THE FOUNDATION
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." --John Adams, Notes for an oration at Braintree, 1772TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
'Care for Your Own Citizens'
Hillary Clinton weighed in on the Obama administration's outrageous prisoner swap -- five high-level Taliban jihadis for one deserting American soldier. "This young man, whatever the circumstances, was an American citizen -- is an American citizen -- was serving in our military. The idea that you really care for your own citizens and particularly those in uniform, I think is a very noble one," she said. "You don't want to see these five prisoners go back to combat. There's a lot that you don't want to have happen. On the other hand you also don't want an American citizen, if you can avoid it, especially a solider, to die in captivity. I think we have a long way to go before we really know how this is going to play out." Ambassador Chris Stevens was unavailable for comment.Comment | Share
There's much more below on this disgraceful episode.
Denying Christians a Chapel
With the addition of some curtains, the VA Hospital chapel in Iron Mountain, Michigan, is only a room with some stained glass windows. The hospital installed a red curtain around a cross, alter and statues of Jesus and Mary. The hospital is removing all icons of Christianity because of a 2008 edict from Washington, which says chapels must ecumenical. Richard Riley, pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, told Todd Starnes at Fox News the hospital's actions make him "exceedingly disappointed." He continued, "Christians have constitutional rights. We have a right to voice our opinion. Just because you are a Christian doesn't mean you lose your First Amendment rights." Let's get this straight: While the VA system degrades and endangers lives with negligent care, one hospital is denying patients and visitors their free exercise of religion. More…Comment | Share
Here Comes Hanoi Jane
Commencement season is a funny thing. For example, Condoleezza Rice was unwelcome at Rutgers University, despite a stint as secretary of state and concert pianist, among other things. But it's all about who is speaking to which audience. Jane Fonda, whose accomplishments include standing in front of cameras, will speak to the graduating class of UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. Never mind the time she traitorously stepped in between a Vietcong anti-aircraft gun and a camera, which earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane" and universal distain from Vietnam Veterans for supporting the enemy. It will be interesting to see if Hanoi Jane, who reportedly converted to Christianity and apologized for the Vietnam incident, will say anything of substance. But it may be lost on the sophomoric graduates looking to be the next generation of Hollywood. More...Comment | Share
Remember SeaTac
Seattle recently passed a $15 minimum wage, to the satisfaction of many of its workers. However, the city should have studied the effect a $15 minimum wage had on its smaller neighbor, SeaTac. Apparently, businesses have pulled out of the small town, and workers there -- who were supposed to benefit the most from the raise -- don't like the $15 wage. For example, The Asian Weekly, a paper that covers the Seattle area, reported one cleaning lady now feels nickeled, dimed and ignored by her employer. "I lost my 401k, health insurance, paid holiday and vacation," she told the paper. "No more free food. ... I have to pay for parking." That's because employers can't afford to pay $15 an hour for $8 an hour value. Seattle should have looked before it leaped into another stinking petri dish of failed economic policy. More...Comment | Share
Liberty in China
Today marks the 25-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Chinese government's violent crackdown on petitions for greater freedom in the People's Republic of China. Even today, the number of dead and wounded is not known, and the Chinese government censors anyone who dares speak about it. Nick Kristof, one half of the husband and wife team that won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting of the incident in 1989, wrote in an email that freedom is slowly coming to the country, but still, the Chinese face massive oppression from their government. "Back then we thought that greater democracy would come in five years, or perhaps a decade," Kristof wrote to the New York Times, "but we would not have expected that 25 years later Liu Xiaobo would be in prison as a Nobel Peace Prize winner." There once was only tyranny. Now, the glimmering light of Liberty is slowly coming over the mountains. More...Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
White House Somehow Surprised by Reaction to Bergdahl's Release
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We've learned more about the administration's moves in recent days. Obama's "Taliban Five" exchange for PFC Bowe Bergdahl arguably violated the legal requirement that the Executive Branch give Congress 30 days' notice on any negotiated release of a Gitmo prisoner. Obama claims his executive prerogative superseded the requirement and his "signing statement" at the time this requirement was made part of the 2014 Defense Authorization Act is his bypass authority. However, recall if you will that Obama asserted in his first presidential campaign, "I will obey the Constitution of United States. We're not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end run around Congress." And a year ago, his spokesman Jay Carney proclaimed, "We have long said we would not make any decisions about the transfer of any detainees without consulting with Congress and without doing so in accordance with U.S. law." Of course, such BIG Lies are Obama's trademark.
Even Democrats are crying foul. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, "It's very disappointing that there was not a level of trust to tell us. ... I think our views were clearly transmitted both to the president and Secretary [Hillary] Clinton so it comes with some surprise and dismay that the transfers went ahead with no consultation, totally not following the law."
But far worse, writes former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, "The president has knowingly provided material support to terrorists. More importantly, he has replenished the enemy in wartime by giving the Taliban and Haqqanis back five senior, capable, rabidly anti-American commanders at a time when, as the president well knows, the Taliban and Haqqanis are still conducting violent jihadist operations to kill our troops. This is a shocking dereliction of duty."
