The Patriot Post Digest 1-3-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-3-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Jan. 3, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Apparently, Obama’s promise to “have Israel’s back” meant he’d stab them in the back.
Moves against Russia do little but amplify Democrats' excuses for losing.
Despite those crushing losses, Obama can’t help but take a victory lap.
And more news, policy and opinion.

THE FOUNDATION

“States, like individuals, who observe their engagements, are respected and trusted: while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an opposite conduct.” —Alexander Hamilton (1790)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

A Tale of Two Hackings1

On Thursday, Barack Obama, through the office of the U.S. Treasury Department, announced his response to the alleged Russian hackings of the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The U.S. will expel 35 Russian diplomats and intelligence agents, sanction three Russian businesses and close access to two Russian government-owned compounds in Maryland and New York. Obama blamed the highest levels of government in Moscow for the hacks, claiming they were done to interfere in the U.S. election.

Democrats are predictably heaping praise on Obama’s decision, while several Republicans, long supportive of taking action against Moscow, have questioned the timing. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) stated, “While today’s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia.”

What is troubling about Obama’s recent actions is indeed the timing. Why now? While Obama decries Russian interference and the need for retaliation and greater security, the truth is, had Hillary Clinton won the election, he wouldn’t have even considered lifting a finger. Perhaps this was the yin to his 2012 yang, when he promised more flexibility with Russia after that election.

Furthermore, consider Obama’s response to China’s unprecedented hacking of the Office of Personnel Management2. China stole personal data on more than 21.5 million government workers and Obama said almost nothing. In fact, the New York Times reported at the time3 that government officials “were under strict instructions to avoid naming China as the source of the attack.” How times have changed.

Obama’s newfound concern over the nation’s cybersecurity has far less to do with protecting the U.S. against future cyberattacks than bitter political retaliation against Donald Trump. Obama’s actions belie his lack of respect and trust in the U.S. system of government. He is primarily motivated not by concern for the well-being and security of the nation, but by protecting his own legacy and agenda. Since an incoming Trump presidency is a greater threat to Obama’s legacy than a nefarious geopolitical power such as Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Obama clearly wanted to complicate rather than support future foreign policy efforts by the incoming president. Some legacy.

Obama’s Losing Victory Lap4

The arrogance of Barack Obama knows no bounds. Despite seeing his party completely decimated5 by the 2016 elections (not to mention 2014 and 2010), Obama couldn’t resist yet another victory lap on his way out the door. Over the Christmas holiday, Obama boasted, “I am confident in [my] vision because I’m confident that if I — if I had run again and articulated it — I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.” Translation: Hillary Clinton really blew it, but Obama would’ve beaten Donald Trump.

The thing to remember is that all throughout the presidential race, Obama actively campaigned for Clinton, telling voters that though he wasn’t on the ballot his policies were. Voters responded accordingly, yet he now insists that his presence would’ve changed the results.

To continue this theme, Obama used his final weekly address6 of 2016 to recount all the ways in which he’s blessed America: He saved jobs and the auto industry, as well as brought marriage “equality.” Abroad, he killed Osama bin Laden, ended the war in Iraq, drew down from Afghanistan, made the greatest deal ever with Iran and became best friends with Raul Castro. As he walks out the door, he’s effectively saying, “You’re welcome, America.”

But again, the reality is that the economy has struggled through a record stretch of sub-3% growth thanks to his redistributive policies. Religious liberty is in jeopardy courtesy of the Rainbow Mafia’s marriage win. And the Middle East is a disaster thanks to his malfeasance. Not that he’ll ever admit it, but by electing Trump, America said, “Thanks Obama, but no thanks.”

Top Headlines7

A new era! As the 115th Congress opens its session today, the GOP’s majority mandate starts with ending ObamaCare. (Fox News8.)

