THE FOUNDATION
"It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." --James Madison, Federalist No. 48, 1788TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Democrats' Last Campaign Play Includes Race Baiting
If you're a Democrat, behind in the polls and desperate for a Hail Mary to get constituents to the voting booth, make a chop block at the line of scrimmage. Bring up slavery, bait races and divide Americans. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) made this play, implying a vote for the Republican Party is a vote for the KKK. "Everything we believe in -- everything we believe in -- they hate," the incumbent Democrat insisted. "They don't disagree -- they hate! ... Some of them believe that slavery isn't over and they think they won the Civil War!" Louisiana's Mary Landrieu added, "I’ll be very, very honest with you. The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans.” In Georgia, Maryland and North Carolina, flyers have been distributed warning of a resurgence of Jim Crow laws and a repeat of the violence in Ferguson. It's all an effort to inflame black voters, to get them to the polls in hopes of turning the tide of a GOP takeover of Congress. Democrats' flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct drowns out any voice of reason. More...Comment | Share
Hagel Warns Again About Climate Change
Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced its plan to fight climate change. On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reiterated the significance of the threat. "From my perspective, within the portfolio that I have responsibility for -- security of this country -- climate change presents security issues for us," he said. How so? "As the oceans increase, it'll affect our [military] bases, it'll affect islands, it'll affect security across the world," Hagel explained. "So, just from my narrow perspective, what I have responsibility for, that's happening now, and we have to be prepared for that." Furthermore, he concluded, "Bottom line is, with all the crises of the moment -- and that's part of my job, to manage the immediate crises -- we also cannot lose sight of the strategic, longer-term challenges that face our country either, and this [climate change] is one that we've got to be smart in how we handle it. ... [T]he military, the Pentagon, has maybe -- at least perceived by many people -- a more serious look at the world." More serious? Not if our Pentagon policymakers are taking cues from Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.Comment | Share
Comparing Apple's Tim Cook and Chick-fil-A's S. Truett Cathy
Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly discussed his homosexuality in a column that appeared in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. He wrote, "The company I am so fortunate to lead has ... taken a strong stand in support of a workplace equality bill before Congress, just as we stood for marriage equality in our home state of California." That brings up an interesting juxtaposition. The Weekly Standard's Jim Swift observes: "While he 'doesn't consider himself an activist,' Cook has personally lobbied on gay rights issues in his home state of Alabama and at the United Nations. All of this sounds familiar -- haven't we heard this story before? A southern-born CEO invoking religion regarding his views on homosexuality, lobbying for what he believes in, and using his company to financially and publicly support those views? Indeed, we have a heard a story like this before. Before Tim Cook, this perfectly described another CEO and son of the south: S. Truett Cathy, the founder and former head of Chick-fil-A." Contrary to its mantra, the Gay Mafia's idea of tolerance is anything but a two-way street. More...Comment | Share
Sanity in Nebraska Case of the 'Purple Penguins'
A Nebraska school recently achieved infamy by directing teachers to call kids "purple penguins" (as an example) instead of outdated, gender-specific terms like "boys and girls." Such politically correct garbage predictably caused a backlash, which brings this good news. "After nearly a month of defending them, Lincoln Public Schools District in Nebraska has finally agreed to stop using the infamous 'purple penguin' transgender training handouts," National Review's Katherine Timpf reports. "At Tuesday's Lincoln Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Steve Joel conceded that the handouts were not 'appropriate, purposeful' or 'clear,' and that he 'directed them to be removed' from the district's schools." Who says educating people doesn't pay? More...Comment | Share
TSA Protects Us All From Ray Guns
The TSA confiscated the belt buckle of video producer Sean Malone because it was shaped like a gun -- a Flash Gordon ray gun. According to Malone, the TSA says it confiscated the buckle because it was a replica of a weapon. But last time we checked, the number of people killed by ray guns still hovers, oh, right around zero. Something about the weapon not actually existing... But that didn't stop the TSA from taking the belt buckle because Malone might be stupid enough to point the thing at a police officer, and the police officer might be stupid enough to think he was about to get zapped with alien technology. Ah, government, always protecting us from ourselves, and the worst of what could befall us. Don't you feel safer? More...Comment | Share
For more, visit Right Hooks.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Are GDP Numbers a Trick or a Treat?
