THE FOUNDATION

“That experience is the parent of wisdom is an adage, the truth of which is recognized by the wisest as well as the simplest of mankind. What more desirable or more essential than this quality in the governors of nations? Where more desirable or more essential than in the first magistrate of a nation?” –Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 72, 1788

TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS

Judge Blocks Obama’s Immigration Orders – For Now

In response to a suit by 26 states to stop Barack Obama’s unconstitutional move on immigration, a federal judge issued an injunction, temporarily halting the federal government’s implementation of those immigration fiats. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen blocked Obama’s orders because they would allow immigrants to collect benefits and thus burden the states. Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, who led the states in the suit, said of the ruling, “Obama abdicated his responsibility to uphold the United States Constitution when he attempted to circumvent the laws passed by Congress via executive fiat, and Judge Hanen’s decision rightly stops the president’s overreach in its tracks.” Don’t expect the feds to give up easily, as Obama’s spokesman Josh Earnest said the Supreme Court already gave the executive branch power to prioritize enforcement, and the Department of Justice will appeal Hanen’s decision. National Review’sPatrick Brennan says this victory may be temporary, as the rest of the court system tends to be neutral or favor Obama on separation of powers issues. But for now, Obama’s decrees are blocked, even if it took half of the state governments and the court system to do it. More…

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Anyone Think Illegals Voting Will Tip Elections?

Ohio Secretary of State John Husted told Congress last week that Barack Obama’s amnesty is going to add millions of illegals to the voter rolls. That’s because Obama’s move makes it possible for illegals to obtain Social Security numbers, while several states issue them driver’s licenses. “These are the same documents that federal law requires the states to recognize as valid forms of identification for voter registration,” Husted warned. “There is no way for us to validate [U.S. citizenship], since under the executive actions previously undocumented non-citizens will have access to the same documents as U.S. citizens.” Of course, Obama’s intent was to build an enduring Democrat base of new voters who owe him and his party their allegiance. Investor’s Business Daily wonders, “What kind of country is it that lets those who are not citizens decide who governs those who are? If any foreigner can now vote here, is the United States even a country anymore? If Congress doesn’t stop it soon, de facto enfranchising of illegals will be our road to ruin.” It will certainly tip elections. As Husted testified, in just the last 15 months, some 70 Ohio elections were either tied or decided by a single vote. And the 2000 presidential election was decided by 537 votes in Florida. Now send millions of illegals to the voting booth.

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What if Christians Beheaded Muslims?

The Rev. Franklin Graham asked a poignant question following the brutal beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya: What would public reaction be if roles were reversed? “The militant Islamic terrorist group ISIS has released a video called A MESSAGE SIGNED WITH BLOOD TO THE NATION OF THE CROSS showing the beheadings of the 21 Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped in Libya,” Franklin wrote. “Can you imagine the outcry if 21 Muslims had been beheaded by Christians? Where is the universal condemnation by Muslim leaders around the world? As we mourn with the families of those 21 martyrs, we’d better take this warning seriously as these acts of terror will only spread throughout Europe and the United States. … The storm is coming.” Remember, Barack Obama’s White House statement on the beheadings didn’t even mention the victims were Christians.

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Jobs for Jihadistan?

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. That’s the policy of Barack Obama’s administration, especially when it comes to denying the reality of Islamic fascism. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf is the latest to explain their alternate reality. “We’re killing a lot of them [ISIL fighters] and we’re going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us,” she said. “But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war.” On the contrary, wars are won by killing the enemy until they surrender. But Harf wasn’t done with her illusion. She blamed the rise of ISIL on – wait for it – the lack of economic opportunity. “We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups, [including the] lack of opportunity for jobs,” she pontificated. “We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance. We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.” In a better world, the U.S. would be fighting evil instead of excusing it, and people like Marie Harf would be looking for “job opportunities” in the private sector.

