THE FOUNDATION

“Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression.” —James Madison, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1788

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Barack, Francis, Hot Air and Social Justice

The United Nations is apparently now writing “climate change” encyclicals for the Vatican. On Monday, an Italian magazine leaked a draft copy of Pope Francis' 191-page address on the topic. Taking a page from the Left’s playbook, the pope insists that curbing global warming is a moral imperative. “Humanity is called on to be aware of the need to change lifestyles, production and consumption,” he says, because the world is filled with a “culture of waste.” We are all for using energy judiciously and curbing waste, but not under the pretense of a UN-Vatican mandate. The encyclical coincides with Obama’s announcement this week of his plans for more climate “executive actions” in order to bypass Congress. Like Obama, the Pope has long advocated for liberation theology, a doctrine similar to that propagated by Obama’s religious mentor, Jeremiah Wright, and other Marxist promoters of “social justice.” Many Catholics in the U.S. take strong exception to the pope acting as a water boy for the UN. Big-government statists at the UN welcome the pope’s statement, as it may assist with the UN’s global climate treaty negotiations at the upcoming Paris summit — a treaty which would be more accurately called a “global economic control” treaty. Obama insists, “If I can encourage and gain commitments from the Chinese to put forward a serious plan to start curbing their greenhouse gases, that then allows us to leverage the entire world.” However, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) made clear that neither he nor his Republican colleagues are drinking Obama’s Kool-Aid: “The Senate is not going to ratify any international climate treaty that continues this trend [centralizing the global economy].”

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Obama May Fundamentally Transform Economy

The Obama administration claims that the money dropping into the U.S. debt hole has declined. Jobs are up. The economy is coming back. (Y'know, except for those pesky winters.) But the reports are coming in that counter the administration’s propaganda. First, the Congressional Budget Office issued a report Tuesday claiming that, if left unchecked, the U.S. debt will become much, much worse. “The long-term outlook for the federal budget has worsened dramatically over the past several years, in the wake of the 2007-2009 recession and slow recovery,” the CBO said in its report. The debt could double by 2040 if left unchecked. It’s a massive problem, almost too large for any politician in Washington to recognize, but one that will affect the economic vitality of the nation far into the future. Part of the problem is that entitlement spending is going to increase as the baby boomer generation heads into retirement. As for the generation that’s supposed to keep entitlement spending going, millennials have entered the job market at the lowest part of the recession. According to statistics blog Five Thirty Eight, that generation holds more personal debt, makes less money and owns fewer and less expensive homes. Furthermore, because millennials entered the job market in a tough economic time, they will make less money over the course of their careers. Thank to his administration’s shenanigans, Barack Obama could have the legacy of fundamentally transforming the American economy.

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Hillary, The Miser

In 2014, Hillary Clinton spoke at a Boys and Girls Club fundraiser. Like most of the “dead broke” politician’s speeches, this one was for a fee: $200,000. Usually, a speaker appearing at a nonprofit will charge a fee and then donate it back, especially if it’s a smaller organization. That’s what Condoleezza Rice did when she spoke at the Boys and Girls Club in 2009. But not Clinton. She turned around and deposited the check into the Clinton Foundation. Politico reports, “[F]undraising experts and people affiliated with some nonprofits on the list — including the Boys and Girls Club — grumbled that the hefty price tag for securing a Clinton speech is a significant drain on small charities' fundraising and that community-based nonprofits could put the money to better use.” Furthermore, Clinton’s campaign is running off the work of full-time interns who work for free. The Guardian reports that the people taking these jobs are seasoned politicos who wish to enter Clinton’s good graces. How can she talk about a bad economy and a wage gap when she doesn’t take care of the people working to get her elected? Remember, this is the same Hillary Clinton that said, “I don’t think Americans are against success, I think they’re against people who get on top of the ladder and starts pulling it up so that nobody else has the same chance that they had. … Those of us who do have opportunities how to be doing more to help other people do the same.”

