The Patriot Post Digest 10-13-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-13-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Daily Digest

Oct. 13, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” —John Adams, 1770

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

CNN to Help Democrats Avoid Actual Debate1

Democrats are gearing up for their first presidential debate on CNN Tuesday night. Republicans have already had two debates, but Democrats are just now getting around to acknowledging that there are more candidates than just Hillary Clinton. The frontrunner will be joined on stage by the surprising Bernie “I’m a Democratic Socialist” Sanders, and some other guys no one’s heard of — former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Republican Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island. But if you’re hoping for big hits similar to those in the GOP debate, you’ll be better off watching the MLB playoffs. (We’d recommend the latter anyway.)

“The level of humility and seriousness in this debate will be stark compared to what has been happening in the Republican debates,” said Democrat strategist Stephanie Cutter. CNN got the memo. The network is downplaying ratings expectations — nowhere near the 23 million who tuned in for the GOP — and it’s preparing for a generally more toned down affair. Moderator Anderson Cooper said of Jake Tapper’s GOP debate at the Reagan Library, “I’m always uncomfortable with that notion of setting people up in order to kind of promote some sort of a face-off. I think these are all serious people. This is a serious debate. They want to talk about the issues, and I want to give them an opportunity to do that.”

In other words, CNN will make the Republicans wrestle in the mud with the narcissist Donald Trump while helping Democrats look like “serious people.” After all, that motley crew will need all the help they can get.

Taliban and Islamic State Strengthen in Afghanistan2

Aaaaand they’re back, folks. While a U.S. general told Congress last week that the Afghan government is dealing with the Taliban, a United Nations report found3 that the threat of the Taliban is the highest it’s been since 2001. Recently, the Taliban has flexed its strength, throwing up roadblocks and capturing and withdrawing4 from the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. But don’t worry; a force is rising up to claim title as the most brutal of the brutal. The Taliban is skirmishing5 with the Islamic State, which has established a franchise in the eastern part of Afghanistan with fighters who splintered from America’s old enemy. Meanwhile, Barack Obama — the guy who says he’ll stay the course in Syria — changed his timeline on the troop drawdown in Afghanistan. Over fears that the original withdrawal that Obama envisioned would destabilize the Afghan government further than it already has, he hints6 that he will keep U.S. troops in the country until he leaves the presidency. It’s a decent decision, but it comes too late — after he has squandered most of the gains over the last 14 years.

Sorry, but DMV Closures in Alabama Ain’t Jim Crow7

If you’ve paid attention to the Leftmedia recently, you probably heard its cries of the return of Jim Crow in Alabama. The Left thinks that, because the state is shuttering many of its part-time Department of Motor Vehicle branch offices, the state that requires a photo ID to vote has restricted its citizens' civil rights. It’s a systematic effort to prevent the poor from voting, the Left cries. Not so, says Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky8. Alabama is closing the offices because it needs to trim its budget, and the part-time DMV branch offices distributed only 5% of the drivers licenses issued — kind of an easy line item to trim. So where’s a voter to go? Every county in the state issues voter IDs for free, and those offices are often in the same location as the former DMV offices. Von Spakovsky writes, “So individuals who would have used one of the part-time satellite DMV offices to get an ID will be able to simply walk to another office — in the same building — to get the ID they need for voting. And that is supposed to be the reimposition of Jim Crow?” Leave it to the Left to equate getting licensed to drive — a regulated activity not guaranteed by the Constitution — with the right to vote. Fortunately, exercising the right to vote in Alabama does not mean braving the line at the DMV.

U.S. Navy Birthday9

On Oct. 13, 1775, the U.S. Navy was born when the Continental Congress authorized the arming of two sailing vessels with 80 men and 10 carriage guns in order to intercept British supply and munitions transports. The Declaration of Independence came nine months later, followed by the creation of the Department of the Navy in 1798.

Today, our Navy is the most powerful in the world. We at The Patriot Post offer our thanks to all our sailors for a job well done and wish you a Happy 240th Birthday! God bless you and your families.

Please visit The Patriot Post Shop10 for a great selection of items bearing the Navy’s insignia.
Don’t Miss Patriot Humor

Check out Cat-Free11.