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Look Who Wants to Avoid ObamaCare Penalties

About four million Americans are going to get hit with IRS fines for not having health insurance this tax season, and congressional Democrats have taken it upon themselves to stop such a travesty. Democrat representatives Sander Levin, Jim McDermott and Lloyd Doggett told the Associated Press they are concerned about the law they passed in 2009 because their constituents may have their tax returns gouged hundreds of dollars by the IRS. Furthermore, nine senators sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services advocating the department to open a special enrollment period. Rush Limbaugh weighed in on the Democrat’s strategy on Feb. 16 when he said, “Here we have congressional Democrats acting like they had nothing to do with this law, that their voters are a bunch of victims of something. … This situation exists because the Democrat Party gave us this bill. The Democrat Party and the Democrat Party alone gave us ObamaCare. There wasn’t a single Republican vote for it.” The Left wants a nanny state utopia but they don’t like the harsh reality that government is an iron rod that will bend subjects to its will. So they will continue to patch ObamaCare every couple years and throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a website on life support in an effort to keep their statist dream alive. More…

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RIGHT ANALYSIS

Gun Grabbers Evoke Federalism to Block Concealed Carry Reciprocity

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is re-introducing the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act to allow gun owners with concealed carry permits to bring their firearms to any other state with concealed carry laws. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have some version of concealed carry in place, but the laws and reciprocity vary significantly from one state to the next – a patchwork that has landed law-abiding citizens in trouble for years.

“The current patchwork of state and local laws is confusing for even the most conscientious and well-informed concealed carry permit holders,” explained Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “This confusion often leads to law-abiding gun owners running afoul of the law when they exercise their right to self-protection while traveling or temporarily living away from home.”

The most prominent recent example of this is the case of Shaneen Allen, a single mother from Pennsylvania threatened with 10 years in jail for inadvertently bringing a concealed gun into New Jersey. Fortunately, sanity prevailed in that instance. But this type of case will only become more common in the coming years now that every state has a concealed carry law and the legal purchase of firearms is on the rise.

Cornyn said his legislation seeks to eliminate these “gotcha moments,” but, naturally, the gun control crowd is warning of the apocalypse.

Michael Bloomberg’s gun-grabbing group, Everytown for Gun Safety, released a report on concealed carry reciprocity, claiming, “Some states do thorough criminal background checks on applicants, while other states have such ineffective permitting systems that they inadvertently issue permits to felons.” Everytown and other anti-Second Amendment groups argue this bill will negate strict gun control laws in favor of states with weaker laws in place.

It’s almost comical to see the Left fly the flag of federalism. Leftist dogma dictates all power belongs to the central government – health care, school lunches, same-sex marriage, etc. But this time they have found a convenient use for states' rights by arguing that it’s wrong for Washington to establish a uniform system for recognizing the gun laws of other states.

Leftist hypocrisy aside, Cornyn believes such a scenario is not possible under his proposed legislation. The bill upholds laws currently in place in individual states by providing that weapons conceal-carried by one state’s residents must be carried in the same manner as residents in the host state. The legislation also does not allow concealed carry in states that do not allow the practice for their own residents. This last point seems irrelevant considering all states currently have concealed-carry, but it does signal the bill is not designed to roll back or in any way change existing state laws.

The federal government will not be empowered to force a national minimum concealed-carry standard under this bill. It will merely protect state residents from being unduly harassed by other states with stricter concealed carry laws.

The bill likely passes constitutional muster on grounds that no state can violate the rights guaranteed by the Bill of the Rights or the 14th Amendment. But there is a difference of opinion about which constitutional clause is the best vehicle. Some say the Commerce Clause offers the best argument because it is in the federal government’s interest to see that citizens can freely engage in interstate travel and commerce. If citizens fear undue punishment or harassment in certain states because of unreciprocated concealed-carry laws, then travel and commerce between states will be deterred.

The Commerce Clause is too often used to justify ever more regulatory power in the hands of the federal government, and thus many conservatives argue the Full Faith and Credit clause is more appropriate here.

According to the Constitution: “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records, and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.”

Consider a driver’s license. Any state’s driver’s license allows its holder to drive in any other state, subject to the laws of the state in which he or she is driving. Concealed carry reciprocity already works in a similar manner and Cornyn’s bill wouldn’t change that.

The anti-Second Amendment crowd doesn’t want to see Cornyn’s concealed carry reciprocity bill pass because it will further confirm what they already fear – they are losing the gun control fight. A large majority of Americans embrace the right to possess firearms. And it is a right, not a privilege.

The leftist argument that Cornyn’s bill will ultimately lead to a loosening of concealed carry restrictions in certain states is not entirely off base. It may very well do that, since the loosening of gun laws in this country has been trending for at least 20 years with positive results. That trend will likely continue, no matter the fate of Cornyn’s bill.

