THE FOUNDATION

“No people will tamely surrender their liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the contrary, when people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders.” —Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama Joked at Nerd Prom While Baltimore Rioted

Once again, Hollywood celebrities and DC politicians gathered in Washington Saturday for the White House Correspondents' Dinner — AKA nerd prom. It’s an opportunity for Nancy Pelosi to rub shoulders with the likes of Jane Fonda and for Barack Obama to further his agenda and take down political opponents by dishing out punch lines. This year, the dinner only showed how out of touch the two institutions are with the rest of the nation, because while attendees were slurping down Foraged Wild Mushroom Ragout and Seared Alaskan Halibut protests became violent in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray, who died because of injuries he received while in police custody.

While the baseball game at Baltimore’s Camden Yards went into lockdown because of protests outside, three big television networks — CNN, MSNBC and CSPAN — kept their cameras trained on the White House Correspondents' Dinner because Obama was going to start his jokes soon. Never mind that the latest chapter in the debate over modern day policing was being punctuated by vandalized police cars and smashed storefronts an hour away.

Obama was once again selling the tired issue of “climate change,” trying to make it matter to everyday Americans. “I am determined to make the most of every moment I have left,” Obama said. “After the midterm elections, my advisors asked me, ‘Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?’ And I said, ‘Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.’ Take executive action on immigration? Bucket. New climate regulations? Bucket. It’s the right thing to do.” But as executive editor of the Washington Free Beacon Sonny Bunch pointed out in a piece titled “This Is Why They Hate Us,” no one except those inside the Beltway cares about nerd prom.

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Clinton Foundation Refiles Taxes as Media Grows Suspicious

On Sunday, the Clinton Foundation admitted it did not properly disclose which foreign governments donated to the organization while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state. As a result, it is refiling taxes because of the “mistakes.” Acting CEO of the nonprofit Maura Pallyissued a statement, saying, “So yes, we made mistakes, as many organizations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them, and have taken steps to ensure they don’t happen in the future.” This comes as liberal media organizations become increasingly suspicious of Clinton because of reports she favored foreign bureaucrats and oligarchs who donated to the Clinton Foundation during her time as madam secretary. This admission of fault from the Clinton Foundation is a way of damage control. If they own up to it and appear to fix the problem, then maybe they can move past the nasty headlines. But as the talking heads at The New York Times editorial board, ABC’s “World News Tonight,” MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and CNN all said last week: These allegations are not about to go away. More…

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Study Finds Significant Economic Effects of Immigration Surge

A new study from the Congressional Research Service discovered an interesting interrelation between depressed middle class incomes and increased immigration. The Washington Examinerreports that in 1945 the foreign-born population of the United States stood at 10,971,146, but by 1970 it slid to 9,740,000 for a net loss of 1,231,146 foreigners. At the same time, says the CRS, “The reported income of the bottom 90% of tax filers in the United States increased from an average of $18,418 in 1945 to $33,621 in 1970 for an aggregate change of $15,202 or a percent increase of 82.5% over this 25 year period.” In contrast, from 1970 to 2013, the foreign-born population blossomed from 9,740,000 to 41,348,066, a 324.5% increase. However, “The reported income of the bottom 90% of tax filers in the United States decreased from an average of $33,621 in 1970 to $30,980 in 2013 for an aggregate decline of $2,641 or a percent decline of 7.9% over this 43 year period.” There’s no question high-skilled emigrants who go through the system legally contribute positive economic effects. The issue is that our basically open borders has allowed the population of unskilled illegal immigrants to swell, which undoubtedly strangles the overall economy. Border security must be Congress' top priority to fix the overarching issues affecting America’s middle class.

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

The Wisconsin Left Tried to Criminalize Free Speech

By Arnold Ahlert

Anyone still wondering how low the American Left will sink in pursuit of its agenda should turn their gaze toward Wisconsin. In a blatant attempt at political intimidation masquerading itself as legitimate investigation, police conducted a series of early morning raids at the homes of several Wisconsin conservatives. Dozens of armed officers showed up for pre-dawn raids with battering rams, swarming into houses and threatening the people inside with arrest if they didn’t cooperate, even as they seized personal property. And on the way out, the invaders gave every person they encountered the same warning: Don’t call your lawyer, and don’t tell anyone about what happened, because a gag order is in place.

How is it that people can be forced to remain silent even as police conducted large, noisy raids more suitable to taking down a drug kingpin right in front of their neighbors? Because law enforcement officials in Wisconsin are allowed to conduct John Doe investigations, defined as “an independent, investigatory tool to ascertain whether a crime has been committed and if so, by whom.” And unlike other investigations that require probable cause to pursue, John Doe investigations are conducted to establish the existence of probable cause itself.

