The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
On Iran, is Barack nObama playing blackjack or lottery?
Michael Gerson
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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BIPARTISAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE OVERHAUL HEADS TO THE HILL
The Coalition for Public Safety and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate bring both sides of the political aisle together to discuss criminal justice reform in their event today “Across the Aisle.” Senators planning to participate include: Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J, John Cornyn, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. ET today in the Kennedy Caucus room in the Russell Senate Office, and will also be livestreamed. Watch here. -Fox News
The Coalition for Public Safety and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate bring both sides of the political aisle together to discuss criminal justice reform in their event today “Across the Aisle.” Senators planning to participate include: Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J, John Cornyn, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. ET today in the Kennedy Caucus room in the Russell Senate Office, and will also be livestreamed. Watch here. -Fox News
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DEMS GO BALLISTIC OVER WALKER LAUNCH
Judging by the response on the left, Scott Walker’s newly announced candidacy is something close to pure evil. Rolling Stone headlined their article on Walker “America’s Top Union Leader Just Destroyed Scott Walker in Six Words.” Well, considering Walker’s major policy triumph in Wisconsin was ending the collective bargaining rights for unions it’s understandable that the head of the unions wouldn’t be his biggest fan. And the quote that supposedly destroyed Walker? “Scott Walker is a national disgrace.” Okay… But Richard Trumpka, head of AFL-CIO isn’t the only liberal with a rallying cry on the evils of Walker. Hilly Clinton said in her economic speech Monday that Walker made his name, “stomping on workers’ rights.”
But some liberals took a different tactic. Instead of igniting over Walker others tried to diffuse his entry by saying he wasn’t that important anyway. The New Republic said that, “Scott Walker is the most boring presidential candidate ever.” Whatever words they use to describe Walker, all these reactions show one thing: he poses enough of a threat that Democrats feel the need to stamp him down before his campaign even takes off.
[Walker begins his early state sweep in Nevada today where he will meet with voters.]
Judging by the response on the left, Scott Walker’s newly announced candidacy is something close to pure evil. Rolling Stone headlined their article on Walker “America’s Top Union Leader Just Destroyed Scott Walker in Six Words.” Well, considering Walker’s major policy triumph in Wisconsin was ending the collective bargaining rights for unions it’s understandable that the head of the unions wouldn’t be his biggest fan. And the quote that supposedly destroyed Walker? “Scott Walker is a national disgrace.” Okay… But Richard Trumpka, head of AFL-CIO isn’t the only liberal with a rallying cry on the evils of Walker. Hilly Clinton said in her economic speech Monday that Walker made his name, “stomping on workers’ rights.”
But some liberals took a different tactic. Instead of igniting over Walker others tried to diffuse his entry by saying he wasn’t that important anyway. The New Republic said that, “Scott Walker is the most boring presidential candidate ever.” Whatever words they use to describe Walker, all these reactions show one thing: he poses enough of a threat that Democrats feel the need to stamp him down before his campaign even takes off.
[Walker begins his early state sweep in Nevada today where he will meet with voters.]
-Fox News
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Planned Parenthood Sells Baby Parts After Partial-Birth Abortions
Alternate Leftmedia headline: "Planned Parenthood targeted by undercover video." That's courtesy of CBS, which has a serious problem confusing the victims here. Just when you thought depravity couldn't get any worse, along comes another surreptitious video of someone at Planned Parenthood discussing appallingly evil things. It will be the first of several videos taken and released by The Center for Medical Progress. In this one, Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical research, discusses with "buyers" the practice of essentially performing a partial-birth abortion followed by selling harvested organs. While sipping wine and eating salad, Nucatola boasts, “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver ... so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.” What kind of depraved and despicable person talks like this about a baby? Note also the sick irony that, to Planned Parenthood, unborn babies aren't human unless their organs are useful.