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

A Short History of the Trans Fats Witch Hunt

By Jim Harrington

In the year 1975, a mother was likely to give her children a snack with trans fats in it. Those fats were considered healthier, the benefits of nutritional innovation. Fast-forward 40 years and America considers trans fats a pariah and a substance that directly leads to heart disease.

Last week Mommy Government decided that no level of trans fat is healthful in the American diet. It therefore completely banned the substance by 2018 so that you’ll have one less danger stalking you.

In banning a certain ingredient from food, the government assumes too much responsibility over Americans' lives. David Harsanyi points out that the government’s justification that the ban prevents heart disease could justify a battery of food bans — including on alcohol and cigarettes. Instead, big-government social engineering must decide what we consume — even if its groupthink may be wrong.

Trans fats can be found in fried foods, margarine and commercial baked goods. They aremanufactured fats that take saturated fats and stabilize the substance through a process called hydrogenation.

Trans fats were initially developed in Germany and later went into large-scale production in England. In 1909, Proctor and Gamble bought the rights for the U.S. market, and their first product, a partly hydrogenated cottonseed oil used as shortening, was named Crisco.

Products using trans fats quickly became popular. During World War II, when dairy products were scarce, margarine took the place of butter. Trans fats also found uses as preservatives and for improving products' texture. In the 1960s the government and scientists both recommended using them in food preparation rather than saturated fats such as lard and butter. Of course, cigarettes were being advertised as a boon to your health, too.

The Atlantic points out, “A 1961 Time magazine article that railed against the dangers of saturated fat (found in meat and dairy products), and … consumers began to view margarine and shortening as healthier alternatives.”

“In the 1980s,” the Atlantic continues, “some scientists began to associate heart disease with saturated fats, and in response, groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the National Heart Savers Association … began to hound manufacturers [to stop] poisoning America … by using saturated fats… In 1990, a New York Times food writer said CSPI’s campaign prompted fast-food chains to ‘slim down’ by switching to frying in shortening.”

Activists got their wish. Low fat became de rigeaur in restaurants and among “health-conscious” people. Fat was out. Chicken breast was in. And those of us who revel in our Royale with cheese and a good donut or two have become politically incorrect.

But a funny thing happened. In the late 1980s, just as Al Gore was warming up, scientific “consensus” began to shift away from trans fats. A decade later, healthy food activists were saying the fats contributed to clogged arteries. Indeed, they may be a more insidious threat than saturated fats, they said.

Ironically, as The Atlantic reported, Center for Science in the Public Interest, the organization that initially lobbied for the wide use of trans fats, turned around and told the FDA to add warning labels to any food that contained them. In 2006, the FDA required companies to label their products with the quantity of trans fats they contain and include a warning that no amount of trans fat is safe. Enjoy your meal.

This comes at a time when the average consumption of trans fats has dropped 80% in the last decade. The FDA was issuing its warnings, and people were making their own decisions about their diets.

Large food companies have already started to make the switch to other kinds of oils, but smaller businesses likely still have a stock of trans fat products. With rent, wages, taxes and now additional regulation, it doesn’t make sense to get rid of them any sooner than necessary.

Once again we see the absurd spectacle of a government treating its citizens like infants. Not only are we regulated beyond absurdity, the rules also change every generation or so. Who are these people who spend their careers writing these preposterous warnings for the “children” who work at real jobs and pay their salaries?

Adding injury to insult, now that time has passed in which “grave damage” has been visited upon millions of victims of trans fats by manufacturers that knew all along they were poison, the wolves are coming out of the woods. Personal injury lawyers are lining up to go after the deep and not so deep pockets of firms that produced an entirely legal product.

As long as the government is allowed to treat citizens as infants — a situation with which far too many are comfortable — regulations will continue getting more ridiculous and more expensive for everyone. Is it too much to tell the government to start treating Americans like a group of adults?