Under the rubric of looking for campaign-finance violations, the investigations were initiated by Milwaukee district attorney John Chisholm, a partisan Democrat — whose wife is a teachers' union shop steward — and a man determined to find anything that could undermine the political career of rising Republican star Gov. Scott Walker. Walker has thwarted Wisconsin leftists at every turn, winning three elections, including a recall effort, in just four years.

Chisholm’s undertook his first John Doe investigation in 2010, when Walker was Milwaukee County Executive. After three years, it netted all of six individuals who pled guilty to crimes ranging from stealing money from a veterans' fund, and sending political emails on government time, to violation of state campaign finance laws and contributing to the delinquency of a child. Walker himself? Never even charged.

Undaunted, Chisholm launched a second John Doe investigation shortly after Democrats failed to remove Walker in the recall election in 2012, an act of naked revenge precipitated by the passage of Walker’s “budget repair bill” known as Act 10. Act 10 limited the collective bargaining power of unions — including the teachers union to which Chisholm’s wife belonged. The machination surrounding the passage of Act 10 included Democratic state legislators fleeing the state to prevent a vote on the issue, an effort to affect a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the purpose of overturning the law after it was passed, and the recall election.

The second probe, led by special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, targeted Walker and 29 conservative groups. Dozens of subpoenas were issued demanding documents related to the 2011 and 2012, campaign, all based on the theory that these groups had illegally coordinated their activities during recall campaigns of Walker and other Republican legislators targeted for supporting Act 10. National Review’s Rich Lowry aptly described what really occurred. “Walker’s opponents weaponized campaign-finance law, literally,” he explains.

One of those groups, Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG), and its founder Eric O'Keefe filed suit. In 2014, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa granted a preliminary injunction halting the investigation, and hammered prosecutors “for exercising issue advocacy speech rights that on their face are not subject to the regulations or statutes the defendants seek to enforce.” The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case on appeal, but not because they disagreed with Randa’s interpretation, but because the Anti-Injunction Act prohibited federal courts from intervening in a state criminal investigation based on the cited principles of “equity, comity, and federalism.” Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook characterized the ruling as victory for states' rights.

Nonetheless it remain clear O'Keefe’s rights were violated and Section 1983 of the U.S. Code allows citizens to be granted relief under federal law if their rights have been violated by state officials. Last Friday, the Supreme Court began deliberations to determine if O'Keefe v. Chisholm will be heard by the highest court in the land. The Wall Street Journal insists such a hearing is critically necessary because the theory of coordination, allowing “vast investigations to be instigated on the thinnest evidence” it is part of yet another leftist effort to undermine the Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that lifted unconstitutional restrictions on spending by corporations and labor unions. That would be the very same Citizen’s United decision that former IRS hack Lois Lerner was bemoaning at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy on Oct. 19, 2010 when she stated that the “Federal Election Commission can’t do anything about it; they want the IRS to fix the problem.”

The IRS decided to “fix” the problem by denying or delaying conservative groups' tax-exempt status, and attempting to coordinate with the Eric Holder-led Justice Department to tamp down revelations regarding that scandal. Wisconsin Democrats chose to fix it by conducting two separate witch-hunts replete with dawn raids and gag orders. In a better world, lots of people would be getting disbarred and/or going to jail. In this one, the American Left will continue its attempt to criminalize speech with which they disagree — by any means necessary — until they are stopped.

Stopped from doing what? Try this, courtesy of National Review’s David French:

“As I finished an interview with one victim still living in fear, still shattered by the experience of nearly losing everything simply because she supported the wrong candidate at the wrong time, I asked whether she had any final thoughts. ‘Just one,’ she replied. ‘I’m hoping for accountability, that someone will be held responsible so that they’ll never do this again.’ She paused for a moment and then, with voice trembling, said: ‘No one should ever endure what my family endured.’”

Here’s hoping the Supreme Court agrees — in no uncertain terms.

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TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US

• Perkins: SCOTUS ‘Is Not Going to Settle’ Same-Sex Marriage Debate
• Protests Over Death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore Turn Violent
• U.S. and Russia Point Fingers as Ukraine War Escalates
• It’s Time for Congress to Readdress the VA

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

• Stephen Moore: How the Sierra Club’s Lexus Liberals' Agenda Hurts Poor Americans
• Stephen Moore: Media, Environmentalists Were Wrong: How the Gulf Coast Roared Back After Oil Spill
• Tony Perkins: Sue Chef: Court Fines Bakers $135,000
• Larry Kudlow: Snarking Hillary Is Not the Way to the White House
• Jeff Jacoby: Death or Life for Tsarnaev?

