Daily Digest
February 5, 2015
THE FOUNDATION"In a despotic government, the only principle by which the tyrant who is to move the whole machine means to regulate and manage the people is fear, by the servile dread of his power. But a free government, which of all others is far the most preferable, cannot be supported without virtue." --Samuel Williams, A Discourse on the Love of our Country, 1774TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKSJordan Leads While Obama ObfuscatesJordan's King Abdullah, a key regional U.S. ally and former general, met with American lawmakers following the gruesome murder of Jordanian Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, and Abdullah promised to fight ISIL until his nation runs "out of fuel and bullets." Jordan already executed two Islamic State jihadis in retaliation. All 26 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican and Democrat, sent a letter to Barack Obama requesting he immediately back Jordan, but Obama continues to balk. For example, the U.S. flew 1,100 sorties daily against Iraq during OIF but is now flying a total of seven strike sorties against ISIL targets on an average day. Clearly, Arab coalition partners do not see U.S. leadership or commitment to eradicating ISIL, and some of them are quitting. Indeed, the United Arab Emirates pulled out of coalition airstrike support a month ago, though Obama failed to mention this. In fact, a DoD report dated Feb. 1, 2015, says, "U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq" -- and it lists the UAE as one of the participants. Jordan, on the other hand, is leading the charge against ISIL. Obama stated this past weekend in regard to what we can do to defeat ISIL, "Anything we can do, we are doing." But according to Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, "Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, he's not even admitting who the enemy is or where the enemy is even located." Former DIA director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn likewise explained, "[O]ur failure ... to understand this really menacing ideology has led us to a mismatch in how we are executing a strategy and how we are executing even some of our campaign plans on the military side." In other words, Obama has failed to call our enemy what it is -- Islamist -- and in doing so we now have virtually no strategy for containing this very dangerous threat to U.S. national security.Comment | Share Did an Islamist Convert Murder Chris Kyle?Former Marine Eddie Routh will stand trial for the 2013 murder of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle and Kyle's colleague, Chad Littlefield. The assumption has been that Routh suffered from PTSD, and his attorney says he'll plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Kyle, who worked with PTSD vets, was working with Routh. But the Warfighter Foundation obtained Routh's wartime record though a Freedom of Information Act request and found something astonishing: "Eddie Routh served one tour in Iraq in 2007, at Balad Air Base (the 2nd largest U.S. installation in Iraq), with no significant events. No combat experience. Let [us] say that again, he NEVER SAW COMBAT or any aspect of traumatic events associated with a combat deployment (i.e. incoming mortar or rocket fire). He never left the base, EVER." What Routh did do, however, was guard captured Muslim terrorists at the Bilad Airbase prison. And some are speculating Routh had either converted to Islam or was in the process of doing so. There are no known ties between Routh and Islamist radicals, but, as Mark Alexander noted in Jihad -- Target USA, "Describing Islamists as 'lone wolf' actors or 'radicalized' constitutes a lethal misunderstanding of the Jihadi threat. [They are] tied to worldwide Jihad by way of the Qur'an, the foundational fabric linking all Islamist violence." If the speculation about Routh is correct, it puts Kyle's death in a completely different light. More...Comment | Share NBC's Brian Williams Apologizes for Embellished StoryIt took a recent story published in Stars and Stripes for NBC Nightly News managing editor and anchor Brian Williams to correct the record about an Iraq War account involving a helicopter hit by RPG fire -- after veterans complained for years about fabrication. When the story was first told in March 2003, then-NBC anchor Tom Brokaw introduced Williams' dispatch as a "close call in the skies over Iraq." In reality, Williams and the NBC crew was in a helicopter nearly an hour behind the attacked chopper. Williams' story crossed into full-on embellishment when he appeared on David Letterman's show in 2013. By then, his story included bullets grazing his pilot's ear and a heroic rescue on the front lines of war. In an apology to the soldiers, Williams wrote, "I spent much of the weekend thinking I'd gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake, especially since I found my OWN WRITING about the incident from back in '08." Brian blames this fabrication to a faulty memory. Never mind that no one would misremember whether he had been shot down in a helicopter. It shows Williams' pride that it took a report in a respected publication before he would apologize. Williams is more of a talking hairdo who wants the legacy of Ernie Pyle, rather than a journalist committed to accuracy. But such are the kinds of people populating the Leftmedia elite. More...Comment | Share Holder Says He Reformed Bush's Politicized DOJNot only is Attorney General Eric Holder not political, but he cleaned up George W. Bush's politicized Justice Department -- says Eric Holder. "It's a little irresponsible for people on the hill to say that policy differences that we have with them ... can be characterized as political," he