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Barack Obama has been claiming for years that we're on the right track thanks to his spending spree, yet many businesses and families still feel they are in the midst of a stagnant economy. So let's take a closer look at the report to see just what the BEA had to say about our "growing" economy.
Third-quarter GDP is down from the second quarter's 4.6%, but still far better than the first quarter's 2.1% contraction. This third-quarter performance is also better than early estimates, which predicted growth just under 3%. The months between April and September featured the strongest six-month growth since the second half of 2003.
The BEA reports consumer spending rose moderately at a 1.8% annualized rate. Business investment on equipment was up 7.2%, and exports grew by 7.8%, while imports were down 1.7%. This contributed to a rise in the sale of durable goods among consumers not seen since 2006. Inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index rose just 1.2% -- down from last quarter's 2.3% due to overall falling energy prices.
How fortunate for Barack Obama and Democrats in power that this positive economic report comes out just days before the midterms. It brings back memories of the days leading up to the 2012 presidential election, when Obama spun a slight uptick in the unemployment rate to suggest that the country was still better off than it would have been without his failed stimulus and his punishing interventionist policies. "The private sector is doing just fine," he said that summer.
This year, Democrats are set to lose in a big way, and this well-timed BEA report could be viewed not as a positive report on the economy, but an attempt to mitigate Democrat losses at the polls. Yes, third-quarter GDP results were better than anticipated (amazing how expectations are always off), and yes, many of the major indicators look good. That's how the compliant national media will report it, too. The trouble is that a closer look at the report doesn't inspire confidence.
In a keen analysis of the numbers, James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute argues the GDP report is nothing more than "lipstick on a pig." Pethokoukis notes that, since the last two quarters are really little more than a rebound of the first quarter, the year's overall growth has not been impressive.
One of the biggest boosters to third-quarter GDP was a 16% surge in defense spending due to Operation Inherent Resolve. As for the high export numbers, we have reduced economic performance in China and Europe to thank for that, along with a strengthening dollar driven by concern over European debt and global security matters. These factors, though beneficial to the American economy right now, will lead to a slowdown in the future as world economies adjust and react to a bleaker world economy.
It's also worth noting that every major indicator mentioned positively in the third-quarter report -- from consumer spending to housing to the sale of durable goods and beyond -- is down compared to the second quarter. And just wait until this report is quietly revised down sometime after the midterms.
Taking all this into account, it's clear the economy is still not strong. Furthermore, there are no realistic appraisals that it will improve under current conditions. Chief among those conditions are the business-killing, government-loving policies of the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. Voting out Democrats in Congress is not a guarantee the economy will improve, however, because we'll still have Obama for two more years, and Republicans haven't exactly paved the way to economic salvation. But it's a start.
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'Shut Up,' Holder Explained, as Ferguson Case Nears Conclusion
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But this autopsy report is only one of the items leaked from grand jury testimony in the case. The hacker group Anonymous predicts, “On or about November 10, 2014 the Grand Jury decision will be announced. Darren Wilson will NOT be indicted on ANY charges related to the murder of Mike Brown. All local police Chiefs and jail commanders have been notified to begin preparing for major civil unrest.” This nugget of information reportedly came from two separate, unrelated sources.
The leak may be designed to motivate black voters ahead of Election Day (though that may backfire). Police, on the other hand, probably hoped to delay a verdict until colder weather set in -- cold means fewer protests and riots.
The constant grind of this rumor mill is wearing on Attorney General Eric Holder, who injected himself into the situation early on to stir the racial pot. Recall his 2009 declaration that America is "essentially a nation of cowards" because “average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race.” The problem is that only certain types of "average Americans" are allowed to lead those "conversations," and the conversations themselves must arrive at only one conclusion: The myriad problems plaguing the black community are ultimately attributable to white privilege and racism.