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Stephen Moore: “[B]illionaire Tom Steyer convened the uber-rich liberal donor base at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle — nice — to pontificate about how much they care about polar bears, the Arctic ice caps and rising sea levels. … A Gallup poll found in March 2015 that only 2 percent of Americans perceive the ‘environment/pollution’ as the nation’s ‘most important problem.’ And a Bloomberg poll last year specifically listing climate as a candidate for ‘most important issue’ found only 5 percent of Americans concurring. Polls also show the richer Democrats are, the more they care about climate change. Maybe that’s because green policies hurt the poor and working class — starting most obviously with opposition to modern drilling techniques such as fracking, and with blocking infrastructure projects that would create tens of thousands of high-paying union jobs. … No one on the left, least of all the donors who are funding the climate change scare campaign, seem to care about how the poor will cope with slow growth and higher costs. The Sierra Club’s Lexus liberals can afford a future with less growth, fewer jobs and higher costs for everything. The middle class can’t. Democrats have abandoned the financial interests of these Americans. Republicans really are the stupid party if they can’t win these disenchanted voters.”

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SHORT CUTS

Insight: “There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States.” —The Gipper

Non Compos Mentis: “It’s a very delicate balancing act. Because while we try to make sure that [the Baltimore protesters] were protected from the cars and other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.” —Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (Regardless of whether her intent was to defend rioting, it will be interesting to see the mayor defend this regrettable remark on the campaign trail.)

Demo-gogues: “I’ve gotta give it to the citizens of Baltimore. I was there all day. It was very peaceful, all day, thousands of people. And then at the end there were a few people who said, ‘We’re gonna turn this city down [sic], we’re gonna close it down,’ and the next thing you know we had a few people mainly from out of town … start beating up on police cars and throwing all kinds of projectiles. But the fact is that, for the most part, it could have been worse. But again, this whole police-community relations situation … is the civil rights cause for this generation.” —Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Race bait: “With an institution like American policing, that I believe is founded on anti-blackness, on slave patrols, there are things that are so institutionally ingrained in terms of how we police communities, that are anti-black. They may not say specifically in the language, in the words, that they’ll stop and target black people, but when you do this type of proactive policing … these disproportionately [affect] black and brown and poor communities. So, these things are not only racist, they are also classist.” —community organizer Cherrell Brown (Start with giving police a reason not to disproportionately patrol black communities that have disproportionate levels of crime.)

Village Idiots: “What the Clinton Foundation has said is that we will be even more transparent, even though Transparency International and others have said we’re among the most transparent of foundations. I very much believe that that is the right policy. That we’ll be even more transparent. That to eliminate any questions while we’re in this time, we won’t take new government funding, but that the work will continue as it is.” —Chelsea Clinton

Late-night humor: “It’s being reported that Google spent over $5 million on lobbying just during the first quarter of this year. You’d think Google wouldn’t really need to lobby politicians. All they have to say is, ‘We have your search history. Do what we tell you.’” —Jimmy Fallon

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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

“The consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe to our country is superior to all other considerations.” —George Washington, letter to James Madison, 1788

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Drone Killed American Hostage and Obama Barely Apologizes

In January, the U.S. drone program killed three American citizens in Pakistan, one of them Maryland doctor and al-Qaida hostage Warren Weinstein. After piecing together drone footage and intercepted jihadi communications, U.S. officials concluded that a “signature strike” killed hostages Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian. A signature strike is a drone attack where the CIA doesn’t know exactly who is on the ground, yet they take action based on suspicious activity.

Officially, Barack Obama apologized. “As president and as commander in chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni,” he said. “I profoundly regret what happened.” But then Obama spokesman Josh Earnest and the CIA undermined the executive’s apology by insisting Obama didn’t sign off on this particular strike. What a stark contrast to Obama’s obnoxious victory laps after Navy SEALs dispatched Osama bin Laden.

The other two Americans killed in January strikes were al-Qaida jihadists — one of them the first American convicted of treason since World War II. Yet because the strike killed hostages it raises questions about Obama’s management of the U.S. drone program itself — his signature counter-terrorism strategy. That said, it’s an effective tool that’s far more precise than conventional World War II bombing raids or coating Vietnam forests with Agent Orange, though as long as jihadis hide among civilians, avoiding civilian casualties will be difficult. And Obama isn’t doing nearly so well at it as he claims. More…

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Did the IRS Intentionally Provoke Customer Service Woes?

