Daily Digest for Friday
October 24, 2014
THE FOUNDATION"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Melish, 1813TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKSJihadist Attacks With Hatchet in New York CityIn an act of lone-wolf terrorism, Zale Thompson attacked four police offers with a hatchet in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. His attack Thursday left one officer wounded in the arm, another seriously injured in the head and a passerby wounded in the back as the police fired, killing Thompson. The New York Police Department is hesitant to label the attack an act of Islamic terrorism, but SITE Intel Group disagrees. It looked at Thompson's Facebook page and YouTube account and found they "display a hyper-racial focus in both religious and historical contexts, and ultimately hint at his extremist leanings." This is the third terrorist attack in North America inspired by radical Islam this week alone. When a Canadian jihadist used his car to attack two Canadian soldiers Monday, SITE said it showed the reach and influence of the propaganda war that ISIL wages on the Internet. The very existence of ISIL's "Caliphate" emboldens radicalized Muslims. They have their Jihadistan. Their caliph has come. This is why destroying ISIL is a national security priority. More...Comment | Share Doctor in New York Tests Positive for EbolaThe CDC has been conducting "enhanced screening" of all travelers returning to the U.S. from West Africa. But there's a breach in the levy. The New York Times reports, "A doctor in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea became the first person in the city to test positive for the virus Thursday, setting off a search for anyone who might have come into contact with him." Dr. Craig Spencer passed through enhanced screening at JFK Airport without a hitch -- until Thursday, when he reported a fever. That was after he rode the subway, took a taxi and visited a bowling alley. Spencer certainly did laudable work with "Doctors Without Borders" helping Ebola patients in Africa, but perhaps he took the group's name a little too literally. Don't worry, though, all is well.Comment | Share Suits Against IRS Political Targeting DismissedThe IRS illegally targeted Tea Party and Patriot groups for audit before the 2012 presidential election, which puts an asterisk after Barack Obama's victory. But there's bad news in the Tea Party's quest for justice. "Federal district court Judge Reggie Walton has dismissed two lawsuits filed against the IRS, Lois Lerner and other agency employees by True the Vote, Linchpins of Liberty and forty other conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS," reports The Daily Signal. "In two essentially identical decisions on Oct. 23, Walton granted all of the motions to dismiss that had been filed by the Obama administration and the individual IRS employees. Walton concluded that any claim about the long delays these organizations experienced in receiving their tax exempt status from the IRS was now moot because they had finally received the exemption." True the Vote applied in 2010 and received approval only last year. So in other words, the IRS is getting away with not even a slap on the wrist for inexcusable political delays. Lois Lerner is surely smiling in retirement. More...Comment | Share White House Claims Executive Privilege for Holder's WifeOperation Fast and Furious has long been in the Delay and Obstruct phase, but this is getting ridiculous. Judicial Watch's investigation into the truth behind Attorney General Eric Holder's involvement in the scandal is being stonewalled. Again. The group reports it finally received a “Vaughn index” detailing relevant communication records after a two-year fight over a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. But Holder excluded emails to his wife, claiming she has executive privilege. Judicial Watch reports, "The document details the Attorney General Holder’s personal involvement in managing the Justice Department’s strategy on media and Congressional investigations into the Fast and Furious scandal. Notably, the document discloses that emails between Attorney General Holder and his wife Sharon Malone -- as well as his mother -- are being withheld under an extraordinary claim of executive privilege as well as a dubious claim of deliberative process privilege under the Freedom of Information Act. The 'First Lady of the Justice Department' is a physician and not a government employee." This only highlights the lengths to which the Obama administration will go to avoid accountability for trafficking guns to Mexican drug cartels in a bid to push gun control. More...Comment | Share No Offense, Just Defense Against ISILPart of Barack Obama's "strategy" against ISIL is to train the Iraqi army and so-called moderate Syrian rebels to be boots on the ground in lieu of our own soldiers. But they're playing defense instead of going on offense. The Washington Post reports the latest: "The Syrian opposition force to be recruited by the U.S. military and its coalition partners will be trained to defend territory, rather than to seize it back from the Islamic State, according to senior U.S. and allied officials, some of whom are concerned that the approach is flawed." So why the tentative plan? "Although moderate Syrian fighters are deemed essential to defeating the Islamic State under the Obama administration’s strategy, officials do not believe the newly assembled units will be capable of capturing key towns from militants without the help of forward-deployed U.S. combat teams, which President Obama has so far ruled out." Ah, so because he's ruled out American boots on the ground, he's not actually expecting to "degrade and destroy" ISIL as he promised. Doesn't sound much like "Inherent Resolve" to us.Comment | Share For more, visit Right Hooks.
