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Title: The Patriot Post Digest 9-25-2015 Post by: nChrist on September 25, 2015, 07:48:57 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 9-25-2015 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ Daily Digest Sep. 25, 2015 THE FOUNDATION “The natural cure for an ill-administration, in a popular or representative constitution, is a change of men.” —Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 21 TOP RIGHT HOOKS Boehner: Going, Going, Finally Gone1 In a moment long awaited by conservatives around the nation, House Speaker John Boehner announced Friday that he will resign both his post and his seat at the end of October. An aide claims Boehner had intended to resign at the end of last year, but he delayed the transition after then-Majority Leader and presumptive successor Eric Cantor lost his seat in a huge primary upset. The trouble with Boehner is that he failed to lead — perhaps not surprising given that his entire goal seems to have been merely winning the position of speaker2. Donald Trump’s rise in the presidential field is almost directly proportional to failed GOP leadership. As Mark Alexander noted recently3, “Trump’s support reflects very little about his qualifications, but a lot about his message and how dissatisfied millions of disenfranchised grassroots conservatives are with Republican ‘leadership.’ The status quo represented by Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has, in effect, underwritten Trump’s rising stardom. Despite greatly increasing the numbers of conservatives in the House and Senate in the historic ‘Republican Wave’ elections nationwide in both 2010 and 2014, the much-loathed ‘establishment types’ still hold the reins and they have failed to counter Barack Obama’s socialist policies. GOP leaders continue to marginalize or ignore the concerns of the conservative/Republican base — grassroots conservatives — and we are rightly outraged.” Resigning now means Boehner loses nothing from stopping a shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding. And while it’s likely that Majority Leader and close Boehner ally Kevin McCarthy will step in to the speakership, he will undoubtedly be under pressure to move Right. Your move, McConnell. Pope Doesn’t Say Much About Climate After All4 Many observers feared (or hoped) that Pope Francis would pontificate on man-made global warming and the need for government solutions in Thursday’s address to Congress. But it wasn’t to be. Here’s the extent of his remarks on the topic: This common good also includes the earth, a central theme of the encyclical which I recently wrote in order to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concerns and affects us all. In “Laudato Si,” I call for a courageous and responsible effort to redirect our steps and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States — and this Congress — have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a culture of care and an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature. At first hearing, there’s really not much for conservatives who are conservationists to disagree with there. But there are two key problems: the pope’s assertion that climate change is “caused by human activity,” and who he addressed his comments to — Congress. The science is far from settled on the cause or reach of climate change (humans do impact the environment, but how much is the question), and most proposals before Congress involve hampering economic activity — i.e., exacerbating and not “combating poverty” — to fight a supposed menace we don’t fully understand. EPA Finds Opportunity in Volkswagen Scandal5 How long has this policy been sitting in the wings, waiting for the opportune moment? In response of the revelations that Volkswagen cheated on its emission tests, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will change the way it tests the emissions of vehicles. The EPA will now test vehicles as they drive the roads, in addition to lab testing. For seven years, Volkswagen installed software in its diesel cars that sensed when a vehicle was hooked up to a test. That changed when the cars hit the road, where the cars started emitting many times the legal emission limits for gasses like nitrogen oxide in the name of fuel economy. And for violating an unconstitutional regulation6, Volkswagen will pay — possibly to the tune of $18 billion. “When there is this kind of deception, we’ve got to get these agencies to be able to cut through it and catch it,” said7 Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL). In the name of catching companies that decide to cheat the government, the EPA will pry further into the automobile industry, bringing more regulation in the name of clean air. (Because this is evidently a far worse crime than killing people8, like Government Motors and Toyota did.) No doubt the EPA will decide to impose more regulation and more control because of climate change, too. A crisis has come, and the EPA is going to take this as a mandate to make the quality of vehicles worse for