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TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US

• ANALYSIS: Sending Troops Is the First Step in Countering Russia
• Clinton Was for the Trade Deal Before She Was Against It

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

• Arnold Ahlert: The Death of the Neighborhood
• Ben Shapiro: Yes, Rachel Dolezal Is Black
• Jonah Goldberg: Why Are We Ignoring a Cyber Pearl Harbor?
• Stephen Moore: The Young and Investment-Less
• Star Parker: The Audacity of Jeb Bush
• Walter Williams: Culture and Social Pathology
• Tony Perkins: A Call to Lead

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Ben Shapiro: “[W]hat distinguishes [Bruce] Jenner from [Rachel] Dolezal? On what basis can we reject Dolezal’s blackness, given that the left has now redefined objective reality as self-definition? If you want to be a woman, you are a woman. If you want to be black, why can’t you be black? … By the left’s standards, Rachel Dolezal is black. She can choose her race, just as Bruce Jenner can choose his sex. And she didn’t choose. She always felt that way. After all, no one would choose to be black, just as no one would choose to be gay — blacks are so put upon in American society that no one would fake being black for, say, the benefits of employment or mainstream leftist celebration. Perhaps we can all learn from Rachel Dolezal: Race doesn’t matter. Except that it does for people like Rachel Dolezal, which is why she went black. Rachel Dolezal is a poster child for the deconstructionist, victim-manufacturing left. But now she’s learning: Once you go black, the left will make you go back.”

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SHORT CUTS

Insight: “If it was necessary to tolerate in other people everything that one permits oneself, life would be unbearable.” —French novelist Georges Courteline (1858-1929)

Upright: “[Rachel Dolezal] actually said when explaining her deceptions, her lies, her constructions, her inventions, her delusions, ‘I hope that [my story] can drive at the core of the definitions of race, ethnicity, culture, self-determination, and ultimately empowerment.’ Is there a cliché from the marxist lexicon of identity politics that she has not used? … This is oppression envy. I can’t quite figure out if this is psychopathological deception on her part, or has she actually shifted over into delusion?” —Charles Krauthammer

The BIG Lie: “I’ll be honest with you. With all the crises we were dealing with … [technology and IT] did not get the kind of laser-focused attention until ­Healthcare.gov, which was a well-­documented disaster, but ended up anyways being the catalyst for us saying, ‘Okay, we have to completely revamp how we do things.’ The results there were so outstanding.” —Barack Obama

Non Compos Mentis: “The records of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, of cleaning up the messes they inherited, is something that speaks to Democratic values. Both my husband and President Obama created more opportunity coming from a lower base, because they believe, fundamentally, that real and lasting prosperity must be built by all and shared by all.” —Hillary Clinton

Village Idiots: “We are rolling out major policy proposals over the summer/fall. Among those proposals will be revenue enhancements.” —Hillary Clinton’s press secretary Brian Fallon (“Of course, ‘revenue enhancements’ is code for tax hikes. During the Bill Clinton administration, another code word for this was ‘broad-based contributions.’” —Washington Examiner’s Jason Russell)

Braying Jackass: “The Supreme Court shouldn’t have taken up [ObamaCare]. … I think the language is clear. I hope the Supreme Court can read English.” —Harry Reid

Late-night humor: “It was a beautiful weekend in New York. This is how nice the weather was: I went outside without sunscreen for about an hour, and I was elected to run the Spokane NAACP.” —Seth Meyers

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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.

