The Patriot Post Digest 6-5-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 6-5-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest

Jun. 5, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“Of all the views of this law none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own liberty. … History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.” —Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

U.S. Economy Prepares for Leisurely Summer Months1

It’s summer, and college students are putting down their laptops and picking up temporary jobs. And a few days ago, the Commerce Department revised their estimate2 for the nation’s GDP; from January to March, the nation’s GDP output shrank by 0.7%. These events mean the May jobs report3 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a mixed bag. The headlining numbers look good. In May, the U.S. added 280,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has stayed essentially unchanged since January at 5.5%. The U6 unemployment rate, which also measures the people struggling through long-term unemployment and people stuck in part-time jobs, held at 10.8%. Wages rose, however, as hourly earnings rose eight cents so the average American worker is earning $24.96 an hour. With the numbers comes the greater chance that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in September, reports CNBC4. But much of the notable job gain comes just ahead of the summer months, a possible sign that Americans have more discretionary spending, notes Market Watch5. Leisure and hospitality fields added 57,000 jobs last month, and another 29,000 jobs were added to the field of arts, entertainment and recreation. This raises questions about the kind of industry on which the nation is building the economy.

Most Americans Want Income Redistribution6

A recent poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News finds that not only are Americans concerned with inequality but they want the government to go after the rich and redistribute their wealth. Paul wants the government to rob Peter. “The poll found that a strong majority say that wealth should be more evenly divided and that it is a problem that should be addressed urgently,” the Times reports7. “Nearly six in 10 Americans said government should do more to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, but they split sharply along partisan lines. Only one-third of Republicans supported a more active government role, versus eight in 10 of Democrats.” The report goes on to say inequality of wealth may become a prominent issue in the larger 2016 election. It’s a convenient narrative for Obama. His redistributionist policies — from an ill-conceived and ill-targeted “stimulus” to ObamaCare — have clearly stalled the nation’s economic engine, but he and his acolytes can simply continue to tell the poor and middle class that the deck is stacked against them. The Leftmedia, of course, dutifully parrots this false narrative, and the means to create wealth continue to languish.

Protecting Nonprofits From SCOTUS Marriage Ruling8

The Supreme Court is considering a case9 that would hand down the definition of marriage nationwide. As U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli told the court10, the fact that some religious nonprofits will decide not to hire people due to their beliefs in same-sex marriage is “certainly going to be an issue.” In the possible fallout of the coming ruling, a Christian school could lose its nonprofit status if, say, it refused to hire an openly homosexual man. Rather than waiting for the Court’s decision, Sen. Mike Lee plans to introduce legislation that would protect religious nonprofits. “Discrimination by private parties against private parties — that’s one issue,” he said. “There is a different issue when the government is itself the discriminator. … That’s a problem and that’s what we’re trying to protect here.” The bill Lee would introduce is similar to the 2013 Marriage and Religious Freedom Act. While the courts have tended toward interpreting U.S. law broadly11 when it comes to religious liberty, the issue has become unnecessarily politicized in legislatures across the country. The First Amendment was drafted to ensure that diverse opinions were never driven from the public square. But that fundamental principle is at odds with the Left’s agenda. More…12

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Inevitable Hillary Calls for Universal Vote13

By Lewis Morris

The media and the Democrat establishment have done a fine job trying to convince the American people that Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States. We only need to sit back and accept it like we would the next sunrise. But all isn’t well with the Clinton brand these days. In fact, the case could be made that her road to the White House is not nearly as foregone a conclusion as we’ve been told.

The lengthy list of Clinton scandals hasn’t seemed to stop the Hillary machine just yet, but the Clinton Foundation’s numerous sketchy dealings14 are beginning to take their toll.

The latest chapter15 in the Clinton Slush Fund’s ongoing improprieties includes FIFA16, the world soccer body whose executives appear to have been engaging in corrupt acts for two decades. It now turns out that Qatar, the host country for the lucrative World Cup in 2022, was a regular donor to the Clinton Foundation and was a sponsor of the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. By that point, there were widespread allegations that the country had bribed its way into hosting the 2022 tournament. There were also accusations that unsafe working conditions in the building of its soccer stadiums for the World Cup led to the deaths of numerous immigrant workers.

Donations to the Foundation from Qatar and FIFA had been ongoing since 2006 and continued through Hillary’s term as secretary of state. In public, Hillary was calling for a stronger stance against Middle Eastern regimes and Bill was decrying the abuse of migrant workers. In private, however, Qatar was donating between $1 million and $5 million to the Clintons.

Bill’s response to all this is to shrug and move on. He told attendees at a Foundation event in March, “My theory about all this is disclose everything and then let people make their judgments.”

Theory and practice are clearly two different things with the Clintons.

Take, for instance, Hillary’s stance against the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling. She claims to want open political discourse, but she is so staunchly opposed to open spending on political activity by corporations and independent groups that she vows to support only those Supreme Court nominees who are sworn to overturn Citizens United. In other words, a litmus test. And let’s not forget that the whole case was about a movie funded by political groups critical of Hillary. She’s all for free speech, so long as she approves of the speech.

Hillary’s assault on voter laws is also motivated by how it will benefit her campaign. She called Thursday for universal and automatic voter registration, a horrible idea to eliminate the most basic requirement of having to register to vote. It’s her plan to counter voter ID laws, which she complains are a nasty invention of Republicans who are “systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting.”