Patriot Headlines | Grassroots Commentary Daily Digest
May 5, 2015
THE FOUNDATION"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." —John Adams, in Defense of the British Soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, 1770TOP RIGHT HOOKSISIL Claims Responsibility for Texas AttackDuring a radio broadcast in Syria, ISIL, a.k.a. the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack at the art contest and show featuring images of Muhammad in Garland, Texas. Jihadist roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi drove 1,000 miles from Arizona to launch an attack with rifles, body armor and copious amounts of ammunition. Simpson had been monitored by the government since 2006. In 2010, the FBI charged Simpson with trying to travel to Somalia to engage in jihad, but the charges were dropped. After wounding an unarmed security guard, the two jihadists were stopped by a traffic cop who used a few well-aimed shots from his pistol to drop the terrorists. Regardless if Simpson and Soofi actually had a connection to ISIL, the group used the opportunity to threaten the U.S. "We tell … America that what is coming will be more grievous and more bitter and you will see from the soldiers of the Caliphate what will harm you, God willing," ISIL said in its radio broadcast. But after all that effort and planning, this attack was stopped by a lone cop with what may possibly be his standard-issue sidearm. At their peril, jihadists forget that, unlike France, the U.S. is armed. More...Comment | Share No, More Democrat 'Leadership' Is Not What Baltimore NeedsRep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) pontificated on the Baltimore rioting and what she believes is contributing to poverty and, ultimately, violent behavior among minorities. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace brought up the city's excessive crime rates, high unemployment and stunning student illiteracy and wondered if liberal policies are to blame since Baltimore has been under Democrat leadership for five consecutive decades. "No, I think it's been unevenly spread," Edwards responded. "I mean I would say, for example with our schools, just prior to the Freddie Gray incident, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was actually prevailing upon our Republican governor to release money for school funding." When host Chris Wallace pointed out that "Baltimore spends the third highest amount per capita on its public schools," Edwards rebutted, "There's uneven spending in the public schools."But if the solution is simply to invest more money, how do Democrats explain the city's past spending? Baltimore threw more money at the problem, courtesy of Barack Obama, and it failed spectacularly. According to The Washington Free Beacon, "Baltimore received over $1.8 billion from President Barack Obama's stimulus law, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention. President Obama claimed last Tuesday that if the Republican-controlled Congress would implement his policies to make 'massive investments in urban communities,' they could 'make a difference right now' in the city, currently in upheaval following the death of Freddie Gray." What we need is less government and more parental involvement. No amount of funding can fill the void left by dysfunctional, single-parent families. And that's why liberal policies, well-intentioned as they may be, are to blame for urban unrest. Comment | Share Number of ER Visits on the Rise. Thanks, ObamaCareFor an increasing number of Americans, it's easier to go to the emergency room than a doctor's office. A wide majority of ER physicians, 75%, say they've seen the number of people walking through their doors increase, according to a poll by the American College of Emergency Physicians. This trend is, in part, due to the "Affordable" Care Act because it places a greater number of people on Medicaid. Many doctors don't accept patients on Medicaid because of its low reimbursement rate. In other words, the government created a larger demand for doctors' services while mandating how much doctors will get paid, contrary to the laws of economics. As a result, patients face long wait times for appointments, so they look for alternatives. Dr. John O'Shea, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said, "I've seen it personally. I've seen patients who come into the ER because their primary care physician couldn't see them for weeks or months." The Left sold ObamaCare on the promise that it would decrease the number of ER visits, but having state-mandated health insurance does not make people healthier, nor does it create timely access to a doctor. More...Comment | Share Don't Miss Patriot HumorCheck out Wiping Out Racism.If you'd like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSISFiorina Brings Business Acumen to GOP FieldBy Lewis Morris
Fiorina, best known for her six years as CEO of tech giant Hewlett-Packard (HP), announced her candidacy in a video that started out with a swipe at Hillary Clinton. “Our Founders never intended for us to have a professional political class,” Fiorina said, adding, “We know the only way to reimagine our government is to reimagine who is leading it.” Fiorina has taken a number of shots at Clinton in recent weeks at appearances in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere, pointing out Clinton’s glaring failures as secretary of state and calling out her appalling hypocrisy. For example, Fiorina noted Hillary “tweets about women’s rights in this country and takes money from governments that deny women the most basic human rights.” We bet she could teach Hillary a few things about email servers, too. In her announcement, Fiorina called for an end to the very identity politics Clinton and her ilk employ to turn America upside down. Fiorina insists the fact she is a woman negates the shield that seems to exist around Clinton, making male opponents reluctant to engage her majesty for fear of being called a misogynist or