THE FOUNDATION
"[I]t is not by the consolidation, or concentration of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected. Were not this great country already divided into states, that division must be made, that each might do for itself what concerns itself directly, and what it can so much better do than a distant authority." --Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, 1821TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
When You've Lost The New York Times, You've Lost Middle America
The Leftmedia have long happily circled the wagons for the Obama administration, shielding the president from bad things and helping him toward re-election. Even these sycophants have their limits, however. The rise of ISIL and the president's foreign policy malfeasance are too much for even them to ignore. The New York Times reports, "When President Obama addresses the nation on Wednesday to explain his plan to defeat Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria, it is a fair bet he will not call them the 'JV team.' Nor does he seem likely to describe Iraq as 'sovereign, stable and self-reliant' with a 'representative government.' And presumably he will not assert after more than a decade of conflict that 'the tide of war is receding.' As he seeks to rally Americans behind a new military campaign in the Middle East, Mr. Obama finds his own past statements coming back to haunt him." That's putting it mildly. In fact, it's not just Obama's words that are problematic (though they have been routinely foolish) -- it's his actions. Whether it's total withdrawal from Iraq, consequences be damned, and a repeat of that effort now in Afghanistan, or misguided military efforts in Libya, the commander in chief has utterly blown it. And even the Times concedes the fact. More...Comment | Share
VA in Minneapolis Denied Care to Veterans
Remember the scandalous treatment of veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs? It may have been driven from the headlines by other conflicts and scandals in the world, but the problems haven't been solved. KARE 11 of Minneapolis reports the latest: "Employees at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center were pressured to falsify patient appointment dates and medical records in order to hide serious delays, potentially comprising the health of veterans, according to former employees, internal emails and a complaint filed to the VA's office of the Inspector General." But it gets worse: "In some cases, the employees say they were instructed to falsify medical records by writing that patients had declined follow-up treatments when, in reality, they say the veterans had never been contacted. Patient's lives may be at risk, they fear, because they say some cases involved suspected colon cancer." In other words, this isn't merely a case of delayed care; it's one of denied care. And then the whistleblowers were fired. ObamaCare will only exacerbate these problems. More...Comment | Share
IRS Had 'Secret Research Project' on Conservative Nonprofits
Really, IRS? We know you just said five more of your employees had computers crash and so you can't provide their emails that may further shed light on the targeting of conservative groups. It's time to find another story because that excuse is getting as lame as "The dog at my homework" and "Traffic was horrible." Judicial Watch released more findings from the emails they pulled from the IRS through a legal fight. Of the nonprofit groups targeted by the IRS, 75% were conservative and only 5% were liberal. But the IRS's abuse went further than that with a "secret research program" that would probably make any political party chairman jealous. Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton said, "Now we learn the stunning news that Obama's IRS had a 'secret research program' using illicitly-obtained confidential donor lists of conservative and Tea Party organizations that opposed President Obama's agenda or reelection. With all this IRS abuse, it is no wonder Lois Lerner said that questions by Congress and others were 'dangerous.'" No wonder, too, she pleaded the Fifth. More...Comment | Share
NBC's Home Invasion Segment Missing Key Measure
NBC News, in a segment titled "How to protect your family from home invasion," presented some responsive measures to employ should you become a victim of a home invasion. Former detective Wallace Zeins suggests using the panic button on your car key as an alarm system. He says that wasp spray, with a range of up to 25 feet, is an excellent way of keeping a home invader from entering your bedroom. Zeins also recommends keeping all the bedroom doors open so you can easily hear signs of a break-in and round up your family. And finally, to ensure your survival if you are captured, he suggests you comply with the intruder's demands and give them the location of any valuables. These recommendations are certainly not without merit, but NBC left out the absolute most important thing a law-abiding citizen can do to protect themselves and their family: Buy a firearm. Noise and bug spray, though sometimes effective, are not foolproof ways of countering a threat, especially when the intruder is armed. But such common sense is against the Leftmedia's anti-gun narrative. More...Comment | Share
DoD Wastes Money on Program Designed to Save Money
The U.S. Army created the Global Combat Support System in 1997, a system designed to track spare parts, equipment and supplies. You guessed it: The system was supposed to save the Army money. But $725.7 million later and the Inspector General of the Department of Defense issued a report concluding the system does not comply with financial reporting requirements set by the U.S. Treasury and Defense. The report said, "Although Army personnel have been responsive to correcting deficiencies identified during the audit, the Army has spent $725.6 million on a system that still has significant obstacles to overcome to comply with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act and meet the FYs 2014 and 2017 auditability deadlines." Furthermore, the system will eventually cost the Army $4.3 billion. Some money-saving program. More...Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
No Immigration Action Until Voters Can't Hold Democrats Accountable for It
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"Today the president and the Senate Democrats have made it very clear that undocumented immigrants and Latinos are simply viewed as political pawns," complained Eddie Carmona of PICO National Network, an amnesty advocacy group.
