The Patriot Post Digest 8-13-2015

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 8-13-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Daily Digest

Aug. 13, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous.” —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Monsieur A. Coray, 1823

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Just How Big Were the Secrets on Clinton’s Private Server?1

While her campaign tried to downplay the significance of the event, Hillary Clinton “handed over2” her private server to the FBI as the bureau investigates the mishandling of classified information on her home-brewed system. But in an Aug. 11 letter3 to the Senate, U.S. intelligence Inspector General I. Charles McCullough said that some of the emails on Hillary Clinton’s private, unsecured server contained “information classified up to ‘TOP SECRET//SI/TK//NOFORN.’” John R. Schindler4, a former counterintelligence officer with the NSA, said the classification shows just how sensitive the information was that Clinton carelessly handled. Information classified “TOP SECRET,” if leaked, “could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security or foreign relations,” according to the Department of Defense5. SI stands for “Special Intelligence,” something that was gleaned from intercepted communications, and TK means that the information came from a spy satellite. Furthermore, NOFORN means that no non-citizen should ever see the information. Despite heading the State Department, Clinton had no authority to downgrade the classified information she handled. Her private server and communication habits weren’t just bad judgment, they were illegal. As Schindler put it, “There is no doubt that she, or someone on her State Department staff, violated federal law by putting TOP SECRET//SI information on an unclassified system.” American spies have been punished — jailed — for doing less.

Don’t miss a humorous take6 from the movie “Downfall” on Hillary’s destruction.

Envirofascist Industry: Growth Through Coercion7

The Climate Change Business Journal estimates that the envirofascist industry is “worth” $1.5 trillion annually — a fairly impressive revelation at the surface. You can obtain the report yourself for a mere $995 if you feel so inclined. Fortunately for us, the Insurance Journal already did the dirty work and reports, “The San Diego, Calif.-based publication includes within [the climate change] industry nine segments and 38 sub-segments. This encompasses sectors like renewables, green building and hybrid vehicles. That also includes the climate change consulting market, which a recent report by the journal estimates at $1.9 billion worldwide and $890 million in the U.S. Included in this sub-segment, which the report shows is one of the fastest growing areas of the climate change industry, are environmental consultants and engineers, risk managers, assurance, as well as legal and other professional services [emphasis added].” In other words, as Power Line’s John Hinderaker points out8, “What is striking about the global warming industry is that its growth is driven more or less entirely by ‘policymaking,’ i.e., government mandates and other policies. This is why ‘green’ businesses contribute so lavishly to the political campaigns of politicians who drink the global warming Kool-aid.” From Solyndra to the Chevy Volt, the green industry is heavily supported through government (read: taxpayer) subsidies because profit is essentially nonexistent. In other words, that’s the antithesis of a free market. Hinderaker adds, “A $1.5 trillion industry that can survive only by relying on the coercive powers of government will inevitably be a major force for statism.”

While the Uninsured Rate is Low, People Fled to Medicaid9

A new survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics found less than 10% of the U.S. population does not have health insurance. In the 50 years that NCHS has monitored insurance coverage, this is the lowest the uninsured rate has ever been. It’s tempting for proponents of ObamaCare to point to this as proof the law is working, but it’s not the case. “Most of this is Medicaid,” Ed Haislmaier, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal10. “We know that for the first months of 2014, most of what happened in the private market wasn’t new coverage.” The “Affordable” Care Act expanded11 Medicaid coverage, and more people moved onto welfare than seeking coverage with private insurance companies. Ever since it was started12, Medicaid and its sister program, Medicare, has ballooned in cost and now requires a significant percentage of the federal budget to keep them running. Today, the medical care through Medicaid is poorer quality, as fewer doctors take Medicaid patents. Also, the mortality rate for patents on Medicaid is higher. The health care industry needs reform, but ObamaCare wasn’t it.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Who Will Protect Against the Protectors?13

By Allyne Caan

When a cow passes gas, the Environmental Protection Agency declares war14, but when the EPA “accidentally” dumps three million gallons of toxic sludge into a U.S. river, the agency seems to think an apology will suffice.

Last week, while inspecting the abandoned Gold King Mine in Durango, Colorado, an EPA contractor breached a retaining wall, spilling a deadly concoction of lead, arsenic, copper, mercury, etc., into a stream leading to the Animas River at a rate of about 700 gallons per minute. What did the great protector of the environment do? At first, not much. For nearly 24 hours, the EPA didn’t even alert state and local officials, who learned of the spill only when they saw their pristine river turn bright orange. Meanwhile, in a statement released a few hours into the disaster, the EPA painted15 it as a “pulse” that had “dissipated in about an hour.” Nothing to see here folks, move along. You know, kind of how they responded to BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Please note intense sarcasm.)

Finally, on Tuesday — nearly a week after the spill — EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy apologized, saying, “It is really a tragic and very unfortunate incident, and EPA is taking responsibility to ensure that the spill is cleaned up.” Not only that, she said, “It pains me to no end that this is happening. But we’re working tirelessly to respond, and we’ve committed to a full review of exactly what happened to ensure it can never happen again.”

Until it does happen again.

McCarthy also dodged, saying, “I don’t have a complete understanding of anything that went on in there.” But, she promised, “If there is something that went wrong, we want to make sure it never goes wrong again.” Well, it’s pretty safe to say something went wrong. Otherwise, the river system flowing through Colorado, New Mexico and Utah wouldn’t look like the remains of a pumpkin patch explosion.

As the EPA gives a halfhearted “oops,” some aspects of the “accident” are raising eyebrows. For example, the Associated Press reports16 that the EPA has been aiming for 25 years to designate the mine a Superfund site. On the one hand, this would mean the federal government undertakes cleanup efforts; on the other, it would give Washington increased control over the area. Local authorities balked at those attempts17, concerned such a designation would squash the possibility of revitalizing the area’s mining industry.

Ironically, less than a week before the EPA unleashed the deadly brew, a local newspaper ran a letter by a retired geologist18 predicting the EPA would cause a disaster at the mine to gain control of the area. Coincidental? Or prescient?

Given the EPA’s disregard for exacerbating devastating droughts19 in the name of saving a three-inch smelt fish, or the agency’s effort to kill the coal industry20 in the name of fighting climate change, few things are beyond the scope of what this “protection” agency will do.

For now, the governors of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, as well as leaders of the Navajo Nation, have declared states of emergency. And the so-called “pulse” will likely impact the region for decades, as contaminants settle in the water, only to be stirred up again down the road. Indeed, the spill will be devastating to farmers relying on the water for crops and residents dependent on well water.

The EPA has promised to clean up the contamination and be “fully accountable.” But it’s a safe bet they won’t inflict on themselves the same type of consequences they levied against BP for the Deepwater Horizon spill. Bureaucracies are hardly ever held accountable, especially when they’re as big and powerful as the EPA.

It seems the one thing the EPA spews faster than regulations and toxic sludge is rhetoric.