THE FOUNDATION
"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Smith, 1822TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Ebola? Blame Republicans
The Agenda Project is a leftist 501(c)4 organization running campaign ads in various battleground states. And they're working to solve the Ebola problem by properly assigning blame. In an email with the subject line, "If you die, blame them," the group says it's launching "a multi-pronged blitzkrieg attack that lays blame for the Ebola crisis exactly where it belongs -- at the feet of the Republican lawmakers. Like rabid dogs in a butcher shop, Republicans have indiscriminately shredded everything in their path, including critical programs that could have dealt with the Ebola crisis before it reached our country." It's evidently escaped the group's notice that Democrats have controlled the White House and Senate since 2009, or that the "Republican sequester" was actually Barack Obama's idea and he signed it into law. In related news, Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, blamed budget cuts for the lack of a vaccine for Ebola. Perhaps Collins would care to explain why NIH spent $1.5 million last year to study why lesbians are fat instead of putting the money toward that vaccine. The truth is, House Republicans added more money to CDC's budget than Obama requested. More...Comment | Share
Cuts Endanger Military's Duty to Defend Nation
As the U.S. Army cuts its forces to 490,000, and then to 450,000 due to budget constraints, it will struggle with training and standing equipped to respond to national security crises around the world, according to U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno. "The problem is that since we made those statements [about the cuts], the world is changing in front of us," Ordierno said. "I now have concerns whether even the old level of 490,000 is the right thing to do because of what I see potentially on the horizon." That horizon is filled with an emboldened Russia, ISIL and the spreading scourge of Ebola. But while the federal government has an enumerated, constitutional duty to create a military force to provide for the defense of the nation, the military is not immune from government waste plaguing other agencies. For example, the Pentagon bought the Afghani government 20 Italian airplanes -- totaling $486 million -- but the planes were defective. The scrapped planes recouped $32,000. Maybe they should have bought American-made equipment.Comment | Share
Turkey Denies Agreement With Obama Administration
National Security Advisor Susan Rice announced Sunday that Turkey had “in the last several days made a commitment that they will in the first instance allow the United States and our partners to use Turkish bases and territory to train ... moderate Syrian opposition forces.” Not only that, she said, "In addition, they have said that their facilities inside of Turkey can be used by the coalition forces, American and otherwise, to engage in activities inside of Iraq and Syria. That's the new commitment, and one that we very much welcome.” Rice has never been known to tell a lie on a Sunday talk show before, so imagine our surprise when Turkey denied any such agreement. "There is no decision at the moment," said foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The truth is, the administration's approach to ISIL is a pathetic JV effort, and they're having trouble recruiting allies as a result.Comment | Share
FBI Used Bogus Numbers in Mass Shooting Report
Last month, the FBI released a study on mass shootings since 2000. We looked at the underlying cultural problems, but gun researcher John Lott dug deeper into the actual numbers the FBI used. What he found is astounding. "The FBI counted 160 'mass' or 'active' shootings in public places from 2000 to 2013," Lott wrote. "Worse, it said these attacks rose from just one in 2000 to 17 in 2013. Media outlets worldwide gave the 'news' extensive coverage. Too bad the study is remarkably shoddy -- slicing the evidence to distort the results. In fact, mass public shootings have only risen ever so slightly over the last four decades. While the FBI study discusses 'mass shootings or killings,' its graphs were filled with cases that had nothing to do with mass killings. Of the 160 cases it counted, 32 involved a gun being fired without anyone being killed. Another 35 cases involved a single murder. It’s hard to see how the FBI can count these incidents, which make up 42 percent of its 160 cases, as 'mass killings.'" In other words, it appears the FBI produced a deceptive report that just happens to bolster the gun-grabbing agenda of the Obama administration. More...Comment | Share
Conservatives Know More About Current Events
If you know about Common Core, the North Dakota oil boom, and the leader of Israel, then you might be a conservative. The Pew Research Center conducted a News IQ poll from Sept. 25-28 quizzing people on their news knowledge. On average, a conservative respondent answered 5.7 of the 12 questions correctly, while the average Democrat correctly identified 5. (You can test your own news knowledge here.) "Differences in news knowledge across partisan groups are relatively modest, though Republicans tend to do somewhat better than Democrats overall," Pew reported. "On other issues, such as the unemployment rate, there are hardly any differences in news knowledge between Republicans and Democrats. Just 38% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats know that the unemployment rate is currently closest to 6%. Many Americans overestimate the current unemployment rate: 27% say it is closest to 9%, while an additional 18% think the rate is closest to 12%," which only further highlights the recovery is not yet felt by most Americans. Perhaps conservatives know more because they understand a self-governing people must be informed. And don't forget how much Democrats depend on low-information voters. More...Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Pentagon Prepares to Fight Climate Change
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On Monday, the Department of Defense released its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, which provides the guidelines for how the U.S. military will address the effects of climate change (a.k.a. global warming, er, global climate disruption). Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed the plan before the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas, calling climate change a “threat multiplier” that could intensify the world’s current problems, such as infectious diseases and terrorism.
