The Patriot Post Digest 4-14-2016

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-14-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Mid-Day Digest

Apr. 14, 2016

THE FOUNDATION

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” —Patrick Henry (1788.)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Fairy Tales About Guns1

Earlier this year, the National Rifle Association illustrated how different some stories can be if a victim has a gun. Using Grimm’s Fairy Tales to make the point, author Amelia Hamilton retold stories like Little Red Riding Hood (Has a Gun)2 and Hansel and Gretel (Have Guns)3 to show not only that we don’t have to be defenseless victims, but sometimes “happily ever after” takes some securing.

Naturally, however, leftists had a conniption. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which should really be named Campaign to Take Away Your Guns, responded with a fairy tale of their own featuring Alice in Wonderland … shooting herself in the face. “Over one-third of all American households have a gun,” a narrator says just as Alice pulls the trigger of a gun she’s discovered. “Ask your neighbor: Is there a gun where they play? Asking saves kids.”

In so far as this reminds all gun owners that safety is paramount, or that all parents of any stripe should cover the subject with their kids, this is all fine and good. But the vast majority of gun owners are safety conscious, despite what the Brady Campaign implies. For example, an experiment4 in February revealed that kids whose parents own guns do know what to do with them — don’t touch them and tell an adult — while kids in gun-free households didn’t fare so well. Of course, the Brady ad specifically aims to rebut the NRA, but had “Alice” been through the NRA’s Eddie Eagle Gun Safe Program, she would have known what to do when she found a gun.

As for Hamilton, she responded via Twitter, “Me: what if fairy tale characters were safe? Brady campaign: what if they shot themselves in the face?” That’s par for the course when it comes to the scaremongering Left.

USAF Senior MSGT Ejected for Reference to ‘God’5

There has been yet another recent example of Barack Obama’s top-down effort to eradicate any reference to faith6 by military personnel. MSGT Chuck Roberson invited retired Senior MSGT Oscar Rodriguez Jr. to conduct a traditional flag retirement as part of Roberson’s own retirement ceremony. But when Rodriguez arrived at Travis Air Force Base for his friend’s small retirement gathering of family and friends, he was met by security personnel. Those personnel had been ordered by the base commander to warn Rodriguez that he had to stick to a script that did not reference “God.”

Rodriguez didn’t make the rank of Senior MSGT because he was a pushover. He stood for his part in the ceremony — in civilian clothing we note — and began his flag recitation, ignoring the warning. He was immediately seized by security personnel (as seen in this video7), and forcibly removed from the ceremony — to the alarm of the guests gathered there to honor MSGT Roberson.

According to Lt. Col. Robert Couse-Baker at Travis AFB, the Air Force “respects and defends the right to free speech and religious expression.” But Couse-Baker added, “Rodriguez ignored numerous requests to respect the Air Force prescribed ceremony and unfortunately was forcibly removed. We will continue to investigate the situation fully.” Fact is, Rodriguez was removed for exercising his First Amendment rights at a voluntary retirement ceremony. He is now a civilian, and his remarks were delivered in that capacity.

The USAF has modified regulation AFI 34-1201 to ensure there will be no reference to faith in the flag-folding portion of a retirement ceremony. The blame for ejecting the Senior MSGT doesn’t rest with the security personnel who were ordered to remove him, but with their commander in chief, whose personal creed has been shaped by hatred8. Despite Obama’s best efforts, the majority of personnel in our military service branches are people of faith, much to the chagrin of the Left’s atheist agitators.

In response to his removal, Rodriguez told a military watchdog group9, “This speech means so much to so many, and I hope you help in letting all the nation listen to its words. It may not be for everybody, this I understand, but every time I say these words I think about those that touched the hand of God, the sacrifices of so many and to keep the dreams of all Americans alive so they can find their happiness.” We invite you to view the uninterrupted recitation10 at a previous ceremony.

Task Force Report Puts Chicago Cops in the Crosshairs11

The task force Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel assembled in response to the Laquan McDonald video12 released its findings13 Wednesday — surprise! — accusing the Chicago Police Department of racist policing policies. After crunching CPD data, the task force wrote14 it “gives validity to the widely held belief the police have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color.” In the 404 CPD officer-involved shootings from 2008 to 2015, the report found 74% of the incidents involved a black suspect. Maybe that’s because blacks disproportionately commit violent crimes, including attacking police.

