The Patriot Post Digest 5-8-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 5-8-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest

May 8, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.” —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Spencer Roane, 1821

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Job Numbers Can Be Summed Up in One Word: ‘Unchanged’1

When will the U.S. economy roar back to life? First quarter GDP dismally underperformed2 expectations, and it can’t be blamed on the weather. The only good number in April’s Bureau of Labor Statistics' jobs report3 is that the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs. But even that number is tempered by the paltry number of workers the country added in March. Unemployment “was essentially unchanged” as it was 5.4%, and the U-6 measure of labor underutilization edged down a tenth of a percentage point to 10.8%. And the labor force participation rate remains at historic lows. “Since April 2014, the participation rate has remained within a narrow range of 62.7 percent to 62.9 percent,” the report says.

Of the jobs that were added, most of the growth was in the economic sectors of professional and business services, health care and construction. The oil and gas industry lost 3,000 jobs in April, which shows it’s contracting and jettisoning workers after the glut of energy production in December. The factories are slowing down, as the average manufacturing workweek is shortening to 40.8 hours. This is all in contrast to the Obama administration’s mantra that the economy will kick itself out of first gear any day now. Before BLS released the numbers, The New York Times said4 the shadowy policymakers at the Fed will be watching this report to see if they should raise interest rates. While it would be nice to get a little something for keeping money in a bank, it seems like the Fed will follow the economy’s lead and stay frozen.

Surprise! British Conservatives Win Election5

The Conservative Party won an absolute majority in Parliament in Great Britain’s elections Thursday, ensuring not only that Prime Minister David Cameron will still reside at 10 Downing Street but that the party can govern alone after five years in a coalition. The results confounded British pollsters, who had predicted a tight race and perhaps even a loss for Conservatives, also called Tories. (Completely wrong polls sound quite familiar.) But National Review’s Andrew Stuttaford has a theory6: “Where did the pollsters go wrong? Probably by underestimating the amount of ‘shy Tories’ that there are. Brits should pause to think of what it says about the country’s intellectual climate that so many voters on one side of the aisle are unwilling to disclose their voting preferences.” That, too, sounds sadly familiar.

Cameron ran on a referendum of the Tories' record of turning around the nation’s economy. He defeated Ed Milliband, whose leftist Labour Party promised a return to a more robust, government-led agenda that would increase spending on entitlements. Labour’s loss was largely attributable to Scotland, where the Scottish National Party took 56 of 59 seats in a typical Labour stronghold. That could mean a new push for Scottish independence7, though Cameron could perhaps head that off with a British version of American federalism, shifting more power to the four home nations of the United Kingdom.

Next up: a referendum by 2017 on British membership in the European Union.

Lynch Signals Her ‘Solutions’ to Fixing Unrest in Baltimore8

Before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, newly minted Attorney General Loretta Lynch outlined her proposed budget for the Department of Justice, backing rhetoric with proposed dollars for fixing the unrest in places like Baltimore. First, Lynch proposed boosting the money going to the Community Relations Service, a program arising out of the Civil Rights Act designed to smooth over racial and ethnic tension. But when the CRS glided into Ferguson last year, National Review’s Ryan Lovelace9 reported that it lectured residents on “white privilege” and the first town hall meetings disintegrated into shouting. Lynch also announced a proposed $69.5 million boost to the Community Oriented Policing Services to make America’s police force more diverse. “Again, it is efforts like these that may help to prevent situations like those in Ferguson and Baltimore,” Lynch said in her written testimony to the committee10. Finally, the two-week-old AG suggested she will announce a DOJ probe investigating if Baltimore’s police department used excessive force. Lynch is doubling down and asking for more funding for the failed programs of the past, the very programs that didn’t prevent the problems we have now. More…11

MOTHER’S DAY

On Sunday, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, we’re reminded that among the Ten Commandments there is but one that comes with a promise: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation in 1914 proclaiming Mother’s Day a national holiday. But then again, we don’t need a holiday to express our appreciation to moms everywhere. May God bless each and every mother among our Patriot readers!

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Hillary Changes Her Immigration Tune12

By Michael Swartz

If we told you that a 2016 presidential candidate said, “We’ve got to do several things, and I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants… Certainly, we’ve got to do more to our borders, and people have to stop employing illegal immigrants,” you would probably guess one of the GOP candidates. But while that may be the sentiment of a select few in the GOP field, the words were actually uttered by Hillary Clinton in 200313.

Ramping up for the 2016 election, however, Hillary has changed her tune, as millions of illegal aliens have now become prospective voters. Democrats today realize that these “new Americans” can become a huge voting bloc and put several states permanently out of reach to the GOP. So Hillary is now squarely in favor of “full and equal citizenship” for everyone who wants to come to America, illegally or not.

Hillary’s new message14 is that she would “go even further” than Obama if Congress doesn’t act. “I will fight for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for you and for your families across our country,” Hillary told a Las Vegas audience. This includes not only the parents of so-called DREAMers but also illegal aliens who had already been deported but still have relatives here.

“I want to do everything we can to defend the president’s executive orders [on immigration] because I think they were certainly within his authority constitutionally,” she added. “Legally, they were based on precedent that I certainly believe is adequate. And then still try to go further and deal with some of these other issues like the reunification of families that were here and have been split up since the last eight, 10, 12 years.”

But even the Obama administration won’t say whether her idea is legal15. “There may be a legal explanation [for her promises] that they have that you should ask them about,” stammered White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

So how will Republicans respond? It goes without saying that accusing Hillary of flip-flopping won’t get them very far, as Democrats are only held responsible for what they’re saying at precisely a given moment, subject to change depending on the audience. Moreover, being against unfettered immigration is now equated with racism, and Beltway Republicans run from that comparison like a squirrel from a dog. But the primary hurdle for Republicans is that they’re flip-flopping themselves16.