Governors lead a Republican renaissance in New England. (The Washington Post9)

Trump names Robert Lighthizer for U.S. trade representative. (The Washington Times10)

New Years' Eve injunction blocks the federal redefinition of the word “sex.” (Washington Examiner11)

Fed wastes $412K on study “How to Make Glaciers Feminist.” (Newsmax12)

Fake news13: The great hacking of Vermont’s electrical grid that never happened. (National Review14)

Then there are actual threats to national security. Edward Snowden and Chelsea Bradley Manning want pardons from Obama. (New York Post15)

Democrat Poverty Plantation16 update: Obama’s hometown of Chicago ends 2016 with 762 homicides, up 57%, a 20-year high, and more than New York and LA combined. (Chicago Tribune17)

Obama names Utah, Nevada monuments despite GOP opposition. He celebrated by tweeting pics18 of the wrong park. (Associated Press19)

Policy: How to worry about “climate change.” (National Affairs20)

Policy: Correcting the course of future defense spending. (Real Clear Defense21)

Dave Barry’s Year in Review: 2016 — What the … ? (Miami Herald22)

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Obama and Kerry Leave Legacy of Loathing Israel23

By Paul Albaugh

Many have worried that Barack Obama would do as much damage as he could before leaving office. As if the damage he’s already done to American foreign policy isn’t enough, right before Christmas, Obama and his administration compounded it by snubbing our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel.

Actually, calling it “snubbing” is far too polite, especially since Obama had told a crowd of Jewish supporters four years ago, “When the chips are down, I have Israel’s back.” As Charles Krauthammer put it24, “Obama took the measure of Israel’s back and slid a knife into it.” We are of course referring to Obama’s decision for the U.S. to abstain from the UN Security Council vote that permitted passage of a resolution condemning Israel over its “settlements.”

Gary Bauer explains25, “[The] U.N. resolution delegitimizes Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, as well as East Jerusalem. These are places where Jews have lived and worshipped for thousands of years, since before the birth of Jesus. Now the U.N., with the blessing of the Obama Administration, has declared that Jews have no right to live there. For Christians, these are places with tremendous significance. Great events of our faith took place in this land of the Jews. The effort to delegitimize the Jewish history and current presence in these places is also an attack on Christianity and its history.”

Obama pretends that abstaining isn’t harmful and that the U.S. has long opposed Israeli “settlements.” This simply is not true. Krauthammer notes, “For the last 35 years, every administration, including a re-election-seeking Obama himself in 2011, has protected Israel with the U.S. veto because such a Security Council resolution gives immense legal ammunition to every boycotter, anti-Semite and zealous European prosecutor to penalize and punish Israelis.”

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The Patriot Post Digest 1-3-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Further, what about the last 50 years of U.S. Middle East policy of land for peace? The U.S, veto of the resolution would have protected this policy, but because there was no U.S. veto, the territories that belong to Israel can no longer be used in future negotiations since Palestinians can now lay claim to those territories.

As if this blow to Israel wasn’t bad enough, Secretary of State John Kerry last Wednesday delivered an anti-Israel tirade26. He called the Israeli government “the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by its most extreme elements.” Should we be surprised by such a statement from the most extreme left-wing government in American history?

Kerry further lamented that the Western Wall and Temple Mount are illegally occupied by Israelis, before summoning the chutzpah to declare, “This administration has been Israel’s greatest friend and supporter.”

Kerry also accused Israel of undermining any hope of a two-state solution. He claimed that Israeli policy was “leading toward one state or perpetual occupation,” and asserted, “If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both.” That statement completely contradicts U.S. policy with other countries in the Middle East. With Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. government pleaded and pushed for those countries to adopt constitutions that allowed them to be democratic and Islamic.

But as National Review’s Andrew McCarthy points out27, in these “Islamic democracies” even Muslim minorities are not granted equal rights. Turkey is becoming less democratic and “less respectful of minority rights as it becomes more Islamic.” In fact, McCarthy notes, “It is only in Israel, a Jewish state, that Muslims live with full democratic rights. Yet, in Obama-world, Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic. Evidently, you need Sharia for that.”

Kerry’s speech was another reminder28 of why the Obama administration’s foreign policy has been such a disaster. Russia and Iran have been slaughtering thousands of civilians in Syria, while the Islamic State is still committing ruthless acts of terror in the region and inspiring it worldwide. Yet the administration has been more concerned with accommodating our adversaries and, in its final days, has decided to isolate and undermine Israel. In other words, Obama and Kerry have made the U.S. no different than the UN.