The video is all too clear, but that didn't stop Planned Parenthood from complaining about being victimized by a "heavily edited, secretly recorded videotape that falsely portrays Planned Parenthood’s participation in tissue donation programs that support lifesaving scientific research." They're just trying to help, right? But considering Planned Parenthood gets half a billion dollars in taxpayer money every year, this deserves some serious investigation followed by defunding the abortion mill. Louisiana governor and presidential candidate Bobby Jindal has already ordered an investigation in his state. We're with Michelle Malkin, who wonders, "When you’ve recovered from your nausea, ask yourselves this: What kind of country do we live in where law-abiding businesses are fined, threatened and demonized for refusing to bake gay wedding cakes, but barbaric baby butchers are hailed by feminists, Hollywood and a president who asked God to 'bless' them?"
God have mercy on this nation. -The Patriot Post
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Big Brother Trumps Little Sisters
Little Sisters of the Poor, a missions-based Catholic organization strongly opposed to nObamaCare's contraception requirement, suffered a legal setback on Tuesday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit refused to grant it an exemption. The court ruled, "Although we recognize and respect the sincerity of Plaintiff's beliefs and arguments, we conclude the accommodation scheme relieves Plaintiffs of their obligations under the Mandate and does not substantially burden their religious exercise under RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] or infringe upon their First Amendment rights." What's baffling is how badly the opinion clashes with the Supreme Court's Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling last year. In that case, the Court found that "HHS and the principal dissent [are] in effect tell[ing] the plaintiffs that their beliefs are flawed. For good reason, we have repeatedly refused to take such a step."
Here's the problem, as explained by University of Tennessee professor Glenn Reynolds: "The court seems to have no recognition of the fact that the nObama Administration's regulatory 'accommodation' is a sleight of hand, allowing the insurer/third party administrator to move the contraceptive coverage 'off the books' and 'pay' for it themselves. But of course burdening the insurer/administrator in this fashion is merely a shell game, and the cost of contraceptive coverage is ultimately borne by the employer and individual beneficiaries. The coverage is not magically free, no matter how hard the nObama Administration tries to make it 'look' free via regulation." This case may end up in the Supreme Court — something it could have prevented had its ruling in Hobby Lobby not been so limited. -The Patriot Post
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Does this Deal Prevent Iran from Developing a Nuclear Weapon?
{Alan M. Dershowitz} ~ Does the proposed deal with Iran actually prevent the Mullahs from ever developing a nuclear weapon? Or does it merely delay them for a period of years? That is the key question that has not yet been clearly answered... In his statement on the deal, President nObama seemed to suggest that Iran will never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. He said that this "long-term deal with Iran... will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon." He then repeated this assurance: "because of this deal, the international community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not be able to develop a nuclear weapon." These seemingly categorical statements were intended to assure the world that President nObama would keep his earlier promise that Iran will never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. But is that what the deal itself does? Or, as stated by its critics, does it actually assure that Iran will be allowed to develop a nuclear arsenal after a short delay of several years? That is the key question that the nObama administration has refused to answer directly. It must do so before Congress can be asked to buy a pig in a poke for the American people. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6167/does-this-deal-prevent-iran-from-developing
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Did We Hit a Nerve, Ms. Deek?
