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Title: The Patriot Post Digest 6-15-2017 Post by: nChrist on June 16, 2017, 04:21:22 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 6-15-2017 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ Mid-Day Digest Jun. 15, 2017 IN TODAY’S EDITION We take a deeper look at political rhetoric and gun rights after Wednesday’s attack on congressional Republicans. The American Medical Association is evolving on transgenderism. Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts. THE FOUNDATION “The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.” —Justice Joseph Story (1833) TOP RIGHT HOOKS Further Reflections: DemoMSM Rhetoric and the Attempted Murder of Republicans1 By Mark Alexander House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others were shot Wednesday morning, while they practiced for the annual congressional Republican vs. Democrat baseball game scheduled for later this week — an event that raises a half million dollars for charity. The assault occurred in a “gun-free zone2” in Alexandria, Virginia. The wounded are recovering, though Rep. Scalise remains in critical condition. According to Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), he spoke with the man later identified as the assailant, just prior to the attack: “A guy approaches me when I’m right there at [my] car and says, ‘Excuse me, sir, who’s practicing today, Democrats or Republicans?’ I said, ‘This is a Republican team,’ and he said ‘K, thanks.’” In the assessment of Rep. Mike Walker (R-NC), the assailant was “there to kill as many Republican members as possible.” My friend and district Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, who was also on the field, concurred. After almost six minutes, two Capitol Police officers, security detail for Rep. Scalise, were able to get into position and fatally shoot the assailant. Both officers were among the wounded. Had Rep. Scalise not been there, the security detail would not have been there, and this assault would have ended with many fatalities. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), an Army Reserve combat physician who served in Iraq, provided immediate assistance to Rep. Scalise in the aftermath of the assault. “I’m glad I was there,” said Wenstrup, “but it’s a sad day in America, that’s for sure.” The assailant has been identified as James Hodgkinson of Illinois. Hodgkinson was an unhinged leftist — like a growing number of that ilk. His social media cover page features a photo of Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Hodgkinson was a campaign worker for Sanders and one of Barack Obama3‘s “99%"ers. His profile touts the "virtues” of Democratic Socialism4. Sanders issued this statement: “[Hodgkinson] volunteered on my presidential campaign. I am sickened by this despicable act. Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms.” That’s the appropriate response, but consider Sanders’ words in a fundraising email immediately after Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot in Tucson in 2011 (12 others were also shot and six killed): “This horrendous act of violence is not some kind of strange aberration for this area where, it appears, threats and acts of violence are part of the political climate. Nobody can honestly express surprise that such a tragedy finally occurred. … Congresswoman Giffords publicly expressed concerns when Sarah Palin, on her website, placed her district in the cross-hairs of a rifle — and identified her by name below the image — as an encouragement to Palin supporters to eliminate her from Congress.” As a reminder, Jared Loughner, the schizophrenic murderer in that incident, was actually a left-winger, though uninvolved in and not motivated by politics. Yet the fake news New York Times editorialized just yesterday that “the link to political incitement was clear” in the Giffords shooting. “Though there’s no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack,” the Times continued, “liberals should of course hold themselves to the same standard of decency that they ask of the right.” How magnanimous. Earlier this year, the assailant posted this social media message: “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.” The DemoMSM will dance around it, but Hodgkinson’s motive was clear, and their incessant inflammatory rhetoric has already led to violence against Trump supporters nationwide. Call it “collusion” between the Leftmedia and the assailant, but Hodgkinson pulled the trigger, not Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders or CNN. This was not “gun violence.” It was inspired political violence. Soon after the first media reports of the assault, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), received an email threat parroting the same socialist rhetoric that inspired Hodgkinson: “One down, 216 [Republicans] to go. Did you NOT expect this? When you take away ordinary peoples [sic] very lives in order to pay off the wealthiest among us, your own lives are forfeit. Certainly, your souls and morality were lost long before. Good