More accurately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) observed, "[Obama's] just saying he'll go around the law once it's too late for Americans to hold his party accountable in the November elections." Precisely.
Obama promised earlier this year to whip out his mighty pen and craft an executive order to "fix" the illegal immigrant problem by the end of summer. There were few details at the time about how exactly he planned to do this, but the solution was most likely to land somewhere between conditional and unconditional amnesty for millions of illegals living in the U.S.
Obama was undeterred even after tens of thousands of children from Latin America rushed across the Southern border. Immigration quickly became a hot button issue once again until the Leftmedia grew bored reporting the story, and the children were scooped up and quietly distributed around the country.
Of course, the reason these children came -- most of them sent by parents from countries across Latin America -- was because of Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) order, which essentially served as a permission slip for more than 1.5 million illegal aliens who came as children with their parents. Word got out of this virtual amnesty and prompted more to come. Obama's motivation then, as now, was that Republicans were obstructing his agenda. Lost on him was the fact that Republicans were reluctant to engage a president who could not be taken at his word and refused to engage in any constructive debate. In Obama's world, anyone who disagrees with him is merely an obstacle to be overcome by whatever means available, which generally means shredding the Constitution.
Obama's announcement Sunday to delay action on immigration came after pleas from Democrat Senators Mark Pryor, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken to delay action, fearing that voter backlash before November could swing the Senate to the Republicans. After all, holding seats is all that matters.
There was a time, though few seem to remember, when Republicans and Democrats staked their claim on either side of an issue, then hashed out a means of making legislation to address that issue. There were not always compromises, and sometimes one party or another took a shellacking. But that was politics and that was how the system worked. What we're seeing now is a hyper-partisan president who has chosen to make an end run around the legal process to fulfill his own goals, most of which are tied to his ego and not the welfare of the country. His party is complicit in his unconstitutional actions because they hope to benefit politically. The good of the nation is of no consequence.
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Wishful Thinking Is Bad Policy for Fighting Terrorists
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With the top leader of the al-Qaida network dead, Barack Obama focused his 2012 re-election bid on bragging to the American public, “Al-Qaida is on the path to defeat. Al-Qaida has been decimated. Al-Qaida is on the run.” Americans waited many years for the day to come, and Obama was right to declare bin Laden’s death a blow to the al-Qaida terrorist network. Yet to insist that one man’s death would lead to the destruction of an organization bent on carrying out terrorist attacks wherever it can was shortsighted and naïve. As The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes put it, Obama wanted to portray these “short term tactical successes as long term strategic victories.”
It turns out that Obama's policy of useless words and wishful thinking doesn’t translate to reality. In the months following bin Laden’s death, members from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) exploited the evidence gleaned from the raid on bin Laden’s compound, and the reports they generated showed “al-Qaida was expanding and growing stronger.” These reports were much different than Obama's election narrative to the American public.
No doubt, Obama's decision to disregard reports from Americans who worked tirelessly and diligently within the intelligence community was a political calculation he made in order to boost his chances of re-election. Fast forward to 2014, and we're seeing the results of the failure to act on information that could have resulted in al-Qaida being decimated, on the run and ultimately defeated. But acting on intelligence would have meant extending the war in Afghanistan instead of stubbornly sticking with his plan to withdraw American forces. It would have meant continuing to seek out terrorists in other countries and holding other government leaders throughout the world accountable for supporting terrorism. Further, it would have meant forgoing his own pompous and arrogant narrative regarding al-Qaida.