said. "There's been no politicization of this Justice Department." He went further, insisting, "This notion ... that somehow this Justice Department has been politicized is totally inconsistent with the facts. You want to look at a Justice Department that's been politicized, you look at the one I inherited." Not only that, he insisted, "I will leave this department in the way I found it when I came here back in 1976 -- with high moral, with people who are dedicated to doing things only on the basis of the facts and the law. I'm proud of the historic things we have done. I hope the American people would not fall prey to interesting sound bites that are simply not consistent with facts." If you want to know the actual facts, as opposed to Holder's spin, make sure and read more about Holder: Obama's Criminal Co-Conspirator.Comment | Share Planned Parenthood Marks Black History MonthTragically, the right to life has been denied to 57 million unborn children sacrificed on the altar of "choice" since 1973. And it's no secret a disproportionate number of those children are black. So it's ironic and, frankly, downright despicable that Planned Parenthood, the nation's premier abortion provider, is marking Black History Month by "honoring 99 African American leaders -- one for each year since Planned Parenthood was founded." Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, who was a proponent of eugenics -- the forced sterilization and abortions of black and minority children. In the 42 years since abortion was legalized, an astounding 13 million unborn blacks have never seen the light of day thanks in no small measure to Sanger's organization. If Planned Parenthood truly wants to honor blacks, it might start by rejecting the effort to deny minorities' very existence. More...Comment | Share For more, visit Right Hooks. Don't Miss Alexander's ColumnRead BO's $4 TRILLION Budget Debacle, on the crushing debt brought on by Barack Obama.If you'd like to receive Alexander's Column by email, update your subscription here.
RIGHT ANALYSISIs Obama Neutering the Net?
It's all part of Barack Obama's push for net neutrality, which he claims is the idea that there should be an open flow of information over the Internet. What better way to protect freedom than to regulate it? That said, it's fair to admit that Internet providers created the opening for this new regulatory regime by running shoddy monopolies that irritate customers and don't compare favorably with much of the developed world. Thus, Obama and Wheeler have an excuse to do what they do best: regulate. In an op-ed in Wired, Wheeler wrote, "I am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC." Ah, yes, freedom via red tape. "My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone's permission." As we noted before, some Internet users pay for a premium plan to increase bandwidth and gain access to high-end volume and quality, while others may opt for a lower-priced service that meets their needs. Oh, the injustice. How dare consumers not all want the same thing. Well, regardless of whether they want it, the Obama administration wants to make sure they get it good and hard. So, Wheeler wants to guarantee the Internet is "fast, fair and open," and to do so, he wants the FCC to "implement and enforce open internet protections." In truth, this administration can't abide recognizing a freedom that exists apart from itself; instead, it believes it must bestow every "freedom." Never mind that what government gives government can also take away. So the power to tell Internet companies what they can and must do is inseparable from the power to tell them what they can't. Red flags, anyone? Wheeler's move hardly comes as a surprise. As recently as last year, he was opposed to treating the Internet like a public utility, but it's amazing what a presidential appointment followed by extensive presidential pressure can do to one's "firmly held" convictions. Yet, feigning a nod to Wheeler's imaginary independence, Obama administration officials say they are "certainly encouraged" by Wheeler's proposal, which is "consistent with the view the president articulated." How about that. The FCC is expected to vote on Wheeler's proposal on Feb. 26, and with Democrats holding a 3-2 majority on the commission, the new rules will likely pass. But GOP lawmakers are scrambling to stop them by legislatively banning the reclassification of the Internet as a public utility. Unfortunately, the GOP plan may be little more than regulation by a different name. In the end, net neutrality is a nuanced issue. Cable companies are dead last in customer satisfaction because of their monopolistic practices, and the biggest problem facing the Internet is the lack of competition among providers. But subjecting the Internet to Title II regulations isn't likely to fix that. Comment | Share Phoning in ObamaCare
Never ones to let silly things like laws get in their way, the clown car of fools in the White House have decided to phone it in as far as a rebuttal goes, choosing to work in the court of public opinion rather than debating the issue on its own merits. Specifically, none of the floppy-footed blue-hairs posing as executive branch leaders have even hinted at a "Plan B" should SCOTUS strike down this illegal funding mechanism. Why? For the same reason they weren't concerned about ObamaCare falling under a constitutional ax when the law was first challenged before the Supreme Court: They're not worried. They know the public pressure they can bring to bear from the recipients of their public-coffer largess. As then-Speaker Nancy "We Have to Pass the Bill to Find Out What's in It" Pelosi knew all too well, once the ObamaCare monster was unleashed, there would be no reining it back in. The