riddance.” Typical of some of the East Coast media echo-chamber nonsense in the aftermath was this assertion from National Review’s otherwise erudite blogger, Jim Geraghty: “Impassioned Political Speech Doesn’t Turn Anyone Into a Killer5.” To that assumption I would respond that Geraghty and likeminded commentators who insist that words don’t inspire violence don’t know much about psychological indoctrination. I would refer them to Islamic radicalization via words and videos on the Internet, which have been directly linked to jihadi attacks6 in the U.S. and around the world. Of course, most “impassioned political speech” in the U.S. does not advocate murder. Most. But the increasing instance of political violence in the U.S., particularly on college campuses that were once bastions of free speech, is commensurate with the increasing tenor of hateful political rhetoric. I’m not advocating for a “commissar of commentary” to censor political speech — though many leftists are mastering such behavior — for any commentator to suggest people are not influenced by words leads me to question why such commentators continue writing. Finally and predictably, the Demo-gogues4 and their DemoMSM propagandists will attempt to blame-shift the inspiration for this attack from their rhetoric to the need for more “gun control7,” a key part of their perennial efforts to undermine the Second Amendment8 assurance of Liberty9. Indeed, within an hour of the assault, Demo Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared, “There are too many guns on the street.” Notably, McAuliffe repeatedly declared that 93 million people are murdered with guns every day. I’m not sure what data he’s been reading… Our last question for leftists is this: Is it time to shut down that presidential assassination play10? Title: The Patriot Post Digest 6-15-2017 Post by: nChrist on June 16, 2017, 04:22:22 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 6-15-2017 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ An Outstanding Post-Attack Defense of the Second Amendment11 Inevitably and almost immediately after crazed leftist James T. Hodgkinson shot and wounded1 five, including Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, as they practiced for a baseball game, gun control came up. A reporter asked Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who had just survived the harrowing attack, “Congressman, does this change your views on the gun situation in America?” Yep, leftists are once again exploiting an atrocity to trot out the tired, flawed “guns are the problem” anti-Second Amendment narrative. But Brooks didn’t take the bait. In fact, he tactfully and expertly exposed the flaw in the argument against the right to bear arms. Brooks responded: Not with respect to the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment right to bear arms is to ensure that we always have a republic. And as with any constitutional provision in the Bill of Rights, there are adverse aspects to each of those rights that we enjoy as people. And what we just saw here is one of the bad side effects of someone not exercising those rights properly. But we’re not going to get rid of freedom of speech because some people say some really ugly things that hurt other people’s feelings. We’re not going to get rid of Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights because it allows some criminals to go free who should be behind bars. These rights are there to protect Americans, and while each of them has a negative aspect to them, they are fundamental to our being the greatest nation in world history. So no, I’m not changing my position on any of the rights we enjoy as Americans. With respect to this particular shooter, I’d really like to know more about him — whether he was an ex-felon, by way of example, who should not have had possession of a firearm — I’d like to know other things about his background before I pass judgment. If anything, this latest attack proves to illustrate just how important and essential the Second Amendment is to protecting American Liberty. Imagine if the Capitol Police detail had not been there, the carnage and death toll would have been significant, due to the fact that all the congressmen were unarmed. How many Americans have their own police detail following them around offering protection? The obvious answer also points to the foundational purpose of the Second Amendment. See here12 where Mark Alexander has written extensively on the Second Amendment. James Madison wrote, “The ultimate authority … resides in the people alone. … The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation … forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition.” Thankfully, Rep. Brooks understands and embraces these truths. Top Headlines13 Maybe there’s hope: Networks avoid pushing gun control in wake of Scalise shooting. (Newsbusters14) The Left embraces political violence. (National Review15) Trump being investigated on possible obstruction of justice, reports say. (The Washington Times16) Trump to Republican senators: The House health-care bill was “mean.” (Hot