Sadly, Obama’s failure to recognize the growing threat of al-Qaida also meant the failure to deal with the birth of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which began as a branch of al-Qaida. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, says ISIL has al-Qaida affiliates that support its aims and objectives. But don’t worry; our president has invoked his passion for sports in his foreign policy antics, calling ISIL “the JV team.” (He has since tried to claim he wasn't referring to ISIL, but even Leftmedia "fact checkers" laugh that one off.) In light of the territorial gains made by ISIL and the beheading of two American journalists and murders of thousands of innocent people in the Middle East, those words seem even more ignorant now than when he uttered them.
Rogers, who has served on the intelligence committee for 10 years, recently stated in an interview with National Review that “he has never quite seen it this bad.” Obama, however, doesn’t seem to think it’s too bad as is revealed in his weakening of the military during his presidency.
According to foreign-affairs columnist Bret Stephens, "By 2017, the U.S. military will be an increasingly hollow force, with the Army as small as it was in 1940, before conscription; a Navy the size it was in 1917, before our entry into World War I; an Air Force flying the oldest -- and smallest -- fleet of planes in its history; and a nuclear arsenal no larger than it was during the Truman administration."
Mitt Romney, who should be president today, argued last week for the critical need of military might. Romney wrote, "The history of the 20th century teaches that power-hungry tyrants ultimately feast on the appeasers." We live in a time when shrinking the military should not be an option, he says. "Freedom and peace are in the balance. [Washington politicians] will choose whether to succumb to the easy path of continued military hollowing or to honor their constitutional pledge to protect the United States."
Obama, who is clearly disconnected from the threat of ISIL and other terrorist organizations, sees no need for a strong military. Who needs peace through strength when he can resort to his pen? Perhaps he is considering using his phone to speak words of condemnation for the actions of ISIL. Whatever his strategy, surely he wouldn’t want the next president to inherit his mess.
It's going to take more than empty rhetoric and wishing upon stars to defeat our enemies. Obama is plainly not up to the task.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Cal Thomas: The McDonnell Verdict & Double Standards
- Thomas Sowell: Success or Failure?
- Ed Feulner: A Society Sickened by Welfare
- Stephen Moore & Norbert Michel: The Fed Can't Fix the Economy
- Dennis Prager: 1,400 English Girls Raped by Multiculturalism
OPINION IN BRIEF
Voltaire (1694-1778): "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."Columnist Cal Thomas: "The soap opera that played out in Richmond these last weeks and ended with the convictions of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy charges is a tragedy for them, their children and the voters of Virginia. ... Some pundits have rightly noted that a man who preaches about strong families and honesty should be expected to live by those standards. Even so, there is a double standard in politics that often allows those who have engaged in similar or worse behavior not only to escape prosecution but to win re-election. ... The modern gold standard for selling one’s office belongs to former President Bill Clinton. As 'NBC Nightly News' anchor Tom Brokaw noted on a Feb. 25, 1997, broadcast: '1600 Pennsylvania Avenue turned out to be the most expensive bed and breakfast in North America.' ... None of this is to excuse what the McDonnells are convicted of having done (they will appeal), but only to offer some perspective. As the joke goes: If there was no double standard, some politicians would have no standards at all."
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Columnist Thomas Sowell: "Those people who say that President Obama has no clear vision and no clear strategy for dealing with the ISIS terrorists in the Middle East may be mistaken. It seems to me that he has a very clear and very consistent strategy. ... Caught off guard, the president has played for time -- time for Iraq to get its internal politics fixed, time for our allies to come together, time for the military to create a strategy. Ideally, from his standpoint, time for the whole ISIS crisis to blow over. ... Barack Obama has succeeded in reducing America’s military strength while our adversaries are increasing theirs, and reducing our credibility and influence with our allies. That is completely consistent with his vision of how the world ought to be, with the West taken down a peg and humbled. ... Everything in Barack Obama’s history suggests that he is going to leave the job half done, so long as that gets the issue off the front pages and off the TV newscasts."
Comedian Jimmy Fallon: "The White House has decided not to send President Obama to campaign in battleground states because his low approval ratings could hurt Democrats. They’re only sending him where he can’t do any damage -- or as that’s also known, 'The Biden Circuit.'"
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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