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Too Big to Fail vs. Too Little to Lobby

It’s a bad day when the Harvard Kennedy School for Business and Government labels your policy a failure and blames it for actually exacerbating a situation. A new study shows the 2010 financial reform law known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act simply made “too big to fail” even bigger and increased the likelihood of greater risk and bailouts.

The paradoxes of bad policy are legend. We’re still living through the “Affordable Care Act” that was supposed to drive health costs down but is instead costing more for everyone. Even the dietary practices meant to eliminate fat consumption are the very reason we’re getting larger.

Likewise, the sweeping law that was supposed to “reform” America’s financial institutions after the 2008 financial panic is proving its critics accurate.

First, named after two of its now-retired proponents, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the law was clearly established on statist principles – the government knows best.

Second, with a grandiose purpose that’s so broad it lacks only the cure to Ebola, the expanse ensured collapse under its own weight. The law’s preamble laid out its lofty goals: “To promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end ‘too big to fail’, to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other purposes.”

Third, this legislative web came in response to the “Great Recession.” But bad government policies induced the risky behavior in the first place, and beefing up those policies was clearly the wrong solution.

Remember, the most basic goal of Dodd-Frank was to prevent the increasingly prevalent consolidation of banks and lending institutions. However, the Harvard study aggregates hard data demonstrating the destructive effects of these new regulations on small community banks, which were eaten alive by compliance costs that followed a new mountain of regulations. “[Larger] banks are better suited to handle heightened regulatory burdens than are smaller banks,” the study notes, “causing the average costs of community banks to be higher.”

That resulted in many more community banks being swallowed by large ones.

Forbes writer Carrie Sheffield explains, “[T]he number of community banks fell by 40 percent since 1994, and their share of U.S. banking assets fell by more than half – from 41 percent to 18 percent. In contrast, the biggest banks saw their share of assets rise from 18 percent to 46 percent. And while the number of community banks already declined before the crisis, since the second quarter of 2010 – Dodd-Frank’s passage – community banks have lost market share at a rate double what they did between Q2 2006 and Q2 2010: 12 percent vs. 6 percent.”

Study authors Marshall Lux and Robert Greene combed through Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) data to observe, “Community banks service a disproportionately large amount of key segments of the U.S. commercial bank lending market – specifically, agricultural, residential mortgage, and small business loans.”

Despite a 50% decline in total banking assets over the last two decades, community lenders provide 77% of agricultural loans and over 50% of small business loans. These smaller institutions serve as the lifeline of the working-man’s industry.

These smaller banks are critical to farmers, for example, thanks to their ability to personalize loans to fit longer agricultural cycles and weather uncertainties. Larger banks more often reject lending applications or offer stiffer terms.

On the real estate front, the default rate in 2013 for borrowers securing loans for a family residence through a community bank was 3.47%, while larger banks owned a default rate of 10.42%. Those local relationships pay off in the area of accountability.

With the burden of regulation came the hefty price tag. Who’s paying it?

The middle-class consumer is, through reduced bank services and increased fees.

The data is extensive and conclusive: Dodd-Frank is a bad law and should be repealed. The GOP-led legislative branch is moving to “chip away” at the choking regulations. But will the changes benefit the too-big-to-fail banks or work to assist the too-little-to-lobby?

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TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS

• Arnold Ahlert: On the Cusp of War – Whether We Like It or Not
• Thomas Sowell: Damaging Admissions
• Tony Perkins: Libs Come Back for Moore
• Ed Feulner: A Final First-Place Finish?
• Michael Barone: Democrats' ‘Blue Wall’ not Impregnable to Republicans – If They’re Smart

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

British philosopher W. K. Clifford (1845-1879): “It is wrong always, everywhere and for everyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”

Columnist Arnold Ahlert: “In Obama’s twisted mind, Netanyahu remains ‘problematic’ because he’s about to inject a dose of reality into the president’s fairy tale pursuit of a no-nukes agreement with Iran, despite ten years of failure in that regard. It is a failure also steeped in denial in that it completely ignores the nihilistic imperative that animates the Iranian mullahs. It is their heartfelt belief that they must facilitate the re-emergence of the Twelfth or Hidden Imam, an Islamic second coming that requires a period of worldwide chaos to engender that re-emergence. Obama and his equally myopic ‘allies’ that comprise the P5+1 negotiating team, namely the U.S., Russia, China, the UK, and France, plus Germany, have dismissed that religious imperative as nonsense. … It’s astounding how many Americans have ‘moved past’ 9/11, as if we’re not facing a threat every bit as lethal today, if not more so. Do feckless Western leaders need something akin to that level of carnage to move the military needle? Or will it take a nuke exploding over Western city? Think about that scenario the next time some leftist blowhard talks about how much money we’ve ‘wasted’ fighting Islamic terror. Really? What would it cost to completely re-build Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles – in different locations no less, because of radioactivity? The time for pretense is over. We either wipe out as many Islamists as we can, while we can, or we will pay a price beyond imagining.”

