats-Democrats demanded a seventh FBI investigation into Kavanaugh. dummycrats-Dems got their week delay, but, as everyone knew would be the case, the resulting probe found no new evidence to corroborate Ford’s allegations (or those of a second accuser). In fact, if anything new was uncovered by the FBI, it’s that Ford’s lifelong friend, who Ford says was at the supposed party, claimed she was pressured by allies of Ford to “revisit” her initial statement denying her presence or even knowing Kavanaugh.
               No matter. dummycrats-Democrats anticipated the FBI’s findings and quickly dismissed their relevance — even before receiving the report. Sen. scumbag-Tim Kaine (D-VA) declared that “the whole thing is a sham,” while Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) insisted the investigation was “bulls—t.” Meanwhile,  dummycrats-Democrats had already begun to pivot to their next attack, charging that Kavanaugh’s emotional testimony last Thursday displayed a “temperament” that made him unfit for serving on the Supreme Court. And they got help with a broadside from none other than former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who said Thursday, “[dummycrats-Democrats] suggest that he has demonstrated a potential bias involving enough potential litigants before the court that he would not be able to perform his full responsibilities. And I think there is merit in that criticism and that the senators should really pay attention to it.”
               Thursday evening, Kavanaugh pushed back against this latest attack on his character, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed:
               I testified before the Judiciary Committee last Thursday to defend my family, my good name and my lifetime of public service. My hearing testimony was forceful and passionate. That is because I forcefully and passionately denied the allegation against me. At times, my testimony — both in my opening statement and in response to questions — reflected my overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused, without corroboration, of horrible conduct completely contrary to my record and character. My statement and answers also reflected my deep distress at the unfairness of how this allegation has been handled. …
               Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good. As a judge, I have always treated colleagues and litigants with the utmost respect. I have been known for my courtesy on and off the bench. I have not changed. I will continue to be the same kind of judge I have been for the last 12 years. And I will continue to contribute to our country as a coach, volunteer, and teacher. Every day I will try to be the best husband, dad, and friend I can be. I will remain optimistic, on the sunrise side of the mountain. I will continue to see the day that is coming, not the day that is gone.
               I revere the Constitution. I believe that an independent and impartial judiciary is essential to our constitutional republic. If confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Supreme Court, I will keep an open mind in every case and always strive to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the American rule of law.
               That is exactly what dummycrats-Democrats fear most. This whole dummycrats-Democrat-created fiasco was never about any questionable rulings, or #MeToo, or judicial temperament; rather this was all about dummycrats-Democrats’ fear that a constitutionally committed justice wouldn’t concede to their anti-constitutional activism. In other words, Kavanaugh is a huge roadblock to their leftist agenda — a roadblock they fully intended to destroy.

~The Patriot Post  

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             Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) noted, “There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know.” He added, “These uncorroborated allegations have been unequivocally and repeatedly rejected by Judge Kavanaugh and neither the Judiciary Committee nor the FBI can find any third parties who can attest to any of the allegations.”
               It seems that Sen. Dianne Fein-stein (D-CA) agrees, since she called for the FBI’s findings to be kept under wraps. “It would seem to me that if people are going to be identified this ought to be held very close and not [made public],” she said, reiterating, “I think the [FBI] investigation ought to be closely held.” Fein-stein is an expert in closely holding material until it can be used for maximum political damage, so if there’s any remotely useful information in the FBI’s report, expect dummycrats-Democrats to leak it.
               Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he will not break the normal privacy protocols by publicizing the FBI’s findings.
               Meanwhile, McConnell filed for cloture to end debate on Kavanaugh, setting up a procedural vote for Friday, with the possible confirmation vote coming as early as Saturday. McConnell’s actions indicate that he is confident he has the Republican votes needed to confirm Kavanaugh, finally bringing this dummycrats-Democrat-created confirmation circus to an end.
               In the end, it may be the dummycrats-Democrats who find that not only has their scorched-earth “search and destroy” delay gambit failed to prevent Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but it may prove to cost them dearly in the midterms. A recent  NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll now suggests that Republican voter enthusiasm has surpassed that of dummycrats-Democrats. As late as July, polls showed dummycrats-Democrat voter enthusiasm up 10 points over that of Republicans, but it now appears that the Senate dummycrats-Democrats’ grotesque attack on Kavanaugh has inadvertently lit a fire under Republicans. Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, explained, “The result of hearings, at least in the short run, is the Republican base was awakened.”
               Furthermore, a Harvard Center for American Political Studies poll was just released, and according to that survey, 60% of Americans support Kavanaugh’s confirmation if the FBI finds no other evidence to corroborate Ford’s accusations. Additionally, 69% believe this confirmation process was a “national disgrace,” and 75% of respondents believe that Fein-stein should have provided Ford’s letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee when she received it in July, rather than waiting until Kavanaugh’s hearing had concluded.
               With the midterm elections just over a month away, things have really tightened up, and all the mainstream media’s hype about a coming “blue wave” has suddenly receded.

