The Patriot Post Digest 8-27-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-27-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest

Aug. 27, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue.” —John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama’s Intelligence Echo Chamber1

No wonder the Obama administration continues insisting the campaign against the Islamic State is peachy despite the deluge of reports to the contrary. The Pentagon inspector general has launched an investigation after it was alleged that U.S. Central Command was skewing intelligence reports to make it appear the fight against the Islamic State was working, The New York Times reports2. That means the Obama administration was told a pie in the sky story about the effectiveness of its no-boots-on-the-ground strategy. National Review’s David French, a veteran of the Iraq war, writes of the investigation3, “I keep getting the ominous feeling that the clock is ticking on a truly significant terror attack, one that will leave our political leadership answering to the American people — why didn’t you do more to defeat the enemy? And if one answer is that Pentagon officials lied about success against ISIS, then courts-martial should be the response.” If the IG’s investigation uncovers doctoring of intelligence reports, the next question is why. Were military leaders cowing to Obama’s assumptions? This doctoring may have been the work of civilian appointees at the Defense Department working to prop up the narrative of Obama’s successful leadership. That provides cover for him to avoid taking any further action after his disastrous pullout from Iraq.

Hurricane Obama Blows Into New Orleans on Katrina Anniversary4

Ten years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina barreled into the Louisiana coast with 145mph winds. Its 27-foot swells surged against the levee protecting New Orleans, crushing concrete and leaving government on all levels unprepared to handle the devastation. This week, Barack Obama will visit the city to remember the decade-old disaster that left 1,800 people dead. Everyone agrees that everything from the outdated levee to flooded school buses to the slow FEMA response was a stark demonstration of government incompetence. It just shows individual preparedness is key. Reuters reports5 that Obama will tell an audience in New Orleans, “What started out as a natural disaster became a manmade one, a failure of government to look out for its own citizens. But what that storm revealed was another tragedy, one that had been brewing for decades. New Orleans had long been plagued by structural inequality that left too many people, especially poor people of color, without good jobs or affordable health care or decent housing.” Who wants to bet that Obama will skim over the failure of Democrat leadership in the offices of the governor and mayor of New Orleans leading up to the disaster? Instead, he’ll do what he’s always done: Blame George W. Bush — at least by implication, since Bush will also attend. We’re also expecting him to throw in a warning about climate change for good measure. But today a new New Orleans stands on the receded floodwaters. As The Wall Street Journal notes6, it was built on education reform, and a mayor and governor that tout fiscal conservatism and business growth.

Veto Fight Over Iran Deal? Too Risky, Hints Obama7

Congress was always getting a bum deal when it agreed, thanks to the efforts of Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), to vote to disapprove the agreement with Iran instead of voting to approve it. That means Barack Obama needs only a third of Congress to back his foreign policy wheedling, instead of the usual two-thirds. Obama is only a handful of Democrat votes short from being able to block Congress' attempt at rejection. But that political path may be too messy for Obama, because a high-profile veto fight may call into question the wisdom of the deal, both here and abroad. So he’s decided to circumvent the political process and lobby Senate Democrats to filibuster the Iran vote, Politico reports8. “Is that where they really want to be?” Corker said in an interview. “Do they really want to vote to block consideration of … probably the biggest foreign policy endeavor?” The only significant group supporting this deal now is Democrats in Congress too partisan to oppose Obama. In response to a letter sent by 36 military officers supporting the deal, about 200 retired admirals and generals signed a letter to Congress saying9, “The agreement will enable Iran to become far more dangerous, render the Mideast still more unstable and introduce new threats to American interests as well as our allies.” Despite the outcry from the military, bipartisan distrust and opposition from a majority of Congress and the American people, Obama may still get what he wants. Funny what you can do with a tireless minority.

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Hillary Clinton’s Record of Malfeasance10. From Little Rock to Chappaqua — will any scandal stick?

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here11.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Black Homosexual Murders Two Whites and Leftists Still Blame Guns12

By Allyne Caan

Yesterday, it happened again: People were going about their daily lives only to be struck down by a crazed murderer. This time, the backdrop was Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, where 24-year-old reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward were up early on a Wednesday morning, delivering a live broadcast for WDBJ, the local CBS News affiliate where both worked.

