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« on: October 22, 2015, 06:24:57 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 10-22-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest
Oct. 22, 2015
THE FOUNDATION
“There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.” —George Washington, 1795
Publisher’s Note: Clinton Testifies1
As we go to press today, the House Select Committee on Benghazi is grilling Hillary Clinton. Despite the grandstanding from committee Democrats, her felonious complicity2 in and her subsequent cover-up3 of the true story of the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi is on full display.
First, for more than a year, Clinton has endeavored to escape accountability for unlawfully maintaining all of her official secretary of state communications outside of official networks. Clearly, this was an effort to protect her 2016 presidential bid from the plethora of nefarious activities reflected in those emails. Despite Clinton’s claims — “I did not email any classified material to anyone” and “There is no classified material” — it is now apparent that hundreds and perhaps thousands of her unsecured email communications contained sensitive and classified content. Transmitting that content is a felony. But not only was her arrogant “above the law” use of unsecured email illegal, it was deadly because it exposed policy directives and the names of covert operatives. We can assume Russia and China had full access to all of Clinton’s unsecured communication.
Second, additional details may surface about how her emails demonstrate her complicity4 in formulating the political lie about the murder of our personnel in Benghazi5 — Christopher Stevens, his aide Sean Smith, and two diplomatic security officers, former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Her Benghazi lie was an effort to provide Barack Obama political cover for his “al-Qa'ida on the run” campaign theme just weeks ahead of the 2012 presidential election. So determined was Clinton to propagate this lie that she shamelessly stood in front of those four flag-draped caskets and declared to the families of the dead, “We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with.” We will cover this testimony in detail Friday.
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Biden Takes a Pass6
Despite a couple of well-placed endorsements7 from Barack Obama, Joe Biden passed on a presidential run in a Rose Garden speech Wednesday. That huge sigh of relief you heard was from the Hillary Clinton campaign. After the May death of his son, Beau, Biden wrestled with the decision and ultimately decided against it, concluding that “the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president … has closed.” Another way to look at it is that Clinton’s debate8 performance cut off Biden a day after Jim Webb quit the race9. It solidifies her iron grip on the nomination.
As Obama did in distancing himself from Clinton over her email server, however, Biden implicitly repudiated the Democrat frontrunner for her political divisiveness. “I believe we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart. … It’s mean-spirited, it’s petty and it’s gone on for far too long. I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our opposition. They’re not our enemies.” That was a clear reference to Clinton’s debate remark that Republicans were her most notable enemies10. But it’s ironic that Biden made his comments while standing next to Obama, who has done more to make enemies of his political opponents than anyone.
Many thought Biden would be a Plan B for Democrats if Clinton is indicted by the FBI — and it’s a remote possibility that he will remain so, as his remarks were basically an “I’m running” stump speech minus the “I’m running.” Obama’s recent dismissal of any national security implications from Clinton’s careless handling of classified material makes an indictment even less likely, and Biden’s stepping aside may indicate Obama knows it. We don’t anticipate that a Democrat president is going to allow the Democrat frontrunner to be indicted, even if there’s no love lost between the two. Finally, while we’d never support Biden, we will miss the hilarity he would no doubt have brought to the campaign trail.
Speaker Ryan Will Bring Leadership, Not Management11
The House Freedom Caucus has found its speaker. The group of 40 lawmakers that drove the Department of Homeland Security to the edge of a shutdown in February over Barack Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty and that was instrumental in the ouster of current Speaker John Boehner, announced12 that a “supermajority” of its members would support Rep. Paul Ryan13 for the speakership. Unlike Boehner, who squandered his role by trying to manage the herd of cats known as the House, Ryan plans to lead the chamber by bringing vision to the position. “Paul is a policy entrepreneur who has developed conservative reforms dealing with a wide variety of subjects, and he has promised to be an ideas-focused Speaker who will advance limited government principles and devolve power to the membership,” the Freedom Caucus said in a statement. Ryan said he would only run for the speakership if he got the backing from all the Republican groups in the House, ensuring that his leadership would bring a measure of unity. The Freedom Caucus torpedoed the speakership bid of House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, so its support is vital for the next speaker. If all goes well, Republicans will vote for the new speaker Oct. 29, Boehner will resign his position the next day, and the GOP will have its speaker who will lead them into a new presidential administration. So far, Ryan seems to have the votes14.
OPM’s Hack Job on Security15
Earlier this year, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) discovered malicious cyber theft16 of background investigation records of current, former and prospective federal employees. Sensitive information was stolen, including the Social Security numbers of 21.5 million individuals. In a letter to those affected, OPM seems to have taken a one-size-fits-all approach that does not account for obvious disparities in the potential impact and threat among those whose data was stolen. From what we have learned thus far, the entry-level janitor at DHS is given the same level of “protection” as the Seal Team 6 operator, the nuclear submarine commander or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory rocket scientist whose personal data may have been compromised. “Fairness” and expediency trump common sense as the administration attempts to sweep under the rug this massive and unprecedented breach of security.
It doesn’t take that JPL rocket scientist to realize that our “adversary” (the politically correct term being used to describe the Red Chinese military hackers involved) will certainly prioritize the stolen data to identify high-value targets. The threat spectrum involved could run from targeted assassination in the worst case to blackmail, covert spying recruitment and military or economic espionage. Identity theft is one of the least damaging possibilities to anyone thinking big-picture national security.
To simply place all 21 million of the affected individuals in one group and provide them three years of credit monitoring and identity theft insurance is nice, but it’s also the height of insult and, frankly, stupid. Such boneheaded lack of vision and forethought is what brought us such a debacle in the first place. Even worse — those responsible for preventing this nightmare are still safely ensconced at OPM, a bureaucratic haven of incompetence if ever there was one. Not a single person has been fired, demoted or jailed for this incredible breach of our security, though Katherine Archuleta did step down as OPM director. Finally, we are not at all surprised to see that OPM used the disaster to ask Congress for more money.
Editor’s Note
In yesterday’s story about Jim Webb9, we listed several of his military awards but neglected to mention his foremost one, the Navy Cross, though we had noted it in previous coverage. That oversight has been corrected.
Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column
Read ‘Truth’? Rather, ‘[Un]Truth’17, on how the movie about Dan Rather’s dezinformatsia racket is a case study in Hollywood historical revisionism.
If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here18.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Planned Parenthood Fights Defunding Efforts19
By Kelly Bartlett
Texas Governor Greg Abbott informed Planned Parenthood that it would be dropped from the state’s Medicaid program. Abbott, a Republican, issued a press release20 Monday explaining, “The gruesome harvesting of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood will not be allowed in Texas and the barbaric practice must be brought to an end.” Amen to that.
Undercover videos21 from The Center for Medical Progress exposed PP employees describing the harvesting of body parts from aborted babies. The fifth video22 was filmed in Houston and featured regional Director of Research Melissa Farrell, who implied that abortionists could change the procedure in order to obtain better “specimens.” Farrell said, “If we alter our process, and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, we can make it part of the budget that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this. It’s all just a matter of line items.” |
