Tuesday ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
 2016             The truth will set you free 
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Featuring:
U.S. taxpayers are funding Iran's military expansion
by Eli Lake
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 The Leftmedia's Broken Monopoly 
Arnold Ahlert: Agence France Presse revealed this week that the U.S. newspaper industry lost more than 50% of the jobs it had as recently as the 1990s. Unsurprisingly, AFP attributed the decline to the "massive shift to digital media that has hammered traditional newspapers." No doubt that is a factor, but the comments section following the article was much more revealing. Overwhelmingly, those who gave up reading newspapers cited two reasons for their decision: liberal bias and the virtual extinction of anything resembling journalistic integrity.
          Unfortunately, liberal bias and a lack of journalistic integrity have moved seamlessly into the digital realm. Yet far more important is what was unable to completely survive the shift: the Left's monopolistic control of news dissemination. Gone are the days when the Big Three TV networks, and a handful of "important" newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post, made it seem as if the entire nation were marching in lockstep behind the liberal agenda.
          That is not to say they've given up trying. "For the two and a quarter centuries of our republic, Americans have expected the fourth estate to tell it raw and straight," writes columnist John P. Warren. "In the lifetime of Baby Boomers, however, the Progressive Establishment, abetted by most news and information outlets — State Media — and Academia, have distorted our founding truths in much of what we hear and watch, not unlike the Soviet Union's Pravda and China's People's Daily."
          Exaggerated? Warren provides a compelling and disturbing list of the top five media conglomerates and their subsidiaries:
          Comcast: NBCUniversal, the NBC network, Telemundo, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Oxygen, CNBC World, 24 TV stations, Comcast Sports, and pieces of the Weather Channel, A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime, FEARnet, PBS Kids Sprout, as well as several online outlets, and Universal Studios in Hollywood.
          Disney: ABC television network, ESPN, the Disney Channel, Pixar Animation, and pieces of A&E, Lifetime, Biography, and The History Channel.
          Time-Warner: Warner Brothers Television, TBS, TNT, TCM, CNN International, CNN, HLN, HBO, Cinemax, and magazines, such as Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Life, InStyle, Real Simple, Fortune, Southern Living, and Entertainment Weekly. TW also owns Warner Brothers Pictures, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock, and others.
          CBS: CBS Corporation, Showtime, Smithsonian Networks, CBS Sports, CBS Studios, 29 television stations, CBS Radio & 130 radio stations, CNET, Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books, Scribner, CBS Films, and others.
          News Corp: Fox Broadcasting, 27 television stations, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, TV Guide, Barron's, Harper Collins Publishing, 20th Century Fox, Searchlight Pictures, and National Geographic U.S.
          News Corp might be considered an ideological outlier in some respects, yet it is worth remembering Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch toes the same amnesty line as his progressive colleagues. Moreover, note that this is an incomplete list of information "managers," omitting leftist social media titans such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google and Apple who are also dedicated to "shaping" the message Americans receive. Note further that these conglomerates have been more than willing to blur the distinction between news and popular entertainment — popular entertainment that spends considerable time mocking traditional American values, while promoting progressive agendas with regard to such topics as homosexuality, transgenderism, environmentalism and illegal immigration.
          While this level of control is formidable, one could make a good case that total control remains elusive. In recent days, leftist hacks have been busted for being the leftist hacks they truly are. Former TV news anchor Katie Couric's efforts to shape a story on gun control with a manufactured eight seconds of silence was outed by the Washington Free Beacon. A Telemundo cameraman's attempt to stage anti-liar-Trump protesters in San Diego was reported by NewsBusters. Hot Air's Larry O'Connor blasted "reporters" covering liar-Hilly Clinton's first press conference in a month, listing the absurdly banal questions she was asked, every one of which studiously avoided any of the scandals currently dogging the presumptive Democrat presidential candidate.
          While these are hopeful signs, liberal bias remains firmly entrenched. Perhaps nothing currently speaks to this reality better than the story about the IRS releasing the list of 426 (overwhelmingly conservative) organizations it targeted for "extra scrutiny."
          Make no mistake: This story is one of the biggest scandals in modern-day history. It dwarfs Watergate by an order of several magnitudes. Yet if one conducts a Google search, not a single media organization that isn't conservative is listed as having covered it on the first two pages of that search engine's website. That's a major scandal in and of itself.
          And the American people are becoming increasingly aware of this willful dereliction of duty. A recent poll reveals that only 6% of the public have a lot of confidence in the media, an abysmal percentage fueled by "perceptions" of inaccuracy and bias. It is a well-earned reputation built upon years of advocacy masquerading as journalism, errors of omission and commission, and the despicable transformation of what ought to be an adversarial relationship between a free, watchdog press and government, into an unholy alliance best described as a progressive-dominated, government-media complex. One where the narrative, rather than the truth, remains supreme.
          One last thing: The opportunity to read this column is due to the dogged determination of The Patriot Post's Executive Editor and Publisher Mark Alexander. In 1996, he foresaw the opportunity to exploit the imminent decline of newspapers, and launched this beacon of Liberty. We remain one of the oldest conservative publications on the web, and while we celebrate our 20th anniversary, our goal remains what it has always been: to challenge the Leftmedia monopoly.  -The Patriot Post