During the 6:45 a.m. broadcast, the murderer walked up and shot dead both Alison and Adam. He also wounded Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, whom Alison was interviewing. In an act of psychotic narcissism, he filmed his crime and posted the video online before taking his own life. Due to the fire-like speed of social media, many people unintentionally found themselves viewing both versions of the horrific footage as videos auto-played in their browsers or on their phones.

The killer faxed ABC News a 23-page manifesto showing just how deranged he was. In it, he praised by name the killers in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre as well as the man who murdered 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. Yesterday’s murderer was a former WDBJ employee who claimed discrimination as a homosexual black man and wrote that the Charleston mass murder13, in which a white man killed nine black churchgoers in June, was the last straw motivating his homicidal targeting of white individuals.

His anger and instability were no surprise to some. According to his former supervisor at WDBJ, the killer had a history of lodging complaints against co-workers — none of which were ever validated. Eventually, he was fired for bizarre and threatening behavior, and police even had to escort him out of the building.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence that yesterday’s tragedy was perpetrated by a sick man bent on vengeance, almost immediately Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and other leftists used the tragedy to blame their favorite scapegoat — guns.

First, Obama spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, “This is another example of gun violence that is becoming all too common in communities large and small across the United States.”

Then Obama himself said, “What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism.” So in one astonishingly stupid statement, he managed to blame the tool and minimize the (*jihadi*) terrorist threat that has claimed hundreds of thousands of victims around the world just during his presidency. And, by the way, 3,000 Americans were killed on 9/11 without a single firearm.

His comments also come on the heals of his lament last month that the area he feels “most frustrated and most stymied” is that the U.S. “is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense, gun-safety laws.”

Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton declared, “We have got to do something about gun violence in America. And I will take it on.”

Likewise, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe used the killings to call for stricter gun control, saying, “There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns. That is why I’ve long advocated for background checks. … This is why we need to restrict access to guns.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-27-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Unfortunately, emotion plays better than facts in times of tragedy — and that’s what Obama, Clinton and McAuliffe are banking on. Contrary to McAuliffe’s insinuation, the murderer passed a background check14 in order to buy his gun. But leftists won’t stop with more checks because, as McAuliffe said, they’re after “restricting access.”

And despite Obama’s claim of increased gun violence, such violence has actually drastically decreased15 over the last couple of decades. In fact, in 2010, the gun homicide rate was 49% lower than in 1993, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study. The downward trend appears to have remained steady since 2011 — all while gun laws have been loosened and gun ownership has increased16.

Thanks in part to leftist rhetoric, though, just 12% of Americans believe gun crime is lower now than in the early 1990s. In fact, the 2013 Pew study reveals 56% erroneously believe it’s higher.

Unavoidably, false information leads to faulty judgment, such as one absurdly ignorant tweet saying the county where yesterday’s murders occurred supported Romney in the last presidential election, so it must be gun-friendly. Evidently this person hasn’t heard of Chicago, Baltimore, Ferguson, or any other inner city Democrat poverty plantation where murder and violent crime are rampant.

Yesterday’s killings were perpetrated not by a county, a community, a tool, or the Second Amendment but by a sick individual driven by racial and anti-heterosexual hatred. His hatred — not his gun — drove him to kill. More to the point, the killer wasn’t a Romney voter but reportedly was reprimanded for wearing an Obama button during campaign coverage. That’s a report the American Leftmedia won’t bother getting around to.

Heartbreakingly, this unchecked hatred cost the lives of Adam Ward, who was engaged to be married17 to a coworker (who saw the murder happen while watching the broadcast in the control room), and Alison Parker, who was also dating a coworker and by all accounts was a vibrant and joyful woman.

Adam and Alison’s deaths should not be used as props for political gain. Instead, they should motivate us to counter the hatred that drives killers to take innocent lives and inflict unspeakable heartache to satisfy their delusional sense of vengeance.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: The Ties That Bind World Markets18
PA Terrorists Get a Little White House Help19
Europe’s Carbon Credit Program Only Made Money20
Planned Parenthood Fights to Keep State Funding21
Ramos the Free Speech Martyr?22

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Victor Davis Hanson: The Modern Malleability of Gender and Race23
Paul Kengor: Black Pastors Protest Margaret Sanger at Smithsonian24
George Will: The Havoc That Trump Wreaks25

For more, visit Right Opinion26.