It's clear Hagel is now in lockstep with other climate alarmists like Secretary of State John Kerry, who less than a month ago claimed that “climate change is one of the biggest -- if not the biggest national security threat facing the U.S.” Right, because Ebola isn't already in the U.S. and ISIL isn't expanding its territorial control in the Middle East from which to threaten the West.
Certainly when it comes to a changing climate (severe weather, hurricanes, flooding etc.) our military should be prepared to act -- as in, it should have a plan to overcome the challenges that could alter the outcome of a mission. However, this roadmap put forth by Hagel and the Department of Defense doesn’t do that. Hagel insists, “While scientists are converging towards consensus on future climate projections, uncertainty remains. But this cannot be an excuse for delaying action.” He basically declared that a large part of our national security policy will be to take action based upon unsubstantiated scientific claims. Is he insane?
Perhaps, but recall back to the spring, when the Obama administration aimed to deflect its abysmal failures by making climate change the electoral centerpiece for the Democrat Party. What better way to frame the seriousness of this agenda than to make “climate change” a national security priority?
Unfortunately, this political move doesn’t actually make us safer. Instead of focusing on real threats, the Left is once again aiming to use the military as a means to further its political agenda, which is to subjugate free enterprise under statist regulation.
Could it be that the reduction of troops and the refusal to re-equip the Armed Forces are part of the plan to reduce the human carbon footprint blamed for causing climate change? Is our Navy now going to be a global force for fighting global warming?
Hagel also remarked, “We must be clear-eyed about the security threats presented by climate change, and we must be pro-active in addressing them.” In other words, it's time to move forward with Obama's agenda.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State has overtaken large chunks of territory and slaughtered thousands. Our borders are unsecure. Ebola is spreading and is now in our own country. And yet Hagel has the audacity to tell military leaders that we need to be clear-eyed about the threat of climate change. Hagel needs to take the blinders off.
The Obama administration is focusing on climate change as a national security threat (which it isn’t; it's an agenda) instead of actual threats. Our nation and much of the world will pay a steep price economically and militarily if this agenda is allowed to continue. Keep this in mind when voting in November’s midterm elections.
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Gitmo: Keeping the Promise?
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| Detainees at Gitmo, 2002 |
He's repeatedly promised to do so from the 2008 campaign through this year's State of the Union, in which he again cried that Congress needed to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers. His current tactic seems to be obviating the need for the facility by attrition -- transferring prisoners out a few at a time. Not that those housed there would be any less dangerous or somehow develop a deep appreciation for Americans if they were allowed to leave.
Most Americans are aware of the swap of five Gitmo prisoners for accused deserter Bowe Bergdahl. But most may not know that Estonia has just agreed to accept one detainee, and six others may be bound for Uruguay, depending on election results later this month. Of the 149 still housed at Gitmo, 79 are eligible for such transfers, and the Obama administration is working to find them new homes where the president hopes they'll behave.
