The Patriot Post Digest 9-30-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 9-30-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Sep. 30, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“Every man who loves peace, every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty ought to have it ever before his eyes that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the union of America and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it.” —James Madison (1788.)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

U.S. Welcomes Undocumented Refugees1

When it comes to the Obama administration’s refugee program, America’s borders are basically wide open. We begin with an excerpt from The Washington Times, which notes: “Leon Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said a ‘significant’ number of refugees have been implicated in terrorist plots over the past eight years but that the rejection of some 7 percent of Syrian applications proves his officers can spot danger signs.”

That assertion is not only contradictory, it’s downright deceitful. Here’s what Rodriguez told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday: “There are cases where [a refugee applicant’s] testimony is not necessarily corroborated by documents.” He added, “I am acknowledging that, yes, testimony can be the basis for the grant of a refugee but it needs to be tested against other information that we know — about the country conditions, at a minimum.”

Rodriguez’s claim that refugees are adequately vetted was further undermined when he strongly rebuked a newly uncovered DHS memo2 that warns, “Refugee fraud is easy to commit, yet not easy to investigate.” Yet Rodriguez’s own words only affirm there are national security-impairing vulnerabilities present in the vetting process.

His testimony also supports what FBI Director James Comey revealed last October: “If someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but … nothing [will] show up because we have no record of them.”

There’s no question terrorists are exploiting the system. Yet the White House website says3, “Refugees undergo more rigorous screening than anyone else we allow into the United States.” If that’s true, the administration is setting a dangerously low bar.

HHS Robs Taxpayers for Illegal ObamaCare Bailout4

How bad is ObamaCare? Six years after its passage, it may cost Democrats the Senate5. Nearly every bit of news about the law is bad — skyrocketing premiums, co-ops closing, insurers abandoning the exchanges, millions paying the penalty rather than buying coverage. And now the latest. A program called “transitional insurance” collected fees from private insurance plans to redistribute to insurance companies to cover for more expensive enrollees. (It’s similar to but separate from “risk corridors.”) But because ObamaCare has pretty well blown through all cost estimates, the amount collected wasn’t enough. Naturally, the way Barack Obama’s administration handled that runs afoul of the law, because the Department of Health and Human Services did not allocate the required funds to the U.S. Treasury (i.e. taxpayers) before bailing out insurers. In fact, rather than make any payments to the Treasury, it sat on some extra money.

According to a new GAO report6, “When total collections for benefit year 2014 — $9.7 billion — fell short of the target amount for reinsurance payments, HHS did not allocate any collections to the Treasury or to administrative expenses. Because the agency collected less than the $10 billion target for reinsurance payments, it allocated all of its collections for those payments. The agency received $7.9 billion in reinsurance claims and paid these in full, leaving approximately $1.7 billion in collections, which it carried over for reinsurance payments in subsequent benefit years. As a result, HHS did not deposit any amounts collected from issuers into the Treasury.” GAO says HHS doesn’t have that authority. All told, Obama took $3 billion in taxpayer money and gave it to private insurers instead — all because ObamaCare is such a destructive law.

The risk corridor program is facing similar trouble, and Obama is looking to — what else — circumvent Congress and the law to fix it. There’s not enough money allocated for this bailout either, so Obama’s considering a plan to raid funds set aside for federal legal settlements. That would be deceitful and probably illegal, but what else is new for this unconstitutional abomination of a “law”?

Obama’s Coal Power Play7

Caught between the increase of competition from natural gas on one side and Barack Obama’s stifling regulations and Hillary Clinton admitting that her energy plan would effectively put the coal industry out of business8 on the other, it would appear that the American coal industry is not long for this world. As a result of the coal industry’s steady demise, concern over funding coal workers' pensions has become a very real issue. For every current coal worker, there are now 10 retirees whose pension plans are in jeopardy.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, “Benefits are underfunded by $5.6 billion, or about $600,000 per worker, and the pension plan is projected to go broke by 2025. A retiree who worked 30 years would then receive a maximum of $12,870 per year from the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) versus $24,250.” Now the unions representing the coal workers want taxpayers to underwrite these pensions. Essentially, the unions are seeking a government bailout for an industry the government had a major hand in destroying. And Hillary Clinton would gladly oblige.