TOP HEADLINES

Videos Show Memphis VA Leaving Disabled Vets Unattended27
Walmart to Stop Selling AR-15s, Other Semi-Auto Rifles28
CBO Says Deficit, Public Debt to Double Over Next 10 Years29

OPINION IN BRIEF

Victor Davis Hanson: “Being white and male supposedly means enjoying innate and undeserved privileged. But now trans-elites reinvent themselves as females or minorities and have access to special advantages or privileges. We are still fighting the old battle between nature and culture. Our 21st-century postmodern culture says that we can become whatever we declare ourselves to be. But age-old realities suggest that only nature determines our gender and race. How odd that progressives publicly insist that we can be what we wish to be, but privately accept the ancient wisdom that we really cannot quite do that — at least not without dropping the accepted criteria for social institutions such as racially based scholarships, female sports programs or affirmative action for women and minorities.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Governments last as long as the undertaxed can defend themselves against the overtaxed.” —American art historian Bernard Berenson (1865-1959)

Upright, part I: “[Virginia shooter Bryce Williams] couldn’t deal with his inadequacy, so he woke up [Wednesday] morning, he looked in the mirror, didn’t like what he saw, and decided the only way he was going to make a name in TV news was to go out and find two people doing their job, that had nothing to do with his … inferiority complex, and take them out so that he could be the headline news. I think the best thing that we can do after today is never speak of this guy again.” —Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke

Upright, part II: “We saw evil in Charleston. We saw evil yesterday. Unfortunately, too many are too blind to evil. Those who have eyes to see can see the evil in Planned Parenthood decapitating children and sending their heads in the mail making sure their eyes are closed. Those who have eyes to see can see the evil in the collapse of families and the rise of dysfunctional young people without a relationship with one parent or the other. … Evil is always going to exist. It is never going to be exterminated by us. It will not be legislated away. But it will be exterminated on that final day.” —Erick Erickson

Non Compos Mentis: “Another proud moment for the NRA. Thank you, NYC, for your strict gun laws!” —New York Post columnist Bart Hubbuch on the slaying of a Roanoke, Virginia, television crew

Village Idiots: “I believe we are smart enough, we are compassionate enough, to figure out how to balance the legitimate Second Amendment rights with preventive measures and control measures… There is so much evidence that if guns were not so readily available, if we had universal background checks, if we could just put some time out between the person who is upset because he got fired and the domestic abuse or whatever other motivation may be working on someone who does this, maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage.” —Hillary Clinton

Late-night humor: “The CEO of Starbucks sent a message to Starbucks employees, instructing them to be sensitive to customers who might be feeling stressed out about the market. I like that the place that charges $5 for a cup of coffee is concerned about our finances.” —Jimmy Kimmel

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.

Links

1 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37232
2 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/world/middleeast/pentagon-investigates-allegations-of-skewed-intelligence-reports-on-isis.html
3 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/423098/military-cooking-books-make-our-war-against-isis-look-more-successful-it-david-french
4 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37244
5 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/27/us-usa-katrina-idUSKCN0QW13020150827
6 http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-battles-of-new-orleans-1440629569
7 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37246
8 http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/iran-deal-filibuster-121776.html
9 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/retired-generals-and-admirals-urge-congress-to-reject-iran-deal/2015/08/26/8912d9c6-4bf5-11e5-84df-923b3ef1a64b_story.html
10 http://patriotpost.us/alexander/37087
11 http://patriotpost.us/manage/
12 http://patriotpost.us/articles/37247
13 http://patriotpost.us/posts/35917
14 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/423138/virginia-shooter-passed-background-check-charles-c-w-cooke
15 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/423112/white-house-lies-about-gun-violence-again-charles-c-w-cooke
16 http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/04/gun-ownership-by-the-numbers/
17 http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/26/us/virginia-shooting-wdbj/index.html
18 http://patriotpost.us/articles/37243
19 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37236
20 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37237
21 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37233
22 http://patriotpost.us/posts/37235
23 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/37229
24 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/37242
25 http://patriotpost.us/opinion/37231
26 http://patriotpost.us/opinion
27 http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/26/were-left-to-wolves-videos-allegedly-show-tenn-va-hospital-leaving-disabled/
28 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/26/us-wal-mart-stores-rifles-idUSKCN0QV26520150826
29 http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbo-deficit-public-debt-to-double-over-next-10-years/