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nChrist
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« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2017, 05:18:16 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 3-9-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Americans should be alarmed for several reasons.
First, to leakers like Snowden and WikiLeaks Founder-in-Hiding Julian Assange, there is no such thing as an inappropriate leak. WikiLeaks has no desire to discern between what should be released and what shouldn’t. The Snowdens and Assanges out there may think they’re going to change the world by indiscriminately dumping sensitive data, but they are not friends of America, and they’re endangering lives. It’s one thing to hold our government accountable; it’s quite another to reveal to our nation’s enemies our national security tactics and methods.
Indeed, as the Journal reports, “The exposure, if genuine, is likely to disrupt or halt many ongoing intelligence operations … and could implicate the CIA in past operations, including some that might be under investigation in foreign countries where the agency was spying.”
As long as WikiLeaks is able recklessly to release national security secrets, Americans should be both concerned and outraged.
Second, this latest leak once again casts extreme doubt on our government’s ability to handle information in a way that protects Americans' rights. As Reason’s Scott Shackford writes25, beyond the nuts and bolts of what was leaked the fact that anything was leaked is the problem: “That our intelligence agencies cannot expect to keep their practices secret from the public at large (and other nations) should influence policy decisions on how much information they collect and how they prioritize infiltrating devices over revealing security risks.”
According to Reuters26, U.S. officials are looking at contractors as the possible source of the breach, with one official saying the number of contractors with access to highly secret information has “exploded” as a result of budget limitations.
Yet, if the CIA, NSA and other security agencies have classified tools for spying on America’s enemies, these agencies have a deep responsibility to ensure these tools are not leaked and made available to those very enemies.
In this regard, we actually agree wholeheartedly with Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, who noted, “You have to be loyal to America to work for an intelligence agency, otherwise don’t do it.”
Third, and perhaps most importantly, the leak once again raises the question of whether the government should be able to carry out mass surveillance in the first place. Granted, in the latest leak, reports have not indicated the CIA used any of these tools against Americans, but one of the reasons we objected to the NSA’s mass surveillance was we didn’t trust the Obama administration to handle the information in a way that protected Americans' rights.
A change in administration shouldn’t change our wariness of government’s ability to collect and retain massive amounts of information on Americans — which, incidentally, they can do this very minute. Indeed, if we are to remain vigilant about our rights, we should not fully trust any administration, regardless of party label, to spy on Americans.
As John Adams so presciently noted27, “The only Maxim of a free Government, ought to be to trust no Man living, with Power to endanger the public Liberty.”
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
One-State or Two-State Solution? Maybe.28 — Trump challenges the status quo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Small-Town Judge Punished Because of Her Religious Beliefs29 — LGBT activists demand complete allegiance and devotion.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
Larry Elder: ObamaCare Can’t Be ‘Fixed’30
R. Emmett Tyrrell: What Has Gotten Into the Democrats?31
Victor Davis Hanson: Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff32
For more, visit Right Opinion33.
OPINION IN BRIEF
Larry Elder: “Because of regulations, the supply of doctors has been artificially limited. Economist Milton Friedman once compared the American Medical Association to a medieval guild that shuts out would-be practitioners and artificially protects the wages of doctors. … This is the argument Republicans should be making. The true replacement plan should be loosening regulations that prevent would-be doctors from entering the field, and prevent less-schooled and less-credentialed paraprofessionals from doing things that only licensed doctors can now do. We train battlefield medics in Iraq and Afghanistan to deal with battlefield trauma, saving countless lives. The Oscar-nominated film ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ depicted the true story of a medic with aspirations of becoming a doctor, whom the army trained to treat battlefield injuries. But that man, had he returned stateside and tried to set up a practice to treat victims of urban gun violence, would have been guilty of practicing medicine without a license. We advise developing countries to follow the well-worn path to prosperity — free markets, free trade, rule of law and property rights. Yet when it comes to nearly one-seventh of our economy— health care — we ignore our own advice. For health care, we don’t write ourselves the proper prescription.”
SHORT CUTS
Upright: “The modern Russians are not as clubbable as the Democrats found the Russians of the Soviet era. They are not even as agreeable as President Obama found them in 2012. Perhaps ordinary Americans, having read their history, can agree with me. These Democrats are mercurial. No wonder more and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that the country is in better hands with a real estate developer.” —R. Emmett Tyrrell
For the record: “I would be more bitter about the role of the House Republicans … except that in this case [overhauling ObamaCare], the Republican Party establishment34 is not really lagging behind the Republican base. The base has recently proved they don’t care all that much about rolling back the welfare state, because they elected, in the primaries and in the general election, a politician whose agenda has never included a rollback of the welfare state.” —Robert Tracinski
Observations: “The Republicans denounced the New Deal for 20 years. Eisenhower comes into office in 1953, and they don’t touch an element of it. Social Security remains intact. They were not suicidal, and they lived to govern another day. You cannot retract an entitlement once it has been granted. That’s the genius of the Left.” —Charles Krauthammer
But what about the years before? “Once [Republicans] had a blocking position in the Senate and then in the House, we couldn’t get the minimum wage increase, we couldn’t get increases into Social Security, we couldn’t get a more progressive tax bill.” —Elizabeth Warren accusing the GOP of obstructing Democrat prescriptions to income inequality under Obama
Braying Jackass: “The interesting thing is that with the Trump administration and many people who support Donald Trump, they think it is their country, that it is a white country and they are absolutely wrong. This is not a white country, this is not their country, it is ours.” —Jorge Ramos
And last… “Governors who cannot build a reservoir have little business fantasizing about 200-mph super trains. And dense celebrities who cannot open the right envelope should not be sought for cosmic political wisdom.” —Victor Davis Hanson
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
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