Leftists like Hillary Clinton who see the government as “savior” eagerly leap to supply solutions to problems which all too often resulted from their own prior “solutions.” Creating more not less dependence on the government is the goal of socialists. Democrats have lost support in what was once staunchly Democrat coal country, and this is an opportunity to win back support. Similar to the auto industry bailouts, a coal pension bailout could go a long way in bringing disillusioned Democrats back into the fold. Of course, legislation of this type would “add significant new costs, and eliminate savings sought by the administration,” a top official at the Department of Interior warned in 2010. But if killing coal can be leveraged into a Democrat power play to save coal workers' pensions, then it’s a win, even as coal workers and taxpayers lose.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

    Charles Krauthammer: When Facts, Logic and History Don’t Matter9
    Rich Lowry: The Media Freakout10
    David Harsanyi: Why Didn’t the FBI Give Hillary Clinton Immunity and Spare Us the Drama?11

For more, visit Right Opinion12.

TOP HEADLINES

    The Clintons' Big Fat Greek Bond Wedding13
    Obama Tried Punishing Judicial Watch14
    Authorities Tried Deporting Black Man Shot by Cops in California15
    New Jersey Student Suspended for Anti-Gun Control Project16

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report17.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
‘Equal Pay’: Another Area for Government Meddling18

By Michael Swartz

As the presidential campaign has dragged on, it’s become more clear that Hillary Clinton is simply offering to extend the utter failure of Barack Obama’s administration. Whether coincidental or not, days after Hillary opened her debate with Donald Trump by pledging to “guarantee, finally, equal pay for women’s work,” the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced19 it would begin collecting data from businesses on that very subject in March 2018. Never mind the facts about the supposed pay gap20 when there’s regulation to be had.

In its announcement, the EEOC fired a warning shot across the bow of those businesses required to file, noting, “The new data will improve investigations of possible pay discrimination, which remains a contributing factor to persistent wage gaps.” EEOC Chair Jenny Yang echoed this, adding, “Collecting pay data is a significant step forward in addressing discriminatory pay practices.” This new policy will affect the thousands of businesses that have 100 or more employees as well as federal contractors and subcontractors that employ 50 or more.

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The Patriot Post Digest 9-30-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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These regulations are the offspring of a perennially failed congressional bill called the Paycheck Fairness Act, and as onetime Department of Labor chief economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth argued21, they would put “an enormous compliance burden on businesses,” forcing them to categorize and report on 14 different gender, race and ethnicity groups in 12 pay bands and 10 occupational categories. “When the Obama administration decides to collect countless thousands of new data points, it has a purpose in mind,” adds Furchtgott-Roth. “Not much imagination is required to see that the plan here is to give Washington new powers to police the workforce.” Substitute “Clinton” for “Obama” and the result would be the same: Beltway bureaucrats browbeating business once again.

Moreover, these broad wage reporting categories could take a lot of arrangements that are convenient to working mothers off the table, contends22 Carrie Lukas of the Independent Women’s Forum. She points out that working moms “sometimes intentionally negotiate a lower salary with the understanding that they would have the ability to work from home, won’t have to travel, or could adjust work schedules to match their children’s school calendar.” But with this negotiated and agreed-to lower salary simply seen as an entry on a government form, the EEOC could justify the case to swoop in after a “random” check and force the company to conform to its demands.

According to one source, however, “There are a lot of reasons for the gap, including the types of work women and men typically do. Women dominate fields like teaching and clerical work, which tend to pay less than male-dominated fields. Women are also the majority of low-wage and minimum-wage workers.” Oddly enough, that nugget is from Hillary Clinton’s website23. But that obvious truth has been buried for political gain, resulting in the phony “women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes” narrative24.

