The Patriot Post Digest 3-24-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-24-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Mar. 24, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything, which enervate a necessary government; excite a jealousy of the rulers who are our own choice, and keep society in confusion for want of a power sufficiently concentered to promote good.” —Oliver Ellsworth (1787)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama’s Contempt for Liberty1

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” Those famous words are, of course, from the Declaration of Independence2, signed by America’s Founders on July 4, 1776. That charter set the course for American Liberty, which George Washington and the Patriots of the War for Independence secured at great cost.

As heirs of that legacy3, forgive us if we take great umbrage with the latest pronouncement from Barack Obama: “Here’s my message to the Cuban government and the Cuban people. The ideals that are the starting point for every revolution — America’s revolution, Cuba’s revolution, the liberation movements around the world — these ideals find their truest expression, I believe, in democracy.”

Where to begin? The Castro thugs who have ruled Cuba with a totalitarian iron fist since their brutal takeover in 1959 have nothing but contempt for “unalienable rights,” and they operate a government instituted expressly to deny these rights without “the consent of the governed.” Obama, a former “constitutional professor,” isn’t ignorant of this distinction between our nations. We can’t say this strongly enough — to compare the United States with Cuba as Obama did is utterly disgraceful. For a sitting American president to do so is even more reprehensible. It’s a gross insult to every American Patriot who’s given life and blood defending our Liberty.

It’s also a slap in the face to the political prisoners who languished in the Cuban gulag while Obama did the wave with Raul at a baseball game. Castro taunted, “You can give me a list of political prisoners, and if we have those political prisoners, they will be released before tonight ends.” Subsequently, Obama was presented with a list4 of 89 of Castro’s political prisoners. He responded by attending the baseball game.

Obama has said some despicable things during his seven-year occupation of the Oval Office, but likening our own fight for Liberty to the tyranny of Cuba’s dictators is a contender for the most shameful.

Obama Denies Threat of Islamic State5

Despite telling reporters at a press conference in Argentina that the Islamic State is his “number one priority6,” Barack Obama downplayed the group’s threat to national and world security. “They’re not an existential threat to us,” he later said. No, the U.S. will not cease to exist because terrorists attack places like Brussels7, but Obama is taking literalism to the extreme. His two statements don’t compute. If the Islamic State isn’t an existential threat, why is it Obama’s number one priority? Surely the community organizer can find something more pressing in the world to focus on — like climate change. “We defeat them in part by saying you are not strong, you are weak,” Obama said. Boom. The war’s over. Let’s bring in more Syrian refugees.

While the American people are concerned that New York City might be the site of the next Paris-like attack, or their suburbs experience something like what happened in San Bernardino, Obama hardly gives radical Islamic jihad the time of day. He’s pushing to close Guantanamo Bay prison through attrition by releasing these very jihadis. Yet the Department of Defense told lawmakers8 Wednesday that Gitmo’s released prisoners often return to the battlefield and at least one killed Americans. Such considerations don’t deter Obama, who violated the law when he released five of those prisoners in exchange for deserter Bowe Bergdahl in 2014.

Commentator Charles Krauthammer concluded9 Obama’s “top priority” comment was given “by rote — because he knows he’s supposed to say it.” Krauthammer added, “He thinks [the Islamic State] is the background noise of our time.” Rather than confront and fight this evil, Obama routinely dismisses the threat from the JV team, as if doing so means he has it “contained.”

Why Are We Importing Terrorism?10

If there’s anything we can learn from the carnage in Brussels7, it’s that countries all over the world have failed to implement the necessary security measures to stop terrorism on a mass scale. Obviously, no country can prevent every single attack, but what terrorists inflicted in Paris and Brussels is no easy feat.

One of the questions raised in Brussels is similar to what Americans were asking after Boston, Chattanooga and San Bernardino: How were these terrorists, some of whom were known radicals, able to carry out these attacks at an airport during high alert?