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 THE JUDGE’S RULING: IN PRAISE OF PAINS 
 IN THE NECK  As the FBI and Congress consider a measure that would allow investigators access to Americans’ web browsing history, Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano says it’s clear the government has a palpable antipathy to the Constitutional guarantee of the right to privacy: “Last week, FBI Director James Comey effectively told the Senate committee that is writing this damnable new legislation that complying with the Fourth Amendment is a pain in the neck and his agents could operate more efficiently without it. Wake up, America. The Fourth Amendment is supposed to be a pain in the neck for the government.” Read it all here -Fox News
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California Does Not Allow Republican Candidates
in Some Districts
by Joe A. Gilbertson
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{punchingbagpost.com} ~ Once of the dangers of competition has always been that the winner is often in position change the rules. It appears liberals in California have successfully changed the voter laws such that in some districts there will be no Republican Candidate on the ballot... At least five Districts surrounding San Francisco will have no Republican candidate, two Democrats will compete in the general election in each district. Since Proposition 14 passed in 2010, Californians  can vote on only the top two candidates from the primaries even if they are from the same party. This was billed as a way to force politicians to move toward the center and appeal to a broader range of voters. In reality this is major bias in favor of the majority party...  http://punchingbagpost.com/california-does-not-allow-republican-candidates-in-some-districts
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liar-Hilly declares baby-killing to be constitutional right...
by John Binder
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{bizpacreview.com} ~ Democratic presidential candidate liar-Hilly Clinton spoke to executives at Planned Parenthood, the country’s largest abortion provider, on Friday, about the supposed constitutional right to have an abortion... “Thank you for being there for every woman, in every state,” liar-Clinton told Planned Parenthood fans. “Who has to miss work, drive hundreds of miles sometimes, endure cruel, unnecessary waiting periods, walk past angry protesters to exercise her constitutional right to safe and legal abortion.” But, just five days before liar-Clinton proclaimed that abortion was protected under the constitution, she told ABC News that the Second Amendment may or may not be a right and if it is, it needs to be heavily regulated....
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One Detailed Chart Exposes Exactly How the Bilderberg Group Controls the World
by Jay Syrmopoulos
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{activistpost.com} ~ It’s one of the most secretive and powerful organizations: the Bilderberg Group. With virtually no mainstream corporate media coverage of the event, the ultra-exclusive 2016 meeting of the Bilderberg Group, being held at the Taschenbergpalais hotel in Dresden, kicked off on June 9... Nearly 130 politicians, financiers, and industrialists are attending this year’s conference, with the guest list including the chief of the International Monetary Fund, as well as the former heads of the CIA and MI6. What were once considered among the world’s most secretive meetings, the Bilderberg Meetings, have been held annually since 1954. Until recently, the entire existence of the meetings had been generally brushed off by the mainstream media as nothing more than fringe “conspiracy theorist” paranoia. The annual meeting of the global power players — including representatives from government, private industry, media, finance, think tanks, academia, as well as numerous other organizations representing both private and public interests — began their closed-door meetings amid a heavily armed security presence, and extremely little in the way of transparency — with journalists being arrested...
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EU is Fights Terrorism By Enacting
Even Stricter Gun Control
by LU Staff
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{libertyunyielding.com} ~ The European Union’s interior minister agreed to stricter gun controls Friday in response to the recent wave of terror attacks in France and Belgium... The deal adds weapons to the list of items banned for civilian purchase. It was originally meant to be enforced on all, but will leave room for recreational shooters and collectors. The European Commission proposed measures to the EU’s firearms legislation days after the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris. The terrorists used Kalashnikov rifles, in addition to suicide bombs, to kill 130 people...This ruling is, will, stupid. Why not have more security screening on immigrations.  http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/06/11/eu-fights-terrorism-wait-taking-guns-citizens/
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nObama Admin Surge Agenda Threatening U.S.
With 100 Syrian Refugees Per Day
by Lana Shadwick
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{breitbart.com} ~ The nObama administration has created a “resettlement surge center” which has produced a pouring of 100 Syrian refugees in the U.S. per day... The very real risk to Americans – the lack of proper vetting of these individuals by the quick processing that is being done, almost all of them reported to be Muslims. Over 100 Syrian refugees have been admitted every day in June according to the federal government’s own database from the Refugee Processing Center. More than 1,000 were admitted in May. The rate of those admitted has sky-rocketed when compared to the 3,755 accepted in fiscal year 2016. The Conservative Review reported these numbers, and that approximately 100-250 were admitted during the first six months of fiscal year 2016. It noted that the Associated Press reported in April that the federal government set up a “resettlement surge center” in Amman, Jordan in February. The center is now interviewing approximately 600 people a day...  http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016/06/11/obama-administration-surge-agenda-threatening-u-s-100-syrian-refugees-per-day/?AID=7236
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Orlando Jihadist Worked for
Security Firm Contracted By DHS...
