The Patriot Post® · Friday Top Headline Summary
On Feb. 15, another partial government shutdown will commence if a budget deal remains elusive. According to ABC News, “The 17-member committee charged with hashing out a border security deal in order to avert another government shutdown in seven days is inching closer to a deal.” However, that does not mean President Trump will accept the compromise if it’s absent funding for a border barrier. If he doesn’t, declaring a national emergency is even more likely.
A Louisiana abortion law that imposed regulations on abortion clinics found disfavor with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. “Roberts joined the Supreme Court’s liberal wing on Thursday in temporarily blocking a Louisiana law that would have placed restrictions on abortion clinics,” says Fox News. Strangely, “The Louisiana law is virtually identical to a Texas measure the justices struck down three years ago by a 5-3 vote, shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Roberts dissented in that case, when he was not the deciding vote, and sided with the conservative minority that wanted to uphold the anti-abortion law — making his decision on Thursday a significant reversal.” Is John “ObamaCare Is a Tax” Roberts once again playing politics?
“House Democrats have twice refused now to take up the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act for consideration. The measure is ‘designed to ensure any infant born alive after an abortion receives the same protection of law as any newborn: mandating care and instituting penalties for doctors who allow such infants to die or who intentionally kill a newborn,’ according to a statement from the office of its sponsor Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO).” (Townhall)
Meanwhile, “Massachusetts Democrats have taken a page from New York’s radical left and are pushing a bill to legalize abortion at any time during the pregnancy,” Townhall also reports. “The bill … would get rid of the ‘grave impairment’ language so that an abortion could take place after 24 weeks if the pregnancy risks ‘her physical or mental health, or in cases of lethal fetal anomalies, or where the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the womb.’” Of course, “physical or mental health” is an ambiguous term intended to permit abortion on demand.
On Tuesday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar intimated, “I’m making a big announcement on Sunday.” But according to The Daily Signal, Klobuchar’s intention “to announce a possible presidential campaign this weekend … may have to wait after a report emerged Wednesday night alleging Klobuchar is cruel and potentially abusive to her staff.” At least three campaign-manager prospects have reportedly backed out, all of whom cited the senator’s propensity for belligerent behavior.
End of an era: “Former Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the longest-serving member of Congress who played a key role in many pieces of landmark legislation, has died. He was 92. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. ‘Congressman Dingell died peacefully [Thursday] at his home in Dearborn, surrounded by his wife Deborah,’ the office of his wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell, said in a statement.” (NBC News)
The Associated Press reports that “the Army is developing a new, more grueling and complex fitness exam that adds dead lifts, power throws and other exercises designed to make soldiers more fit and ready for combat.” The impetus? “Commanders have complained in recent years that the soldiers they get out of basic training aren’t fit enough.” Furthermore, “Unlike the old fitness test, which graded soldiers differently based on age and gender, the new one will be far more physically demanding and will not adjust the passing scores for older or female soldiers.”
“Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has published evidence of American Media Inc.‘s (AMI) attempt to blackmail him into halting his investigation into their publication of private text messages he allegedly exchanged with his mistress. In a blog post published on Thursday night, Bezos revealed that AMI, which owns the National Enquirer, threatened to print a number of revealing, personal photos that depict Bezos and his mistress in various states of undress, unless he agreed to stop his investigation into how the Enquirer obtained his private text messages.” (National Review)
After having been “up all night going through my book because I take these claims of plagiarism so seriously,” former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson acknowledged, “The language is too close in some cases and should have been cited as quotation in the text.” She added, “The passages in question involve facts that should have been perfectly cited in my footnotes and weren’t.” (Washington Examiner)
Humor: Green New Deal promises energy-efficient gulags in every neighborhood (The Babylon Bee)
Policy: The Daily Signal’s Nicolas Loris says, “Here’s the most important fact about the Green New Deal: It wouldn’t work. Ultimately, fully implementing the Green New Deal would have no meaningful impact on global temperatures.”
Policy: It’s been nine months since the U.S. pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. And today, “Europe is coming to acknowledge and act on the nuclear threat posed by Tehran.” Fred Fleitz explains why “Trump’s Iran-Deal Withdrawal Is a Clear Success” in National Review.
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.