THE FOUNDATION

“[Emigrants] will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty.” — Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

121 Illegal Immigrants Released by ICE Became Murderers

Regardless of how Democrat sympathizers see it, illegally crossing the U.S. border is a crime, but that’s not preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from letting unauthorized immigrants back onto the streets — including some who went on to become murderers. According to The Washington Times, “More than 100 immigrants whom the Obama administration released back into the community went on to be charged with subsequent killings, according to government data released Monday that raises more questions about whether immigration authorities are doing enough to detail illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. … All told, 121 immigrants who were held but eventually released by ICE went on to commit ‘homicide-related offenses’ from 2010 through 2014, the agency said.” Those are only known offenders, though, meaning the actual figure is probably even more alarming. ICE said in a statement, “When making custody determinations, ICE performs an individualized review of the individual’s immigration history and criminal history, pursuant to the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). In accordance with the requirements of the INA, not all criminals are subject to mandatory detention and thus may be eligible for bond.” And, thus, eligible to take other people’s lives. America’s lax immigration policies aren’t just ridiculous; they’re proving to be deadly. More…

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ATF Teams Up With NYPD to Deter ‘Gun Crimes’

In what CBS New York describes as the “first-ever anti-gun initiative,” federal agencies in collaboration with the NYPD are cracking down on escalating “gun crime” across the City of New York. ATF agent Charles Mulham said, “There’s going to be an increase in federal arrests — no doubt.” He added, “Of course, when the ATF gets involved … we’ll be able to figure out if [any] weapon is part of an interstate trafficking operation.” That’s a bold statement coming from an agency that intentionally put weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. And considering New York boasts lower than average crime rates, why aren’t they asking why violent behavior is increasing instead of positing this as an “anti-gun” initiative? For the same reason the question is being avoided in cities like Ferguson and Baltimore. As Mark Alexander has pointed out, blaming weapons serves an agenda: “The ‘gun violence’ rhetoric comports with the errant Leftist assertion that guns are the problem and the Democrats' next gun control measure is the solution. Most assuredly, the epidemic of crime in American urban centers is not a ‘gun problem,’ but rather a cultural problem.” Getting the federal government involved in New York, ostensibly to ward off potential offenders, won’t get us any closer to tackling the core problem — especially via an agency embroiled in its own questionable behavior. More…

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Killing Al-Qaida Terrorists Is Good, But…

The Obama administration continues to play whack-a-mole with terrorists in the Middle East, using American aircraft as the gavel. Over the weekend, al-Qaida in Yemen confirmed that its number two leader, Nasir al-Wahishi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike. This is the biggest blow against the terrorist group since SEAL Team Six drilled Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound. Meanwhile, U.S. planes dropped 500 lb. munitions in Libya, possibly killing Mokhtar Belmokhtar, “the one-eyed sheik” who split from al-Qaida to form his own terrorist outfit. The implications are that we have some decent intelligence. The strikes are good news, but it’s not a game changer but rather a place-holder by the administration, which has no coherent or comprehensive policy in the region. Obama’s objective is to pass this buck to the next administration. For that reason, GOP candidates better get the history of OIF and OEF right, because, if the next president is a Republican, he is going to have to implement a policy to contain and diminish this metastasizing threat.

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

Jeb Bush Enters Race Wooing Latinos, Furthering Dynasty

By Robin Smith

After a six-month “exploratory” window that served as the acceleration ramp up to his real campaign, Jeb Bush — the brother of President George W. Bush — formalized his candidacy for president June 15.

“I have decided,” Bush told a crowd at a community college in Miami, “I am a candidate for President of the United States.”

In his campaign, Bush brings a strong Catholic faith, a credible voice in the Latino community in Florida and the baggage that comes when your brother and father both served as commanders in chief.

Jeb indirectly acknowledged that some conservatives believe he is the “establishment pick” by noting, “It’s nobody’s turn, it’s everybody’s test, and it’s wide open — exactly as a contest for president should be.”

Bush’s candidacy was inevitable. As former governor of Florida, the third most populous state in the U.S., “Jeb!” showed off his gift of policy over politics in a rich vein of electoral votes. In the GOP tribe, however, this inevitability is not without its concerns — the Bush name has been gleefully lambasted by the presstitutes. The liberal media loves to invoke partisan animosity toward previous Bush presidencies, diverting scrutiny from controversies involving Barack Obama and his robotic, scandal-ridden heir apparent — Hillary Clinton.