If you’d like to receive Patriot Humor by email, update your subscription here12.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Staying the Course in Syria? Which Course?13

By Paul Albaugh

For the past six and a half years, the world has witnessed failure after failure of Barack Obama’s foreign policy. It would be terrific if we had a president who understood how U.S. involvement or lack thereof can make a situation go from bad to worse. But we don’t.

During an interview with Steve Croft on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Obama insisted he would stay the course14 in Syria. “We are prepared to work both diplomatically and where we can to support moderate opposition that can help convince the Russians and Iranians to put pressure on [Bashar al-] Assad for a transition.” Obama then reaffirmed that he would not “reinsert [the U.S.] in a military campaign inside of Syria.”

When asked about the failure to train and equip Syrian rebels, Obama conceded the $500 million effort “did not work,” but he also argued, “I’ve been skeptical from the get-go about the notion that we were going to effectively create this proxy army inside Syria.”

Is that so? Remember his Sept. 10, 2014, national address15, in which he declared, “We have ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition. Tonight, I call on Congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters.”

That doesn’t sound like he was “skeptical from the get-go.” In fact, he now says his next objective is — wait for it — to provide direct aid to existing, Pentagon-approved rebel units.

Obama insists he’s staying the course. What course? He set a phony “red line” on Assad using chemical weapons only to backtrack and attribute it to “the world” setting the line. He half-heartedly asked Congress to approve attacking Assad and then backed away in favor of throwing $500 million to train 5,000 rebels — of which only a handful were fully trained. Now he’s even stopped that program. Again, what course?

It bears repeating that Obama’s decision to withdraw from Iraq left a vacuum that was filled by the Islamic State. In Syria, Obama’s capricious strategies to remove Assad from power left a vacuum of a similar sort, which was also filled by the Islamic State, Russia and Iran. Remember though, Obama lectured in 2012 that Russia did not pose a threat. But Russia’s interests in the region are not the same as ours, so Russia is a threat indeed.

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The Patriot Post Digest 10-13-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Writing an opinion piece for The Washington Post, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates assert16, “The fact is that Putin is playing a weak hand extraordinarily well because he knows exactly what he wants to do. He is not stabilizing the situation according to our definition of stability. He is defending Russia’s interests by keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power. This is not about the Islamic State. Any insurgent group that opposes Russian interests is a terrorist organization to Moscow.”

Despite Obama’s contention that Putin is weak, the Kremlin’s strongman is projecting power17 in Syria that has the major powers in the world on edge, including the United States. Further, as National Review’s Andrew Stuttaford explains, Putin’s intentions may be “to prove that Russia is a reliable ally to have in a tough spot,” and “to force a binary choice upon the West — Assad or ISIS.” All of this is humiliating to the United States, but hey, at least Obama is staying the course.

Historian Victor Davis Hanson offers this perspective18: “Putin is sending a warning to the oil-exporting Sunni monarchies of the Persian Gulf, who are as rich as they are militarily weak: Russia, not the United States, is the new cop on the Middle Eastern beat.”

Hanson further notes, “If oil-rich and nuclear Russia and a soon-to-be-nuclear Iran can bully the Sunni monarchies, Putin’s new cartel may control the spigot of some 75 percent of the world’s daily export of oil.”

But don’t worry; the rebels in Syria will take care of business. It turns out the rebels who we armed may have played a part19 with Putin intervening in Syria. How so? Because one of the weapon systems with which we armed the Syrian rebels is the TOW missile. This is the most deadly anti-tank missile in modern warfare, and Assad’s armored vehicles have suffered substantial losses from it. Several Russian tanks have been lost as well, which explains why Russian aircraft has been targeting rebel fighting positions that are firing the TOW missiles.

Proxy war, anyone? Isn’t this reminiscent of us arming the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan with Stinger missiles in the 1980s to shoot down Russian aircraft? The decision to arm the Syrian rebels with these missiles is extremely worrisome because of the technology involved. Did anyone in this administration bother to consider what Islamic State jihadis will do if they get their hands on those missiles?

What about the U.S. fighter jets tasked with taking out Islamic State targets? Now that Russia is involved in Syria, our fighter pilots are under strict new rules20 to give way if Russian aircraft come within 20 miles of our aircraft. (By contrast, the British Royal Air Force has been given the green light21 to shoot down hostile Russian jets in Syria.) So give our pilots strict rules and declare that Russia’s strategy isn’t working. Thanks, Obama.

