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Right Analysis | Right Hooks | Right Opinion
Patriot Headlines | Grassroots Commentary
Daily Digest
April 21, 2015 
THE FOUNDATION
"It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him." —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, 1785
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Your Patriot Post team always endeavors to improve our publication, which is a critical touchstone for Liberty. To that end, we have tightened up our Daily Digest of news, policy and opinion to cover more ground in fewer words, consistent with recommendations from you, our Patriot readers.
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
"Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich," by Peter Schweizer, is due to hit the bookshelves soon, but Republican presidential candidates are already taking advantage. That's because the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, was briefed on the book. The New York Times obtained a copy, too, and reports that the "186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities ... asserts that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton's State Department in return." The Times quotes a passage in which Schweizer writes, "We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds."
We know it's shocking to consider that Hillary Clinton's massive income and her record of "smart power" at the State Department might be tainted by these pay-to-play shenanigans, but Schweizer appears to have done his homework and provides numerous examples. Hillary's use of private email servers was problematic in large part because she was able to cover up the Clinton Foundation's dealings. No wonder she deleted tens of thousands of "personal" emails. And her response to the book is typical Hillary: It's just part of the vast right-wing conspiracy.
In Saturday's weekly address, Barack Obama devoted his lecture to Earth Day, which is Wednesday, and he doubled down on global warming so we can "protect this precious planet we call home." He claimed, "[T]oday, there's no greater threat to our planet than climate change. ... [T]he fact that the climate is changing has very serious implications for the way we live now. Stronger storms. Deeper droughts. Longer wildfire seasons. The world's top climate scientists are warning us that a changing climate already affects the air our kids breathe." (Earlier this month he wrongly blamed global warming for his daughter's asthma despite his old smoking habit.) To commemorate Earth Day, Obama will visit the Florida Everglades, which he called "one of the most special places in our country." He added, "But it's also one of the most fragile. Rising sea levels are putting a national treasure — and an economic engine for the South Florida tourism industry — at risk. So climate change can no longer be denied — or ignored." After all, there's still government power to gain.
A group of protesters at Valdosta State University had cast the American flag on the ground and were walking all over it when Michelle Manhart snatched it away from them. "It was tattered and torn, covered with mud and dirt," the former Air Force training instructor said. "I told the demonstrators that it needed to be properly disposed of." Instead, campus police led her away in handcuffs when she didn't let Old Glory go after they ordered her to. It's a situation that has kindled anew discussions over the flag code, free speech and ... pornography.
See, this isn't the first time Manhart has created controversy. In 2007, she was demoted in the Air Force after she posed nude in Playboy Magazine. "This staff sergeant's alleged action does not meet the high standards we expect of our airmen, nor does it comply with the Air Force's core values of integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do," the Air Force said in a statement at the time. According to an Air Force Times cover story, Manhart wanted to use her Playboy notoriety to launch a modeling career, and she later used the flag to cover herself in a nude photo-shoot for PETA — itself a disrespectful use of the flag, in our estimation. Yet even if she wasn't the best messenger, Manhart's intent in the Valdosta incident was honorable and any veteran who sacrificed so much to defend the flag would agree. More...
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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
By Lewis Morris
A major shift could be taking place in ObamaCare this June, and Republicans stand to gain big, but only if they are sure-footed. June is when the Supreme Court will announce its decision in King v. Burwell, the case regarding whether the federal government overstepped its authority in paying out subsidies to those purchasing health insurance on the federal ObamaCare exchange. But Republicans face the unpleasant specter of a legal win and a political loss.
As ObamaCare is written, each state had the option to set up its own exchange through which people would buy health insurance. These exchanges were theoretically supposed to offer cheaper coverage, though we know how that went — costs went up and continue to do so. Just the same, 36 states opted not to create their own exchanges, forcing the creation and implementation of a federal ObamaCare exchange to take up the slack. And since Barack Obama needed to keep the law afloat, he arbitrarily decided that taxpayer subsidies could be paid out through the federal exchange, too.
If the Supreme Court interprets the law literally, then the federal taxpayer subsidies will be wiped out. It's plainly written in the law: no state-run exchange, no taxpayer subsidy for insurance. The immediate outcome will be that some 7.5 million people could lose their insurance. But not if Republicans act.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) have proposed alternative plans to protect low-income people currently on the federal exchange. Tax credits would allow people to buy insurance in the private market and across state lines, something ObamaCare subsidies do not allow.
