THE PATRIOT POST 06/15/2015

Right Analysis | Right Hooks | Right Opinion Patriot Headlines | Grassroots Commentary Daily Digest June 15, 2015    THE FOUNDATION "[O]ur commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed; in order to give trade a stable course." —George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796 TOP RIGHT HOOKS HUD's 'Housing Equality' Thud Barack Obama's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is set to release a rule aimed at fostering "diversity" in wealthy neighborhoods around the country. "HUD is working with communities across the country to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity for all," an agency spokeswoman said. "The proposed policy seeks to break down barriers to access to opportunity in communities supported by HUD funds." This diversity scheme has shades of the last time Democrats attempted to reconfigure banking to favor unqualified people. Promoters of the policy are suggesting it's fair because, if states and communities don't want to abide by Obama's decree, they can forgo the federal money they receive. That's a fair argument only if the people in those states can also choose to forgo paying taxes to the federal government. Of course, most of Obama's supporters pay no taxes. Political analyst Marc Thiessen said it best: "We as conservatives believe and diversifying communities too. The way you do that is through economic opportunity. It's not by building more affordable housing in affluent communities, it's by creating economic opportunities so that more Americans can afford housing in affluent communities. Right now the problem is that people at the bottom of the Obama economy can't get ahead." HUD's rule is nothing more than an Obama charade to ramp up class warfare and appease constituents who are enslaved on poverty plantations — the direct result of generations of failed Democrat economic policies. Comment | Share House Democrats Doom Obama's Trade Deal In a vote that served a smackdown on Obama's trade deal with Pacific countries, House Democrats voted against a provision that was supposed to sweeten the legislation allowing Obama the authority to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Senate had sent two measures to the House: Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) was the legislation that gave the chief executive authority to negotiate this trade deal, and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a Democrat priority, was legislation that — as the leftists viewed it — protected American workers (read: unions) when the economy experienced freer global trade. On Friday, the House overwhelmingly rejected TAA in a 302-126 vote and narrowly passed TPA 219-211. Both chambers need to agree on the legislation before it heads to Obama's desk. So TPA will head back to the Senate where it may or may not pass; the bill's on life support. This comes as Obama lobbied hard for the measure to pass. He showed up at the congressional baseball game to personally lobby lawmakers. He even made his way to Capitol Hill to talk to Democrats — the first time in two years. It was personal, it was desperate and, ouch, Pelosi and Co. betrayed him. "Basically, the president tried to both guilt people and then impugned their integrity, and I don't think it was a very effective tactic," said Democrat Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR). Both parties are split in Congress over the issue. But those who love Liberty should appreciate that we have more time to debate a trade deal. Comment | Share China's Theft of Federal Employee Data Demands a Response Not only has China scraped up the data from all federal employees past and present, the Office of Personnel Management said it had "a high degree of confidence" that the country has every SF-86 form submitted by any American seeking a security clearance. Former general council to the NSA and former National Counterterrorism Center head Matthew Olsen said the data could be used many different ways by the oppressive Chinese regime, "whether it's [to] blackmail, to recruit, [or] to punish individuals in China who are connected to people in the United States." As it's been said before, China has been creating a massive database on American citizens, and it has also hacked into the databases of health insurance companies in the past to gather data. Furthermore, anonymous sources are saying the data theft of federal employees didn't just affect four million people. Instead, the breach could affect as many as 14 million Americans. In response to impeding U.S. intelligence efforts, cataloging Americans like merchandise and sitting poised to wreak further havoc on our country, let's hope the U.S. is also matching China's data collection efforts. In this game of espionage, let's make it so China also cannot keep secrets. More... Comment | Share FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS June Deadline for 'Islamic Bomb' By Patriot Post Staff As yet another supposed "deadline" approaches for a final agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, the sheer determination of Barack Obama to get any deal he can before he leaves office — literally any deal — becomes more and more the driving force behind our negotiating position. Having once said "We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon; it would be a game-changer in the region" and claiming "I will always keep the threat of military action on the table," Obama is now willing to ignore Iranian nuclear violations, ignore Iran's willful violation of UN Security Council resolutions, ignore Iran's role in the Syrian war, ignore Iran's continued arming and equipping of Hezbollah, ignore Iran's defacto control of Iraq, ignore the mortal threat a nuclear Iran would pose to Israel, and ignore the history of the current Iranian regime, all in the hope of getting something on paper with which to declare his foreign policy legacy. The most recent interim agreement openly ceded to Iran everything it needs to produce nuclear weapons if it will only refrain from open mischief for ten years. Ten years is a blink of an eye to a nation. Consider that just slightly more than ten years ago a previously little-known Illinois senator was delivering the keynote address at the Democrat National Convention in Boston, or that nearly 25 years have passed since the first Gulf War. With a sense of its own history stretching back nearly 6,000 years, Iran understands how quickly ten years will pass, at which time it can begin industrial-scale enrichment without penalty. Ten years will also produce advances in Iran's ballistic missile program, another subject once linked to the nuclear program but now tossed aside by the White House. Why is Obama so determined to give this extraordinary gift to Iran? Because, as Reuel Marc Gerecht, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, points out in a scathing critique of the president's misunderstanding of Iran, Obama is afraid that if the United States tries to hold a harder line the Iranians will simply walk away from the talks. And then the president will be faced with another red line he knows he cannot bring himself to enforce. Obama's irresolution has been the one common thread running through all of his administration's dealings with Iran. Time and again, he has demonstrated lack of leadership and lack of resolve in the face of unpleasant facts. Having been elected president on a platform of platitudes, perhaps he really believes that wishing can make it so. But the entire body of human history demonstrates the opposite. This lack of leadership and resolve has led key friends and allies around the world to re-assess their relationships with the United States. How can Saudi Arabia, or South Korea, or Estonia take seriously America's pledge to defend them while Obama is giving away the farm to Iran? This lack of faith in American resolve has reportedly led to the virtually unthinkable happening: Israeli and Saudi officials recently acknowledged the two nations are consulting on how to deal with the rising threat of Iran without the U.S. We remain guardedly optimistic that no final deal will be reached by June 30, which will at least prevent sanctions being lifted for another nine months or so. But as months of negotiation stretch into years, and as Iran inches ever closer to nuclear capability, the only thing that can possibly bring about an acceptable outcome to the nuclear issue is U.S. leadership and resolve — something sorely lacking in our current president and his team of fellow travelers. Comment | Share Share TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US ANALYSIS: Army Ditches Church's Independence Day Event 'Titles Are Not Accomplishments' Ecoalarmists Were Wrong. Again. Fear and Loathing in Hillary Clinton's State Department Maryland 'Free-Range' Parents Vindicated Newest Obama Regs Cost $110 Billion BEST OF RIGHT OPINION Burt Prelutsky: War Zones Here and Abroad Ken Blackwell: Expanding Relations With the Iranian Resistance Jim DeMint: Saving Internet Freedom George Will: Our Long Path to Limited Government For more, visit Right Opinion. OPINION IN BRIEF Burt Prelutsky: "Because Obama is so adamant about having what only he regards as a major foreign policy achievement on his resume, he is leaving Israel and the Gulf nations to swing in the breeze while he offers Iran the entire Middle East in exchange for a signature on a nuclear deal. If he had a single ounce of red blood in his veins, Obama would have sent our military over there months ago to wipe out ISIS before they burned, beheaded or crucified any more people. Instead, Obama and his stooges defend his inaction by insisting that Americans are war-weary. I beg to differ. What we’re sick of is engaging in wars we have no desire to win unconditionally. If an American president ever pledged himself to wipe out those in the Middle East and North Africa who target Christians for extermination, who kidnap young girls and turn them into sex slaves and who exhort their pea-brained followers in the U.S. and Britain to execute soldiers, cops and civilians, I feel reasonably confident that his approval rate would hover well above 80%." Comment | Share SHORT CUTS Insight: "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose." —The Gipper Non Compos Mentis: "It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the [Dallas] police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff." —CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield, who later claimed she "misspoke" Belly laugh of the week: "I've stood up to adversaries like Putin and reinforced allies like Israel." —Hillary Clinton ("The problem with that first sentence is that it's the opposite of being true: As secretary of state, Clinton stood up to Israel and reinforced Putin." —The Weekly Standard's John McCormack) The BIG Lie, Part I: "No poll shows that voters don't trust Hillary." —Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook (A new CNN/ORC poll found that 57% say Clinton isn't "honest and trustworthy.") The BIG Lie, Part II: "I don't think there's ever been anyone more consistent in their entire career [than Hillary]." —Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta Village Idiots: "The Baltimore thing came on the heels of what happened in Ferguson and what happened in New York City and all these other places. ... You can't have a bunch of people walking around with guns. ... You get enough people with weapons around and there will be unattended consequences. People make mistakes. People do wrong. Things happen. To hold a community together you got to have a high level of community trust." —Bill Clinton Late-night humor: "Hillary Clinton is apparently asking people to donate to her campaign, even if all they can afford is one dollar. Then Bill Clinton said, 'Trust me, I will find a use for a giant stack of singles.'" —Conan O'Brien 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.