THE FOUNDATION
"If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check." —Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Duane — 1811TOP RIGHT HOOKS
The Politics of the Louisiana Theater Shooting
People are trying to make sense of Thursday's shooting in the Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater. Twenty minutes into the 7:10 showing of "Trainwreck," John Russel Houser, 59, stood up and fired a .45 pistol into the audience. He killed two and wounded nine. He tried to escape by blending into the fleeing crowd, but when two police officers quickly responded, the murderer killed himself. Later, police discovered the man's car didn't match its license plate, and the motel room where he was staying contained disguises like wigs and glasses. Police described him as a drifter, and there is a Tea Party Nation page set up by a man with his name. This incident comes just as a Colorado jury decided James Holmes, the man who entered a Colorado movie theater three years ago with the intent of killing as many people as possible, could be sentenced to death for his crimes. The shooting also comes hours after Barack Obama told an interviewer, "[T]he one area that I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied ... is the fact that the United States is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient, common-sense gun safety laws." But the greatest demonstration of character came from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. When asked about gun control, the presidential candidate said, "We're just learning the details ... let's focus on the victims. Tonight's not the night to be political."Comment | Share
Meanwhile, the Charleston murderer has also been charged with federal hate crimes. The taking of one American's life shouldn't be deemed more important than the taking of another. Murder is murder. And all murders are hate crimes.
IRS Used Donor Lists for Targeted Audits
Another day, another "smidgen of corruption" at the IRS. The intrepid folks at Judicial Watch have stayed on the case, and the watchdog group has issued yet another press release that puts the lie to Barack Obama's bald-faced denial of wrongdoing: "Judicial Watch announced [Wednesday] that it has obtained documents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that confirm that the IRS used donor lists to tax-exempt organizations to target those donors for audits. The documents also show IRS officials specifically highlighted how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce may come under 'high scrutiny' from the IRS." Specifically, Lois Lerner and her leftist pals at the IRS targeted high-profile organizations like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, and checked their donor lists to identify further subjects for audit. "These documents that we had to force out of the IRS prove that the agency used donor lists to audit supporters of organizations engaged in First Amendment-protected lawful political speech," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "And the snarky comments about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the obsession with Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS show that the IRS was targeting critics of the Obama administration. President Obama may want to continue to lie about his IRS scandal. These documents tell the truth — his IRS hated conservatives and was willing to illegally tax and audit citizens to shut down opposition to Barack Obama's policies and reelection." Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment drawn up against Richard Nixon was for allegedly using the IRS to target certain citizens. The reluctance of today's GOP to vigorously pursue justice in this case is deeply disappointing.But never mind all that. Obama says the “real scandal around the IRS is that they have been so poorly funded that they cannot go after these folks who are deliberately avoiding tax payments.”
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Secret Side Deals Erode Iran Nuke Accord
Forget Iran. The least trustworthy party in the Iranian nuke deal may well be the Obama administration. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) called on the administration to disclose the whole Iran deal to Congress — even the two secret side deals that could completely discredit the larger nuclear deal. The first deal was between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it involved how the two will resolve some military aspects of Iran's nuclear program. The second deal lays out how the IAEA will inspect the Parchin military complex — a shadowy military base where Iran may test ballistic missile technology. Unbelievably, Iran will collect its own soil samples at that and other facilities.With such provisions missing from the larger agreement, Congress cannot fully review it. Furthermore, the bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act required the Obama administration to disclose all the documents and side deals. "The failure to disclose the content of these side agreements begs the question, 'What is the Obama administration hiding?'" Pompeo said, "Even members of Congress who are sympathetic to this deal cannot and must not accept a deal we aren't even aware of." Obama adviser Susan Rice admitted the deals do exist, and said that the Obama administration would brief Congress in classified hearings. But even head U.S. negotiator John Kerry might not know what's in the side deals. It appears that the least transparent administration in history is also the least competent.
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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Obama's Legacy Will Be Undoing Clinton's
By Paul Albaugh
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Just one day after Obama delivered a speech before the NAACP in Philadelphia to declare criminal justice reform, Clinton took the stage to admit that his prison reform policies actually made things worse.
“I signed a bill that made the problem worse, and I want to admit it," Clinton confessed. "In that bill, there were longer sentences. And most of these people are in prison under state law, but the federal law set a trend. ... And that was overdone. We were wrong about that. ... The good news is we had the biggest drop in crime in history. The bad news is we had a lot of people who were locked up, who were minor actors, for way too long."
Obama is now poised to
But the legacy rewrite is more than just prison reform.
Clinton's legacy also includes enacting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military, which allowed homosexuals to serve in the military as long as no one asked and no one told. Obama pledged to end this “discrimination” and urged Congress in December 2010 to repeal Clinton’s policy over the objections of the Service Chiefs and the majority of military members.