The Jeb Bush campaign will certainly have plenty of funding. That guarantees a mass-marketed, micro-targeted message integrated across all platforms of media designed to reach a vast range of voters. But his key trait — widespread recognition of his family name — might be a liability among many Republicans and virtually all Democrats, thanks to the negatives of Bush 41 and 43.

But he isn’t just another clone of his brother. Jeb Bush is considered by some as a prominent member of the Latino community. Fellow presidential contender Marco Rubio considers Bush a mentor. Fluent in Spanish, Bush decided to reach out directly to Spanish-speaking constituents in his speech. “Ayúdenos en tener una campaña que les da la bienvenida,” he said, a phrase that’s translated to mean, “Help us to have a campaign that welcomes them.”

According to every poll conducted thus far, the GOP presidential primary is wide open. No frontrunner has emerged to doggedly prevent another Clinton White House. The sheer size of the pool of GOP candidates gives the Democrats a whole lot of cover behind which to hide their lack of effective policies, opposed to the authentic race and political choices found in the GOP presidential primary.

For Bush, the bar is extremely high. His successful tenure as governor in Florida displays his talent for leadership. The crucial task of Jeb and his campaign team will be to remind GOP voters of his effective conservative policies implemented during his time as Florida’s top elected official. These victories include a few issues that are inarguably crowd-pleasers for the Right, even the far-Right:

• Passed parental school choice and rigorous school reform that raised the reading level of fourth graders by 11 points
• Enacted tax cuts that totaled $19 billion with an actual reduction in the size of his state’s government by 6.6%
• Supported parental notification of abortions requested by minors
• Pushed through Medicaid reforms with private insurance solutions emphasizing personal health and accountability
• Ended civil service protections of long-time unelected state bureaucrats and eliminated racial preferences in state-government contracting
• Signed the nation’s first “Stand Your Ground” law
• Called five special sessions of the legislature to pass medical liability and trial lawyer reforms to eradicate jackpot justice in Florida

Yet to win the eventual party nomination, Bush must explain his post-gubernatorial stances on a few hot-button topics. First, he backs immigration reform that emphasizes assimilation through access to services, not by enforcing existing law and prioritizing a secure border. He has also been a vocal proponent of Common Core, a set of educational standards originally written by our nation’s governors but soon sullied by the federal government, which established massive testing requirements and strings attached for funding access.

Jeb also must consider a few factors about the composition of the GOP that he’s not seen as a candidate before: In his last election, Bush did not face the Tea Party.

But as Politico writes, “Jeb’s stances on immigration and Common Core distance him from the GOP base, but his Catholic faith brings him back into the flock.”

While the Left is arguing that Religious Liberty is a limited right, one that should be eroded for holier rights such as same-sex marriage or abortion, Bush believes the opposite.

“The most galling example is the shabby treatment of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Christian charity that dared to voice objections of conscience to Obamacare,” Bush said. “The next president needs to make it clear that great charities like the Little Sisters of the Poor need no federal instruction in doing the right thing. It comes down to a choice between the Little Sisters and Big Brother, and I’m going with the Sisters.”

Governor Bush’s early message and targeted contrasts could make him a heavyweight in the Republican primary, and his name recognition and depth of resources are advantages in the crowded field. Only time will reveal whether we’ll find ourselves rallying to unite against the Left with a nominee declaring, “Third time’s a charm.”

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TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US

• ‘Black’ NAACP Official Resigns
• ObamaCare Placing Americans' Data in One Basket
• Ronald Reagan Packed Heat While in Office

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

• Cal Thomas: China’s Big Hack Attack
• Michael Barone: Obama Fails to Pass Trade Bill Backed by Majorities in Both Houses
• Dennis Prager: The Left Rejects Painful Truths
• Stephen Moore: The Fantasy That ObamaCare ‘Is Working’
• Thomas Sowell: Micro-Totalitarianism
• Arnold Ahlert: I Am Who I Say I Am

