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« on: August 14, 2015, 06:10:41 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 8-14-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Aug. 14, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“No compact among men … can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.” —George Washington, draft of first Inaugural Address, 1789
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Colorado Appeals Court Says Baker Discriminated1
Eventually, the Supreme Court will have to clarify the implications of its Obergefell v. Hodges ruling2 that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The dissenting judges warned that the ruling would call into question the free speech and religious rights in this country. And Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, is the most recent proprietor to join the handful of small business owners the court ruled3 discriminatory because they refused to bake cakes or make floral arrangements for same-sex wedding ceremonies. On Thursday, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the decision4 handed down by the state’s Civil Right’s Commission, saying Phillips' speech and religion rights do not apply5 to this situation. “To the extent that the public infers from a Masterpiece wedding cake a message celebrating same-sex marriage,” the court said, “that message is more likely to be attributed to the customer than to Masterpiece.” Phillips' lawyer, Nicolle Martin, said they plan on appealing the case to the Colorado Supreme Court. But it’s not the end of the road. How much religious liberty do Americans have after Obergefell? SCOTUS opened Pandora’s box, and it’s up to SCOTUS to close it.
Cuba Wields the Soft Power in Dealings With U.S.6
The American flag will fly7 above Havana for the first time in 54 years, as the United States opens its Cuban embassy today and resumes diplomatic relationships with the communist country. Relationship with the Castro regime is still tense. Despite never cashing the decades of rent checks for the use of Guantanamo Bay, Fidel Castro said Thursday the U.S. owes Cuba millions8 of dollars to compensate for what the Cuban economy lost because of the U.S. embargo. Nevertheless, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cuba for the flag-raising ceremony. As the Washington Post editorial board9 says, the Obama administration took a heat gun to the frozen diplomatic relationship in hopes of building a relationship with the country, to exert America’s soft power on the oppressive government. So far, it seems the Castros have exerted more influence on the U.S. than the other way around. The U.S. government did not invite any of the Cuban dissidents struggling against communism and for freedom to the event. Kerry said on the Telemundo network, “That is a government-to-government moment, with very limited space, by the way, which is why we’re having the reception later in the day at which we can have a cross-section of civil society including some dissidents.” By meeting with dissidents in private, he’s cowing to the Castros' wishes. “Maybe Mr. Kerry can at least leave an empty chair at the ceremony to symbolize the people, and the values, that will be kept outside the fence,” the Post’s editors wrote.
Bush, Odierno and Mustard Gas, Oh My!10
Jeb Bush is going to struggle with his brother’s shadow and the question of Iraq for the rest of the campaign. That much was made clear again Thursday in a national security forum in Iowa, where Bush said that “taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal.” He’ll no doubt regret such a terrible sound bite. But for the record, Bush is exactly right about one thing he said Tuesday: Barack Obama’s “premature withdrawal was the fatal error, creating the void that ISIS moved in to fill.” He slammed Hillary Clinton, too: “Like the president himself, she had opposed the surge, then joined in claiming credit for its success, then stood by as that hard-won victory by American and allied forces was thrown away.” Bush was smart to go on offense, but his “good deal” comments may erase any forward progress, especially after his previous “knowing what we know now” fumble11.
In related news, the Islamic State has mustard gas, which it used against Kurdish forces this week. The jihadis likely obtained the gas from Syria, so it would seem Obama’s deal with Vladimir Putin to dispose of such weapons didn’t work out so well. Witness the cascade of foreign policy failure.
Finally, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno retires today, and we remember his recent comments lamenting the rise of the Islamic State — a turn of events he says “might have been prevented12” if the U.S. hadn’t abandoned Iraq. And in a departing op-ed13, he warns that now is “no time to cut the U.S. Army.” He says, “We need a force of 490,000 as global dangers rise. It’s at 450,000 and heading down.” Think Obama will listen?
Editor’s Note
Seventy years ago tomorrow, Japanese Emperor Hirohito broadcast to his people that he had accepted terms of surrender, thus effectively ending World War II. The news was received Aug. 14 in the U.S. The official treaty signing occurred on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri, and that day is the official “VJ Day,” but today’s anniversary is worth remembering. On Aug. 6 and 9, respectively, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Doing so prevented a likely invasion of the Japanese main island, and thus saved hundreds of thousands of American lives. Today is a reminder that tyranny must be defeated, not appeased, if Liberty is to flourish.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
POW Flag: The New Symbol of Racism?14
By Michael Swartz
Like most leftists, author Rick Perlstein is not a fan of our nation’s efforts in Vietnam, despite the fact he was born in 1969 and, thus, too young to remember much of it himself. Thanks to an op-ed in the progressive Washington Spectator that was picked up by the now online-only Newsweek magazine, we’ve learned that a venerable symbol of that war was just another example of American racism.
Perlstein opens the article15 by saying, “You know that racist flag? The one that supposedly honors history but actually spreads a pernicious myth? And is useful only to venal right-wing politicians who wish to exploit hatred by calling it heritage? It’s past time to pull it down.”
“Oh, wait. You thought I was referring to the Confederate flag16. Actually, I’m talking about the POW-MIA flag.”
Realizing the gravity of his words in the heated aftermath, both Perlstein and Washington Spectator editor Lou Dubose apologized for calling the POW-MIA flag racist. Perlstein admitted, “The word was over the top and not called for.” But his enlightenment didn’t happen before a firestorm of criticism rained down on him from conservative outlets like National Review17 and RedState18.
On the other hand, those on the Left are still defending Perlstein19, which isn’t completely surprising in this age of “everyone who disagrees with me is racist.”
As the article goes, it’s just more wailing and gnashing of teeth over events that played out while Perlstein was still in diapers. For example, he asserted, “Richard Nixon invented the cult of the ‘POW/MIA’ in order to justify the carnage in Vietnam in a way that rendered the United States as its sole victim.” He continued, “[Nixon] declared their treatment, and the enemy’s refusal to provide a list of their names, violations of the Geneva Conventions — the better to paint the North Vietnamese as uniquely cruel and inhumane. He also demanded the release of American prisoners as a precondition to ending the war.”
In other words, it was like almost every other war Americans have fought.
Yet Perlstein droned on, “Whenever Nixon or one of his minions talked about the problem, they tended to use the number 1,400. The number of actual prisoners, was about 550. The number of downed, missing pilots were spoken of, prima facia, as if they were missing, too, although almost all of them were certainly dead.” |