RIGHT ANALYSISMortgage Roulette Is a Losing Gamble
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt told a group of mortgage bankers this week that he is going to direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to "develop sensible and responsible guidelines for mortgages with loan-to-value ratios between 95 and 97%." Once again, then, borrowers may be able to obtain mortgages by putting only 3% down. Watt's play was backed up by the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Watt displays precisely the thinking that got us into this trouble in the first place, and it's no small irony he made his announcement at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas. These financial bureaucrats reason they can jumpstart the long-struggling housing industry. Home sales are half what they were prior to the financial meltdown, and the share of Americans who own a home is at 65%, the lowest since 1995 and four points below its peak in 2004. Mortgage lending has also slowed dramatically due to weak demand in a lousy economy and tighter credit conditions made by lenders. It is logical in a difficult economy for mortgage lenders to demand greater proof of borrowers' ability to pay. It also makes sense that they would fall back on the long-standing standard of a 20% down payment. Well, forget logic. This is Washington we're talking about here. Democrats remain committed to the idea of having more minorities own homes, even if they can't afford them and end up back out on the street. Going as far back as the Carter administration, liberals have accused lenders of racist business practices because they weren't lending to enough minorities. The Community Reinvestment Act in 1977, as well as Bill Clinton's push to ease lending standards during his presidency, finally created an atmosphere in which minority borrowers with little or no credit could obtain mortgages. Democrats patted themselves on the back as the housing market exploded. But by 2006, the warning signs were all too clear: 30% of all mortgages went to people who would not qualify under normal circumstances. Then, when it all went bust, liberals blamed the banks again, this time for taking advantage of hapless borrowers who didn't know any better. And the phrase "predatory lending" entered popular usage. Now, Watt and company are looking to take us down that same road all over again. How will it all play out? Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey once said of the Clinton-era lending changes, "As you can imagine, wonderful things happen when the government strong arms corporations as to how they should spend their money, and, better yet, how they should assess the qualifications of home buyers." He was right then, and his words ring true now. It took many years and a whole string of bad decisions to put America in the economic turmoil we're in today. Watt is a former Democrat congressman who assumed his current post only in January. He's yet another political appointee with no realistic worldview or clear sense of the impact of his actions. Like so many other members of the Obama administration, his motivations stem not from doing right for the sake of others, but doing right to make himself feel better, or worse still, to simply gain more power for his Democrat friends. The loosening of mortgage lending restrictions, whether it's to create more minority homeowners or to boost the housing market, is not a good idea. It may seem profitable to all concerned in the short run, but eventually the bill comes due. Bubbles burst, and booms go bust. This is an immutable law of economics, and liberals, with all their regulatory might, will never change that. Comment | Share Iran Could Win Major Post-Election Concessions From Obama
Needless to say, Israel objects to the idea. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned, “We are standing before the danger of an agreement that will leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, with thousands of centrifuges through which Iran can manufacture the material for a nuclear bomb within a short period of time.” The leader of the free world was blunt in his assessment. “This is a threat to the entire world,” Netanyahu said, “first and foremost to Israel, and it is much worse than the threat of Islamic State." Indeed, a nuclear Iran is in no way desirable, and Congress would likely balk at any attempt to negotiate away sanctions without conclusive proof Iran has terminated its nuclear ambitions once and for all. But a recent hush-hush Treasury Department report indicated Obama can suspend many of the sanctions imposed on Iran, at least temporarily, without going through Congress. Word of that report outraged Congress and sent White House mouthpieces to the microphone to deny everything. “The notion that we are trying to avoid congressional consultation and input on this is preposterous,” sputtered White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “We will continue to consult with Congress heavily.” The Obama administration has since made a show of trying to win over Congress and U.S. allies to a potential deal. But Obama has a track record of working outside normal channels and absent congressional approval on a host of domestic issues like ObamaCare and immigration. It's not too much of a stretch to think he'll take advantage of some post-midterm “flexibility” to anger both Congress and our more resolute allies in these negotiations by giving away a bargaining chip or two. Especially given that the agreement won't be a treaty requiring congressional approval. We'd have to agree with the assessment of Ali Younesi, senior adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani: “Obama is the weakest of U.S. presidents." Meanwhile, with Israel threatened by Iran's nuclear ambitions, we have to ask the question of whether a capitulation to Iran will be followed by Israeli military action. Such a strike may trigger a wider war that would make the ISIL offensive look like a Sunday picnic and make a lot of nations strange bedfellows. Given the twin prospects of executive-ordered amnesty and executive-enabled nuclear Iran, the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress should be an interesting one. Comment | Share For more, visit Right Analysis.
TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
 OPINION IN BRIEFBuddha (563-483 BC): "Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher."Columnist David Limbaugh: "People are scratching their heads and wondering why Obama would be so candid to the point of acknowledging that Democratic candidates have been lying in denying their support for him, especially when it could serve no political purpose. I don’t think it’s complicated at all. Though his frankness may hurt his party, it puts him in a better light, and as passionate as he is about completing his agenda and consummating his fundamental transformation of America, he is always more passionate about serving his own interests. If there is even a hint that his record and policies have tainted Democrats, he cannot let that stand. He cannot sit idly by at the suggestion that his record has been anything but superlative or that rational people, including his fellow Democratic politicians, could oppose it." Comment | Share Columnist Jonah Goldberg: "[S]cience is never settled, because science is the craft of unsettling what we know at any given moment. If science could settle, man would never learn to fly or read by electric light. Meanwhile, inconvenient data is left on the cutting-room floor as an ancient story is retold in modern terms. ... [O]ne reason climate change hysteria is so hard to combat is that, unlike previous indictments of capitalism, it is immune to falsification -- if temperatures rise or if they fall, it’s evidence of impending calamity. For generations we were told that democratic capitalism was bad for the environment compared with the enlightened rule of socialism. But everywhere this proposition was put to the test, it failed. I understand that the difference between narratives and ideas can be a subtle one. But if you keep the distinction in mind, the arguments tearing apart America become more comprehensible. It is a conflict of visions driven by adherents of two versions of the story of America. And whichever side wins, the victors will determine the story taught to the next generation." Comment | Share Fred Thompson: "While complaining about not being able to deal with Ebola because of budget cuts, the CDC has spent money on things like a $350,000 study on the importance of imagination while golfing. Which is, apparently, the only effort Obama's sunk into addressing the problem." 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. |
Friday, October 24, 2014
THE PATRIOT POST 10/24/2014
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