Now, we wonder if Holder is working behind the scenes to shake up the Ferguson Police Department. One outcome of this intervention could be the dissolution of the Ferguson PD, folding it into the St. Louis County police department. That scenario, which some reports say has both Wilson and embattled Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigning, is described as “the first step in a major shakeup.”
In an MSNBC interview, Holder was adamant about the situation. “I said I’m exasperated -- it’s a nice way of saying I’m mad," Holder vented. "That’s just not how things should be done with people in law enforcement. Whoever the sources of the leaks are need to shut up."
Shut up, he explained. That does pretty well sum up the Left's position on race.
Yet Barack Obama's decision to get federal officials involved in the Ferguson matter has made it more of a three-ring circus -- one that keeps fanning the flames of violence. (It may be helpful to compare the behavior of the hooligans who swarmed to Ferguson after the Michael Brown shooting to that of the hundreds who gathered at Cliven Bundy's ranch in Nevada earlier this year to take part in a peaceful standoff with federal officials.) The Ferguson situation could have been handled by local and state authorities, just as the scattered protests in the wake of George Zimmerman's not-guilty verdict from the Trayvon Martin case were, but Barack Obama and his allies were thinking about the midterm elections and the need to save a Democrat Senate -- so all hands were called on deck.
Even if a grand jury clears Wilson, his career as a Ferguson police officer may well be over. But his legal troubles won't be -- odds are the "wrong" verdict from a local grand jury will only result in more rioting and prompt the Holder Justice Department to charge Wilson with violating Brown's civil rights. We've seen this movie before. In the original, the star was Rodney King. It's a remake we weren't supposed to see in the “post-racial America” promised by Obama's election.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- David Harsanyi: Obama Finally Identifies the Middle East's Biggest Problem -- Israel
- Stephen Moore: Hillary's Anti-Business Rhetoric Shows Her Radical Roots
- Michael Barone: Democratic Dogs That Aren't Barking
- Michelle Malkin: The NYT's War on Gun-Owning Rape Victims
- Jonah Goldberg: A Word About Monsters, Real and Imagined
OPINION IN BRIEF
French historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859): "The electors see their representative not only as a legislator for the state but also as the natural protector of local interests in the legislature; indeed, they almost seem to think that he has a power of attorney to represent each constituent, and they trust him to be as eager in their private interests as in those of the country."Columnist David Harsanyi: "[I]t’s worth noting that the person repeatedly being called 'chickens--t' by anonymous [Obama] officials volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces, saw combat and was the leader of an elite special forces unit deployed on numerous missions -- including the freeing of a hijacked Sabena flight in 1972... Granted, this may not be so courageous as hopping the Amtrak from Delaware to D.C. each day or rallying the troops at a fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut, but God knows we can’t all be heroes. ... [W]hen the United Arab Emirates and Turkey ... were justifiably called out by Vice President Joe Biden for their roles in helping to strengthen the Islamic State, Biden was quickly dispatched to ask for forgiveness from both the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Apologize to the leader of Turkey. Call the leader of Israel a coward. That about encapsulates American foreign policy during the past few years."
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Economist Stephen Moore: "It says a lot about the state of the Democratic Party that Hillary Clinton is viewed by many as 'too moderate.' Many 'progressives' lean toward [Elizabeth] Warren’s more radical ideas -- superminimum wages; tax rates of 50% or more; wealth taxes; stifling regulations on businesses and new means for people to sue businesses. There’s something retrograde about a major political party today that believes our wealth producers are wealth destroyers and that the more you bash business, profits and success, the grander your appeal to your 'base.' When was the last time Obama -- or any leading Democrat for that matter -- said anything positive about business?"
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Twitter satirist @hale_razor: "Obama released 20-30 terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, who've since gone and joined ISIS. If only someone had predicted this!"
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