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Columnist Thomas Sowell: “A dean of admissions at Harvard, years ago, said, ‘the question we ask is: how well has this person used the opportunities available to him or her?’ In other words, the issue is seen as which of the competing applicants are more deserving. Since some people have had far better educational opportunities than others, that is supposed to be taken into account in deciding whom to admit. … When Jonas Salk applied to selective Townsend Harris High School in New York, and later to the then-selective City College of New York (CCNY), there might well have been some other student, not quite as academically qualified, who could have been admitted instead, on the basis of having overcome greater handicaps than Jonas Salk had. But the relevant question is: Would that other student have been equally likely to create a vaccine that would banish the scourge of polio? This is not a question of elitism versus egalitarianism. The vanquishing of polio was a boon to millions of people, rich and poor alike, to people of every race, color and creed, in countries around the world. Thank heaven Salk was not kept out of selective educational institutions for the sake of ‘social justice’ to one other individual who could have been admitted in his place.”

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Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!

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 law of nature and the law of revelation are both Divine: they flow, though in different channels, from the same adorable source. It is indeed preposterous to separate them from each other.” –James Wilson, of the Law of Nature, 1804

TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKS

ISIL in Libya Beheads 21 Christians

“And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus,” wrote the Apostle John in Revelation. On Sunday, a video surfaced that showed the black-clad jihadists of the ISIL franchise in Libya, The Islamic State in Tripoli Province, beheading 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, staining the waves with blood. The jihadists made it clear: They beheaded the men because they were “people of the cross, followers of the hostile [sic] Egyptian Church” and announced their aspiration to capture Rome. Egypt launched swift retaliation, bombing at least seven locations in Libya. Meanwhile, Barack Obama still denied the religious causes of the violence when in his White House statement said, “We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens. ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds.” Not only does Obama deny the religious motivations of ISIL, he dishonors victims by denying why they were murdered. Not knowing the enemy – that’s how wars are lost. More…

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Jihad in Copenhagen

Islamic terrorism has once again struck Europe. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Danish police said they shot dead a gunman on Sunday who they believe was behind shootings at a free-speech event at a Copenhagen cafe and a nearby synagogue a day earlier.” The first clue of motive comes from the fact that what Barack Obama might call a “random shooting” happened at a synagogue, killing one Jewish man. The second clue is this from the WSJ: “Police said a man sprayed dozens of gunshots through the plate glass windows of central Copenhagen’s Krudttoenden cafe, where Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks and France’s ambassador to Denmark, François Zimeray, were attending the free-speech conference. Neither Mr. Vilks nor Mr. Zimeray was injured.” One person was killed, however. In 2007, Vilks drew caricatures of Muhammad as a dog, and the Islamic State has a $150,000 bounty on his head. And witnesses reported hearing the shooter yell, “Allahu Akbar!” These attacks are by no means “random” acts of “lone wolves,” and these murderers aren’t motivated by what Obama called “whatever ideology” – this is jihad in the name of Islam.

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Republicans: Obama’s AUMF Against ISIL Is a Rough Draft

It’s a bit disorientating when Barack Obama – who isn’t known for executive restraint – goes to Congress to ask for the power to fight ISIL and Congress says the president needs more power. But this fight between Obama and Republicans is not over presidential power, but what must be America’s strategy to defeat these Islamic militants. Over the weekend, Republican legislators rebutted Obama’s proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force against ISIL. Sen. John McCain echoed our own analysis: “It’s absolutely clear that if we had left a residual force [in Iraq], it would have remained stable. You have to have a stable force.” In his rebuttal, House Speaker John Boehner added, “The president is asking for less authority than he has today under previous authorizations. I don’t think that’s smart. We need a robust strategy to take on ISIL. No one has seen one from this White House yet. … I look at the submission by the president as the beginning of the process.” Unfortunately, you can only lead a president to a proper AUMF, you can’t make him fight.

