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"Shame on the men who can court exemption from present trouble and expense at the price of their own posterity's liberty!" --Samuel Adams ("Candidus"), 1776TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Where Have the Unaccompanied Alien Children Gone?
The government has shut down three shelters at U.S. military bases holding the unaccompanied alien children that streamed across the southern border earlier in the year. The government has released 37,477 of the children across the states, but exactly where they won't say. Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said, "It's outrageous. Now, this administration is telling the American people -- and Congress -- that we're not even entitled to know where these people are, where they're being held, what communities are going to be impacted." HHS has released a list of where 29,890 of the unaccompanied alien children were sent by county. But it doesn't show what towns are affected, whether the children are sent into a group home, or whether they are united with their families or are now in the foster care system. According to the Washington Examiner, only 280 were deported. More...Comment | Share
Militia in Benghazi: Consulate 'Totally Secure'
So far, we know the U.S. embassy in Libya is still standing, the cornflakes are sitting out and the various militias have not pillaged the protein bars from the gym to fuel their running and gunning. Since U.S. officials fled the embassy in Tripoli due to fighting in the area, the embassy was first secured by a militia "from Zintan," which, according to BBC News, could be the Al-Sawiq Brigade. But then a new group, Dawn of Libya, drove that militia out of the American compound and its leader, Abu-Zaqia, says it's totally cool if American diplomats decide to come back because it's all safe. "We entered and put some of our fighters to secure this place and we preserved this place as much as we could," the Dawn of Libya leader said. U.S. staff "are most welcome in God's blessing, and any area that is controlled by Dawn of Libya is totally secure and there are no troubles at all." With 13 armed groups BBC identified running around Libya -- not to mention this new "Dawn of Libya" group -- it's hard to believe Abu-Zaqia when he says any compound in the nation where Ambassador Chris Stevens died is "totally secure." On the contrary, Libya's decent into chaos continues. More...Comment | Share
Obama to Regulate Kitchen Appliances
In the past, the big-government progressives used to promise a chicken in every pot and a car in every driveway. Today's progressives only rip those dreams away thanks to the unrelenting march of "green" regulation. First, the government went after automakers and the coal industry. Now, the Obama administration is going after the appliances that cook the chicken. "The Obama administration is working on new efficiency standards for seemingly every appliance but the kitchen sink," The Hill reports. "The administration says the standards will not only help the planet but also stimulate the economy by saving consumers money on their energy bills that they can spend elsewhere." In reality, increased regulation means appliances will get more expensive and more out of reach for the average consumer. But the Obama administration knows better than us simple commoners or the manufacturers of air conditioners, blenders and dishwashers. So prices rise as he leads us who knows where. More...Comment | Share
$3 Million Went to Study Lesbian Obesity
The National Institute of Health has sunk almost $3 million into studies trying to figure out why 75% of lesbians are overweight and male homosexuals remain slender. Last year, the researchers "concluded that gay and bisexual males had a 'greater desire for toned muscles' than straight men," the Washington Free Beacon reported. "The project now claims that lesbians have lower 'athletic-self esteem' that may lead to higher rates of obesity. Another research paper found that lesbians are more likely to see themselves at a healthy weight, even though they are not." Self-identified homosexuals make up only 1.6% of the U.S. population, which shows how much of an overweight priority homosexuals are in popular culture. They are of particular concern to the Left because the homosexual community is a major source of donations for progressive campaigns. Hence wasting taxpayer dollars on waistlines. More...Comment | Share
Kroger: 'We Trust Our Customers' on Guns
Kroger is the world's third-largest retailer, doing $100 billion in annual sales. That makes them a big target for anti-gun zealots like Moms Demand Action (MDA), which enjoys the backing of billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. After appeals from MDA for the grocery giant to ban guns in its stores, Kroger responded, "Our long-standing policy on this issue is to follow state and local laws and to ask customers to be respectful of others while shopping. We know that our customers are passionate on both sides of this issue, and we trust them to be responsible in our stores." Trusting responsible gun owners -- what a novel concept. Kroger may simply want to avoid angering gun owners, which is wise all by itself, but they may also be well aware that law-abiding are not a threat. On the contrary, gun owners often provide unseen security. More...Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
No Strategy for the Cart and Horse
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The threat on the home front is acute. ISIL is reportedly eying the U.S.-Mexico border for opportunities to infiltrate and attack the U.S. Astoundingly, however, in its recent national threat assessment for domestic terrorism, the FBI doesn't mention Islamic terrorist threats.