Finally, in case you missed it, China is moving warships22 into the Mediterranean, supposedly to fight the Islamic State. Given China’s general alliance with Russia, however, it’s hardly a mystery why they’re really there.

What is taking place in Syria right now is what happens when the U.S. is viewed by major powers in the world as being weak. It’s a geopolitical nightmare that will take a leader who projects strength to overcome. Perhaps a leader who doesn’t define leadership, as Obama did in his interview, as “leading on climate change.”

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: Leftmedia Abandons Objectivity to Target Republicans23
ANALYSIS: Iran Tests Limits With Latest Missile Launch24
Will Bergdahl Walk Free — Again?25
Thanks to GOP Turmoil, House to Vote on Ex-Im Bank26

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Stephen Moore: America’s $12 Trillion House of Cards27
Thomas Sowell: The ‘Gun Control’ Farce28
Michael Barone: Are Both Parties Incapable of Governing?29

For more, visit Right Opinion30.

TOP HEADLINES

Dutch Probe Concludes Russian Buk Missile Downed MH1731
Confederate Flag Supporters Face Terror Charges32
Iran Lawmakers Approve Nuclear Deal33

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report34

OPINION IN BRIEF

Stephen Moore: “What is the price tag for the audacious Obamanomics experiment? How much has it all cost — the bailouts, the debt, the stimulus plans, the printing of cheap money, Obamacare and all the rest? The answer to that question is just shy of $12 trillion. That’s the sum of the $8.3 trillion added to the national debt since Sept. 15, 2008 (the day Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy) for all the government spending and the $3.5 trillion of easy money flushed into the economy by the Federal Reserve through the initial monetary expansion — QE1, QE2 and QE3. … The question none of the Obama enthusiasts dare answer is what happens if and when interest rates start to drift back upward. Each single percentage point rise in rates causes the U.S. deficit to rise by nearly $1.8 trillion over 10 years. So a 300 basis point rise in rates — nothing more than a return to normalcy — would mean more than $5 trillion rise in federal deficits. If that happens the debt servicing costs would grow astronomically and interest payments would become the biggest expense item in the budget. The $3.5 trillion in quantitative easing has become the crack cocaine of Wall Street. … The ruling class keeps advising us that we should stop worrying and be happy. The problem for the architects of these policies is that the workers and voters aren’t buying it. They don’t think any of this new math adds up. And history proves more often than not, they are right.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” —Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726)

Upright: “What is the community of interest between, say, North Korea, Britain, Togo, and Argentina? There is none, but [Barack Obama] seems to believe that the arc of history is long but it bends towards justice. So one day, maybe in 100 years or 200 years when the Middle East is rubble, millions are dead and scattered around the world, justice will be served.” —Charles Krauthammer

For the record: “Iran’s judiciary on Monday announced that Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent, has been convicted. He was on trial for ‘espionage.’ … The timing of the conviction won’t escape students of history. Friday was the 444th day of his captivity. That was the number of days U.S. diplomats in Iran spent as hostages following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Mr. Rezaian’s conviction three days later is the mullah equivalent of mailing a dead fish to an adversary.” —Wall Street Journal

The BIG lie: “[There’s] widespread support to ban semi-automatic assault weapons, guns which have no other purpose but to kill people.” —Bernie Sanders

Alpha Jackass: “People always, I think, were surprised about me connecting with folks in small-town Iowa. And the reason I did was, first of all, I had the benefit that at the time nobody expected me to win. And so I wasn’t viewed through this prism of Fox News and conservative media, and making me scary. At the time, I didn’t seem scary, other than just having a funny name.” —Barack Obama

Left-theology: “How do you reconcile the idea of faith being really important to you and you caring a lot about taking faith seriously with the fact that, at least in our democracy and our civic discourse, it seems as if folks who take religion the most seriously sometimes are also those who are suspicious of those not like them?” —Barack Obama with another shot at conservative Christians

Wait … she was joking? “I’m really not even a human being. I was constructed in a garage in Palo Alto a very long time ago.” —Hillary Clinton attempting to have fun in an interview with BuzzFeed

And last… “Ancient stone temples survive 2,500 years of ‘climate change.’ Wiped out instantly by ISIS. Guess which one admin calls bigger threat?” —Stephen Miller

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.