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Mother Nature Slaps Student Alarmists in the Face

The long-duration Arctic chill is doing more than toppling snow records in the Northeast. Mother nature decided to throw a snowball at Yale students who were scheduled to protest supposedly man-made global warming, some of which they could use right now. “Yale anti-fossil fuel campaigners have indefinitely postponed a protest that was set for this weekend due to ‘unfavorable weather conditions and other logistical issues,’” Michael Bastasch of The Daily Caller explains. The prospect for even more snowstorms isn’t ending anytime soon. In fact, on top of a snowpack that’s accumulated multiple feet, the bigger concern is the likelihood of record-low temperatures over the next few weeks. Rather than protesting, students should be celebrating fossil fuels for giving them a comfortable environment during this epic winter weather. They might just be freezing to death otherwise. That’s all the more reason to stop Barack Obama’s dangerous anti-fossil fuel agenda. More…

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‘Blockbuster’ Report: Scott Walker Didn’t Finish College

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has made a splash in the 2016 Republican presidential field. That makes him a prime Leftmedia target, and The Washington Post is on the case. Did you know — gasp! — that Walker dropped out of Marquette University? Where’s the fainting couch? Even though college attendance is prevalent these days, the majority of Americans still don’t have a four-year degree. And the shocking reason Walker didn’t finish is that he found a good job. Hardly scandalous. If college is a requisite for the presidency, someone should have told George Washington — our greatest president. He didn’t attend college at all. And speaking of college records, political analyst Michael Barone asks the Leftmedia, “Why weren’t you — why aren’t you — curious about how Obama behaved in college?”

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RIGHT ANALYSIS

ATF Aims to Ban Popular AR-15 Ammo

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a white paper to determine whether certain ammunition is “primarily intended for sporting purposes.” At issue is 5.56mm M855 ammo, which is considered “armor piercing,” and therefore the ATF says it’s of questionable merit for the average citizen. The ATF hasn’t made its decision yet and will accept comments until March 16, but if the bureau carries through the net effect would be a ban on one of the most common and affordable types of military surplus AR-15 ammo.

It’s no surprise that the ATF is way off target – down and to the Left.

The white paper begins: “To protect the lives and safety of law enforcement officers from the threat posed by ammunition capable of penetrating a protective vest when fired from a handgun, the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), as amended, prohibits the import, manufacture, and distribution of ‘armor piercing ammunition’ as defined by the statute. The GCA, however, allows for the exemption of ammunition that would otherwise be considered armor piercing if the Attorney General determines that the specific ammunition at issue is ‘primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes.’”

Because of the growing popularity of AR-style handguns capable of firing 5.56mm projectiles from M855 casings, the ATF says, “To ensure consistency, upon final implementation of the sporting purpose framework outlined above, ATF must withdraw the exemptions for 5.56 mm ‘green tip’ ammunition, including both the SS109 and M855 cartridges.”

SBR = short-barrel rifle

Of course, if you’ve ever seen an AR “pistol,” you’d know that calling it a pistol is a joke. Besides, the first AR pistol was manufactured in 1993. Are we supposed to believe it took the ATF 22 years to catch on?

Going forward, the ATF is considering granting a “sporting purposes” exemption in only two categories: one for .22 caliber ammo, and another for all other calibers only “if the projectile is loaded into a cartridge for which the only handgun that is readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade is a single shot handgun.”

First, and most important, the Founders did not craft the Second Amendment to protect “sporting purposes.” It reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The purpose was to codify our God-given right (yes, rights do come from God) of self-defense, not just against crime but against a tyrannical government. It is and will always be an inalienable right.

In more recent history, after the Supreme Court’s Heller ruling, how does “sporting purposes” pass constitutional muster at all?

Second, the ATF’s move is a cynical one. M855 was developed for a Cold War scenario in which Soviet troops in hard body armor would pour through the Fulda Gap in once-divided Germany. American troops were supplied with it to defend the West. (All full metal jacket 5.56mm rounds can penetrate soft armor. In fact, most rifle rounds can.)

But M855 has well-documented shortcomings against soft targets (see Somalia, Iraq, etc.) The other common loading, M193, is more effective against soft targets. So the side effect of this ruling would be that more AR-15 owners would buy rounds that are more effective in the typical domestic shooting. The only people this rule change protects is the government, whose varmints wear Kevlar.