Specifically, ISIL may be seeking to create and deploy biological weapons. What might be called "BioBombers" are Islamist "martyrs" who, instead of strapping on a bomb and detonating themselves in a crowded urban area, become human hosts for virulent strains of deadly contagions.
A laptop recovered from ISIL jihadis reveals the plan. According to Foreign Policy magazine, "The [ISIL] laptop contains a 19-page document in Arabic on how to develop biological weapons and how to weaponize the bubonic plague from infected animals. 'The advantage of biological weapons is that they do not cost a lot of money, while the human casualties can be huge,' the document states." Furthermore, the document instructs, "Use small grenades with the virus, and throw them in closed areas like metros, soccer stadiums, or entertainment centers. Best to do it next to the air-conditioning. It also can be used during suicide operations."
So long as the supposed "caliphate" exists, they will control the land and resources (including oil fields for financing) necessary to develop such horrific weapons. That's a good reason to consider ISIL a serious threat and to have a strategy for defeating it.
In the week before Obama's "no strategy" remarks, several officials within his administration had been giving warnings and laying out possible action. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned that ISIL is “beyond just a terrorist group” and “beyond anything that we’ve seen.” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sounded a similar note, saying ISIL “is an organization that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision which will eventually have to be defeated.” He said that will almost certainly entail countering them in Syria as well as Iraq -- “both sides of what is essentially at this point a nonexistent border.”
Meanwhile, however, the State and Justice Departments were downplaying the threat. As we have already noted, this incoherence is dangerous. And then Obama managed to make it worse.
Even Obama's Leftmedia water carriers see the problem. NBC's Richard Engel called ISIL's rise "incredibly predictable" because "[w]e reported about it. Reporters risked their lives going into Syria to talk about this buildup of extremists in the country, yet nothing seems to have been done. And now we have a very serious situation." Furthermore, he said, “I speak to military commanders, I speak to former officials, and they are apoplectic. They think that this is a clear and present danger. They think something needs to be done.”
Even a president who finds out about current events by watching the news has no excuse.
Obama says not to "put the cart before the horse," but it's he who has done so, ordering seemingly half-hearted airstrikes with entirely too limited objectives. He doesn't seem to be mindful of the internal strife in Iraq between Shiites and Sunnis, or how to avoid creating more of it. The New York Times reports, "The militants from [ISIL] were able to storm into Iraq in recent months in part because Sunnis felt so disenfranchised by the Shiite-led government of former Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. If the United States is seen to be strengthening the hand of militias that terrorized Sunnis during the sectarian war of 2006 and 2007, the minority Sunnis might balk at participating in America’s long-term goal of a unity government. Or, in a worst-case scenario, more Sunnis could align with [ISIL] fighters."
As for Syria, Iran supports Bashar al-Assad's regime. Any action the U.S. takes there against ISIL could have the undesired effect of strengthening Assad, and therefore Iran.
That said, ISIL's defeat is the primary objective. American air power is key against an enemy that more brazenly gathers its fighters than previous iterations. According to retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, "ISIL’s penchant for operating openly -- as well as for seizing, occupying and trying to administer territory instead of hiding quietly among the civilian populace -- presents targeting opportunities that other terrorists assiduously avoid."
Air strikes must be done in conjunction with other efforts to stabilize the region. In terms of U.S. interests, stability and security are paramount. Achieving that will require the cooperation of Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, as well as that of other nations in the region -- all while, if possible, marginalizing Iran.
It's one thing to be cautious or to mask our strategy -- both of which are advisable. It's another thing entirely to be willfully blind and unprepared. And when even Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) says Obama is "too cautious," it puts the problem into stark relief.
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Arresting Parents for Letting Kids Play
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In recent weeks, there have been numerous stories of parents being arrested for leaving their children to play without supervision. Lenore Skenazy, author of "Free-Range Kids," writes, "In another era, it not only would have been normal for a child to say, 'Goodbye, mom!' and go off to spend a summer's day there [at the playground], it would have been odd to consider that child 'unsupervised.' After all, she was surrounded by other kids, parents, and park personnel. Apparently now only a private security detail is considered safe enough."
This is not an argument for abandoning one's children for hours on end with no available supervision. One mother was arrested for leaving her nine-year-old at a park in order to work a shift at McDonald's. But while the merits of her babysitting strategy are dubious, we're not convinced it was worthy of 17 days behind bars, much less the potential 10-year prison sentence.