The reaction of Obama's own party must have been rather surprising since the White House reportedly expected elation and accolades. "This is a happy day. We got one of our own back," Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gleefully told U.S. troops at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. His cheer was met with deservedly deafening silence.
Many in the military have already expressed outrage that at least six men gave their lives looking for Bergdahl. They were PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, Staff Sgt. Kurt Robert Curtiss, SSG Clayton Bowen, PFC Morris Walker, SSG Michael Chance Murphrey and 2LT Darryn Andrews. The Battle of Kamdesh also left eight Americans dead and 22 wounded in part because resources were diverted to the search.
Meanwhile, according to the Director of National Intelligence, as of January 2014, 29% of the 614 Gitmo detainees released had returned to the battlefield. The commander in chief knows this. And he doesn't care. "Is there the possibility of some of them trying to return to activities that are detrimental to us? Absolutely," Obama said. "There's a certain recidivism rate that takes place." Indeed, Qatar received the five Taliban jihadis and they are now free to move about the country.
But whatever; we had to get a deserter back home, or as he put it, the "sacred rule" that we don't leave prisoners behind. He argued that such prisoner exchanges are merely "what happens at the end of wars, adding, "That was true for George Washington, it was true for Abraham Lincoln, it was true for FDR. That's been true for every combat situation." See, he's just another great president.
Yet the administration's ignorance knows no bounds. In fact, it's downright insulting. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf lectured a reporter that Bergdahl is "probably the person who knows best what happened on that night" he deserted his post, and his squad mates should quit misleading people about him. Instead, "Google it on the web," she said, where they'll "find a ton of conflicting reports." Other aides have reportedly accused Bergdahl's fellow soldiers of "swift-boating" him.
We'll let Fox News analyst Lt. Col. (ret.) Ralph Peters respond: "[W]hat you just saw and heard was Benghazi 2.0 -- a political flunky in the State Department insisting that she knows better what happened on the ground than the soldiers on the front line or the people in a firefight. The arrogance is boundless. You know, I wish the Obama administration, if it can't have the grace to be decent about anything else, at least stop insulting our troops. She called those soldiers from the front lines liars. And by the way, she's a liar because I can tell you from the first days, the first hours the military knew exactly what Bergdahl's status was. And I have never heard of or seen any report conflict the allegation that he is a deserter. Never. ... [T]his is an example of a very deep cultural divide between Team Obama that knows nothing about the military -- and cares less -- and those who actually serve. And I think when you listen to Susan Rice and Obama they think that desertion is kind of like skipping class. You're hung over Monday morning so you don't want to get up and go to Gender 101. [Desertion] is the second gravest sin in the military catechism, right behind turning your weapon on your brother soldiers."
Indeed, the Pentagon says Bergdahl may face disciplinary action for deserting and possibly aiding the enemy. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey says that the Army "will not look away from misconduct," but will they "look into misconduct." For the record, Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states, "Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct." In the end, we may have given over five jihadis, alive and well, in exchange for a dead traitor.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Michelle Malkin: The Story You Haven't Yet Heard About Bergdahl's Desertion
- Ben Shapiro: Barack Obama, Judge of Life or Death
- Terence Jeffrey: Will Obama Save Meraim Ibrahim and Her Babies?
- Ken Blackwell: Obama: Incompetent or Intentional?
- John Stossel: Popular Nonsense
OPINION IN BRIEF
Economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006): "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."Columnist Ben Shapiro: "On Sept. 30, 2011, two American Predator drones based out of a Saudi Arabian CIA facility swept into Yemen and fired Hellfire missiles at a car containing terrorist and American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. He was killed. So, too, was terrorist buddy Samir Khan, an American born in Saudi Arabia. ... Last Saturday, Obama announced that the United States had traded five Taliban terrorist leaders in exchange for American Sgt. [sic] Bowe Bergdahl. As the days passed, it became clear that Bergdahl was no American hero: he was, in fact, a deserter. ... Obama immediately signaled that Bergdahl's status as an American was an overriding factor in bartering terrorists for his release. ... The point here is not that Bergdahl should have been droned, or that al-Awlaki shouldn't have been. The point is that the president of the United States now has the apparent authority to determine whether or not someone deserves to live -- indeed, whether he deserves to be hit with a Hellfire missile or whether we should exchange high-level terrorists for him."
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Columnist Terence Jeffrey: "Meriam Ibrahim sits shackled in the cell in the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison in Sudan that she shares with her two babies, Martin and Maya. This is the family of an American citizen -- being persecuted for their Christian faith by a foreign government. ... What has President Barack Obama personally said about the plight of U.S. citizen's family? So far, nothing. What has Secretary of State John Kerry personally said? So far, nothing. ... Perhaps the administration has been working intensely behind the scenes to free this family and is wary of saying something publicly that would hurt rather than help the cause. That would be understandable. Or perhaps working out the deal to free five Taliban prisoners was more important to this administration than working to free the family of an American citizen imprisoned because they are Christians."
Comedian Seth Meyers: "Obama announced a new 600-page proposal to lower carbon emissions and help stop global warming. Step one: Stop printing 600-page proposals."
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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