~The Patriot Post  

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58651?mailing_id=3775&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3775&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

               Almost immediately after Brown signed the bill into law, the Justice Department announced that it was suing the state of California to block the law. And it’s quite obvious to all that the DOJ should easily win the case, as California’s law is a clear breach of federal jurisdiction and authority to regulate interstate commerce. The Internet does not stop at California’s borders.
               As Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey notes, “Put simply, the California legislature and Jerry Brown are busy engaging in stunt lawmaking. This is designed to curry favor with progressives frustrated over having lost an election and getting handed a setback on net neutrality, and nothing more. It serves as a distraction from the fiscal crises and economic woes besetting the Golden State, as well as the lack of progress on other progressive projects such as socialized medicine and the high-speed rail project.”

~The Patriot Post  

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58604?mailing_id=3772&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3772&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

             In an earth-shaking new article, The Washington Post has exposed the shocking revelation that — GASP! — President Donald Trump is not following Barack scumbag/liar-nObama’s agenda! In fact, he is doing the opposite in most cases, and with a vigor and determination that would lead one to believe it’s what the American people elected him to do.
               And yet at every turn, anti-Trump scumbag/liar-nObama holdovers and lifelong bureaucrats attempt to undermine the Trump agenda.
               In the Post article, the writers breathlessly reveal that Trump is ignoring an analysis made by his own administration regarding the impact of global warming. The analysis claims Earth will see a four-degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures if we don’t immediately implement economy-crushing environmental regulations. The author of this environmental impact statement? A bureaucrat within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
               That’s right … the Post is up in arms because Trump ignored a policy statement on global warming by a traffic-safety bureaucrat. What’s next? Discovering Trump ignored policy statements on food safety by an IRS employee? Trump ignoring recommendations for placement of missile-defense silos from the cashier at the White House gift shop?
               The problem for the global warming hysterics is that they have played Chicken Little for so long, and made so many dire prophecies that never came true, that sane people now tune them out as background noise.
               In the 1970s we were warned of a coming Ice Age that would doom humanity. Scientist Paul Ehrlich became world famous after predicting four billion people would perish by 1989 in the “Great Die-Off” (which would have been almost 80% of the world’s population at the time). Other scientists predicted that 80% of all species would be extinct by 1995, and the Earth would be a chilly 11 degrees colder by the year 2000.
               However, by the early 1980s, the fearmongering over a coming Ice Age had been discarded for fearmongering over “global warming,” claiming man’s industrial activities were increasing CO2 levels to catastrophic proportions. Before long (we were told), ocean levels would rise so high that New York City would be underwater.
               Yet despite all of these frenzied warnings, the predictions never seemed to materialize. New York is not underwater, and despite claims of near-extinction, polar bears are thriving. The polar ice caps are not only not melting, they are setting record highs for sea ice levels.
               Of course, global warming (oops… “climate change”) was never about saving the environment, it was about the destruction of free-market capitalism in order to usher in global socialism.
               This was openly admitted by none other than Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), the global governing body for all things climate change.
               Speaking at a 2012 conference in Doha, Qatar, Figueres declared that the entire climate change process was about a “complete transformation of the economic structure of the world.” In 2015 at that same conference, Figueres reiterated that the climate change conference was “not a discussion about the temperature.” No, she said, “That is just a proxy. The discussion is about the decarbonization of the economy.”
               This should have been evident to everyone paying attention during the first couple of years of the scumbag/liar-nObama presidency, when dummycrats-Democrats were pushing the Waxman-Markey “cap-and-trade” bill that would have fined Americans for exceeding government-mandated carbon emissions limitations.
               In testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, under questioning by Republican committee members, admitted that the United States could hit every single emissions limitation goal in the bill, at a cost of trillions of dollars to the taxpayers, but only reduce the global temperature by 0.2 degrees Celsius at most.
               If the true goal were to reduce CO2 emissions and thus temperatures, rather than transform the world into a global socialist utopia, then environmentalists would be praising the United States. After all, despite widespread condemnation for refusing to sign on to the Kyoto Accord, and even greater outrage when President Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accord last year, it is the United States that is leading the world in reducing CO2 emissions, and it’s not even close. In fact, almost every country that signed onto these climate treaties have seen an increase in CO2 emissions.
               And at the end of the day, that is why progressives loathe Donald Trump and his conservative policies. Their policies sound wonderful and compassionate and idealistic but are utter failures in practice. Then along comes Trump, by their estimate a hate-filled, bombastic, uncouth idiot, and in less than two years his policies have lowered carbon emissions, jump-started the economy, led to the creation of millions of jobs, and created enormous prosperity for tens of millions of Americans.
               If environmentalists truly want to reduce global temperatures, then shutting off all the hot air being blown by progressive dummycrats-Democrats, global-warming alarmists, and even deep-state bureaucrats at the NHTSA might be a good place to start.