{investigativeproject.org} ~ Last week, we showcased some pretty rabid, hateful rhetoric posted on social media by Lamis Deek, a lawyer and board member for the Council on American-Islamic Relations-New York (CAIR-NY)... The story showed how Deek's blind hate for Israel isconsistent with many of her CAIR colleagues, including some who equate the marauding, beheading barbarians of the Islamic State terrorist group with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It featured a picture reposted on Deek's Facebook page last August, glorifying the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group's Al-Quds Brigades. The PIJ logo is clearly visible on a masked man featured in the image we published. http://www.investigativeproject.org/4910/did-we-hit-a-nerve-ms-deek
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The conservative paradox: Why the right should own social justice
{Arthur C. Brooks} ~ If conservative ideals have done so much to lift up the poor around the world, you would think the conservative movement would be gaining strength every single day... And not just gaining strength among wealthy people or Americans with traditional moral values, but also among young idealists, immigrants, minorities, and advocates for the poor—all embracing a new conservative movement and unleashing its power on behalf of America’s most vulnerable! Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that this is not what has happened. To the contrary, the conservative movement is struggling to attract new followers, and indeed some believe it will ultimately go the way of social democratic Europe’s conservative remnant. http://arthurbrooks.wpengine.com/news/excerpt-the-conservative-paradox/?utm_source=paramount&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AEITODAY&utm_campaign=071415
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Iran JPOA Titled Executive Agreement Not Treaty
{Denise Simon} ~ As the Senate wraps up debate this week on Iran legislation, expect to hear a lot about “hardliners.”... The Senate’s alleged hardliners have tried to add conditions to a nuclear deal the U.S. is currently negotiating with Iranian moderates, but there is little chance the senators will succeed. The majority leader, Mitch McCon-nell, is expected to call for an end to debate on their meddling amendments. According to a certain school of thought, all of this is a good thing. Our hardliners, say cheerleaders for the Iran negotiations, empower Iran’s hardliners, who are also wary of a deal. President nObama views the politics of the Iran deal in these terms himself. Back in March when Senator Tom Cotton and 46 other Republicans sent a letter to Iran’s leaders, reminding them that any deal signed with nObama could be reversed by Congress or future presidents, the president played the hardliner card: “I think it’s somewhat ironic to see some members for Congress wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran.” http://www.trevorloudon.com/2015/07/iran-jpoa-titled-executive-agreement-not-treaty/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewZeal+%28New+Zeal+Blog%29
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nObama pledged to reduce nuclear arsenal, then came this weapon
{Jerry Redfern} ~ Standing next to a 12-foot nuclear bomb that looks more like a trim missile than a weapon of mass destruction, engineer Phil Hoover exudes pride. “I feel a real sense of accomplishment,” he said... But as Hoover knows, looks can be deceiving. He and fellow engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have spent the past few years designing, building and testing the top-secret electronic and mechanical innards of the sophisticated B61-12. Later, when nuclear explosives are added at the federal Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, the bomb will have a maximum explosive force equivalent to 50,000 tons of TNT – more than three times more powerful than the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, 70 years ago this August that killed more than 130,000 people.
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{Trey Sanchez} ~ Trey Gowdy (R-SC) reigned fire onto Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson over his department's failure to secure the American border and its allowance of sanctuary cities, like San Francisco, where illegal immigrants can fly below the radar of law enforcement... Gowdy's top concern was the recent murder of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle, killed by a multi-deportee illegal alien, as she walked along a San Francisco pier with her dad. The murderer, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, admitted to choosing San Francisco because of its sanctuary status. Gowdy posted the video of his interrogation of Johnson on YouTube on Tuesday. He railed against sanctuary cities and the porous border. In his typical style, Gowdy held nothing back. He asked Johnson if he had seen the criminal background of Lopez-Sanchez, to which he responded, "I believe I have, yes." To be sure, Gowdy quickly listed the man's many offenses and said: http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/gowdy-shreds-dhs-sec-johnson-over-sanctuary-cities
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Iran deal misses the point
{Danielle Pletka} ~ For all the details over which nuclear negotiators have tussled for almost 20 months, there has been one overarching goal: to lengthen how long it might take for Iran to break out from its Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments and actually assemble a nuclear explosive device... But while Tehran has carefully crafted a program to build almost all the components it would need to break out, intelligence analysts and diplomats both may have erred in assuming Iran would want to break out sooner rather than later. Instead, there is much to suggest that Iran’s leadership has a longer-term strategic plan that envisions no immediate breakout. After all, a country that is in a race to build and test a nuke doesn’t need to invest in multiple facilities and double down on advanced enrichment. Both Iranian procurement and International Atomic Energy Agency reporting indicate Iran is game to wait until it has both the means and the materiel to break out — like Pakistan, Israel or India — with an arsenal of nuclear weapons, rather than a single bomb. And if that is the case, the deal inked early Tuesday will not stop it.
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Soros' MoveOn.org Raising Money Off Of Objections To Iran Deal
{Jeff Dunetz} ~ The George Soros created progressive activist group Move-on is lining up behind the crap pie also known as the P5+1 deal with Iran... Their claim is that its only Republicans supporting the deal (a lie) and much of what they say about the deal is false. This is just the beginning every progressive organization is going to come out from under the nearest rock and blindly push nObama's deal without even reading it (for the record I've read most of it and plan to finish in the morning). If you wish to read the text of the deal it is at the bottom of this post.
