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Title: The Patriot Post Digest 5-26-2016 Post by: nChrist on May 26, 2016, 06:53:13 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 5-26-2016 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ Mid-Day Digest May 26, 2016 THE FOUNDATION “The love of justice and the love of country plead equally the cause of these people, and it is a moral reproach to us that they should have pleaded it so long in vain.” —Thomas Jefferson (1814) TOP RIGHT HOOKS IG Confirms Clinton’s Email Violations1 Well, the already feverish Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders feud should grow even more exciting. The State Department’s Office of Inspector General has released its “Evaluation of Email Records Management and Cybersecurity Requirements2” for secretaries of state. According to the report, “Department employees must use agency-authorized information systems to conduct normal day-to-day operations because the use of non-Departmental systems creates significant security risks.” However, the reports states, “Secretary Clinton never demonstrated … that her private server or mobile device met minimum information security requirements.” There’s an important reason for the security protocols. From the report: “On January 9, 2011, the non-Departmental advisor to President Clinton who provided technical support to the Clinton email system notified the Secretary’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations that he had to shut down the server because he believed ‘someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in i didnt [sic] want to let them have the chance to.’ Later that day, the advisor again wrote to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, ‘We were attacked again so I shut [the server] down for a few min.’ On January 10, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations emailed the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning and instructed them not to email the Secretary ‘anything sensitive’ and stated that she could ‘explain more in person.’” But last year Clinton claimed “the system we used was set up for President Clinton’s office. And it had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the Secret Service. And there were no security breaches.” The report also says that “sending emails from a personal account to other employees at their Department accounts is not an appropriate method of preserving … emails that would constitute a Federal record,” and Clinton “did not comply with the Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act.” Moreover, “Officials, … did not — and would not — approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business, because of the restrictions in the FAM and the security risks in doing so.” Naturally, the Clinton camp is trying to brush it off. According to Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon, “As this report makes clear, Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email was not unique, and she took steps that went much further than others to appropriately preserve and release her records.” It’s true that others are mentioned in the report. But the report also clarifies, “By Secretary Clinton’s tenure, the Department’s guidance was considerably more detailed and more sophisticated. Beginning in late 2005 and continuing through 2011, the Department revised the FAM and issued various memoranda specifically discussing the obligation to use Department systems in most circumstances and identifying the risks of not doing so. Secretary Clinton’s cybersecurity practices accordingly must be evaluated in light of these more comprehensive directives.” Recall that in March 2015, Hillary Clinton claimed, “I fully complied with every rule that I was governed by.” Bottom line: Clinton is a serial liar. Of course she’s guilty — probably of felonies, perjury and obstruction of justice. But be careful what you ask for. As Mark Alexander has written3, if Clinton is indicted, the most likely replacement will be Biden-Warren — which he believes will be a far more formidable ticket — and it will not emerge until the Democratic National Convention. States Fight Back Against Obama’s Tranny Decree4 A coalition of eleven states and state officials filed suit5 against the Obama administration over the recent Department of Education letter “clarifying” that schools across the nation must accommodate transgender students in the bathroom of their choosing. The Obama administration issued the letter6 May 13 and said that transgender students have “equal access to educational programs and activities” — including bathrooms. If schools don’t comply, federal funding could be at risk, the letter implied. The suit spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. It alleges the Obama administration tried to create a law by executive decree when it issued the letter — a law that calls for massive policy changes. David Thweatt, superintendent for the Harrold Independent School District in Texas, told The Daily Signal7, “This federal money obviously is our money to start with. It’s coming from income taxes, et cetera, and [the Obama administration] is taking this and using our own money against us to try to blackmail us into some kind of social engineering and social experimentation in public schools.” The courts have almost routinely checked Obama’s executive orders, from clean power decrees to amnesty for illegal immigrants, so it’s not unimaginable that Obama’s bathroom legacy will also be flushed by the courts. Obama Criticizes Trump on World Stage8 At a press event in Japan, Barack Obama said world leaders have reason to worry about a Trump presidency because the man has little knowledge about world affairs. Obama is in Japan to attend a Group of Seven (G7) summit and to visit Hiroshima9. When asked Thursday about how foreign leaders view Donald Trump’s candidacy, Obama replied10, “They are rattled by it — and for good reason. Because a lot of the proposals he has made display either ignorance of world affairs, or a cavalier attitude, or an interest in getting tweets and headlines.” It was a cynical statement that has the potential to poison Trump’s diplomatic efforts if he ever were to occupy the White House. Regardless of the truth of the statement, it’s improper for the chief executive to wade into election politics. It’s doubly so when the president’s first duty while abroad is to be America’s best advocate. What is Obama saying behind closed doors to these leaders that Trump may have to work with one day? This is Obama’s narcissistic, partisan personality at work. If a Democrat does not take office who can further his policies, then he’s going to ensure the next president starts off with a diplomatic disadvantage. Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column Read Blood and Treasure — The Price of Liberty11, on honoring all those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coastguardsmen who have refreshed the Tree of Liberty with their blood and lives so that we may live free. If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here12. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 5-26-2016 Post by: nChrist on May 26, 2016, 06:54:11 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 5-26-2016 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ BEST OF RIGHT OPINION Victor Davis Hanson: The Lessons of Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later13 Larry Elder: Hey, Bernie Sanders Supporters — All Roads Lead to Venezuela14 Cal Thomas: A Better Way to Run for President15 For more, visit Right Opinion16. FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS Obama Uses ObamaCare to Promote Gender Confusion17 By Arnold Ahlert Once again, the Obama administration is determined to impose its version of reality on a resistant nation by using ObamaCare as its vehicle. On May 13, the same day the administration issued the transgender edicts granting access to public school bathrooms and locker rooms based on nothing more than self-identification, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued18 a ruling in a similar vein. It bans discrimination based on “gender identity” by hospitals, clinics and other health care providers. Thus, the administration’s ongoing insistence that one’s state of mind trumps biological and genetic reality is being pushed in a new arena. “Since 2010, we have had a prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex in health care,” said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “We never had that before. Sex discrimination was not prohibited in the health-care system.” This ruling goes far beyond the parameters of sexual discrimination that Congress previously determined19, as well as how the overwhelming majority of Americans understand the terms. ObamaCare’s Section 155720 explains that sexual discrimination is prohibited based on an individual’s sex, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions — as well as gender identity and sex stereotyping. And while the Obama administration acknowledges “the final rule does not resolve whether discrimination on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation status alone is a form of sex discrimination under Section 1557,” it warns that the Office of Civil Rights “will evaluate complaints that allege sex discrimination related to an individual’s sexual orientation to determine if they involve the sorts of stereotyping that can be addressed under Section 1557.” In other words, fall into line or be subjected to the same loss of federal funding and/or possible government-sponsored litigation used to intimidate school districts, based on definitions of sexual discrimination unilaterally determined by the Obama administration. That determination has far-reaching consequences. “By prohibiting differential treatment on the basis of ‘gender identity’ in health services, these regulations will penalize medical professionals and health care organizations that, as a matter of faith, moral conviction, or professional medical judgment, believe that maleness and femaleness are biological realities to be respected and affirmed, not altered or treated as diseases,” writes21 Heritage Foundation research fellow Ryan T. Anderson. Consider the consequences arising from government demanding specific medical judgments with regard to transgenderism. For example, if a patient demands sex reassignment surgery, will a doctor covered by the new edict be forced to perform it, even if it goes against his medical judgment? What about the reality that the American College of Pediatricians thoroughly rejects22 the Left’s entire construct on the subject? How does the Obama administration reconcile ACP’s warning that suicide rates “are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery” or that making children believe “a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse”? How does it run roughshod over the assertion23 made by Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital — a facility that no longer does sex change operations — who insists abiding such medical procedures amounts to collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder? With regard to religious conviction, on May 15 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled24 in favor of Little Sisters of the Poor and other Christian organizations that refused to abide by the administration’s mandate forcing them to provide employees with contraceptives, including abortifacients. SCOTUS sent25 the case back to the lower courts with the message that they should accommodate people of faith and prevent their consciences from being violated. It would appear the medical community is on much firmer ground. First, there is nothing in the Constitution that allows the administration to unilaterally rewrite law or trample on states' rights in pursuit of an agenda. Second, and far more important, it is virtually impossible to believe the U.S. Supreme Court (if any case goes that far) would overrule a doctor’s medical judgment — with possibly damaging or deadly health results — to satisfy an ideological viewpoint arising from government fiat. Yet why let it reach that point at all? Congress must reassert26 its authority over the process of crafting law, ensuring the Obama administration cannot use its interpretation of statutes such as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to blackmail the nation — and not just regarding the