Air17) GOP considers keeping ObamaCare taxes. (The Hill18.) EPA cleared in agency-caused environmental disaster, despite official’s admissions. (The Daily Signal19) Health chief, four others get Flint manslaughter charges for tainted water. (Detroit News20) Trump aims to roll back Obama’s Cuba policies. (The Washington Times21) Immigration court backlog: Time to complete a deportation hearing increased by 700%. (CNS News22) Today’s Good Citizenship Award — Randy Tompkins in Dixon, Illinois, noticed police behind a slow moving car. He jumps from his truck to stop the car, and they determine the driver was having a seizure. (YouTube, Associated Press23) Policy: New commissioner should curb FDA overreach. (Real Clear Policy24) Policy: When speech inspires violence, protect liberty while restoring virtue. (National Review25) For more, visit Patriot Headline Report26. Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column Read The Founding Father — In Your Home…27. It takes a father and a family, not a village, to raise a child. If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here28. FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS The Medical Evolution of Gender29 By Allyne Caan Well-known blogger Matt Walsh recently recounted a difficult conversation30 with his son after he caught the lad attempting to climb over the second-floor balcony railing. It seems little Walsh Jr. thought he could be Spider-Man. Walsh writes, “I knew it was time to explain that he doesn’t really have super powers. He seemed pretty devastated by the news, but for his own health it was necessary to put an end to this particular fantasy. ‘But I want to be Spider-Man,’ he protested. ‘I know, buddy,’ I said. ‘I wish I could be Spider-Man, too, but Spider-Man is just pretend. If you try to jump over the railing like Spider-Man, you’ll get very hurt.’” This seems a logical parenting approach: Stop the kid from jumping off a balcony and address the incorrect belief that made him think a leap was a good idea in the first place. Hardly revolutionary. But apparently, it’s radical when kids imagine themselves not a super-hero but a gender not their own. That common sense is tossed over the balcony, however, when it comes to gender issues. The American Medical Association (AMA) has this week adopted policies endorsing transgenderism — despite enormous evidence of the physical, emotional and psychological harm experienced by those who fantasize themselves the opposite sex. The Washington Free Beacon reports31 the AMA’s policymaking group has embraced the belief that gender is “incompletely understood as a binary selection.” According to the official AMA statement32, “Acknowledging that individuals’ gender and sexual identities do not always fit neatly into binary paradigms, delegates to the 2017 AMA Annual Meeting33 in Chicago took several actions that support broadening how gender identity is defined within medicine and how transgender patients are treated by society.” The group went on to state that “gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and genotypic and phenotypic sex are not always aligned.” As Walsh pointed out, saving someone from harm often means telling them when their beliefs and feelings don’t align with truth. But the AMA would rather gain political points than save lives. Indeed, the group also came out against so-called bathroom bills, claiming, “Laws and policies that restrict the use of public facilities based on biological gender can have immediate and lingering physical consequences, as well as severe mental health repercussions.” Of course, they conveniently ignore the mental health repercussions of transgenderism. Transgender and gender non-conforming adults have a suicide attempt rate of more than 40%34, compared with 4.6% for the overall U.S. population. Title: The Patriot Post Digest 6-15-2017 Post by: nChrist on June 16, 2017, 04:23:32 PM ________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 6-15-2017 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription (http://patriotpost.us/subscription/new) ________________________________________ But please, let’s talk instead about how transgender individuals can now battle suicidal thoughts in any bathroom they choose. Sadly, this latest descent into madness shouldn’t be too surprising. As Mark Alexander has recounted in detail35, the spiral from recognition to acceptance and now endorsement of self-destructive sexually deviant behaviors by the medical community has been at play for decades. In the 1950s, the first edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) recognized homosexuality as a sociopath personality disturbance. And the 1968 DSM II was updated to classify homosexuality as a sexual deviancy. This is significant because only by acknowledging that homosexuality and gender dysphoria are concerning and have negative consequences can people in the throes of sexual addictions and confusions be best helped. When we validate harmful behaviors, we close the door on help and hope and instead confine individuals to the statistics of higher suicide