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Daily Digest
August 28, 2015 
THE FOUNDATION
"Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit — appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free." —Joseph Warren, American account of the Battle of Lexington, 1775
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
While stalking the campaign trail Thursday, Hillary Clinton fired a bazooka at the Republican Party and missed. Clinton slammed the stances several GOP candidates hold on "women's issues" such as equal pay, reproductive health care and abortion. She said, "Extreme views about women? We expect that from some of the terrorist groups. We expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world. But it's a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States."
You could see the poor politician from Arkansas New York Washington struggling to even stand in the shadow of Democrat orator William Jennings Bryan. She's more akin to Barack Obama, who recently declared Iranian hardliners were " making a common cause with the Republican caucus." Hillary's comment smacks of desperation to be a cool grandma, to float a stalling campaign. Before Clinton wants to unearth the hatchet and fight the "War on Women," she might want to do some research.
While her Senate office paid women 72 cents for every dollar it paid men, Carly Fiorina's campaign already bridged the gender pay gap. Last time we checked, most Republicans argue for policies that promote life. The Islamic State institutionalized sex slavery because they believe raping 12-year-old Yazidi girls is an act of worship. Is that really the comparison she wants to make?
The EPA was hours away from implementing an expansive interpretation of the Clean Water Act when a judge in North Dakota issued an injunction blocking the power grab. In response to a suit brought by 13 states, Judge Ralph Erickson halted Thursday the EPA's rule that would have, according to Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY), placed the agency in control of every ditch, man-made pond and flood plain in the nation. Erickson wrote, "Once the rule takes effect, the states will lose their sovereignty over intrastate waters that will then be subject to the scope of the Clean Water Act."
The EPA isn't accepting the judge's orders. It said in a statement that it will only comply with the injunction in the 13 states that were part of the suit. However, there are nine other suits brought against the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in regards to the water rule. In total, 29 states are questioning the EPA's authority in the matter. In addition to having a river in Colorado to clean up, the courts have been checking the EPA's abuse of power — such as the Supreme Court's June ruling about the EPA's emission guidelines for coal plants. This hasn't been a good stretch for the EPA.
"My expectation is that [rate increases] come in significantly lower than what's being requested," Barack Obama told a Nashville audience last month. After all, he promised ObamaCare would bend the cost curve down, right? And that it would save the typical family $2,500 a year in premiums, right? Wrong.
So much for that. According to The Wall Street Journal, Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak "answered [that question] on Friday by greenlighting the full 36.3% increase sought by the biggest health plan in the state, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. She said the insurer demonstrated the hefty increase for 2016 was needed to cover higher-than-expected claims from sick people who signed up for individual policies in the first two years of the Affordable Care Act."
So, Madam Commissioner, you're telling us the Affordable Care Act isn't exactly, uh, Affordable? So far, Tennessee's rate increase is the highest approved this year, but two other states — North Carolina and Maryland — exceeded 30%, and half a dozen more were in double digits. Others, like Minnesota (seeking a whopping 54% hike), are yet to be determined.
And lest anyone think higher premiums were paying for better coverage, most insurance carriers are also increasing deductibles and copays. Our own plan here in our humble shop now offers this wonderful trifecta of higher premiums, higher deductibles and higher copays. So we pay more up front, we pay more before we can receive care, and then we pay more when insurance finally does kick in. Remind us again how great ObamaCare is...
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
By Michael Swartz
America is still a welcoming country for immigrants, but the sentiment for pulling up the welcome mat is gaining steam. Failure to secure our borders, lax enforcement of immigration laws by a federal government that therefore tacitly encourages border crossing and overstay of visas, the perception that illegal aliens are sponging off the welfare system, and immigrants' growing lack of assimilation has angered millions of Americans.
Enter Donald Trump, who has made immigration a key part of his platform. His latest vow is to get illegal immigrants "out of there day one ... out so fast your head will spin." With his corresponding surge in the political polls, the national conversation on the topic has shifted focus to the phrase "anchor babies." It's the term describing the effect of birthright citizenship, which itself is based on a faulty interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment when applied to children born to those here illegally.
The number of those who have come to the United States to give birth is increasing. While the Pew Hispanic Center says four out of five children of illegal aliens were born in this country, it's now estimated that one out of 10 American births overall would fall under the description "anchor babies." Most are the offspring of illegal immigrants who understand current deportation policy gives them a "get out of jail free" card once the child is born — along with a claim to our generous public treasury. But some anchor babies are born to "birth tourists" who arrive weeks before birth and do so specifically in order to have an American passport holder in the family to make securing their own visas easier.