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Cal Thomas: “It doesn’t take a spy novelist to come up with a scenario in which a Chinese government agent approaches someone with a top security clearance and threatens to expose a dark secret in his or her past, possibly destroying family and career, unless he or she cooperates and hands over information to Beijing. The Chinese agent would likely have details about medications his target is taking to ward off depression, or some other malady, possibly making him more vulnerable to pressure. The former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, says another possible use of the hacked information could be to shape fake emails crafted to look legitimate while injecting spyware and other viruses on the networks of government agencies or businesses the Chinese wish to penetrate. … If any humor can come from a serious situation, it was in a statement by OPM spokesman, Samuel Schumach. When asked to provide more details on the damage caused by the hacking, Schumach said: ‘For security reasons, we will not discuss specifics of the information that might have been compromised.’ What possible ‘security’ reasons could there be when clearly there was insufficient security at OPM? Perhaps reporters should ask this of the Chinese, since they now appear to be in possession of all the pertinent information.”

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SHORT CUTS

Insight: “[T]he human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse.” —English writer Samuel Richardson (1689-1761)

Upright: This country and the left has made it profitable to become a victim of something — primarily a victim of an evil, faceless majority. If you become a member of a minority are automatically a victim, and the victim gets goodies. … The victim gets excused for all kinds of aberrant, weirdo behavior and instead is the recipient of sympathy. So it’s clear that this is a purposeful and studied move that [Rachel Dolezal] made.“ —Rush Limbaugh

Friendly fire, part I: "The question is for all politicians, including [Hillary Clinton] today, when you live in a bubble of privilege, surrounded by and marinating in the worldview of elites, business elites, rich donors, can you really connect with the policy concerns of people outside of the bubble?” —New York Times' Nicholas Confessore

Friendly fire, part II: “The Hillary of a year ago was for the trade deal. The Hillary of Saturday’s announcement was against the trade deal. We’ll have to see what Hillary she is when the trade deal comes up for the next vote. I mean that’s the reality of it, right? This is just political positioning.” —Slate’s Jacob Weisberg

Friendly fire, part III: “[Hillary] has not been consistently saying anything for 30 years. … [A]t some point there has got to be an acknowledgment that there hasn’t been a straight line between [her youth and political career].” —New Republic senior editor Rebecca Traister

Friendly fire, part IV: “Let’s be blunt, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy is not something to brag about, I would argue. The growth of ISIS, the failures in Iraq.” —NBC’s Perry Bacon

And last… “A new report shows that the federal government paid almost $10 million in medicaid benefits to 200 dead people. It really helped, though. Afterwards, most of them were spry enough to vote in Chicago.” —Fred Thompson

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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.

THE FOUNDATION

“[O]ur commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed; in order to give trade a stable course.” —George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

HUD’s ‘Housing Equality’ Thud

Barack Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is set to release a rule aimed at fostering “diversity” in wealthy neighborhoods around the country. “HUD is working with communities across the country to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity for all,” an agency spokeswoman said. “The proposed policy seeks to break down barriers to access to opportunity in communities supported by HUD funds.” This diversity scheme has shades of the last time Democrats attempted to reconfigure banking to favor unqualified people. Promoters of the policy are suggesting it’s fair because, if states and communities don’t want to abide by Obama’s decree, they can forgo the federal money they receive. That’s a fair argument only if the people in those states can also choose to forgo paying taxes to the federal government. Of course, most of Obama’s supporters pay no taxes. Political analyst Marc Thiessen said it best: “We as conservatives believe and diversifying communities too. The way you do that is through economic opportunity. It’s not by building more affordable housing in affluent communities, it’s by creating economic opportunities so that more Americans can afford housing in affluent communities. Right now the problem is that people at the bottom of the Obama economy can’t get ahead.” HUD’s rule is nothing more than an Obama charade to ramp up class warfare and appease constituents who are enslaved on poverty plantations — the direct result of generations of failed Democrat economic policies.