lure of the public trough is too great for many to resist. Indeed, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll of a broad cross-section of Americans indicated that even if the challenge to federal subsidies succeeds, over 60% favor a legislative "fix" to allow these subsidies to continue. As disheartening as that number may sound to those of us who dream of limited government exercising only enumerated powers, remember that those polled weren't presented with viable alternatives to such a fix, but rather were simply asked whether Congress should step in and mend ObamaCare if the Court "breaks" it. However, this seemingly no-win situation for Republicans presents the perfect opportunity for the House and Senate to propose a better alternative to the ruinous statute Democrats passed under the cloak of darkness. Recall that continuing anger over ObamaCare was itself in no small measure responsible for Republicans stretching their lead in the House and regaining control of the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections. This is a good time to demonstrate that the public's faith tied to producing these gains was not misplaced. Even so, don't look for Barack Obama to stand in the wings while Congress revs up. Given the Anointed One's penchant for acting in blatant disregard of constitutional executive branch limits, some liberal pundits anticipate -- even advocate for -- responses similar to those he took when confronted with federal statutes requiring him to secure U.S. borders and enforce U.S. immigration laws: He simply refused to do so. The only reason this case is currently before the Supreme Court is that this American Pharaoh deployed a wrecking ball against the Constitution, waving his hands in the air and saying, "Federal subsidies are legal -- I hereby declare it so: So let it be written, so let it be done!" But we hope this Congress will not roll over and say, "Scratch my belly," like the last one did. The Separation of Powers doctrine exists to protect individual freedoms by preventing the accrual of executive, legislative and judicial powers in any one branch. The current administration has run roughshod over this doctrine to the point those freedoms are now an endangered species. It's time for Congress to assert its rightful power and reign in this rogue regime. A good start would be giving the American people a solid alternative to the Leviathan that is ObamaCare, and make killing this awful beast an easy decision for the Supremes. Comment | Share For more, visit Right Analysis.
TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
 OPINION IN BRIEFNobel Laureate Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992): "Ever since the beginning of modern science, the best minds have recognized that 'the range of acknowledged ignorance will grow with the advance of science.' Unfortunately, the popular effect of this scientific advance has been a belief, seemingly shared by many scientists, that the range of our ignorance is steadily diminishing and that we can therefore aim at more comprehensive and deliberate control of all human activities. It is for this reason that those intoxicated by the advance of knowledge so often become the enemies of freedom."Columnist George Will: "Barack Obama’s plan to tax the earnings from parents' '529' college savings plans lived just long enough to indicate why some progressives perhaps prefer slow rather than rapid economic growth. Rapid growth reduces the appeal of redistributive policies and the need for the bitter, jostling, divisive politics that advance such policies. The 529s help enable families to achieve self-sufficiency. This excites progressives' dislike of any private provision that impedes implementation of their dependency agenda. The progressive project of maximizing the number of people dependent on government is also aided by the acid of insecurity that grows rapidly when the economy does not. Anxious and disappointed people are susceptible to progressives' blandishments about the political allocation of wealth and opportunity -- 'free' this and that. By making slow growth normal, iatrogenic government serves the progressive program of defining economic failure down." Comment | Share Columnist Larry Elder: "Minimum wage and paid family leave are not only moral imperatives, says Obama, but good economics to boot. Employees, he tells us, are happier and therefore more productive. Minimum wage and paid medical leave, understand, actually benefit business. It’s just that dumb businessmen and women don’t realize it. But what does it say that perhaps the two most high-profile leftwing economists once opposed the minimum wage and paid family and medical leave? When Obamacare architect/economist Jonathan Gruber and The New York Times economist Paul Krugman actually practiced economics, they both opposed the minimum wage. In Gruber’s case, he also opposed government mandates for paid family and medical leave. ... The late Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is attributed with the following quote: 'You’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.' In the case of Gruber and Krugman’s current support for 'progressive' policies they once opposed, what changed? The facts -- or the politics?" Comment | Share Comedian Jimmy Fallon: "During an interview last weekend, President Obama was talking about the next race for president and refused to choose between Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, saying, quote, 'Love 'em both.' Which was nice until he said he’d support the nominee, regardless of who she is." 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. |
Thursday, February 5, 2015
THE PATRIOT POST 02/05/2015
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