THE FOUNDATION
"[I]f industry and labour are left to take their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out." --James Madison, speech to Congress, 1789TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Lesson Learned? 9,800 U.S. Troops to Remain in Afghanistan
With attention focused on Iraq and Syria, important news comes out of Afghanistan today. "The United States and Afghanistan on Tuesday signed a vital security deal that allows some American troops to remain in Afghanistan beyond this year, ensuring a continuing U.S. presence in the region," reports The Washington Post. "The Bilateral Security Agreement allows for 9,800 U.S. troops to stay in the country past 2014 to help train, equip and advise Afghan military and police forces." The agreement came one day after Ashraf Ghani was sworn in as Afghanistan's next president, succeeding Hamid Karzai, who refused to sign an agreement. Given the disastrous pullout from Iraq, maybe Barack Obama learned his lesson.Comment | Share
Secret Service Failed to Protect the President
The Secret Service's breakdown, as evidenced by their booze and prostitute scandal in 2012, has finally caught up to the agency. The Secret Service fumbled badly when a gunman shot the White House seven times in 2011. The agency only realized the shots hit the executive mansion when a housekeeper found broken glass days later. And when Omar Gonzalez jumped the fence earlier this month, he not only made it to the White House door, overpowered an agent, took a left down the hall, ran into the East Room and made it to the door of the Green Room before he was stopped. Now, Secret Service Director Julia Pierson will face the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform over the failings of the agency with what Rep. Jason Chaffetz tallies are "1,000 security breaches and vulnerabilities." While we disagree vehemently with some of the leaders the agency protects, the Secret Service has a job to do with dedication and excellence. More...Comment | Share
California Drought Not Exactly Evidence of Global Warming
Man-made global warming did not cause the drought in California, according to the LA Times. But it's a harbinger of what's to come, say the scientists clinging to the idea of man-made climate change. The paper reported on three scientific studies that said Al Gore can't use the drought as evidence in his Power Point presentation. The LA Times notes, "[T]he report editors wrote that 'natural variability likely played a much larger role in the extreme precipitation events,' whether it was flooding in India, deep snow in the Spanish Pyrenees Mountains or the California drought." (Notably, the report was co-written by a NOAA scientist.) So earth is doing its natural heating/cooling cycles, while tree-huggers in California run around like Chicken Little because the sky is falling and the lawns around their half-million dollar mansions are getting brown. More…Comment | Share
Chinese Crack Down on Protests in Hong Kong
Over the summer, Chinese leaders reneged on an agreement with Hong Kong known as the "One Country Two Systems" principle. It's outlined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 and the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution. Predictably, that led to popular unrest in Hong Kong, which came to a head over the weekend as police in riot gear used tear gas and batons to disperse peaceful protesters. As The Wall Street Journal editorialized, "The confrontation marks a turning point in the city's quest for democracy. For years the people of Hong Kong avoided direct conflict with Beijing in the hope that Chinese authorities might be persuaded to grant them self-government. Now they realize that their only chance for democracy is to demand it." Naturally, protests in China evoke memories of Tiananmen Square in 1989. We should all hope this isn't a repeat.Comment | Share
'The Country Is Definitely Better Off,' Obama Says
Barack Obama says everything is awesome. During an interview with "60 Minutes," Obama said, "When I came into office, our economy was in crisis." But he's fixed all that, he insists: "I can put my record against any leader around the world in terms of digging ourselves out of a terrible, almost unprecedented financial crisis." Obama concluded, "The country is definitely better off than when I came into office." The only real problem is the American people "don't feel it." He says he can fix that, too. "The reason they don't feel it is because incomes and wages are not going up," he said. All we have to do, he argues, is raise the minimum wage. Even though that will kill jobs. The truth is Obama's policies have only slowed the recovery.Comment | Share
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
Obama Blames Intelligence Failure for Rise of Islamic State
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| Ain't my fault |
During an interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday, Steve Kroft asked Obama how the U.S. “underestimated” the rise of the Islamic State and how we “overestimated the ability of the Iraqi military to fend off the militant group.” While Obama admitted some failures in confronting ISIL, he just couldn’t help but shift the blame.
Obama scapegoated the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. According to Obama, “Clapper has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.” No, Mr. President, you just weren’t listening.
Obama's decision to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq during his first term was premature, though at least he kept one of his campaign promises. During his bid for re-election, he repeatedly told us the death of Osama bin Laden meant al-Qaida was "decimated," on the "path to defeat" and "on the run." But that was just wishful thinking in service of a campaign narrative. In fact, the administration ignored reports that al-Qaida was expanding and growing stronger.
Now with the Islamic State presenting a real threat to U.S. national security and regional stability in the Middle East, the president has to blame someone else for his failure. Who better to blame than those in the intelligence community charged with keeping the president informed on threats to U.S. national security?
Several in the intelligence community rejected the president's accusations. One former Pentagon official who worked closely on the threat posed by Sunni jihadists in Syria and Iraq suggests the president is either “being mendacious or ignoring his intelligence briefings.” There is a good chance that both allegations are likely, given that this administration has a proven track record of lying and has little time to deal with national security issues due to other priorities such as golf and fundraising. And indeed, he skipped nearly 60% of his daily intelligence briefings.