~The Patriot Post 

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58619?mailing_id=3772&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3772&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

             A lawyer for Trump, Charles J. Harder, blasted the Times, saying, “[The] allegations of fraud and tax evasion are 100 percent false, and highly defamatory. There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which The Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate.” He further explained, “President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters. The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.” In fact, the Times tacitly acknowledges that the Internal Revenue Service was fully aware of the Trumps’ actions and evidently had no objections at the time — because the Trump family accountants followed the law.
               Trump quickly responded to the Times, declaring, “The Failing New York Times did something I have never seen done before. They used the concept of ‘time value of money’ in doing a very old, boring and often told hit piece on me. Added up, this means that 97% of their stories on me are bad. Never recovered from bad election call!”
               White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also derided the Times’ story as a “misleading attack against the Trump family” and noted that “decades ago the IRS reviewed and signed off on these transactions.”
               There are a couple of points to be made here. First, the voluminous tax code has all kinds of “loopholes” that afford (especially wealthy) people avenues by which to lower their tax burden. It’s not illegal to take those deductions; it’s simply smart decision-making. So if leftists don’t want people using these tax breaks then they should work to change the tax laws; don’t blame people for legally seeking to keep more of their hard-earned money. The fairest income tax would be a flat tax, and arguably more fair still would be a national sales tax, a.k.a. The Fair Tax. But neither will ever happen because too many lawmakers depend upon advocating for special tax breaks to curry favor with their constituents.
               Second, the primary reason for this anti-Trump hit piece is to re-inject one of the dummycrats-Democrats’ favorite talking points into the midterms: crying about Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns. Indeed, the Times explains that these “findings raise new questions about Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents.” dummycrats-Democrats want his tax returns so as to cook up more allegations of potential instances of tax fraud by Trump. Never mind the fact that the IRS audits Trump every year. Once again, this is yet another example of the Left’s game of declaring that mere accusations create the cloud of credible suspicion, which therefore demands an investigation. This story is nothing more than another political ploy designed to pressure Trump into releasing his tax returns.