Here’s something else to ponder. The only thing between these terrorists and American soil was a plane flight. And if they felt so inclined, there was virtually nothing stopping them from hitching a ride here. The Investor’s Business Daily editorial board writes11:

“Belgium is one of 38 countries we let participate in the Visa Waiver Program. Its citizens and permanent residents don’t need a visa to travel here, allowing them to bypass standard security measures for visitors. Belgium now supplies the highest per-capita number of fighters to the Islamic State of any European nation, and most of them are Belgian nationals. That means they would be able to travel to the U.S. with a visa waiver.”

There are things we can — no, must — do to mitigate the chances of terrorists arriving here. We can start by amending a policy that allows Islamofascists to fly unvetted into the United States to inflict similar atrocities.

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read The Medal of Honor — Courage and Sacrifice3, on our shared Patriot legacy — whether you have been an American citizen for 10 days or 10 generations.

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here12.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Hans von Spakovsky & Tiffany Bates: Big Brother Bullies Little Sisters13
Ed Feulner: Encouraging Real Change in Cuba14
Victor Davis Hanson: The Hypocrisy Behind the Student Renaming Craze15

For more, visit Right Opinion16.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Little Sisters Face the Supreme Court17

By Allyne Caan

In a case indicative of just how intent the Obama administration is on targeting religious liberty and forcing compliance with state-approved doctrine, the Supreme Court Wednesday heard oral arguments in seven consolidated cases challenging ObamaCare’s contraception mandate. The most high-profile of these cases is Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell.

At issue is whether organizations like this humble order of Catholic nuns — whose mission18 is “to offer the neediest elderly of every race and religion a home where they will be welcomed as Christ, cared for as family and accompanied with dignity until God calls them to himself” — must comply with ObamaCare’s mandate that employer health plans cover contraceptives. Yes, Barack Obama says nuns who live a life of celibacy must have contraception coverage. The penalty if they don’t? For Little Sisters, a shocking $70 million in fines per year19 — or about one-third of their entire operating budget.

Besides celibacy, as Catholics the Little Sisters believe any form of contraception is a moral evil that violates both Scripture and nature — a belief held by some Protestants as well. Maybe they’re just “bitterly clinging” to their beliefs. The leftists who concocted ObamaCare, however, maintain that birth control paid for by someone else — even abortifacients like Plan B — is an inviolable “right,” religious beliefs be damned. “Liberals” want government out of the bedroom except when they don’t. They want sex without consequences, and it’s government’s job to ensure the entirely natural consequence of sex (conception) is either avoided or “easily” disposed of. Remember Georgetown student Sandra Fluke’s struggles to fund the $3,000 contraceptive tab of her law-school sex habit20?

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The Patriot Post Digest 3-24-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Coed sexual urges aside, Obama insists his administration is accommodating Little Sisters and similar organizations by allowing them to sign a form opting out of the contraception mandate. The government would then direct the insurance company to pay for the contraceptive coverage. Not only will the insurance company simply raise premiums for Little Sisters to pay for this additional coverage, but this “compromise” still requires that Little Sisters authorize the insurance coverage, making them party to an act they believe is morally reprehensible.

During oral argument, Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested21 the government is “hijacking” insurance plans to provide contraceptive coverage instead of finding another way to provide it without involving religious organizations that object.

Meanwhile, Justice Elena Kagan said22 the groups “were objecting to objecting.” And Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained that if everyone could claim exemptions from laws because they feel those laws violate their beliefs, “how will we ever have a government that functions?” Of course, this misses the point that in a truly free society — especially one in which the Founders crafted the First Amendment — religious liberty takes precedence over government programs. The Pilgrims didn’t depart Holland for the New World just for “a government that functions,” but for religious liberty.

Additionally, in cases like this in which government provides a supposed “way out,” it’s particularly critical to understand that religious liberty that depends upon government waivers is not freedom at all but tolerance. And tolerance given can easily and quickly become tolerance taken away.