Remember when federal agencies were ordered to intentionally manipulate the impacts of the government “shutdown” to take political advantage? The Internal Revenue Service is apparently borrowing from the same playbook. Commissioner John Koskinen testified that stringent budget cuts by Congress have hampered the agency’s ability to adequately handle certain functions, like customer service. Just recently the Treasury’s inspector general found that before March 7 nearly 4 in 10 customers who called into the agency never reached a representative — a drastic spike from the 1-in-10 ratio of a decade ago — and those that did waited an average of 25 minutes. A headline from The Hill described it as “IRS service worse than expected,” but a new report suggests the abysmal service was self-inflicted — and potentially strategically implemented.

Here’s how: “While congressional funding for the IRS remained flat from 2014 to 2015, the IRS diverted $134 million away from customer service to other activities,” reports John McCormack of The Weekly Standard. “In addition to the $11 billion appropriated by Congress, the IRS takes in more than $400 million in user fees and may allocate that money as it sees fit. In 2014, the IRS allocated $183 million in user fees to its customer service budget, but allocated just $49 million in 2015 — a 76 percent cut.” In other words, the agency could have helped more Americans with our complicated tax-filing system but instead diverted funds elsewhere (perhaps toward targeting conservative groups?). At best, it’s government inefficiency, and, at worst, the agency is caught in more malfeasance. Considering its track record, forgive us for assuming the latter. More…

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Parents of Michael Brown File Civil Suit Against Ferguson

Michael Brown’s mother and father won’t stop until they see their definition of “justice” carried out. First, a grand jury declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the self-defense shooting death of their son. Then, Eric Holder’s race-baiting Department of Justice not only declined to charge Wilson on civil rights violations but vindicated his actions. Still eying the prospect of winning the legal lottery, however, Brown’s parents are going to try one more time. They filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the City of Ferguson, former police chief Thomas Jackson and Wilson. The suit seeks $75,000 and changes in the way the city conducts policing, because the Ferguson Police Department “had a custom or policy of negligently hiring and retaining officers, failing to property train and/or supervise officers in the use of deadly force,” the suit reads. The lawsuit builds off the DOJ’s report, which found the city practiced racial bias, with employees distributing racist jokes by email, for example. There are examples of the Ferguson PD seemingly abusing its power, such as one woman’s illegally parked car turning into a six-month legal battle, $1,000 in fines and six days in jail. Abusive systems should certainly be reformed. But how many times must Darren Wilson prove his innocence? More…

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS

Rubio, Walker Struggle With Immigration Footing

By Lewis Morris

Walker and Rubio

Immigration is likely to become a major issue in the 2016 presidential race, which is a good thing because the nation’s immigration policies could use some reform. Unfortunately, any attempt at discussing reform will bring bombast, pandering rhetoric and misstatements of the facts.

GOP candidates Marco Rubio and Scott Walker have already been caught up in the debate, taking heat from all sides for their recent statements. And the changing positions these two men have held on the issue hasn’t done either of them any favors.

Right now, the focus is on Barack Obama’s amnesty plan, which thankfully has been stalled in the courts. Given Obama’s habit of thumbing his nose at the Constitution and circumventing the law to suit his political needs, we can be sure the matter won’t end there. But there is a larger issue at play than just the 12 million illegals being recruited to join Democrat ranks.

Recently released U.S. Census figures reveal America is in the midst of an immigration wave unlike any the country has ever experienced. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, “Absent a change in current policy, the Census Bureau projects that in 2023 the nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal) will reach 14.8 percent (51 million) of the total U.S. population — the highest share ever recorded in American history.” And by 2060, one in five people in the U.S. will be an immigrant.

These are astounding numbers, and, while America is a nation of immigrants, such a large influx raises questions. What will the impact be on American workers, our schools and our infrastructure? How will we be able to assimilate all these new arrivals? What if they don’t want to assimilate? After all, the Left tells them not to. Thanks to our current lack of direction on immigration policy, there are no sure answers.

One thing is certain: The American people are concerned. Every major polling organization from Pew to Gallup and beyond indicate Americans want to see some level of restrictions on immigration. They are concerned about the impact on their ability to get jobs, the downward pressure mass immigration puts on wages, and what will happen to an entitlement system already stretched to the breaking point.

For his part, Rubio has recently voiced support for an enforcement-first immigration policy that includes an E-Verify system in which all businesses large and small would take part. But, to many conservatives, Rubio’s bona fides were sullied by his involvement in crafting the Gang of Eight’s plan that eventually turned into an elaborate mask for amnesty. Rubio originally participated because he was motivated by the idea of comprehensive immigration reform, although he walked away from it after realizing (or perhaps we should say proving) Democrats couldn’t be trusted. Piecemeal reform, starting with enforcement and border security, is really the only way to go, he now says.