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{theconservativetreehouse.com} ~ Federal officials are now admitting Orlando Terrorist Attacker Omar Mateen was a known entity to them and was previously interviewed in connection to ISIS suicide bomber Moner Abu Salha... In a press conference, an FBI spokesman says the agency first interviewed Omar Mateen in 2013 after he made “inflammatory remarks” to a colleague. The investigation was closed. The FBI interviewed Mateen again in 2014 about a potential connection with suicide bomber Moner Abu Salha. The FBI investigation found no “substantial relationship” between Mateen and Salah...Oh really, something change since that time.  https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/06/12/orlando-jihadist-worked-for-security-firm-contracted-by-dhs-known-entity-to-fbi-ex-wife-says-violent/
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Might the Clean Water Act be unconstitutional?
by Chance Weldon
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ In American politics, the Clean Water Act is almost sacrosanct. Despite years of litigation demonstrating the act's defects and significant constitutional questions, it remains virtually unchanged by Congress... primarily because even rational efforts to reform environmental regulations are inevitably painted by their opponents as attempts to poison the environment. The Supreme Court is not bound by such political constraints. This week, Justice Kennedy filed a concurring opinion joined by Justices Alito and Thomas in Hawkes v. Army Corps of Engineers implying that portions of the CWA might be found unconstitutional, unless Congress adds some much needed clarity to the law. While this is not the first time that a Supreme Court justice has questioned the constitutionality of the CWA — Justice Alito made similar arguments in Sackett v. EPA — it is the first time that three members of the Court have simultaneously expressed willingness to put the CWA on trial. The concurrence is particularly noteworthy because it was drafted by Justice Kennedy — a pivotal swing vote who authored the definitive opinion on the scope of CWA just ten years ago in Rapanos v. United States. The justices' primary concern is that certain provisions of the CWA might be unconstitutionally vague. Under the CWA, the government has authority to regulate the discharge of dirt or other particulates into the "Waters of the United States." However, the act does not explicitly define WOTUS, leaving government bureaucrats and the courts to interpret the statute's scope...  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/might-the-clean-water-act-be-unconstitutional/article/2593538?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI%20-%2006/10/16&utm_medium=email
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Legislator responds to liberal editorial
writer's call for his execution
by Jason Russell
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Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ After a liberal editorial writer said Republican members of the Michigan House of Representatives should be killed, the state's speaker of the House is calling for an apology... "The 109 men and women in the Michigan House of Representatives are hard-working people, dedicated public servants and role models to children in their community," Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R, said in a statement. "But to Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press, they are monsters who deserve to be tortured and killed. … This sort of mentality is pig-headed and wrong, and his statement is appalling. House members deserve an apology from Mr. Henderson, and so do his readers and colleagues."...  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/legislator-responds-to-liberal-editorial-writers-call-for-his-execution/article/2593507?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI%20-%2006/10/16&utm_medium=email
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Did This High-Level liar-Clinton
Security Appointee Buy His Position?
by Rob Knowles
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{constitution.com} ~ Recently uncovered emails have shed more light on one of team liar-Hillary’s more significant ethical lapses... In 2011, Rajiv K. Fernando was added to the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB). According to the State Department: “The International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) provides the Department with independent insight and advice on all aspects of arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation, international security, and related aspects of public diplomacy…Board members are national security experts with scientific, military, diplomatic, and political backgrounds.” Fernando had absolutely no background in nuclear arms or national security, however, he was a major donor to the Clintons...  http://constitution.com/new-bombshell-shows-clinton-security-appointee-may-bought-position/
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SASC Staffer Goel : U.S., Pakistan Relationship Goes Beyond Afghanistan
by John Grady
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U.S. and Pakistan national anthems
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{usni.org} ~ When considering the future U.S. relations with Pakistan it’s important not to deal with Islamabad exclusively “through the lens of Afghanistan,” a Senate Armed Services Committee staffer said Thursday... Anish Goel, a Senate Armed Service Committee staffer said speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank, added he believed Pakistan would continue to be viewed skeptically on Capitol Hill when it comes to its counterterrorism efforts in the region. “Many members believe we’re not getting the kind of cooperation” expected in countering the Haqqani Network’s and Taliban’s fighting forces in Afghanistan. “We would hope it goes in the other direction” and Islamabad realizes that the United States is going to be a legitimate partner in the future “no matter what happens in Afghanistan.”...  https://news.usni.org/2016/06/10/expert-u-s-pakistan-relationship-goes-beyond-afghanistan?utm_source=USNI+News&utm_campaign=160cd2ca81-USNI_NEWS_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0dd4a1450b-160cd2ca81-231491269&mc_cid=160cd2ca81&mc_eid=3999f18767
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U.S. taxpayers are
funding Iran's military expansion
by Eli Lake
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{jewishworldreview.com} ~ One of the unexpected results of President Barack nObama's new opening to Iran is that U.S. taxpayers are now funding both sides of the Middle East's arms race. The U.S. is deliberately subsidizing defense spending for allies like Egypt and Israel. Now the U.S. is inadvertently paying for some of Iran's military expenditures as well.