It's no secret that the Republican Party has factions on both sides of the immigration debate. Many of the other 16 presidential hopefuls align more or less with the hardline stance Trump has taken, yet it was immigration moderate Jeb Bush who became a lightning rod for Democrat criticism for using the term "anchor baby."
In typical Jeb fashion, he tried to walk it back, saying, "What I'm talking about is the specific case of fraud being committed where there's organized efforts — frankly, it's more related to Asian people — coming into our country, having children in that organized effort, taking advantage of that noble concept which is birthright citizenship."
Needless to say, that muddled attempt at clarity didn't work, and Democrats stuck to their marching orders.
"The 'anchor baby' narrative is politics at its worst," wailed Rep. Linda Sanchez, chair of the all-Democrat Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in a Washington Post op-ed. It serves "mostly as a Republican dog-whistle," she added, "tapping into an implicit racial sentiment that suggests children of color are less than fully American or they're just a vehicle for gaming the system."
Bush had no support from Asians, either. Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said, "All that is accomplished through talk of anchor-babies — be they from Latin America, Asia, Europe, or Africa — is to use xenophobic fears to further isolate immigrants. It's time for our country to return to a substantive discussion on immigration."
But shouldn't a "substantive discussion" on immigration include more than identity politics? Birthright citizenship is a legitimate topic for consideration, yet Democrats never fail to blow their own dog whistle by crying "RACIST!" at anyone who broaches the subject. Rule of Law is essential to a free country, but Democrats (and too many Republicans) are more interested in craven pandering.
Like him or not, one can't deny Donald Trump's impact on the 2016 campaign, which is largely the result of his willingness to raise issues that establishment Republicans would rather sweep under the rug. At least some Americans are listening now.
MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
TOP HEADLINES
OPINION IN BRIEF
Charles Krauthammer: "Since the end of World War II, Russia has known that what stands in the way of westward expansion was not Europe, living happily in decadent repose, but the United States as guarantor of Western security. Obama's naivete and ambivalence have put those guarantees in question.
It began with the reset button, ostentatiously offered less than two months after Obama's swearing-in. Followed six months later by the unilateral American cancellation of the missile shield the Poles and the Czechs had agreed to install on their territory. Again, lest Putin be upset. By 2012, a still clueless Obama mocked Mitt Romney for saying that Russia is 'without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe,' quipping oh so cleverly: 'The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.' After all, he explained, 'the Cold War's been over for 20 years.' Turned out it was 2015 calling.
Obama's own top officials have been retroactively vindicating Romney. ... Helped immensely by Obama's epic misjudgment of Russian intentions, the balance of power has shifted — and America's allies feel it. ... As John Kerry awaits his upcoming Nobel and Obama plans his presidential library (my suggestion: Havana), Putin is deciding how to best exploit the final 17 months of his Obama bonanza. The world sees it. Obama doesn't."
SHORT CUTS
Insight: "If we could manage our own finances the way the Congress does the nation's, we'd all be living in high cotton and eating high on the hog." —columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013)
America, you disappoint Obama: "The president's found that disappointing and frustrating, principally because he believes it's bad public policy for us to not take commonsense steps to address what I think we all acknowledge is a pretty significant problem. The president has also been disappointed that our political system hasn't responded in the way that he would like." —Josh Earnest, again exploiting the murders in Virginia for political gain
The BIG Lie: "The United States has about 4 percent of the world's population, but nearly half the civilian-owned guns. With gun violence on the rise, some public health officials say it's time to change our approach to the problem." —CBS's Maurice DuBois ("Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49% lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nation's population grew." —Pew Research Center)
Sometimes they get it right: "The discussion about Flanagan has mainly centered on mental health, and whether Flanagan was mentally ill. The other, lesser discussion has been whether he was racist. If one objectively looks at Flanagan's actions and history, one can't help but come to the conclusion that both are probably true. Flanagan killed the two young people because they were white. He has admitted as much. And yes, anyone who does what he did is also out of their mind." —CNN's Don Lemon
Braying Jackass: "We're going to see more extreme weather events as a result of climate change." —Barack Obama on the anniversary of Katrina
Late-night humor: "At a press conference ... Donald Trump kicked out a Latino reporter, but the man returned a few minutes later. So, already Trump's deportation plan isn't working." —Conan O'Brien
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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