attempt rates as well as higher instances of sexually transmitted diseases, not to mention the psychological trauma of those who pursue sex changes and live to regret it36. And that’s to say nothing on the trauma suffered by family and friends37 of transgendered people. Yet, amid the sexual revolution, the AMA abandoned any pretense of caring for people and instead caved to political pressure and removed homosexuality as a mental disorder in DSM III in 1973. Now, they’ve gone a step further and rejected the reality of gender entirely by basically saying it’s whatever someone fantasizes it to be. A doctor who incorrectly diagnoses patients just to keep them happy deserves not praise but rebuke. The AMA may be congratulating itself on its progressivist acceptance of transgenderism. But the result will be thousands of people who desperately need help and instead are prodded to jump off the second-story balcony, where the fantasies they embrace will not save them. MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST America’s Opiate Epidemic: Enablers and Victims38 — The nation faces a crisis of overdose deaths and addiction. What started it and what can we do? Separate but Equal: How Regressives Are Reviving the Racist Segregation Movement39 — “Cultural appropriation” is the new bugaboo, and it’s resulting in greater segregation along racial lines. Finally, Progress at the VA40 — Congress sends an accountability measure to Trump’s desk, but there is more work to be done to help our veterans. BEST OF RIGHT OPINION Hans von Spakovsky: Trump’s Immigration Order Took a Second Hit. Now SCOTUS Must Get Involved.41 Ann Coulter: The ‘Resistance’ Goes Live-Fire42 Victor Davis Hanson: Can a Divided America Survive?43 For more, visit Right Opinion44. OPINION IN BRIEF Hans von Spakovsky: “No one should be surprised that a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, made up of three judges appointed by President Bill Clinton, upheld the injunction on Monday against President Donald Trump’s revised executive order temporarily halting entry from six terrorist safe haven nations. … Despite this latest pronouncement of the 9th Circuit, the president’s actions are lawful and fully within the constitutional authority delegated to him by Congress. As five dissenting judges of the 9th Circuit pointed out in a previous decision on the executive order, the judges who are ruling against the president are confounding ‘Supreme Court and 9th Circuit precedent,’ which makes clear that ‘when we are reviewing decisions about who may be admitted into the United States, [the courts] must defer to the judgment of the political branches.’ The judges who issued Monday’s decision are not deferring as they are required to do, and neither did the judges in the 4th Circuit decision. The only branch of the government that is acting outside its constitutional authority is the judicial branch, not the executive branch. Hopefully, all of that will soon change. … The Supreme Court should take this case, hear arguments as quickly as possible (before the end of June), and issue a decision before the justices leave for the summer. As the government says, there is no doubt that this executive order ‘has been the subject of passionate political debate.’ But whatever one’s views, ‘the precedent set by this case for the judiciary’s proper role in reviewing the president’s national security and immigration authority will transcend this debate, this order, and this constitutional moment.’” SHORT CUTS Insight: “Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.” —Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) Village Idiots: “Now I haven’t seen Wonder Woman yet … but something tells me that a movie about a strong, powerful woman fighting to save the world from a massive international disaster is right up my alley.” —the delusional Hillary “Wonder Woman” Clinton Braying Jenny: “Is Trump making America mentally ill?” —Kathleen Parker Braying Jackass: “I would argue the president has unleashed, partially, again not in any way totally, but partially [he is] to blame for the demons that have been unleashed.” —Rep. Mark Sanford Alpha Jackass: “Virginia: No background checks. No licensing. No registration. No permit req’d for concealed carry of long guns. Open carry long guns & handguns. … We seem to dread that we’ll offend the gods if we seek to prevent the plagues that regularly ravage our villages. Prayers instead!” —The Atlantic’s David Frum Non Compos Mentis: “There are too many guns on the street. … We lose 93 million [not a typo] Americans a day to gun violence. I mean, I’ve long talked about this. Background checks, shutting down gun show loopholes. That’s not for today’s discussion, but it’s not just for politicians.” —Terry McAuliffe And last… “[James] Hodgkinson longed for a ‘more progressive tax system.’ Readers of his various notes on the subject probably figured he was talking about mere policy debates when he lamented in 2012 that it was ‘a shame that Democrats won’t attack the Republicans.’” —James Freeman 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. |