It all starts with $1.7 billion the U.S. Treasury transferred to Iran's Central Bank in January, during a delicate prisoner swap and the implementation of last summer's nuclear deal to resolve a long-standing dispute about Iran's arms purchases before the revolution of 1979.

For months it was unclear what Iran's government would do with this money. But last month the mystery was solved when Iran's Guardian Council approved the government's 2017 budget that instructed Iran's Central Bank to transfer the $1.7 billion to the military.

Saeed Ghasseminejad, an associate fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, spotted the budget item. He told me the development was widely reported in Iran by numerous sources including the state-funded news services. "Article 22 of the budget for 2017 says the Central Bank is required to give the money from the legal settlement of Iran's pre- and post-revolutionary arms sales of up to $1.7 billion to the defense budget," he said.

Republicans and some Democrats who opposed nObama's nuclear deal have argued that the end of some sanctions would help to fund Iran's military. But at least that was Iran's money already albeit frozen in overseas bank accounts. The $1.7 billion that Treasury transferred to Iran in January is different.

A portion of it, $400 million, came from a trust fund comprising money paid by the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a U.S. ally, for arms sold to Iran before the 1979 revolution. Those sales were cut off in 1979 after revolutionaries took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held the American staff hostage for 444 days. The remaining $1.3 billion represents interest on the $400 million principle over more than 36 years.

According to a letter from the State Department to Representative Mike Pompeo, a Republican who has called for an investigation into the January payment, that money came out of something known as the Judgment Fund, which is "a source of funding to pay judgments and claims against the United States when there is no other source of funding."  

At the time of the transfer in January, the nObama administration said the $1.7 billion payment was a bargain for the taxpayer because the U.S. would probably have to pay a steeper interest rate had the matter been adjudicated at the Hague by a tribunal created to settle claims between the U.S. and Iran after 1979.

Nonetheless, the $1.7 billion payment has still rankled nObama's critics. In January, many observers, including Pompeo, said the transfer was more like a ransom payment because it coincided with the release of five Americans detained in Iran. The Iranian commander of the Basiji militia, Mohammad Reza Naghdi, said at the time: “Taking this much money back was in return for the release of the American spies." The White House disputed this claim and said the payment was independent of the negotiation to release the American prisoners.

In any case, Pompeo is angry. “The fact that U.S. taxpayers appear to be funding Iran’s military is outrageous," he told me.

The irony here is that Iran has been pleading poverty in recent months. The country's supreme leader and foreign minister have publicly complained that Iran's economy has not seen the benefits expected from the Iran nuclear deal. And yet Iran's 2017 $19 billion defense budget has increased by 90 percent from 2016, according to Ghasseminejad.

We now know where $1.7 billion of that came from.
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