Here’s one more sad example: Ben Chavis, founder and principal of the American Indian Public Charter Schools, got permission to compete with the Blob in Oakland, Calif. Chavis vowed, “We’ll outperform the other schools in five years.” He did. Kids at the three schools he runs now have some of the highest test scores in California.

Post-publication note from Chuck: At the time I wrote the column below, news had not broken about the massive and devastating explosion at the fer- tilizer plant in West, Texas. Of course, all of my condolences and commendations about the victims and crisis care community in.

Despite the fact that IRS e-mail surveillance is a clear affront to privacy and civil liberties, last week the IRS categorically stated that it has done nothing wrong. The agency denies countrywide accusations that it is violating the Fourth Amendment, which guards citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The IRS is “collecting a lot more than taxes this year,” the report explained. “It’s also acquiring a huge volume of personal information on taxpayers’ digital activities, from eBay auctions to Facebook posts and, for the first time ever, credit card and e-payment transaction records.

Last week, I gave 12 examples of how religious liberty has been assaulted in just the past two years in the US. Here are about two dozen more instances just for good measure, as reported by the Family Research Council, the office of Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va.

Religious liberty has been called rightly America’s “first freedom,” not only because the right is contained in the First Amendment but also because it predates the US and has its origin  in God, not government, and the freedoms he endowed within us.

According to Fox News, “five men were among seven arrested in October when security forces raided an underground house church in the city of Shiraz during a prayer session.

Aregistered sex offender and convicted child rapist is being observed by South Carolina cops in the presumed deaths of two young women, including a New York teenager who disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach nearly three years ago, Fox News just reported.

3) Washington revered God and religion, often elevating their irreplaceable and invaluable roles in our republic.

6) Washington was a first-class servant leader who walked what he talked. He believed so firmly in our newly founded but poor republic that he took no pay for his service during the Revolutionary War (besides official expenses).

Our founders knew that more government regulation and taking away guns from law-abiding citizens would not curb violent crime. And they didn’t expect the law of the land to well up peace in people’s hearts, either.

Let me explain. Last week, I shared with you that while Republicans’ power to  repeal Obamacare has been thwarted by the president’s re-election, all is not lost. Conservatives can still suffocate the federal monstrosity by supporting individual-to-state efforts to impede its funding and implementation.

Now that Obama has been re-elected and Democrats still control the Senate, Republicans no longer have the chance to repeal Obamacare. But all is not lost. There’s still an opportunity for America to stop this disaster by choking the life out of the federal monstrosity.

It’s easy to get lost in all the bad news today — whether it be unfavorable election results, financial troubles, a struggling economy, an overreaching federal government, crisis in the Middle East or personal struggles. Our growing list of problems often seems overwhelming and endless.

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.

On the heels of a pivotal national election, I’d like to remind Americans that it is our troops’ service and sacrifice that safeguards our precious right to cast those ballots and savor the freedoms that we hold dear. They represent the best of America.

Obama can spin a fact, and even though it’s wrong or untrue, we almost believe it. Then he sends his minions out to spin the same fact, hoping that if we hear it enough times, we finally will believe it. The attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya is a prime example.

Class warfare is all he has left. But voters aren’t buying Obama’s polarizing rhetoric. In a Gallup survey about the 12 most important priorities this election year, the issue of “increasing taxes on wealthy Americans” came in dead last among voters.

In stunning video footage (called “DNC staffer assists double voting in support of Obama” on YouTube), a top Obama campaign worker gleefully helps an undercover reporter obtain ballots in two states. The reporter identifies herself as an Obama supporter who has illegally registered in Florida and Texas.

On Oct. 7, 1780, American patriots prevailed against loyalists in the Carolinas and won their first Southern battle. The Battle of Kings Mountain is a victory not often highlighted today but was a critical win nonetheless.