Not that this should undermine Second Amendment restraints on the government, but how many deaths in the U.S. occurred last year because these rounds were used to “pierce armor”? How many deaths occurred due to AR-15s, period? Not many.

The ATF’s move is yet another straw man diversion from Barack Obama’s failed policies. It could also be a consolation feather in the cap for outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, who recently lamented that his only failure was the inability to pass major gun control.

But it’s more than a diversion or a feather. It’s an incremental “boiled frog” move to limit the Second Amendment. This is backdoor gun control via ammunition control. When states like California have gone after lead ammunition as environmentally “unsafe,” and the ATF considers rounds made of anything else to be “armor piercing,” there isn’t much left.

So what can you do? Contact the ATF. The bureau will not acknowledge receipt of comments, but you can submit them in the following ways:

ATF email: APAComments@atf.gov

Fax: (202) 648-9741

Mail: Denise Brown, Mailstop 6N-602, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Enforcement Programs and Services, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 99 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20226: ATTN: AP Ammo Comments.

On a final note, good luck finding any M855 on the shelves. It took only a couple of days after the ATF floated the proposed ban for the ammo to sell out. Evidently, Obama hopes to maintain his string of six years as “Gun Salesman of the Year.”

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Big League Kids, Little League Adults

Little League Baseball revoked Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West all-stars' United States championship last Wednesday. The reason was straight-forward: The team used players who lived outside the boundaries allowed by the rules. Team manager Donald Butler was suspended from Little League, and Illinois District 4 administrator Michael Kelly has been removed from his position. Little League International CEO Stephen D. Keener called it a “heartbreaking decision,” but one necessary to “maintain the integrity of the Little League program.” Enter those with no integrity at all: “Is this about boundaries or race?” wondered professional agitator Jessie Jackson.

“This decision’s untimely and inappropriate at this time,” Jackson added. “It should not take six months after a team has played a championship game to determine eligibility to play the game in the first place.”

Is there the slightest doubt that if an investigation had taken half that time or less Jackson would be bemoaning a “rush to judgment” just as facilely?

Activist Rev. Michael Pfleger, who admires Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan and shares their belief that America is an irredeemably racist nation, was equally up to the task of obscuring the real problem. “When you’re going over to voter registration and going to birth certificates and doing all this time of hunting and a witch hunt that’s been going on for the last number of months, I can’t help but wonder the question if the same thing would have been done with another team from another place, another race,” Pfleger spewed.

The facts? Little League officials acknowledged a map redrafting process took place in 2013 – but no changes were submitted for approval. League officials explained that Jackie Robinson West “knowingly expanded its boundaries to include territory that belonged to other leagues in the district.” Moreover, local league officials admitted they had “direct knowledge of this rules violation” when asked by Little League officials during the investigation. Keener also cleared up any further ambiguity as well. “During our review, it became clear that both Jackie Robinson West officials and District Administrator Mike Kelly signed documents to make players eligible who should not have been,” he said.

DNAinfo columnist Mark Konkol summed up reality in a single paragraph: “All it took was a simple Internet search to find that a congresswoman, a suburban mayor, an elite traveling baseball league and Sports Illustrated posted details about the players' suburban roots.”

The decision was made following allegations first made by Evergreen Park officials. They alerted Little League following a 43-2 wipeout at the hands of a Jackie Robinson West squad they described as “manipulating, bending and blatantly breaking the rules for the sole purpose of winning at all costs.” Teams from Illinois and Nevada also complained the team’s roster was rigged. Nevada’s Mountain Ridge team lost to Jackie Robinson West in the U.S. final. They will be awarded the championship – one Jackson insists they “did not earn.”

Mountain Ridge isn’t interested in Jackson’s misguided assessment or the title. “For us, it’s not about getting the title,” said Kristi Black, president of the Las Vegas league when its team was in Williamsport. “It’s about preserving the integrity of the Little League World Series. I spoke with a couple of our kids this morning, and they’re excited, but they feel terrible for the kids on the Chicago team. Our kids have moved on. They’re just of the mind that when rules are broken, that’s not acceptable.”

Jackson couldn’t care less. He promised the team’s parents would file a lawsuit over the decision, even as attorney Victor Henderson cautioned against “saber-rattling,” adding that “no lawyer worth his salt” would threaten to sue without knowing all the facts of the case.

