The Patriot Post Digest 6-11-2015

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The Patriot Post Digest 6-11-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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Daily Digest

Jun. 11, 2015

THE FOUNDATION

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” —James Madison, Federalist No. 47, 1788

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

FBI on Mass Shooting Report: Yeah, We Made It Up1

Last fall, we noted2 that the FBI used bogus stats in its pre-election mass shooting report. Researchers counted some mass shootings that weren’t “mass” at all, and entirely omitted actual mass shootings that occurred early in the carefully selected timeframe. All of it was an effort to show an increasing trend of “gun violence” since 2000, we suspect in concert with Democrat campaign talking points about the necessity of gun control. The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Riley picked up3 on a quiet announcement that, indeed, the researchers pretty much made it up: “Late last week, J. Pete Blair and M. Hunter Martaindale, two academics at Texas State University who co-authored the FBI report, acknowledged that ‘our data is imperfect.’ They said that the news media ‘got it wrong’ last year when they ‘mistakenly reported mass shootings were on the rise.’ Mind you, the authors did not issue this mea culpa in the major news outlets that supposedly misreported the original findings. Instead, the authors published it in ACJS Today4, an academic journal published by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. ‘Because official data did not contain the information we needed, we had to develop our own,’ wrote Messrs. Blair and Martaindale. ‘This required choices between various options with various strengths and weaknesses.’ You don’t say.” The truth is the number of mass shootings has remained essentially flat for the last 40 years, while violent crime has dropped significantly in the last decade as firearm ownership has grown. But that doesn’t fit the leftist agenda.

Damaging Overtime Pay Regulation in the Works5

The Department of Labor is preparing to unveil a revision to America’s overtime compensation rule called for by Barack Obama last year. Unfortunately, it’s entirely the wrong prescription for even the best economy — let alone our still ailing one. Heritage Foundation research fellow James Sherk writes, “Reports indicate the Department plans to require overtime for any salaried employee making less than $45,000 to $52,000 a year.” That’s significantly higher than what the current law requires, and though it may not sound like a big deal the repercussions are far fetched— impacting everything from base salaries to scheduling and office flexibility. As Sherk explains, “Economists have studied how businesses respond to overtime requirements. They find that overtime doesn’t affect workers' total pay or hours much. Instead, businesses offset new overtime costs with lower base wages.” Moreover, he says, “The overtime regulations will have a major unintended side effect: They will force entry- and mid-level salaried employees to track their hours.” That means more micromanaging, and many employers will nix work-from-home options altogether to avoid lawsuits. Just like minimum wage laws, this new rule may seem like a good idea at first glance, but the results are economically damaging.

Fly the EPA’s Unfriendly Skies6

This isn’t simply the Environmental Protection Agency slapping more regulation on the American economy. The EPA released a report Wednesday claiming that jet engines endanger human health, opening the door for regulation. And no, we’re not talking chemtrails here. But the EPA would not be issuing its own regulation. Instead, it would look to adopt regulation developed by the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization that would require some aircraft engines manufactured after 2020 to conform to “green” regulation. “The U.S. transportation sector is a significant contributor to total U.S. and global anthropogenic GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions,” said the EPA’s regulatory announcement7. “Aircraft remain the single largest GHG-emitting transportation source not yet subject to GHG standards in the U.S.” The announcement went on to say U.S. aircraft contribute to only 0.5% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Is it worth it for the U.S. to regulate an industry, control its innovation and adopt regulation from a global governing body to deal with just one fraction of the effort needed to supposedly prevent global temperatures from rising by 0.001 degree8? There’s a fallacy in ecofascism: They think humans are in control of nature. More…9
Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read Flag Day — What Do You See?10, on the real history and significance of the most famous banner of Liberty ever flown.

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FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Muzzling Both Guns and Speech12

By Allyne Caan

Given Barack Obama’s contempt for the Second Amendment — after all, an armed citizenry is the last line of defense against a tyrannical government — it’s little wonder that a proposed rule relating to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) governing the export of certain “defense articles” is raising concerns.

The rule, published in the June 3 issue of the Federal Register13, proposes to regulate speech — including online speech — relating to firearms and to require government approval before individuals can share certain information publicly. Penalties for violations climb as high as $1 million or 20 years in jail.

Specifically, the proposed rule rewrites key definitions in ITAR, including “technical data,” “public domain” and “export.” Currently under ITAR, any weapons-related information that is in the “public domain” can be shared without penalty. However, now that the age of technology has thrown a wrinkle into the meaning of “public domain,” the government feels the need to “clarify.” At first glance, the clarification sounds well and good, as the rule states, “Except as set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, unclassified information and software are in the public domain, and are thus not technical data or software subject to the ITAR, when they have been made available to the public without restrictions upon their further dissemination.”

But it’s what comes in paragraph (b) that has folks concerned. It turns out that, this “clarification” notwithstanding, “public domain” really means only what the government says it means. The rule continues, “Technical data or software, whether or not developed with government funding, is not in the public domain if it has been made available to the public without authorization from: (1) The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls; (2) The Department of Defense’s Office of Security Review; (3) The relevant U.S. government contracting entity with authority to allow the technical data or software to be made available to the public; or (4) Another U.S. government official with authority to allow the technical data or software to be made available to the public.”

According to the National Rifle Association14, the outcome of such a rule is troublesome: “Gunsmiths, manufacturers, reloaders, and do-it-yourselfers could all find themselves muzzled under the rule and unable to distribute or obtain the information they rely on to conduct these activities.” One minute you’re posting a description of a new firearm design, and the next you’re accused of exporting technical data to a foreign government.

Particularly noteworthy, too, is the timing of the proposed rule, as it comes on the heels of Defense Distributed’s lawsuit against the federal government. Defense Distributed is a pro-Second Amendment organization targeted by the State Department in 2013 for allegedly exporting technical data illegally. Two years ago, it published online plans to 3D print a pistol after it developed a single-shot .22 pistol named The Liberator.