Naturally, Hatch and Ryan stand accused of creating "ObamaCare Lite," but Ryan counters that their plans would "empower Americans to make their own health care decisions rather than government mandates."
Republicans face a tricky situation in dealing with ObamaCare subsidies. The Supreme Court ruling, if it goes their way, offers the best opportunity yet to gut ObamaCare. Without the subsidy as it currently exists, the law could collapse. However, subsidies are popular — everybody loves "free" stuff. The American public still hates ObamaCare, but a number of polls indicate people are comfortable with taxpayer subsidies to help pay for insurance. If Republicans don't offer a viable alternative to replacing the subsidies, the political backlash will be costly.
And that's just what Democrats are counting on. The Obama administration and congressional Democrats have been mum about how to handle an adverse Supreme Court decision. Obama has merely said that the way to fix the problem lies with Congress. He would love nothing better than to see Republicans twist in the wind, knowing full well there is still a sizable portion of the GOP that will settle for nothing less than the complete repeal of ObamaCare. He can then blame Republicans if millions of people go uninsured.
The full repeal of ObamaCare should be the final goal, but it cannot be done in one fell swoop. And it will never be done if Republicans cannot coalesce around a plan to replace it. That can start now by developing a regime that still allows low-income people to afford insurance. Then, Republicans can put the onus on Obama, forcing the famously uncooperative president to go along with continuing subsidies that have a free-market flavor, or veto the GOP plan out of spite and force millions to lose their insurance.
Of course, this is all academic if Obama issues another arbitrary executive order that "fixes" the language of ObamaCare to allow federal subsidies. The Supreme Court could also lose its nerve and allow the subsidies to stand. Yet the justices might be less likely to do that if they know an alternative plan is in the works to keep millions from going uninsured.
Either way, the GOP should heed the advice of The Wall Street Journal: "Republicans would be wise to recall how Democrats built the entitlement state decade by decade. ... Republicans will need liberal-like perseverance to reduce federal dominance over health care as well as an alternative vision that can appeal to voters." Then again, intelligent strategy never was the GOP's strong suit.
ALSO AT PATRIOTPOST.US TODAY
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Columnist Dennis Prager: "In 2013, of America's 6,261 black homicide victims, more than 6,000 of them — 97 percent — were killed by people other than police. About three percent of black homicide victims were killed by police. And of that three percent, nearly every one was armed and dangerous. To label that an epidemic of police racism is a libel. In addition, more than 9 in 10 blacks murdered were murdered by another black person. Now that is an epidemic — an epidemic of black murderers. ... The left is not only engaging in demagoguery and creating hysteria when it claims that 'Blacks Lives Matter' in reference to police killings of blacks. It is also not telling the truth. Black lives don't really interest the left. If they did, the left would focus on all the black murderers taking black lives. The left's overriding interest lies elsewhere: in defaming America, with its 'legacy of slavery,' 'institutional racism' and 'white privilege,' and in depicting white police as racists. To understand the left one must first understand that it hates conservatives more than it loves almost anything. Because if it really believed that 'Black Lives Matter,' its message would be 'Black Murderers Matter.'"
SHORT CUTS
Insight: "The human race divides itself politically into those who want to be controlled, and those who have no such desire." —American writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
The BIG Lie: "2014 was the planet's warmest year on record. Fourteen of the 15 hottest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century. This winter was cold in parts of our country — as some folks in Congress like to point out — but around the world, it was the warmest ever recorded." —Barack Obama (Last year was not the warmest on record based on the most objective evidence, nor have almost all of the warmest years in recorded history occurred since the turn of the century.)
Demo-gogues: "I have to say that there are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far. This is an example of it. It's gone too far. Enough. Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote, get her confirmed. Put her in place. Let her do her job. This is embarrassing, a process like this." —Barack Obama (Translation: I've got more insidious work to accomplish before 2017, and it sure would help if I had Eric Holder 2.0.)
Non Compos Mentis: "I want to be sure that we get small businesses starting and growing in America again. We have stalled out. I was very surprised to see that when I began to dig into it. Because people were telling me this as I traveled around the country the last two years, but I didn't know what they were saying and it turns out that we are not producing as many small businesses as we use to." —Hillary Clinton, who's suddenly concerned about the disaster known as the Obama Recovery
Applied science: "Scientists say they're now several steps closer to being able to resurrect extinct species. Might want to start with the Founding Fathers, before it's too late." —Fred Thompson
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.
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