everybody. FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS China Flexes Muscle With State Visit9 By Michael Swartz In part two of a particularly whirlwind week in Washington, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived for his first visit to Washington since becoming president in 2013. And Barack Obama is welcoming Xi for an official state visit at a time when that’s not the signal the U.S. ought to be sending to China. Let’s just say that, in terms of our interests, the Asia pivot10 isn’t quite working as Obama billed it. Yet while some observers gush over the prospect of a formal state dinner for Xi that features Maine lobster11, others fret about how Xi is eating our lunch. A series of ceremonies usually reserved for close allies12 is the reward for the president of a nation that’s recently been accused13 of hacking sensitive data (a hack that we found out the day of Xi’s arrival netted 5.6 million fingerprints14), manipulating its currency and being more aggressive with its military. China has also detained American businesswoman15 Sandy Phan-Gillis, who’s been held since March on accusation of “spying.” And that’s on top of Xi ushering in what some consider the worst religious repression16 since Mao’s “cultural revolution.” Obama, though, seems oblivious to the problems between our nations, and in some part it could be because he gets along well with the Chinese leader. Recall that Obama’s visit to China last November led to the framework of a greenhouse gas pact in which we begin working to reduce greenhouse emissions now17 while China starts in 15 years. It was finalized during a five-hour private dinner between the two men. Fighting climate change is always a work in progress with Obama, and the two nations plan to announce China’s new cap-and-trade plan to crack down on emissions today, though the plan evidently won’t alter last year’s emissions targets. An agreement with China on the issue is a key piece of Obama’s climate change agenda18 ahead of the Paris climate summit in December. China also has a tremendous amount of pull in the business world. When China wanted captains of Silicon Valley industry to meet while Xi was in Seattle, these businessmen were “absolutely expected to be there19.” So a meeting intended originally for mid-level executives became the “summoning” to kiss Xi’s ring. When China’s centrally controlled economy makes an offer, companies find it hard to refuse. Obama didn’t have that same effect20 back in February, when he attempted to sell the industry on cybersecurity and privacy in the computer world. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 9-25-2015 Post by: nChrist on September 25, 2015, 07:50:06 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 9-25-2015 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ Deserved or not, China will get its state dinner and Xi can get the propaganda points back home, since it’s a sure bet Chinese state-controlled media is all over this visit. One thing is sure: Xi is pressing his advantage during Obama’s remaining months in office. He knows that a Republican administration would be a tad less accommodating. Finally, it will be interesting to compare this to another upcoming visit from a head of state — that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu21. Will our ally get the same welcome Xi did, or will he be snubbed as he was in the spring? MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE ANALYSIS: Marines Push Back on Women in Combat22 Krauthammer: Pope’s Liberation Theology Is a Problem23 When Energy Efficiency Becomes Harmful24 New Jersey Considers WWII Carbine an ‘Assault Weapon’25 Not the Defense Planned Parenthood Was Looking For26 BEST OF RIGHT OPINION Michelle Malkin: Obama’s Silence on Afghan Military’s Child Rape27 Ben Shapiro: ‘Clock Boy’ and America’s Suicidal PC Tendencies28 Mona Charen: Redistribution: The Unconquerable Delusion29 For more, visit Right Opinion30. TOP HEADLINES Senate Rejects Effort to Defund Planned Parenthood31 China to Launch Cap-and-Trade System32 DC Climate Rally Shrinks From Expected 200K to Just ‘Hundreds’33 For more, visit Patriot Headline Report34 OPINION IN BRIEF Michelle Malkin: “A White House that wants to spend billions to stop ‘climate change’ in the name of saving all the children of the planet can’t bother to stop the violent sexual assaults of boys held hostage right under our noses by our warmly embraced ‘allies’ in the Afghan military. A White House that splashed social media with pleas to ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ after Boko Haram jihadists in Nigeria kidnapped 300 girls and women has nothing to say about the legions of boys forced into prostitution and pedophilia rings witnessed by U.S. troops. A White House bent on whitewashing away radical Islam’s sins against Christians, Jews, gays, apostates, cartoonists, genitally mutilated women and child brides would rather celebrate ‘diversity’ than lift a finger to protect the victims of political correctness run amok. To paraphrase 2009 Nobel Prize winner President Obama: It’s on you.” SHORT