THE FOUNDATION
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to E. Carrington, 1788TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
VA Not a Scandal, Says Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi lives in an alternate universe. Sometimes we think that's the only explanation for her bizarre pronouncements. Her latest is to argue the scandalous treatment of veterans by Veterans Affairs facilities isn't actually a scandal. "Well, I think any time that our men and women in uniform are not served in the manner in which they deserve, you could perhaps call it a scandal because it's scandalous that they're not," Pelosi said. But, she added, "Whether it is a scandal with intention and the rest of that, the evidence remains to be seen." Maybe that's because bureaucrats are hiding the evidence. In related news, she says she has only one regret about ObamaCare: "I wanted a single-payer [system], and I wanted a public option." News flash -- the VA virtually is a single-payer system. Look how well that's worked.Comment | Share
White House Blows Cover
Barack Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Sunday, attempting to showcase his "support" for the troops. During the trip, the administration blew the cover of the CIA station chief in Kabul by including his name on a list provided to news organizations. The White House soon realized the mistake and withdrew the name, but the damage may have been done. The Washington Post quickly drew a comparison with the revelation of "former CIA operative" (a.k.a. pencil-pusher) Valerie Plame's identity by the Bush administration, which the Left turned into a head-hunt for Dick Cheney. In the end his aide, Scooter Libby, was the only one punished for obstruction of "justice" in the investigation. By contrast, the Obama administration revealed the name of the station chief in Kabul, a hot spot, if you haven't heard. According to former UN ambassador John Bolton, "This is utter incompetence. There is no justification for this. There is no explanation for it. It's like there's nobody in charge of the White House." Not to worry; the White House is going to "look into what happened." Early word is the leak was because of a YouTube video that crossed a red line.Comment | Share
IRS Regs on Employer Insurance
The IRS is out with a new regulation targeting employers who sought cost savings by dropping health insurance in favor of giving employees tax-free contributions to pay for premiums. The ruling says that "an employee cannot use tax-free contributions from an employer to purchase an insurance policy sold in the individual health insurance market, inside or outside an exchange." Why? The New York Times reports, "Such arrangements do not satisfy the health care law, the administration said, and employers may be subject to a tax penalty of $100 a day -- or $36,500 a year -- for each employee who goes into the individual marketplace." The only alternative for an employer now is to pay higher taxable wages instead of health benefits. Barack Obama wants the employer-based health insurance system to continue functioning, but he wants to make it a frying pan or fire proposition. More...Comment | Share
Even More Gun Control
California's battery of gun legislation did nothing to stop a psychopath looking to murder people. But the drum beat of gun control has started again in the Golden State. It's hard to fathom what else the California legislature could enact. Microstamping? Bans on scary-looking guns? Firearm registration? All already done. Two California lawmakers, Nancy Skinner and Das Williams, proposed even more legislation, this time targeting gun owners who may be mentally ill. The bill would create a "gun violence restraining order" and more procedure for police to follow during welfare checks. Skinner said, "When someone is in crisis, the people closest to them are often the first to spot the warning signs, but almost nothing can now be done to get back their guns or prevent them from buying more." Skinner and her ilk don't acknowledge that a man bent on murder would have succeeded with or without guns -- he did in stabbing three. The problem was the evil inside, and that's something lawmakers refuse to address. More...Comment | Share
$2B on Detroit Blight Removal
The Detroit Blight Removal Task Force presented their recommendations for cleaning up the once-thriving but now bankrupt city, and if the Obama administration agrees, taxpayers could be doling out nearly $2 billion on blight removal. According to The New York Times, the city would need "$850 million to quickly tear down about 40,000 dilapidated buildings, demolish or restore tens of thousands more, and clear thousands of trash-packed lots. [The task force] also said that the hulking remains of factories that dot Detroit, crumbling reminders of the city's manufacturing prowess, must be salvaged or demolished, which could cost as much as $1 billion more." Worse still, Detroit is already spending about half a billion dollars on cleanup efforts. Sadly, it's taxpayers who are now being punished for decades of Democrat malfeasance. More...Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Obama's Obsession With 'Ending' Afghanistan
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The president will leave a residual force of 9,800 troops there going into 2015, cutting it in half by the end of next year and to virtually zero by the end of 2016. His only purpose is to be able to spike the football one more time before he leaves office as the last U.S. troops leave Afghanistan. It's a sickening display of his trademark narcissism.