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House Democrats Doom Obama’s Trade Deal

In a vote that served a smackdown on Obama’s trade deal with Pacific countries, House Democrats voted against a provision that was supposed to sweeten the legislation allowing Obama the authority to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Senate had sent two measures to the House: Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) was the legislation that gave the chief executive authority to negotiate this trade deal, and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a Democrat priority, was legislation that — as the leftists viewed it — protected American workers (read: unions) when the economy experienced freer global trade. On Friday, the Houseoverwhelmingly rejected TAA in a 302-126 vote and narrowly passed TPA 219-211. Both chambers need to agree on the legislation before it heads to Obama’s desk. So TPA will head back to the Senate where it may or may not pass; the bill’s on life support.

This comes as Obama lobbied hard for the measure to pass. He showed up at the congressional baseball game to personally lobby lawmakers. He even made his way to Capitol Hill to talk to Democrats — the first time in two years. It was personal, it was desperate and, ouch, Pelosi and Co. betrayed him. “Basically, the president tried to both guilt people and then impugned their integrity, and I don’t think it was a very effective tactic,” said Democrat Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR). Both parties are split in Congress over the issue. But those who love Liberty should appreciate that we have more time to debate a trade deal.

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China’s Theft of Federal Employee Data Demands a Response

Not only has China scraped up the data from all federal employees past and present, the Office of Personnel Management said it had “a high degree of confidence” that the country has every SF-86 form submitted by any American seeking a security clearance. Former general council to the NSA and former National Counterterrorism Center head Matthew Olsen said the data could be used many different ways by the oppressive Chinese regime, “whether it’s [to] blackmail, to recruit, [or] to punish individuals in China who are connected to people in the United States.” As it’s been said before, China has been creating a massive database on American citizens, and it has also hacked into the databases of health insurance companies in the past to gather data. Furthermore, anonymous sources are saying the data theft of federal employees didn’t just affect four million people. Instead, the breach could affect as many as 14 million Americans. In response to impeding U.S. intelligence efforts, cataloging Americans like merchandise and sitting poised to wreak further havoc on our country, let’s hope the U.S. is also matching China’s data collection efforts. In this game of espionage, let’s make it so China also cannot keep secrets.More…

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

June Deadline for ‘Islamic Bomb’

By Patriot Post Staff

As yet another supposed “deadline” approaches for a final agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, the sheer determination of Barack Obama to get any deal he can before he leaves office — literally any deal — becomes more and more the driving force behind our negotiating position.

Having once said “We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon; it would be a game-changer in the region” and claiming “I will always keep the threat of military action on the table,” Obama is now willing to ignore Iranian nuclear violations, ignore Iran’s willful violation of UN Security Council resolutions, ignore Iran’s role in the Syrian war, ignore Iran’s continued arming and equipping of Hezbollah, ignore Iran’s defacto control of Iraq, ignore the mortal threat a nuclear Iran would pose to Israel, and ignore the history of the current Iranian regime, all in the hope of getting something on paper with which to declare his foreign policy legacy.

The most recent interim agreement openly ceded to Iran everything it needs to produce nuclear weapons if it will only refrain from open mischief for ten years. Ten years is a blink of an eye to a nation. Consider that just slightly more than ten years ago a previously little-known Illinois senator was delivering the keynote address at the Democrat National Convention in Boston, or that nearly 25 years have passed since the first Gulf War.

With a sense of its own history stretching back nearly 6,000 years, Iran understands how quickly ten years will pass, at which time it can begin industrial-scale enrichment without penalty. Ten years will also produce advances in Iran’s ballistic missile program, another subject once linked to the nuclear program but now tossed aside by the White House.

Why is Obama so determined to give this extraordinary gift to Iran? Because, as Reuel Marc Gerecht, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, points out in a scathingcritique of the president’s misunderstanding of Iran, Obama is afraid that if the United States tries to hold a harder line the Iranians will simply walk away from the talks. And then the president will be faced with another red line he knows he cannot bring himself to enforce.