CUTS Insight: “This wretched resource of turning interest into principal, is the most humiliating and disgraceful measure that a nation could take, and approximates with rapidity to absolute ruin.” —Gov. William Richardson Davie (1756-1820) For the record: “[John] Boehner lost the ability to bully conservatives because outside conservative groups started making those guys heroes and household names for standing up to Boehner. Conservatives built themselves infrastructure to fundraise for themselves when Boehner shut off K Street spigots. And now Boehner had closed his doors not just to social conservatives, but fiscal conservatives and war hawks. All he had left were a small group of moderates and the assistance of the Democrats. He could not survive a motion to vacate the chair with that. He had to resign.” —Erick Erickson Upright: “[Donald Trump] looked very bad in the last debate because he had no substance. There is only so much time in a presidential campaign when you can say, ‘My strategy is I’m smarter than everybody else, I cut great deals… I can’t tell you my foreign-policy plans because I don’t want to tip off the enemy.’” —Marc Thiessen on why Trump is, for the first time since his announcement, experiencing a marked decline in poll averages Observations: “While we can all recognize and celebrate that Ahmed [Mohamed] won’t be going to jail, the treatment of Ahmed’s case by the president and the press ensure that next time a young Muslim student brings a suspicious object to school, administrators will ignore it for fear of career-ending consequences. And next time, that suspicious object may not be a disassembled clock.” —Ben Shapiro Good question: “If you want moral credit for caring about the poor, when, oh when, do you ever have to take responsibility for what happens to the poor when leftists take over?” —Mona Charen “I am always a little bit puzzled when any woman of whatever age, but particularly a young woman, says something like … ‘Well, I believe in equal rights, but I’m not a feminist.’” —Hillary Clinton And last… “Reports of ISIS violence was secretly scaled down in White House intel reports. I didn’t know lowering intelligence around here was possible.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest 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. Links 1 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37863 2 http://patriotpost.us/posts/36815 3 http://patriotpost.us/alexander/36690 4 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37846 5 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37862 6 http://patriotpost.us/articles/37825 7 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-plans-sweeping-changes-in-diesel-emissions-testing/ 8 http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/25/epa-to-volkswagen-emissions-cheating-is-far-worse-than-killing-124-people/ 9 http://patriotpost.us/articles/37865 10 https://reason.com/blog/2015/09/23/obama-administration-still-figuring-out 11 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/09/24/us/politics/ap-us-state-dinner-china-redo.html 12 http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/23/a-state-visit-for-chinas-president-sends-all-the-wrong-signals-2/ 13 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37797 14 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/world/asia/hackers-took-fingerprints-of-5-6-million-us-workers-government-says.html 15 http://news.yahoo.com/us-businesswoman-held-china-espionage-supporters-065634539.html 16 http://freebeacon.com/national-security/visiting-chinese-president-ushers-in-worst-repression-since-maos-cultural-revolution/ 17 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/china-us-agree-to-limit-greenhouse-gases/2014/11/11/9c768504-69e6-11e4-9fb4-a622dae742a2_story.html 18 http://patriotpost.us/alexander/25733 19 http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/254550-chinas-silicon-valley-power-play 20 http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/233400-obama-cyber-pitch-misses-mark-in-silicon-valley 21 http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-white-house-visit/ 22 http://patriotpost.us/articles/37858 23 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37847 24 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37836 25 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37845 26 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37840 27 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/37853 28 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/37851 29 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/37856 30 http://patriotpost.us/opinion 31 http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/254819-senate-rejects-effort-to-defund-planned-parenthood 32 http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ec4c29529db243da8f2ac8158192dd46/china-plans-launch-national-cap-and-trade-system 33 http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/09/24/another-climate-prediction-fizzles-dc-climate-rally-for-pope-shrinks-from-expected-200000-to-just-hundreds/ 34 http://patriotpost.us/headlines |