As Jonah Goldberg astutely writes, “It needs to be remembered that the U.N. hates Israel because it is in the political interests of member states, particularly Arab states, which use Palestinians as a distraction from their own despotisms, to hate Israel. Think of all the horrors and crimes committed by evil governments around the world. Now think about the fact that from 2006 to 2015 alone the U.N. has condemned Israel 62 times. All of the other nations combined have received 55 condemnations. Iran? Five. The genocidal Sudanese? Zero. Anarchic Somalia? Zero. Saudi Arabia? Zero. Pakistan? Zero. China? Zero. Russia? Zero.”

In fact, one should blame the UN for the Palestinian “refugee” crisis. They are the only post-World War II refugee group to remain unsettled and causing trouble.

Perhaps the only correct statement Kerry uttered was that Obama’s policies29 have a short shelf life. Despite being short-lived, however, there will be long-lasting — including violent — consequences to Obama’s betrayal of Israel.

Fortunately for Israel, Donald Trump has already signaled that he will reverse Obama’s horrendous policies, including a promise to move the U.S embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect,” Trump said after Kerry’s speech. “They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore. … Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!” Indeed it is, and for Israel and the U.S. that date can’t arrive soon enough.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Trigger Warning: Immigration Problems Discussed Here30 — What is the purpose of immigration?

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Jim DeMint: ObamaCare Repeal Must Be on Day One31
Jeff Jacoby: What Experts Predict, Reality Will Contradict32
Cal Thomas: Kerry’s Two-Faced Solution33

For more, visit Right Opinion34.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Jeff Jacoby: “2016! Was there ever such a year for making donkeys out of seers? An entire column could be filled with nothing but the names of sages and savants, supposedly adept in the ways of politics, who confidently assured everyone that Donald J. Trump couldn’t possibly win the Republican presidential nomination, let alone be elected President of the United States. … By no means was it only in the realm of U.S. presidential politics that experts blew it. At Fox Sports, Sam Gardner insisted on Opening Day that the Chicago Cubs ‘weren’t ready to make the leap’ to the World Series. He was still insisting six months later that the Cubs' World Series drought would persist. Climate experts predicted that by the late summer of 2016, for the first time in 100,000 years, the Arctic Ocean would be effectively ice-free. … Fortune magazine played up the doomsaying of Wall Street strategist Albert Edwards, who warned that 2016 would bring the biggest stock-market crash in a generation. … British experts of every description made the case for keeping the United Kingdom inside the European Union, and pollsters were sure Brexit would go down to defeat. … Maybe all of us should be more skeptical when experts are telling us what to think.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “There are only two means by which men can deal with one another: guns or logic. Force or persuasion. Those who know that they cannot win by means of logic, have always resorted to guns.” —Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

For the record: “[Obama] has … for eight years rubbed white peoples' nose in the stain of slavery. He’s done it for eight years. He’s about 150 years removed from slavery. Nobody said forget about it, but you have to be able to move on at some point. And he will not allow America to do that. And until he leaves the White House, we are going to continue to have to put up with his nonsense.” —Sheriff David Clarke

Re: The Left: “Obama … revealed himself in his final month as the Jew hating, Israel hating bastard we have always known him to be.” —Caroline Glick

Upright: “The fact that neither Al Gore nor Hillary Clinton was allowed to ascend to the highest office in the land is the very reason that the Electoral College will retain its place in the Constitution long after Gore and Clinton take their rightful place as the final question on Jeopardy: Name two people who lost presidential elections in spite of garnering the most popular votes. And don’t be too surprised if, say, ten years from now, the three finalists are stumped.” —Burt Prelutsky

Delusions of grandeur: “Since 2009, we’ve faced our fair share of challenges, and come through them stronger. That’s because we have never let go of a belief that has guided us ever since our founding — our conviction that, together, we can change this country for the better. So I hope you’ll join me one last time [for my farewell address in Chicago on Jan. 10]. Because, for me, it’s always been about you.” —Barack Obama

Non Compos Mentis: “The president prides himself on the fact that his administration hasn’t had a scandal and that he hasn’t done something to embarrass himself.” —Valerie Jarrett

And last… “Putin wanted Hillary to lose the election because he was sick and tired of the Democrats letting him do whatever he wanted.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest

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.