worse. Of course, that won’t stop liberals from attacking Fiorina. After all, they invented identity politics, which means they can break their own rules whenever they choose. Fiorina has made the economy a focal point of her bid. “The real reason why our economy isn’t helping everyone is because we are destroying more businesses than we are creating,” she says. Her platform calls for undoing complex regulations that are strangulating business growth and for bringing an end to the “web of dependence” that both traps the poor and creates more poverty. Fiorina’s business background gives her some authority in this regard. A self-made woman who started her career at AT&T and went on become an executive at Lucent, a French telecommunications company, Fiorina became the first woman to run a Fortune 20 company when she took over as CEO of HP in 1999. During her tenure, HP became the world’s largest computer manufacturer, but her reputation was damaged after the company laid off 30,000 workers and she was ousted in a board-room fight in 2005. While shattering the glass ceiling works in Fiorina’s favor, the messy details behind her removal as CEO leaves her open to accusations for being a bad boss who fired tens of thousands of employees. She is also going to face a lot of heat for being one of the dreaded One Percent, a CEO in a time when being the boss of a major international company automatically makes you a bad person in the eyes of much of the country. A website that runs under a URL her team neglected to purchase — carlyfiorina.org — is already going after her for the HP firings. Fiorina’s political background is sparse. She served as an adviser to John McCain’s ill-fated 2008 campaign, and ran for Senate against Barbara Boxer in 2010. She won a hard fought Republican primary (who can forget her hilariously infamous "demon sheep" ad), but lost to Boxer in the general election by 10 points. It is California, after all. There’s no denying Fiorina’s candidacy is a long shot. Perhaps she's really running for the more realistic possibility of a vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket. Yet she remains undeterred by the attacks that have already come her way. She's certainly comfortable with her track record running a $90 billion company, and she uses it to provide a contrast to Hillary, whose accomplishments boil down to marrying Bill and using that to secure a couple of political posts. Fiorina says, “I come from a world where speeches are not accomplishments. Activity isn’t accomplishment. Title isn’t accomplishment. I come from a world where you have to actually do something; you have to produce results.” Now we’ll see if Carly Fiorina can continue producing results in the world of politics. Comment | Share TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
 OPINION IN BRIEFThomas Sowell: "The 'legacy of slavery' argument is not just an excuse for inexcusable behavior in the ghettos. In a larger sense, it is an evasion of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of the prevailing social vision of our times, and the political policies based on that vision, over the past half century. Anyone who is serious about evidence need only compare black communities as they evolved in the first 100 years after slavery with black communities as they evolved in the first 50 years after the explosive growth of the welfare state, beginning in the 1960s. You would be hard-pressed to find as many ghetto riots prior to the 1960s as we have seen just in the past year, much less in the 50 years since a wave of such riots swept across the country in 1965. ... Such trends are not unique to blacks, nor even to the United States. The welfare state has led to remarkably similar trends among the white underclass in England over the same period. ... You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization — including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain — without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large."Comment | Share SHORT CUTSInsight: "It is not our task to secure the triumph of truth, but merely to fight on its behalf." —French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)Non Compos Mentis: "If you feel the need to mock Muhammad in a cartoon, just realize that Muslims may decide to exercise their [Second Amendment] rights on you." —pro golfer Bob Estes Dezinformatsia: "[W]e’re learning more about the gunmen who opened fire at an event where an anti-Islamic group held a contest on who could ... draw the nastiest cartoon of Muhammad. Do you believe that people set that kind of a mousetrap? ... I remember the old days when the Nazi Party and the Communist Party would sort of team up in a weird, sick, symbiotic way. One would have an event, and the other would attack it, you know? Well, I think [organizer Pamela Geller] caused this trouble."—MSNBC's Chris Matthews Demo-gogues: "[T]here’s no shortage of people telling you who and what is to blame for the plight of these communities [like Baltimore]. But I'm not interested in blame. I’m interested in responsibility and I’m interested in results." —Barack Obama, who never misses a chance to blame Republicans The BIG Lie: "There is no doubt in my mind that we have never done anything knowingly inappropriate in terms of taking money to influence any kind of American government policy. ... [T]he idea that there's one set of rules for us and another set for everybody else is true. The people who have attacked the [Clinton] Foundation have practiced selective nondisclosure." —Bill Clinton And last... "A new report shows that 181 Clinton Foundation donors also lobbied the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. No connection. I'm sure all those donations were strictly for email server maintenance." –Fred Thompson Comment | Share Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis! Managing Editor Nate Jackson 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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment