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Patriot Headlines | Grassroots Commentary Daily Digest
June 29, 2015
THE FOUNDATION"The propriety of a law, in a constitutional light, must always be determined by the nature of the powers upon which it is founded." —Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 33, 1788TOP RIGHT HOOKSObama's Funeral Platform for Gun ControlOn Friday, Barack Obama delivered the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the slain pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Naturally, he exploited the occasion — metaphorically stood on Pinckney's casket — to repeat the need for his policy preferences, namely more gun control. "For too long, we've been blind to the unique mayhem that gun violence inflicts upon this nation," Obama thundered. "Sporadically, our eyes are open: When eight of our brothers and sisters are cut down in a church basement, 12 in a movie theater, 26 in an elementary school. But I hope we also see the 30 precious lives cut short by gun violence in this country every single day; the countless more whose lives are forever changed. ... The vast majority of Americans — the majority of gun owners — want to do something about this. ... None of us should believe that a handful of gun safety measures will prevent every tragedy. ... But it would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again." In this instance, he did mention the lives lost every day — though he neglected the fact that they're black lives lost to the gang culture festering on his own party's urban poverty plantations. But he doesn't speak at their funerals. That's because he couldn't make the blacks who murder other blacks into the supposed carbon copies of the racist Charleston murderer, as he did with whites across the nation that twice elected him president. Obama's race-baiting, anti-gun tirade was despicable, and all the more so because of the true grace shown by the families of the Charleston victims.Comment | Share One Year Later, Islamic State ‘Caliphate’ Remains EntrenchedIn theory, declaring a caliphate should have painted a huge target on the Islamic State's back. But after the group (née "the JV team") announced that it established a caliphate in Iraq and Syria last June, it has continued to hold onto its territory as the coalition fighting the jihadists slowly picks away at the "state." Indeed, Islamic State-linked jihadists have launched attacks as far away as Pakistan, Algeria and Yemen, and those inspired by the Islamic State have struck both the U.S. and Europe. Now, officials in Afghanistan say the group is in that country, placing the Islamic State in competition with the Taliban over whose caliphate should be established. However, the Islamic State's strategy has made it less of a threat to the United States than al-Qaida, writes Scott Stewart for Stratfor Global Intelligence. "Al Qaeda argues that the caliphate can be established only after the United States and its European allies have been defeated, to the extent that they can no longer interfere in Muslim lands… The Islamic State takes the opposite tack. It has adopted a more urgent 'why wait?' approach and concentrates its efforts on immediately taking, holding and governing territory." This comes as the levels of terrorism at home and abroad are on the rise and as Independence Day weekend coincides with the month of Ramadan. So much for Barack Obama's campaign to degrade and decimate our jihadist foes.Comment | Share Greeks Scramble for Cash as Financial Crisis Comes to a HeadFourteen years ago, Greece entered the Eurozone by using a Trojan Horse: It doctored its finances to make them appear more stable than they actually were. For a run of a few years, the country let its finances go. The party ended during the Great Recession as the country needed bailout after bailout to keep the partial-archipelago afloat. Now, the piper must be paid. But instead of tightening belts and making the tough decisions to get out of debt and onto firm footing, the Greeks elected the Syriza Party to power because it promised that it would lessen the burden of debt by resisting the demands for reform and negotiating further with the nation's creditors. But those talks with the creditors broke down over the weekend and Greece may be booted from the Eurozone. On hearing the news, Greeks started lining up at ATMs, withdrawing as much money as they could before the cash ran out. In response, Greece started capital controls, keeping banks closed this week. "Appeasing Syriza's demands could spread political contagion to Spain, Portugal and other countries that might think they too can avoid reform and still be rescued," writes The Wall Street Journal editorial board. "A last-minute reprieve is possible, but if not the Greeks will have committed suicide by ignoring economic reality. Voters in Europe, Japan and the U.S., take note." As we watch the slow-motion crash of Greece, we should remember that this nation has a growing debt that is being made larger by growing entitlement spending. Someday, the piper must be paid here, too.Comment | Share
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSISHaving Dispensed With God, Leftists Now Aim for ChristiansBy Robin Smith
“Love Wins”? Not here it doesn’t, nor does anything but the will of five judicial despots, followed by the bullying mob rule of the Left and its Rainbow Mafia. Need proof? In 2008, before the Saul Alinsky-ite Barack Obama and his Chicagoland gang occupied the White House and began “fundamentally transforming” our nation, there was debate, dissent and dialogue about all sorts of issues, including those issues fomented by the hard Left in order to label the response of the Christian Right as extremist. In 2008, homosexual couples could enter into a legal, binding contract for shared property, power of attorney for making health care decisions, probate of wills, etc., and were, in most cases, receiving health care benefits from employers. These same homosexual couples were consummating their relationship in the privacy of their own domicile without harassment. In 2008, Christians could speak their opinions and stand on their faith while understanding their voice was respected in the public square. In 2015, however, those same Christians are in grave danger of losing legal standing because their beliefs are pitted against a brand new, heretofore undiscovered constitutional right. Tolerance is only for those who agree with the mob-rule Left. What changed in seven years? If you ask a moderate Republican, he or she might say, “Elections have consequences,” and shrug, since they never viewed this as meaningful anyway. If you ask the Bible-believing Democrats who voted for Ronald Reagan, they shudder at the exchange of timeless principles for sexual license. If you ask a libertarian, you might get the response that devout Christians are the “recalcitrant minority.” But if you ask someone who identifies as Christian first, American second, and is conservative politically, you’ll hear sorrow for a nation that worships the secular triune of me, myself and I rather than our Creator. Millions of votes cast around the country to support the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman have now been nullified. How will this tyrannical disregard for the enumerated powers of the Constitution play out in the everyday lives of Christians? In your place of worship, there’s now a government-approved theology that the God-rejecting Left expects to be preached. Whereas Bible-centric congregations stand on Holy Scripture, which does not include one single advocacy of sexual sin or perversion, the homosexual agenda demands that this view be rejected. One of the five black-robed tyrants, Justice Anthony Kennedy — considered the “swing vote” — laughingly attempted to reassure those whose lives revolve around their faith in the Judeo-Christian God by writing, “Those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned.” Get that? We can advocate our opposition, but there is little legal standing in such a weak word. As Chief Justice John Roberts put it, "The majority graciously suggests that religious believers may continue to 'advocate' and 'teach' their views of marriage. The First Amendment guarantees, however, the freedom to 'exercise' religion. Ominously, that is not a word the majority uses." Let’s not forget the Christian bakers, florists, photographers and other business owners who have been financially ruined and litigiously challenged by the Rainbow Mafia. Already, Christians have been forced to either comply with the government-approved theology or face persecution. What about the tax-exempt status of Christian organizations such as schools, faith-based charities, hospitals and other institutions with religious beliefs? The Obama administration has already indicated this provision as a likely stick to enforce the mandatory bowing to the altar of government-sanctioned faith. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, arguing conjured-up rights before the Supreme Court back in April, tipped their hand in response to an inquiry by Justice Samuel Alito. “It’s certainly going to be an issue," Verrilli promised. "I don’t deny that. I don’t deny that, Justice Alito. It is going to be an issue.” Chad Griffin, president of the Human (read: Homosexual) Rights Campaign, likewise said, “No question, the work is not done. ... We still have a long ways to go.” Cultural icons like Star Trek actor George Takei, who is homosexual, made the same veiled threat after the ruling. Some, he said, are "going to try to use the shroud of religious freedom" to disobey the Court's decree. "I believe in religious freedom, and people who argue that are entitled to their freedom," Takei said. "But" — yes, there was bound to be a "but" — "they do not have the freedom to impose their religious values on to others." Yet that's exactly what the Court and the Rainbow Mafia are doing. The mob-rule Left, characteristically using its ends to justify any means, is wielding its political and legal prowess acquired over the last seven years to openly oppress Judeo-Christians. Yet there are glimmers of hope that will endure. Cultural and casual Christians, the ones who believe philanthropy and showing up for a holiday service is their only necessary spiritual response, will quickly self-identify and want to change the subject. Eventually, these fair-weather believers will either deepen their faith or more explicitly abandon it to avoid social stigma or name-calling. But the greatest outcome of this conflict threatening the Liberty of the faithful and devout will be the growth of strength and community. Think of redwoods, trees that soar to heights of over 350 feet and can live thousands of years. These natural giants have roots of only five to 13 feet deep, but spread outward to 100 feet, interlocking with the roots of neighboring trees in the grove. Unseen bonds within these titans of the forest provide stability and support when the storms howl. As Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, reminds us, "[T]he church often thrives when it is in sharp contrast to the cultures around it." And Congress isn't idle. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) introduced the First Amendment Defense Act, which Lee writes "would prevent any agency from denying a federal tax exemption, grant, contract, accreditation, license, or certification to an individual or institution for acting on their religious belief that marriage is a union between one man and one woman." This battle has been won through activism and deception. The war, however, is not over. Comment | Share
TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
 OPINION IN BRIEFTony Perkins: "For 11 years, homosexual activists have hidden behind the black robes of the court, trying to force their will on America before people wake up to the devastation. [Friday], in the court's arrogance, they succeeded — swatting away the democratic expression of 50 million people like gnats on a humid day. 'Today's decree,' Justice Antonin Scalia fumes, 'says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court. The opinion in these cases is the furthest extension in fact... This practice of constitutional revision by an unelected committee of nine, always accompanied (as it is today) by extravagant praise of liberty, robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776: the freedom to govern themselves.' ... As more Americans see and feel the erosion of religious liberty, of parental rights, of children's innocence, and of conscience rights, their opinions will no longer be swayed by emotions and popular opinion — but by transcendent truth and inevitable consequences that come from its rejection. With this ruling, there is no doubt the Court has set in motion some dark days for religious liberty. But in that darkness will come a great Light, if believers hold firm to faith and continue speaking into the culture the uncompromising word of God."Comment | Share SHORT CUTSInsight: “I urge you to beware the temptation ... to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of any evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil.” —The GipperNon Compos Mentis: “What we’re not going to do is unravel what has now been woven into the fabric of America." —Barack Obama, not on traditional marriage but ObamaCare Political games: "Sometimes there are days like this, when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt." —Barack Obama, who opposed same-sex marriage until it became politically convenient in 2012 Demo-gogues: "[Friday's same-sex marriage] ruling is a victory for Jim Obergefell and the other plaintiffs in the case. It's a victory for gay and lesbian couples who have fought so long for their basic civil rights. It’s a victory for their children, whose families will now be recognized as equal to any other. It’s a victory for the allies and friends and supporters who spent years, even decades, working and praying for change to come. And this ruling is a victory for America." —Barack Obama The inevitable next steps: "It's Time to Legalize Polygamy" —Politico Magazine And: "Now’s the Time To End Tax Exemptions for Religious Institutions" —New York Times columnist Mark Oppenheimer Braying Jenny: “Fear and hatred are far from finished. ... Across the board, [Republicans] are the party of the past.” —Hillary Clinton Late-night humor: "The Supreme Court ruled to preserve the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, so we now can do anything we want. We could drink, smoke, jump mini-bikes off bridges, or play chainsaw tag if we want to. If we get hurt, it's not our problem. It's America's problem, together." —Jimmy Kimmel 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. |
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