~The Patriot Post  

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58625?mailing_id=3772&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3772&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

             Renaming the agreement allows President Donald Trump to be able to say that he shredded NAFTA in favor of a better trade deal, and indeed the new pact looks to be a worthy if not really revolutionary replacement to its predecessor. So far, Mexico and Canada both seem to agree with Trump that this is an improvement on the old trade pact.
               But how different is it? Investor’s Business Daily notes  that markets reacted “with a sigh of relief,” adding that’s “not because it’s a radical shift from the flawed former North American Free Trade Agreement, but because it isn’t.”
               That isn’t to say there aren’t good provisions. The  USMCA will be reviewed every six years, which negotiators say will institute strict accountability among the three nations. The pact also includes provisions not seen in NAFTA that address intellectual property, digital assets, corruption, and regulatory practices.
               Meanwhile, Canada will allow U.S. farmers more access to its dairy market, formerly a sticking point in negotiations. In return, Canada (and Mexico) will be protected from any current and future U.S. automotive tariffs. Earlier this year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had dug in his heels on Trump’s calls for a new trade deal, but he changed his tune when Trump pivoted and announced a bilateral trade deal with Mexico in late August.
               “USMCA will give our workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a joint statement. “It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion people who call North America home.”
               Leaders from the three nations are expected to sign the trade accord in the next 60 days. After that it goes to the U.S. Senate for approval, and it would take effect in 2020.
               Trump’s opponents have railed against his economic policies, including his vow to scrap NAFTA and replace it with a better trade deal. Yet, once again, he’s done just what he said he would do. Trump took heat in the press for claiming that NAFTA destroyed millions of jobs and thousands of businesses in the U.S. While American jobs and companies took a lot of hits during the NAFTA era, it’s difficult to determine whether NAFTA was the cause of all the economic heartache that took place. In some ways yes, in some ways no.
               Just the same, Trump’s dealmaking skills forced Mexico and Canada to rethink the old arrangement, and he has come up with something that, while not a game-changer, looks to be better for the U.S. and will make the North American trade bloc more competitive on the world stage.
               “But wait,” says Gary Bauer. “There’s more! Lost in the Kavanaugh kerfuffle last week, President Trump signed a new trade agreement with South Korea. In addition, China just announced that it is slashing tariffs on more than 1,500 products, responding to pressure from the Trump administration to open its economy to more American goods.”
               While much of the media misses this kind of chess, renegotiating NAFTA is only one move in Trump’s larger strategy to achieve fairer trade for the U.S. with North America, Europe, and China. It sure would seem that Trump’s practice of putting America first is paying off for the American worker.

~The Patriot Post  

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58595?mailing_id=3770&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3770&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body

             As usual, dummycrats-Democrats came out complaining that the legislation favored the rich. House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi (D-CA) lamented, “The GOP’s priorities have been laid bare. How can we milk the public, exploit the taxpayer by adding to the wealth of the wealthiest 1%?” Ironically, it has been dummycrats-Democrats who are most guilty in seeking to carve out tax breaks for the wealthy. In the high-tax states that are almost exclusively dummycrats-Democrat controlled, their biggest objection to Republican tax reform is that it reduces the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) deductible on a federal tax return. As we previously noted, Democrats are out to protect their rich constituents from the effects of higher state and local taxes they themselves have created.
               dummycrats-Democrats are not really “for the people.” So who has gained the most from the GOP’s tax reform? The short answer: The Forgotten Man — middle-class and low-income workers toiling to make their lives better. As Grover Norquist and Alex Hendrie recently noted in The Hill, “Thanks to [tax reform], 90 percent of wage earners are seeing higher take-home pay. A family of four earning the median annual income $73,000 per year will see a 58 percent reduction in federal taxes, while a single parent with one child earning $41,000 will see a 73 percent reduction in federal taxes.”
               And Tax Reform 2.0 does more to add to the middle- and low-income workers’ gains. As the Joint Economic Committee report highlights:

• Taxpayers with incomes under $50,000 will see their share of the total federal tax burden drop from 4.2% to 3.9%.
• Those with less than $10,000 in income will see their taxes slashed by more than half.
• Average taxpayers with incomes between $10,000 and $20,000, a group that frequently claims refundable tax credits, will have no tax liability and receive an additional refund.
• Millionaires will actually see their share of the total federal tax burden rise to 20.2%, compare to 19.6% if tax relief expires.
• While taxpayers will enjoy an average 5.2% cut in their taxes, taxpayers that earn over $1 million will see a below-average reduction of 2.3%.

             Republicans need to be banging this drum all the way to the midterms.

~The Patriot Post  

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58584?mailing_id=3770&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.3770&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body