Surprisingly, Rear Admiral (retired) Joe Sestak, formerly a prominent Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, also disagreed with the president's blame game. When asked by MSNBC host Jose Diaz-Balart, “How did the intelligence community get it so wrong on [ISIL]?” Sestak responded, “I don’t think they did.” Sestak reminded the host that the House and Armed Services committee had been briefed early this year on the growth of ISIL by Lt. General Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. In his brief, Flynn warned that ISIL had the capability to take over large chunks of territory in Syria and Iraq -- especially after the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, once liberated with the blood of American Patriots, fell to brutal jihadists in January.
After failing to listen, after failing to recognize the threat and after failing to act decisively against those seeking to destroy human life by waging Islamic Jihad -- indeed, after denying it's even Islamic -- will the president change course? Will he seek to correct mistakes made over the last several years? Will he start listening to those in the intelligence community and military doing everything possible to keep America safe from another terrorist attack?
It is high time for Obama to start owning up to his mistakes. When does the buck ever stop with him? America needs and wants a leader who will take on the responsibilities of being a leader. Part of presidential leadership requires that whoever is holding the office act upon the information given him by the intelligence community in order to address threats to national security. Unfortunately, the president wasn’t listening, and we now face a serious threat from terrorists who are determined to wage jihad against those who are standing in the way of their ability to establish a caliphate.
We the people can’t expect the president to be perfect in his decisions. But we should and do expect him to listen to those in the intelligence community and the military who sound the warning bells when our national security and our interests abroad are threatened. Further, we expect a president who will do what it takes to lead our nation and others to eliminate the threat. We can’t wait until 2016 -- unless this president would like the next to inherit his mess.
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A Plan to Reduce the Tax Burden for Everyone
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The U.S. must acknowledge an increasingly competitive global business climate. "Despite these dramatic changes, the policies and practices of Washington remain stuck in the 20th century," the senators argue, "leaving too many Americans unable to access the enormous potential of this new era."
Their proposal calls for creating two basic tax rates of 15% and 35%, while reducing or eliminating a number of tax breaks and deductions currently benefiting only wealthier individuals. The plan would eliminate the so-called marriage penalty, which imposes higher taxes on married couples than if the same two people had filed individually. The proposal would raise the child tax credit to $3,500 to offset the fact that parents pay taxes to cover federal entitlement programs while also paying the cost of raising their own children. Lee and Rubio contend this double burden often keeps many low- and middle-income families from getting ahead.
The plan also addresses the crippling 35% corporate tax rate (not counting state and local burdens), calling for a drastic reduction in the amount of federal taxes businesses pay to make them more competitive in the global market. The current rate is the highest in the developed world, compelling businesses to move out of the country while stifling economic growth here at home. Lee and Rubio have yet to specify the exact amount of the cut pending further study, but they do outline a plan for businesses to be taxed only in the country where income is actually earned.
Lee and Rubio's plan will face a heap of criticism from Democrats and even some other Republicans. For one thing, cutting taxes is anathema for Democrats, and statists will insist it cuts into current tax revenue, even though lower tax rates (to a point) lead to increased revenue. For the Right, the plan maybe doesn't go far enough and is still too vague on some points.
Earlier this year, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released his own tax reform proposal that he spent three years developing. Camp's plan called for a 25% corporate tax rate. His base individual rates were lower -- 10% and 25% -- but he proposed an unnecessary 10% surtax on joint filers above $450,000, most likely an attempt to get Democrat support.
The one virtue Camp's reform proposal shares with Lee's and Rubio's is limiting the political manipulation of the tax code to reward constituencies and punish hard work and investment. The current code is often used as a bludgeon to force individuals and businesses to engage in behavior favorable to whoever is in power in Washington. Real tax reform should reward hard work, allow individuals and families an opportunity to improve themselves economically, and create a favorable business climate that will improve the economy and make America more competitive in the global marketplace.
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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
- Arnold Ahlert: '60 Minutes' of Lying and Denying
- Dennis Prager: What the Arab World Produces
- Thomas Sowell: Random Thoughts
- Mona Charen: Who Are You Calling the Party of the Rich?
- Cal Thomas: Combating Campus Sexual Assaults
OPINION IN BRIEF
Giordano Bruno (1548-1699): "It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."Columnist Dennis Prager: "[I]s there anything at which the Arab world has excelled for the past two generations? Has there been a major Arab export? As it happens, there are two. Hatred and violence. ... There are two possible reactions to this description of the Arab world. One is that it is an example of anti-Arab 'racism.' That would be the reaction in much of the Arab world, on the left and among most academics -- despite the fact that the description is of a culture and that the Arabs are not a race. The other is that is that it is tragically accurate. That would be the reaction of some in the Arab world and anyone who cares about truth. One such individual is an Arab. In Politico Magazine two weeks ago, Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief of Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite channel, titled his article, 'The Barbarians Within Our Gates.' The subtitle is 'Arab civilization has collapsed. It won’t recover in my lifetime.' Islamic State, which is overwhelmingly Arab, is just the latest manifestation."
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Columnist Thomas Sowell: "Why are Americans -- and the Western world in general -- falling all over ourselves stifling our own self-expression to appease people who chose to immigrate here, and are now demanding the suppression of anything they don’t like, such as public expressions of Christianity or displays of the American flag?"
Comedian Argus Hamilton: "The Pentagon announced it'll allow illegal aliens to serve in the U.S. military to help battle terrorists. Admission is easy. They must have come to the U.S. by age sixteen and have unique skills needed by the U.S. military, skills like knowing the easiest way to invade the U.S. undetected."
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.
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