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« on: July 14, 2015, 06:26:41 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 7-14-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Jul. 14, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” —Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, 1776
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Iranian Nuclear Deal Isn’t Exactly Peace in Our Time1
After two years in the works and numerous missed deadlines, the P5+1 — United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China — and the Islamic regime of Iran reached a formal nuclear agreement. But, as expected, the deal is “mutually beneficial” for all the wrong reasons: Obama can punt the issue to the next administration; meanwhile, Iran —which is expected to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons for a decade — will quietly continue its operations underground. The Washington Free Beacon reports, “In one of the most controversial concessions made by the Obama administration, a United Nations embargo on arms will also be lifted within around five years as part of the deal, according to multiple reports. A similar embargo on the construction of ballistic missiles, which could carry a nuclear payload, also will expire in around eight years under the deal. Initial readings of the deal also indicate that Iran will be given the right to veto so-called ‘anywhere, anytime’ inspections of Iranian nuclear sites.” Congress will have to give the deal the go-ahead, but that likelihood increased significantly thanks to the legislative compromise crafted by Sen. Bob Corker. As National Review’s Andrew McCarthy explained2, “Instead of requiring the president to convince a two-thirds supermajority of the Senate to approve the Iran deal, it requires opponents to convince a two-thirds supermajority of the full Congress to defeat the deal.”
If Congress approves the deal — which it surely will — and Iran follows through on some preliminary conditions, the regime will be awarded $100 billion from frozen assets — something over which John Kerry appeared remorseful. “We realize how deeply the nuclear related sanctions affected the lives of Iranians,” he said. Adding insult to injury, according to The Wall Street Journal, sanctions relief “could help Iran’s economy to expand by 7% to 8% annually for years to come.” Leave it to Obama to stimulate Iran’s economy more than ours. Israel is understandably infuriated. “Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons,” warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted. Iran will get a jackpot — a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars — which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror.” Still, that didn’t prevent the antagonizer in chief from taking a victory lap. “The United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not,” Obama proclaimed, “a comprehensive, long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” In April, Mark Alexander explained3 that “the central issue is not whether Iran can be trusted, but that Obama can’t be trusted.” That’s what makes this deal so alarming and, indeed, dangerous.
County Clerk Refuses Marriage Licenses4
In the days since five members of the Supreme Court endorsed redefining marriage5, essentially creating a constitutional “right” to same-sex marriage out of thin air, the question has been what rights trump other rights when the inevitable conflict happens. Actually, it’s not so much a question as it is seeing where Christians are assaulted next. It isn’t just bakers, florists and photographers, but, among others, churches, religious schools and county clerks. In Kentucky, the question of religious liberty and marriage is back in court after Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused to comply with the SCOTUS ruling. In fact, Davis wouldn’t issue any marriage licenses. “It’s a deep-rooted conviction,” Davis said. “My conscience won’t allow me to do that. It goes against everything I hold dear — everything sacred in my life.” U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning heard arguments Monday. Several county clerks around the nation have resigned rather than violate their own beliefs, and others are pondering what moves to make. The root of the problem is that the “right” to same-sex marriage requires endorsement, whether or not it’s against conscience.
NYC Gives Garner Family $5.9 Million6
On July 17, 2014, several white New York City police officers, under the supervision of a black NYPD police sergeant named Kizzy Adoni, were involved in a takedown of a belligerent black man, Eric Garner, after he resisted arrest for selling “loose” cigarettes. One of the officers, Daniel Pantaleo, used a modified chokehold as part of the effort to get the 350lb Garner to the ground. That chokehold had been previously barred by NYPD policy because it caused prior injuries and deaths. Indeed, Garner died shortly after the takedown, though Pantaleo was not indicted. In part because the incident was caught on video it became a primary anecdote in the narrative about racist police enforcement7. On Monday, New York City settled with Garner’s family for $5.9 million, just days before the anniversary of Garner’s death and the deadline for filing suit. The family had given notice of a $75 million suit, and the settlement is obviously the city’s effort to close the book on the story and to save taxpayers potentially many millions more dollars. The book isn’t closed across the country, however, as citizens and police departments grapple with what effective and proper law enforcement looks like in a very racially charged America.
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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Hillary Blames Republicans for Obama’s Economy10
By Nate Jackson
Hillary Clinton finally laid out a platform for her campaign Monday, focusing on her plan to solve America’s economic woes. Just kidding. She didn’t really propose anything new so much as complain about the state of an economy that “still isn’t delivering for most Americans,” while inciting a little class warfare along the way. Of course, she’s done quite alright for herself11, thank you very much, but that’s beside the point, right?
“Previous generations of Americans built the greatest economy and strongest middle class the world has ever known on the promise of a basic bargain: If you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead,” Hillary said. “But over the past several decades, that bargain has eroded. Our job is to make it strong again.”
That bargain has indeed eroded over the last six-plus years of Barack Obama’s “recovery” (eight years if we include Democrat control of Congress beginning in 2007), during which the government spent $1 trillion it didn’t have in “stimulus” money, took over the health insurance market, institutionalized “too big to fail” through financial regulations and raised taxes on small businesses. Those policies only served to harm the middle class by undermining job and wage growth.
Clinton launched an attack on potential Republican rival Jeb Bush. “Now, you may have heard Governor Bush say Americans just need to work longer hours,” she mocked. “Well, he must not have met very many American workers. Let him tell that to the nurse who stands on her feet all day, or the teacher who’s in that classroom or the trucker who drives all night. Let him tell that to the fast-food worker marching in the streets for better pay. They do not need a lecture. They need a raise.”
Bush’s “people need to work longer hours” remark was a perhaps inartful way of pointing out how badly Obama botched the economy. ObamaCare in particular hurt workers through its requirement that employers provide insurance to workers who put in more than 30 hours a week. For the part-time waitress or big box store worker, that means they can no longer get more than 29 hours — because mandating insurance doesn’t mean an employer can afford to provide it. And far too much of the job growth under Obama has been part-time work for people who want full-time jobs. |