Obama declared, "We've now been in Afghanistan longer than most Americans expected." As if what most Americans expect, maybe a poll, should govern our national security policy? "Afghanistan will not be a perfect place," he added. "It is not America's responsibility to make it one." While Obama frames it this way, we are not in Afghanistan to make it a perfect place. We are there to ensure it's not a launch pad for terrorism against the United States and the West -- an objective clearly in our national security interest.
On that note, he boasted, "We're going to make sure that Afghanistan can never again, ever, be used again to launch an attack against our country." How does he intend to accomplish this by retreating? "Now we're finishing the job we started," he said. Finishing a job and ceasing to do it are two different things.
Republican Senators Kelly Ayotte (NH), John McCain (AZ) and Lindsey Graham (SC) blasted Obama's foolish timetable, saying it is "a monumental mistake and a triumph of politics over strategy." Politics is Obama's strategy -- whatever it takes to placate his various constituency groups.
Obama defaulted to another of his most obnoxious ticks when he said, "I think Americans have learned that it's harder to end wars than it is to begin them." First, this is a not-so-subtle knock against his predecessor, George W. Bush, whom the Left derided as a "cowboy." Second, why doesn't Obama ever speak of winning wars? A cursory search reveals that he spoke once of winning a war -- in a bad joke at the 2012 White House Correspondents Dinner. "In my first term, we ended the war in Iraq; in my second term, I will win the war on Christmas." Victory is merely a punch line for this commander in chief.
Obama's retreat from both Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately cost the U.S. a far higher price than maintaining a reasonable security presence in those countries. Add Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom to the trash heap of Obama's long list of failed foreign policy around the world.
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The 'Urgency' of Amnesty
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Read the rest of the story here.
For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Mona Charen: One Easy Reform
- Jacob Sullum: Gun Control's False Promise
- Burt Prelutsky: Impeachment, the VA & the NFL
- John Stossel: Eat Without Fear
- Walter E. Williams: White Privilege
OPINION IN BRIEF
British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859): "Many politicians ... are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool ... who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim."Columnist Mona Charen: "The press can choose not to publish the names or show the faces of shooters. A quick survey of popular news sites in the days following the Santa Barbara atrocity showed that all used the name of the murderer. ... In a celebrity-drunk culture like ours -- one that, moreover, frequently makes no distinction between those who gain fame for good reasons and those who deserve infamy -- invites the unbalanced to bid for attention with huge crimes. In the shallow world of news sites and social networks, everyone jockeys for attention. All the petty egos stretch for their moment of glory. The YouTube video apparently filmed by the killer was the ultimate 'selfie' guaranteed to reach a mass audience. Pull the plug on the publicity machine for killers. It's cost-free. It's easy. It can be done immediately, and it might very well remove one of the chief lures of the killing spree."
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Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "[S]omeone recently sent me an email letting me know that he sympathized with those poor people who do the work that others refuse to do; are forced to trek endless miles in desert heat; are forced to live in cramped and unsanitary conditions among people who speak a foreign language; are sometimes separated from their loved ones for years at a time; and who, after all that, are expected to survive on a minimum wage. The kicker is that he was referring not to illegal aliens, but to the members of our military. Wouldn't it just make sense if instead of wasting $360 billion-a-year providing aid and comfort to those sneaking across our border, we spent it offering solace to our vets and to rebuilding our diminished military?"
Fred Thompson: "A new report shows that the building of the new DHS HQ is 11 years behind schedule and $1.5 billion over budget. Don't worry, though. The government will get the time and money thing right when they're running healthcare."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
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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