Meanwhile, the prospect of even more red tape and the implied threat of Uncle Sam’s heavy hand of compliance weighing down the bottom line comes at a time when the overall economy is practically stuck in neutral25, with annual growth so far this year hovering around a measly 1%. And the Congressional Budget Office cautions that slow economic growth — just 2% annually — will be the norm26 for the next decade, blaming the anemic increase in the labor force and its productivity. But the CBO also gives the game away: “In addition to demographic factors, that [labor force] projection reflects CBO’s judgment that some people will decide to work somewhat less because of federal tax and spending policies that are set in current law.” And that doesn’t count the new regulations the Left continues to dream up. In the case of the “wage gap” regulations, for example, companies may think long and hard about hiring that 100th person or taking that federal contract if they are in the 50-to-99 category.

It used to be that a small business was free to grow and prosper indefinitely, but now these startups have to worry about compliance with burdensome measures like ObamaCare and the Family and Medical Leave Act once they reach the plateau of just 50 employees. This could prevent a marketable business from being more than a local retailer, hold back a factory from adding another shift to increase production, or discourage an energy company from investing in equipment for exploration as they’re unable to justify the overhead on the needed labor. America needs production from entrepreneurs to add the economic value that will truly boost our GDP and growth, but the only growth industry these days seems to be Big Government. The lesson: when business is good for government, it’s pretty bad for the rest of us.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

    Debating How to Deal With the Islamic State27 — Clinton and Trump both skirt what must be done.
    Kerry’s Uninspired Ultimatum28 — The threat to end a U.S.-Russia bilateral agreement is having limited success.
    Trash Talk29 — Hoping for change, Islamic style.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Charles Krauthammer: “And now, less than six weeks from the election, what is the main event of the day? A fight between the GOP presidential nominee and a former Miss Universe, whom he had 20 years ago called Miss Piggy and other choice pejoratives. Just a few weeks earlier, we were seized by a transient hysteria over a minor Hillary Clinton lung infection hyped to near-mortal status. The latest curiosity is Donald Trump’s 37 sniffles during the first presidential debate. (People count this sort of thing.) Dr. Howard Dean has suggested a possible cocaine addiction. In a man who doesn’t even drink coffee? This campaign is sinking to somewhere between zany and totally insane. Is there a bottom? … One of the more remarkable features of this campaign is how brazenly candidates deny having said things that have been captured on tape, such as Clinton denying she ever said the Trans-Pacific Partnership was the gold standard of trade deals. The only thing more amazing is how easily they get away with it.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Once we start to worry too often and too deeply about what certain individuals and what certain groups think about us, then we might start selling our souls for the sake of expediency.” —Otis Chandler (1927-2006)

Memo to the Clintons: “Chelsea, you said you don’t remember a time in your life that your parents weren’t being attacked. There’s a very good reason for this — your parents are not good people. Your father was, and probably still is, a sexual predator. Your mother has always lied and covered up for him. I say again ‘I was 35 when Bill Clinton Raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73. It never goes away’. The truth is what has brought the attacks on your family and you are smart enough to know that by now.” —Juanita Broaddrick

Redistribution: “In today’s world, when we talk about public education, it is no longer good enough to talk about the first grade through high school. That was wonderful 30 or 40 years ago — it is not enough today.” —Bernie Sanders

Dezinformatsia: “Stay true to your convictions. That might mean a vote for Clinton, the most plausible alternative to keep Trump out of the White House. Or it might mean a third-party candidate. Or a write-in. Or a focus on down-ballot candidates who will serve the nation honestly, try to heal its divisions, and work to solve its problems. Whatever you do, however, resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue. By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.” —USA Today editorial board

Belly laugh of the day: “[Donald Trump] puts his personal and business interests ahead of the laws and the values and the polices of the United States of America.” —Hillary Clinton, who does nothing but put her personal interests ahead of America’s

Demo-gogues: “We found out some of the people who voted for [the 9/11 bill override] said, frankly, we didn’t know what was in it. And there was no debate of it. And it was, you know, basically a political vote.” —Barack Obama (“It’s more than a little rich for the man who gave us ObamaCare to be complaining now about lawmakers' failure to read legislation without knowing what was in it.” —James Taranto)

And last… “Rather than striking immunity deals with virtually every person who had intimate knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s illegal private server and emails, the Justice Department would have saved everyone some time by offering Clinton protection instead.” —David Harsanyi

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.