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« on: March 17, 2015, 04:38:21 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 3-17-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Mar. 17, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“Honesty will be found on every experiment, to be the best and only true policy; let us then as a nation be just.” –George Washington, Circular letter to the States, 1783
TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS
Hillary’s Camp: Oh, by the Way, We Really Did Read Every Email1
Is this any way to run a nascent presidential campaign? It took Hillary Clinton three days to challenge the story2 that her “personal” emails were deleted without anyone even reading them. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill released a statement claiming that when they said keyword searches were used to determine which emails to keep it wasn’t the only method they employed. “In wanting the public to understand how robust of a search was conducted, the fact sheet laid out several examples of the methods used by the reviewers to double and triple check they were capturing everything,” he said. “It was not meant to be taken as a list of every approach performed to ensure thoroughness. Those subsequent steps were in addition to reading them all, not in lieu of reading them all. (No different than our explaining such terms were used but not listing every search term used.) We simply took for granted that reading every single email came across as the most important, fundamental and exhaustive step that was performed. The fact sheet should have been clearer every email was read, which we are doing now.” They assumed everyone would trust Hillary’s judgment. But, as the saying goes, you know what you get when you assume… More…3
It’s ‘Sunshine Week,’ So Obviously Obama’s Blocking FOIAs4
George W. Bush decided that the Office of Administration was exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests, despite the office having abided by the law for 30 years. Barack Obama’s administration has continued the Bush administration’s practice, and, in fact, the White House just made the policy official. USA Today notes, “The timing of the move raised eyebrows among transparency advocates, coming on National Freedom of Information Day and during a national debate over the preservation of Obama administration records. It’s also Sunshine Week, an effort by news organizations and watchdog groups to highlight issues of government transparency.” Not only that, but the Office of Administration handles White House record keeping, including email, making the timing especially ironic during a firestorm surrounding Hillary Clinton’s corrupt email practices. So, once again, it’s plain that The Most Transparent Administration in History™ is about as see-through as a brick wall. More…5
Finally! Congressional GOP Starts to Lead Using Proposed Budget6
Congressional Republicans certainly have their work cut out for them. Today, the House Committee on the Budget, headed by Dr. Tom Price of Georgia, released its proposed budget7 that sets forth a Republican agenda for how the federal purse is to be spent. The budget, steeped in the fiscal influence8 of Rep. Paul Ryan, cuts spending by $5.1 trillion and slashes additional debt in 10 years. ObamaCare would be repealed and the caps on defense spending would be lifted. But such a proposal could be controversial even among Republicans because it pits war hawks like Sen. John McCain, who vehemently opposed the sequestration of defense spending, against Republicans who prioritize a tight fiscal policy in all quarters. Last month’s fight to fund the Department of Homeland Security while defunding Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration showed that congressional Republicans face a double enemy – fratricidal infighting and an authoritarian executive. But a budget is a worthy goal (exactly why Harry Reid blocked one for so many years), and we’re glad to see the Republican majority finally starting to lead. More…9
Jeb Bush’s ‘Grown-Up’ Immigration Plan10
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush11 isn’t likely to win over many grassroots conservatives with his stance on immigration. But he knows that and isn’t even bothering to try. He sounded off on what to do with illegals already in the country, saying, “It’s easy to say, ‘Well, anything you propose is amnesty,’ but that’s not a plan. That’s a sentiment; that’s not a plan. I think the best plan, the most realistic plan – the grown-up plan, if you will – is once you control the border and you’re confident it’s not going to be another magnet, is to say, ‘Let’s let these folks achieve earned legal status where they work, where they come out of the shadows.’” He’s right in that dealing with illegals already here is the most difficult part of immigration reform, and there are few, if any, satisfactory plans to do so. We’ll give Bush marks for consistency, but he would do far better to try to win converts than to belittle as children those on his own side who disagree with his approach. That’s what leftists do.
Seattle Eateries Are Dying and Minimum Wage Killed Them12
It’s just going to be that much harder to get some authentic Seattle salmon. Due to the city’s minimum wage hike that’s set to slam the city April 1 (April Fools!), Seattle restaurants are closing because they can’t pay workers the $15 an hour minimum wage. Seattle Magazine13 reports, “Washington Restaurant Association’s [Anthony] Anton puts it this way: ‘It’s not a political problem; it’s a math problem.’ He estimates that a common budget breakdown among sustaining Seattle restaurants so far has been the following: 36 percent of funds are devoted to labor, 30 percent to food costs and 30 percent go to everything else (all other operational costs). The remaining 4 percent has been the profit margin, and as a result, in a $700,000 restaurant, he estimates that the average restaurateur in Seattle has been making $28,000 a year.” While restaurants are not the economic lifeblood of any city, a city without good food is tasteless. This is a tangible example of what’s happening to Seattle’s economy with a government-mandated wage. More…14
For more, visit Right Hooks15.
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Check out If Reagan Were Still President…16.
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RIGHT ANALYSIS
DOJ Bouncers Eye Conservatives18
The Justice Department recently announced plans to crack down on campaign finance coordination between candidates and outside groups. Not satisfied with the job the Federal Election Commission is doing to keep candidates from leveraging independent political groups, Justice said it will investigate such cases and “aggressively pursue coordination offenses at every appropriate opportunity.”
The Wall Street Journal explains19, “Under federal law, a campaign expenditure is illegally coordinated when it meets certain tests for content and conduct. The content of an ad must either advocate for a candidate or mention the candidate by name in the 60 days before a general election. The conduct amounts to illegal coordination if there is material involvement or substantial discussion between a [political action committee] and a candidate regarding that election-related content.”
Proving coordination can be difficult, but starting an investigation can be alarmingly easy. All that’s needed is an allegation that two people talked who shouldn’t have – then government lawyers can come in and comb through files, computer drives and bank accounts with the full power of the FBI behind them.
Is there really a rash of corrupt coordination taking place between political candidates and PACs? What kind of widespread corruption would warrant the Justice Department taking such sweeping actions? “The opportunity to commit crime has increased dramatically,” said DOJ spokesman Peter Carr. Oh, the opportunity. But what about actual crime?
Well, the total number of such cases DOJ opened since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling on campaign finance has plummeted, as has the total amount of fines collected. According to the DOJ’s statist mindset, that could only mean missed opportunities to shakedown political opponents.
GOP members of the FEC claim the lower number of investigations indicates people are following the rules, though Democrat members believe Republicans must be getting away with something. You can imagine which side the DOJ will come down on.
Richard Pilger, head of the DOJ’s Election Crimes Branch, supports pursuing coordination investigations. The outcome of an FEC investigation could lead to fines or even jail time.
Incidentally, Pilger was the DOJ official who in 2010 reached out to the IRS’s Lois Lerner – remember her? – about prosecuting nonprofits that engaged in fraud on their tax returns. Lerner ended up sharing protected taxpayer data on a number of nonprofit groups – coincidentally, all of them supported conservative causes. Talk about coordination.
In fact, Barack Obama’s 2012 election victory could largely be attributable to the IRS’s targeting of his political opponents. |