Then we have the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Bill Clinton signed into law after receiving “overwhelming congressional support.” In 2011, Obama and then-Attorney General Eric Holder deemed DOMA to be unconstitutional and stated that the administration would no longer enforce the law. But it didn’t stop there. Under pressure from Obama and Holder, numerous lower courts overturned state marriage amendments. Ultimately, we saw the results of Obama's political goals to fundamentally transform America when five black-robed despots of the Supreme Court forced same-sex marriage on the entire country.
Under Clinton, the federal budget was balanced, though the credit really belongs to the Republican Congress. Obama did the opposite of balancing the budget, spending more money in six years than all of the presidents before him combined. Deficits and the debt skyrocketed to record highs. It's quite apparent that Obama thinks the position of commander in chief means spender in chief — unless it's spending money for defense.
Clinton (and his wife) even tried and failed to engineer a federal takeover of the health care system. With ObamaCare, Obama achieved what Clinton could not.
Clinton is also known for welfare reform during his tenure. In 2012, Clinton said of his reform (read: the reform passed by a Republican Congress), “This is personal to me. We moved millions of people off welfare. It was one of the reasons that, in the eight years I was president, we had a hundred times as many people move out of poverty into the middle class than happened under the previous 12 years. A hundred times as many. It’s a big deal.”
By contrast, Obama greatly expanded welfare, keeping more people mired in poverty and dependent upon the government. In fact, there are currently more than 45 million Americans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, a.k.a. food stamps. There are more people receiving help from the federal government than there are in the entire population of Canada. Thanks Obama.
Perhaps the only place Obama has really followed Clinton’s legacy is on foreign policy — and that's not a good thing. As Ken Blackwell notes, “On October 21, 1994, President Bill Clinton announced a deal with North Korea aimed at ending its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.” Clinton claimed it was a good deal because North Korea would freeze and dismantle its nuclear program, which would better protect our allies. In addition the North Koreans would be monitored by the United States and international inspectors to ensure they were keeping to their commitment. We know the results of this deal — on Oct. 9, 2006, North Korea conducted its first successful test of a nuclear weapon.
Obama has now
In light of all this, we're left with a simple question: If the last seven years has been about undoing the Clinton legacy of the '90s, why should the nation election Hillary?
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TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US
- ANALYSIS: Housing Data Only Part of Obama's 'Racist' Puzzle
- Are Some Murders Worse Than Others?
- New York Decrees $15 Minimum Wage for Some
- Meme: Child of War
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
- Mona Charen The Anger Games
- Charles Krauthammer The Price of Fetal Parts
- David Harsanyi Americans Understand Iran a Lot Better Than John Kerry
- Jonah Goldberg Obama Has Failed to Bridge the Partisan Divide
- L. Brent Bozell & Tim Graham Is Social Liberalism Winning?
OPINION IN BRIEF
Mona Charen: "Whatever one’s views about immigration, the very worst way to broach the topic is to smear all Mexican illegals as 'rapists' and criminals. It’s obviously false. … [W]e’re told people are choking on political correctness and Trump is a breath of fresh air. So the best way to discredit political correctness is to embody the worst stereotype of an aggressive bigot? … A number of Republican candidates for president have been seeking to recast the Republican Party as the party of reform and outreach. They recognize that a party that lost not just the Hispanic vote, the black vote, the women’s vote and the youth vote, but also the Asian vote has an image problem. As any number of successful Republican senators and governors have shown, it isn’t necessary to adopt any particular policy (e.g., amnesty) to attract the votes of more Hispanics or Asians. It is necessary for the party to convey a welcoming spirit."Comment | Share
SHORT CUTS
Insight: "Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification." —Martin H. Fischer (1879-1962), German-born American physician and authorOn the defensive: "The supreme leader of Iran and the president of Iran and others believe they've signed an agreement with the world, and the rest of the world think it's a good agreement. Now, if you think the ayatollah's gonna come back and negotiate again with America, that's fantasy. You're never gonna see that because we will have proven we're not trustworthy." —John Kerry, who knows a thing or two about not being trustworthy
Straw man: "Let me underscore the alternative to the deal we have reached is not ... a 'better deal,' some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran's complete capitulation. That is a fantasy, plain and simple." —John Kerry
Braying Jenny: "Let's have an investigation of those people who were trying to ensnare Planned Parenthood in a controversy which doesn't exist." —Nancy Pelosi
Braying Jackass: “I know there have been controversies, national controversy over these tapes [of Planned Parenthood]. ... I haven’t reviewed the tapes, but I’ve read articles on them. And, certainly, the Congress, as I understand it, will be having hearings on it and I’ll be interested to see when that is. But I’m not going to jump to conclusions. But I will say that I reject any premise that Planned Parenthood is harvesting fetal organs, or body parts, anything.” —House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer
Despicable racist: “I mean, if we're honest, for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear.” —Hillary Clinton
Humble brag: “My rapping skills are terrible. That’s one thing I can’t do, is rap. I like rap, but I cannot rap.” —Barack Obama (Considering how bad he is at things he thinks he can do, that's scary.)
"Obama to Iran nuke deal critics: '[W]hat's your alternative?' Well, something that doesn't make them laugh out loud would be a good start." —Fred Thompson
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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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