Unfortunately, Little Sisters lost a staunch ally of true religious liberty with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. With the bench now numbering eight, there is a very real likelihood of a 4-4 split. Unless the Court orders the case re-argued, such a ruling would leave in place the lower courts' rulings. Most lower courts have ruled in favor of the mandate — save the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit23. This means employers would be impacted differently depending on where they and their employees are located.

Of course, if the ObamaCare exchanges were as stunningly successful as the administration claims, women could easily find affordable coverage that includes contraception apart from employer plans. In other words, as attorney and U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Member Peter Kirsanow points out24, “This is a completely unnecessary fight [the administration has] picked with the Little Sisters.”

Unnecessary for health care, perhaps, but, clearly necessary when targeting religious liberty is the priority25. ObamaCare was never about health care. It’s always been about control.

As if to hammer that point home, while the justices were hearing these arguments, Obama was glad-handing with the Cuban dictator who jails Christians on a regular basis.

Americans were once fed the lie, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” Beware when Obama says the same of your faith.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: Twisting the Minds of Vulnerable Schoolchildren26
America’s Apologizer Visits Argentina Visit27
In Defense of Mrs. Trump28
Are You a Criminal Employee at the VA? No Problem29
Was the War on Drugs Founded on a Lie?30
No More Jail Time for Unlicensed Hair Braiding in Nebraska31

TOP HEADLINES

400 Islamists Trained to Attack Europe32
Poland Abandons Pledge to Shelter Refugees33
Obama’s War on Coal Is Driving Up Energy Costs34

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report35

OPINION IN BRIEF

Gary Bauer: “Belgium is a relatively small European nation with a population of 11 million people. The United States has roughly 30 times Belgium’s population. Comparing the casualties proportionally to our respective populations would be like the U.S. suffering more than 900 people dead and 6,000 wounded. My point is this: [Tuesday’s] attack in Brussels, the headquarters of NATO, was Belgium’s 9/11. And that event warranted only 51 seconds of Barack Obama’s time… After a brief press conference in Havana, the president took in a baseball game. He even did the wave with Raul Castro. This is not evidence of Obama being tone deaf or frivolous. He is a very serious man. This is his approach to Islamic terror — ignore it as an inconvenient distraction. … When our enemies strike us or our allies, Obama’s life should be disrupted by planning how to strike back! Yucking it up with a communist dictator on a day of such tragedy fits Obama’s pattern. … This is a deliberate effort to downplay and ignore the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.” —Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

For the record: “Did George Washington shoot dissidents by firing squad in summary executions to assure his supremacy of power? Did Washington imprison thousands, including teenagers, executing many into open-pit mass graves as now-vaunted ‘revolutionary’ Che Guevara did, leering like a psychopath? … Did Jefferson load up the dungeons with political prisoners? Did Washington expropriate private property of political opponents, right down to their wedding rings? Did John Jay end freedom to travel? Did Madison sic turba mobs to throw eggs and excrement against dissidents in their homes? Did Adams drive millions from their homes to uncertain fates on leaky boats? Did Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton default on billions of dollars of debt of hated creditors, as Castro did? Exactly the opposite. That’s the real record of the Castro ‘revolution.’ And for that reason, there is so much wrong with what Obama said in attempting to equivocate the two revolutions1.” —Investor’s Business Daily

The BIG lie: “Cuba has an extraordinary resource — a system of education which values every boy and every girl.” —Barack Obama

False choice: “So often in the past there has been a division between left and right, between capitalists and communists or socialists, and especially in the Americas, that’s been a big debate. Those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical, and just choose from what works. You don’t have to worry about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory. You should just decide what works.” —Barack Obama in Argentina

Constitutional contempt: “Power is distributed across a lot of different institutions. It’s what we call separation of powers and decentralization. … This makes it hard sometimes for America to change as rapidly as we need to to respond to changed circumstances or problems.” —Barack Obama

One can hope: “Should we have let President Obama go to a Communist country? Isn’t there a risk of him deciding he doesn’t want to come back?” —Frank Fleming

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.