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Hilly May Have Just Gotten Congressional Approval For The Iran Deal
{Jeff Dunetz} ~ Hilly Clinton who promises despite her record she is a friend of Israelproved again that claim of friendship is nothing but a ruse to get votes... Meeting with Congressional Democrats today Clinton said the deal was “important step” in putting the lid on that nation's nuclear program. While she supposedly didn't urge the members to vote for the deal, according to Bloomberg she gave a "full-throated endorsement." Hard to understand how a deal which whose inspections regime is a paper tiger and allows Iran to continue R&D on centrifuges (Isotope production instead of uranium enrichment but its the same processes), and continue its violations, and funding of terrorism a "positive development."
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nObama Just Rewarded This Terrorist Group
{americanactionnews.com} ~ While the biggest concern to most of us in regards to the Iran nuclear talks remains nObama’s aiding Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, one of the most important items from Iran’s standpoint was the removal of economic sanctions... Not only were these sanctions hurting Iran’s economy and people — the mullahs could give a fat rat’s patootie about that — and it was hurting members of the Iranian ruling clique. "Among the big winners in the agreement to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, count a notorious and shadowy Iranian general who helped Shiite militias in Iraq kill American soldiers and who has come to the rescue of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. You’ll find his name, Qasem Soleimani, buried in an annex (PDF) of the unremittingly dense Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, along with some of his colleagues from the senior ranks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as its various divisions and corporate fronts. They’ll all be granted some sanctions relief as part of the U.S.-brokered deal to curtail Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon.
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On Iran, is Barack nObama playing blackjack or lottery?
Michael Gerson
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The determination to engage enemies is a hallmark of nObama's foreign policy. With Iran, as with Cuba, he hopes to upend old strategies of isolation and sanctions, drawing rivals into a web of cooperation that ends up improving their behavior. It is nObama's version of regime change -- the nonviolent advance of rational, modern norms because they are, well, rational, modern norms.
The determination to engage enemies is a hallmark of nObama's foreign policy. With Iran, as with Cuba, he hopes to upend old strategies of isolation and sanctions, drawing rivals into a web of cooperation that ends up improving their behavior. It is nObama's version of regime change -- the nonviolent advance of rational, modern norms because they are, well, rational, modern norms.
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So the Iran deal is really a high-stakes, strategic bet. The agreement allows a decade of managed and monitored nuclear proliferation while Iran is engaged, first on security, but eventually across the range of the relationship. Under the terms of the agreement, Iran will emerge from this period as a nuclear threshold state, free from most sanctions, but hopefully, by that point, a "key to peace." The alternative, the president argues, is a path of isolation and confrontation that is likely to lead to war.
So the Iran deal is really a high-stakes, strategic bet. The agreement allows a decade of managed and monitored nuclear proliferation while Iran is engaged, first on security, but eventually across the range of the relationship. Under the terms of the agreement, Iran will emerge from this period as a nuclear threshold state, free from most sanctions, but hopefully, by that point, a "key to peace." The alternative, the president argues, is a path of isolation and confrontation that is likely to lead to war.
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But is nObama's bet a reasonable one? Is he playing blackjack or the lottery?
But is nObama's bet a reasonable one? Is he playing blackjack or the lottery?
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In an interview with Ruth Marcus and myself for The Washington Post Campaign Close-up series, Sen Lindsey Graham describes nObama's approach to Iran as "dangerously naïve." "I think he's misjudging what the Iranians want," Graham argued. "And the best evidence of what they want is what they're doing right now to destabilize the region without nuclear weapons."
In an interview with Ruth Marcus and myself for The Washington Post Campaign Close-up series, Sen Lindsey Graham describes nObama's approach to Iran as "dangerously naïve." "I think he's misjudging what the Iranians want," Graham argued. "And the best evidence of what they want is what they're doing right now to destabilize the region without nuclear weapons."