This report is both informed by and will only exacerbate the race-bait rhetoric15 about cops perpetuated by Emanuel’s old boss, Barack Obama. The Left will use this report to pile more regulations on law enforcement, handcuffing them from keeping the peace. Granted, police are not immune from the need to reform. While police officers in the Windy City stopped and searched black and Hispanic drivers in 2013 four times as often as white drivers, police were two times as likely to discover contraband on white motorists. But this report will only make things worse in Chicago.

Ever since the McDonald video was released, Chicago police have been reluctant to engage in proactive policing and arrests have dropped. As a result, the homicide rate in the city spiked11, with the city on track to exceed 500 homicides by year-end. It fits the Left’s agenda to say the Chicago PD is engaging in some kind of protest in response to the criticism by the mayor’s office, but this isn’t entirely the case. Instead, according to FiveThirtyEight16, police officers who have to fill out more paperwork thanks to Emanuel’s “reforms” have less time to investigate crime. That said, cops no doubt think twice before stepping into an incident that might end up on YouTube. Welcome to “The Ferguson Effect,” where policing decreases over fears that criticism will ruin the officer’s career, or worse, that an officer will be killed for the “crime” of being white. The relationship between Chicago police and the people they serve is broken, and the Left’s rhetoric is only making it worse.

Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read In the Company of Patriots17, on how the first shots fired in the American Revolution are irrevocably linked to Liberty, and the Second Amendment.

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BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

L. Brent Bozell & Tim Graham: Donald Trump’s Rigged Media20
Tony Perkins: Smart ALEC Response to Big Biz21
Victor Davis Hanson: Is NATO Worth Preserving?22

For more, visit Right Opinion23.

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-14-2016
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Boeing Is Flying Low24

By Allyne Caan

As the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing prides itself25 on “support[ing] airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in 150 countries.” Unfortunately, the company has a rather loose definition of “allied.”

Boeing is in talks to sell commercial passenger airplanes to Iran — you know, that state sponsor of terrorism and avowed enemy of the U.S. and our strongest ally in the Middle East, Israel. And the company wants to use our tax dollars to make the deal happen.

It’s all the honeyed government cronyism treats that Boeing (and other multi-billion dollar companies) enjoy via a lesser-known government entity called the Export-Import Bank. In short, Ex-Im provides taxpayer-backed financing26 for companies and countries to buy U.S. goods — including Boeing airplanes. In fact, Boeing alone receives a whopping 30% of Ex-Im’s financing, amounting to billions of dollars each year.

Here’s the catch for Boeing, though. For any deals more than $10 million, a quorum of the Ex-Im’s five-member board must approve. Currently, only two of the five seats are filled. Barack Obama has been trying to get a nominee into the third seat for months, but so far, to no avail — thankfully.

What’s Boeing to do? Well, naturally, the corporate behemoth is pressuring Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) to move on Obama’s nominee. As Fortune magazine reports27, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says the company stands to lose billions unless the government finds a way to give them billions. Well, those weren’t his exact words, but close enough.

And some of those billions could help Iran buy enormous airliners that the terrorist nation could very well use to transport troops or, oh, say fly into buildings.

The Wall Street Journal reports28 that Iran is only too “eager to re-establish ties with Western companies after the deal to limit its nuclear program.” (Apparently Iran is also eager to break the deal29 and continue expanding its nuclear program, but that’s another story.)

And while Tehran has managed to seal deals with several European companies, American agreements haven’t been as forthcoming. Perhaps some American companies still have a little thing called patriotism.

Still, as the Journal notes, “A deal for Boeing planes could become the biggest signal yet that the U.S. and Iran are moving toward normalized trade relations.” Only Iran supposedly doesn’t have access to oodles of financing to buy Boeings' planes. One might wonder what happened to the $150 billion in sanctions relief…

Boeing could very well finance its own deals or arrange for third-party financing for Iran, as The Daily Signal notes30. But with a high-risk customer — like Iran — companies aren’t as quick to the financing draw.