CBS’s Bob Schieffer tried to catch Rubio in a gotcha moment with the question of whether a President Rubio would sign into law the Gang of Eight bill he once championed. Rubio ducked by saying, “That’s a hypothetical that will never happen,” because such a bill would never survive the House. True enough, but a simple yes or no answer that more clearly illustrated his current position could have mitigated the appearance of pandering.

Walker has similarly taken heat from all sides because of recent statements on his immigration position. In an interview with Glenn Beck, Walker asserted, “The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages.”

That makes sense, and it’s in line with what the vast majority of Americans believe. However, The Washington Post accused Walker of being protectionist, and others have accused him of being a flip-flopper because he had previously suggested support for a path to legalization for illegal immigrants. Of course, his idea of legalization didn’t approach amnesty, but his position has been rather hard to pin down.

The vitriol Rubio and Walker face is due in large part to voicing the idea that legal immigration needs to be curbed and illegal immigration needs to be dealt with by enforcement before any other means. (No doubt they’re both moving Right for the primary.) While a majority of Americans, as well as a sizable number of recent immigrants, hold these views, the “enlightened” leftist elites in Washington don’t think this is the answer. And that’s only because they see a fresh block of voters who will support Democrats indefinitely if they can get them securely into the U.S.

Standing with the majority of Americans on immigration is a good start for both Rubio and Walker. But they will also need to be clearer in their messaging and remain consistent if they hope to be taken seriously.

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TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US

• ANALYSIS: Lynch Confirmation Isn’t the End of the Holder Era
• Iran Will Get Russian Missiles and Obama’s Unconcerned
• Rogue Investigations Ensnare Wisconsin Conservatives
• Democrat Infighting Over TPP Heating Up

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

• Linda Chavez: Clinton Greed
• Mona Charen: Fix the Secret Service, Dammit
• Charles Krauthammer: Obama’s Nixon Doctrine: Anointing Iran
• Michael Barone: Rand Paul Is Right…
• Tony Perkins: GOP Shows It’s Hyde Maintenance

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Between 2001 and 2013, Bill Clinton earned more than $100 million in speaking fees, $26 million of which came from donors to the Clinton Foundation. What’s more, the foundation itself has accumulated $250 million in assets, much of it from foreign donors, The New York Times has reported. The Times … described the ‘special ethical challenge’ the foundation faced accepting huge sums of money ‘even as (Bill Clinton’s) wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation’s donors.’ The Times piece focused on the possible role that cash paid to the foundation and to Bill Clinton personally might have played in a deal that handed Russia effective control of 20 percent of the United States' uranium reserves. … [I]t gave the Russians control over uranium mines and exploration in several Western states. As a result, Russia now controls 20 percent of U.S. uranium. Hillary Clinton’s campaign would like to ignore this story. But it is unlikely … that they can sweep it entirely under the rug. But who knows? Does anyone even remember that the Whitewater investigation was sparked not by sex between a president and a White House intern, but by a land deal meant to enrich then Gov. Bill Clinton and his wife?”

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SHORT CUTS

Insight: “One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence.” —Columbia University professor Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948)

Race bait: “‘Those six [Baltimore] police officers acted like a lynch mob against Freddie Gray. … The police [have] been ISIS to us. We’ve been terrorized with no accountability.” —Rev. Jamal Bryant, Empowerment Temple AME Church

Demo-gogues: “When people say this [Trans-Pacific Partnership] trade deal is bad for working families, they don’t know what they’re talking about. I take that personally. My entire presidency has been about helping working families. … I’ve got some of these folks who are friends of mine, allies of mine, saying this trade deal would destroy American working families, despite the fact that I’ve done everything in my power to make sure that working families are empowered.” —Barack Obama

Village Idiots: “At this point there has not been any evidence presented that would prompt the president or anybody at the White House to be unsettled by Secretary Clinton’s conduct as secretary of state. In fact, everyone here at the White House including the president continues to be very proud of her service to this country as secretary of state of the United States.” —Josh Earnest, denying the cloud of corruption surrounding the Clintons

Braying Jenny: “America moves forward when all women are guaranteed the right to make their own health care choices, not when those choices are taken away by an employer like Hobby Lobby.” —Hillary Clinton

And last… “A new study shows that President Obama’s new coal-plant-killing EPA rules could destroy up to 300,000 jobs. So, only marginally worse than the programs he passes to save jobs.” —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.