The Patriot Post Digest 5-21-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 5-21-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest

May 21, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another.” —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Hammond, 1821

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama Warns the Coast Guard of Rising Seas, Not Real Threats1

Barack Obama stood before the 200 graduates at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. They may have been sitting there, in their crisp white uniforms, but they would soon go out and enforce maritime law, command ships and lead search and rescue missions. What words could the commander in chief give these graduates that they could take to heart as they serve their country? Obama said, “I’m here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security. And make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country. And so we need to act — and we need to act now2.” Instead of mentioning the growing threat of ISIL that will be around longer than his administration, instead of warning about Russia’s belligerence, Obama tried to connect his longtime environmental crusade with national security. In fact, he blamed climate change for civil war in Syria: “Understand, climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world. Yet … it’s now believed that drought and crop failures and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East.” Obama’s address was full of lies. This speech merely diverted from his failed security policies to focus on his socialist climate change agenda3.

Rice Boasts of Ending Two Wars ‘Responsibly’4

National Security Advisor Susan Rice doesn’t have a swell history when it comes to accurately describing things. She faithfully started the YouTube video talking points lie5 regarding Benghazi, and, perhaps less infamously, she declared deserter and likely traitor Bowe Bergdahl6 served with “honor and distinction.” So it’s little surprise that she stuck her foot in her mouth once again, this time at a German Embassy photography exhibit of wounded soldiers. With U.S. vets in attendance angry over the recent fall of Ramadi7, Rice had the audacity to claim, “Now that we have ended two wars responsibly, and brought home hundreds of American troops, we salute this new generation of veterans.” Neither the war in Iraq nor the war in Afghanistan is over. Barack Obama simply abandoned Iraq, leaving it to the Islamic State, though U.S. forces continue to conduct airstrikes there. American soldiers will remain in Afghanistan for the time being, but the future is uncertain. Either way, “ended” and “responsibly” are not words to describe the actions of this woeful commander in chief.

Finally, a question for Hillary Clinton: Knowing what you know now8, would you go along with Obama’s plan to retreat from Iraq?

More Governments Fudging Climate Data9

Satellite data has found that the mean global temperature has been sitting on a plateau for more than 18 years now, which is in stark contrast to official government numbers. Just this week, NOAA reported10 that, at 1.33°F (0.74°C) above average, last month was the fourth warmest April recorded globally, and 2015 so far is the hottest on record. But as we’ve documented11, the agency is currently mired in allegations of misconduct after it was discovered that historical data was manipulated to make post 1970s/1980s warming appear more alarming. And more and more foreign government agencies are engaging in the practice. Last year, “The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) was … forced to admit it alters the temperatures recorded at almost all the official weather stations in Australia,” H. Sterling Burnett with The Heartland Institute wrote12 in September. Now, “Switzerland joins a growing list of countries whose temperature measurements have been adjusted to show greater warming than actually measured by its temperature instrument,” Burnett revealed this week. Interestingly, he notes, “Even with fudged data, governments have been unable to hide the fact winters in Switzerland and in Central Europe have become colder over the past 20 years, defying predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other climate alarmists.” Ironically, even data tampering can’t hide one inconvenient fact: Temperature trends are defying the science community’s predictions.
Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Wounded Warrior Warning13, on the Wounded Warrior Project and other veteran support groups..

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The Export-Import Bank Means Picking Winners and Losers15

By Allyne Caan

The massive defense contractor Boeing has produced a lot of things, but this may be the first time its been accused of delivering a “bit of bluster.” Yet, that’s exactly what Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) called Boeing’s threat to leave the country if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), a little-known federal agency that gives loans to foreign customers to buy U.S. goods — including those produced by Boeing.

Created in 1934 by executive order (that should have been the first warning), Ex-Im faces extinction if its charter is allowed to expire June 30.

But here’s the thing. Increasingly, conservatives are catching on to the fact that, just like the “too-big-to-fail” bailouts meant the government picked winners and losers, Ex-Im means the government picks winners and losers. Basically, the bank decides what companies, or countries, receive taxpayer-backed financing to purchase U.S. products. And it’s for good reason Ex-Im has been nicknamed the “Bank of Boeing,” given that Boeing receives 30%16 of the bank’s financing, or, as Veronique de Rugy points out17, more than $66 billion between 2007 and 2014.

Those opposed to letting the bank close its doors next month include, not surprisingly, Barack Obama, progressive darling Elizabeth Warren, and House Speaker John Boehner, who claimed that “there are thousands of jobs on the line that would disappear pretty quickly if the Ex-Im Bank were to disappear.”

Only, there aren’t. First, as de Rugy notes, Ex-Im subsidies don’t “create” jobs but merely “redistribute” them from non-subsidized ones to subsidized ones. Hmm, if you like your job you can keep your job? Second, tales of thousands of jobs lost may be greatly exaggerated, as evidenced by criticism from the Government Accountability Office and others of the job numbers provided by the bank.

Furthermore, even if Ex-Im went dark, the life of current loans and loan guarantees wouldn’t be cut short. For Boeing, this would mean, as Hensarling notes, an additional 18 years of financing. Plus, the primary recipients of Ex-Im subsidies have work backorders that would sustain their business for years — Boeing’s threat notwithstanding.

So what’s Congress to do? Well, several members, including several presidential candidates or potential candidates, say the bank needs to go — whether quickly or over time. Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, all with eyes set on 2016, have come out against the bank, as have Governors Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal, as well as former CEO Carly Fiorina. Senator Lindsay Graham, not surprisingly, has come out in favor of the bank.