Enter Ex-Im, which doesn’t care if it loses millions in taxpayer dollars. It seems the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree with this government-created entity.

Still, last month, Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg attempted to alleviate concerns over a potential Iranian agreement, stating flatly28, “We’re not stepping into Iran.”

Well, actually, Fred, you might be.

The Foreign Assistance Act may prevent31 Export-Import Bank funding from going to state sponsors of terrorism. But what’s a law in the hands of a lawless leader?

As Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) explained after the Republican-led House rejected his amendment to stop Ex-Im financing from funding terrorist states, “Some parts of the law … prevent Ex-Im from engaging with state sponsors of terrorism. But these commonsense prohibitions are subject to presidential waivers, and we have seen the president abuse waivers to pursue his agenda over and over again on Iran.”

Boeing can whine all it wants that politics are keeping it from accessing billions in business subsidies. But the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of subsidies aside, when the company’s frequent flyer miles say “Destination: Tehran,” they won’t receive one iota of sympathy here.

MORE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE

ANALYSIS: The Left Will Teach You How to Think32
The ‘Ferguson Effect’ Crime Wave11
ObamaCare Nearing the Tipping Point of Failure33
Is the U.S. Sending More Arms to Syrian Rebels?34

TOP HEADLINES

Trump Manager Won’t Be Prosecuted35
Feds Pressured New Balance to Stay Quiet on TPP36
Russia Hits U.S.’s ‘Painful Reaction’ After Buzzing Baltic Destroyer37

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report38

OPINION IN BRIEF

L. Brent Bozell & Tim Graham: “Now that it looks like the GOP nomination won’t be decided until a contested convention in Cleveland, Donald Trump and his supporters assert that the whole system is undemocratic. But if democracy was organized to give everyone a fair and equal shot to impress voters with their knowledge and experience, then our system has been rigged for Trump for the last nine months. The media — not just the liberal media, but some ‘conservative’ media, too — have been the gale-force wind beneath Trump’s wings. On the nightly news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC, Trump has far outpaced anyone other GOP candidate for attention. From last July through April 6, he’s drawn 1,228 minutes of airtime, or 56 percent of the total coverage of the Republican primary race. The other 16 candidates have split the remaining 44 percent. Trump’s closest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, has only been granted 269 minutes of airtime, or 12 percent. That’s roughly a 5 to 1 disparity. Gov. John Kasich has received only 46 minutes, or 2.1 percent of the Republican nightly news pie. Even when Cruz or Kasich win a primary, the dominant story is Trump stumbling, not them winning. It’s Trump or virtually nothing by design. … Defenders of this overcoverage insist that Trump is the most newsworthy one, so his actions make the most news. But the problem is not just the quantity of Trump segments, but the quality. Reporters let his bluster and theatrics dominate, and they ignore the substance of his assertions.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “Those who take the most from the table, teach contentment. Those for whom the taxes are destined, demand sacrifice. Those who eat their fill, speak to the hungry, of wonderful times to come. Those who lead the country into the abyss, call ruling difficult, for ordinary folk.” —Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Buck stops over there: “Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasio’s skit. He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that he’s already talked about.” —Hillary Clinton on her pitiful attempt at humor39

Braying Jackass: “The president is committed to ensuring that individuals who are conducting criminal prosecutions do their work without influence from politicians or anybody that’s involved in politics.” —Obama spokesman Josh Earnest, cleaning up the mess his boss made by publicly influencing the investigation40 into Hillary Clinton’s email

Friendly fire: “[Barack Obama] has factually been the least transparent administration probably in this nation’s history, certainly in modern time. It comes at a time when people are demanding to have more transparency in their government, when we need to have more transparency in our government and when we are losing all trust in our government.” —Leftmedia pundit Ron Fournier

Art of the whine: “You have to remember I’m leading. I’m more than 200 delegates ahead, so over all, I’m doing very well. … Don’t forget, I only complain about the [states] where we have difficulty.” —Donald Trump

Late-night humor: “House Speaker Paul Ryan … issued a formal statement ruling himself out41 as a potential replacement candidate if there is a contested Republican convention. And you know things are bad in the Republican Party when people who aren’t even running are dropping out of the race.” —Seth Meyers

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.