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There is no evidence that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a Gorbachev-like figure. Iran gives every indication of being an aggressive, revolutionary power. It is rallying, arming and directing military forces in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The reported agreement to partially lift the arms embargo against Iran -- a dramatic concession -- must seem to America's Sunni allies and partners like de facto U.S. recognition of Iranian spheres of military influence across the region. Because it is.
There is no evidence that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a Gorbachev-like figure. Iran gives every indication of being an aggressive, revolutionary power. It is rallying, arming and directing military forces in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The reported agreement to partially lift the arms embargo against Iran -- a dramatic concession -- must seem to America's Sunni allies and partners like de facto U.S. recognition of Iranian spheres of military influence across the region. Because it is.
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Syria is a good example of the side effects of nObama's bet. During four years of civil war, America has hardly been a factor. This has resulted, in part, from habits of indecision that have added up to a policy of nonintervention. But American strategy in Syria has also shown increasing deference to Iran -- and thus Iran's proxy, the Bashar al-Assad regime -- in order to avoid confrontations that might disrupt nuclear negotiations.
Syria is a good example of the side effects of nObama's bet. During four years of civil war, America has hardly been a factor. This has resulted, in part, from habits of indecision that have added up to a policy of nonintervention. But American strategy in Syria has also shown increasing deference to Iran -- and thus Iran's proxy, the Bashar al-Assad regime -- in order to avoid confrontations that might disrupt nuclear negotiations.
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The shift has been remarkable. nObama has gone from demanding in 2011 that Assad "step aside" to downplaying, earlier this year, the Syrian ruler's use of chlorine gas, since it has "historically not been listed as a chemical weapon." The fragile nuclear talks could not be jostled, at apparently any cost.
The shift has been remarkable. nObama has gone from demanding in 2011 that Assad "step aside" to downplaying, earlier this year, the Syrian ruler's use of chlorine gas, since it has "historically not been listed as a chemical weapon." The fragile nuclear talks could not be jostled, at apparently any cost.
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For years, the Sunni powers called for more aggressive American leadership in Syria. But American support for its proxies, such as the Free Syrian Army, proved minimal and unreliable, pushing many recruits toward better-armed, more radical alternatives. Now Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have given up on an American-led response, throwing their support behind a Sunni rebel alliance that includes the Nusra Front, a local al-Qaeda affiliate. Assad, after a series of military reverses, leads a battered and diminished army, only sustained by Iranian cash and supplies. His collapse -- now a distinct possibility -- might set off a race for Damascus between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. And the U.S. -- having betrayed its proxies and alienated its allies -- would merely be a bystander as a terrorist flag is raised over the capital of a ruined and wretched country.
For years, the Sunni powers called for more aggressive American leadership in Syria. But American support for its proxies, such as the Free Syrian Army, proved minimal and unreliable, pushing many recruits toward better-armed, more radical alternatives. Now Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have given up on an American-led response, throwing their support behind a Sunni rebel alliance that includes the Nusra Front, a local al-Qaeda affiliate. Assad, after a series of military reverses, leads a battered and diminished army, only sustained by Iranian cash and supplies. His collapse -- now a distinct possibility -- might set off a race for Damascus between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. And the U.S. -- having betrayed its proxies and alienated its allies -- would merely be a bystander as a terrorist flag is raised over the capital of a ruined and wretched country.
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This bystander status looks like America's future in much of the Middle East. The economic payout of the nuclear deal will fund Iranian military activities across the region. And haggling over implementation will continue indefinitely. Just as nObama has been loath to throw away the possibility of a deal by getting tough with Iran, he will be loath to throw away the reality of a deal by getting tough with Iran. And the economic pressure that has influenced Iranian behavior in the past will be gone, with no realistic hope for a "snap back" of sanctions.
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The deal amounts to the gradual passing of a leadership baton to one of the worst regimes in the world, on the hope its nature will change. nObama has bet the future of the Middle East, and America's influence in the region, on a play of the lottery.
The deal amounts to the gradual passing of a leadership baton to one of the worst regimes in the world, on the hope its nature will change. nObama has bet the future of the Middle East, and America's influence in the region, on a play of the lottery.
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