For Jackson and his ilk, facts are irrelevant. What really matters is adding another chapter to the black victimist narrative that has brought him fame and fortune. While he pontificates, a bunch of young black kids are paying for the sins of adults who ought to know better.

And not just the sins of Butler and Kelly. Parent Carlton Hondras, whose son Trey played on the team, insisted that playing for Jackie Robinson West is a tradition “if you are from the city, whether you move out or not.” Parent Tammy King, who lived in the suburbs and changed her address on her driver’s license to one still beyond the boundaries of eligibility, was equally defiant. “I’m in the city of Chicago but do not have to disclose where I live,” she declared. Parents Christopher Green and Dr. Venisa Beasley-Green claimed ignorance of the rules. “We don’t know about boundaries,” Beasley-Green said. “We know it’s a city of Chicago requirement … no specific coordinates to play on a particular team.”

And it was Green who best summed up the mindset that allows Jackson and company to prosper: “It is amazing to me that whenever African-Americans exceed the expectations that there is always going to be fault.”

Sorry, but with the exception of the kids themselves there is plenty of fault to go around. And while it’s bad enough when adults countenance cheating, it’s worse when they jump on Jackson’s racialist bandwagon. Alleging racism to obscure cheating sends the execrable message that integrity itself is not a color-blind virtue – which is another way of saying the color of one’s skin trumps the content of one’s character. Such transparent nonsense is not only self-defeating, it turns Martin Luther King’s most enduring message on its head.

Does it get any more racist than that?

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For more, visit Right Analysis.

TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS

• Tony Perkins: Un-Manning Manning
• Stephen Moore: Obama Routinely Breaches Bipartisan Deals
• Ken Blackwell & Bob Morrison: SPLC – Sliming Ben Carson, Smearing Pro-Life Christians
• Larry Kudlow: Presidents' Day Musings
• Burt Prelutsky: Pinheads & Primaries

For more, visit Right Opinion.

OPINION IN BRIEF

The Gipper: “[A]ny time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we’re denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we’re always ‘against,’ never ‘for’ anything.”

FRC president Tony Perkins: “Bradley Manning is in prison for treason – and now the Obama administration wants to help him break another law: nature’s. The national security leaker, whose espionage put countless Americans at risk, is demanding that the U.S. Army – not just recognize, but finance – his gender transition. … While thousands of honorable veterans suffer serial abandonment in VA clinics across the country, the Obama administration is rewarding an avowed traitor with expensive – and elective – treatment. It’s a sad commentary on this administration when an act of treason entitles you to better care than most of the men and women who have honorably served this country! Unfortunately, this is just part of the administration’s broader pattern of indulging lawlessness and lawbreakers like illegal immigrants, military defectors, and turncoats. And the real tragedy is that this therapy isn’t helping Manning – it’s exacerbating a profound mental health crisis. The worst thing we can do for people struggling with gender identity is to enable their disorder. … The military can’t afford to waste more time and energy on political distractions that aren’t just detrimental for people in that lifestyle – but for our military’s mission at large. Even for the President, who’s spent six years using the military as a mule for his social agenda, injecting this kind of gender chaos into the ranks is a step too far.”

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Economist Stephen Moore: “Obama rejected the convention of reaching across the aisle from the very start. In his first two years in office this White House never moved an inch in the GOP’s direction and passed his major bills on stimulus and Obamacare without a single Republican vote. … Since the Republicans took control of the House in 2011 and now the entire Congress this year, Obama has been stymied. He still hasn’t budged an inch toward the center. His State of the Union address was effectively an ideological lead pipe, not a peace pipe. … Liberals routinely pout that Republicans won’t work with President Obama cooperatively to get things done and that the GOP’s only goal is to destroy his presidency. Obama has done a pretty good job of that himself without an assist from House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. But who is that won’t cooperate? … Obama’s goal is not to negotiate with Republicans but to steamroller over them. And by so doing, his party is in shatters, and the one who has been steamrolled is himself.”

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Humorist Frank J. Fleming: “Shouldn’t you assume someone who made a successful career without going to college is smarter than the average person who went to college? … For so much of the education system, we should start over from scratch and ask, ‘What exactly are we trying to accomplish here?’ … If the point of college is to give you knowledge and skills you’ll need for a job, even the best schools really suck at that.”

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!

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