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« on: March 11, 2015, 07:43:27 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 3-11-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Mar. 11, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“Without justice being freely, fully, and impartially administered, neither our persons, nor our rights, nor our property, can be protected. And if these, or either of them, are regulated by no certain laws, and are subject to no certain principles, and are held by no certain tenure, and are redressed, when violated, by no certain remedies, society fails of all its value; and men may as well return to a state of savage and barbarous independence.” –Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Is the Threat of an Ammo Ban Past?1
A bit of good news out of The Swamp for a change. The ATF says it’s scrapping plans to ban a popular round of ammunition2 after loads of negative public feedback. The Associated Press reports3, “The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says the agency received more than 80,000 public comments on the proposal to outlaw some types of 5.56 mm rounds, or .223 caliber. The agency says the comments were overwhelmingly critical of the proposal.” The ban was (supposedly) motivated by the “discovery” that “pistols” can now shoot armor-piercing ammo, but perhaps the ATF feared a successful court challenge to the National Firearms Act’s definition of “pistol.” Certainly, Second Amendment defenders think the NFA is in many ways incompatible with the Supreme Court’s Heller ruling.
But is this really good news, or just a tactical retreat? According to the ATF4, “Although ATF endeavored to create a proposal that reflected a good faith interpretation of the law and balanced the interests of law enforcement, industry, and sportsmen, the vast majority of the comments received to date are critical of the framework, and include issues that deserve further study. Accordingly, ATF will not at this time seek to issue a final framework [emphasis added]. After the close of the comment period, ATF will process the comments received, further evaluate the issues raised therein, and provide additional open and transparent process (for example, through additional proposals and opportunities for comment) before proceeding with any framework.” So it really isn’t over.
Stay tuned for Mark Alexander’s analysis of the situation later today.
Social Security Records Show Existence of 6.5M Zombies5
It’s strike two against the Social Security Administration. First, the agency wrote to Sen. Ron Johnson, telling him it was still implementing Barack Obama’s executive actions6 granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. Now, an investigation showed the agency did not prosecute illegal immigrants it found committing fraud with Social Security numbers belonging to citizens who died. According to a report7 by the agency’s Inspector General, “In three cases, [the Office of Investigators] confirmed that illegal aliens were using deceased numberholders' names and SSNs to work, but U.S. Attorneys in Arizona, Florida, and South Carolina declined prosecution.” The report goes on to say there are 6.5 million Social-Security-card-carrying citizens who are over the age 112. Right. But then there’s this example: In 2008, a man whose Social Security number indicated he was 122 applied for a job in Arizona, even though the SSA’s payment records show it stopped paying him benefits in 1965. Either there was a zombie collecting a salary in Arizona, or the SSA’s shoddy record keeping has allowed fraud to fester. More…8
Walker and Obama Tussle Over Right-to-Work9
After Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed right-to-work legislation Monday, Barack Obama bashed the Republican presidential hopeful. “Wisconsin is a state built by labor, with a proud pro-worker past,” Obama said. “So even as its governor claims victory over working Americans, I’d encourage him to try and score a victory for working Americans – by taking meaningful action to raise their wages and offer them the security of paid leave. That’s how you give hardworking middle-class families a fair shot in the new economy – not by stripping their rights in the workplace, but by offering them all the tools they need to get ahead.” Walker quickly fired back. “On the heels of vetoing Keystone Pipeline legislation, which would have paved the way to create thousands of quality, middle-class jobs, the President should be looking to states, like Wisconsin, as an example for how to grow our economy,” Walker replied in a statement10. “Despite a stagnant national economy and a lack of leadership in Washington, since we took office, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is down to 5.0 percent, and more than 100,000 jobs and 30,000 businesses have been created.” Obama has spent more than six years undermining working Americans all while claiming to be in their corner – his magic “middle-class economics11.” But higher taxes based on class warfare aren’t going to grow the economy. Encouraging work will.
It Takes No Fewer Than 170 Days to Fire Federal Workers12
Government employment usually entails good job security. Consider the EPA, where spending up to six hours per day looking at x-rated websites13 isn’t enough to get employees fired – even a year after the story broke. No matter which federal department or agency you represent, existing rules ensure that accountability is difficult to enforce, particularly when it comes to veteran workers. Based on a Government Accountability Office report published Monday, “A minimum of 170 days is required to fire a federal employee for poor performance, if a government agency properly follows the required dismissal process,” The Washington Free Beacon reveals. Administrators who follow chapter 43 of the United States Code allow misbehaving employees upwards of 110 days to make amends. And if that doesn’t work? “After dismissal, the employee is then given the opportunity to appeal, which itself takes an average of 243 days to complete,” the Beacon adds. “Alternatively, agencies can use chapter 75, which is ‘largely similar to chapter 43.’ Chapter 75 is generally faster since it does not require time to allow the employee to improve, but the ‘burden of proof for sustaining a dismissal’ is higher.” The infamous EPA porn-watcher by his own admission downloaded and viewed more than 7,000 files. What more “burden of proof” does the government need? More…14
University Violated Speech Rights of Racist Frat Boys15
University of Oklahoma violated the First Amendment rights of two frat boys when it expelled them after they were videotaped leading a racist chant. Over the weekend, the school’s student newspaper16 published a story after it obtained video footage17 of a group of Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat boys chanting that “there will never be a n—– at SAE.” But the university’s discipline of the students may have just elevated the students to free speech martyrdom. Legal scholar Eugene Volokh18 writes, “First, racist speech is constitutionally protected, just as is expression of other contemptible ideas; and universities may not discipline students based on their speech. That has been the unanimous view of courts that have considered campus speech codes and other campus speech restrictions. … The same, of course, is true for fraternity speech, racist or otherwise.” But in the nanny-state that is often called higher education, administration officials simply see students as children, whose rights they can violate at will. A better discipline would have been to call out the perpetrators – by name – in the square of public ideas. More…19
For more, visit Right Hooks20. |
