The Patriot Post Digest 6-22-2015

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 6-22-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Daily Digest

Jun. 22, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” —Thomas Paine, American Crisis, No. 1, 1776

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama’s New ‘Angry’ Standard for Owning Guns1

As we have already noted here2 and here3, Barack Obama wants you to believe that the horrific murders in Charleston last week happened because his gun control agenda has been thwarted. In a new interview — part of a comedian’s somehow appropriately titled podcast “WTF With Marc Maron” — Obama blamed the NRA. “Unfortunately, the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong,” he said. “I don’t foresee any legislative action being taken by this Congress.” Fortunately, the Second Amendment, which the NRA defends, still holds sway with enough members of Congress to stop Obama’s agenda. Of course, he trotted out his usual trope about how he concedes “we have to be respectful” of the traditions of “hunting and sportsmanship around firearms,” neither of which have much to do with our rights. But his most worrisome statement was on the standards for background checks, which the Charleston murderer passed. Obama wants those background checks to be even tougher to pass. How tough? Obama asked, “The question is just, is there a way of accommodating that legitimate set of [hunting and sporting] traditions with some common-sense stuff that prevents a 21-year-old who’s angry about something — or confused about something, or is racist, or is deranged — from going into a gun store, and suddenly he’s packing and can do enormous harm?” So now the standard is whether someone is merely angry, confused or racist? Who gets to decide that? If it’s Obama, no Republican would ever be permitted to purchase a gun.

In Charleston, Grace Broke Through4

As Dylann Roof sat in the basement of Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Wednesday evening, he almost didn’t go through with his plot. The church members were “so nice to him,” NBC News5 reports. But Roof was bent on carrying out his “mission.” In murdering nine people in cold blood, leaving one woman alive, he hoped to ignite6 a race war. It’s the sum of white supremacist philosophy: Sooner or later the races will descend into violence, and Roof wanted to be the spark. But instead of revenge, Roof was met with something else. In an unusual testimony during a bond hearing, the daughter of Ethel Lance, one of the victims, told Roof4, “I forgive you. You took something really precious away from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you and have mercy on your soul. It hurts me, it hurts a lot of people but God forgive you and I forgive you.” One by one, the representatives of the victims came forward, forgiving Roof, asking him to give his life to Christ. On Sunday, Roof’s plans vaporized as white Christians prayed with black Christians7 and churches vowed to build relationships with one another. Truth and love transcend racial lines.

EPA Slaps New Regs on Vehicles8

The Environmental Protection Agency is heating up. In late May the EPA took additional control9 over America’s waterways. Last week it announced plans to regulate aircraft10. This week it expanded its reach even further by slapping regulations on larger vehicles. “The Obama administration on Friday proposed tough new standards to reduce pollution from carbon-emitting trucks and vans, the latest move by President Barack Obama to address global warming,” the Associated Press reports. “The new rules … are designed to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 24 percent over the next 12 years while reducing oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the rule. … The proposed standards would cover model years 2021-2027 and apply to semi-trucks, large pickup trucks and vans, and all types and sizes of buses and work trucks, officials said.” As if this latest power grab isn’t bad enough, the EPA is about to finalize its long-anticipated Clean Power Plan regulating carbon emissions from coal-fired plants. The sad irony is that it’s all being justified by junk science. More…11

Liberty Depends on You

The part you play in the ongoing battle for Liberty is significant. Without you — our faithful readers — what the editors and staff of The Patriot Post do would be impossible, as would keeping the flame of Liberty burning bright.

Unlike our government, we function on a budget. But The Patriot Post team depends on you to ensure that remains the case, and we humbly ask that you consider supporting our 2015 Independence Day Campaign12 today. Please keep in mind that, once again, we did not increase our budget this year.

Please, if you have the ability, take a moment to support us online12 today by making a contribution. If you prefer to support us by mail, please see our printable form13 for more information.

Thank you!

Nate Jackson
Managing Editor

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
State Dept. Admits Obama’s Anti-Terror Polices Failed14

By Nate Jackson

This just in from Barack Obama’s never-ending victory lap in the Long War: The State Department issued a notable report Friday indicating that terrorism is on the upswing around the world. Not only that, but Iran has a big hand in it. Clearly, Obama’s boasting in his own successful policies has been, to put it charitably, misplaced.

According to the State Department’s report15, terror attacks spiked 35% between 2013 and 2014, while deaths from those attacks rose by a staggering 81%. State called the 2014 attacks “exceptionally lethal,” as 20 of them resulted in more than 100 deaths. Twenty-four Americans were among the nearly 33,000 victims of almost 13,500 attacks.

A major facet of the increase in attacks is that the Islamic State — previously known as the “JV team” — has, according to The Guardian, crippled al-Qaida16 from within while succeeding in procuring what State’s report called an “unprecedented seizure” of territory in Iraq and Syria. The report found, “The prominence of the threat once posed by core al Qaeda diminished in 2014. … AQ leadership also appeared to lose momentum as the self-styled leader of a global movement in the face of ISIL’s rapid expansion and proclamation of a Caliphate.”

Obama may claim to have “decimated” al-Qaida, but he has done so only by permitting the Islamic State to do it for him. That’s hardly what we’d call a model for success.

Much of the terrorism increase has happened in Iraq, where the Islamic State filled the vacuum left by Obama’s premature withdrawal17 of American forces. But Syria is also a serious problem, where the report notes that the number of foreign fighters swelling the ranks of the Islamic State “exceeded the rate of foreign fighters who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years.”

Finally, and perhaps of most concern going forward, is that the State Department acknowledges Iran’s major role in sponsoring the increase in terrorism — all while Secretary of State John Kerry negotiates lucrative sanctions relief as part of a lousy nuclear agreement with that nation.

“ISIL and AQ were far from the only serious threat that confronted the United States and its allies,” according to the report. “Iran continued to sponsor terrorist groups around the world, principally through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).”