definition of sexual identity. It is critically important for Americans to remember the advance of regressive ideology is wholly dependent on incrementalism. Re-defining sexual identity is not an end unto itself. It is merely another means in pursuit of the ultimate agenda: unassailable power. And nothing will give that agenda more of a boost than the Obama administration successfully asserting that reality itself is nothing more than a state of mind. Why not make this outrageous assertion ahead of the 2016 election? Just like the birth certificate nonsense of 2008, this is possibly an attempt by the Left to create a diversion to take the heat off Hillary Clinton and her email server ahead of the 2016 election. As of now, the new ObamaCare rules will take effect27 in July and apply to all health care providers receiving federal funds. Thus, medical professionals and health care institutions will be forced to abandon professional ethics, reasonable medical judgment and personal conscience in favor of a radical political agenda. “All at once, the government is changing the way it interprets the law on gender and discrimination,” writes The Atlantic’s senior associate editor, Emma Green. “It’s a relatively new area of civil-rights law, but soon enough, it might just be part of the status quo.” Title: The Patriot Post Digest 5-26-2016 Post by: nChrist on May 26, 2016, 06:55:13 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 5-26-2016 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ What status quo? “Perhaps it’s rude to say so, but facts do not cease to be facts simply because they offend,” writes28 columnist Jonah Goldberg. Maybe not right now, but that’s exactly the status quo the American Left and the Obama administration is pursuing. MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE Will Trump Change the GOP Platform?29 DA Shared Evidence Against Filmmaker to Planned Parenthood30 50-Year-Old DoD Computers Manage Nuclear Force31 Sen. Cotton Eviscerates ‘Bitter, Vulgar, Incoherent’ Harry Reid32 Leftmedia Hits Clinton Over Email Scandal33 TOP HEADLINES South Carolina Governor Signs 20-Week Abortion Ban34 VA Admits to Wrongly Declaring Over 4K Veterans Dead35 Katie Couric Documentary Deceptively Edited Interview With Pro-Gun Activists36 For more, visit Patriot Headline Report37 OPINION IN BRIEF Victor Davis Hanson: “This year marks the 75th anniversary of the December 7, 1941, Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that killed more than 2,400 Americans. President Obama is visiting Hiroshima this week, the site of the August 6, 1945, dropping of the atomic bomb that helped end World War II in the Pacific Theater. But strangely, he has so far announced no plans to visit Pearl Harbor on the anniversary of the attack. The president, who spent much of his childhood in Hawaii, should — given that many Americans have forgotten why the Japanese attacked the United States and why they falsely assumed that they could defeat the world’s largest economic power. Imperial Japan was not, as often claimed, forced into a corner by a U.S. oil embargo, which came only after years of horrific Japanese atrocities in China and Southeast Asia. Instead, an opportunistic and aggressive fascist Japan gambled that the geostrategy of late 1941 had made America uniquely vulnerable to a surprise attack. … The road to Hiroshima and the massive loss of life in the Pacific was paved by unprovoked Japanese aggression at Pearl Harbor. Americans and their president should remember the lessons of that surprise attack 75 years ago this year.” SHORT CUTS Insight: “Jobs really come in the productive sector of the economy. The real jobs are where people are producing goods or services which other people will buy. … One of the reasons why you have to cut public expenditure is to get the money back out of the public sector, into industry and commerce, so that they, in fact, can invest, and improve, and expand; because that’s where the secure jobs are.” —Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) Upright: “Political correctness is the major weapon liberals use in their war on American tradition. Thus, the girls are replacing the boys in areas the boys traditionally dominated. And the sexually ambiguous are taking over the traditional woman’s domain, for instance, the powder room. The result is a loss of traditional American values. And, well, the world is turned upside-down.” —R. Emmett Tyrrell Then prove it: “It was never my intention to suggest that I don’t take our mission of serving veterans very seriously38. If my comments Monday led any veterans to believe that I, or the dedicated workforce I am privileged to lead, don’t take that noble mission seriously, I deeply regret that. Nothing could be further from the truth.” —Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald Belly laugh of the week: “[Obama] will again show the power of his moral courage when he visits Hiroshima. … It’s so in keeping with his work, his global leadership to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. It’s testimony to the U.S.-Japan friendship which has been enhanced by the relationship between President Obama and Prime Minister Abe. I am very proud that the president is doing that.” —Nancy Pelosi The BIG lie, part I: “This [federal investigation39] has nothing to do with the Clinton Foundation. This was an allegation of a gentleman [Wang Wenliang] who gave a check to my campaign. I didn’t bring the donor in. I didn’t bring him into the Clinton Foundation. I’m not even sure if I’ve even met the person, to be honest with you.” —Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe The BIG lie, part II: “I think [Wang and I] probably met one or two occasions. I think, I’m not sure if he came to the inaugural. He may have come to the inaugural.” —Terry McAuliffe (“McAuliffe invited the Chinese businessman … to a 2013 fundraiser at Hillary Clinton’s personal Washington, D.C., residence.” —Time magazine) Late-night humor: “The FBI says, as part of its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails, it may call her in to speak to them. No word yet on how much Hillary’s planning to charge.” —Conan O'Brien 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. |