Or as late-night comedian Jimmy Fallon joked, "When asked how he plans on letting the prisoners out, Obama said, 'I'll replace all the guards with Secret Service agents.' They'll just wander out."
But the worst of the lot are those who Obama would prefer to house and bring to trial right here in the United States -- a dangerous 9/10 mindset of treating terrorism as a crime rather than an act of war. And while the ever-popular "unnamed officials" believe we have plenty of adequate prison space for these detainees in our supermax facilities, Congress wisely acted a few years ago to prohibit the use of federal funds to transfer Gitmo prisoners to the United States. Obama considers that provision unconstitutional (chutzpah at its finest), and his desire to see Gitmo shuttered may lead to a veto of the defense authorization bill if it isn't stripped. Meanwhile, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) threatened to filibuster any unilateral executive action to close Guantanamo.
While Barack Obama seems to be sticking to his guns on this particular policy point, it's useful to compare this to his leading from behind against Islamic terror in other nations like Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Syria. He has steadfastly refused to recommit ground troops to combating ISIL in Iraq and Syria, but the military argues the limited air strikes Obama has authorized won't be enough to save thousands in the path of ISIL offensives, such as in the Syrian city of Kobani or in Iraq's Anbar province. (Yet Obama didn't hesitate to place 3,000 troops in harm's way battling Ebola. Go figure.)
When Obama took office in 2009, the Middle East was far more stable than it is today. While he chafed under the policies put in place by George W. Bush, he was the beneficiary of their relative success early in his first term. However, in his effort to thoroughly discredit his predecessor's policies, Obama has made the case why they should have stayed in place.
It costs about $500 million a year to keep Guantanamo Bay open -- a hefty sum to be sure, but less than we've spent on boondoggles like Solyndra or Planned Parenthood. The question is whether the Long War is in any way a priority for this president. All signs are definitely pointing to no.
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For more, visit Right Analysis.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- William Murchison: When Duty Doesn't Call
- Thomas Sowell: Local or National Elections?
- Mona Charen: Answering Ted Olson
- Cal Thomas: Rebuilding Gaza for the Next Attack
- Arnold Ahlert: Ebol-ISIS
OPINION IN BRIEF
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915): "There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."Columnist William Murchison: "Why make voting as easy as falling off a log -- and as challenging? Why not make it more of a deliberative enterprise, accompanied by meditation and even a measure of sacrifice? What’s wrong with some reasonable -- non-discriminatory, may it please the court -- measures meant to encourage turnout chiefly by those who exert themselves when turning out? What is the matter with some minimal formality, such as producing on demand a photo that verifies identity? ... The amount of effort and devotion we put into anything generally helps determine how much we get out of it – a lot or a little. Should government take itself more seriously than do the voters, popping in on Election Day for a quick temperature check: no muss, no fuss, no bother? ... Why election days at all? Why not just telephone surveys? Or would picking up the phone impose unfairly on a voter who can’t be bothered, photographically, to show his face at the polls?"
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Columnist Thomas Sowell: "Obama understands how high the stakes are, which is why he is out fundraising all across the country -- seemingly all the time -- even though he has no more elections to face himself. Obama came to power saying that he was going to fundamentally change the United States of America -- and he intends to do it, even after he is gone, by giving lifetime appointments as federal judges to people who share his view that this country’s institutions and values are fundamentally wrong, and need to be scrapped and replaced by his far left vision. If only Obama’s critics and opponents understood this momentous issue as clearly as he does!"
Comedian Jimmy Fallon: "Obama criticized the GOP for being the party of billionaires -- while he was speaking at a fundraiser at a billionaire's house! I don't see how that story could get any worse. But did you see the name of that billionaire? He was Rich Richman. Are you kidding me? Rich Richman is the guy's name? That sounds like a Batman villain. Rich Richman? Come on. Obama would have stayed longer, but he was late for his lunch with Dollars McMoneybags."
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
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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