Obama’s irresolution has been the one common thread running through all of his administration’s dealings with Iran. Time and again, he has demonstrated lack of leadership and lack of resolve in the face of unpleasant facts. Having been elected president on a platform of platitudes, perhaps he really believes that wishing can make it so. But the entire body of human history demonstrates the opposite.

This lack of leadership and resolve has led key friends and allies around the world to re-assess their relationships with the United States. How can Saudi Arabia, or South Korea, or Estonia take seriously America’s pledge to defend them while Obama is giving away the farm to Iran? This lack of faith in American resolve has reportedly led to the virtually unthinkable happening: Israeli and Saudi officials recently acknowledged the two nations are consulting on how to deal with the rising threat of Iran without the U.S.

We remain guardedly optimistic that no final deal will be reached by June 30, which will at least prevent sanctions being lifted for another nine months or so. But as months of negotiation stretch into years, and as Iran inches ever closer to nuclear capability, the only thing that can possibly bring about an acceptable outcome to the nuclear issue is U.S. leadership and resolve — something sorely lacking in our current president and his team of fellow travelers.

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TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US

• ANALYSIS: Army Ditches Church’s Independence Day Event
• ‘Titles Are Not Accomplishments’
• Ecoalarmists Were Wrong. Again.
• Fear and Loathing in Hillary Clinton’s State Department
• Maryland ‘Free-Range’ Parents Vindicated
• Newest Obama Regs Cost $110 Billion

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

• Burt Prelutsky: War Zones Here and Abroad
• Ken Blackwell: Expanding Relations With the Iranian Resistance
• Jim DeMint: Saving Internet Freedom
• George Will: Our Long Path to Limited Government

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Burt Prelutsky: “Because Obama is so adamant about having what only he regards as a major foreign policy achievement on his resume, he is leaving Israel and the Gulf nations to swing in the breeze while he offers Iran the entire Middle East in exchange for a signature on a nuclear deal. If he had a single ounce of red blood in his veins, Obama would have sent our military over there months ago to wipe out ISIS before they burned, beheaded or crucified any more people. Instead, Obama and his stooges defend his inaction by insisting that Americans are war-weary. I beg to differ. What we’re sick of is engaging in wars we have no desire to win unconditionally. If an American president ever pledged himself to wipe out those in the Middle East and North Africa who target Christians for extermination, who kidnap young girls and turn them into sex slaves and who exhort their pea-brained followers in the U.S. and Britain to execute soldiers, cops and civilians, I feel reasonably confident that his approval rate would hover well above 80%.”

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SHORT CUTS

Insight: “The Founding Fathers knew a government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose.” —The Gipper

Non Compos Mentis: “It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the [Dallas] police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff.” —CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield, who later claimed she “misspoke”

Belly laugh of the week: “I’ve stood up to adversaries like Putin and reinforced allies like Israel.” —Hillary Clinton (“The problem with that first sentence is that it’s the opposite of being true: As secretary of state, Clinton stood up to Israel and reinforced Putin.” —The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack)

The BIG Lie, Part I: “No poll shows that voters don’t trust Hillary.” —Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook (A new CNN/ORC poll found that 57% say Clinton isn’t “honest and trustworthy.”)

The BIG Lie, Part II: “I don’t think there’s ever been anyone more consistent in their entire career [than Hillary].” —Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta

Village Idiots: “The Baltimore thing came on the heels of what happened in Ferguson and what happened in New York City and all these other places. … You can’t have a bunch of people walking around with guns. … You get enough people with weapons around and there will be unattended consequences. People make mistakes. People do wrong. Things happen. To hold a community together you got to have a high level of community trust.” —Bill Clinton

Late-night humor: “Hillary Clinton is apparently asking people to donate to her campaign, even if all they can afford is one dollar. Then Bill Clinton said, ‘Trust me, I will find a use for a giant stack of singles.’” —Conan O'Brien

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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.