Yet a Reason/Rupe poll revealed that 68% of Americans think there ought to be a law prohibiting kids nine and under from unsupervised play. For 12-year-olds, some 43% still think a law is needed, and even letting a 10-year-old play alone in their own front yard is frowned upon. Who knew helicopter parenting was this popular?
Common knowledge (62% of those polled) says the world is more dangerous than a generation or two ago, but the truth is that crime is at its lowest levels since World War II. Child abduction is no more common now than 40 years ago, and today's kidnappings are often committed by estranged spouses. And as the Christian Science Monitor noted in 2012, "[T]he last time the crime rate for serious crime -- murder, rape, robbery, assault -- fell to these levels, gasoline cost 29 cents a gallon and the average income for a working American was $5,807."
Crime is still serious, even at a lower rate. And appropriate precautions with children are always in order. But why the overabundance of fear? Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, blames the 24-hour news cycle. Turn on the news, he says, "and all you have to do is watch how they take a handful of terrible crimes against children and repeat that same handful over and over. And then they repeat the trial over and over, and so we're conditioned to live in a state of fear." After all, who wants to become the subject of one of those stories? According to the Reason poll, more than two-thirds think news coverage is either accurate or underestimated.
Other factors could be at play, including the prevailing culture of lawsuits for every real and perceived injury -- that's why playgrounds themselves are so different today. Also, the breakdown of the family and communities has left many mothers parenting alone and turning to the government. Or maybe we've gotten so overprotective simply because kids are so expensive. According to the USDA, raising a child in a middle-class home can cost $245,000.
There are important implications of this shift in thought, and they're not limited to children or parenting. Take ObamaCare for example. Democrats are correct that, while the law as a whole and as implemented is not looked upon favorably, some of its individual provisions -- like keeping "children" on parents' insurance until age 26 -- are popular. In fact, most government programs that "take care of people" enjoy wide public support, which is why responsible fiscal management of those programs is nearly impossible.
Children may well be marginally safer in this tightly controlled environment, but they also may not be learning critical life skills such as responsibility, problem-solving and independence. Hence, when they grow up, they want government to do things for them.
And sometimes, children never actually do grow up, which is why statists are so successful at fomenting envy among various constituent groups. Petty jealousy is a prevalent trait among five-year-olds, and leftists know just how to cultivate it into adulthood.
One key to breaking this cycle of dependence is for parents to raise their children with a bit more independence and responsibility. Start small but keep growing. America was birthed with the Declaration of Independence, and in order to recapture its greatness, our children must learn autonomy. Maybe even by going to the playground on their own.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Ed Feulner: The Encouraging Rise in School Choice
- Thomas Sowell: Irresponsible Choices
- Arnold Ahlert: We're All Islamophobes -- Until the Next Attack
- Dennis Prager: Winooski, Vermont and the Dismantling of America's Values
- Ken Blackwell: Our Freedoms Are Slowly Slipping Away
OPINION IN BRIEF
English physician and writer Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682): "No one should approach the temple of science with the soul of a money changer."Columnist Ed Feulner: "It’s only natural that parents would take advantage of the rise in school choice options to ensure that their kids were in the best schools possible. The idea that you have no choice but to attend the school closest to where you live, or the school that the 'authorities' assign to you, is absurd. It’s blatantly anti-American, quite frankly. When someone receives a Pell Grant to help finance higher education, the government doesn’t assign him to a college. Why should it be any different for the education that precedes college? ... Yet something far more important to us -- not only as parents who care about our children but as citizens who care about our country -- is treated as a non-negotiable, take-it-or-leave-it commodity. That’s why the rise in school choice is such a promising trend."
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Columnist Thomas Sowell: "With many people now acting as if it is time for 'a woman' to become president, apparently they have learned absolutely nothing from the disastrous results of the irresponsible self-indulgence of choosing a President of the United States on the basis of demographic characteristics, instead of individual qualifications. It would not matter to me if the next five presidents in a row were all women, if these happened to be the best individuals available at the time. But to say that we should now elect 'a woman' president in 2016 is to say that we are willfully blind to the dangers of putting life and death decisions in the hands of someone chosen for symbolic reasons. ... No public official should be considered to be above criticism – and the higher up that official is, the more important it is to hold his or her feet to the fire when it comes to carrying out duties involving the life and death of individuals and the fate of the nation."
Twitter satirist @hale_razor: "If Jennifer Lawrence really wanted to keep her photos from ever being seen, she should've stored them with Lois Lerner's emails."
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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